"The Male Perspective" will be back next week; honestly, there's not much going on between the holidays for me to be somewhat contrarian about, so instead I'm going to be cranky.

I don't mind paying a cover charge at all, provided it's either A) $5 or under or B) going entirely to the live band that had better be playing if you're charging more than five bucks to get into a bar. What I do mind is the idea that in every major city, you have to pay astronomical prices to get into a bar that normally tries to lure you in with Free Taco Night.  There's generally no band, just a DJ who doesn't take requests and has terrible taste in music, and once you get in, you realize you're surrounded by people who think spending $100 to get into "the hottest night on New Year's" is awesome. 

Yes, cheap champagne doesn't pay for itself, but really, this is part of what I like to call the "singles tax".  Couples don't generally go to these things; they generally go to parties thrown by other couples or their single friends.  It's just single people who generally go to these things, and usually come out either depressed or with a hook-up that will not start the year off right, to put it mildly.

So, do yourself, and everyone you know, a favor: if nobody is throwing a party, slap one together.  It'll be a lot more rewarding than listening to dubstep at high volume, trust me.

And, of course, Happy New Year from the RP and all of us at Guyspeak!