Dan and I stopped at Longhorn Barbecue last night on the way home for a drink and ended up staying for five hours. We got there at about 7:15, just shortly before they started charging a $7.00 but I’d have paid that in a minute for the evening we had. David Allen has really outdone himself. Recent remodeling has converted the once walled off bar into a huge “Duelin’ Ivoryz Saloon” and hotspot. They had 6 different gentlemen take turns in pairs doing separate sets of music spanning 5 decades and accommodating anyone who has ever turned on a radio. There were no breaks in sets due to the number of entertainers shifting in, making for a constant string of great music. Everyone…I mean it, everyone in the place was singing. I’ve never seen anything like it in our state, much less our little home town of Auburn. Twice the waitresses got up on the bar top and stage and danced a cheerleader style version of the “Coyote Ugly” bar scene. The musicians made sure there were no children in the place before they lead up “Why don’t we get drunk and screw” and incited the crowd to sing on nearly every song by having the guys do their part and then the chicks, of course. They did classics like “Oh Donna” from Ritchie Valens, “The Piano Man” by Billy Joel, Otis Redding’s “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”, Frank Sinatra, Carole King and Bette Midler. We also heard AC/DC, Def Leopard, Eagles, Elton John and the list went on and on. David Allen himself rocked out on the drums half a dozen times and he can keep up with the best of them! It was loud, funny, sometimes raunchy and TOTALLY entertaining. I expected a quiet evening with the tinkling keys of a tame piano, boy was I wrong. It was hot and David Allen’s got a hit on his hands, it’s the kind of bar we’ve been talking about for years.

Pass this on to everyone you know in and out of town and get down there and support his new venture, you’ll have a blast!!!

--J.P.