Sometimes, change is good.

That's a hard pill to swallow. Most of us are creatures of habit, and familiarity breeds comfort. Sure, it breeds contempt in some arenas, but more often comfort. Even in contempt, truth be told, most of us are afraid to change the things we hate. The devil we know isn't nearly as scary as the one we don't know . . . except maybe when it comes to politics. And NFL head coaches.

The last time I was at the Supreme Court was a few years ago. Jinx Jones was touring through town, and I went with a small group to see him play there. It's actually a great place to see a show - especially as hotel bars go. It's a big room with plenty of tables and chairs, a large bar dominating the center, pool tables lining one wall and the stage on the other. The patio opens to the 16th Street Mall, which is great for people- watching in the summer - and they pipe the live music outside, so the smokers can hear what they're missing inside.

Anyway, I vowed it would be a long time before I went back after that show. Though the music was good (the sound was decent), the service was some of the worst I'd ever experienced. Servers weren't just slow, they were rude. Hey, if you forget a drink, no big deal - just don't make me feel like I'm wearing a Bush/Cheney shirt at the DNC for asking about it, ya know?

But, as I mentioned at the top of this column, change is indeed good. And since the Adam's Mark has become a Sheraton, I've noticed a change in the service at the bar on the hotel's ground floor. Whatever policies and changes they've adopted have shown up at least in the people working there. Friendly. Quick. Professional.

As a hotel bar, the Supreme Court is a unique proposition in Denver. The transient crowd in a hotel bar usually makes it a tough go for live music, but this room has played host to differing levels of players for years, from national touring acts to local cover bands and plenty of styles and genres in between. Although it's a safe bet that the more accessible the music, the better the band will do here.

On a recent excursion, the crowd varied wildly over the course of the evening, from working-class, blue-collar types enjoying a drink at the end of a hard-hat day to thirtysomething happy-hour professional revelers to stragglers from a wedding party to tourists sporting fanny packs and Colorado T-shirts they no doubt picked up from the old Cottrell's down the street (man, I miss that place, back when it was the best haberdashery in Denver).

In other words, pretty much everybody drank here - the urban, human equivalent of an African savannah, the watering hole at which every species congregates.

And to be such a draw to so many types, you gotta be doing something right.

Supreme Court Cafe and Nightclub

1550 Court Place

303-893-3333

* Live music every Friday and Saturday night; check out myspace.com/ supremecourtnightclub for the calendar.

* Happy hour 4:30-6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; half-off all wine, well and drafts

* Parking available underground - they do validate, which knocks $3 off.