Arkansas Blog

Guess I won't be going back there.

The Afterthought was one of the few places I would ever go to and smoke. Nothing like a nice scotch and smoke while listening to some jazz.

I will now put the Afterthought back on my places to frequent for a libation and live music. Thank you.

Nothing like a nice scotch and smoke while listening to some jazz.

...except of course having that nice scotch and jazz w/o having to listen to other folks cough up their lungs. Good move, AfterThought. You may lose a few, but you'll gain many more. I'll be coming more often now. Thanks.

I've never been to the Afterthought but plan on making it over once they finish their remodeling. I suspect they'll find plenty of new customers like me that are excited about a smoke free live music establishment to make up for any customers they lose due to their new policy.

I think "Jerry's" the new posh bar on Rahling Road in the Jansmine/Sesame restaurant complex was actually the first SMOKE FREE bar. "Jerry's" has been open and doing good business for weeks.

So now, we have two very nice adult bars that prohibit tobacco smoke pollution for customers.

This is fantastic. I've popped into the afterthought for a pint and 45 minutes of music and had to shower when I got home because I smelled like an ashtray. Between the smoke-free move, the more varied and eclectic music offerings, and an all-around better menu, I'm looking forward to spending more time there.

I live downtown but despite the cost of gas I will be at the Afterthought on Friday night to commend the owner's progressive action. Get the martini shaker ready!!! [Just think of the savings on dry cleaning, not to mention my lungs.]

Check it off the places i Visit the place has been dying for a while now won't miss it .

Oh boy! Now we'll get to hear from P! I've been wondering where she went. That special session must have been very tiring for the poor thing. Gather up your data P and give us a holler...they're playing your song.

Are you sure there's no 18, 19, or 20-year-old lurking in there as a barback or frycook? Maybe the change isn't so "voluntary" or representative of such a "cultural shift." Just wondering ...

Nothing like a nice scotch and smoke while listening to some jazz. Posted by: neveragain

In the past, when you left, everywhere you went, you resembled "Pigpen" from Peanuts, giving off a stinky cloud of foul, stale cigarette odor.

Now you can enjoy your scotch, and when you leave, people will smile at you and won't wrinlke up their noses as you pass by.

'Tis amazing what business owners can do of their own volition, isn't it?

Maybe the next special session doesn't need to pass HB 1001: An Act to Require that all Jazz Joints Keep TP in Their Crapper. Here we have actual proof that patrons are a driving force of change and that government doesn't need to stick its nose into every damn thing (because we all trust our venerable term-limited part-time general assembly to always do whats best for us when their not managing their gas station or chasing tail in LR).

Maybe I'll go back to the Afterthought. I probably will, but maybe I won't stay too long like I did some nights in the past. One thing I won't do is ever again set foot in that pussy Shannon Wynne's Flying Fish or the Flying Saucer.

When you lobby for legislation that your patrons obviously do not want that influences every establishment they may wish to enter for your own interests, without regard to what they want, you lose their loyalty. And you lose the smart patrons cash. I will not support an establishment that lobbies to force competitiors to ban smoking instead of letting the patrons choose... because I'm PRO-CHOICE!

Finally! A smoke free establishment. I'll be going back more frequently (except when Sara Thomas plays, cause she sucks).

Hopefully more bars will follow suit.

RE: Joe Camel, pro-choice, etc-

The plan to go smoke free after the AT remodeled has been in place for months, long before the special session.

Last time I went in there I about got lung cancer from all the smoke. Great move, Afterthought! I will come visit you.

RE: Joe Camel, pro-choice, etc-

The plan to go smoke free after the AT remodeled has been in place for months, long before the special session.

Posted by: TJ

THAT'S MY POINT. BIG BROTHER DIDN'T HAVE TO MAKE THEM DO IT!!!

Dear Joe,
You can mis-apply the big brother label [I bet you like big brother protecting you from the nasty al Quada] but the reality is you are a drug addict. Get used to it governing your entire life or get over it. Doubt you have the intestinal fortitude for the latter.

Have been off the cigs for a little while now...which feels great, by the way. I used to frequent the AT with my cigs and martinis, but recently stopped due to the smoke. Weird, after you quit, you really notice how stinky it is! Anyway, while I am not a fan of government telling businesses how to run their establishments, I will go back to the AT...what are all those old regulars going to do? I apologize to any of you who fall into that category...

