The Hot Club

THE HOT CLUB

WHERE HEARTS ARE ON FIRE
BUT IT’S NEVER TOO HOT

FOR THE DEVIL MAY CARE

575 South Water Street

Providence, RI

Jen, the HC’s bartender from the North Country, is a hockey fan (Montreal Canadiens). She admitted to rooting for the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals. I told her that if Vancouver didn’t win Game #5 at home they were done because they weren’t going to win Game #6 in Boston.

After the Bruins’ Michael Ryder scored goal #2 in Game #4, the Jack of Fire said: “Luongo’s all stick, no glove.” And the Bear ambled in and said Mark Recchi is the Bruin’s leading goal scorer (Finals). Yes, with 3 goals. Now Marchand and Rider have 3 also after the Game #6 win.

Scott McKay was talking up UVM’s Tim Thomas. Turns out Scott is also a graduate of the University of Vermont. Journalism? No, a history major. Instead of journalism, Scott says you take a lot of history, English and economics.

It was Buffalo Steve’s birthday and he was in the Hot Club. Charlie Clancy said he only celebrates his birthday every other year now. Charlie said it’s every other year because they go by twice as fast.

The Hot Club as Hotel California: Last Friday, the club was visited by Fran and Dan. Fran, the ‘Yankee Man’, was actually there with a cap-wearing Red Sox fan. And Dan, a good friend of Charlie Clancy’s, was also in the house. Dan hasn’t been around much, but he was at Lupo’s (as I was) when Richard Thompson played (10/28/10) last year. One of the best concerts I’ve seen in a long time. Fleet Feet Pete was there too.

Gentlemen Joe pointed out to me new ‘L’ brackets along the edge of the roof on the outside bar overlooking the marina. The whole roof was lifted up about a foot after the last thunder and lightning storm. Joe noted that the fabric canopy over Bar 5 was gone, torn to shreds, and three trees along the outside curb were snapped off. Mother Nature!

Wonder of wonders! Give thanks to the Gods of toiletry, the HC’s men’s room’s new right urinal has a companion on the left. Intrepid reporter Bags provided the News Flash.

In more ‘down the toilet’ news, the one in the men’s room stall makes a whooshing sound so you know that’s new too. These factoids were confirmed by Chief Poobah Eben Bates, who spilled that the ladies’ room fixtures have also been redone. Hooray!

So the next time I was using the men’s room, a newbie was complaining about how big the urinals were. I told him “This is better than it was.” He didn’t believe it.

The Hot Club

HOT FLASH! The Hot Club Men’s Room now has a new right urinal, one of those eco-friendly Sloan water-less wide troughs. It replaces one whose handle would sometimes stick and when it did, the urinal would overflow. The HC has joined the 21st Century!



Beau was wearing a red T-shirt. Then I noticed that he was color coordinated – he was also wearing red Nike sneakers. Beau, resplendent in red.



Some stranger named Mike walked up to Mr. D. and me on the deck. He congratulated us and said that he wanted to be like us when he got our age. He seemed surprised that ole folks like us could still be having a good time. Methuselahs on a mission – to have fun.



Fleet Feet Pete went to see the Young Adults. Fleet Feet said that Rudy Cheeks wore Gumby boxing shorts. Mike Module also went. He said that the band had some horn problems, but sounded great on It’s A Complex World.



Patti Q was in the house recently. Mr. D., Patti and others have suggested that I join Facebook, but I’ve always resisted. Patti told me that I am now on Facebook. Well, the Sportzine is. Seems that Obasi put Sportzine on Facebook.



Foot Joy and I were talking about the Dave Bush - Brandon League ‘Bush-League connection’. I noted that Brandon League is now Seattle’s closer while David Aardsma is on the disabled list. Foot Joy thought Aardsma had gotten traded, so he got his Xoom from the car. Aardsma is on Seattle’s disabled list. The Xoom got the answer – a handy little machine that has a screen big enough you can read it (even with ancient eyes).



Foot Joy noted that Aardsma is now the first player listed statistically in Major League Baseball references. That honor was held for many years by Hank Aaron.



The Wizard said he had no verification but that there was a rumor that when they completed the Yale Bowl that they buried the steam shovels at the bottom. Urban legend?



High Wire Bill played Aaron Neville’s Tell It Like It Is. Bill said he’s seen him three times with the Neville Brothers, once at the Tent. Bill said they were awesome all three times. Bill said that when Aaron got off the bus, women cried. It was like the Beatles.



