Charlotte Fanfest....Day #2...the REST of the story!

So after a late evening on Friday night....I had the chance to sleep in a little bit on Saturday...so naturally I woke up at 7am. Hotel beds and I just have never seemed to agree, even one as nice as the Hilton (and it was a very nice hotel, just for the record). It was lucky I did wake up early though, as I wanted a chance to be in line early to get my long awaited daypass. I called Pete, who happened to be on the same floor as I was and around 9am we made our way down to the lobby....where my old friend Howard Baum was waiting to join us.The line to get in was long...but not ridiculous...and after a slight delay in opening I made my way up to the window where the passes were being given out. I was on my own here because, quite frankly, Flaherty was still in his room sleeping off the night before. Such is life when you travel with Dave. So I get up there and mention my situation and told the guy working there that I was told 2 passes were being held for me.I had the money for the two day passes in my pocket (oh, don't worry....I was going to make Dave pay me back when the time came) and the guy checked his tablet and must have saw my name. He approached me with two day passes, handed them to me....and we both just sorta looked at one another."Thanks a lot.""Not a problem."And then I walked in. I kept expecting him to ask me for money (and quite honestly, maybe since Cornette had asked on my behalf they weren't going to charge me for it--not sure either way) but when he didn't....after the aggravation of the day before...I wasn't going to insist he take my money. I walked in and went over and told Jim, who got a pretty good laugh out of it. Most of the rest of the morning was spent going over to the various vendors and checking out what they had to offer.....got some nice stuff from Highspots & TUCOLDVIDEO....and then I walked over to George Mayfield's table. I was glancing at some of his DVD's and I noticed he had a few that were part of a top 100 of the 80's...as seen in the Observer.Hmmm."Uh, hey man. Don't you think that I'm entitled to a discount on this DVD since it was my article that was the one you're referring too?"George sort of gave me a strange look and asked."What's your name?""Jeff Bowdren."He gave me a good laugh and handed me the DVD."Here. You earned it.""Dude, I was totally being sarcastic. You don't have to give me anything."But he did anyway and was really nice about it. Before you go thinking what a huge tool I was for trying to scam the guy out of a DVD, I kept shopping at his table and bought 3 or 4 more---at full price. By the way, George was a real nice guy and it was nice to finally meet him---since he had traded tapes with me around 17 years ago and we never had actually met before this moment.Amazingly, Flaherty finally woke up late in the morning and I gave him his pass and took him into the rooms. Keep in mind...this was the first tiem he had actually seen what was going on. I will say that Highspots had the most for sale...followed by TUCOLDVIDEO....I was a little surprised that RFVideo's table seem to not have as much as some of the other guys. Which is usually not the case at all.Dave and I had the opportunity to go over and have a photo taken with wrestling legend Danny Hodge. What a gentleman. Just as nice as could be. I told Mr. Hodge that I was a member of the CAC and had taken a photo with him a few years before in Las Vegas that I somehow managed to lose...and that I wasn't going to let that happen again. I wondered aloud to Dave whether or not most of the room realized that one of the greatest athletes the country has ever produced was sitting there at a table, graciously taking photos with fans and signing his autobiography.Then came my big mark-out moment of the weekend. I went over and told Dave that I was going to pay to have my photo taken with Tammy Sytch//Sunny, as I've been a big fan of hers since her earliest days in Smokey Mountain Wrestling. Dave joined me and we both got a picture with her. She saw that Dave was wearing a Yankees shirt and mentioned that she was a Mets fan. We started talking sports with her and she told us that she was a Raiders fan (although not currently real proud of the fact) and that the guy she was dating was an Eagles fan. We actually talked some sports with her while I stood there and wondered if I could possible tell my wife that I may have found her replacement. Finally I asked her about the woman who had been in all of those skits with her in Smokey Mountain."Oh! You mean Margie!""Yeah, that was her.""She was just some local fan that we got to do those skits. She was really nice. It was funny because Jimmy kept telling me to just hammer her and be just ruthless to her and she was so nice...it seemed so wrong."We left the future--potentially--4th Mrs. Bowdren and continued to work the room, seeing such wrestling luminaries as Stan Hansen, Vader, the Steiner Bros, the Nasty Boys, Kevin Sullivan, Mark Lewin, DDP, Lance Russell, Dave Brown, Jerry Jarrett.....and then there were the obviously local guys like George South, Mike Jackson & the Italian Stallion. My old buddy and ace wrestling