Sunday, February 10, 2008

WEEKEND WRAP-UP

It's Sunday night and as I sit here trying to "will" myself back into good health, I figure now is as good a time as any to do the weekend wrap-up. Besides, it's either that or watch the wishy-washy performances of the Grammys.

FRIDAY night started out good enough with a promising Happy Hour. As far as the bar goes, things were starting to take shape; For me on the other hand, I felt myself coming down with something akin to the flu: chills, coughing, fever; the usual suspects. "Great" I remember thinking to myself; "Here we go again". I hate being sick, but when you are constantly around people and touching people's money, dirty napkins, glasses, etc., sooner or later, you're going to get hit with a bug. It goes with the territory, I guess.

Like I mentioned before, things were starting to go well for the evening when I was approached pretty early in the evening by a couple of guys from the Department of Enviromental Protection (DEP). They hand me a notice that basically says that because of construction work, they would be cutting off our water from 12:30am -5:30 am. Are you shitting me?? Cut off our water at the busiest point of our night? Sure enough, at 12:30am, the water shut down and as a result, no water for drinks; no water to clean glasses with; and more importantly- no water for hand washing or FLUSHING TOILETS! We ended up having to shut the bar down early because of it. Talk about being pissed! I think the only people who were more upset than me were the ones who couldn't flush the toilets. WTF???

SATURDAY found me trying to combat the flu-like symptoms that was slowly taking over my body. Knowing that I had to work again that night, I kept things low-key until it was time to go in. We had a senior party for Manhattan College scheduled for that night, an open bar affair. I find myself enjoying these "open bar" affairs less and less, simply because you never know what to expect with them. Some of these affairs go well, while others tend to "shit the bed" if you know what I mean. Folks will say "Um, I'm expecting about such-and-such number of people", then when you plan accordingly, they will either have half as many or double the number you expected.

In this case, while the numbers weren't what we were expecting, at least the guests that showed up were a lively bunch and had a good time; which in turn, made other people loosen up and have a good time as well.

I also bumped into an old friend of the bar, a lovely young lady by the name of SHANNON. She was an avid party animal back in the day (and not bad on the eyes either) and always made Third and Long one of her stops whenever she went out with her crew of equally hot friends. Then she met a boy and disappeared into relationship land (as most people do). She recently resurfaced, freshly-single and still hot as hell. She moved back into the neighborhood so hopefully we'll see more of her (and her hot friends). Welcome back!

By the end of the night, while business was good overall, my health was not and I was shot, physically and mentally. I ended up in bed for most of today, finally getting up at around 5pm to venture out to get supplies before the Arctic Blast hits the city.

Getting back to the Grammys for a moment: It's their 50th Anniversary so they are pulling out all the stops- going back down memory lane, giving out lifetime achievement awards to pretty much anyone who's sold a record in the past 50 years. Notable performances (for me anyways):

KAYNE WEST ("Dear Mama"). After years of pissing and moaning about not getting the respect he deserves as an artist, he finally wins a few Grammys this year. His performance/tribute to his mother was especially moving as you could tell he really put his all into it.

It almost made me want to cheer for him, if it wasn't for the fact that he's such a pompous wanker with the ego the size of his especially-large five-head. Wanker.

FOO-FIGHTERS. Not sure what the point was in bringing in the chick with the violin as she pretty much got dumped in with the rest of the orchestra, but I really dig this band; especially when they perform live. I always find this band as one of the more underrated bands out there today.

AMY WINEHOUSE ("Rehab"). Say what you will about this train wreck with talent, she sure can pull herself together when the time calls for it. Thanks to a noteworthy dentist who cleaned up her dental issues and the rehab program that's (hopefully) helping her get back on track, she delivered a great performance (via satellite) and looked genuinely shocked when she won her award afterwards. It was cute. Hopefully she gets her act together once and for all. She's got a lot of talent.

(Uh-oh.... Herbie Hancock just won Album of the Year. Kayne will probably erupt by the end of the commercial break).

The NFL PRO-BOWL took place in Hawaii today. After the great Super Bowl we had last week, does anyone really care? Seriously?

One good thing that came from it was that ADRIAN PETERSON was voted the MVP of the game for yet another stellar perfomance. Talk about one hell of a rookie year! You think my autographed jersey is worth a couple of sheckels now?


AND FINALLY......

HAPPY TRAILS.... To ROY SCHEIDER. The 75-year-old actor passed away today after a long illness. Appearing a quite a few films in his career, ranging from cop roles ("The French Connection"), to broadway star ("All That Jazz"), he was best known for playing the crusty sheriff who battled the Shark from Hell ("JAWS"). When he wasn't playing tough guy roles in films, he was a fighter of various causes, especially environmental causes out in the Hamptons.


DOLLAR DRAFT MADNESS is here! $1.00 Bud/Coors Light/Bud Light mugs, ALL NIGHT LONG!



NuFF Said