The Last Bar In NYC

by Brian Michels

Thank heaven for New York City bartenders. They satisfy your boozy thirst in a strife-filled life, and a good one will listen to anything on your mind when no one else will. Our barman/narrator is one of the good ones. He’s been disposed under chins and elbows and cocktail napkins and ashtrays and spilled drinks for decades in New York City for countless drinkers willing to confess anything to a bar top. From one barstool to another, our barman’s raw and soulful voice delivers a metropolitan story of good times, struggle, regret, and salvation. A story put together with well-known real-life places, countless celebrity faces, and amazing characters only found in New York City. Maybe you live in New York or wondered about living there. Maybe you’ve dreamed of tending a bar or owning a bar or sitting in a bar in New York City. Maybe you’ve always wanted to meet a bartender from the prohibition era who pissed into Al Capone’s beer or a horse-betting Rabbi that can explain the world order or see Mickey Mantle fall down drunk with his face buried in a filthy barroom toilet. Maybe you’re interested in a wine and beer-stained, cigarette burned oak top metamorphism that will add some hardened experience to your teetotaler life. Or maybe you just have a tiny sadistic stripe, and you’d like to witness what a big city, countless smokes and lots of drugs, liquor, sex, and bearing witness to the eternal under the neon glare of Times Square can do to somebody, to anybody. From 1966 and his first job in a South Bronx bar at four years old opening cans of beer to shining shoes in bars across the Bronx to serving booze in iconic bars and restaurants all over Manhattan, our Barman spars with the life force of New York City for fifty years. Until last-call when he’s faced with an unforeseen betrayal, and left almost broke, without a plan and nearly a hollow man. That is until he learns to forgive and luckily realize that life without warning has just begun.

Genres: Fiction, New York, Contemporary, Family, Alcohol

248 pages, ebook

First published April 15, 2016

About the author

STORY
Reading sparks that low-key fire inside,
lurking close—
its heat rises, we’re out and in,
fully faded, bliss, adrift, far from the world's haze.
When those yarns that stitched us solid
fray and snap, strand by strand,
page slammed, done, flat in the lap,
echoes die where the chatter banged,
and life's raw blaze roars back cold.

Reviews

[Mischenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

To see this review and others, please visit www.readrantrockandroll.com

The Last Bar in NYC by Brian Michels is a novel memoir that reads like a wild and exciting adventure and takes the reader on an exploration of electrifying New York City nightlife. The writing style makes it a great read. The characters are so well described and the people and places are definitely intriguing.

I was really happy with the book. Even in the end, the drama, especially in closing with how everything evolved, remained interesting. This lifestyle almost seems surreal. My mom was a bartender for many years and I've heard some stories, certainly none as thrilling as these in this book. Welcome to NYC!

I'm looking forward to future books by this author. A big thanks to author Brian Michels for sharing a copy of the book. I'm so glad to have read it.

4****

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Who isn’t fascinated with dreams? They’re outrageous events in our lives, bewildering, terrifying, inspiring, and most often downright unbelievable. Try to get your head around the reality of a die-hard Yankee fan from the South Bronx with barely a High School diploma and a longtime ambition of being a bartender getting thrust into the limelight of the greatest wonderland sports bar in New York City. It was rocket fuel for delusions.”

I think the first thing I need to clear up about this book is that it might say “novel memoir” on the cover, but after plying the author with alcohol, cocaine, an Algerian hooker (the man has eclectic tastes what can I say?), and good conversation, he admitted that 99% of what you will read in this book is true.

So when I say that there will be a moment in time when Brian Michels is floating down the Hudson straddling a keg of beer, which fortunately is only a third full of beer so two thirds air, you will have to think to yourself, Is this the 1% or did THIS really happen.

I’m betting it really happened.

Or how about threesome; wait, I’m doing a headcount, foursome?

”It was like a wind channel opened directly into my chest and every mad, naughty, festal and fiendish spirit in the club was pouring into me. It went on like that for a long time. When we finally rolled out of the place it was nearly noon. The party wasn’t over. We had one more bag of coke and after stopping in the bodega near our apartment for a quart of orange juice I was in Rosario’s bedroom with her and her two girlfriends and the four of us were rolling, moaning, licking, sucking and fucking. When the three of them had finally collapsed on the bed in an afternoon heap of tangled flesh, bumps, hair and exhausted smiles I managed to crawl out of the room and down the hall to my closet.”

One key thing I remember about the 1980s was dehydration.

The hedonistic, party days of that decade are hard to explain to those who weren’t there or to those who just logged another Beaver Cleaver decade. Cocaine was king. Excess was not only a way of life, but a philosophy. When kids these days talk about some party they were at, I listen to their giggling stories and think to myself... things have really calmed down.

It’s a good thing.

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney and Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis defined the overindulgent, unrestrained, money spending days of the 1980s. McInerney and Ellis obviously spent plenty of time in a bar, but I don’t think anyone has logged more time than Brian Michels in a bar. Now before you start to think, What a lush? Well, he is, but he also had a good excuse for being in a bar because he worked in them, and eventually he even owned a bar. The dream realized!

So, kid, you want to be a bartender?

Read this book.

There is a great section on reading body language. There are two things that irritate me about service in a bar or restaurant. One of them is an over attentive waiter, especially in the old days when I was trying to sprinkle my charm all over some long legged, beautiful, lust inspiring woman, only to be interrupted by a waiter trying to fill my water glass. The other annoying situation is an inattentive bartender or waiter. If I’m sitting at a bar or a table with an empty beer glass in front of me, the bartender/waiter is costing the establishment money. My body language at this point is easy to read.

Don’t make me raise my eyebrow more than once.

Michels does evolve out of his shallow, self-centered, 24/7 pleasure seeking existence when he began to realize that his actions had detrimental impacts on others. His reaction is to become a celibate monk, read books like a fiend, and find a deeper meaning to life. When you start reading too much, you start having dreams like this:

”It was an apparition of a one world corporate tower laid on its side like a jagged obelisk being slowly hoisted into an upright position with every common man entitled to one measly share of it and brutishly bound to work for it and the larger share of profit and dividend delivered to a crony hierarchy fueling their wicked dream of eliminating the human ability to decide what is needed, what should be bought and sold, what is right and wrong--all while quelling merit and the spectrum of free human emotions to white noise yearnings and lobotomizing the consequential boredom with the production and heavy handed use of the big corporate media.”

Now that you have depressed the hell out of me, Brian, could you mix me up another vodka martini, shaken not stirred?

Did someone mention the Central Banking System? Oh Zeus, here we go. Another product of reading too much is Brian started to realize how fucked up the world is and how difficult it is for the average Joe to find his sliver of the American dream. He can pontificate on this subject for hours with the proper combination of encouragement and libation.

I just escaped a real estate partnership which was painful and frustrating, so when Michels goes into his trials and tribulations with partners in a bar, I could relate. His circumstances were so bad I could feel better about mine. Of course, I didn’t learn. I’m now in a new partnership, owning a farm publication with even more partners. It is tragic how I can convince myself that different circumstances will somehow turn out differently. If you are thinking about grasping for the brass ring while having partners clinging to your pants and shoes, do read this book. You might proceed with more caution.

