Don’t places have to have a Licence to play the radio?
I know what you mean Eva, i think the same - its nice to have a jukebox to provide a little background music.
The problem is that you can’t guarantee that the other Jukebox-users will have any taste. There’s nothing worse than having to listen to “Ferry Across the Mersey” ten times in a row just because some pissed scouse git has got all emotional.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by garius *
The problem is that you can’t guarantee that the other Jukebox-users will have any taste. There’s nothing worse than having to listen to “Ferry Across the Mersey” ten times in a row just because some pissed scouse git has got all emotional.
[QUOTE]
Well, that would be a new one for me, anyway…we are rather lacking in that sort of thing over here. Chicago is a great town for jazz, blues, and many other kinds of music, but I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of “Ferry Across the Mersey.”
Sometimes tackiness is a good thing, though, if one is in the proper frame of mind. Have you ever seen someone get really trashed and do “Stairway to Heaven” on air guitar?
I’ve been going to the massage society here for a term, I theoretically should be able to help. But I’d have to improvise a bit: the back massage we learnt involves too much oil and towel-wearing to be done in a pub:(
That’s all we were doing last time, when people started whining 
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*Originally posted by Eva Luna *
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See now thats just not fair…
And why the heck not? I’m told you guys are pretty heavy on the culture yourselves, what with all the museums and historical stuff and all, and not so bad in the music department, either. Not every city can be all things to all people!
(And of course, you’re welcome to visit Chicago, although I don’t recommend doing so between mid-December and late March unless you either enjoy frostbite, or have the constitution of a woolly mammoth.)
By way of clarification for Eva Luna and others, we Londoners see a Dopefest as an opportunity for intellectuals and people with an interest in social and cultural matters of the day to meet in convivial surroundings and participate in enjoyable, in-depth discussions pertaining to such matters. We enjoy the opportunity, not as frequently encountered as one might like in modern society, to explore in some depth issues of great national concern and weight and to provide stimulating discourse, possibly even of a philosophical and ruminative nature, which tones the mental constitution and typically leads to much good-natured debate a cerebral complexion, though not always solemn. It is possible that some of us occasionally partake of a modest beverage or two as the evening matures, but this fact should in no ways lead one to misconstrue the nature of the proposed gathering or its principle focus. Given this core curriculum of thoughtful views respectfully shared, with a view to cultivating a deeper appreciation of topical matters and issues facing modern society, it would be inimical to our purpose to be in the vicinity of one of these so-called ‘juke’ machines, which, notwithstanding their (probably transient) popularity among that more exhuberant faction of today’s young people, are vexatious to the spirit and, as the magistrates often report, have a tendency to promote somewhat raucous and uncouth public behaviour. However, if by common vote we wish to enjoy a little music before the evening is concluded, perhaps one of the ladies could be persuaded to recite for our pleasure and entertanment a verse or two from a favourite verse or hymn. I sure this would be most agreeable to all concerned.
Yeah, those photos from the last Dopefest looked so teribly cerebral, what with all the snogging (whatever that is - British-to-American translation, please?), et cetera.
Believe me, I can be geeky and intellectual with the best of them (says the girl who wrote a master’s thesis on bilingual education policy in the North Caucasus and its impact on ethnolinguistic identity)…but you can understand how a poor, unacculturated Yank might be led astray by the visual images, can you not?
ianzin: Applause! Clapclapclap! You got nearly through that with a straight face! Sorry, couldn’t resist. Personally I find the mix of geeky arguments with alcohol to be just perfect, but YMMV.
Let me demonstrate 
OK, I’ll be good. Here: http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/dictionary/ defines snog as ‘v. n. neck, mack, smooch’ which words only mean little to me, but I hope help you
As someone who is primarily a linguist by education, I’m pretty good at picking things like that up from context, especially with visual aids.
Thanks for the assist and the offer of assistance, in that order. 
You mean that that’s not what happens at a DopeFest? I thought it was a rather accurate portrayal. Maybe I’m going to the wrong events.
Those tend to be most of my pub conversations. Oh, speaking of geeky arguments combined with alcohol, I take it Shade, (and anyone else who happens to be in Cambridge on the 27th November), you’ll be up for some late afternoon/early evening beverages to be consumed at an appropriate location?
