It's possible that we just caught the recently opened Piccone Live Music Bar on a bad night, but honestly the most interesting aspect of our experience was the toilet in the men's bathroom.

We checked out Piccone (we're not sure where the name comes from ... perhaps the owner's last name?) because it pitched itself as a live music venue, and it came along at time when other supposed music bars and legit live venues were either shutting their doors or experiencing a change of direction. And it was right around the corner from our house.

In theory, Piccone has a pretty good location: the corner of Dongping Lu and Taojiang Lu, on the second floor, above a fruit stand. It's not a big place, and kind of has the vibe of a hotel bar, but it's got a decent performance area, a big projection TV and could be a cozy hangout with the right musical accompaniment. On the night we went, now almost two weeks ago, we were promised the musical pairing of a "famous" singer and a "great" guitarist at an "already well known musical place." They were supposed to be followed by a folk duo . PIccone, the ad said, focuses only on "Rock, Pop, Folk, Blues."

We got to Piccone between 9 and 10 pm on a Saturday, the time the band was supposed to start playing. We waited and waited, no live music. Some guys walked in carrying instruments, but they just took seats at the bar and started drinking and chatting. Maybe they didn't play because we were the only two customers in the bar? We would have hung around longer — but the live music DVD playing on the projection screen was maddening. Some might try to classify it as "new age jazz," but it was elevator music, plain and simple, being played by middle-aged guys who appeared to having entirely too much fun playing elevator music.

We headed to the bathroom before leaving, and what do you know, there was a faucet on top of our toilet's tank. We were befuddled. And after looking around for hidden cameras, we tested the faucet to see if it was operated by motion sensors. Nope. But sure enough, when we flushed, water came out of the spigot. Was this a joke? We opened the door and looked around — the only other sink we saw was inside the women's restroom, and it was a proper one. Were men actually expected to wash their hands on the toilet? We took a couple (bad) photos of the men's toilet and used the sink in the ladies room — no one seemed to notice.

Piccone, 1 Taojiang Lu, near Dongping Lu, 1 桃江路 (桃江路/东平路), but the entrance we used was on Dongping Lu. Tel: 13917611512. An Asahi draft was 30 RMB. The wife ordered a vodka cranberry, and they charged her the listed RMB 35 for the vodka plus RMB 15 for the mixer, and the glass was very small. Most cocktails are RMB 50 or more. Supposedly every Sunday at 6 pm they show "cult movies" on their big screen. Live music tomorrow: "Primitive Sax" with Paul Haggis .

Soysauce is right. It's actually a pretty cool idea in my opinion. Using water which has gone through (at least some relatively) expensive treatment processes to just wash out toilets is kind of waste. This way, you can wash your hands with that water first, so it's at least doing double-duty.

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