Last week Empty Bottle owner Bruce Finkelman had four employees studying homemade flash cards labeled with various denominations of Norwegian currency. They’ll need to be able to count kroner: when they arrive in Oslo with a crew of local musicians later this week, they’ll be staffing a club called Bla for a night in a most unusual form of cultural exchange. “It’s all about trying to bring a little piece of the Empty Bottle to Oslo,” Finkelman says. The musicians headed over–art-rock trio Pit Er Pat, hip-hop MC Diverse, and Lichens, the solo project of Rob Lowe from the 90 Day Men–are also club mainstays. And on September 17, five employees of Bla–plus Norwegian rock band JR Ewing and DJ Joakim Haugland–will come to the Bottle to return the favor.
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During the Chicago exchange Empty Bottle bartenders Jill Coyne and Mike Tsoulos will be behind the bar and Bob Johnson will be collecting money at the door; Toalson and Finkelman are also going over. To add some more Chicago flavor to the visit Finkelman plans to bring along bottles of Wild Turkey and tamales from the Mexican vendor who routinely hawks them at the club from a plastic cooler. In turn, the Bla staff is bringing aquavit, a potato-based spirit flavored with caraway seeds, and Jarlsberg cheese to share with Bottle patrons.