photographer Duane Long was working a vendor booth with Black Bart. The only problem was....he looked nothing like the Black Bart of old. Dave ran into a guy he knew who ref'ed during the glory days of the Florida promotion and while I was standing there with the two of them, one of the Nasty Boys walks over to me.After the activity of the evening before...I half expected to get yelled at but he pointed at my Notre Dame hat."Hey man...did you know that Saggs' daughter got a full scholarship to play softball at Notre Dame?""No kidding.""Yeah...she's actually really good.""Its a good school...he should be really proud."And then I think he turned around and got back into character...screaming and yelling at someone. Or maybe he wasn't in character....after that conversation I couldn't be sure.About dinner time we walked over to a nearby restaurant to have dinner and ended up sitting next to George Mayfield. So apparently it was George's birthday, and the waiter does a full production about it and asks everyone in the general vicinity to sing Happy Birthday to him.So we all start singing and I look over at the bar, and sitting there....singing Happy Birthday to George along with everyone else.....is old Big Nasty himself....Angelo Mosca. I told George he should feel pretty honored to have Canada's greatest athlete singing for him.Later that evening, we went back over to the bar to watch for any more excitement. I saw the passed out guy's girlfriend and asked her if he was feeling better after the night before. And then, who walks in? The passed out guy....obviously walking around this time....although for some reason he was carrying around like 3 or 4 replica belts---in the bar area. Maybe he thought the Nature Boy would sneak back down to the bar on this night after being chased away the night before. So a bunch of us are sitting there at the corner of the bar, and our conversation turns to women's wrestling....and more specifically Japanese women's wrestling, since Howard's friend Koichi has joined us. And as we're talking about the glory days of Chigusa, Dump, Bull Nakano and the rest of them....a woman approaches and orders a drink. I vaguely recalled being told by someone earlier that it was none other than Judy Martin, one time member of the Glamour Girls with her partner Le Lani Kai back in the late 80's.Judy sort of bellied up to the bar with another former women's wrestler Susan Green, who used to be all over the Apter mags in the 70's as the "Tall Teen from Texas" or something like that. So since we had been talking about, among other teams, the Jumping Bomb Angels.....I asked her if she was indeed Judy Martin and she sort of shyly said she was. And this lead to what might have been the best part of the weekend for Dave and I...we spent the next hour and a half to 2 hours talking about the business with Judy Martin. And she could not have been any nicer.Answered every question we posed to her....offered opinions on the different issues we spoke about regarding the business past and present.I couldn't help thinking that it was one of those instances where, when you least expect it...you run into someone and you end up having the most interesting conversation. After Judy left for the evening, we sat around some more and were surprised to see Bobby Eaton come up to us and start talking. Bobby had his son with him (a lot of the workers seemed to have brought their kids with them, from Flair to Baby Doll to Eaton and others) and we engaged in a pretty lively debate about Bobby's early career with George Gulas as his tag partner. Meanwhile, Bobby's son is trying to tell him that its time for him to go home. Bobby sort of laughed and remarked that their roles have switched and now HE'S the one being watched.The next morning I had an earlier flight than Dave, so I got up earlier and walking around when I noticed that Ole Anderson was in his usual spot, sitting on one of the couches in the lobby holding court. I approached him and asked another guy if he wouldn't mind taking a photo of the two of us."Mr. Anderson....do you mind if I get a picture?""Well no...if you have a camera!""Yeah...that guy right there has it.""Oh, okay...I was just giving you a hard time." (NO! C'MON! NOT OLE!)"Hey thanks for the photo....by the way, I really liked your book.""You did huh?""Yep.""Well then...why don't you tell me this. What happened when I was approached by the bully when I was 10 yrs old in the book?""Well....I really don't remember.""Well I thought you said you read that book.""I did.""Well then how come you don't remember?""Because that was about 5 years ago and I've probably read about 50 wrestling books since then.""Back when you were in high school....did you take a history class?""Yes.""And did you learn about Abraham Lincoln being the President?""Yes.""Well then why don't you remember the stuff that was in MY BOOK?""Uh...hey, thanks for the photo."Having heard for years about Ole's reputation....allow me to say....he didn't let me down.I had a good time on the trip. It was nice seeing old friends, old heroes of mine and feeling like it was the late 80's and I was at a PPV. (Which is sort of what the weekend felt like) There were