Monday, January 30, 2006
A Saturday in Bawlmer...Where's Bessie Nickens?
You got it folks...spent this past Saturday in Bawlmer. Beautiful day...traffic into the city wasn't off the hook -
First stop was Lil Havana (bar, cantina). We opted for a pitcher of mojitos. Our bartender brought the mojitos in a pitcher and the ice in a second pitcher so that we could ensure gettin' a nice tall glass of the "good stuff." Due to the early hour (?) - 130pm - she served as our waitress also. She was very attentive throughout our meal. I had the Cuban sandwich (pulled pork, ham , avocado, cheese - not American! -on Cuban bread which came with a side of black beans and rice (not seasoned). Miss Lovely had a roasted turkey sandwich (seasoned well) with sweet potato fries. The pitcher of mojitos was more than enough for a group of four - let alone just the two of us! FOOD - 4 Melvins, SERVICE - 4 Melvins, AMBIENCE - Priceless!
Next stop was the American Visionary Art Museum. We hadn't seen the place since around 1997. A lot of new exhibits were on hand. I love this place. The artists' work is so unpretentious. I paricularly loved the small display of Bessie Nickens' oils depicting life as a child. There was one painting of two young girls being harangued by bees . WHERE can you get a print of this painting?...where can you get a hold of any Bessie Nickens' prints?
Finished up at the Wine Store on Fort Avenue. The cafe and courtyard is beautiful.
The store is not a "large" location; however, you can acquire some interesting choices there. Certainly not my go to place - but for the Locust Point area it is an excellent source of fine wine. We picked up one of the specials based on the recomendation of the proprietor - steal of a price for a deep robust Argentinian red.
All in all a wonderful day. We decided to drive back through South Baltimore. The times have changed.
Stankass out...
First stop was Lil Havana (bar, cantina). We opted for a pitcher of mojitos. Our bartender brought the mojitos in a pitcher and the ice in a second pitcher so that we could ensure gettin' a nice tall glass of the "good stuff." Due to the early hour (?) - 130pm - she served as our waitress also. She was very attentive throughout our meal. I had the Cuban sandwich (pulled pork, ham , avocado, cheese - not American! -on Cuban bread which came with a side of black beans and rice (not seasoned). Miss Lovely had a roasted turkey sandwich (seasoned well) with sweet potato fries. The pitcher of mojitos was more than enough for a group of four - let alone just the two of us! FOOD - 4 Melvins, SERVICE - 4 Melvins, AMBIENCE - Priceless!
Next stop was the American Visionary Art Museum. We hadn't seen the place since around 1997. A lot of new exhibits were on hand. I love this place. The artists' work is so unpretentious. I paricularly loved the small display of Bessie Nickens' oils depicting life as a child. There was one painting of two young girls being harangued by bees . WHERE can you get a print of this painting?...where can you get a hold of any Bessie Nickens' prints?
Finished up at the Wine Store on Fort Avenue. The cafe and courtyard is beautiful.
The store is not a "large" location; however, you can acquire some interesting choices there. Certainly not my go to place - but for the Locust Point area it is an excellent source of fine wine. We picked up one of the specials based on the recomendation of the proprietor - steal of a price for a deep robust Argentinian red.
All in all a wonderful day. We decided to drive back through South Baltimore. The times have changed.
Stankass out...
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Anybody Seen Harry...
Crews, that is?...While back I stepped up and said we all should get behind an effort to get this Southern literary master back in print? Aint heard nuthin' from y'all? Will we be subjected to bidding for used battered editions on Ebay to get our fill of this author's works? C'mon - express your outrage ... WE need these works...they are important. I'm not a relative, a close friend - just one who appreciates a good read and would love nothing better to trek on down to the local book stube and pick up The Hawk is Dying or Body or Feast of Snakes. C'mon y'all!
Libraries should have Crews on their shelves. Do I rant on deaf ears?
Anybody else pre-order the next Burke book from Andrew Vachss? I can't wait till it arrives at my door! I am filled with anticipation! Check Amazon.com and you can pre-order at a discount...don't forget Protect.org - our nation's future depends on it!
...gotta get out having a Starbucks Vanilla latte craving...maybe I'll see y'all at the Amerian Visionary Art Museum - neat stuff...gonna get to Lil Havana for some mojitos and then to the Wine Market on Fort Avenue - check out my review of a day in Bawlmer comin' up in the next day or so...
Stankass out...
Libraries should have Crews on their shelves. Do I rant on deaf ears?
Anybody else pre-order the next Burke book from Andrew Vachss? I can't wait till it arrives at my door! I am filled with anticipation! Check Amazon.com and you can pre-order at a discount...don't forget Protect.org - our nation's future depends on it!
