Alice's Resturant

So it is almost Easter. And for me that means going to my grandparents' houses and eating food. For this particular holiday my grandmother always makes Easter bread, which I'm going to miss out on this year because I have to work. "Easter Bread" is what can only be described as a calzone with various delicious meats and some eggs in there. As much as I love Easter Bread, that isn't really why I'm here today. I'm here to talk about the song Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie.

As you may or may not know, this is a 20 minute long epic song is played right at noon on Thanksgiving day on WBCN 104.1 the local rock station. This particular song is a holiday tradition for my family. This song brings up feelings of simpler times for me. It reminds me of my grandfather (may he rest in peace) sitting in the living room with the radio, encouraging us to listen to the bluesy satiric monologue that Mr. Guthrie was setting forth to us on this wonderful day. The last two thanksgivings where I'd had to work while the song was being broadcasted, I still found my way near a radio to hear the song in its entirety.

So why does the Arlo Guthrie's masterpiece song come up on this here Good Friday? Well, the simple answer is, karaoke. Now, I know what you're thinking, does this story have a happy ending, well, yes it does. Thursday night, I was back home at my parents house sipping wine. I had gotten an invite to go out on the town with my buddy Steve but I had backed out due to the fact that I felt a bit of sickness coming on. Well, after a few few large glasses of got rut Carlo, my mind changed suddenly. "I had 2 much wine, feelin fine. U still up 4 beers?" I sloppily texted him. Well fast forward a few hours later when I'm gettin drunk in one of the local townie bars. A few classmates of mine come up to me to compliment my karaoke abilities I'd showed off while hammered at our five year reunion. After getting bored of the crowd and finishing two pitchers of beer we decided to wander down the street, where as it happens, karaoke was being held. I grabbed a binder and the first song I was excited to see what "Alice's Restaurant." I turned in my slip requesting the epic and waited patiently for three minutes. I thought I'd heard my name being called but in the drunken state that gave me the confidence to go for it, I actually made it up and some other gent was called. I talked to the KJ and it turned out that he only had ten minutes left and there were five people in line in front of me. The happy ending to the story is that I stormed out of there without having to make an ass of myself first. I rarely have timing, but I'd attribute it to that for this instance.

---
Upon further research this song inspired a movie that was produced a few years later and I am looking forward to watching. Also this is based on a true story and the restaurant is actually "a half a mile down from the railroad tracks" in Stockbridge and the church where Alice lived is in Great Barrington which has been turned into a non-denominational church/concert venue (which sounds like a adventure in the making to me). Also I found a three minute karaoke version on the net which likely would have been what the KJ had on file. Fail.

pee zero kay three are

Here I am again after being bugged by mister mania for so long because I have neglected this for oh so long. You wanted a new blog entry, so here it is mister mania. I really should appreciate the fact that he keeps asking me for it because it is really the encouragement I need but am completely ignoring. I have really enjoyed writing and one of my big fears what not having an audience or some bologna like that. I really need to embrace the fact that he is trying to help me get off my lazy ass and open up my creative outlets more. So I asked him a favor the other day and he said he would do the favor for me if I completed one of these damn things. What was the favor you ask? I wanted him to transfer me some money onto an online poker account so I can play with real money and chat with him about it while he was doing the same. So what should I write about today? How about poker!

Burda is after all the man who introduced me to the world of poker. I had known what it was before and had played it maybe a handful of times, but i never really understood the game or appreciated what it took to play it. I couldn't have had a better teacher to introduce me to the subject, I mean, its who he is. The man is a friggin poker player, his job is to play poker. He thinks poker, he dreams poker, he reads poker, he even blogs poker. It is his passion. It is something he really cares about.

One could argue that it is just a game of chance. While it is obvious that an element of chance is involved from the way the cards are dealt, it is also true that everybody has the exact same chance of getting those cards, so the stakes are the same. What you do with what you get is how the game is played. It's a game that is all about attitude and style. Self awareness is a very big part of how the game is played. Mind games are in play and reputations are on the line. Credibility is the name of the game. Integrity is king.

Other than mister mania reminding me of poker the object in my room that helps to remind me of it is a gift I got in a yankee swap xmas party at work. I got a liter of vodka that came with two decks of cards and a handful of chips. Its kind of neat, but in all reality, the fact that it came with so few chips makes it impractical as a poker set.

I went to foxwoods for the first time with mister mania. He also brought me to Vegas. Both times a lot of poker was played. Real life poker was so different than online poker. The adrenaline you feel is greater. He plays online all the time. I wonder if he still gets the same adrenaline for every had that I do when I'm playing in real life.