Spending so much time in upscale bars in New York, one will meet a lot of celebrities. To name a few who Michels encountered: Mickey Mantle, Scarlett Johansson, Muhammad Ali, the effervescent Zooey Deschanel, and Bill Murray. How we are in a bar after a few cocktails reveals more of our true nature, the part of ourselves that is hidden under the layers of our personas. Michels, in a few brushstrokes of his pen, reveals sides of these famous personalities you’ve never seen before.

Michels has had an interesting life. Reading this book was a nostalgic tour, but also inspired several cringes that evolved into shudders of recognition. There is unexpected depth to the book after you wade out of the shallow pool of self-absorption at the beginning of the book and drift into the more self-contemplative deeper waters further from shore.

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten

[Will Byrnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

New York City is a great town and everybody knows it. It’s a place of unparalleled opportunity and a proving ground, so much so it’s a cliché. As the old song goes, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” The thing no one likes to sing about is that New York is a town filled with thieves, pimps, cutthroats and cheats; guys and dolls dressed up in all sorts of threads with dark skills perpetually on the hunt for easy marks that are found on practically every corner.

I hold my liquor just fine, so long as there are only two bottles and neither hand is otherwise engaged. Alcohol has rarely had a significant place in my existence, which may seem a bit odd, coming as I do from a working class Bronx Irish Catholic family. (Clearly I am a disgrace to my heritage.) My first exposure was my father. A hard-working guy struggling to keep his wife and five kids fed while working a low end job for the railroad, and sometimes second jobs as well. He got paid on Thursday mornings, after his Wednesday night shift, very much as I do now in my low-end working class job, plus ça change. As often as not dad would arrive home after a stop at a watering hole near work, Penn Station (the old, beautiful one, not the piece of crap that bears the name today) in a bit of a state. In later years I would come to think of these as his Glass Menagerie mornings. On arriving home he would walk into the parental bedroom, pull open the third drawer in their five-drawer dresser, remove a repurposed Tums jar and, sitting on the adjacent bed, dump out the contents and then proceed to count the change he had collected there. He would mutter to himself while doing this. I was never able to actually make out what he was saying. Speaking to him was pointless. His bubble effectively screened out whatever lay outside his immediate thought process. The aroma of alcohol was distinct, accompanied by the unwelcome fragrance of el ropo cigar. Even to a very young kid, this seemed odd, and no doubt contributed to my general, although far from complete, distaste for alcohol.

Far more typical, I expect, was Brian Michels’ exposure as a kid, the one depicted in his roman à clef, The Last Bar in NYC, the one in which bars were part of everyday life, places that held appeal, both as a venue in which to grow from stripling to adult, and as a positive environment overall. Growing up in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, a little over and a mile south of where I grew up, and a bit more than a decade later, Michels got an early exposure to bar life. The first time I set foot inside a bar I couldn’t stand on my two feet too good. I was two years old…. He gained his footing right quick. We follow Michels’ character through a sequence of bar stages, from youth into young adulthood, and on through a lifetime of working the watering holes of New York. Local bars give way to shabby Lower East Side spots. Spritz in a bit of higher end club, take a chance on bar attached to a gambling parlor, toss in a twist of famous sports bar (maybe sneak in a Virgin Mary chaser at another frequented by a steady stream of professional ladies and a nun), top off with a place that definitely resides on the more upper-crust end of such things, and serve on a cork coaster rich with peaty perfume near the Holland Tunnel. On the house.

The first time I got drunk I was fifteen years old. A friend’s basement, a bunch of us. I bought a quart of Tropicana to go along with a pint of vodka. I had heard that it was a good idea to have some food while drinking to help hold it in, so I scarfed down a baloney hero. The results were predictable. Intoxication, the transport of considerable volumes of materials from the inside of my body past my gaping mouth to concrete surfaces, an inability to walk, accompanied, surprisingly, by an ability to run. A friend offered considerable quantities of black coffee, which definitely helped straighten me up, while following the same path from in to out that the other intake had blazed earlier. I walked home in pretty good shape by evening’s end, except for a bit of harshly torn cloth where my right knee had made sudden contact with an unyielding sidewalk. Asked if I had had a good time at the dance I was supposedly at, I said “yeah.” And when Mom asked how I had ripped my pants, I said that I had gotten into a fight, which was an acceptable excuse in those days. To this day, half a century later, the smell of a screwdriver still makes me gag. I did get drunk again, a few years later, on completely different forms of alcohol. Similar, and longer-lasting outcome. I don’t think I have ever gotten stinko since, although I may have approached it a time or two, having found a few such beverages that my palate does not immediately identify as piss or paint thinner.

I mention this bit of personal inebriate background to make the point that bars and I have never had a close relationship. So, what Michels reports here is pretty much all news to me, almost completely outside my experience, despite having grown up in a place and a circumstance not that far from the author’s. I can’t say that it gives me pangs of regret for experiences I did not share, but I do wish I had had more of a stomach for spirits and raucous establishments than I ever did. However, like, say, a Paul Raffaele book about cannibalism, there is quite a lot that is interesting in Michels’ tale from a voyeuristic perspective. Ah, so that’s what goes/went on in those places. If, like me, you have little or no clue about the scene in the sorts of Manhattan drinking establishments Michels describes, he has just opened a large window that you can either peek into (if you can see through the smoke) or climb through, depending, I guess, on how many drinks, or other substances (Yes, Virginia, there are many reports here of diverse, mood-altering, but non-alcoholic substances being consumed) you’ve just had.


Brian Michels - from his Twitter page

There are two elements to this novel/memoir, a look at diverse bars and clubs in NYC, primarily Manhattan, and the journey along that besotted path by our narrator. It is normally the case that when one is being led through an unfamiliar landscape, no matter how many rings it may have, it is advisable to have a relatable guide. Well, that might be a tough one here, given our Virgil’s pattern of substance abuse and what can be described, kindly, as a raucous life, both in the volume and variety of substances he consumes and the Dionysian carnival of flesh in which he was a frequent participant. Of course there will be some for whom this is mother’s milk. They are probably hung over or in rehab. While I am not interested in milquetoast sorts telling a tale, it was a challenge to relate here. But wait, there are other things that keep the tour guide’s spiel from dashing itself on the rocks. There are some wonderful scenes, and some beautiful writing. For example,

Daytime boozers scattered along that bar like worn and beaten garbage cans emptied and tossed to the curb.

or how about

The sound system was like something NASA might’ve invented to orbit earth to share the music of the universe with the good people below.

And if you want to know what it takes to be a top-level bartender or cocktail waitress you have got to read Michels’ descriptions of what is entailed. They are too long to include here, but are very high proof.

