Counterpoint San Diego

Seems no matter the years gone by, I remain startled as regards the poignancy of the inflection points surrounding the coming and going of the humans for whom we choose to care into and from our orbits. This is a sharp one for me. Ben is taking leave of CP, and here’s something true: it will never, ever be the same for me. I’ve some things to say about the man, and I hope you’ll hear them. I’ve known Ben Marquart much longer than I’ve known Counterpoint. I could describe in d...elightful detail our highs and lows - both in the extreme, and each one chosen objects of pride, for me - but I’ll contain myself to one glittering truth in my heart that transcends all other vignettes of our personal history, and let your own memories and experiences and these few snapshots speak to you further, or in relevance. I’ll never forget, long as I live, Ben and I working first night at CP. neither of us knew what the fuck we were doing - I still don’t - and we were frazzled and anxious and stressed and there’s no fucking way we poured a glass of water that met with satisfaction. But we ground it out. And we kept going. More than a decade, Benjamin, and we rocked what we were able, and grinned hard grins and gutted it out when we couldn’t. Hugging or swinging, brother - and all proper friends do both - I have and do and always will love you with what passion is available to me. And intended or otherwise, I’ve always been able to access the warmth of yours for me. It’s insane to me to think of this place without you. And, truth is, I don’t have to, and won’t. Your soul is inscribed indelibly in this place, and in my heart as well. None of us knows what’s next for us ... but I can tell you this: as you’ve been for me so shall I be for you: present, available, ready, unwavering. Your friendship is and always has been a living breathing thing for me. I can only hope to provide for you in return, something resembling the same. Semper Fidelis, motherfucker, from my heart. Here’s to us, and fuck everyone else. I love you longtime. And for the rest of you: Ben’s last day is Thursday ... give the boy some love. No one has earned more. #cpordie #somebodyelsesmom #loveyoubrother See more

It would appear, standing witness to the simple truth that baby Jesus lends special grace to fools and drunks (we qualify both counts, an embarrassment of grace, really), we’ve put a bit into the mouth of this horrendous fucking weather. While we can’t properly claim any sense of innovation, we can claim we like to party. Comfortably. So we reached back into the annals of history, er, college drinking, and put some lipstick on it. We felt a Covid World wouldn’t like to drink ...out of a community trash can, and these fascists in charge won’t even allow the purchase of proper Everclear, so, in the words of the Love of our Life - sweet Michelle Obama, obviously - we went high: Melon Ball Cocktails. That’s right. Pictured, frozen watermelon balls steeped in mezcal, coconut, lime. Thoughtfully packaged in a to go lid, with a cup built right in - with our fucking name on it. We also have vodka/cantaloupe and gin/honeydew. Come down here ... it beats the heat, and you’ll smile the afternoon entire, we’re positive of it. #cpordie #melonballcocktails #thatsashyjerkref #goldenhill See more

No titty or shoe money. Embarrassingly, these are new descriptors to us, and what’s worse, we’ve not even considered addressing it/them as a potential hazard. For which we apologize profusely. You deserve better. We beg your patience. Also ... no fucking titty or shoe money. Better late to the party than not at all. It’s a rule people. Get behind it. Hope to see you this weekend for a very reserved, very safe, very sunny patio session ... happy Friday. It’s still Friday, goes away only with our heartbeat, let’s make the most of it. We’re here. #cp #goldenhill #shoelessgreendollars #vaguesportsingref #icouldgoallday

