That's the Spot

Each month during the summer and fall, testosterone-driven awesomeness takes over Gary’s Spot (14083 FM 2920) in Tomball at “Blood, Sweat and Beers.”

Gary’s Spot is a suburban mega-bar (think Scout Bar, 18307 Egret Bay, Clear Lake) that was opened by Gary Crawford in 2005. It’s big and dark, and there’s a decent-size stage inside that hosts near 80 (!) bands a month. The venue looks and feels exactly like a bar-that-used-to-be-a-strip-center-church should look and feel, complete with pool tables, dart boards, big bar, industrial carpet and stripper pole.

“Blood, Sweat and Beers” is a several-hours-long event that includes live music, food and drink, and some type of gnarly entertainment that happens between music performances, ranging from mixed-martial-arts exhibition matches to motorcycle stunt shows.

The event is a nice little microcosm of the general “Pro-Fun; Anti-Evil” ambience that encapsulates the venue and its customers.

“If I feel like going somewhere and drinking and being left the fuck alone, I go somewhere else,” says Jeremy Elliston, who’s been visiting Gary’s the past year or so despite living in The Woodlands. “If I wanna have fun, then I come here.”

How’s that?

“It’s the type of place where you’ll usually walk out saying, ‘I can’t believe I just saw that.'”

He has a point.

At tonight’s BS&B, for instance, the final mixed-martial-arts exhibition match sees Rocky Long, an otherwise sane, normal fellow — or, at least as sane and normal as a four-time MMA featherweight champion can be — charge his opponent before the final round begins for no apparent reason.

The referee, who is checking to make sure the extra few seconds Long’s opponent, Tank Ramirez, took to get up at the end of the last round weren’t caused by anything more than him just being dog tired, is not one to be trifled with, though, and attempts a double-leg takedown of Long. This prompts the corner men from each side to enter the cage to break up the melee.

The ref, deciding against a double-leg takedown of everyone, calls the match to a premature end, and Powderburn, the heavy metal band from Austin that’s headlining the bill, is summoned back onstage to finish the night off. But, since he’s a total stud, Ramirez asks to finish out the match rather than have it end in such an unsatisfactory manner. The ref ultimately allows it.

So now there are two guys in a cage (who, on account of it being an exhibition match, were possibly going half-speed before but look to be totally pissed at one another now), governed by the realest ref ever, in front of a now-electric crowd, all backed by a live, completely balls-out, blistering heavy metal soundtrack. It is super-intense.

Oh, and just for good measure, the two bikinied women who were serving as ring girls earlier in the evening are bouncing around onstage with the nutso band. And they’re showing their boobs. In…tense.

For all the bravado coursing through the place, though, the night ends without any lawlessness.

The band rounds out its set, all exposed body parts are holstered and the men in the cage shake hands and hug and congratulate one another on a very enjoyable exhibition of the intensity of their sport.

The crowd — mostly white, ages anywhere from 21 to 61 — filters back inside for the remainder of the night, and so goes another evening at Gary’s.

“It’s not about drinking or your age,” says owner Gary Crawford. “I don’t even drink. It’s about having a good time. ‘Pro-Fun; Anti-Evil.’ That’s our saying. It’s about being young at heart. That’s what we’re about.”

LAST CALL

The Meridian

Austin metal heads Powderburn were, without question, one of the more fun heavy metal bands we’ve taken in in these past few months. In addition to the group’s flash-inducing skills, it also covered both Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” and Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” almost flawlessly. Also, when we spoke to the members after their show, they weren’t doing that whole “I’m so dark and disturbed” d-bag act a lot of metal guys do post-performance. Check them out online at www.myspace.com/powderburn. It’s updated regularly with new shows, so keep an eye out for their upcoming Houston ones. Right now the next one is August’s DimeFest at The Meridian (1503 Chartres), but we heard that — fingers crossed — there just might be one before then.