too many good memories & foul smells emanating from places unseen...alas! The poor old dear Abbey was not allowed a lifespan beyond 76 years...bastard health-care system! What, is this the "change" we hear about? More death to the beloved? Granted, I no longer attended Abbey shows as religiously as I had down for a decade, due to changing life priorities (read: leaving the life of a debauched bachelor)and because the quality of shows, to my mind, had declined. Nevertheless, the Abbey was wicked awesome, a great drunk hole for ancient townies that had briefly opened its doors in the early 70s to the folk scene and at one time had food. By the time my friends & I had made the Abbey ours, the staff was willing to take the closed-off storage room (former eating area) and allow a local band, Schnockered, to use as a practice space. Pretty soon, they started to allow in-house Schnockered shows, opening up the left side as a stage. The layout still included a small foyer that led left to the now open band room, or right, into the pub proper. Thus, you had for years, shows on the left & townies on the right. This allowed you to visit & check out a band without paying, unless they were good enough that you wanted to travel over. The front bathrooms were truly some of the utmost vile ones in existence in the Western world; there always seemed to be blood in the urinal or sink. Thus, it was better to use the 'hidden' bathrooms in the back hall by the other closed room, the old kitchen (where Z-Bar moved). The Abbey felt like family, with a close music & beer scene of good friends; so much that when Tom & Victoria moved from their old haunts in Allston, the Abbey was an amenity that they wanted nearby, which made it easy for Spitzz to play (in fact, more than once was equipment just rolled down the street). One of favorite memories, was the Halloween show of 2004 (I think...the 2nd Spitzz as Cramps show). The Abbey was packed beyond capacity with everyone in costume (even a 40s-style robot duel between Luke & Vu!), fake blood everwhere that spilled Schlitz was not. Mully & I had set up an awesome Halloween room for a post-party and grabbed a keg, just to be 'safe.' I left the show during the last show to tap the keg & sat on the stoop (gettin' stoopid @ Stoodio53) awaiting perhaps a few dozen folks. Nope, I saw an army exude out from the Abbey, in full costume, into the street...coming straight for my apartment. At least it was great!...Fast Foward: Sadly, the Abbey will remain in memories and photos, which makes me wonder why our resident Abbey photographer, Vu was not in attendance! Mully likewise was not to be seen! (granted, he stayed in Chicago for thanksgiving). Nevertheless, anyone who was part of that old crew, was there if they could, and it really felt like the best Irish wake possible. I will post photos once they are developed (yeah, I used film, like the old times)....