As a teen, Michels hung out in Inwood Park near the Spuyten Duyvil Creek with his pals. One night he brought along a keg, which somehow bounded its way to the water. Our intrepid author bounded into the water after it, and found himself on an unscheduled river journey on the Hudson, gaining a passing look at the underside of the George Washington Bridge and the west shore of Manhattan. It is marvelous story-telling. Another tale of discovering, as a teen, a place run by welcoming Rastafarians who sneered at drinking-age limits and offered excellent conversation, and ganja for sale, is wonderful. In another he tells of an unlucky robber who drew his gun in a place rich with the armed and dangerous.


Spuyten Duyvil creek emptying into the Hudson - photo by Lenny Pridatko

Michels pumps out a heady brew of fascinating characters. From a 450 pound, odious bar owner with a fondness for his own version of diet coke, and for taking advantage of his younger employees, to a sweet guy he calls Tommy Saloon, who brings in a link to some bad guys of a gone-but-not-forgotten era, a nun on the lookout for underage professional ladies in need of help, (maybe a bit of real life Guys and Dolls here) a desperate aging waitress, his dodgy co-owners when he finally partnered in buying a bar, gangsters, drug-dealers, ex-cons, future-cons, forgers, politicians, stud-muffin bartenders, very Damon Runyon, and enough drink-and-tell A-list celebrity interactions to keep People magazine in business for a while. (Tales of Ali and Mantle occupying opposite ends on the wonderful scale) Some of these will surprise you. And there is even a small bit on his experience with 9/11.

There are, of course, some problematic aspects that, thankfully, do not take up large swaths. It seems that every few chapters our main character dives into a spell of life re-evaluation, which usually results in some sort of career adjustment, and rarely much more. He also offers some political insights that I thought did not add much, and were, in fact, a bit off-putting. I am including in EXTRA STUFF links to a couple of the writers who inspired his perspective so you can judge for yourself. The Last Bar in NYC is an independent publication, and that entails certain down-sides. For one, there are way too many typos. A few is normal enough, in any book, but the richness of their presence here suggests that another copy-editing pass was in order. The text seems crowded on the page, a too-common feature in indie products. Not horrible, but could have been better. Final gripe is one scene at the end in which our intrepid character behaves in a very offensive manner to someone who does not really have it coming. That seemed unnecessary, and shaves back even further the sympathy we may have built up for him.

Ok, time to settle the tab. What’s the damage here? While this book did not always go down smoothly, it was certainly flavorful. The distilled richness of the insider intel on what it takes to be a barkeep pro is full-bodied and flavorful. The portion of information on the bar scene in NYC since the 1980s is generous. There are passages that are written with old-fashioned beauty and distilled mastery. The array of supporting characters is intoxicating. If you can tolerate a bit of bitter, then I would slide yourself onto a stool and have a go at this spirited, hand-crafted offering. You may be shaken. You may even be stirred. But you will be well served, and will learn some things. But you might need someone to drive you home afterwards.

The author provided a copy for review.


Review posted – January 20, 2017

Book published – April 24, 2016

=============================EXTRA STUFF

The link to his personal webpage, shown on Michels’ Twitter page, was not up when I posted. I did not find a Facebook page.

A couple of Michels’ political heroes include Murray Rothbard and Ludwig Von Mises

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to know how people grew up - learn about their families... their relationships with their parents. I love when people are being 'real' -sharing about their passions, hardships that they over came.
I'm inspired by authors who shared about their parents who encouraged curiosity.
( thinking of Atul Gawande, Helen MacDonald, Hope Jahren, and Malala Yousafzai)....
I'm also inspired by those authors for whom life was much harder a child, yet they transformed their situations...( thinking Jeannette Walls, Cupcake Brown, Augusten Burroughs)

Brian Michel's life falls into that category of being 'much harder'.
When Brian was five years of age - he was sitting in a bar with a gun pointed at his belly!

The ADVENTURE story under the Washington bridge will have readers on the edge of their seat... but what *I* loved MOST about it.... was the presence of Brian. It was HIS appreciation for OTHERS and OUR WORLD around him - when he was cold - wet- and very alone- that moved me deeply. I read how he felt and the thoughts he was having twice and tried to imagine if I'd even come close to those thoughts in his situation. I only imagined myself petrified.... not nearly as enlightened.
Sure, later, I wanted to laughed - still do -- when Brian's tug-boat buddies called him Proverbial Jonah. There is something much deeper going on beneath the surface of in this novel-memoir.

When you come from a family, like Brian did..... you don't wake up in the morning
naturally 'feeling worthy'. When your parents have shortchanged you, it's easy to expect the world is going to short change you. I'm really not sure people can fully appreciate just how hard it is to pull your own boot straps up - for years -- the rest of your life ...practicing 'feeling' worthy!!!

When Brian was 18, The first room that he rented, was a half a room that he paid $75 a month with no windows. A worthless room to match the experience of himself?
I once rented a furnace room the size of a large closet with no windows for $35 a month. I look back and say, "what the hell was I thinking"? Brian, we were both 'nuts'!!! I've got lots of stories, and imagine Brian has more.

The entire book feels REAL. It has 'something' for 'everyone'.
.......Family history, adventure, philosophy, sociology, fantasy, psychology, humor, drama, coming of age, romance, love, broken heart, fear, abuse, poverty, education, danger, human growth, social change, business, criminals, alcohol, women, sex, prostitutes, redemption, forgiveness, customer service , self-evaluation, self esteem, courage, and the hard knock life of growing up poor living in New York.
Brian's book is emotionally felt, mentally stimulating, brutal, always engrossing, entertaining, bittersweet, genuinely life-affirming!!!


There were two questions that Brian asked himself - in different parts of this book -
1. "What am I going to do with my life?
2. "Why am I letting Fat Jack routinely smack me around?"
I think if we are all honest with ourselves --we ask these two questions -- on and off -- of ourselves throughout our entire lives. They are healthy questions ... don't you think?

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IT.... to all my friends!!!! Page turning! $2.99 Kindle price.



A NOTE FOR THE AUTHOR... and other NEWBIE AUTHORS:
I keep noticing that often new authors have a favorite adjective. They could be a wonderful descriptive word.... but if used more than once or twice - it becomes very noticeable-- to me anyway. "Breathing" was the 'it' word for one author.
Another used the word binoculars 18 times in the first 20 pages. It drove me so crazy... I never had the heart to review the book.
Another author used 'colors'... ( ok, I happen to love colors - so she was lucky)....but truth - it was perhaps too much.
Brian's juicy word is galactic. Great word, but three times in a short period of time is takes away the novelty.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in a dysfunctional family where his father needed more than one job to support a drinking and gambling habit, it did not come as a surprise that the narrator, Brian Michels learned to open cans of beer for customers in a bar after receiving a present, his very own can opener. From a young age, Brian followed his Pop's (Grandpa's) code of responsibility .... no matter what type of job you have, do it well. A job as a shoeshine boy ensued until the kit was accidently left behind in a pizzeria.

Brian explored the world of beer, booze and tobacco as a young teen by creating an after school study group in a bar willing to serve underage drinkers during afternoon hours. Kids were able to discuss their feelings freely. It was an unconventional, but effective way to talk about life.

