Bad Brains and Bad Bartenders

The other night I went to the Baghdad to see a live concert recording of the Bad Brains, 1982 at CBGBs. Jesus fucking Christ, it was awesome! I've never really been into them, knew someday I would (I'm like that, I hear something but I know that the time isn't right). It was a free show though and the Baghdad, an old cavernous theatre, serves beer. You really can't go wrong with that.
Anyhoo, HR took the stage and was just out of his mind. The guy had style, passion, and some dancing skills. He had a damned groove. Made me wish I wasn't 9 when it all went down. That I could have been old enough to experience it in all of the power and glory. I'll just have to be happy with my Crash Worship concert memories to drag out and flaunt if they ever become fashionable (eat shit, Jay. I know you've seen every band worth seeing on the planet, throughout time).
The place was packed and people were going nuts. Old punks were screaming along, and some cheese-dick sitting next to us was compelled to yell out, "BUP BUP!" every time they went into one of their reggae jams. I realized that I can like reggae watching them do it. They make it fun, knowing that it will inevitably blow up in your face like a cheap hand-grenade.
After I went with a friend to a bar over in Belmont. Awesome jukebox (Lou Reed's "Transformer," Slayer, Iron Maiden, Elton John, DI, Black Flag, and a whole slew of greats) and the pool was free. Plus it wasn't crowded, granted it was 11 PM on a Tuesday.
We settled in and had some beers, talked music, he was waiting for 'her' to come in. I asked who 'she' was and he said it was the girl that everyone would turn to look at. He wasn't happy that a lot of the girls in the bar were 'wookies.' I didn't see his POV on the girls. When I think wookie I think giant, hairy, heavily armed. The girls that were there were your typical SE Portland girls with their black hair, belts with metal rings in them, tattoos, patches and shit on their sweaters... not really my bag but I wasn't paying attention.
I went to buy a round with a debit card and the guy asked if I wanted to open a tab. I didn't know how long we'd be there so I said no. Went back, drank, played pool, listened to Black Sabbath. Friend bought a round, then an hour or so later I went to get another. It was about 12:30 and I hadn't planned on staying out this late (or getting quite this drunk) on a work night, but it was a good time so it kept rolling. No need to stop living in order to abide by a shitty unnatural schedule. I can pretty much sleep through work so I kept at it.
I ordered 2 more beers and the guy asked if I wanted to open a tab again. I said no, and he said, "Look if you're gonna drink some more you'd better open a tab cuz I'm not running this card again."
I was drunk and a little taken aback at his words. I looked around. The place wasn't and hadn't been busy. In fact, he had been watching some bullshit Sci-Fi crap on TV the whole time we were there. The nearest I could figure I had been cutting into his precious TV time by giving him a card that he had to spend 20-odd seconds processing.
I wasn't quick enough in the head to get wide or even ask what his problem was so I just gave him a one eyebrow up look, took my drinks and left.
It was a shame, really, cuz this was a great bar, and I know that using a card on $5 in beer is kinda lame, but Jesus, I couldn't shake the feeling that the guy was really just being a cunt.
So now I need to find another bar with a killer jukebox and free pool. The odds are on my side as this town has as many bars as it has strippers... roughly 300,000.