When you want the honky-tonk experience without going Downtown (a.k.a. more honk and less tonk), Cross-Eyed Critters inside the Graduate Hotel is the move. Go on a Friday night and you’ll catch plenty of locals singing karaoke alongside their new best friends from Milwaukee or St. Louis, backed by the world’s first-ever animatronic band—think Chuck E. Cheese meets Country Bear Jamboree. The acronym etched above the bar, “I.I.T.Y.W.I.M.W.Y.B.M.A.D.” (If I Tell You What It Means Will You Buy Me A Drink) is a good conversation starter between show tunes, rock ballads, and bawdy renditions of Brian McKnight’s “Back At One.” Order a beer and a shot, take a moment to appreciate the hundreds of velvet paintings around the room, and get ready for a show.