Over time, Brian assimilated the rules of bartending. A good bartender needed to know how to read the customer. Does the customer want an honest, enjoyable conversation? Does the patron just talk incessantly about himself? Did she have a bad breakup and needed a shoulder to cry on? Bartender pay was minimal so tips were the #1 priority. Buoying up the drinking consumer almost guaranteed better tips. Make the ladies feel sexy, prevent bar fights and smile, smile, smile. Be fast on your feet. Club work appeared to be great with nightly partying and booze, sex and cocaine readily available. Questions still remained. Is this what I want to do with my life?

The autography-memoir by Brian Michels is an eye-opening account of the life of one NYC bartender. He worked in country clubs, sports bars, high-end hotels and dives. He drank with the best and the worst of them. As a coffee, tea and water drinker myself, I never realized what bartending entailed. I now have a healthy respect for bartenders! "The Last Bar in NYC" was an enjoyable debut tome. Author Brian Michels is to be commended.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only autobiographies or biographies that I routinely read pertain to the movies or music industries. So this "fictional autobiography" of a bartender living in New York is a bit out of my experience.

Having said that, I enjoyed this book. The writing was captivating and some of the anecdotes that Mr. Michels related were funny, poignant, and rang quite true.

The book begins with a young boy, of modest circumstance, who decides early in life to become a bartender. We follow his life as he works towards this goal, including his drinking life, his social life, and to a certain extent the lives of some of the folks around him.

Mr. Michels certainly is bestowed with narrative abilities and moves the story forward at a brisk pace, touching upon some of the highs and lows of the progress of your young man and paints a well drawn picture of what growing up in New York City was like in the 1970's and 1980's. We the reader experience the "Jim Thompson" side of life in the City.

As life evolves for our character we experience both his growth and the changes that come about in the environment of the bar scene. Don't confuse this narrative with the writings of a Charles Bukowski or Studio 54 attendees.

We experience both an individual, encountering philosophy, personal growth and a large amount of empathy for both the encounters with characters and acquaintances.

What I didn't care for was the time spent on baseball or the name dropping that occurs within the second half of the book. Another factor that concerned me were paragraphs that lasted sometime up to three pages.

The book has a copyright of originally 2012, so the narrative ends a bit after the tragic events of 9/11 yet does not dwell on the catastrophe.The publication of the book appears to not have taken place until 2016, so how many re-writes occurred in between ? (less)

This book is signed by the author Brian Michels.

[Brian Michels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raedres wlil grsap maennig reagrdelss of spleling erorrs ;-)


April 10th, 2020 update for anyone that might be interested:

I recently had some extra free-time added to my schedule. Yes, like so many of us, the COVID19 has me unemployed and sitting at home. I've used the time to finish editing my latest novel, The Devil Fears Nigga Jones. 210,000 words cut down to the still substantial size of 140,000 words - it's a doozy at 520 pages. I also used my extra time to edit The Last Bar in NYC, something that was long overdue and seriously needed. The results are excellent. The story reads like a song now.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visit our blog https://twogalsandabook.com/ to read our reviews, the interview with author Brian Michels, and enter to win a copy of The Last Bar In NYC. This novel encompassed a range of emotions throughout the book. At times gritty, heartbreaking, happy, exuberant... the reader is taken on a roller-coaster ride through a man's life, from youth to mid-aged engaged in the profession of bartending in some of the trendiest places in NYC, all the while in search of meaning in his life.... a vision, a purpose, and he comes to some conclusions about what is important, and what isn't. I enjoyed this book, journeying with the main character from his tough childhood, through his wild party days, ending with some resolutions about life and what he wants out of it.
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Mr. Michels.

Stop by https://twogalsandabook.com/, read interview with author Brian Michels, and enter a giveaway for a copy of the bookcvThe Last Bar In NYC!!!

[Starjustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed Last bar in NYC. This book is very well written and having been a bartender myself (at one point in my life), it was easy to identify with many of the tales and descriptions provided by this narrator in telling his story, almost as if the reader became a part of his world, as he lived it. My story, by no means, compares to the NYC night life however, I found this book very interesting, exciting, different, enlightening, and amazing at times. Looking forward to more good reads from this author in the future.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When did you know you were born to be a bartender?"

OMGOSH! This was so interesting! Talk about starting work at a young age....quite the little entrepreneur we have here....but he really had no choice.

Our narrator's journey in his...novel memoir...depicting the NYC nightlife of numerous bars begins in the early 1960's where at age 4 he made use of his newly acquired skill of opening, of course.....cans of beer. Can you believe it?

The story continues by age and year throughout the telling....and oh some of the stories you will hear! There's a burglary at gunpoint....a nasty piece of work named Fat Jack....and a scary ride rolling down the river on a barrel of beer. He also recalls the horror of September 11.

I particularly liked Tommy Saloon and his memorable past and the good work of Sister Mary Hugh. There's lots of cool baseball stuff....even if you don't like the Yankees! Mickey Mantle (our narrator's hero) and Billy Martin make an appearance as well as a few other sports and Hollywood types.

There's no doubt about it, our narrator made some bad choices throughout his life with too much booze, drugs and negligent sex....and there's also the girl he let slip away.

BUT....on his own from a very young age, you have to admire the pride he took in his work, his gift of gab, the professionalism he displayed (in between relapses)..... and he did indeed realize his longtime passion of becoming a bartender (and a dam good one at that)....despite his many setbacks.

AND..... wait till you see how it all ends!

Autographed copy of THE LAST BAR IN NYC provided by author Brian Michels in exchange for an honest review. (great graphics on back cover)

(The text does have noticeable typos here and there, but nothing that detracts from the content.)

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was one heck of a pub crawl!!
"The Last Bar in NYC" by Brian Michels is dubbed a novel memoir but reads perfectly like a fantastical adventure of the author's lives and loves surrounding bars, bartending and the many intriguing customers. This made for a really exciting, entertaining and interesting read that always has something happening for you to continue reading on.
I particularly enjoyed reading about the younger years, so many little stories and anecdotes throughout the whole book that have you smiling - I loved the joke about the shrink and the guy thinking somebody was under his bed! The author has a great writing style, full of content and description you could almost imagine yourself sitting next to him in the many bars watching over his shoulder!
This is a true life, funny, sometimes alarming, scary and of course upsetting during the recalling of 9-11 tragedy but all in all this is a smashing read, something entirely different from my normal books and I'm very glad that i've had the opportunity to read it.
I wish Brian every success with his independent writing career and "The Last Bar in NYC" !!!

[Andrew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

FURTHER UPDATE

Ok, I've completed my cogitation. It's interesting what a change of perspective can do. As a piece of fiction I believed this 'story' lacked a central driving narrative - a purpose. But looked at as an account of a large slice of somebody's life I can see this this criticism isn't relevant. The life lived is the life lived. I still have some reservations regarding some elements, as I've called out below, but I do appreciate the honesty displayed here: at least the drug fuelled deliriums and the rants are the author's own. With this in mind I think it would be churlish not to round my 3.5 upgrade to a 4 star rating.