Broc was saying that he’s like school in summer – no class. Broc has a lot of class.

The Hot Club

Charlie Clancy really likes Adrian Gonzalez’s inside-out swing. Charlie said it was the best one he’s seen since Fred Lynn. I had to agree. If only Freddy had stayed in Boston. He tattooed that wall in left!

Gentleman Joe compared women with fruit. He said women come in all sizes, shapes and colors. And you wait for them to get ripe. I said to Gentleman Joe: “What, men aren’t like fruit?”

Super Dave of the Grill played a song called Pepper. I checked to see who did the song since I had heard it before and liked it. It was by the Butthole Surfers.

Foot Joy and I were talking about great names in baseball like the Tigers’ Charlie Furbush. Foot Joy recalled when the Toronto Blue Jays had two relievers that often pitched one after the other. One was Dave Bush and the other was Brandon League (now the closer for Seattle). So the box score would read Bush – League.

Gentleman Joe introduced me to Meghan, a young woman who said she was ‘older than time itself’. She looked like a college student but said she had already graduated.

School Teacher Stephanie was enjoying the summer-like weather at the Hot Club. However Stephanie admitted that she got a little riled up after a guy with whom she was talking asked her who she was texting. Stephanie didn’t like the intrusion into her private life. “I don’t even know him”, she said.

There’s a new sign for boat tours on the deck of the HC replacing the one for Captain Joe’s (Dempsey) tours. Tom McGinn is now the captain and skippering the boat tours. There is no better way to see and hear Water Fire than from Tom’s boat. Just remember that you have to pick up the boat for Water Fire in Water Place Park (and make a reservation first at 580-BOAT). All other tours leave from the Hot Club pier.

Beau was trying to get through the crowd with a case of beer. Some guy in stripes accidentally hit Beau in the face as he walked by. Seeing this, Buffalo Steve said of the guy, “He looks like he should be in stripes.”

Sportzine is also available at jimdawsonsports.com (Thanks to Buffalo Steve)

The Hot Club

THE HOT CLUB

WHERE HEARTS ARE ON FIRE
BUT IT’S NEVER TOO HOT

FOR THE DEVIL MAY CARE

575 South Water Street

Providence, RI


We were calling last Friday (the 20th) the Eve of End of Days. Eve of The Rapture. Gentleman Joe joked about Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire, and then told Pal Al and I that he went out with a woman like that - Eva Destruction. As we were talking Blondie was doing Rapture in the background.



Asked Contraire what he was doing for The Rapture and he said he withdrew all his money and put it under his mattress.



Kirk the Younger had some good ideas for The Rapture – tell all those closest to you that you love them, settle old grudges and have an orgy. Rapture before The Rapture.



Bags said he thought the Bruins were in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1990 or 1991 against Edmonton. The last time I remember was in 1972 when they beat the Rangers for the Cup. A Goggle check reveals that the Bruins did indeed play the Edmonton Oiler for the Cup in 1990 and lost 4-1. The Bruins also lost to the Oilers in 1988 (4-0). Forgotten were the Bruins losses to Philly in ’74 (4-2), and Montreal in ’77 (4-0) and ’78 (4-2).



CJ saw my wounded hand (left middle finger) and said, “You can’t peg a finger at me.”



Chet, Charlie and I were talking about Bill Buckner, the Red Sox guest that night for the Cubs game. Charlie applauded the classy BoSox organization and recalled Billy Buck was also a Cub. I always defended Buckner and said it wasn’t his fault that they lost the World Series to the Mets. They were all to blame – Stanley, Gedman, Calvin Schiraldi. Schiraldi was never the same (after being a better pitcher than teammate Roger Clemens at Texas). I was so happy when the Red Sox brought back Buckner last year.



So Charlie was talking about how the Teixeiras around this area pronounce it as Tex, while the Yankees’ Mark Teixeira uses Tesh. Charlie said it was like Target or Tar – zhay – one sounds classier.



One of the Regulars, sometimes known as ‘Paulie Walnuts’, told me that the actor who plays ‘Paulie Walnuts’, as well as the one who is Bobby Baccala, were in the Hot Club around 12:30 Sunday afternoon. Sure enough, Jessa had a camera phone pic of herself and barmate Jackie with the two Sopranos actors. Jessa said she had never watched the show and didn’t know who they were.



Beau told me that the real ‘Paulie Walnuts’ ordered some food, but didn’t like the seeds on the roll, so they had to cut them off.

Sportzine is also available at jimdawsonsports.com (Thanks to Buffalo Steve)