http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_452030.html

By Jim Tynen
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 9, 2006

You wouldn't expect to find a tribute to dead rock stars on Brookline Boulevard.

The South Hills street, crowded with delis and bakeries, is one of those Pittsburgh places time has bypassed. You could film a movie about the 1950s there and hardly have to change a thing.

So you might be caught off guard when you walk into Nico's Coffee Cove and find a mural, under the heading "Morrison Hotel," depicting Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Hutchence, Sid Vicious and Warren Zevon.

The white walls are covered with posters and memorabilia of the late rock stars, with Morrison dominating. He was once styled The Lizard King; I wasn't sure at first it would have been his kind of place.

I sat down at one of the four tables. On it was a mini-fountain, gently splashing. In the background, the Doors were playing "Break On Through."

Nico's offers about three dozen kinds of coffee or tea drinks. I had the "Jim Morrison Roadhouse" special, with chocolate and amoretto flavor. I had the chocolate whipped cream, just to walk on the wild side.

A whiteboard extolled the drink, borrowing from Doors lyrics: "While sipping on this iced cappuccino, you will need to keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel!" Indeed, it "would make you forget about reaching for a beer."

In a way, of course, it's unsettling to drink coffee surrounded by images of five musicians who died young, with four of the five succumbing to some combination of drugs, alcohol, self-indulgence and self-destructiveness.

But, as the Morrison special suggests, he might have made it past age 27 if, indeed, he had drunk more cappuccino and less beer.

If you happen upon Nico's, raise a sweet, rich coffee drink in celebration of doomed musicians' talent, and lamentation at their early deaths. Sit and listen to the little fountain in the white-walled little coffee shop as people from the neighborhood stroll by, and hum along to Hendrix or INXS.

And limit your indulgences to the chocolate-flavored whipped cream, and maybe a chocolate fritter from Kribel's Bakery down the street.

That might be the best tribute of all to Jim, Jimi, Michael, Sid and Warren.

Jim Tynen can be reached at jtynen@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7948.

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