If it's not enough to have to pretend to care about terrible local bands, for fear of reprisal from their numerous local fans/friends/family members, you also have to contend with the possibility of bumping into them around town. Sometimes coming across a musician you like in one of the city's numerous drinking establishments is a nice surprise, a chance to tell someone how much you respect their work. More often than not, however, you're in a pub being told that you have to abandon your game of pool halfway through so that some jumped-up vocalist in a leather jacket can use the table instead, or you're bumping into a haircut with no personality in the Bowery who demands you replace an expensive drink you weren't actually responsible for spilling.