I have a writing friend, Alicia Dean, who I try to get together with on Thursdays to hit the happy hour at the Martini Lounge and then watch Vampire Diaries, it's always good to have someone to yell things with so I'm not just a crazy woman shouting at the TV screen all by myself. And we have decided if the writing gig quits working out we're going to open a vampire bar where, instead of sports on the TVs, there is Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Moonlight, and whatever else we can think of. We may need to move to New York to do this.There will be great cocktails. Bloodtinis and something called a Bite Me, I think, as well as a "make your own Bloody Mary" bar...
There will be a dress code, of course, because it's my bar and I need a place to wear my approximately 50 black cocktail dresses and these great new tall black boots I just bought....
I haven't quite decided on decor yet. We could go old skool vamp, lots of red and black...
Or sort of Sherlock Holmes Victorian pub...
Or over-the-top Versailles baroque (I really like this one! There could be Marie Antoinette theme nights)
I turned to Megan for help with planning the music (since she knows more about music than anyone else I know!) and these were her (tongue in cheek) suggestions:
Bela Lugosi's Dead--Bauhaus
Surf Bat--45 Grave
Release The Bats--Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Cemetery Without Crosses--Flesh Eaters (from Sex Diary of Mr. Vampire)
Sunglasses After Dark--Cramps
Dracula's Wedding--Andre 3000
Dragula--Rob Zombie
Surf Bat--45 Grave
Release The Bats--Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Cemetery Without Crosses--Flesh Eaters (from Sex Diary of Mr. Vampire)
Sunglasses After Dark--Cramps
Dracula's Wedding--Andre 3000
Dragula--Rob Zombie
I seem to have vampires on the brain these days, since I am planning to go to the Vampire Diaries convention at the end of the month! So excited--and watch for an article to appear soon after on the Heroes & Heartbreakers blog. (Admittedly, I will probably faint in the Ian Somerhalder Q&A session and will thus remember nothing afterward)
Now I need your help! This bar needs a good name--anyone have any suggestions? And if you could have any fantasy job you wanted what would it be?
(I also just got this review of The Shy Duchess, which should be on shelves--now...)
If you want to go for a Gothic /
ReplyDeleteEnglish Pub vibe what about
The Bulb of Garlic or
The Bat and Belfry or even
The Cloak and Fang
Alternatively, if you're thinking hip / urban may I humbly suggest
The Stake House
Bar Undead
The Coffin Lounge
I've clearly got too much time on my hands!!
Marguerite
I think Marguerite is great at the name game and can't come up with anything better. I'd go The Stake House though. Incredibly clever!!
ReplyDeleteI have had a lot of time to think about my dream job and luckily it is currently seeking applicants. It's as the public services librarian at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'd be in charge of children's story time (Pish Posh Said Hieronymus Bosch will be a must) and then lead the kids in a treasure hunt to find the paintings we just read about. I'd also get to do programming for teens, adults and seniors and I have an entire notebook full of ideas. So now I just need to wish and hope and pray that I get an interview.
I love the Versailles theme, and you WOULD have to move to NYC, wouldn't you? (snicker).
ReplyDeleteAs for the name--hm, Let Them Eat Blood? Will ponder. Glad the music suggestions helped--Mr. Frampton aided and assisted, too.
PS: I think you need to have beer too and I'm seeing a big run on Vlad's Impaler Ale.
ReplyDeleteLOL Marguerite! I do love the Bat and Belfry, but any of those would work beautifully. And LOL Rachel--I have never even heard if Vlad's Impaler Ale, but now I must go out and find some...
ReplyDelete"and you WOULD have to move to NYC, wouldn't you? (snicker)."
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure I would, Megan! :) I doubt a vamp bar would be very profitable around here...
Oh, Amanda....Vlad's Impaler Ale doesn't exist. It was a play on Pale Ale and Vlad the Impaler who is supposed to be the original Dracula. I was trying to be clever. Sorry to disappoint. I have a friend who's a brewer....maybe he could make it.
ReplyDeleteYes! Our idea seems to be taking wings...no pun intended. (A bat reference although modern vampires apparently don't do the bat thing) Don't forget we could serve red beer but we'd have to have a clever name for it. Uhm.... 'V-Brew' or 'Bloodeer' or 'Fangbrewsky' - Maybe not. We'll think of something.
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous you're going to the convention. Kidnap Ian for me and bring him back to Oklahoma.
By the way...congratulations on the new release and the wonderful review. I will have to nab a copy of that one soon. Sounds great.
ReplyDeleteLOL Rachel--even better, now I can get a micro brewery to make it especially for my bar. :))
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I think you should name your bar Bloody Mary's
ReplyDeleteRachel, good luck on this job. Talk about a dream job. I'll be rooting for you.
I vote for a steampunk theme. I always vote for a steampunk theme. (have you read Elizabeth Bear's New Amsterdam? Vampires and zeppelins, oh my!) Must admit, I do like Bloody Mary's as a name. Plus, I would totally drink Vlad Impaler Ale!!
ReplyDeleteDiane, thanks. It is an amazing job, but I'm still applying for more. I've made a decision recently....the Italians say "Life is what you make it." And although I really want the Met job I could be happy at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Baltimore, or Bryn Mawr. I really just want a job and I could make life whatever I want there. In reality I just want a job. It's always good to have dreams, but it's also good to know when you have to adapt your dreams.
ReplyDeleteSending positive energy your way, Rachel. Hope you get this job. You would definitely shine in it!
ReplyDeleteAmanda,
The review is richly deserved. I finished The Shy Duchess last night and I LOVED it. I adored Emily and the fact that this shy, uncertain lovely creature had poor Nicholas completely confused. What a sweet, wonderful love story!
Now the Dracula legend is something of a passion of mine. I mean to the point I climbed the 1462 steps to the top of the ruins of Poenari Castle just to stand where Vlad the Impaler might have stood as the Turks poured across the border after him.
So here are my suggestions for names for your vampire bar!
Poenari Potables
The Borgo Pass
Targoviste Tavern (It was to Targoviste, which served as the capital of the Wallachian Empire, that Vlad impaled a number of disloyal courtiers after inviting them to a feast! Nice guy, right?)
Very clever ladies! Bloody Mary's and Vlad the Impaler Ale had me snorting. Be glad we're not at a bar!
ReplyDeleteBloody Mary's it is! 9and we can have Tudor theme nights, too...) :)
ReplyDeleteJulie, thanks so much for the steampunk rec! I am always looking for new reads in thsi genre, it's become my new reading obsession.
Louisa, I am soooo happy you liked "Duchess"! (I get very nervous when people I know read my books). I loved Emily and the way she and Nicholas grew together. And I have a bit of a Dracula legend obsession myself--I am so jealous you were actually there!
I would go to a bar called "Fangs for the Memories". Nyuk.
ReplyDeleteI like the pub theme.
ReplyDeleteName for the place: THE ARTERY.
Lots of great and fun ideas in your post today. I'm sure you would do a great business if you did open such an establishment.