Were you to see us, collectively, right now, you’d understand immediately that what was in your field of vision is a perfect analog to the palpable sense of stark naked pride and self-appreciation one might see, say, on my son’s face that time he walked pantless into my living room full of guests and hollered smilingly across the crowded room daddy, I pooped AND flushed. Same. Just same. We ordered some things, we called some people and asked them to print some things and ...send them to us and then we mixed some alcoholic shit up and put those things in the things we ordered and then we wrote on the printed things what we put in there and ... well, easily, you get it. We didn’t do anything. We were more expediting than doing. But expediters deserve a pat on the back too and we’re really fucking stoked about this addition to our takeout program (it seems irresponsible not to capitalize that ... is it even a program if we don’t?) and we hope you like them too. In the midst of this season of impossible content, bottles and labels and caps make us nominally as happy as the glories contained therein. These are soft pitches, we’ve got a long ball coming up we’re slightly turned on by, but in good time. Meanwhile, content yourselves with a cocktail in the park, and the simple fact that I just used a sport metaphor and that’s fucking funny in and of itself. Happy Saturday people ... make good decisions ... and leave reason out of it. Reason is and ought to be a slave to passion, and so it is here with us, at all times, at all costs. Watch this. #neverhadonelesson #cpordie #togo #benhasthenicesthandwriting #andthecoolestchaps #youdontevenknow See more

Sometimes you’re just standing around, as you (a royal you/we, we’re wearing clogs) do, and someone you really, really, really like walks up and smiles and says something like well this just got real, my company shit the bed entirely and isn’t hiring me back, and you stare at him for a minute and then you all blurt out at once uh, you’re hired. Life moves pretty fast, but it seems if you just stay out of the fucking way all the square pegs go in all the square holes. Meet... Teddy. We fucking love him, and we’ll kiss your ass in a public place and give you an hour to gather a crowd if you don’t too. He’s a great bartender, mediocre story teller, about as much fun as no underwear on a humid late summer day in, like, Indiana or some shit, fucking horrible guitar player, has an awful voice you can’t hear unless you’re standing directly in front of him, but he’s nice. Like, nice-nice. Which is all we are all about. Welcome, Theodore ... you recommend yourself perfectly. Can’t wait homie. Have the bugler sound the charge. #cp #watchthis #someonesacreep #square #godspocket See more

No titty or shoe money. Embarrassingly, these are new descriptors to us, and what’s worse, we’ve not even considered addressing it/them as a potential hazard. For which we apologize profusely. You deserve better. We beg your patience. Also ... no fucking titty or shoe money. Better late to the party than not at all. It’s a rule people. Get behind it. Hope to see you this weekend for a very reserved, very safe, very sunny patio session ... happy Friday. It’s still Friday, goes away only with our heartbeat, let’s make the most of it. We’re here. #cp #goldenhill #shoelessgreendollars #vaguesportsingref #icouldgoallday

Welp, here we are (again) ... and we can’t say we disagree; no amount of time with our people is worth the risk these current circumstances have for baggage. So for now, we’d be so pleased to have you on our patio-with-a-sneak-bay view - past-the-Shell-station (it’s a sweet fucking Shell station, too, if we can neighbor brag a bit), and, of course, take out, touch less now at Counterpoint. Towards which end, take out, we’ve smoked a fair amount of very legal marijuana cigare...ttes in concerted effort towards creativity for these strange times, and can’t wait to roll them out ... as soon as the weed wears off. Stay safe please, and for fucks sake wear a mask. If you hadn’t noticed, there are entire countries who have all but eradicated this asshole of a virus ... I’m no doctor, nor was I there, but I don’t think they did so by sitting on their asses whining but, freedom, in the face of, you know, a contagion. Turns out, they’re contagious. There’s a huuuuge hint right there in the word. Masks ... Distance ... Hand washing ...Back in the high life again. #cp #bayshellviewpatio #science See more

Bay view patios don’t seat themselves people. Even if they’re merely a sliver looking past a fucking Shell station ... it’s Friday, and it’s what we’ve got ... grab your face mask and come down here and smile at us from behind it ... we’ll smile right back, and just like that it’ll be summer for all of us. Happy Friday, people ... come down here. #cpordie #goldenhill #letsletthesunshinedownonustogether

