Last night, we were all set up for a fabulous evening out. My girlfriend’s aunt and uncle got all dressed up and came up to San Francisco for an absinthe party.
We were all looking great, especially Sal and Beth (does anyone else see Telly Savalas and Bette Middler in that picture). We had been hyping up this party for a long time and I couldn’t wait to show my new yo-yo routine during the midnight cabaret.
We arrived at The Climate Theater at about 10:30 and headed straight to my favorite bartender to get our absinthe experience going. We introduced Shan’s family to the bartender and she gave us wonderful descriptions of the drinks she was going to serve. After about 5 minutes of planning, she was just about to pour our drinks, starting with mine.
As she tipped the bottle a light appeared on the drink. There was a police officer holding a flashlight, behind him were 5 more cops. I didn’t notice ’em come in, but as I looked through the doorway I could see several officers in the other rooms.
The officer spoke, “Miss, what do you have in the bottles?”.
“I’m uh, not the person to talk to.”
She walked past me and whispered, “Doc, you and your friends should probably leave.”
I went to the performers area to grab my doctors bag full of props. I must have looked really suspicious because of the officers stopped me outside and checked my bag.
The event was shut down, and I can’t find any info online. Obviously it’s still very recent.
I would imagine the raid had little to do with the presence of absinthe at the party, I think the main legal issue would be serving drinks without a license. The guests had nothing to worry about from the police, I’m not sure about the bartenders, but I would assume the only folks that will be affected by the raid would be the promoters. I’m sure they will get a huge fine and maybe confiscation of all their absinthe.
I’m heartbroken and concerned for my friends involved. The absinthe scene has been real good to me, lots of cool people and one of a kind experiences. I’m so bummed that this might be the end of the absinthe scene in the city. I’m also bummed that I didn’t even get a sip of that “330” last night and that I just ran out of Tabu two days ago.
I posted a performance on youtube from an absinthe party a few months ago. Here it is again… so I can relive that… man I’m gonna miss those parties.
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