Sex and Crime at Balliceaux

The Violent Professional. The Executioner. How to Kill a Judge. Loaded Guns. The Last Round. Italian cinema, sexy and crime-ridden, was the inspiration for the music played by Glows in the Dark at Balliceaux tonight. Perfect music for a full moon and perfectly done by a band with a penchant for movie music.

With the screen behind them showing clips of those movies and more, GitD's guitar/trombone/sax/drums/electric bass combo provided the coolest, the most vicious soundtrack to a montage of bare breasts, shaggy-haired men, car chases, aviator shades, struggling scantily-clad women and bad moustaches the 70s ever saw in Italy. It was completely awesome.

Using the original music as a launching point, the group romped through featured horns, sinuous bass lines and kinetic drumming that galloped along with the endless shoot-outs and sex. It was all they could do to keep up with the non-stop on-screen action.

And speaking of action (or maybe the full moon), I ran into a local photographer who wanted to rant about my former employer, Media General ("Tom Silvestri and Glen Proctor need to go!"), a Uruguayan who came to RVA via San Francisco, Denver and Chicago ("Richmond is the friendliest place I've ever seen") and another of the laid off masses ("A friend suggested stripping in the interim and it's paying the bills for now"), all of whom were eager to chat (at the very least).

My beverage of choice tonight was iced Corazon and I splurged on dessert (coconut cake key lime trifle) as a means of escaping conversation with a nearby and overly friendly bar sitter in a pink polo shirt. One of their new offerings, the dessert was the closest thing to a true trifle I've seen in a while and it got several admiring comments.

I told the Uruguayan that he was actually the second of his countrymen I'd met in RVA, having made the acquaintance of a charming winemaker last fall with whom I correspond, here. Without sharing his name, my new friend guessed not only which grape had impressed me, but which winemaker as well. We both got a good chuckle out of that ("We only have 13 wineries," he explained).

As for the charming guy I met as I was paying my bill, he complimented my haircut, asked probing questions about my job status and told me about what goes on in a place where guys, not girls, are removing their clothes to admiring comments and cold hard cash. We moved outside as our conversation continued, him asking for the best way to contact me for future conversation.

"You smell good, " he said.

"I don't wear any smell," I told him.

"Well, you've got something," he insisted.

I don't think it's me, so it must have been the effects of the full moon. That or he got all riled up watching so much sexy and violent Italian cinema with such magnificent music.

Let's just say it was that.