I went to Spirits on a Thursday night before the new year. It’s tucked away at 238 Tallywood shopping center, Raeford Rd. You have to look carefully for the sign as it is easy to miss. Spirits is proud of it’s local bar feel and the diversity of it’s patrons. There are two sides to the bar referred to as the upstairs and the downstairs, even though they are only separated by three steps. The downstairs, which is opened up Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, has a bar, pool table, jukebox and a few video games. The upstairs has two pool tables, five dart boards located on a raised floor that also doubles as a dance floor, a few electronic dart boards and three wide screen TV’s to view the games, (they have the NFL Sunday ticket and regularly draw crowds for the Carolina/Duke basket ball games). There is also a good-sized patio with a tiki bar and tables. 90’s rock is blaring on the jukebox when I enter at 9pm, the pool tables are full as is the bar and about half the tables are taken. I meet Rhonda and Kris, two women seated at the bar who come regularly on Thursday nights for Shannon the regular DJ and Karaoke MC who they say is really funny and good at working the crowd. They get there early to get a good seat and predict that by 10:30 it will be packed. I should mention that the day before I was slated to check out Spirits, I fractured my middle finger on my writing hand so I showed up with a ridiculous metal splint on my middle finger, armed with a mini recorder. I must say that everyone took it in stride and graciously let me conduct interviews with my little recorder. Debbie the bartender upstairs was super sweet and LOVES working there. She whipped up four of their five signature drinks aptly titled ‘Fishbowls’. A four oz. Drink featuring various Malibu Rums is served in a plastic fishbowl for $8. Debbie told me of a Bachelor’s auction they had held that raised $2,000 for the Falcon Children’s Home. There is a dart tournament that meets on Monday nights and they have plans to start a Beer Pong tournament and a Corn Hole tournament. Yes I said Beer Pong and yes I also said Corn Hole. Until very recently, in my world, corn hole was just an unsavory term coined by Beevis and Butthead but it is actually a bona fide sport involving bean bags and good aim. Beer Pong is exactly what you’re thinking it is- how many bars have you been to that offer drinking sport usually reserved for your basement? Probably within the first half of the new year Spirits is hoping to hold a Bachelorette auction to raise more money for charity. The gist of it is that you bid on a Bachelorette and the highest bidder wins a date as well as some sort of gift package. The dates are arranged at the discretion of the parties involved. The bar menu offers a typical array of fried foods and nothing is over $7. There is a drink special every night like Friday’s $2 you call it, Tuesday’s $1.75 domestic beer and Sunday’s $4 White Russian and Bloody Mary. Tonight’s special is $5 Long Island. Thursday, Saturday and Sunday Shannon does Karaoke and DJ’s starting at 10pm and Friday nights there is a DJ. Around 10:30, as predicted, the bar has really filled up and Shannon is about to start karaoke. Brittney Murphy a young woman in her 20s, noted that Spirits is a great place to come where you don’t have to worry about being harassed or uncomfortably crowded. I met a real variety of people that night and wish I could tell you some of the stories I heard but my better judgment tells me they might be too ‘colorful’ for this blog. Spirits is 18+ and strict about checking IDs. They allow smoking for now and are unsure if that will have to change. There is an ATM and change machine for your convenience. Check out their Myspace page for upcoming events and information. http://www.myspace.com/spiritspub Cheers!