Good call. OK, then I question Sue's liking of neighborhood bars as a category, until she qualifies the type of neighborhood.

I guess my typical neighborhood bars are unpretentious, probably pretty working class bars. But not necessarily dives.

I knew you were a Gus' Pub regular!

I haven't been in eons! I loved the El Strado. Which was my neighborhod bar, and a huge dive until it burned down. (Which really, answers Jesse's question above.)

This is my local, Friar Tuck's, which falls somewhere on the midpoint between neighborhood and dive.

In yet another experiment to see whether TV viewers will pay for on-demand content, DirecTV announced Thursday that corporate siblings Fox and the FX channel will provide some of their programs via the satellite service up to two days before they actually air and a week after the actual broadcast. FX will offer The Shield, Rescue Me, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and 30 Days; Fox will offer 24 and Prison Break. DirecTV subscribers wishing to view the programs will have to pay $.99 - $2.99 to download them onto DirecTV digital recorders.

No fair.

I was at Divine Bar just last night and someone else was picking up the tab.

suhweeeeeet

How much lambic can one girl drink? lots and lots.

So they charged you nearly three thousand dollars, but didn't actually apply it to what you owed them? Wow, I think that's called "stealing".

I'm being glib. But that's quite a startling coincidence -- "Not only did we charge you a huge amount of money, but now we can't find it. Sorry!"

Can somebody explain the whole "dive bar" fad to me? For the longest time, I thought it was a bar where SCUBA fans hung out. What makes it a dive bar? What's cool about it?

At last! After all the computer, music, animal etc. stuff, finally something I can answer.

I think Mr. Jane's bar is probably the quintessential dive bar. Atmosphere comes strictly from the people. I suppose the tattiness of the place lends itself to that, but you're not going to be able to divine what sort of place it is by the look. No one group hangs out there either though, it's all a mix of neighborhood, hipsters, pretty people slumming it, college kids, professionals and professional drinkers. Does it have a dj, soundsystem, or band? Probably not a dive. Jukebox with a mix of newer stuff, oldies, country, obscure goodies etc? Probably a dive. Are the people wearing matching uniforms, t-shirts, nametags or are dressed in business casual? Not a dive. Whatever they rolled out of bed in? Dive.

While I wouldn't call it a new fad, I have noticed an increase in non-regulars and people who just stopped in, so maybe they're getting more noticed because they don't do covers and usually have pretty good drink prices.

A dive is Roadhouse. A neighborhood bar is Cheers.

Cheers is a tourist attraction.

Cheers is a tourist attraction.

Well, yes, but not on the show!

So, I'm sitting here pulling staples out of papers that have sat in my desk since 2003 for no particular reason. Whee!

A dive is Roadhouse.

See, I would think the live music would automatically preclude it from being a dive bar.

My dive bars have no bands.