2003-10-01 - 12:40 a.m.

Charlie�s, Shay�s, People�s Republik, and the Middle East when we saw Quasi. Cambridge Bukowski�s tonight, in honor of it�s greater, fallen brother (and, oddly enough, they were playing Quasi. Side note--when nobody knows what you�re talking about when you mention being psyched about a band, isn�t it so odd to hear one of their CDs in a bar?).

To wrap it up tonight, roll it up and savor it, the Roommate and I concluded our smoke ban tour by hitting the Abbey in Somerville, a bar that I cannot imagine not being smoke-filled, a bar whose staff is going to have to organize butt-break shifts �cause of a state law protecting them from cigarette smoke in the workplace, a bar that is going to lose its identity over this arrogant ban, and that will probably get shut down over neighbor complaints of unruliness due to the cavilcade of smokers lighting up on the bitterest of winter days; I had my last smoke in a bar at the Abbey.

We watched the Cubs win. I took a long last drag, and then a quick puff, and left the rest tilted and smoking in the ash tray, ready for someone else to finish. I never saw it get stubbed out.