The Scene of the Crime (sort of...) Part 2

Disclaimer first: The Lies Have It is a work of fiction!!!  Nobody I know from The Pilot Tavern has ever been murdered, or been accused of murder, or ever even jaywalked for that matter.  In fact, I don't even think they'll serve you if you have unpaid parking tickets.

But The Pilot, especially the second floor Stealth Lounge, is a great inspiration for the plot of a murder mystery. 

While I was in university, I worked at The Pilot.  It was a great job, I met a lot of people who remain close friends, I made good money and had a lot fun.  Back then (before a new team of managers came along sometime after I left), the management was, um, lackadaisical on one hand, and, um, edgy on the other. 

Manager X. was balls-out batshit crazy, Manager Y. was seldom sober but a genuinely nice person, and Manager Z. was an absolute bitch (who was ultimately deported, dunno how or why that happened... I was living in Mexico at the time...)

I don't know which of the three of them gets credit for the following, but since it went on for a few months, I guess all of them were in favour of it.

As mentioned in the previous posting, The Stealth Lounge is reserved or rented out for private parties or special functions (being near Yonge & Bloor, they do a lot of corporate gigs).  Back in my days working there, The Stealth was rented out two Saturdays nights a month for fetish/S&M parties.

I NEVER ACTUALLY WORKED ANY OF THE S&M EVENTS!!! (My Dad reads this blog).

Every Saturday, I worked the jazz matinee on the main floor.  My shift was roughly 1:00 pm to about 7 or 8 (the crowd would trickle out after the music ended ).  The Pilot gets some great jazz bookings and the customers are a fairly loyal bunch of pretty serious jazz fans.  The regulars will shush the uninitiated for talking too loudly during a sax solo. 

On the Saturdays when the upstairs was booked for the fetish parties, we'd often get some crossover between the studded leather dog collar fetish crowd and the professorial tweed jacket with elbow patches jazz crowd. 

The doors opened at 8:00 pm for the fetish party upstairs.  Often, though, the S&M folks would come a bit early to catch the tail end of the jazz matinee and grab a bite to eat before going upstairs to spank each other.

Then, when my shift finished, I'd help out a bit with the staff upstairs: making sure they had enough lemons and limes, bringing up a case of beer, getting change for the till and such. 

For however brief my exposure to the fetish corwd was, it was eye opening!  The way some of these folks dressed when they were at the jazz downstairs was pretty far out, but once they got upstairs to the private party room, well... they let it all hang out, so to speak. 

More on "hanging out" in the next post.  Stay tuned.

The Scene of the Crime (sort of...) Part 1

I am heading into the homestretch re: editing the third Sasha Jackson mystery, The Lies Have It.  Once again, the book is set in Toronto, and like the other books, many of the places mentioned in the novel are real.  I do, however, take some liberties (occasionally a lot of liberties) with locations.

The Pilot Tavern has been mentioned in both Blood and Groom and Dead Light District as one of Sasha's favourite hangouts, whether she's eating a Patty Melt to help cure a hangover, or drinking gin & tonics on the rooftop patio on a sunny day. 

The Pilot is a real place, obviously, and it is one of my favourite hangouts, which is why I've included it in my books.  I go where Sasha goes (or she goes where I go...?  Wait, Sasha Jackson is fictional...) 

The Pilot is located at 22 Cumberland Street (a stone's throw from Yonge & Bloor).  As mentioned in my books, The Pilot has three levels: The main floor is a tavern/restaurant with good food (love the Thai Noodles and the California Salad), great atmosphere and fantastic jazz matinees every Saturday.  It's also got some of the best bar staff in the city: Masoud and Derrick have both been there for years and I'm always glad to see them when I go in.  I name-checked both of them in Blood and Groom.

The third floor is a rooftop patio called The Flight Deck.  It's a huge patio - one of the biggest in downtown Toronto - with a great view, a full menu, and a nice selection of draught beers, but unfortunately NO SANGRIA!    Recently, I was on the roof with a friend and it was the perfect day for sangria, so we made our own.  We ordered a half litre of red wine, soda water with lots of fruit slices, a shot of Triple Sec and a couple of empty pint glasses.  We didn't spill too much and our low-rent sangria was actually pretty good!

The second floor of The Pilot is known as The Stealth Lounge, and it's used for private parties and special functions - everything from bridal showers to polticial fundrisers to office Christmas parties to poetry readings.  I had both of my book launches there, and the third one will be there as well.  In fact, the idea for the third book came from an event held there long ago, and The Stealth Lounge is a significant part of the plot in book three.

Also, I used to work at The Pilot, so you must check my next posting for the "story behind the story."  Stay tuned.