Apologies for my blogging hiatus, as I was reminiscing this weekend on my undergraduate times with my friends at Rutgers. Of course, there was plenty of debauchery Friday and Saturday night in New Brunswick, but Thursday here in Philadelphia was quite a night as well.

My roommates and some of our new friends headed out to the Festival Bar at the Hub (5th and Fairmont) to check out the opening night of the 2009 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, which runs September 4-19. The Festival appears to be a horde of artistic ventures, including dance, theater, improv, and visual arts, and the information book is over 70 pages long (pictures forthcoming).

Our crew headed on the Market-Frankford Line and made our way to what appeared to be a desolate area of cross streets and traffic lights. One of our members caught a glance of a banner directing us to the back of this small warehouse, and as we carefully trekked over, we saw the beginnings of the bar.

The bar was a more like a lounge with a dance floor, with fascinating art displays on the perimeter along with spectacularly upholstered couches and loveseats. The experience could be best described as entering a dada world.

It was a slow night overall being the opening night, but the word on the street says it becomes a poppin' dance club for the rest of the two week festival, especially on the weekends. As the description of the bar reads on its website, "It’s your once-a-year, ultra-hip-coutry-lodge-backwoods-Pennsylvania-taxidermy-antlers-yellowed-couch-doily-make-out-lounge."

I suppose the couches are for the "make-out-lounge" part - seems like I'll check it out next weekend then! In the words of our dadaist Frenchmen and women, "ooh, la la".