Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Printers Alley
Saturday
November 30, 2002
As I type this, my sister Mary Beth is sitting next to me. It's funny, with these commentaries I'm usually alone when I write them. Maybe I should try having a consultant group for these. "Think they'd get that Ultimate Warrior reference?" Run a few Bob Saget jokes by them, etc. Hmmm, that might be the way to go.
Mary Beth noted that I link quite a few things on here. Which is true. Because it's important I think for people to have at least some frame of reference to some of my topics... or at least the capacity to check if they're interested. And if I can help them to that end, then that's great.
Right now I'm playing the live version of "Rain King" by the Counting Crows for Mary Beth where they go into a medley of Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen live in concert. If you've never heard it, you have no idea how good it is. One of my favorite traits of the Counting Crows is their ability to mix other songs with their favorites on the fly live in concert. But if you like the Counting Crows at all, you owe it to yourself to hunt down that track. Trust me.
Mary Beth had to go shopping, so she's gone for now. I need to get tough (not to be confused with tuff) with the crew here on Christmas lists. To Mary Beth's credit, she has her list all set, itemized and everything. I can't say the same for me. But, I have enough high end type items on the list (Sopranos first two seasons on DVD, Mr. Show Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD, etc.) that I think my list is pretty close to filled up.
I woke up around 7:30 or so this morning. I have no idea why. Last night my old friend Brian Costner and I went down to Buffalo Billiards on 2nd Avenue in Nashville. It's a classy place; it's one of the places I went the night I turned 21. They have Woodchuck Cider on tap, which puts them in the elite in my book. Anyway, Brian and I met up with Randy Hite and Brian Stockwell. I met their friend Wes who they went to Holy Rosary with in grade school. It's funny -- if things had taken a slightly different turn, I might've met him a dozen or so years ago. But instead I didn't meet him until last night.
Getting Josh Tenisci to meet us out there was interesting. Josh had driven up from New Orleans yesterday, and he didn't want to go out. But to his credit, Coss called him up and badgered him on the phone until he agreed. I felt like I was living in a deleted scene from the movie Swingers.
It was like a mini-FRHS reunion at Buffalo Billiards though. Jan Crowell was there -- I hadn't seen her in years. The recognition factor is usually rather amusing with the shaved head and all for people that haven't seen me in the past two years. I hadn't seen Stockwell since early 1996 when he came up to Evansville to visit Michael Murphy (who at that time lived across the hall from me at Hughes Hall). It was fun -- they have a nice jukebox there. Josh cracked me up when he decided to "slow it down" by playing an Elton John song. His attempt to get the entire bar to sing along with it failed.
The waitress there was very hot, but unfortunately not particularly skilled at waitressing. Brian Costner and Randy Hite put in an order for a beer, and then like 15-20 minutes later it still hadn't arrived. I then went up to the bar and bought another Woodchuck; when I got back to the table I laughed long and loud in seeing that the waitress still hadn't come back. Then she finally came back around... to ask if anyone wanted a drink! It was high comedy there as an exasperated Brian and Randy explained that they had ordered drinks 25 minutes before or so.
But, like I mentioned, the waitress was hot. So nobody complained too much.
Speaking of hot, Wes knows what's up as far as knowing some very attractive women. He works in IT (internet) for the Nashville Predators. But some of his co-workers showed up... and while the Predators may not win a great deal, at least they've made some good hires in other departments, if you know what I mean. The one brunette girl in the red looked like a young Courteney Cox. Very nice.
Finally the scene began to die down at BB. Josh had headed out earlier, so me, Randy, Brian and Brian went down to Lonnie's in Printers Alley.
It's crazy, but that was my first time ever to go to Printers Alley. I'd heard it had a somewhat seedy reputation, but I didn't really notice that. Being an alley, I suppose it comes with the territory, but it had an alive feel (if that makes any sense).
We decided to go to Lonnie's. It turns out though that there's TWO Lonnie's -- the country bar on one side of the alley, and then the karaoke bar on the other side. So we ended up in the country bar.
But, for what it's worth, it was one of the best entertainment setups I've seen in a country bar. They had three attractive blondes up on stage in matching outfits with the cutoff midriffs and tight pants and what not. And they were doing covers of pop/hip hop/rock songs that they gave a country edge. It might sound strange, but it was actually really entertaining. It was cool hearing them do "It Wasn't Me" by Shaggy; that might sound out of place, it was strangely compelling (and I mean besides just staring at the women up on stage). Randy and Stockwell ended up going across the street. Unfortunately he'd ordered a bucket of Michelob Light, then decided that he didn't want to pay $12 for it. So that left me having to explain to the hot blonde waitress there (notice a trend here?) that he'd left. Brian Costner already had his Budweiser, so I didn't want to leave him hanging. But, as I described, there were reasons to stay and watch for a few minutes...
From there we went over to the other Lonnie's, where we met up with Randy and Stockwell, heard some subpar karaoke and played pool. Brian Costner and I beat Brian Stockwell and Randy in a great comeback. My game was a bit rusty, but I knocked in our last two to set up Brian C. sinking the 8-ball for the win. Fun stuff.
Today should be good. I need to get some more sleep at some point (four hours of shut-eye isn't enough to get the job done). I was afraid I was going to tap out last night before Brian Costner got here; I was feeling drowsy watching the end of the Raptors/Celtics game on ESPN. But when we got out, I got my second wind. Maybe the cold helped me going. Or the Woodchuck Cider. But later today we're having a big family get-together here. Like 30 people in the house. And it's chilly enough outside where going out on the deck might not be feasable. My mom has done a marathon job this week on the cooking end of things, between Thanksgiving and the ham, potato and cheese dish last night and then the mega-meal of chili and stew in the works for today. Then tonight with be another night on the town I'm sure. Gotta keep it somewhat in check though; I've got a flight pretty early tomorrow morning back to Tampa.
Randy gave me his brother Brian's number; Brian Hite moved down to the Tampa area not too long ago. So I've definitely gotta call him up and get the scoop on that.
Right now I need to track down my Civilization II CD-ROM disc. It's around here somewhere; I need to install it on my computer at home (as if I didn't already have enough time distractions). That and a nap should be on the docket before the family gathering gets going today.....
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