Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
Greetings Gang!
I just got back from vacation late last night and am going through the multitudes of posts. I had to take 4 different flights yesterday to get home. The first plane (a 16-seat prop job) left at 9:00 a.m. and the last plane got me into Austin at 9:30 p.m. and needless to say, I was exhausted from flying!
I finally got to meet Harry while in Philly, and we did the dinner thing at a restaurant on the Delaware River. Harry's radio station had some kind of promo passes for this one restaurant, so the food was free. (A cheap date - I like that!
) Thanks again, Harry! I enjoyed it.
One thing about Philadelphia - it's expensive! But they had some great food. A few of us carriers hit a place called Mangianna's, where we proceeded to overstuff ourselves on Italian food and wine. I think I can still taste some of it.
I did go to St. Marys, Pa - home of Straub's Beer http://www.straubbeer.com, where it seems the corporate theme is plaguing there as well. It used to be that Straub's was a local hangout, owned by the Straub family. They sold it to "business people" who ended up firing the family members and have an icy attitude to people who visit now. I still managed to get a few free samples, though.
One of the more pleasant moments in St. Marys was an impromptu jam that I was a part of. My buddy Bob teaches guitar and drums, and plays trumpet on occassion. He had me try out a few trombones while I was there, and we just happened to have a couple of guitars and a 'bone in the trunk when we hit a couple of bars. At one bar, the local millionaire happened to be there, and asked Bob if he had a guitar handy. Whe he found out that we had our instruments he demanded that we get them and start playing. At first we just sat around and played some blues, as well as some Eagles tunes and stuff like that. The millionaire - named TJ - wanted to hear me play more horn, so I just looked at Bob and asked if he knew the changes to "Tijuana Taxi", and we went for it. The place went nuts after that. They never hear any of that music in that area. So we proceeded to play "Lonely Bull", "Work Song", "Taste Of Honey" and even "Zorba The Greek" - which really wowed them. It was a rather magical moment. I even got an offer to give trombone lessons to the son of one of the patrons there (I managed to give one a couple of days later). So all in all, it was a great trip.
The weather was great as well. It was in the upper 60's to mid 70's throughout this past week, and dipped into the 50's at night. I had to borrow Bob's jacket while up there. But it felt great. Of course, back here in Austin we're pushing 100, so it's a bit of a culture shock again.
Capt. Bacardi
...catching up on posts online...
I just got back from vacation late last night and am going through the multitudes of posts. I had to take 4 different flights yesterday to get home. The first plane (a 16-seat prop job) left at 9:00 a.m. and the last plane got me into Austin at 9:30 p.m. and needless to say, I was exhausted from flying!
I finally got to meet Harry while in Philly, and we did the dinner thing at a restaurant on the Delaware River. Harry's radio station had some kind of promo passes for this one restaurant, so the food was free. (A cheap date - I like that!
) Thanks again, Harry! I enjoyed it. One thing about Philadelphia - it's expensive! But they had some great food. A few of us carriers hit a place called Mangianna's, where we proceeded to overstuff ourselves on Italian food and wine. I think I can still taste some of it.
I did go to St. Marys, Pa - home of Straub's Beer http://www.straubbeer.com, where it seems the corporate theme is plaguing there as well. It used to be that Straub's was a local hangout, owned by the Straub family. They sold it to "business people" who ended up firing the family members and have an icy attitude to people who visit now. I still managed to get a few free samples, though.
One of the more pleasant moments in St. Marys was an impromptu jam that I was a part of. My buddy Bob teaches guitar and drums, and plays trumpet on occassion. He had me try out a few trombones while I was there, and we just happened to have a couple of guitars and a 'bone in the trunk when we hit a couple of bars. At one bar, the local millionaire happened to be there, and asked Bob if he had a guitar handy. Whe he found out that we had our instruments he demanded that we get them and start playing. At first we just sat around and played some blues, as well as some Eagles tunes and stuff like that. The millionaire - named TJ - wanted to hear me play more horn, so I just looked at Bob and asked if he knew the changes to "Tijuana Taxi", and we went for it. The place went nuts after that. They never hear any of that music in that area. So we proceeded to play "Lonely Bull", "Work Song", "Taste Of Honey" and even "Zorba The Greek" - which really wowed them. It was a rather magical moment. I even got an offer to give trombone lessons to the son of one of the patrons there (I managed to give one a couple of days later). So all in all, it was a great trip.
The weather was great as well. It was in the upper 60's to mid 70's throughout this past week, and dipped into the 50's at night. I had to borrow Bob's jacket while up there. But it felt great. Of course, back here in Austin we're pushing 100, so it's a bit of a culture shock again.
Capt. Bacardi
...catching up on posts online...
