Rocking Out at Arlene's Grocery

Going on about my recent post about the Anchor, I explained that sometimes it is hard to judge a venue by it’s front door. Arlene’s Grocery is another place that can fall into this category. This weekend we headed down to the Lower East Side to support some of Chris’ friends in a band playing at the venue. 

It turns out Arlene’s Grocery is exactly what it sounds like, a grocery store! Well, it used to be. Now it’s home to a bar and concert stage for garage rock and punk music alike. It was different from the Anchor in that it wasn’t really a hidden gem inside, but it certainly was a fun place to check out. Another worthy trait of mentioning? $3 drafts.. possibly the only $3 drafts I’ve ever seen in the city! So if you’re looking for cheap beer, Arlene’s grocery has you covered. 

The band line-up was $10 to get in, but covered all of the bands for the night. We ended up staying for two shows, including Chris’ friends’ band, The Holiday Electric and right after them, an Irish band called, Von Shakes. I’m much more of a pop, country, and alternative kind of music girl, but I really enjoyed the bands for the evening. The sound in the venue was great and so were both bands! Definitely make sure to check out their fan pages and check out some of their tunes. It was a lively crowd too, which always makes for a fun night. (Excuse my blurry cell picture!)

After the bands played we hung out with everyone, and picked up a couple of cds. All of the guys were really great and it was nice to meet some new people. We also ended up chatting with the Irish guys from the other band too. 

One thing I have really enjoyed about the city is the diversity and the variance of cultures that come and visit. Just last weekend we were out and spent the night talking to a group of Australian guys who were in America for the first time. It’s just such a cool experience to be able to chat and learn about each other’s lives on different continents and share some tips of your own as well. Whether it’s talking to people from far away lands or just people from different parts of the country there is such a diversity of backgrounds that come to add to the melting pot that is New York City.