I stuck my head into the Promethean recently and was really quite impressed.
I had heard about this place through the grape vine, but never really knew where is was or what it was all about. I hang out around the markets quite a bit and I was really surprised to find that it had been there under my nose all along and I hadn't suspected a thing.
The glowing lime green building jumped out at me, not so much from its appearance, but from the trickle of Jazz music which I heard resonating across the street. Inside, the decadent Edwardian furniture was a little intimidating, and for a while I wasn't sure if it was for sitting or just for good looking, but on the reassurance that some other dude was doing it, I ordered a beer and took a seat.
To get inside the concert proper one had to meet a $20 cover fee, which was slightly out of my budget for that evening and, considering I was only there for a quick peek, out of the question. However, the ingeniously designed Promethean has it's bar, which intercedes between the performance area and the front bar, set quite low and its stage set quite high, so that one can take in the sights and sounds of the music that is playing from the front bar without necessarily paying the cover charge. While I am all for supporting live music and have no desire to rip off the band, it is nice to be able to partially experience the music from the bar without going the whole hog and settling in for a three hour Jazz session.
The band was good by the way, a young group of musicians, locals i think, playing largely to an older audience. They did a couple of original numbers as well as some jazz classics. read more