My strangest rock experience of the year so far

Yeah, I know 2008 is young, so something will come along soon to make this experience not so strange. But for right now, seeing two local hipster bands, and a very un-hipsterish sports bar, right off of Glenwood South of all places, is number one on the list. I e-mailed a friend earlier in the day and told him what I was up to last night. He e-mailed back and said "have fun tonight on Glenwood South (never thought I would write something like that)." The bar is called Double Down. As far as I can tell, they don't have a Web site, but they're located right behind Mojos on Peace Street, near the Glenwood intersection. Unlike that storied street, whose neon bars cater mainly to monied businessmen and surgically enhanced hot-bodied babes. Double Down is a metal-lovin' sports bar. The type of place where people go strictly to shoot pool, watch the game and get drunk. The type of place that plays Bruce Dickinson's solo CD before the show (I'll admit, I had to ask who it was -- I was convinced it was Queensryche). The type of place where you really wouldn't expect to see Proof and Sir Arthur & the Royal Knights. I hadn't seen Proof before, but I liked their Afghan Whigs-meets-Fugazi sound. Jeramy from The Greatest Hits recently became their singer, so if anyone out there has seen them before, please let me know how you think the band has changed since he joined. Here's a video. Needless to say, this place didn't have much in the way of stage lighting.

Proof from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Sir Arthur took a few songs to warm up, but once they got going, they totally tore it up. And speaking of tore up, if certain folks out there can't remember much of the show last night, this video is for you.

Sir Arthur & the Royal Knights from Mann's World on Vimeo.