An Afternoon at Pub Frendi

Saturday morning was errand- and chore-filled. There are two gyms not too far from my apartment but also on the way to work and they have comparable prices, so I wanted to go check them out and see which one seemed like a better deal. First I did my homework for my Finnish class, then I had to do the gym browsing, then some grocery shopping. It was a bit chilly (yes, we've already got the autumn crispness here), but sunny, so I suggested that Kimmo go with me and then we could walk to the fancier grocery store together (Kimmo's mom sent gooseberries, and I made a pie with them!). To sweeten the deal (as Kimmo has no interest in ever entering a gym), I suggested we stop by Pub Frendi between the gym and the grocery store for an afternoon beer or cider. We had seen it before when walking around the neighborhood, and I was intrigued (it has a happy hour from 9am - 11am, which means it's either the best or the strangest bar in town). We certainly foresaw the likable-neighborhood-bar find, but we had no idea that we were in for a surprise concert.

So there we were, sitting down with our ciders, enjoying the quaintness and marveling at the unusually friendly service (for Finland), when another customer started playing an acoustic guitar. We thought he was quite good and the group he was with seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. It turns out that he was a famous rock star! His name is Kim Brown and he played in a british band called The Renegades, which was popular (especially in Finland and Scandinavia) in the 1960s. Their big hit was called "Cadillac" (youtube video below). It seems to be rock 'n' roll with heavy blues influences.


Apparently Kim Brown settled in Finland, but lost his voice to throat cancer in the 90s. Fortunately, he still has his abilities on the guitar. He played request after request for the crowd. And, like any decent beer-drinking crowd will do, people sang along as they could. When he played 'Johnny Be Good', a little old man piped up "Never did learn to read or write so well...he could play the guitar just like a bell." When he played 'Imagine', people closed their eyes and sang "But I'm not the only one..." Keep in mind that these are *Finnish* bar-goers, who most likely don't use english every day, but they still know about as many words to these songs as your average American. Here is a clip from when Brown was playing 'Imagine'. Notice how one dude sort of knows the words, but everyone joins in on that high 'yah-aa-aa-ah'.


It was great. Here is another short clip. The woman behind the bar is the very friendly bartender (who claimed that I can order a beer in *any* language at Pub Frendi, which prompted Kimmo to urge me to try it in Fulfulde), and the gray-haired bearded man who enters the scene and sits down is the one who knew the Johnny Be Good lyric I mentioned. The woman on the right who is mostly out of the frame was the most enthusiastic fan. She got up later to dance, and she was the one who came over to inform Kimmo and me that we were in the presence of a star.