So today I headed out on my bike in search of a nice coffee shop to get some food, coffee, and simply to get out of the house. The plan was to go to this place called Little Red Bike Cafe. If you’ll notice from their website, they close at 2pm!? I have no idea what the deal is, but it seems that places, like cafes, in Portland and especially St John’s have really lame hours. Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and/or Tuesdays, and then the days they are open, they close mid-afternoon. It’s annoying. So, I was planning on going to the Little Red Bike Cafe, but didn’t leave the house until about 2pm, at which point they were closing. Arriving at my destination and finding it closed, I resolved to go across the street to the lesser, yet open, coffee shop called University Park Coffee.
As this was my first visit to University Park Coffee I was very susceptible to any and all perceptions the place was throwing at me. What did I walk away with? Wham!, Mr. Mister, Bonnie Tyler and a tasty grilled cheese sandwich. They were listening to XM Radio on a station called The Blend. Now perhaps they had chosen this station due to the clever name that correlates to the coffee business, or perhaps they really actually enjoyed setlist being played. Now I’m all for some good old Wham! or Mr. Mister here and there, but during the hour that I was there they played:
Careless Whisper by Wham!
Miss You Finally by Trademark
Kyrie by Mr. Mister
Lucky Star by Madonna
So Emotional by Whitney Houston
Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) by Phil Collins
Just You ‘N Me by Chicago
Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
I felt like I was in a Chinese karaoke bar. And yes, there were a few patrons singing along. Now, I’m really not trying to hate on any of this lineup individually. In fact, I have a good majority of the songs in my iTunes library. It’s just the collective whole that really threw me.