Catching Up

Catching Up!

Winters big digouts (especially the blizzard after Christmas) were eventful in that you find out how many people will come out in treacherous weather just to get away from the evident reality that will be upon them the next day.

I got caught in the mess. Thankfully I’m not as aloof as I act and keep a snow shovel and blankets in my car (ask Yaega Lee). As I spent the night at the Game on December 26^th I thought about the following year.

What would 2011 bring? Was I surprised.

In January I was reminded how awful and dangerous the world is when people get so angry at their circumstance that they act out on rebellious and treacherous fantasies. When Congresswoman Giffords was shot I was appalled that no one spotted the warning signs of a psycho nut case in their midst. But it also goes to the influence of community and connections.

I was also reminded that a President of the United States when under divine influence can unify and assuage the pain of tragedy and conflict. Politics aside, it’s a wonderful thing to live in a democracy. I have travelled the world, especially the orient and see how people live. I have seen their response to the governments of their respective countries. Fear, rebellion, suspicion, murder, treachery…but here in the USA we don’t have it as bad. Don’t believe me….find out for yourself!

February was cold bitter and nasty. In politics, the President was portrayed in a Tea Party e-mail as a witch doctor with a bone through his nose holding an ax. I wonder what would happen if President Bush was portrayed in a grand dragons robe standing with the KKK? Propaganda works well on the ignorant, the desperate, the hateful, and the bigoted ( about 60% of the population). I was even more disappointed when the Steelers lost to Green Bay in the SuperBowl.

March brought in the Vernal Equinox and the beauty of the night sky and significant astrological events that will in some way effect the planet and inevitably all mankind. It also brought in rumors of a neighborhood watering hole, now run into the ground, up for sale. I knew it would be that way when all the bartenders ran out the door to work for Mr. Jimmy (Poppy J) at Game On or Whiskey Business (Now the Corner Tavern).

Poppy’s hot new bartender ChaCha (yes, a pseudonym) became popular and famous for what she wears on duty serving drinks and beer (well I should say for what she doesn’t wear attempting to serve drinks and beer).

As oil drilling resumed in the Gulf and the NFL went into lockdown, locking out players over contract negotiations in the next season (multi-millionaires fighting over how to divide up 6 Billion dollars in new revenue, greed is master) Game On’s Pool Team continues the tradition of being a drinking team that sometimes shoots pool.

As the natural and manmade disasters of March took place (Japanese earthquake, Tsunami, floods, Nuclear disaster, Hawaiian Volcano Eruption and Myanmar Earthquake) an economic disaster came to its fruition at 1762 Broadway.

But the end did not come right away…meanwhile on the other side of the world a visitor from California would look at business opportunities in Long Island. I wonder where?

As late March went into early April, many birthdays were celebrated. Myself, N.F. Pluto, Miss A (former bartender for Mr. E.) and the Met Fan who long ago transferred his patronage to Game On, celebrated birthdays.

While the Japanese Nuclear Reactors slowly melt down and cause damage unreal to the Pacific Ocean and the China Sea, Game On would host parties and keep the drinks flowing. Poppy J’s hot wings served mostly on Wednesday Nights when the Pool Team was in residence, offered three flavors; mild, wild and thermonuclear.

As the Middle East Spring produces revolts in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and other countries smart enough to hide their dirt from the media, the world didn’t really care. All eyes were on the marriage of a Prince to a commoner.

Like an English Monarch will have some effect on the price of oil in the short or long term. Meanwhile the Afghan war continues with no real relief or major changes in site until May gets underway with a bang.

All through last year, but catching fire was the birther bullshit put out by the usual cracker propaganda media and hatemongers that the President is not an American. When Trump jumped on that bandwagon it led me to believe that America was being subverted by insidious spirits that have been awakened from hell, long sleeping since the Civil War or just napping since the Civil Rights Movement. Then the President had lawyers re-release his legal birth certificate and also release his original birth certificate (original certificate is not legal for identification purposes).

Unfortunately for the race-haters and assorted propagandists, the President is American. The President, having an African name with Islamic influences, has also been called an elitist, a professorial condescending liberal, an indecisive excuse for a leader, taking the country in the ‘wrong direction’. Meaning this; not making enough low wage jobs for a tax strapped middle class or not giving enough tax breaks to the obscene wealthy (that includes oil companies and their executives).

Then this tight lipped highly disciplined Commander–in-Chief pulled off what eight years and trillions by the last administration had not. U.S. troops and CIA operatives shoot and kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a city of 500,000 people that houses a military base and a military academy. Following a fire fight, the troops descend upon the compound and shoot Osama bin Laden after he reportedly refuses to surrender. Yeah, the President did his due-diligence and made the call.

I had just come in from sitting round a firepit, enjoying a cold beer from a keg of premium Heineken when N.F. turned on the boob tube in search of Sunday Night entertainment.

I had watched about 10 minutes of some action show on CBS when a banner flashed across screen, I turned immediately to CNN. When I saw the President announce that we got Bin Lauden, I was happy and reflective. It was a relief to know the boogeyman of terror was dead.

Today I found out that something else passed away. Mr. E. sold the old bar formerly the Beverly, formerly Cheers, formerly the Broadway Lounge, to an American of Jamaican ancestry allegedly from California. The information about the sale is valid. The information about the new owner could be pure bullshit. He could be an alien from another planet for all we know.

More intrigue to come.

RJ