Friday night and we were at loose ends. Friday has been our usual open mic and jam session but our venue, like many, decided to stop for the summer. There are still plenty during the week but attendance at the weekend ones fizzles in the nice weather. What to do, what to do?

So there is a pub and eatery nearby called The Burbs. It has been around for awhile and we know the guy who runs the open mic there but that's every second weekend now. It turns out, this week was Music Bingo. We decided to see how that worked. On the way there, I said, "For some reason, I always win at Bingo." I don't know why, but whenever I have played - and that's not often - I win. And sometimes it's several games in a row, and that's when I usually decide to leave before the dirty looks start.

So we walked into the bar and the waitress came to take our drink order and ask if we were playing. They had just started a game and our cards needed to be caught up. She took care of that and returned them to us.

Here's how it works. You get a bingo card with the usual B-I-N-G-O letters written over the 5 columns, but instead of numbers on it, there are song titles. The DJ calls out, "Under the I" just like regular bingo but then plays a song clip. If the song is on your card under the letter called, you mark it with an ink stamp. The first person to fill 2 lines wins. Then they use the same card to play for an X shape and the outside box of the card.

The songs were fairly new and we wondered how many we would recognize. Well, I guess they weren't that new because they were all from the '80s. The crowd was singing along and we joined in. We weren't certain but we think it was the first game.

I won!

That was fast - I think we were there 5 minutes. I wasn't kidding about the Bingo thing and my companion was suitably impressed. The DJ verified my card and I picked out a gift. Those are two beer glasses from a local microbrewery but the best part was inside.

I won a tour of
The Broadhead Brewing Company.

Oh, my. Samples. This could be hard to take. [grin]

Microbreweries are still a bit of a novelty to me since I came of age when only 10 brewing companies remained in Canada - and the largest 3 owned 96% of the market. I saw the birth of the microbreweries and, as they say, the rest is history since they do a booming business now. Anyway, when we take the tour, I will let you know all about it.

The game continued with the X shape on the card and then the square shape around the edges. Then it was time for a new card and, uh-oh, the music was from the '90s. We looked at each other. That was more of a struggle because we didn't know as many songs and had to really listen to deduce the song titles. Two weeks ago the songs were from the '60s and '70s - much easier.

We decided we would return but we still need to find another Friday open mic and jam. The food, drinks and service were all good at The Burbs and surprisingly there were some very unpub-like Thai dishes on the menu. I'm all for that.

References

The Burbs Pub and Eatery, Kanata
The Broadhead Brewing Company
Craft Brewing in Canada

Images

All photos from the iPad of @kansuze.

@kansuze