Hey, it’s a work of art!
• August 21, 2015
For those unfortunate few following my On the Road summer sojourn, I must be the last vaguely hip Rochesterian to have discovered Lux Lounge at 666 South Avenue. My first encounter was revelatory. (Get it, 666, Chapter 13, New Testament.) Actually, my first encounter was revelatory.
Needing an entre on a soft summer’s Saturday night, I meekly asked three comely young women if I was “too old” for Lux:
ABSOLUTELY NOT. Lux is a NO JUDGEMENT ZONE. You can be a drag queen!
Not yet a drag queen, I nonetheless saw the light at Lux. Next destination, of course, photo op on the Phallic Chair!
As for more of what Lux is (besides Sanskrit रोचते ), hack writer that I am, I stole everything from the website and past articles.
Bartenders Gerry Lembke and Dan Ross fighting over jukebox selection
The Insider Magazine described the carnivalesque décor as “scary but kitsch.” Skulls, shrunken heads, extra large spiders, red walls, black ceilings wrought-iron (electric) chandeliers and horned red figures above the bar. In 2004 Kayla Zarby, also of the Insider, summed up the vibe: “funky, eclectic, with an ultrahip aftertaste.” On September 11, 2002 (ominous date no?), the City Magazine said opening night attracted a “flock of jaded, black-clad bohemians.”
Naturally, inhabitants include some Bukowskian antihero poetic barflys. As my summer of love has had some excursions into poesy–and because I want others to do the writing for me–the rest of the post is dedicated to haikus and poems written by actual Luxites.
D & C blogger groupies, Hoby Amityville Horror and Tootsie Dean
On movie night Wednesday, owner Karrie Laughton and I arranged a little impromptu poetry making event. (I played the fool, black clad with beige fedora, as the beatnik ghost of Jack Kerouac.) The scribes of Lux shone. It was deluxfull. I received far more poems than space allows, ranging from the comic to the cosmic to the profane to the Croatian (the poet says you must google translate her poem).
Vladamar Nabakav visits 666 South Avenue
Luxlita, lux of my life,
Fire of my loins.
My sin, my soul. Lux-lee-ta:
The tip of the tongue
Taking a trip of three steps
Down the palate
To tap, at three,
On the teeth.
Lux. Lee. Ta.
–Rochester, Summer 2015
Starving artist passing the fedora hat
David Kramer
Lux
The address is 666
With a hip, oddball mix
Where art is king
And the music makes you sing
Where drinks are cheap
And there are ample lays to reap
It’s a quick roam
Hence its my second home
–JDB-R 8/19/2015
Halcyon Days
Red umbrellas
Pic-nic benches,
Sometimes Hipsters,
Sometimes Wenches.
Sundays spent on
Summer days,
Crisp beers n’ burgers,
In a cigarette haze.
Evil address
Holy neighbor.
Heaven’s fun, but Lux
Is safer.
–Brandon Brooks
Too many haikus!
In the space between the
Shadows and in between the bricks,
Lies a spot between the worlds
Where conversations thick
We come to find the center,
The liminal space.
Where we find each other
And also find our face.
–Ian Warren
LUX HAIKU
PBRs are cheap!
Hooked up with someone
Last night
Now I got a rash.
–anonymous
And to think some people were watching a movie instead of writing their poems!
There is a spot
Between the light and dark
Between the day and night
Where a convent abuts
A den of iniquity
Where booze pours
And flames flicker
And lost souls drink
And come closer to heaven
In the twilight
Fiat Lux
–K
Pjesha O Lux-U (Croatian)
Pece David
Pjesmu Hoce
Pjesmu Na Hrvatskom
Hrvatskom na pjesmu
Pjesmu o lux-u
Ne tna David
Da ja pjesnik nigam
Nepocudno pokucstvo
Nepocudni ljudi
Yo je Lux
Dosta pisanja
Surseno
–Ch.B
Lux Haiku
Lux w/the red lights
Freaks Geeks Poets and In Betweens
Drink and be merry
–JDB-R 8/19/2015
LUX
Come expecting Lucifer,
Instead encounter angles of light.
What’s the difference,
Among the open & the bright?
–Chase-Everett
Lux is a place
Lux is a face
Where sexuality
Is in flux
Don’t wear you tux
Luminous ducks
Right on your crux
Back in space
Better know your place
–D.O.
The evening was to die for. Time to hang up my poetry!
Now She is Yours
She was my Lux
My Luxembourg
My Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
My Deluxe
My Deluxe Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
My Luxury
My Luxurious Delux Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
She was my light
– David Kramer
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