This goes to show you that some
"afterthoughts" are good after all.

Most of the old AT regulars are at Easy Street now (Doris and Carolyn, Andrea Cassinelli, etc).

Here is a quick 2 questions for smokers that have really been whining lately. (DemGaz letters to the ed)

1) If cigarette smoke is so non-annoying why do smokers roll down their car windows EVEN WHEN THEY ARE IN THE CAR BY THEMSELVES?

2) If cigarette butts are not smelly and nasty why do smokers throw them out the car window? ( before they even put out the fire?)

Now I will answer these 2 questions.

1) Smokers dislike their own smoke so much that they will roll down their windows about 2" no matter how cold or rainy the weather is.

2) Cigarette butts are so nasty that even smokers don't want to be around their own butts.

It appears that people's own farts don't offend them as bad as their own smoke and butts.

Now lets up the ante a little. NOT ONLY IS SMOKE ANNOYING, IT IS CANCEROUS. Even big tobacco quit trying to deny the deadly nature tabacco.

Feel free to smoke all you want just don't make me join you. I will feel free to eat pork rinds to my hearts content because your colesterol will not be affected. I will feel free to guzzle any number of alcoholic beverages but I will not drive after I have because that would not be fair to other drivers to let my pasttime risk their very life.

Trashy people don't even know they are trashy. Evidence that smokers are trashy is that they don't even hide their littering. I doubt that I drive one day without seeing a smoker at a traffic light just stick their arm out their window at a stop light and flick the still lit butt.

Most other litterers are not so brazen, they have shame. I rarely see someone just toss their McDonalds bag out the window. We all know many people obviously do throw out trash but they at least have shame and hide their trashyness. Not smokers, they just litter away. Right at the door of their favorite Wal~mart, they get a last drag and toss it.

I say Big Brother should leave us all alone to our own devices but Big Brother needs to step in to protect others from my vices.

As a non smoker and hillcrest denizen, I'm happy that the Afterthough is doing this. I wish that the Fountain would to, or at least get some ventilation in there. When that bar is crowded, it's just too smoky to stand.

But I'm equally happy that the choice was left to the Afterthought. If nonsmokers choose not to go to a bar due to smoke, that's fine. But bar owners should be able to decide their own policy on that. It's not like planes or hospitals where nonsmokers really don't have a choice.

Nice. Atta' way to generalize that all smokers are trashy people.

My turn: All anti-smokers are uptight, white, rich, yuppie-Hillcrest types who look down upon those not driving a humongous SUV with a Mt. St. Mary or Catholic High or U of A sticker on the back.

Hey! speaking as a archival-quality liberal, decidedly not rich, white, long-term resident of the People's Republic of Hillcrest, I look down on those who drive monster SUVs with catholic school stickers on them. They should drive old four stroke jap cars with "buy organic" and Grateful Dead stickers on them.

I like some smokers as individuals, but collectively they stink.

and Pat, I don't like you.

Good news about the Afterthought. I used to go there often but haven't in several years due to the smoke. I'll check it out now.

Ok you might be right. I went to Catholic High, I drive a Buick but I do have an SUV to get to my weekend cabin. But I live in Foxcroft which is I think cooler and we don't have to park on the street.

True, I painted with a broad brush and you are correct that all smokers are not trashy but if only 25% smoke then with the number of butts I see on street corners as I walk my dog or ride my bike, then it seems a high percentage of smokers must throw out their butts. How was that for a runon sentence. I doubt a smoker could read that whole thing without stopping to breathe or cough. (That was a joke.)

I am a "leave me the hell alone" nearly Libertarian but when one fellow's rights causes another harm, that is when government is needed.

I am all for property rights also but not when it encroaches on other's rights. When my country neighbor spreads chicken poop on his steep pasture to help grow hay but my stream gets choked with algae, I have a problem. That is the same thing as when one person is polluting the air.

Last time we went to Afterthought we were driven out by smoke after an hour. Coughed for 2 days afterward. We will be regulars again.

