Friday, December 19, 2014

Friday Before Christmas In The City By The Bay; The Calm Before the Storm; Bars Are Packed; The Pulse; Happy Holidays

 The freeways are barren--it's Friday and anyone worth anything already split and has headed for home or Tahoe or better yet, Tommy's Joynt, for a couple of shots and some brisket before the storm begins, the figurative one.

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of the rain already, sorry Paul and Roberta, Bill Martin, and Mike Pechner.

You can tell it's a holiday and Friday--Downtown on a Friday before Christmas and every office is pretty much deserted --poor KRON building on Van Ness. Vacant, gray, and perfectly sullen on the Van Ness strip. So sad, so compelling ...ventured over nearby North Beach early on to catch a quickie at Geno & Carlo--two SFPD cops on bikes sped by and I quickly glanced to see if any of the Northern Station vets were ready to hit the after-work scene--Geno & Carlo: old school SF, pretty good spaghetti and meatballs and later Friday, a great place to get smashed before heading to that last holiday party.

Used to run into Fat Tony a lot at Geno's--he always bought the bar a round until Jimmy Dennon got pissed and jealous and marched out in fury over to the Iron Horse. Jimmy didn't like attention and if he perceived he was getting the business, he took it personally. Poor guy. He was usually hammered which sort of pissed off Fat Tony--the upside? Free drinks for everybody. Miss the crowd. Where's Stevie McPartlin? remember him, late of KTVU "Mornings on Two" and celebrated NY Yankees fan and loyal buddy of Kevin O'Brien --speaking of KOB, now you want to know how to party? Wow. I can only imagine Kevin holding court at Perry's on the Friday PM before Christmas --hell, the broads alone would be worth the price of admission. KOB is a fine saloon man--maybe he goes a tad crazy but who cares? I'm waxing poetic and nostalgic which is worth nothing today other than describing the good old days, how dare I!...

FRIDAY PM--Union Square, in spite of the weather, is packed galore--cars honking, taxis barking--more than the usual--Screw you Uber, I never did trust you but that's another story...The Salvation Army bell ringers are everywhere --what a nice scene --and always my favorite part of the holiday scene. I try to pick the Friday before Christmas to venture out in the city all about and see what's going on--BART is packed too, which is good because if you dare get in your car today and navigate the streets, you're more nuttier than I am and that's saying a lot ....Walking along the Embarcadero--bars are packed and people are on the go, even in this stinking weather...A few of the KGO-TV trucks are double parked on Front--whoa?!, I thought you guys weren't as bad as the PIX guys but I guessed wrong....Battery Street looks empty except the Old Ship --not surprised --they make the best martini in town and a little whiskey in the eggnog isn't so bad either--especially on the Friday before Christmas --hunker down, stay dry and warm and enjoy the weekend.

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12 comments:

  1. So have the Bridge & Freeway Blockers finally stopped their foolishness? I hope so, before some of them get hit like pins in a dark rainy Bowling Alley. It takes a few weeks for most bay Area drivers to get used to slick roads. They don't need much distraction (or should I say temptation) before things get real messy for everybody..

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  2. Good luck on that event. Are you sure you won't be thrown off the roof?

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  3. What about the KGO-TV holiday party where Tom Vacar brought out the fire extinguisher?

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  4. Paul Deano is doing his weather reports and mentions sun next week. Veronica as he takes a pause says, "It would be nice to see some sun"..Deano then does the "Do not interrupt the tall white man when he speaks act"..just ignored her. He then launched into something about Santa and storm tracks,blah,blah.with no spirit at all-lol Veronica's smile faded as after being dissed,she quietly said to him "That makes no sense at all". At that,Ken Bastita did- I kid you not- one of those Charlie Brown crooked smile takes. Fade to commercial. I saw it,I heard it. And "it" doesn't sound like all are on the same page. Or sharing for Christmas.

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  5. Friday and Saturday are traditional nights for would-be Santas to try and find some chimney to go down.

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  6. McPartlin? No nostalgia here. Luckiest buffoon ever to hit the airwaves. Good bar man though to be sure.

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    1. Met Steve at my local bar after he played in a golf tournament in town. He WAS great to sit next to at the bar and chat...but, I agree, couldn't stand him on-the-air!

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  7. Richard, I hear your pain, but I am in SALES not Production.

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  8. Have you noticed that the meteorologists keep saying "just a few scattered showers tomorrow and that's prett much it" every day since Tuesday and we keep getting slammed? Now after promising a sunny weekend and then a partly sunny weekend and then a cloudy weekend they're now saying showers through Saturday and into early Sunday morning. They keep promising they're going to be "light" and every day we pick up another inch.

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    1. Here's an important weather trivia that i wish Rich would understand is important and scoops the local meteorologists who SHOULD have noticed it: The low temps tonight will be in the 50's from Vancouver Canada to at least San Ignacio in central Baja California on the 20th of December. THAT is an amazing swath of warm and wide air flowing off the Pacific in winter. I would bet the last time that happened Camels and Sabertooth cats roamed the Embarcadero 50,000 years ago.

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  9. McPartlin was a lucky buffoon indeed. KOB could no longer keep him out of the trouble he would create for himself at KTVU, and so called in his favors to get his buddy the gig at KNBR succeeding Dill and Cleary. Remember how McPartlin alienated Madden (Madden used to have his call segments on KNBR). Once that happened, McPartlin was done. He had exhausted all his favors and he is in Florida now selling boats.

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