Weekly Covid testing ... apparently the new normal involves getting fucking stuck a lot. Thanks @jwpsandiego for the on-site testing for the boys ... #ferda #negativeneverfeltsopositive #cpordie

Well, here we are. Can’t tell from this picture, or we can’t, anyway, but we’re gonna turn the lights on in this place tomorrow and open these doors as wide as our hearts and - hopefully - enjoy the warmth comes only of friendly faces, known and missed both. These cats have been working themselves ragged these past two weeks, pushing tirelessly to find ways to make the new ways palatable, if not invisible. I am proud of them, as human beings, even more so that I get to call t...hem friends. There’s zero back in any of them, and that’s no bullshit. I’ve been watching them all step up to the table these past weeks, and while this feels a bit heavy handed, purple if that can be applied to using quotes, this one struck me last night while we were all having an end of (very long) day, one where the lights at the end of the tunnel were near and bright and these guys faces were smiling and happy ... in the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me and invincible summer ... I couldn’t possibly imagine more appropriate words for these men. They are in fact the boys of summer, and they have wild and relentless and durable hearts, and I hope you come bask in the warmth of their smiles tomorrow, the next day, or when you’re possessed of the time and inclination. We can’t wait to open the ball, be with our people once more. The world is different now, and not altogether in good or comfortable ways. But light is shining now into dark places, and still the warmth and love between human beings exists, needs to exist in hot and unfettered terms, and that’s a deep pool we’re chomping at the bit to plunge into; all we need is you. We hope very much to see you soon; in the meantime, we’ll be here, laughing, telling stories, not being held back by truth one iota if it can lead us to a belly laugh. #neverhadonelesson #cpordie #babysteps #georgewasheretoo See more

Turns out there’s a text limit on IG, and I remain disinterested in general as ravers computering. It occurs to me I ought to take the hint, but it vexes me not to finish what I start, so here’s the last part of our earlier post, which is, sadly, the fucking point ... ... morally putrid behavior of the politicians whose ill formed and adolescent noise we seem unable to escape. We can and should be together in spirit. Especially when we disagree. That’s how we find ways to em...erge from this clusterfuck better, stronger, and give to those lives lost or ruined some small measure of purpose, dignity. That is in our hands. I don’t believe it should be taken lightly, I believe it to be a matter of powerful human respect and obligation. Service. If there is anger at the decision, its only reasonable expression is at the polls. I don’t believe it’s fair or reasonable to attack anyone for simply doing that which we would perhaps not, but that is, in fact, allowed. In the time honored words of Leon Phelps, that’s disgusting. So vote (not even remotely embarrassed to plug that), and join all of us in high hopes the next two weeks bring to us unimpeachable information about the next steps down this darkened corridor absent direction and anything approaching certainty, that we might be flexible and resilient enough to pivot towards things new, and better, and not scary but different, and enjoy together the sunshine comes with being free from trouble. We can’t fucking wait to see you. To feel the space of which we have been custodians for a decade be given life once more, and all the good things come with it. Be safe, be fucking nice - take care of each other. We are literally what we’ve got. And I suspect we’re going to need every bit of each of us to get to the other side. No hashtags.

