Every Tuesday from 2 to around 6 pm Jeff & I rehearse at a studio run by Fatty Lumpkin’s drummer Uria Komerchero. It’s everything a good rehearsal space should be: well equipped, reasonably priced, unobtrusive noise-wise, a little skanky, and fully serviced by the Alabama Bar and Restaurant (Konevova 57, Prague 3 – formerly known as Restaurace U Anicky; the mapy.cz database is in dire need of updating).
Of the rehearsal spaces that Uria has managed, this one is by far the best. The first was very close to Shakespeare & Sons, in a large dank old brick cellar. The second was a tiny badly soundproofed space across the street from the current studio. The space we’re using now will hopefully be suitable for rehearsals for this spring’s poetry slam at Roxy NOD (I still have no idea what to call the event – I’m open to suggestions. So far I’ve received one from Fatty Lumpkin’s frontman Craig Nelson: APPETITE).
I really enjoy the nostalgia buzz I get walking along Konevova. In 1998, on my third visit to Prague, a techno-kitten ex-girlfriend introduced me to it on a psilocybin-enhanced midnight stroll. She called the entire stretch of Konevova and Husitska “Non-stop Street” because of its high concentration of 24/7 herna bars.
Later on, when I lived in Vinohrady, my girlfriend Jitka and I spent many a night on the Konevova-Husitska strip drinking and dining at various bars and restaurants, and dancing at Dream Mansion. Actually located on Husitska across from the arsehole-staffed Znama Firma, DM was a hip little underground club that became Studio, and is now a porn video kabinka dive.
Taking in a fair number of Fatty Lumpkin gigs at Alabama and rehearsing next door to the restaurant have rekindled my relationship with Non-stop Street over the last year. I still find the street’s exhausted grittiness and garish colours enchanting. Partying at the legendary Bunkr Rock Club after seeing Pearl Jam and dancing to house music for the first time ever at Roxy in 1996 was nothing compared to my initial experiences on Konevova. I’d even go so far as to say that my first walk along Non-stop Street was more incredible than my first house party on E.
Feb 16, 12:20 (Filed under: , Prague pubs, restaurants and cafes )
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