Americana explosion in Riga

I never realized before moving to Europe that Americana is so exotic. But most European cities have at least one American restaurant. I'm not only talking about McDonald's.

The place might be wild west themed, have a juke box and (if you're lucky) serve onion rings. There will definitely be burgers and lots of fried food on the menu. As you, the American, sit down at your wagon wheel table and study the poster of Elvis on the wall, you might realize that these bits of Americana don't all fit together. But no one else seems to know or care.

Brian and I like to check out these American themed restaurants when we travel. As actual Americans, I feel like they should give us a burger and fries for free since we are adding such authenticity to the place. In Riga's old town, there was not only TGI Friday's but two other American themed restaurants too. Maybe people who grew up in the Soviet Union have are extra interested in Americana, the forbidden fruit of their youth. Anyway, one of these places looked particularly over-the-top, with neon signs and muscle cars and such.

The two of us stood on the wet cobblestones pondering whether to go in when we noticed a sign for live blues music. The musician playing that night was a guy named Greg Copeland. Where had we seen him before? In Hannover. He an expat blues musician who lives about 30 minutes away from us. So then we had to go in. When the host greeted us, Brian said, "we're here to see Greg." The guy had no idea who Greg was but walked us upstairs where another host asked if we had reservations and wanted to charge 10 euros for the show.  "But we saw him in Hannover for free," I argued. Didn't they realize we are kind of a big deal? Real Americans?? They should be paying us. But alas, my argument didn't work. We paid our money and settled in.

This is the ladies' room. I couldn't resist.

Main floor at Moonshine

I mentioned that this restaurant, Moonshine, is over the top, but let me explain what that means. It means that Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Coca-Cola, Harley Davidson, the 57 Chevy, the Blues Brothers, New Orleans, Rebel Without a Cause, drive in movies, Route 66, Main Street USA and the 4th of July just exploded all over each other in a hundred year old building in Riga, Latvia.

Both Wrigley's Gum and cigarettes on the menu

Greg Copeland with the Latvian Blues Band

And Greg played it up. I don't know if he could headline anywhere in Chicago, but in Riga he was the star. Greg had a great time on stage and got the crowd clapping their hands and tapping their feet. He was backed up by the Latvian Blues Band. That's really what they are called (there must only be one blues band in Latvia) and they are surprisingly good.

As Americans in the American-themed restaurant, we had our least touristy experience of the whole trip. There were only locals in the house, dressed to impress and relishing their onion rings. And if the version of America that Moonshine was selling didn't quite fit together, no one seemed to care.