things about the weekend I didn't like....and I've expressed those feelings. I understand that the promoter of events like that are certainly in it to make a profit...and believe it or not, I do not begrudge them for that. I wanted to contribute some money to that profit margin...and if I misunderstood the mechanizations of the event....I guess I'll take a certain amount of the blame.Just for the record...and since someone brought it up....I certainly don't go to these events thinking I'm "cooler" than anyone. My daughter?Now she's cool. Me, I'm just an old wrestling fan looking to have a few laughs. Note in the 5 categories that I listed I didn't mention anything about the amount of fat guys that were there, because, quite frankly....after looking at some of the photos of myself at the event....I definitely need to cut back on my soda and sweets intake because I was completely horrified at the way I looked.Hopefully, Tammy thought I looked okay though. Otherwise....I might have to continue searching for the 4th Mrs. Bowdren.Later,Jeff

So it was about 6 months ago when the first reports came across my computer about another "reunion" for older, retired wrestlers. I had been to one in 2004 in Tampa called WrestleReunion, and although I had fun visiting with old friends....it sort of left me with one of those "okay, I did it so I don't need to do it again" feelings. I sent out the notification to all my friends in the south Florida area looking for imput on who might be interested in a roadtrip and the initial reaction was fairly underwhelming. Slowly though, as more and more names were added to the guest list...interest grew in my friends on the possibility of making the trip. Finally, preparations were made, reservations were confirmed, bags were packed....and it was off to Charlotte to try---much like most of the wrestlers who would be attending---to attempt to capture the glory of my youth.It was an early flight that was leaving Ft Lauderdale and my old buddy Dave Flaherty joined me. This certainly was not, as they say, our "first rodeo", but it sure was the first one in awhile, so I really shouldn't have been shocked when going through security they wanted to search Dave's bag. All I could think of was "Dear Lord....please tell me he is not stupid enough to bring something in his bag that he shouldn't have". Well, in this case he sort of did....but it was the large bottle of shampoo and mouthwash that interested security...not anything else. I chastized him."Dave....what's up with the large shampoo? You didn't get the 9/11 memo?""Hey...whatta ya want from me...I haven't traveled in awhile!"So we're off, with Dave grumbling that he was now going to have to stop at a Walgreen's and buy a new (SMALL) bottle of shampoo.We arrive in Charlotte, where....by the way....they have a WAY nicer airport than Ft Lauderdale, and immediately make our way over to meet our ride to the motel, Pete "The Professor" Lederberg. Pete is at the airport to drop his wife off for her return trip home from vacation, while Pete is staying for the FanFest. While we're waiting....over the loudspeaker we hear...."PAGING MR. ANGELO MOSCA....PAGING MR. ANGELO MOSCA...." it was hilarious. I wanted, just for old times sake, to hear how he "walked and talked and did exactly what he wants...." but it wasn't to be. We make the relatively short trip to the Hilton and immediately see the collection of marks hanging out in the lobby, trying to score autographs. We quickly realized that the people that show up for these sort of events (present company exluded---NATURALLY) could fit into one of about 5 groups. Here's what you have:1) The guys who have less than 10 teeth.2) The guys who still have a mullet.3) The guys who are wearing the tight shirts and have the jeans tucked into their boots. We call them "wanna-be workers".4) The guys who are dressed up in suits, because somehow they think it makes them a 4 Horseman member.5) The guys who have their girlfriends dressed completely trashy in some bizarre attempt to "impress the boys".We saw at least 10 of each group within about the first 30 minutes of being there. After check-in, we did Flaherty's favorite activity in the world.We sat at the bar (sorry, couldn't resist) and waited for some of our friends who were already there and were out eating lunch at the old Chick Filet. And we waited. And we waited. I mean, geez Louise....how long does it take you to eat at the Chick Filet??? Finally, we see our old friends from Greensboro, N.C. and Front Row Section D.....John "Parts Unknown" Hitchcock & Bruce "Getting that regular payday from Wade" Mitchell. It had been a good 15 years since we had seen the guys that we had made more than one trip to a PPV with in the late 80's and early 90's and it was great to see them. All of us were a little bit older, a little bit more gray hair (maybe less of it?) and some of us weighed just a little bit more (thank you very much for not mentioning any specific names wiseguy!). We made our way downstairs from the lobby to where the actual event was taking place, and closely monitored by the crack security staff. By this time it was getting to be around 3pm and we decided that, even