After seeing the movie Swingers way too many times to count before moving out to LA, one of my first goals upon my arrival was to find The Dresden and hear Marty and Elaine sing Staying Alive.
It took me only a few days and I was on my way out to a new sparkling land called Los Feliz. When I arrived at the bar it was obvious that I was there a little early as the lounge was pretty empty, and Marty and Elaine were nowhere to be found. I hit the dining room and ordered up a bottle of wine and some fettucine alfredo.
Coming from the east coast, this place looked like some kind of classic Hollywood time capsule. The half moon booths that I’ve now gotten used to, the overly tacky white leather, and the I don’t know what they are wood bars that surround some of the tables.. ah but it was all new and fresh and that beats another Boston winter.
My food arrived pretty quickly, and it tasted just as heart attack inducing as any good plate of fettucine alfredo should. Dinner was fine, nothing really stood out, but I was pretty sure the focus here was on the other side of that wall, in the Dresden lounge area.
I tipped the waiter as well as any guy that just moved to LA with no job could, and carried my drink over to the lounge where I could hear a crowd starting to form. Before long Marty was hanging out at the bar and chatting with a few regulars, or other people like me that have seen him hit that drum fill in Staying Alive throughout their 20’s. Before long, Marty and Elaine were on the stage (well stage area) and playing old swing. Marty even asked me for a request, and as much as I wanted to be the asshole breaking his blue-hair-friendly early night set apart with my Staying Alive request, I requested Beyond The Sea, which they played right away.
Here’s something you may not know about Marty and Elaine if you have not seen them in person. Elaine fucking rocks. Seriously, in random songs, she will stand up and go apeshit on her electric organ, like Deep Purple apeshit, it is beyond nuts and right next to awesome.
Later in the night while doing my business in the men’s room, I meet up with Marty and we chat a bit, and you KNOW I slipped in my Staying Alive request and you KNOW he went right back out there and played it.
In the end I learned that Marty and Elaine are one of the best bands in LA, maybe I’m recalling that from blurred stiff drink ear booze goggles, but hey. Also, for the record I am not a fan of the song Staying Alive, that’s just what they play in the movie. I needed to clear that up. Anyway, go to the Dresden, famous people go there, my friend said he saw Vince Vaughn and Mandy Moore or someone there, yeah, that’s a reason to go, no? I saw Kiefer smoking a cigarette next door too. I dunno I’m done trying to convince you.