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UPDATE

After posting my review I received a note from the author. He clarified the background to the 'novel memoir' tag on the book cover. Suffice to say, it's clear that this book is more memoir than novel - much more. This knowledge does impact my perspective somewhat, with the structure now making more sense. I need to fully process my thoughts on this but in my head I'm currently at 3.5 on the rating scale (I'll leave it at 3 on this site for the time being). Will this climb higher? I'm not sure, but I am grateful to Brian Michels for making contact and for clarifying where he was coming from in writing this book.

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Having read a number of rave reviews, I was really looking forward to this book. But, in truth, I really struggled with it. Judging by the cover, it's a piece of fiction that reads like a memoir, with lots of anecdotes of a tough early life in a working class area of New York followed by episodes set almost exclusively in and around the city’s bars. That in itself could and should have been enough to keep me entertained, but unfortunately the book felt fragmented and seemed to lack a central narrative – yes we followed one man’s journey, but journey to what? To me it had the feel of a number of sports biographies I've read in that it became a series of small stories about people met along the way together with a list of events and achievements - but with little else to hook me in.

The Good Bits

These were mainly the colourful characters we meet along the way. Amongst my favourites were a group of bar hounds who frequented a bar come betting shop, with names that seem to be extracted from an old cowboy film: Tommy Saloon, The Professor and Rabbi Odds On. Each had an interesting story of their own. I enjoyed reading about these guys – how they got their monikers and off-beat and amusing things they got up to.

Although I'm making the assumption that there are fictional elements to the adventures captured within the pages of this book, I wouldn't mind betting that a good deal of the content is based on actual events in the life of the author. The question is, which ones? There are some incredible adventures here: lots of drugs and wild sex and, early on, some highly risky high jinks involving trains, rivers and floating kegs of beer. This was largely highly entertaining, jaw dropping stuff.

The Not So Good Bits

The nature of the book dictated that we’d follow a man’s life tracked through decades of bar work. There were a lot of bars and a good deal of earnest information on what it takes to be a good bar man: be attentive, listen carefully, try to anticipate your customer’s needs etc. Clearly we are tracking a career as knowledge and experience is gained and skills are honed, but I longed for a return to the anecdotes of interesting people met and daring deeds done. I also wanted to identify a thread that would knit it all together and help me visualise a broader story, a story I could become locked into.

There are some long, rambling sections - for example on bouts of drug induced delirium and his views on corporate globalism. These didn't add to my enjoyment of the book, in fact I found myself skipping over these passages.

Overall I found this to be a mixed bag – a bit like the life of the bar man in the book - full of highs and lows. Had this been clearly framed as a bio or memoir I might have felt differently about it, but as a work of fiction I’m afraid it didn't really work for me.

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s with some trepidation but excitement that I write this review. What’s that about?! I love NYC, even if from afar. This misplaced (I say this as I feel like I will never get there) love of New York sprung from my love of the Baby-Sitters Club. I first read of Central Park et al in 1986. What was Brian Michel doing then, I wonder?

I stumbled across this title from a couple of GR reviews, that’s the nature of GR; I love the nature of finding books I would otherwise know nothing about. Elyse thanks as always for broadening my horizons, which you know I love. Though I was a teeny bit thrown when Brian sent me a letter thinking I may not like this one upon perusing my stuff here, this was nice and thoughtful but I thought hey, I really want to read this, why won’t I like it? I soldiered on. I was buoyed by my love of this city (Brian said to me it’s a spectacle, I think this is spot on), I love a drink, and of course I love a good book. Throw in some brutal honesty, no holds barred; I was hooked.

This is what this author’s story is all about. Honesty in a story that could be filled with embellishment and name dropping, you know the type of thing… I digress. Brian also digresses. But not really - there is a distinct method to the madness, and I state this with the utmost level of respect. The author has lived a lot and learned a lot. His childhood was harsh. He earns some coin before reaching double digits by tending bars, shining shoes, doing stuff a little tyke should not be doing. He had a gun to his chest – the mum in me found this hard to bear... but again, he soldiered on and kept going, learning and picking up bits of gold along the way.

I have a lot of quotes I want to mention so I need to hop to. Needless to say I’m not surprised the family connection does not get any real reference any further than the timeline. Domestic/family violence would do that to a family unit, I can only imagine.

This is the advice a little boy gets from his Grandpa. Nothing wrong with said advice, but it was given! “Mostly I was applying my grandfather Pop’s lesson about people being “authentic” or “affected”. If a person was “affected” you still might enjoy yourself conversing but you had to remember that the “affected” person doesn’t’ really listen, they feign being in the moment while their minds are lost.” This is harsh realism for a boy!

There is the real stuff, relationships. “You’ll never change,” Carina told me as kindly as she could even though I’d let her down awful.” Doesn’t everyone have that moment? This girl was to die for. Gorgeous, young with her blonde curls. “It took her less than two years to figure that out and that means a lot because some never do.”

It seems NYC isn’t all glam. Corporate greed and those with a lot did nothing for those with a little. “The city was infesting with resurging race tensions; the police were practising badges-off brutality; we had a subway vigilante; derelict and criminal homeless competed for air with hard work folk confused by the whole affair.” This comment interested me greatly.

On grappling with where he ended up at any given time. “Try to get your head around the reality of a die-hard Yankee fan from the South Bronx being a bartender getting thrust into the limelight of the greatest wonderland sports bar in New York City. It was rocket fuel for delusions.” This one resonated: “Sending an email became the fabric of our lives and an impersonal force began eating away real identities and undermined truthful individualism and genuine New York character while mass-produced kinky-cool became the new black and chemical flavoured vodkas replaced immaculacy.”

A lot to take in? Yes of course, but this is a passionate and knowledgeable rendition of a life well lived; refreshing and candid. This review obviously doesn’t cover everything and it’s too long already, but the author grappled with lots of bad stuff; tried to make amends... he was known as the go to bar tender with a kind ear, to a group of disparate and troubled women who had nowhere else to go. I get the idea that given the means, he’d have done more for them.

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One man’s odyssey growing up in bars, working in bars and finally owning his own bar. And that’s not just in any city but New York City. Read all about it in Brian Michels novel memoir where a large bulk of the action in this novel in all likelihood, believe it or not, actually happened. And happened to Brian. To provide not a taste but a string of drinks to whet your thirst, below are a number of novel New York Cocktail or is that Nutty Irishman or Naked Margarita quotes along with my brief comments:

“My father had me perched at the far end of that bar top on a Saturday afternoon with a couple of cohorts standing around. He told me I was a natural, had everyone smiling and I was quick with my hands, premium traits for a barman.” ---------- You think you have a tough life? How about spending a good chunk of your childhood in a bar including the time when you’re five years old and a guy comes in and sticks a gun in your belly demanding you empty your pockets?

“Don’t let anyone tell you that everyone has talent and it’s just waiting to be discovered. Unless you consider talent the ability to open a bottle of beer or crack open a handful of peanuts; which would still leave the talent team a few men short for a warranted competition. Bottom line is plenty of people are without an ounce of talent.” ---------- And that bottom line has an implicit moral: what it takes in life if you have to work for a living is effort with a capital “E.”