I resisted smoking until I was past 25. Yes, it was that long ago. I have tried cutting down and quitting off and on the whole time since I started. I can go a few days on patches, but eventually I have to run off somewhere and light up.

Which, actually, is what I have always done. Except where explicitly invited to do so, I have always excused myself to the outdoors to smoke, and I take myself to a remote, visible spot in the parking lot or yard or whatever, so that what I am doing is apparent to anyone who doesn't want to be around it. Occasionally another smoker will take the cue and join me, and sometimes (mirabile dictu) a non-smoker will take the opportunity to join and chat with me despite the smoke. I try to stand downwind.

I commend the Afterthought for the smoke-free decision and encourage other establishments to follow suit. In the past I have only used the place to gather a few friends for an evening elsewhere. Now maybe we can stay a while.

We had brunch at the Vieux Carre yesterday and discovered that the After Thought is going smokeless. My wife�s immediate comment was that we can now go to the After Thought and enjoy the music. For those of you keeping score, add two more new customers.

"...but the reality is you are a drug addict."
Posted by: Janus

Of which drug? Tobacco or alcohol?

Rail on, 'citizen'! You got it all exactly right! Not all smokers are trashy, but ALL the people who have hit me in the face with a lit cigarette as I follow their cars on my motorcycle are smokers!

Kudos to the Afterthought! I'll be there Friday night!

I give the whole enterprise a year.

If 10 percent of the non-smoking supporters in this thread actually show up at the Afterthought I will be surprised. Heck, I'd be surprised if 10 percent of you have actually been out to a live music venue in the last 6 months.

Some antii-property rights smoke nazis want to say that business that catered to the drinking/smoking crowd will lose no revenue do to this law say so because adult smokers in AR only make up about 26% of the adult population.

BUT WHAT % OF DRINKERS ARE SMOKERS OR AT LEAST SMOKERS WHEN THEY DRINK?

If you've ever actually been to a bar you see that the ratio is much larger...

Kudos Joe Camel!

These people don't go out in the first place! They are not going to start going out now.

I can picture it now. The SUV pulls up in front of the Afterthought and Mr. and Mrs. Hillcrest get out wearing the latest threads (like everyone else). She has a Cosmopolitan and he orders the cheapest scotch. They finish their drinks in a half hour and he generously leaves a dollar tip. They talk on the way home how nice it was that they didn't have to breath any second hand smoke. They look forward to the next time they go out, the employee Christmas party.

There will come a day when No Smoking signs and ashtrays will be as quaint as No Spitting signs and cuspidors are today. My great-grandchildren will be shocked to learn that smoking in public places was once accepted and tolerated. Oh, yea!! Tomorrow will be brighter. Brighter and less toxic.

And the non-smoking Hillcrestians will pick up and leave about 7p.m., and the Big John Miller Band will be playing to ... nobody ...

I haven't been to music venues in the last 6 months because the smoke ran me out long ago. I go to Alltel Arena because it is smoke free.

I used to go to Juanita's, Sticky Fingers, Willy D's, and Midtown pretty regular but I got to where I couldn't bear to stay for much of the show. The last was at Juanitas and table of 5 girls sat behind me and chainsmoked for an hour and I just had to bail out.

Other than music I have been able to go to Westend to watch Monday Night Football but by half time I would go home.

I guess I will need to get back into the practice of going out for entertainment but I don't think there are going to be many music places that are going smokefree, I figure they will become over 21 and provate clubs.

I hope everyone is looking forward to the non-smoking as much as I am. I am an adamanant smoker, yes I might go home earlier so I can smoke. But then again, should I really be staying for four or five scotches anyway?

-Hope everyone joins me to check it out-

Glad i scrolled down to catch the Afterthought news here. It?s been all over my mail. Sorry you missed me DBI. I?ve been roto-tilling. I applaud the Afterthought and wish them all the best. There really is no reason to expect anything but the best. I imagine the remodeling will affect the place more than losing the ashtrays though maintenance, insurance, and absenteeism will go down.

I remember when all these handwashing laws went into effect. People were screaming about health nazis and predicting economic doom and it turned out that people actually liked being healthier and other businesses started washing their hands too. The Dysentary Rights groups all seemed to fade away and folks realized the right to spread disease had all been a bunch of shit anyway. Sorry, that was too easy.

