Is it at all possible to find an independent coffee shop in downtown Kansas City that doesn’t have free wireless Internet access? Predictably, Starbucks charges for theirs, but it’s wide open just about everywhere else. If I want to support local coffeeshops, I have to contend with the lure of the Internet (or just leave the laptop at home); if I want to avoid that lure, I have to spend time with the Great Satan. So here I am at the Cup and Saucer, grading, and trying to avoid various online responsibilities.
I’m just stopping in, dear reader, to opine briefly on Atlanta’s Black Crowes. When I was a wee undergrad and local hack music writer, the Black Crowes were called Mr. Crowe’s Garden, and they were firmly part of the jangly southern bands on college radio crowd (see R.E.M., Let’s Active, the D.B.’s, and various Athens, GA: Inside/Out bands). Then they got a record deal, went into the studio, and came out a few months later with a new band name and sounding like a cross between early ’70s Rolling Stones and late ’70s Aerosmith. The cool thing to do, of course, was to lament how they had “sold out.” But I’ll let you in on a secret: I really like the Black Crowes. When you’re down in the dumps, crank up Shake Your Money Maker.
A-ha! Someone ELSE who remembers Mr. Crowe’s Garden. Shall we next reminisce about Drivin’ n’ Cryin’, Uncle Green and a whole host of others? That would be fun. :)
Can you access the free wireless connection at Broadway Cafe from the Starbucks a couple storefronts up from it? That would be so cool if you could.
City Market Coffee doesn’t have wifi. A fact that I am continually grateful for.
You know, a while back a friend and I were discussing bands from the 90s, and we kept coming back to the Black Crowes, ultimately deciding that they were going to be around for quite some time.
I’ll trade cities with you … I’d love free wireless everywhere. We have wireless at Starbucks, Borders, and pretty much nowhere else. Well, a few fast food joints, but seriously …
Drivin N Cryin still plays in Atlanta all the time. They were one of my favorite bands when I was an alienated suburban teenager in the late 1980s (and even an alienated college student after that). I saw them play, finally, about a year ago at the Star Bar in Little Five Points. Great show except for the annoying yuppies standing next to me.
For whatever reason, I didn’t know about the Black Crowes until they hit it big, but yeah, it’s a great CD.
Yes, KC has an unusual number of free Wifi spots. I didn’t know that the Broadway Cafe had it, too. And sometimes, I have found, City Market Coffee does has it.
JM, pop quiz: Uncle Green changed their name to…?
3lb thrill. try this one: 54th mile consisted of… ?
(that’s my best “stumper” question, so if you can answer it, you get major props. not that you don’t have them now!)
Ya got me. That doesn’t ring any bells, and I cannot answer without googling, which I presume would be cheating. But if any other commenters can answer…
Ha. It’s _really_ obscure, so obscure that Googling won’t help! The people involved went on to be stalwarts in the local scene. One of them gets my vote for Greatest Songwriter You’ve Never Heard Of, and another one gets my vote for Best Live Christmas Album Ever Recorded While Drunk.
“Best Live Christmas Album Ever Recorded While Drunk”
Michelle Malone?
Correct! :)