I can sing, but don’t expect a lot! I bake better.
Tir: Don’t fret your toothy little head – I was kidding about the lounge singer thing. But doesn’t this sound just like Vic?
I would love to add a listening round, but as 1) there’s no guarantee that the ambient noise level wouldn’t drown out any snippets I would play, and 2) I’d have to haul a boombox around all day, it ain’t gonna happen. Poo.
Eva Luna: “Ferry Across the Mersey” is a fine if slightly maudlin song made famous by scouser band Gerry and the Pacemakers (and later covered by other scouser band Frankie Goes to Hollywood). I’m sure one or more Dopers could be persuaded to sing a bit for you (moreso after a few pints); we could also throw in a few choruses of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” for good measure.
And I am reliably told I give excellent backrub, and am willing to demonstrate upon request (preferably upon the female of the species).
Fuck my browser. Prepare for a condensed version of the scintillating wit in my swallowed post :
Eva: OK. But after my last post I felt guilty enough to cater for the possibility that someone actually needed a translation. And it gave me the opportunity to comment that “Shouldn’t necking refer, at least preferentially, to love bites, etc, not just kissing?”
Angua: possibly the cerebral discourse was simply less photographed at the last dopefest you went to. But whichever way you cut it, that’s not all the happens
Thought so. I’ve started to trust the choosing of my friends to the spidey-sense that says weather or not people get geekier when drunk
That implies an innapropriate beverage, then? In that case, certainly.
Er… Well, if you feel that way inclined then
Shh!! Don’t say things like that around Tir!
Yes, that’s exactly what happened. The last BrumDope photos show lots of cerebral discourse
I do! I end up having conversations about important social issues, and physics. I can explain star formation whilst drunk.
Jolly good. It will be an inappropriate beverage - beer - lots and lots of beer. However, and I want to make this absolutely clear, I am not, under any circumstances going to the bar at the Pickerel and ordering beverages reminscent of cat’s urine and slime. I have a reputation to maintain there.
Shade - I’ll drop you an email closer to the date, and we can sort out times etc.
Another random hijack - Eva Luna, I was in my Polish class yesterday, and the subject of names, and what a name may mean/represent came up. We got to the name “Vanya”, and that in a lot of Eastern European literature, Vanya tends to be the name of the village idiot, buffoon, comic character. Was I correct in then pointing out that “Vanya” is actually a (feminine) Russian form of “Ian”? Or did I make that up, and ended up being beaten up in class for nothing?
I may regret this but… what?
I suspected so. My mental imagary is of Ford Prefect explaining the universe in the restaurant at the end of the universe
And I have a reputation as someone who can stand upright and not hug everything in the room, which I tend to lose when I allow someone to choose my drinks, especially if they use a phrase like ‘a real drink.’ I feel a compromise may have to be reached
Yep, email. I live 5 min walk from the Pickeral and don’t do anything on thursday evenings, so should be fairly simple
I thought it was an affectionate form of ‘Ivan’ but since Russian nicknames are a subject about which I perhaps know least, I’ll just wait for Eva.
Oh come on! I was very nice and asked politely! Wish I hadn’t said anything at all now [sub]you’re all going to make me sit in a corner at the dopefest and make me wear a No Sense Of Humour Hat, aren’t you?[/sub].
Don’t feel bad! I put a smilie face at the end and everything! Look at it from my point of view - how could I have made that sentance funny without it sounding like a dig at either Angua or you and paulbeserker?
Hey, that’s a good idea
You mean a Policeman’s helmet?
[sub]hopefully Brainfizz isn’t reading this thread…[/sub]
Fran, we’d never do anything like that to you. It’d be mean and nasty, and well, my evil streak isn’t that well developed yet. But I’m working on it.
As long as no one beats me up for the “Vanya”=“Ian” comment, everything will be fine. And whoever tries to beat me up for such a thing will be denied my baked goods.
And thish ish how a shtar ish formed. You get a big ball of gas and agitrate, sorry agerittae, aw fuck it, mix it up a bit. And then if you’re lucky everything goes KABOOM!!!, and we get a shtar.