Bartender of the Month: February 2006
"Moke another yoint!"
KCD: Surely your mom didn't name you Mokie. Where did that name
come from?
Mokie: "Prince Smoke A Lot." Actually, that was derived
from back in my super-drinking days when "smoke a joint" came out "moke a
yoint." It kinda went from Prince Smoke A Lot" to Mokie.
KCD: Are you a KC native?
Mokie: Born and raised. 50th Terrace and Ward Parkway.
KCD: That's where the "Anyone but Eddy for Mayor" sign
is. That's your sign, isn't it? Why did you choose that spot?
Mokie: Location, location, location!
KCD: I hear you're quite the lobbyist against the whole smoking
ban - in fact, I heard you were on TV recently.
Mokie: TV? I dunno. Could be. I wasn't interviewed, thank God.
'Cause I don't speak well when cameras are involved. Actually, I don't speak well at all
when I have to be politically correct. Because really, all I want to say is "you
stupid f*cking c*cksucker - why are you so blatantly stupid? I wanna ring your neck."
KCD: Um. Yes. So. How long have you been bartending?
Mokie: Roughly 20 years. Even when I was just a kid, you know,
I'm counting the times when someone was yelling "get back here and mix drinks,
dammit." Been hanging around Davey's since I was 12. Three generations of my family
worked here. We were Davey's chauffer. He had cataracts real bad, and we had to drive him
around. I was 12, and we had a big Coupe deVille. We'd roll up and pick up the old man.
KCD: What's your favorite thing about bartending here?
(long pause)
Mokie: The live music. (short pause) Cleaning up puke out of the
bathrooms. Stuff like that.
KCD: What's your favorite place to hang out in Kansas City, other
than here, of course?
Mokie: Fred P. Otts (on the Plaza). Or the golf course. If I
wasn't so lazy I'd probably get out and get my handicap down to where I could be pro,
but…
KCD: What's the strangest thing that's ever happened to you
working here? Weirdest bartending story?
(silence)
(uncomfortable giggle)
(more silence)
Mokie: Wow. Um, there are so many of them. There was one time a
drunk Marine came back into the bar to shoot people. He and one of the regulars were
having a verbal spar and he was all "I'm gonna go git my gun, blah blah blah"
and sure enough he comes back in with this big ol' .44. I walked straight up to him and
dropped my thumb between the hammer, and chucked him to the side. I was all "I oughta
pistol whip you with this, you dumb sonofabitch."
(more uncomfortable giggles)
KCD: How many bar fights do you see?
Mokie: Down here? Few and far between. That's the nice thing about working down
here - everybody's really tolerant of everyone else, and people come here mostly with the
same purpose: to see good live music. It's not like some of the other clubs where people
are like "hey, loser, I got a bigger pile of cocaine than you do!"
KCD: Who is the most famous person you ever had to throw out of
here?
Mokie: Uh…that was…nobody.
KCD: Other than the Marine…
Mokie: Yeah. There was the Marine. It's a nice place, man. I
almost never have to get into any of that.
So there you have it folks. Short of trying to shoot
up the place with a .44, you can enjoy a night of drinking and music at Davey's, thanks in
large part to the pro- smoke-rallying, puke-cleaning, Marine-ass-kicking stylings of
Mokie. Please visit Davey's, and remember to tip your bar staff.
- www.KCDrinker.com - 2007 ©