People who complain about protection from secondhand smoke as an invasion of business rights first don't know anything about SHS and secondly don?t know much about the myriad of health and safety requirements that we all take for granted. You know bars have to have three sinks? Wash. Rinse. Sanitize! Or they did when I was slinging quiche in LR bars.

I used to have friends that worked at the Afterthought that I?ve lost touch with. I hope it is because I?ve been remiss and not because they have died. The real disgrace about the over 21 exemption to Act 8 is that it ignores smokefree air as a matter of workers rights. We lose the right to breathe on our 21st birthday!? Death by lung cancer should never be a condition of employment. Hospitality workers get little more than a couple of dollars an hour and depend on tips to make the rent. Workers in smoking bars are 50% more likely to develop lung cancer. Does your tip cover that?
Way to go Afterthought. Lets hope more businesses discover the patronage they were missing pandering to the tobacco industry.

Last time I checked most people have a choice of where they choose to work.

I hope they outlaw coffee next. All those hyped up people driving crazy in the mornings and throwing their cups out the window. Not to mention having to deal with the mood swings all day. These people are affecting my stress level and surely having an impact on my health.

Don't even get me started on the gum chewers!

And how about all the fat people? Raising the cost of my insurance. Vanity sizing. Having to wait on them while they waddle onto the elevator in the mornings.

And buffet lines! All those people coughing and sneezing all over the food. I wonder how many dirty hands have touched those serving spoons before I do? Surely the government should outlaw those! They can't possibly be healthy.

Well, Head slapper. Check again. Safety in the workplace is one of the most essential of our rights gained through years of collective bargaining. Workers from Pullman cars to Coal mines have fought for the right to be treated with dignity and respect in a safe environment for a living wage. Now I will grant you that attitudes like your, ?I?ve got mine, Fuck you,? have held sway with the powers that be recently. That is a disgrace. Act 8 is a small step forward for the rights of workers. However, all of us deserve smoke free air.

The hospitality industry is often made up of young people just entering the workforce, or those that find it a convenient part time job in an economy that has hacked away at living wages, or maybe they are the single parents who cannot afford daycare. In many of our communities there is in fact only one place to work. Even someone as obviously clueless as yourself deserves a safe workplace.

You have a choice as to where you spend your wages but it is myopic and unrealistic to say that we all have choices about where and how we make that wage.

I bet you don?t wash your hands after you pee either. That?s why they make you take a clean plate at the buffet and that sneeze guard over the salad bar is required as well. Do you take it personally that servers come by frequently and wipe the handles of ladles down. You really should. But you probably don?t understand that either.

P,
You make it sound like we all work in the Harlan mines and spend our checks at the company store. Can you name one community in Arkansas with only one place to work? What a joke!

Maybe instead of the insults you ought to try and come up with a valid argument. It's funny how quickly uneducated people result to insults when they have no valid point. See, I can make funny generalizations as well.

All this reminds me of the Smug episode of South Park. P, do your own farts smell like roses?

Of course I don't wash my hands after I pee. I know where my unit has been. I bet you use one of those toilet seat protectors, wash your soda cans before opening and probably own one of those fancy Pampered Chef bagel cutters that are guaranteed not to slice off a finger.

The men of America weep for you.

I was right. You don't understand. Ok, wipe your hands on your pants and name the smoke free piano bars in the Heights. Finding a job is often difficult and the worker does not always have the luxury of avoiding a health hazard, like the third leading cause of death, when pursuing that employment. Why? Well the short answer is people like you don't believe that secondhand smoke is dangerous. But the families of some 600 Arkansan's every year would beg to differ. Would beg you to take your addiction outside. Would beg the legislature to realize the right to breathe out weighs the privilege of being in any business and that all working people are due a safe, healthy workplace.

Your juvenile comparisons of secondhand smoke to habits you dislike are an insult to those suffering from cancers, and respiratory or heart disease brought on and inflamed by tobacco smoke.

And which of those generalizations you made were the funny ones?

Anybody that throws out stats like "Workers in smoking bars are 50% more likely to develop lung cancer" ought to be required to offer up the source. As for, "we lose the right to breathe on our 21st birthday," you have the right to smoke at 18. Or ... fight a war.

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