“My will had always been tangible and provided nominal results that satisfied menial goals. But willpower must be a more discernable part; it should be what identifies a person, even more than character, personality or smarts. It’s the ultimate boss of you. It is you.” ---------- Again, that’s not only effort but continuous effort over a long hall.

“Working all night in a club required energy so cocaine was an integral part of the job. Lazy flakes and nerds would be thinned from the work force quickly. You had to have talent too because it wasn’t just about pouring drinks and making sure the bar is supplied. The right energy is what made a club great and the staff had as much to do with that as the owners, club designers, and DJs." ---------- This is the cocaine-fueled 1980s and if you are going to make it among the fast movers you’ll be expected to move your butt fast or get off the NYC bar train.


“A glitch, the pedestrian signal began flickering. Walk and Don’t Walk, and my brain deteriorated, hemorrhaged and everything inside of me liquefied. I couldn’t read any billboards, or recall one bit or thing of my squandered life.” ---------- Oh, my goodness. All that fast-paced energy fueled by cocaine and other substances, both legal and illegal, can take its toll on a guy’s system.

“A great change of pace to listen to guys with something relevant to say and maybe teach me a thing or two, or three, or four, or more. Rabbi Odd On was the smartest guy I ever served in a bar. He was a mathematician savant with a vast set of interests and could speak a dozen languages, probably more.” ---------- But you can bounce back and learn a few things along the way. Brian certainly did.

“They walloped me with baseball bats and took everything I had. I waited a week in the bus terminal all banged up sleeping on the floor and eating out of the garbage until my mother could wire me money she didn’t have for a ticket back to New York.” ---------- It has always been true. When you are in a fix or beaten up, literally or figuratively, always good to be able to call on friends or family to lend a hand. Most especially mom.

“It dawned on me that I had a real opportunity. They had to have hired more staff than needed because a smart boss doesn’t want to be left short-handed at the grand opening, and he’s want to see how an untested crew performs on their feet, sort them out.” ---------- A real opportunity, Brian! Not to be squandered as you’ve come to learn the hard way.

“Swallowing your pride can go down as easy as a worm bowl full of beef stock, onions, blood and cheese as long as you pretend it was your intended recipe. Even with a swollen tongue you can learn to gulp down yellow-bellied swill.” ---------- And you can gulp down some good old fashion learning by, among other things, immersing yourself in a whole bunch of good reading.

“The miracle happened on a miserable rainy night. Almost a dozen Professionals were yapping at the bar. A blood vessel in my left eye popped just as I heard the front door open and close with a thud.”” ---------- What’s Brian’s miracle? You’ll have to read this very readable, enjoyable, fast-paced story of one man’s journey into the Big Apple bar nights.

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Being the resourceful man my father was and having as many kids as he did he saw to it that a capable son could earn a couple of bucks to put toward household costs. He got me a job at the bar two afternoons a week, Mondays and Fridays. Kindergarten let out by noon so I was free to start work by 1:00 PM.”

From the beginning I knew that Brian Michels childhood and mine were very different, although before the age of five I was responsible for cleaning the house and cooking dinner at least a few times a week it doesn’t compare to working in a bar as a five year old. And I would be surprised if I hadn’t been to a bar by the age of two, since my father used to take me to the Reservoir Tavern when he wasn’t flying to or from somewhere, and we’d sit at the bar and wait for our take-out family pot of spaghetti and meatballs – one of my favourite memories, actually. Not the same as working in a bar, though. If I’d had to work at a bar, we had one in our basement. In a small neighborhood with several pilots, and neighbors in the same age-group (parents and children) most of the homes had bars in their homes, although ours was built like an actual bar, with those glowing neon signs beckoning the adults to where the alcohol was kept. Fortunately, for me, our bar was tame in comparison to the bars Brian Michels has encountered. And he encountered several.

I loved some of his tales. My favourite might be when he stood outside a bar, one where his childhood hero just walked in, Mickey Mantle.

”I might’ve been dreaming during my time working there. After all, what are dreams? Each night we close our eyes and slip away from the waking world and enter a richer one. Who isn’t fascinated with dreams? They’re outrageous events in our lives, bewildering, terrifying, inspiring, and most of ten downright unbelievable. Try to get your head around the reality of a die-hard Yankee fan from the South Bronx with barely a High School diploma and a longtime ambition of being a bartender getting thrust into the limelight of the greatest wonderland sports bar in New York City. It was rocket fuel for delusions.”

Or maybe how he ended up floating down the Hudson on a keg… Yes, really.

Or it might be the combination of all the characters; amusing, crazy, eccentric, dangerous, back-stabbing, drug dealers, politicians, and even some people whose names you might recognize that frequent this novel memoir. It may be that there is something that might dredge up your memories, perhaps, especially if you lived in New York City in the 1980s, and this life called your name, too.

I loved reading this, all the bad and the good; the author’s voice rings consistently true throughout, for me that kept the lows from sounding depressing, the highs from sounding too much like fun. Even at his worst, self-deprecating, reflective moments, he seems partially disbelieving he could do something so inadvisable, and partially believing he is done with beating himself up for mistakes that should stay in the past. To me, throughout, he seems to be saying: This is me, take me as I am. Add an appreciation for what he’s learned in the process, both about himself, and about others, about life, maybe even about forgiveness. It is, perhaps, easier to extend forgiveness, grace to others. It is easier said than done to extend that grace inward; to forgive one’s self.

For me, this could have used a good copy-editor, there are many typos, more so than customary, which I found a bit distracting. It didn’t take away from what I consider to be a very moving, compelling story.

[Jaline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing novelized memoir – of New York City, of a community within the city, of a family within the community, and a boy on his journey to manhood within all of them. I don’t want to give it away by supplying too many details, but some are necessary to explain what makes this story remarkable.

First, the family is sadly not the healthiest. There is a lot of pain and, I suspect, guilt in it and the adults, though they ought to know better, have fallen into other habits – like harsh words and even violence. Yet the barman-to-be, at the tender age of 2, already pays his first visit to a bar (with his father), and when he begins to work part-time in one at the age of 8, his grandfather comes occasionally to walk him home.

This leads us to more tender moments, because they are there, too. A birthday gift from Dad that definitely comes with strings attached, yet the boy is thrilled at the possibilities. There are the grandfather’s visits. There are some generous-hearted people who do what they can to help out via tips and sound advice.

The teen years come along, and as with so many young people - disproportionately more so in big urban areas - our author as a teenager falls under various bad influences and into substances, including a great deal of alcohol, that do not precisely aid in a young brain’s development. He falls madly in lust (many young men call it love, I’ve noticed) and becomes an apprentice of excess under Rastafarians’ tutelage who staff a Jamaican bar with a major in partying and a background major in fabulous music (reggae).

