The Filling Station

I went out to a bar with some friends last night to see a band. The band was the Clumsy Lovers and the bar was the Filling Station.

I had never been to the Filler before, which is kind of a surprise since it is on the road back to town from Bridger Bowl and they supposedly give you a free beer if you are in your ski stuff and have a lift pass from the day or a season pass. I'm not the biggest beer drinker in the world, but I skied a lot with my brother Brian and his buddy Keith. They both liked putting a few back from time to time. Why we (or I) never stopped in is a bit of a mystery.

I had seen the Clumsy Lovers a couple of times before. The first time was at a bar called Little John's but is now called Mixers (they just remodeled and renamed themselves, I don't think they're open yet) after the company Christmas party two Decembers ago. A big group of people went out to the bar after the party, all dressed up and with a few drinks already partaken. (as a side note, because I never have one of those, I ate three main coarses that night. I had the beef, which was good, then I had the chicken, which looked but did not taste good. I figured I couldn't end on a low note like that and proceeded to eat another portion of beef. Most of the people at my table were amazed.) Us younger kids had a blast watching all of the older engineers busting a move on the dance floor. Beside that, we had a great time, the music is very upbeat and energetic. Pretty much a normal band setup expect they have a girl playing the fiddle and one of the guitarists sometimes busts out a banjo. Don't worry, they aren't country. They can lean that way a little bit, but not very often. One interesting fact was that my current girlfriend, Stephanie, was at this show, but we didn't know each other at all. Who knows, I might have been checking her out at one point. The place was packed and hopping until the end of the show

The next time was at the same bar, Little John's, with some different people. Steph and I were dating and we went out with maybe 5 or 6 friends. The show wasn't quite as packed as the previous one but just as fun. Plus, I had a good looking girl to dance with.

So, Steph and Sean and Heidi and I headed to the Filler at about 9:30pm last night. The filler is a small, old, mostly made out of wood bar. It just screams "Montana" at you. There are license plates all over the walls, a bar with two frantic bartenders running to try and serve everyone (they did a pretty good job considering the crowd), and a very small "dance floor" area.

I wouldn't call the Clumsy Lovers the biggest band out there but I think they have a pretty big following in Bozeman. They seem to be coming back a couple times a year and they always play to a full house. The leads to the problem at hand--the Filler is not the largest of bars/clubs in Bozeman. In fact it was downright tight last night. It just wasn't the best place for them to place. I imagine that they would have been playing Little John's/Mixers had it been open, but such is life, we were seeing them at the Filling Station. We all enjoyed a few drinks, danced to the great music with the energetic crowd, and finally started to get tired.

Around 1am or 1:15 we all decided that it was about the right time to head for home. I dropped everyone off and I think I made it into bed close to 2am. Sure, that's later than normal but hey, it's not too bad right? Wait a minute, every Friday morning a bunch of guys from work get together in one of the gyms on campus to play basketball. We try to play from about 6am to 7am or 7:15 before heading to work. I'm always the worst player there (I'm a hockey player) but it's lots of fun and a pretty good workout. The problem is the whole getting up before 5:45am to get there on time. Now you see my dilema, starting the sleep cycle at 2am doesn't afford much rest before 5:30 or so. I did wake with my alarm to see how I felt, but there was never really any doubt. I slept in, even a little past my normal time, and went into work sans b-ball.