...gotta get out having a Starbucks Vanilla latte craving...maybe I'll see y'all at the Amerian Visionary Art Museum - neat stuff...gonna get to Lil Havana for some mojitos and then to the Wine Market on Fort Avenue - check out my review of a day in Bawlmer comin' up in the next day or so...
Stankass out...
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Armadillo do...yeah
Gotcha, huh?...let's catch up on some things here...
TRY the wine?...had a delightful 2002 Zin from Cali from Gravity Hills. Yummy. Very hearty, robust wine with my fave - lots of bold fruit...ummmmmmmmmmm good. Nice price too!...Wanna chuck out a few more $$$ - try the 2002 Zin from Wild Hog Vineyards - it's wonderful!
anybody have an inkling where a nutty Amontillado may be had here in Bawlmer? - not the usual suspects?
Tijuana Straits by Kem Nunn - must read****
current read is Deliverance by James Dickey, to be followed by Purple Hibiscus....
losing weight is a slow tortuous process when you get older...aye caramba
where da armadillo? there the armadillo do...
TRY the wine?...had a delightful 2002 Zin from Cali from Gravity Hills. Yummy. Very hearty, robust wine with my fave - lots of bold fruit...ummmmmmmmmmm good. Nice price too!...Wanna chuck out a few more $$$ - try the 2002 Zin from Wild Hog Vineyards - it's wonderful!
anybody have an inkling where a nutty Amontillado may be had here in Bawlmer? - not the usual suspects?
Tijuana Straits by Kem Nunn - must read****
current read is Deliverance by James Dickey, to be followed by Purple Hibiscus....
losing weight is a slow tortuous process when you get older...aye caramba
where da armadillo? there the armadillo do...
Friday, January 20, 2006
No Fish Today
Time to hit the way back machine again today folks. Back way before the powers that be bolstered the legal drinking age up to 21, young'uns like myself... the college freshman and sophs used to frequent an establishment on Eutaw Street on the westside of downtown Bawlmer called - No Fish Today. For a minimal cover you could get in to see some of the best live entertainment Bawlmer had to offer in a bar setting. The Paradise Pickers (rockabilly, folksy, c & w) and Joanne Dodds Band (old Genesis, Peter Gabriel) were two of my faves to rock the joint.
You'd hand over your 2 or 3 dollars, walk through the front door and the band and dancers would be to your right. The beautiful long wooden bar would cover the wall from the door to the stairs leading to the second and third floors. Get yourself a Becks...chill...maybe dance...bop your head. If you got yourself a hookup and wanted a lil quiet time you'd venture to the second floor where there were some tables, another bar and probably the best juke box in Bawlmer city at the time. Where did they get some of these tunes on 45? No Top 40 folks!
The third floor led to the restrooms and couples would sneak off to the shadows of the mostly empty floor.
It was a sad day when the club burned down in 1982. A sad day indeed.
Yeah, there was the old Hammerjacks (the real Hammerjacks), the old 8X10 at Cross Street Market and if you wanted to watch your back Saranos in Howard County. Disco? Bobby Boyd's Hooligans and Spirits in Towson...Italian coldcuts from Marias and pepperoni pizzas from the Pizza Palace at 3am...ahhhh, but there was not another No Fish Today - and there will never be.
Stankass out...
You'd hand over your 2 or 3 dollars, walk through the front door and the band and dancers would be to your right. The beautiful long wooden bar would cover the wall from the door to the stairs leading to the second and third floors. Get yourself a Becks...chill...maybe dance...bop your head. If you got yourself a hookup and wanted a lil quiet time you'd venture to the second floor where there were some tables, another bar and probably the best juke box in Bawlmer city at the time. Where did they get some of these tunes on 45? No Top 40 folks!
The third floor led to the restrooms and couples would sneak off to the shadows of the mostly empty floor.
It was a sad day when the club burned down in 1982. A sad day indeed.
Yeah, there was the old Hammerjacks (the real Hammerjacks), the old 8X10 at Cross Street Market and if you wanted to watch your back Saranos in Howard County. Disco? Bobby Boyd's Hooligans and Spirits in Towson...Italian coldcuts from Marias and pepperoni pizzas from the Pizza Palace at 3am...ahhhh, but there was not another No Fish Today - and there will never be.
Stankass out...
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Associations and stuff..
These days you buy a new home you gotta join The Association. In fact a lot of older communities got what they call The Board or The Associates. Real scary official soundin' stuff. Well lemme tell ya - and this aint no sour grapes...
Got caught more'n a coupla years ago with a strand of Christmas lights over the garage in late January or early February. Got one of them notices - official and stuff - giving me 10 days to take these detriments to the community down or suffer the consequences of The Board. I quickly walked outside and - poofa - down the lights came. Didn't think much more of it.
