The Tavern at the End of the World

Today’s games are Serbia vs. Ghana at 10AM and Germany vs. Australia at the 2:30 start.

The Brit’s Picks: Stevie likes Serbia over Ghana, because, well, because, well… he had to pick one of them. More exciting is the prospect of seeing the methodical Germans overcome those that descended from criminals.

Drop in at 10AM today to see Argentina vs. Nigeria, directly followed byEngland vs. the USA in the match of the century at 2:30.

The Brit’s Picks: Ever the brit, Stevie abandons the land that cradled him for the past decade in favor of the redcoats, the long bloody history of Ireland be damned. The rest of the bar is pulling for the land of the free, hoping for at least a result. We’ve kicked the Brits around before, Stevie. Less exciting is his pick to see Argentina beat the Nigerians, who were to busy sending email scams in the offseason and are likely out of shape.

Today we’re showing South Africa vs. Mexico at 10AM followed by Uruguay vs. France at 2:3oPM.

The Brit’s Picks: Stevie, citing a recent bout of Francophobia expects Uruguay to top the frogmen, and picks Mexico to trounce South Africa on their home turf.

Ladies and gentlemen of the End of the World:

We’re pleased to announce the schedule of World Cup games at the End of the World:

Friday, June 11. 10AM: South Africa vs. Mexico / 2:30PM: Uruguay vs. France

Saturday, June 12. 10AM: Argentina vs. Nigeria / 2:30PM: England vs. USA.

Sunday, June 13. 10AM: Serbia vs. Ghana / 2:30PM Germany vs. Australia

Monday, June 14. 10AM: Japan vs. Cameroon / 2:30PM Italy vs. Paraguay.

Tuesday, June 15. 10AM: Ivory Coast vs. Portugal / 2:30PM Brazil vs. South Korea

Wednesday, June 16. 10AM: Spain vs. Switzerland / 2:30PM South Africa vs. Uruguay.

Thursday, June 17. 10AM: Greece vs. Nigeria / 2:30PM France vs. Mexico

Friday, June 18. 10AM: Slovenia vs. USA / 2:30PM England vs. Algeria

Saturday, June 19. 10AM: Ghana vs. Australia / 2:30PM Cameroon vs. Denmark

Sunday, June 20. 10AM: Italy vs. New Zealand / 2:30PM Brazil vs. Ivory Coast.

Monday, June 21. 10AM: Chile vs. Switzerland / 2:30PM Spain vs. Honduras

Tuesday, June 22. 10AM: France vs. South Africa & Mexico vs. Uruguay / 2:30PM Nigeria vs. South Korea & Greece vs. Argentina

Wednesday, June 23. 10AM: USA vs. Algeria & Slovenia vs. England / 2:30PM: Ghana vs. Germany & Australia vs. Serbia

Thursday, June 24. 10AM: Paraguay vs. New Zealand & Slovakia vs. Italy / 2:30PM Denmark vs. Japan & Cameroon vs. Netherlands.

Friday, June 25. 10AM: North Korea vs. Ivory Coast & Portugal vs. Brazil / 2:30PM: Switzerland vs. Honduras & Chile vs. Spain.

All games will be shown on our high-definition projection screen. In addition, we will be serving our brunch menu until 4PM daily through the close of the tournament.

Please note: We will not be showing any of the games that begin before 10AM. We’re open until 2AM every night, and at 7:30AM we are sleeping, not watching the World Cup.

Ever since the Quad City DJ’s took 1995 by storm with their hit, “boom boom boom let me hear you say heyo heyoooooo!” America has been searching for the heir to Rock and Roll. That search has ended.

The Darker Hues—equal parts Joe Boo, MoGAIN Yandow and drumme Scott Robot—will be playing the Back Room at the End of the World this evening at 10PM. Joe and Mogain will each present several solo tunes and sound experiments before jumping back to good old face-melting.

And hey, listen: the show is free. Our food is great, our beers are cheap, the bartenders are not only cool but they’re really awesome at 80’s music trivia. Just get down here, yo.

Dear Friends,

We wish to inform you that the Tavern at the End of the World we be closed on Sunday April 4th and Monday April 5th to allow our staff to be with their families for the holiday, and to complete some minor renovations to the bar.

We’ll be happy to see you again on Tuesday, April 6th between 11am and 2am.

Happy Easter,

The Website at the End of the World

The title, here, is not without significance. It’s a play on the words of Saint Patrick himself, taken from one of two letters that survive from the first half of the fifth century.

“I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: “The Voice of the Irish”. As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.

The wood of Foclut is the name of an ancient forest in Ireland, somewhere between County Mayo and County Sligo. It’s cold, wet—one can imagine what it would be like to work there as a slave in the 4th century. And that’s what he was, this mysterious St. Patrick, a slave captured from Roman Britain and forced to work in those woods from the age of sixteen until about twenty-two.

