Big Lug Review
Big Lug's opening was a roaring success, judging by the huge line of hairy men waiting on Avenue A when I light-weighted out of there at 1130PM. A regular JMG blogroll who's-who was on hand: Mark (The Mark Of Kane), Eric (We Like Sheep), Jeff (Cynically Optimistic), Paul (Habitat 67), Bryce (Plastic Music), Neil (Diary Of A Dandy) Foxy (Fox In The City), DJ Paul Ferrer (I Am Your DJ), Rod (Manhattan Offender), and probably a few more that I'm missing. The rest of the crowd spanned their late 20's - early 50's, mostly bears and cubs, with a few dykes and fag hags thrown in. Standing outside the bar, but never spotted inside, was this semi-famous actor, yakking on his cell and looking properly East Village-scruffy in his tattered hoody. (I'm also told that this pop star arrived shortly after I left. I'd have hung around longer if I'd known, Rich!)
The bar, a rectangular basement space under Tigerland, about the size and dimensions of Nowhere Bar, was comfortably packed inside, even with the big line outside, so my kudos go to the doorman for not overcrowding the joint beyond endurance (a more typical NYC opening night experience). Music volume was pretty reasonable too, also a nice change. I didn't catch the DJ's name, but he threw out an oddly compelling hodgepodge of oldies: Plastic Bertrand's Ça Plane Pour Moi, Nick Gilder's Hot Child In The City, Iggy Pop's Wild One, Bronski Beat's Why?, and Billy Idol's Eyes Without A Face, which inspired some '80s-video reenactments nearby me.
Memorable lines of the evening:
From an adorable baby dyke: "Yeah, see, the thing about FTMs is they were socialized as girls and hardly any of them are bottoms, and that really appeals to me."
From a fuzzy local: "I don't even know why I'm here. I can't have sex with this huge tear in my dick."
From a young Spaniard: "I've been growing this itchy beard for two whole weeks just for tonight. Why must we suffer for our beauty?"
Summary: I give Big Lug high marks overall and expect that it will do rather well in its unique East Village niche. It's too small a joint to seriously damage the business at the sprawling Eagle, but look for Big Lug's Saturday nights to be definite success. Tonight: DJs Paul & Damien inaugurate their Where's The Beef? electro party.
