Blue Haze of Doom

Sunday night, I met with some friends over at Chuy's. (Link to flashturbated web site mercifully omitted.) We were meeting with an out-of-town visitor, who was going to be sitting in with Guy Forsyth later that night. He was going to try to get us on the guest list.

Is this shaping up to be the perfect Austin evening or what?

The show was at Antone's and it started out great. They had plenty of tables out, there was room to dance and Shiner was on special. Guy was cooking. Best of all, the ceiling fans were churning, moving the air about, keeping the smoke to a tolerable level.

Then, midway through the first set, I started getting a headache and my eyes began stinging. I looked up and--oh oh!--they shut off the fans. The air was still and the club was filling with thick, hazy blue smoke.

We probably should have left, but our friend hadn't been on stage yet. When I asked the waitress if the fans could be turned back on, she said the smokers were complaining they were making the place too cold. I explained it was making me sick. Unfortunately, Austin clubs don't really care much for their non-smoking patrons.

So we waited it out, our friend finally went on, did two numbers, and kicked some rock-n-roll ass. Moments after he strummed the closing chord of his last song, the non-smoking half of our group was out the door and off for environs less smoky.

Up until last night, I had mixed feelings about extending the city's non-smoking ban to clubs. Not anymore. I now see clubs such as Antone's are not going to show consideration for their non-smoking guests unless it's legislated. Just as we needed laws to legislate access for the handicapped, we need to legislate access for non-smokers.

I've always been concerned that prohibiting smoking might hurt the business. Well, screw that. Regardless of whether it's due to toxic blue haze or a boarded up front door, the result is the same: I can't listen to music. On the other hand, maybe the non-smokers returning to the clubs would offset any losses.

Either way, I pretty much don't care. When a club such as Antone's can't do something so simple as run the fans, it's clear non-smokers won't breathe easy until an ordinance is in place.