When we celebrate St. Patrick’s day, what do we celebrate? The cliche of painting your cheeks green and drinking from dawn till dawn is just that, mere cliche. What we’re really celebrating—with the life of St. Patrick as an appropos example—is that common history all Irish share. The history of Ireland has been long, difficult, and often times bloody. Recall centuries of subservience and slavery, or the great potato famine that sent so many of Ireland’s sons and daughters to foreign lands.  But through that long and difficult history there have been so many triumphs. From Joyce to Beckett, U2 to… well, U2 is a bad example.

We’ll be serving Corned Beef and Cabbage all day and night, quaffing Guinness by the bathtub, and listening to the Pogues full blast. And then, to top it all off, we’ve got Andrea Gillis playing the back room starting just aftern ten pm. That’s right: Andrea fucking Gillis.

So come, paint your cheeks green, raise a pint of the black stuff, and celebrate the history of a people and a nation, and this man called Patrick, a slave who escaped and return to banish the snakes from Ireland.

We’ve got a lot to tell you today:

1) Tonight the Summer Villains are playing the back room, and are set to release their new record, “Time for Crying in Hell,” after the show. They’ve played here a few times and we’re excited to have them back, and to hear the new jamz.

2) This Tuesday evening we have three bands on the bill… at 10pm we have the Bill Dwyer Band, at 10:45 Tom Baker (from the Dirty Truckers), and at 11:30 we’ll have Elias Carlston (from Triple Thick) & Yasmin Kuhn.

3) On Thursday we’ll host David Elohi, a local musician/scientist. You can check out his music here.

4) It would be appropriate to note that the baseball has begun in earnest, and thought it came as no great surprise, the Boston Red Sox trounced Northeastern 15-0, and beat Boston College by a much more respectable 6-1, the lone BC run coming off the bat of Spencer Payne. Kris Johnson gave up the run. We have no idea who he is. We look forward to next week’s doubleheader, when The Sox take on the Emerson Eagles and the Mass Art Constructivists.

5) We’ll be posting our St. Patrick’s day specials soon, so stay tuned. The kitchen will be open late, and we’ll be watching one of our favorite artists, Andrea Gillis, play the Back Room.

I first heard of St. Claire while she was busy giving an interview with the young WZBC DJ Gavin Frome, from the program Mass Avenue and Beyond, a show dedicated to the finer points of Boston’s local music scene. It was her song, The Simple Things that got me to pull over and crank it up.

Since then we’ve been looking forward to having St. Claire play live at the Back Room at the End of the World, and after one false start—originally she was to play with local artist Daniel Harris, but Daniel had to open for the Books and St. Claire—the whole band, mind you—came down with Swine Flu.

Daniel Harris played two weeks ago-if you missed it you can read about it here. Tonight, St. Claire is joined by my own personal Elliot Smith, James Robert Harkins aka This Building’s on Fire.

Oh, and btw… the show is proudly sponsored by Narragansett.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Go ahead: tune into your favorite sports radio station, surf through espn.com while you’re supposed to be writing an inter-office memo, check the Vegas line daily throughout the week. The information you’ll glean is NOTHING compared to what we’ve found out. Since you’re all coming down to watch the game with us on our high def projection screen, we’ll let you in on some secrets that are likely to affect your bets.

1) Quarterback Drew Brees is allergic to dairy, wheat, gluten and eggs. Advantage: Colts.

2) Colts Quaterback Peyton Manning donated over $8,000 to G.W. Bush. Advantage: Saints.

3) Quarterback Drew Brees was named Grand Marshall of the Krewe of Bacchus, some kind of New Orleans weirdo Mardigras cult. We’re not sure what they do, but we assume it has something to do with the fact that toilets flush counter-clockwise in Argentina. Advantage: Impossible to tell without consulting astrological charts.

4) The Indianapolis Colts football team was originally named the Dayton Triangles. Advantage: Euclidean Geometry.

5) One year the Saints opened the season 0-14. The fans started putting paper bags over their heads. This tradition is now followed around the League. Advantage: the Cleveland Browns.

6) The Indianapolis Colts were the first team to have Cheerleaders. Gimme a C. Advantage: Too many to list.

7) The game is being played in Miami. Nice weather, crappy food, shallow people. Advantage: Dan Marino.

Our prediction: Saints by 3.5.

We’ll be showing the game on the big screen, complete with a free buffet and irreverent musings of our staff, who will likely be calling for the blood of a Manning. Should Payton prove too mighty, Eli will do.

Summary: High-def Super Bowl, free appetizers, good beer, and a temporary suspension of our rule against yelling at the television.