Bars For My Birthday: Houston Recommendations, Please

On December 4th I will turn Wicked Old and I'm looking for some drinking suggestions. Having a new kid means either not going out or drinking where she can join us (thank you, W. Alabama Ice House.) So, in the past we haven't been able to get our party on. I like my bars kinda divey, kinda tacky and not crazy loud. New Orleans and Vegas had some good ones, anyone with a suggestion would be helping me. Places of interest I have stumbled across in my internet searches are the following:

Notsuoh - Looks funky and promising from the Flickr pictures. But they also have bands and their MySpace page has a broken link to their show calendar. Might be a deal breaker if I can't hear my friends.

Anvil - A Google search for absinthe in Houston led to the booze blog Drink Dogma. The bloggers/bartenders on the site say they will be running a new bar named Anvil. But damned if I can find if it is open. I've never had a date with the Green Fairie and I'm itching to see what the fuss is about.