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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Just a damn media blog; I don't need your adulation; the local media Tea-Party schlum

As usual the brave hearts who coward and hide behind their PC have been doing a lot of talking. They tend to talk more bravado when under the protection of secrecy and anonymous status. Kind of funny actually.

Look, this isn't for everybody. You can like it, love it, hate it, despise it, whatever, but considering how much it cost you to get in, take notice. It's not special, just occasional information and gossip intended for fun, sometimes serious, sometimes for more formal notice and even a scoop or two.

I don't ask, nor need your adulation. That's not the idea. If you're looking for lovey-dovey and a chance to ride me, go ahead, make my day. But seriously, this is what it is, nothing more, nothing less.

Sure, I take shots. Love it. Not jealous. Not angry. No issues, just opinions. At least I man up and put my name behind every shot. Far from the lizards who take shots without ID'ing themselves, true cowards.

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT?

You read it. You just can't wait. You can't help yourself. Even the putz in the morning at Knibber, RadUNich, the anointed one, the asshole who has enough baggage to fill the Oakland Arena. And a tea-party ass himself--the guy who spouts conservative values and is anti-union and is more insecure than I am.

YOU KNOW WHAT?

I rip him  because no one else has the balls to--he's reached his limit and will be lost in the corporate shuffle pretty soon. No media wag in this market will say it--they're afraid, not me. So there.

And one day soon, I'll say more. The demons inside my body are itching.

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Just relax, dammit and other Friday Media notes; KNBR hires Krueger for 49ers gig

Hey, break time.

Perfect Friday to tell ya all that its time to chill, relax, eat, smoke, have sex, whatever. Seems a lot of you take this place ever so seriously. Please, it's a goddamn media blog. It's intended to be informative and fun. It ain't the Pentagon Papers.

I strayed a bit on Tuesday, (took a few days off to breathe fresh ocean air and play dominoes with my buddy, Zack. Yeah, I play dominoes and I'm pretty damn good,) so anyway, yeah, Tuesday's rant was a classic. Obviously, some of you got it--the rest, we'll OK, what can I say other than I'm deeply passionate, but keep in mind, again, THIS IS A BLOG.

Rambling Media notes: I know that Janelle Wang is going to NBC Bay Area--I'm the one who scooped the story. Old news...Yeah, Fosse and Kuiper wouldn't have giggled had they knew the guy in Texas was to die later on, but hey, look at the video. You CLEARLY see the fan going head-down in free fall and Fosse was still laughing. The "I hope he's OK" later wasn't good enough. More like, "you know, folks, maybe this is serious."...KNBR's Damon Bruce will have co-host Larry Krueger for the 49ers pre and post-game shows. Yes, that Larry Krueger, the guy fired in the Felipe Alou imbroglio in '05. Go figure...Whenever Joe Starkey retires from the CAL football gig, Roxy Bernstein is ready and waiting. Burnstein is not that beloved by a few local media wags, but he's good and that's all that counts...Speaking of the tragedy in Texas, nice spot-on account from KCBS' Steve Bitker who was there broadcasting the game on radio. Bitker's five-minute phono with Stan Bunger and Susan Leigh Taylor Friday was devoid of the usual drama act provided by a few of the other usual suspects...Add KCBS: Matt Bigler was recently doing a TV piece for KPIX, (both owned by CBS,) and had the word, "AFTRA" on his t-shirt. Message? Radio guy is pissed that he's filing a TV story and ain't gettin' paid, (little, if any)...Those of you who castigated me for supposedly going el-softo on the FM sports station need just archive my thoughts about the morning show. Buffoon central with a bunch of needless, dull, boring chit-chat with three guys who sound all alike. When Knibber leaks word through the grapevine that they don't miss Opie, you pretty much know the situation...Speaking of Opie, you'd think his replacement would be at least coherent and mildly interesting, but she's about as compelling as the infomercials on KRON.

CLARIFICATION: In this notes column, I inadvertently wrote that Damon Bruce was out as the 49ers radio pre-and post-game host, and that Larry Krueger was given the job. In fact, Krueger is joining Bruce as a co-host.

The post was corrected.

I regret the error.

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