The image above shows a work in progress and represents a new phase of the Highball construction: decoration of the karaoke rooms. As of today, design work in three of the seven has commenced, with noticeable accomplishments in two of them. The Trip is the name of the psychedelic themed room, and is pictured above. The room names and themes are as follows:

The Casbah

Xanadu: The disco room
Paradise City: The heavy metal room
Low Places: The country room
The Trip: The psychedelic room
The Rappers Delight: The old school hip hop room (a graffiti artist will be decorating this room)
The Casbah: The new wave room
The Halulu: The Tiki Lounge Room (halulu means “loud noise” in Hawaiian)

Now, having themed rooms is pretty cool, but the Highball is taking it a step further. In addition to the standard karaoke eqipment (two microphones and a remote control), each room will have a box of “accessories” that are tied to the theme of the room. The earliest examples of these kits look like this:

Xanadu: Leg warmers, polyester disco shirts, gold chains, chest hair and tambourines.
Paradise City: A leopard Speedo, inflatable guitars, metal wigs, spandex pants, a cucumber wrapped in tin foil and a disco sucks shirt.
The Low Place: A cowboy hat, red bandana, overalls (to be worn without shirt), a lasso, a washboard and two spoon.
The Trip: Two tambourines, Lennon glasses, a peace medallion, protest sign, hippie wigs.
The Rappers Delight: A giant clock on a chain, gold chains, a Kangol, and an Adidas track suit.
The Casbah: A superstar keytar, a flock of Seagulls wig, a skinny keyboard tie and Devo hats.
The Halulu: Grass skirts, a coconut shell bikini, a ukulele, leis and a Hawaiian shirt.

"Sputnik" chandeliers

In addition to work on the karaoke rooms, another couple of notable installations at the Highball includes a representative example of the diner booths. Also many chandeliers have been installed. These are called Sputnik chandeliers and, once they have all been installed, there will be some 300 light bulbs, which are specific to just these chandeliers, spread throughout the Highball.

In the diner itself, much of the kitchen equipment in in the general area where they will be used. Beer taps are also in. According to Highball bar manager Ryan Schibi, there will be 20 different beers on tap, 12 of which will be local. But this will be a full bar, including an ever changing stock of 6 different infused vodkas and seasonally inspired drink specials.

Hungry? I was just sent a draft of the Highball menu and here is a small sample of some of the tasty vittles coming our way:

Dr. Pepper Ribs: Spice Infused Dr Pepper glazed pork ribs, toasted peanut crust, and fried leeks.
Pins and balls: Anson mill grit “balls and pins”, jammed full of something tasty and flash fried, demi glace to dip.
The Salute: Roasted beet, seasonal citrus, toasted Texas pecan and chevre on rocket with sherry vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.
Loncito’s Lamb Tips and Rice: Fork tender chunks of lamb leg in a red wine and caramelized onion gravy on mushroom wild rice blend
The Split: The usual suspects on a caramelized banana, covered in liquor soaked fruits, ignited and extinguished with vanilla bean whipped cream.

There will also be daily “blue plate specials.” Keep in mind, this is only a selected sample of menu items, there are plenty of things to choose from for meat lovers and vegetarians alike.

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