Come springtime a few more years later and another "reminder" arrives to "spruce up" the front door entrance with a lil paint. Got ye ole ladder out on the weekend and joined a coupla of my other neighbors who must have got the same notice and wee doggie we sure nuff beautified the fronts of our abodes. But - I couldn't help but look down the block and saw some homes which really needed paint. No touchups - PAINT. Kind of shook it off and said I guess selective enforcement beats no enforcement.
During the interim - got a neighbor with a coupla pits and el Neighbor Extraordinaire
likes to remove them from their 18 lockup and take them to the rear deck area of the home where they relieve themselves as no other animal can. Prior to this the Mr. Homeowner would let the dogs "go" any place and everywhere - got so bad the mail person almost refused to deliver our mail to the community box. So el Neighbor Extraordinaire changed up and just let the dogs go right outside his rear door. Of course the stuff doesn't get cleaned up. It is washed off the cement pad onto the lawn where it kills the grass and really really stinks. The feces are tossed up on the hill behind the home - common area - where kids and the antelope have played.
Thought a coupla phone calls and a fax or two to the Board...Association ...whatever would get the problem fixed. NOT. Took some photos, made some more calls, letters - It's the Same old Sh....They say they sent the feller a letter. Question being begged to be asked here - did anyone ever respond out to take a look at the problem to see if it as bad as I claim or if it even exists? NADA. "Don't confront owners"..."He's got pits you say?"...
I sat back and started thinkin' - I get a letter for a strand of Christmas lights threatening action from the Board and El Neighbor Extraordinaire creates an unseemly and very unhealthy condition and gets carte blanche? Prompts another call because dagnabit I'm startin' to get a might angry - especially when the dead urine stained grass has now spread to a sizable patch of MY LAWN. Ever try eatin' BBQ in the summer on your deck with 95% humidity and the smell of animal urine and feces wafting through? Sent a letter invitin' The Board to a cookout...will they dare show? Respond?
I asked a question - what do I as an owner get for my monthly homeowners dues?
I thought hard and the more I thought it occurred that what I get is the ability to help a company pay its employees to do nothing.
Is it sour grapes? Nah. Guess I'll dig out the Christmas lights and that really weird lookin' 4' high gnome for my front lawn...maybe I'll spruce up the front lawn with a coupla empty Bud cans to go with the bearded feller. Do you think somebody will check it out?
Stankass out...
Got caught more'n a coupla years ago with a strand of Christmas lights over the garage in late January or early February. Got one of them notices - official and stuff - giving me 10 days to take these detriments to the community down or suffer the consequences of The Board. I quickly walked outside and - poofa - down the lights came. Didn't think much more of it.
Come springtime a few more years later and another "reminder" arrives to "spruce up" the front door entrance with a lil paint. Got ye ole ladder out on the weekend and joined a coupla of my other neighbors who must have got the same notice and wee doggie we sure nuff beautified the fronts of our abodes. But - I couldn't help but look down the block and saw some homes which really needed paint. No touchups - PAINT. Kind of shook it off and said I guess selective enforcement beats no enforcement.
During the interim - got a neighbor with a coupla pits and el Neighbor Extraordinaire
likes to remove them from their 18 lockup and take them to the rear deck area of the home where they relieve themselves as no other animal can. Prior to this the Mr. Homeowner would let the dogs "go" any place and everywhere - got so bad the mail person almost refused to deliver our mail to the community box. So el Neighbor Extraordinaire changed up and just let the dogs go right outside his rear door. Of course the stuff doesn't get cleaned up. It is washed off the cement pad onto the lawn where it kills the grass and really really stinks. The feces are tossed up on the hill behind the home - common area - where kids and the antelope have played.
Thought a coupla phone calls and a fax or two to the Board...Association ...whatever would get the problem fixed. NOT. Took some photos, made some more calls, letters - It's the Same old Sh....They say they sent the feller a letter. Question being begged to be asked here - did anyone ever respond out to take a look at the problem to see if it as bad as I claim or if it even exists? NADA. "Don't confront owners"..."He's got pits you say?"...
I sat back and started thinkin' - I get a letter for a strand of Christmas lights threatening action from the Board and El Neighbor Extraordinaire creates an unseemly and very unhealthy condition and gets carte blanche? Prompts another call because dagnabit I'm startin' to get a might angry - especially when the dead urine stained grass has now spread to a sizable patch of MY LAWN. Ever try eatin' BBQ in the summer on your deck with 95% humidity and the smell of animal urine and feces wafting through? Sent a letter invitin' The Board to a cookout...will they dare show? Respond?
I asked a question - what do I as an owner get for my monthly homeowners dues?
I thought hard and the more I thought it occurred that what I get is the ability to help a company pay its employees to do nothing.
