Beauty and the Beast

As far as I know, The Dakota Tavern has been a fixture at Dundas and Ossington for a long time. In the past, I've watched hard-living men congregate outside its door as I waited for the Ossington bus. They didn't really inspired me to venture inside. In recent years, it has come to the attention of a younger crowd as the long line-ups, especially during music festivals, can attest.

Sunday night, I clambered down the stairs to the basement entrance to finally check it out. If the place looked like a small dive bar, then The Dakota came to it honestly. Beer-barreled shape barstools, wood-panelling, faded posters, animal skulls, it was all there. The men's bathroom, however, was surprisingly clean. The clientele was a mixture of old and new, though the predominant feature is hipster with the women in chunky glasses or retro dresses and the men in beards or mustaches. Scattered through that crowd are a few grizzled men in their 50s, tattoed dudes with large African discs in the ears, and rockabillies sporting bouffant dos last seen on Lyle Lovett when he was married to Julia Roberts.

The band was The Beauties, playing the Dakota's main kind of music, bluegrass and country. They played toe-tapping music, augmented by the excellent sound mix. Larger music venues could take some lessons from this place. The band was very tight, keeping up its high-octane output thanks to the work of the drummer and bassist, as well as blistering solos from the keyboard and guitars. I enjoyed their music but it didn't really connect with me emotionally. Perhaps it's because country and rockabilly are not music I typically listen to. But I really enjoyed New Country Rehab a few weeks ago. I think maybe their expert playing that was a bit of a drawback. To my eyes, they looked like professional musicians who have played these songs for a long time.