By then, the nightlife is firmly set in the author’s life, and many of the counter-productive choices that every teenager experiences carry on into his young adulthood. He becomes a bartender and along with making a valuable contribution to employers through his skills, there is a pervasive mixing of his business life and personal life that spirals out of control.

This book is rare because the author remains honest with himself throughout and where it could veer into masses of self-pity, he doesn’t go there. A part of him remains directed toward evolving himself into who he is meant to become despite the habit of self-sabotage that lurks at the ready to bury him.

He is rescued time and again by a few good people who manage to pop up like slightly tarnished angels – with books, with wisdom, with exactly what he needs to pick himself up, dust himself off, and carry on with fresh resolve.

This book underscores the basic human struggle to grow into a fully realized and authentic human being, despite all the pitfalls cleverly set out to lead us astray. There are some genuine nuggets of gold within these pages – shining like little treasures amid scenes of wreckage, and sometimes just glowing with perfect insight.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it to everyone, regardless of where you are on your own journey.

Additional Note: The copy I received of this was difficult to read on my eReader. To be honest, it is the only reason for 4 Stars instead of 5. This is a technical difficulty, has nothing to do with the author or the book, so I am changing my rating for this book to what it deserves: 5 Stars. :)

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is rare to find a book that takes you so completely to a time and place that you feel as if you have been there. Brian Michels does just that - by putting you in a 'Platonic Form bar' which serves you the distilled experiences of his life - allowing you to relate to his experience through your own memories. The most interesting aspect of the book (for me) was that the bartender is 'forced' to be a kind of mediator of life; yet that very mediation must be done in a very ritualized way. If you are a bartended you will find this book a graduate course on the subject. Highly recommended.

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Last Bar in NYC is a "novel memoir" about the life of a bartender. The writing style has the perfect flow, almost stream-of-consciousness, and I was interested in every twist and turn in the main character's life. It all felt real, exciting, and gritty at times, just like a 'true' memoir. Thanks to Mischenko and Stacy for hosting the book giveaway on their book blog, and to Brian Michels for sending me the prize. I'm looking forward to Brian's next release. I've heard it's a love story!

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 4 out of 5]

"To the things we find by chance in life, may they all be at least half as good as beer." By chance, Brian Michels offered me an autographed copy of his 'novel memoir' to read in the hope of an honest review and it was as good as a cold beer on a hot summer day in the company of friends. Thank you, Brian.

What does 'a novel memoir' mean? Don't you love the play on words that that label conjures up? Okay...A novel: a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism; or a novelty, a piece of news. A memoir: an historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources; or an essay on a learned subject. Brian's book is all these things.

His story of a lifetime spent in barrooms is gritty, honest, sometimes humorous and occasionally cringe-invoking: it's a window into a world few of us have known as intimately as he has. I enjoyed watching this man grow from a selfish, rather amoral young man to a mature adult who listens to and cares about others.

When was your first taste of beer? Mine was at the age of three when, thinking it was soda pop, I took a big swig from my father's bottle as he worked on our front porch. I ran into the house, yelling WATER! and didn't drink beer again until college. ;-)

[Suzzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I have always been fascinated by NYC. I have only been a handful of times but growing up I was dead set on moving to NYC after graduating high school (I am writing this review from my PC in VA way after high school graduation so that did not happen lol). Second, growing up my best friend’s mom was a bartender in our small town but boy her stories do not compare to these! This was a very fascinating depiction of the different drama each person is experiencing in their lives. So many times we get so self-involved with our own happenings that we forget the person sitting right next to us may be having a completely different sort of day. This book really displays this sentiment. As soon as I read the words, “Let’s be honest, how many centers can the universe really have?” I knew I was going to be intrigued. This sentiment explains the way a majority of us navigate daily life.

To put a long review short (because I am not a length reviewer by any means), this is a very amusing book with fascinating stories that contain a wide variety of emotional elements. Highly recommend.

[Jill McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, kid, you want to be a bartender?

The Last Bar In NYC by Brian Michels takes you on a wild roller coaster ride through the NYC bar scene. Each chapter is so well-written and full of detail that I felt like I really knew each and every person that was in this book. I think it's safe to say that Brian Michels had a very interesting life, and I am so glad he wanted to share a part of it with us!

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visit our blog for interview with the author and giveaway of the book! Visit our blog for interview with author Brian Michels and a giveaway of his book! https://twogalsandabook.com/

[Lew Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this roller-coaster of a read. What I found remarkable was how Brian Michels maintained a clear and consistent voice, whether narrating funny, insightful or tragic scenes—I felt as though I knew him, or at least those parts he let me see, by the end. Like many good memoirs, it also surfaced memories, particularly of my own time working in a bar. I was seventeen, trying to save money for college, and even though this was in the UK I was too young to serve drinks; instead, I collected glasses from the tables. Unlike the wonderful mix of characters that Brian Michels describes, mine was a bar full of men on the dole, bored, and angry with the world. There were fights most nights, and I remember one quite well because two of my precious beer glasses were broken and used as weapons. The 'loser' ended up in pretty bad shape and was carted off to hospital, and I was about to pack up at the end of the night when the police returned. We spent quite some time searching around the bar until we found the tip of a severed nose nestled under a stool—it was packed in ice and carted off to the hospital. After that, I was determined never to work in a bar again, although this book has almost changed my mind.

[Jayakrishnan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer of The Last Bar in NYC sent this book to me on email after reading my profile.

Frankly, this book has the best story ever. It is about a guy who works in different bars across New York and then he opens one himself. It is about him drinking, smoking and having a nice time meeting women during his job as a bartender. Of course, it isn't all fun and games. There are ups and downs related to failed relationships and his increasing awareness about who controls the world and our destinies.

Remember that line from Goodfellas? - "For as long as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster. To me that was better than being president of the United States. To be a gangster was to own the world."

Similarly, The Last Bar in NYC is about a young Irishman who decides to become a bartender in New York in the 1970s. For the rest of his life - "Providing drinks for hard working people is as essential as world trade itself, maybe more important. A bartender is unquestionably a legitimate contribution, a great career, nothing shameful about it. It’s what I’ll do."

The book begins in the 60s when his family moves out of a Bronx neighborhood (due to white flight) into a new area filled with bars and liquor stores. Our hero develops an affinity towards bars and bartenders at a very young age thanks to his grandfather who takes him to the bar. He starts off as a shoe shiner and then a busboy. The book charts more than three decades of his life as a bartender, working in all sorts of bars across New York.

There are many interesting characters - like the prioress who visits seedy bars to save young girls. The mathematical genius Rabbi Odds On who does tax filings for bar patrons. And Sheldon, the hero's unreliable bar partner. Told in first person, the narrator himself is an interesting character disillusioned by greedy capitalists and the increasing interference of authorities on the rights of public smokers. I could totally identify with his stance as I live in a state where hard liquor was banned for all the ordinary folk while it is still allowed to be served in 5-star hotels and private clubs.

A few drawbacks - The book lacks narrative punctuation - I am talking about those few bits in a book that you would really want to return to and read again. Also, the writer tends to explain his ideology a bit too openly at times. It ends up sounding like a manifesto. Though to be fair, those portions are quite brief.

