3622 Main Block Party #2, Tomorrow

This sounds pretty damn cool, I have to say… Over the past several years, the stretch of Main St. just on the border between Midtown & The Lands Beyond has become home to some of the neatest, most unique stores, eateries, & whatever else in this whole freaking city.

There’s the ever-excellent Sig’s Lagoon, the venerable Continental Club and its spinoffs, Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge & the Pachinko Hut, smooth-up-front, raw-in-back venue The Mink, the cool-sounding Tacos a Go-Go (which I swear I will try, one of these damn days), and more recently, there’s now neat new-ish shops My Flaming Heart and Shop-o-Rama, plus the latest addition, Natachee’s Supper’n Punch.

Simply put, in a far-flung city where the cool stuff is almost always so far apart it requires a car to visit, 3622 Main St. is a condensed, solid block of Cool.

Which is why it makes me happy to see that the folks running the show over there are throwing their second official Block Party this coming Saturday, November 13th. (BTW, the observant may’ve noticed that the Facebook invite originally said the party would be last weekend; thankfully, that was a mistake, and it’s since been rectified…)

And, naturally, there’s plenty to see, eat, hear, and do. Check the Website for the full details, but here’re a couple of the highlights:

• “Uncle Charlie” Hardwick will be having a bound-to-be-fascinating poster show at Sig’s from 6-11PM, showcasing his iconic poster designs. Check out the {29-95.com} story on the artist himself, too, right over here.
• Austinites The Ugly Beats will be playing that night at the Continental Club, along with fellow A-town-dwellers Amplified Heat & Modern Don Juans; I’ve heard good, good things about all three.
• Prior to the poster show, Sig’s will also have a book signing for Alan Govenar‘s new bio of Lightnin’ Hopkins, Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life in Blues, scheduled quite appropriately for the day of the man’s official state historical marker at the corner of Francis & Dowling. ‘Bout damn time.
• Over at Natachee’s, {Katie Stuckey} will be playing from 1-5PM; I’ve heard a little from her in the not-too-distant past and was pretty impressed, even though I’m hardly the biggest country fan around. And her backing band is pretty much comprised of the guys from {The Small Sounds}, whom I freaking love. (Not sure they’ll be with her for this show, though…)
• And possibly best (or at least most entertaining) of all, The Mink is playing host to Comedy Fight Club, which is reportedly “no holds barred” comedy, with heckling definitely encouraged. If you’ve ever wanted actual official sanction to harass a comic, well, here’s your chance.

There’s plenty more, of course, and lots of shopping & eating to be done, besides. Stop on by…