Is it sour grapes? Nah. Guess I'll dig out the Christmas lights and that really weird lookin' 4' high gnome for my front lawn...maybe I'll spruce up the front lawn with a coupla empty Bud cans to go with the bearded feller. Do you think somebody will check it out?
Stankass out...
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
A Jim Rice Story
Let's hope the sportswriters get some yarbles and vote this guy in this time. I'm not a Sox fan - not by a longshot; however, let's give credit where it's due. Jim Rice was a career .300 hitter and knocked more than his share of roundtrippers in his steroid free career. He didn't play a bad outfield either. Now the story...
I went to an O's game vs the Bosox in the 80's at the former Memorial Stadium in Bawlmer one Tuesday evening. I copped a couple of left field bleacher seats and settled in for a night of baseball. Sometime during the evening I ventured out to the concession stand for a couple of over priced beers. As I was walking back up the tunnel to the seat there was a roar from the crowd and I could hear a rumble at the field side of the tunnel. Just as I made it to the opening a Jim Rice 375' dinger plopped into the tunnel right at my feet. I dropped the beers and reached, but the ball bounced on the concrete and skidded past me. No beers, no ball - one error.
Stankass out...
I went to an O's game vs the Bosox in the 80's at the former Memorial Stadium in Bawlmer one Tuesday evening. I copped a couple of left field bleacher seats and settled in for a night of baseball. Sometime during the evening I ventured out to the concession stand for a couple of over priced beers. As I was walking back up the tunnel to the seat there was a roar from the crowd and I could hear a rumble at the field side of the tunnel. Just as I made it to the opening a Jim Rice 375' dinger plopped into the tunnel right at my feet. I dropped the beers and reached, but the ball bounced on the concrete and skidded past me. No beers, no ball - one error.
Stankass out...
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Gotta Make You Chuckle
A friend of mine just returned from a holiday excursion across the Atlantic to Europe - particularly France and Spain. He provided us folk here with a few chuckles to get us through our day.
According to my bub - when in France don't dine in a "restaurant" unless you got lotsa $$$ - try the brassieries(?)...bottles of Evian are 8 Euros a piece (3 bottles cost him about $25-26 US...tee hee
What might get you killed or shot in a road rage incident here...ie cut someone off in your car or look at the other driver...is nothing over on the other side...can't we all just get along
People talk to you over there.....hummmmph.
I don't reckon I'll be running to board an Air France jet any time soon to relocate my silly bones to the Rhone valley, cuz gosh darnit - I love this place.
Stankass out...
According to my bub - when in France don't dine in a "restaurant" unless you got lotsa $$$ - try the brassieries(?)...bottles of Evian are 8 Euros a piece (3 bottles cost him about $25-26 US...tee hee
What might get you killed or shot in a road rage incident here...ie cut someone off in your car or look at the other driver...is nothing over on the other side...can't we all just get along
People talk to you over there.....hummmmph.
I don't reckon I'll be running to board an Air France jet any time soon to relocate my silly bones to the Rhone valley, cuz gosh darnit - I love this place.
Stankass out...
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Didn't he say...
Yeah, I remember a while back Bob Dylan sang a colorful lil folksy tune The Times They Are a Changin'. Good message there folks. Anybody catch the ball droppin' in Times Square last night (12-31-05)? Dick Clark tried his darndest to come through his medical problems and bring out another Rockin' Eve. All we at the household were left with is - kudos to him for trying, but the time has come for a change. It was hard to enjoy the show (didn't care much for the "entertainment" either).
Anyhoo - round here a lot of folks packed it in and had their party on at the homestead.
I reckon a lot of hardheads got popped at DUI checkpoints which according to sources were everywhere (Hey the locals gotta start the new budget out right- a coupla hunnerd drunk drivers = $$$ in the coffers). It was nice - family, good food, really nice sparkling pinot grigio and a 2000 Cotes-du-Rhone to go plum silly over, got the On Demand goin' with a few DVDs from the local Blockbuster (didn't care much for the Forty Year Old Virgin - 1.5 Melvins) - all in all a whopper way to say "Hey '06 bring it on!"
Stankass out...
Anyhoo - round here a lot of folks packed it in and had their party on at the homestead.
I reckon a lot of hardheads got popped at DUI checkpoints which according to sources were everywhere (Hey the locals gotta start the new budget out right- a coupla hunnerd drunk drivers = $$$ in the coffers). It was nice - family, good food, really nice sparkling pinot grigio and a 2000 Cotes-du-Rhone to go plum silly over, got the On Demand goin' with a few DVDs from the local Blockbuster (didn't care much for the Forty Year Old Virgin - 1.5 Melvins) - all in all a whopper way to say "Hey '06 bring it on!"
Stankass out...