Anyway, while reading the book, I felt like it would make a really good movie. It has a great story, some great characters and a unique setting. I also thought the part where the hero jumps into the river to save a keg of beer would look great on the movie screen. It was very well written.

I did an internet search about the best books about bartenders and there were none. This book is unique. While reading it, I felt like I was missing out on life.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

New York City, big, bold and alive with people on the move. People who use bars and restaurants to conduct business, meet to unwind, meet to hook up or just prefer the connection with the magical maestro of inebriating libations, the bartender. Part buddy, enabler, matchmaker and an ear to hear your deepest thoughts who never judges, but somehow arrives at sage advice with something as slight as a nod.

Follow our narrator as he details his own love affair with bars and bartending that began as a young boy on his daddy’s knee sitting at the local pub and a grimy barstool. That young boy decided right then that this was the life for him, this was his piece of the dream pie, being the larger-than-life guy behind the bar, and he was determined to do whatever it took to make his dream come true as the ringmaster in the circus that is the rare breed of the human race of New York.

Our narrator provides a tale that reads like a legendary journey that heroes are made of! With a wry sense of humor, a twisted journey through the sixties and beyond, through brief forays into self-indulgence, be it with drugs, alcohol or women, a shallow soul replaces the little boy who had a dream. Helping hands along the way bolster our bartender, good looks and charm, as well as a good work ethic, seeing life through his eyes is both enlightening and feels like I have been treated to the inside track of bars, their owners, their patrons and the secrets they hide behind a boozy veil. Get a behind the scenes look at celebrities at their worst, the stuff that makes tabloid fodder if not hidden by the white knight AKA the successful bartender. Who knew how much goes on behind the bar?

Will OUR bartender reach his dream to own his own bar? Is it worth the work it will entail? Can he make it the THE LAST BAR IN NYC that anyone will ever need to find friends, comfort and a good time in? Author Brian Michels is going to entrance you with his fresh and bold style of writing as he tells the ultimate American Dream tale for a young boy who may have taken a the long way around, but finally discovers what he truly needs to make his dream of the perfect life into a REAL life that is flawed, filled with warts but much more satisfying.

I cannot recommend THE LAST BAR IN NYC enough for entertaining reading that bravely dissects both the narrator and his quest over a period of decades! Often humorous, certainly believable and even brutal at times, I WILL re-read this, because I know I missed some nuance in the words of this talented author!

I’m not saying Brian Michels will bring world peace with his words, but he sure brings real entertainment to the world of reading and isn’t that why we read?

I received this copy from Brian Michels in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: AntiStar (April 24, 2016)
Publication Date: April 24, 2016
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Print Length: 248 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

[Julie Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Bar in NYC by Brian Michels
Was interested in reading this book because of the main location and the secrets it holds.
From the very beginning we also learn of his relatives history coming from Ireland and how that shapes his younger years and working.
Travel to places and the people he meets, things he hears, places he worked were so real as things are described in detail-author makes you feel like you were there seeing it for yourself.
Loved he was able to watch the World Trade Center being built and also swam under the GWB.
Like hearing of the connections also with baseball and library of books where he lives.
Adult situations are present. Loved learning the different jobs at the bar and what they entailed.
Loved how dedicated his passion is to having his own bar. Sad memories of watching the towers going down on my TV and highly commendable to going towards the turmoil rather than running away from it.
Didn't mind the celebrities much as I don't follow them but liked the stories that evolved form conversations at the bar. Liked philosophical bantering, kinda opened the authors soul and spirit to you to get the different angles of what he was experiencing.
Loved travel even from one block to the next because then you can trace his actual steps. Liked how he knew what patrons wanted to hear and where to be placed-like a sixth sense.
Would love to read more from this author.
I received a review copy and this is my honest review.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Michels memoir is as gripping as a good novel. It is about his growing up in NYC, primarily in the Bronx, although there are also events in the neighborhood in which I grew up-Inwood (on the northernmost tip of Manhattan).

The hero of this story (which I assume is greatly based on the novelist's own life; I was a little confused about this and I wish the book made the relationship more clear) grows up in an alcoholic household where he is treated as one would expect in such a home. He begins working in bars as a very young child and develops a romance with bars and bartenders. He sees bartenders as heroes and it is his ultimate goal to join their ranks (and is willing to put up with a lot of abuse to achieve this goal).

I found the endless preoccupation with alcohol and bars somewhat difficult to read; however, I saw the real story as the narrator's struggle to create a good life and a self that feels worthy of good treatment. This story is what truly engaged me, along with some fine writing that all by itself made the book worth reading. There were also, especially in the first half of the book, many lively characters that were fun to read about.

But this book is not primarily about fun; it is about overcoming a difficult childhood and about coming of age as a human being. This not an easy task, and the story makes for an absorbing read.

I am grateful to Elyse for her review of this book which led to my reading of it. It is well worth the time spent reading it and becoming involved in the life portrayed.

[joyce g · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightfully engrossing read this was. You get a real feel for the city that never sleeps. Cudos to author Brian Michaels for providing a deeply sensitive yet earthy ride.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Brian's book, his younger years brought visions of a little kid with the temperament of "Chris" (Stand by Me) or the young "Calogero" (A Bronx Tale who grew into a smart-mouthed, sarcastic mind, reminding me of, "Holden Caulfield" (Catcher in the Rye) with some bad boy in him, "Henry" (Goodfella's) , he's like every New York character you can think of in your mind, a little Ferris Bueller, funny-guy, to Tony Manero, good looking enough to get the ladies but still find's himself in trouble or at the crossroads of making himself, face what he really wants in life. Many times throughout, he had to look at the harsh realities of his life & decide where to go from there.
I found the author to be a fluent, articulate "silver tongue" writer! I was sad when his friend, "Saloon" passed! I would have enjoyed having a drink served to me at "Circa Tabac" , I'm a people watcher so the cliental would have entertained me!! I read once where it was said, "practically everyone in NY has half a mind to write a book and does!" Well, Brian you did a good job, thank you for a good read!!

[Beth Tepler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually just click a star rating if I like a book so let me state that I am not a book reviewer so forgive me if I am not doing this the right way. The reason I am breaking norm is because this is the first book hubby and I both read and loved. He read it last week, which was surprising considering I haven't seen a book in his hands since the last time we were in the Bahammas. That was 4 years ago. Hubby used to be a bartender here in our little town New York City so he was drawn to it. He found a small promotional card stuffed away in his beer box from the supermarket. He thought this book was the best thing since discovering that Chili fries with sour cream are good hot or cold. He told me to read it to better understand some of his nightlife experience. I was curious so I jumped in. All that I can say is this book was great. So much of it was truly fun and scary. I partied a bit in my day, and I still enjoy going out for drinks with my girlfriends now and then, but clearly the Author and his friends partied to a new level. But there was more, a lot more. There was so much breathtaking beauty in the writing style. So entertaining. The New Yorkers in the book are amazing. I simply loved this book.