Rising above Midtown is the impending Graduate Hotel with plans to open some time in December of this year. The hospitality chain has a reputation for concentrating on college towns and for building whimsical hotels with edgy decor. (As a Stanford grad, I’m none too pleased about this particular installation in their Berkeley property.) Peeing on my alma mater aside, the Graduate does have a fun sense of humor and tries to set itself apart from the crowded lodging market.
One way they intend to do that here in Nashville has been by engaging noted hospitality experts Marc Rose and Med Abrous to develop the restaurant and bar projects at the new property. They have already announced plans for a rooftop bar, because that is apparently now the law in Nashville, as well as a lobby cafe. But it was their latest addition that raised my eyebrow and made me think back to this article in the Scene a few years back, written by the inimitable Abby White.
Rose and Abrous have plans to open an animatronic karaoke bar named Cross-Eyed Critters Watering Hole. They promise that it will be an old-school karaoke bar on steroids, or perhaps more accurately on acid, with black velvet paintings of country music icons decorating the walls and a taco trailer on the outdoor patio to soak up some of the booze you’ll have to drink to work up the courage to sing with the band of critters.
Will we see a return of Billy Bob, Mitzi, Fatz and Looney Bird, like some sort of magical reunion of the Beatles like Lorne Michaels tried to arrange in the 1970’s? Nah, probably not. But it sure could be bizarre. Time to start practicing your rendition of “I am Woman.”
