Best Can!

[Eric VB]

Overheard on another thread: "They have a great urinal though... "

 

So, what venues have you played that just have outstanding outhouses? Terrific toilets? Beautiful bathrooms? Wonderful WCs? Creative crappers? Well done washrooms?

 

Or maybe even the scary ones?

[Eric VB]

On the great urinal front, I always appreciated the trough-style urinal at the Cadieux Cafe. Nice and, uh, vintage. The best part? They'd fill it with ice cubes!

[zeronyne]

This is the bathroom that is situated between my home studio and home office:

 

http://www.rhee.net/house/albums/basement/normal_bathroom.jpg

 

And no, The Wife did not authorize the urinal...it was preexisting, as was the incredible steam shower (highly recommended). If there was a stove in the bar, I'd never leave the basement.

[Paul K]

I've never gigged there, but the loo at the Waldorf Astoria is spectacular. Truly is the best place to pee in NYC.

[saxofunk]

http://www.necgnet.com/sax/urinal.jpg

 

The loo-phonium:

http://www.yeodoug.com/resources/humor/loophonium.jpg

 

I'm not sure what part of this The Google is hitting, but every search I've done for sax toilet or sax urinal has hit this:

http://www.agilitynut.com/06/3/sax1.jpg

A fine use for a VW Beetle and an aluminum canoe, if I may say so. According to the site, it's 70ft high - a bit tall for anyone shorter than Paul Bunyan to hit.

 

Um, is this musically appropriate?

http://dcharti.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/riaabumwad.jpg

 

I swear I have seen pictures of a bathroom that had a wall of urinals made from saxophones, but I can't seem to find any photos... maybe it was at a Hard Rock Cafe, maybe it was a hoax many moons ago (get it - moon?) Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my wasted bandwidth.

 

Oh, and one more link for those in the market for a new terlet seat: Music related bathroom accessories

 

 

[Phil W]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/Unlimited_Edition_%28Can%29.jpg

 

 

Seriously guys. I really did think this was a thread about recommended albums by the great German group!

[The Bear Jew]

OK, I'll go (hahaha):

One of the worst bathrooms I have ever experienced was in a bar in Greenville, NC, called The Corner. The bar is practically on the East Carolina University campus, which means it is a college bar. And, if you're not aware, college bars usually make no concessions to ambiance or comfort--they tend to be large rooms with large bar counters and a lot of taps so that a lot of college students can get very drunk. This place was the epitome of the above concept. Well, we hit The Corner in mid-tour one year, and, after we checked in, we all wanted to "use the facilities" after a long van ride. We asked about the bathrooms, and we were pointed towards two doorless rooms... The rooms each featured a single toilet (sans seat) sitting in the middle of the room and a sink bolted to the wall. No toilet paper, no paper towels... and about 1/4 inch of some sort of murky liquid covered the entire floor in both rooms.

 

Needless to say, we went outside and emptied our bladders in the alley. It just seemed cleaner back there next to the dumpster.

 

One of the nicest club bathrooms I have ever experienced was at a place in Northwestern PA called The Back Room. It was all white tile and so incredibly spotless and clean-smelling, I thought the place was brand-new or that I had time-warped into a hospital or something. I complimented the bartender on the lovliness of the bathroom, and I found out the story. As it happened, the bathroom was always kept meticulously neat because the club owners had babies that they had to change in there. Consequently, they kept that bathroom stringently clean.

 

There's another club in southwestern Virginia with the funniest bathroom... you open the door, and walk up four steps to the throne, which actually looks a little like a throne, since it's about head-level. The walls are single sheets of wood paneling, and there are holes in it about every three feet or so. It's a pretty hilarious place to visit. It's kind of like a funhouse... with a toilet.

[Danzilla]

One of the worst I've had to use was probably at Leadbetters, a bar in Fells Point/Baltimore. Used to play there regularly, and REALLY hoped I was "regular" enough to go before I left home. Door barely closed; plumbing barely worked; not a dry seat in the house... so to speak. Makes me want to second Erik's alley comment; but I might have been mugged if I'd gone out back.