*This is a long one. Even for me. Not particularly funny, intelligent, or well written. But I believe it to be true, and I hope you’ll give it a couple of minutes and make your own decision. Meant only as a thought, my two cents, likely worth less than that. * We gonna flex right and hold fast on opening. Keep working towards building and executing a take out program we can be proud to give to you. Towards implementing best safe practices in a way that is, if not invisible, t...hen certainly palatable. And we feel lucky as fuck to be able to make that choice. And towards that point, a word. A thought only, and only mine. None of us knows jack shit, but that approaching 100,000 American souls are no more, unknowable numbers of lives ruined, upended. But that this has been to say the least a challenging time. Frought with anxiety and fear, loneliness and uncertainty. For every heartbeat on this earth. We all have to commit to do the best we are able, work between the invisible iron wall that stands between what we want and what we can do (paraphrased stolen quote). And, we all have to leave room for the simple fact that we can’t know what circumstances others must navigate, what circumstances drive their decisions. And therefore judgement cannot be ours, only personal choice. Restaurants opening are doing so because they are allowed. We might choose differently, but we owe reason to those who do. We don’t know if they’ve been feeding themselves half so their children might eat. Worse, if they’ve had to ask their children to eat half so they might fucking survive. Sit with that. Christ, I’d open a popsicle stand in wintertime in northern Minnesota if it was to feed my son. Be careful, please, with one another. None of knows jack shit. Don’t be quick to judge - or malign through social media - the choices of others. This isn’t anarchy. This isn’t insult or greed or avarice. This is human beings making choices they have been told they are allowed to make. Times are filled with challenge. Probably going to be uncomfortable for some time. But they’re exponentially more so if we suffer attacks from and upon one another. We do not have to mirror the culture and m

Given the initial roaring success of our new PSA Program, we’ve decided an encore is in order. You’re welcome in advance of same. (Truthfully, Duggan packed the pipe one too many times last night and bombed all of us with soooo many gems just like this one we collectively found ourselves in need of new pairs of pants.) Anyway, here you go: Unless you’re Freddie Mercury , shave the fucking ‘stache, you can’t pull it off and they should have sent the memo that the ‘stache died with Freddie. RIP both. That’s it. There you go. Mind your manners, please don’t slouch. You’ll lose favor. No one likes a sloucher. #butdefinitelykeepthehair #thatshowyouqualifyforavanwithnowindows #cpordie #neverhadonelesson #veryfuckable #noweinerswereusedinanyfashionforthispost #shutdownbutdefinitelynotout

Closed we may be, quarantined and isolated, as per instruction from @camfomby, the boy still gets his daily bread. Our watch schedule has been written, and we’ll all happily stand our posts at our turn, pour the boy a beer, give and take some cheer to and from the moment, while we wait for the fullness of time to work it’s solvent wonders, and bright blue skies’ return, as they must, as they always do, as they surely will. Be together, people, especially at these directed and responsible distances. #thankyoudave

In a blinding fit of Tuesdayness - not a capella but accompanied loudly by the grain and the grape - this monstrosity of a light was cleaned. It was not simple, but complicated. Delicate. Particularly involved, and no without risk. It’s cool though, we’re fine. Filled and somewhat thick with aforementioned grain and whatever the fuck we said, but fine. The thing is ... the light is clean as a whistle. Proverbially. You should come check it out. We’d love to hear about your own Tuesdayness. It’s a new year. Let’s hear some stories. Tell some lies. It’s how fucking stories are made, which we are all the way into ... stories. #whynot? #cpordie #gratis #neverhadonelesson #comeforthedrinksstayforthenonsense #wedontknoweither #itsfuntowritestupidshit #comedownhere #fothelight #ITSCLEAN #(thelightwemean) #bringusaweekendwerereadyalready

Well, the season is upon us ... and by us, we mean Us Gintlepeople. And being a Gintleperson means nothing if not attaining and acting upon the certain notion that no matter your station in life, there are those less fortunate. Toward that end, our (very) good friends @juniperogin are stepping in with a food drive upon which we can all jump. If you do but one thing this holiday season, take a moment and grab some canned goods and stop in to see us. For our part, every person ...bringing in 10 cans for the food drive gets a CP (Junipero) Gin & Tonic put in their hand. If nothing else we can poke fun of these good folks from @juniperogin for not bringing a bigger barrel. We’re certain it would be a very happily received chirp. Be a Gintleperson. Come down here. #cpordie #helpinghandsarebigones #juniperoginorwaterplease #beagintleperson #ifwedontfillthebarrelbensaidhedbartendpantsless #wedtotallyholdhimtoitbutletajustfillthebarrel #hemightdoitanyway #HEHATESPANTSSOMUCH #butstillagintleman See more