Calculated Thought in a Random Universe

Prinicples & Purity February 23, 2008

I am currently in the process of a MySpace transformation, hence I will no longer succumb to the basic design layout handed to me by my friend Tom. So, I am now learning all about CSS that I will incorporate in my page and naturally all the information I need is on the Web. In my travels on the information superhighway looking for better MySpace designs, I stumbled across a profound post penned (well, typed) by Eston Bond called Pluralists, pioneers and poseurs.

I readily admit I need to re-read the post a few more times for a deeper understanding, but while thinking about what he wrote I offer you a glimpse of my own night-on-the-town experiences in Metro Detroit:

Exhibit A

The other night I visited a certain cigar and martini lounge in a certain cosmopolitan suburb and realized that this lounge certainly failed to provide me a sensory experience of a proper cigar and martini lounge. My expectation is a throwback to yesteryear of simpler times, devoid of electronic communication devices on every person or a DJ playing the latest hip-hop meets Top 40 mashup. My idea of a pleasant evening does not include getting bumped by a multitude of people crowding the bar to order Coronas, despite their compelling ads, and I should never, ever, be greeted by ice in my martini.

Instead, my mental image of a true cigar and martini lounge is one of relaxed restraint, a comfortable yet cozy venue where men act like gentlemen and women are sophisticated. Voices of The Rat Pack and the like float through the air, intertwining with the heady wisps of smoke from the occasional lit cigar. On other nights, a live jazz trio could cook up some sassy sounds.

To their credit, this unnamed lounge has offered me some degree of this pure experience from time to time, more often during weekday nights when things are slower. The weekends usually draw a larger and livelier crowd resulting in an unfortunate commercialized “dumbing down”. Purity goes out the window in pursuit of profit. In principle, the owners could remain true to the cigar and martini lounge concept, but fail to do so in an attempt to generate a broader appeal. What started as a pure idea to cater to a niche market ends up watered down for mass consumption.

By now some of you are wondering which lounge I am writing about, while those keen with the scene already know. Well, would you look at the time! Say Goodnite, Gracie.

Exhibit B

In the same city, I recently visited a newly opened Chinese tea café and to my delight, I was welcomed to a scene remarkably different than the Starbucks and Caribou Coffee houses of the world. Inside, the decor was warm but bright, featuring Chinese paintings on the walls and a variety of authentic, hand-made Chinese furniture that the owners Jim and Janice Girling personally selected from their stays in the Middle Kingdom. As a tea novice, I was first schooled in the variety of Chinese teas they served, ranging from softer whites to bolder blacks, all in loose leaf form. They use three separate hot water taps to ensure that specific teas are brewed at the correct respective temperature for the appropriate amount of time. As first time entrepreneurs, this husband and wife team still faces many hurdles, having only been open for a few weeks. However, I observed a genuine desire to strike the delicate balance of preserving the authentic Chinese tea experience with achieving commercial success, as applied in the relevancy of a 21st American suburb. The smells, sights, sounds and touch all combine into an ethereal experience, in which they want people to relax and enjoy while taking their time. Goldfish Tea will indeed refine and develop itself over time, but in my opinion the Girlings are, in principle, walking the path towards purity.

Epilogue

Does this imply that I will never again drink at Goodnite Gracie? Certainly not. On the contrary, I go there with some regularity and even recommend it to friends. Twice have I guest bartended there for charity events, and it remains one of the last local bastions for those wanting to smoke a fine cigar. My disappointment is only with the lack of consistency of experience from one visit to another. Note that I do not expect merely replication or reproduction, rather a reach for purity.