Second worst- the bathroom at Guitar Center.

 

A one-off bad exerience was at The Brooklyn Bridge. It was a hot summer night, and the toiletes were not working. So there were two FULL toilets festering in the heat. Not a pretty sight, nor smell. Our one singer was pregnant, and had to go a block away to use a bathroom at the Burger King... several times. My wife left the show early (stopping at BK along the way) and wouldn't go to see us there any more. Fortunately, they've moved location; maybe I'll convince here to go when we play there in June.

 

[Phil W]

link

 

 

"When Audrey Aspin's oversees relatives plan a sight-seeing trip to Hull, the first thing she recommends is the public toilets.

"They're all beautiful," says Audrey, after popping into the ladies' at the pier. "They're very well looked-after, and they're interesting buildings."

Long before The Deep (a local aquarium) drew tourists to the area, visitors from around the world were bringing their cameras to the city's famous loos."

 

 

[Rocky McDougall]

There is a bar in Mexico that has no restroom per se, there is a hole in the floor in one corner and everyone uses that. No walls, no curtains. Don't know where the hole leads to and I don't really want to know. They do have cheap drinks, and great live entertainment.

Rocky

[EddiePlaysBass]

That must have been a crappy venue ( if the only good remark to be made was about the loo ...

[mcbn]

There is a place in Beaver Creek, CO that has a 2-way mirror behind the bar. When you are standing at the urinals you are looking out at the people sitting there.

[kenfxj]

Radio City's men's room is bigger and nicer than my first apartment.

[JonathanD]

There is a place in town that was a house and is now a coffee house/restaurant. The made the large bathtub into a goldfish pond and painted all the walls with outdoor scenery. Its called the Runciple Spoon, on 7th street near its intersection with henderson I think. Also, the toilet wasn't cold. I have never played there because I dont play Indie music on an acoustic guitar.

 

And because all bas players wear tons of BLING I will remark on the following. I think I read about the golden toilet on this forum. Apparently there is a jeweler in Japan that lets you use their Golden Toilet if you spend X amount of money there.

 

 

[The Bear Jew]

This one goes under the "interesting" file, I guess.

 

One club here in Philly, called The Balcony, which is a smallish venue within the larger venue called The Trocadero (which used to be a burlesque house), has a cool feature in the men's room.

 

There are about 15-20 urinals in a row, and there is a small porthole above each urinal. Look into these small portholes, and you'll see a small black-and-white picture of a burlesque dancer in a suggestive pose. Of course, you'll hear a lot of the same jokes when people use that bathroom for the first time... "Hey, those pictures are a good idea... I was already holding it... so..."

 

Ahem.

 

Moving along...

[saxofunk]

OK, I'll play fair this time, I've used these:

 

Europe - how can we fail to mention the "Pissoir" - a tiled room with a drain trough around the perimiter. I b'lieve this experience was in Prague, but failed to take photos.

 

St. Louis, MO, USA - the Fox Theater. IIRC this neo-Byzantine building features a pool table and huge lounge chairs in the men's waiting area.

 

Texas Panhandle, I-40 - $7 Million rest area with playground, rubberized area around the playground looks like a giant version of the children's carpets with roads and street signs, mosaics in the restrooms of classic Route 66 themes, at least two bathrooms for each gender so no one has to go outside, and several computer-based interactive areas where one can study tornadoes or the great depression at length.

 

Oklahoma, I-40 - $7 rest area (well, that may be the attendant's wage). The westernmost rest area of OK was in line to be rehabbed a couple years ago, I hope it's complete now. The playground equipment was so old it had been outlawed by the time I was in grade school in the 70's. The men's room featured stainless steel prison-type fixtures with the urinal mounted at a height only 6'8" adults can appreciate. Pitty the tour bus that pulls up to this two-hole shack. At least they had hot coffee and free maps.