though the FanFest would shut down for the day around 6pm that we would "bite the bullet" and by a day pass for $29, just to go in and check out the various booths and to see who was walking around. It was at that point that we were told.....that they would not sell us a day pass for Friday.Yep, that's right. They apparently didn't want us to PAY TO GET IN. So that we could then, potentially, PAY FOR THE MERCHANDISE THAT WAS FOR SALE. The merchandise that was being sold by vendors, who, by the way, had PAID TO HAVE THEIR BOOTH THERE. It was capitalism gone astray. Why wouldn't they let us in? Were they making too much money? Were they unhappy with our look? (Good Lord I hope THAT wasn't the problem with some of the people I had seen) Nope, first we were told that the day passes had "sold out". This seriously might have been one of the stupidest things I had ever seen in my (gulp) 47 years on earth. They would not let us PAY TO GET IN. I went back and told someone that I had seen who allowed me to borrow his All Access pass ($150 for each---pure profit for the host by the way) just so I could go in an look around. So I went in, after looking like "I owned the place" (my friend's suggestion) and was actually pretty impressed by what I saw. The event was divided into 2 different rooms, one of which was primarily used for the interview sessions and photo shoots, and the other which was almost entirely made up of vendors---and there must have been about 10 times the amount of merchandise for sale that was available at the event that I attended only 5 years before. It was actually pretty staggering. There were huge booths occupied by the likes of Highspots.com, RFVideo, JimCornette.com, TUCOLDVIDEO and others. Austin Idol, the Universal Heartthrob himself, was sitting down taking photos with anyone interested (and there was a LONG line). After giving the place the once over, I went over and saw Jim Cornette, who I had known for years and asked him quietly if he knew anyone who could help us with our dilema about getting into the thing. He agreed that it seemed pretty ludicrious and I told him that I was sure going to be disappointed if I traveled all the way up here and couldn't even hav e access to the vendors, much less see any of the old wrestlers. Jim told me that he thought he knew who I might want to talk to and took me over to see one of the guys in charge (not Greg Price, who was running the thing). Jim explained the situation to him and actually said:"Look, I know this guy and his friend. They've traveled all the way from Ft Lauderdale and they WILL spend money. All they want is to be able to get in and they do not have a problem paying to do so. They're not looking for a free pass or anything. Can you help them?"Amazingly...they guy still hemmed and hawed and mumbled something about how he would "look into it". I went back with Jim and was checking out some of the stuff at his booth, was introduced to his wife Stacey (very nice---must be a saint to be married to Jimmy! HA!) and started talking to Bobby Eaton, who I hadn't seen in 5 years or so.....when back to the table comes old Mr. Hemm & Haw."Well, I'm really not supposed to do this. But, since their friends of yours....we'll let them buy a day pass for tomorrow."WOW. Thanks for the opportunity pal.He walks away and Jim and I just sort of shake our head. Jim says something about "only in wrestling".I go back out and meet Dave....at the bar....and hand him the pass and tell him I'll wait for him there.Well, about 30 seconds go by. Dave is back. I guess he didn't look like he "owned the place", because they wouldn't let him in. Dave is grumpy in a hilarious sort of way.Later that evening they had their banquet, which included the "Hall of Heroes" enshrinement of guys like Lance Russell (always a gentleman), Blackjack Mulligan (accepted by B.W. since B.J. had recently suffered a stroke), The Fargo's--Jackie & Don, Wahoo McDaniel (accept by his son in what I'm told was a very emotional moment) and others. We didn't go since it was an additional $65 to go to the banquet and so we decided to go to dinner with John Hitchcock and sample some of Charlotte's finest local cuisine. A place called "Outback". Yep, nothing like going "aussie" in downtown Charlotte. Perhaps even more surprising (get ready those of you who know him) was that Dave picked up the check. For the whole dinner. Amazing. Then we go back to the hotel for what is always one of the highlights of any wrestling trip.Hanging out at the hotel bar and watching the magic happen.Yep, depending on the event....you could see drunken debauchery, a fight, a loud altercation....or, if you're lucky. All three!So at this point, I run into old friend Bill Pancoast, owner and operator of the afore-mentioned TUCOLDVIDEO. Bill is hanging out at the bar also, and we're all sort of talking and enjoying the company....waiting for the banquet to end. It had started late, which, truth be told, is sort of required at one of these events as almost nothing EVER happens on time. Occasionally one of the wrestlers would come up the escalator and someone would wave to him or give him a shout....this happened when Tommy Rich (looking pretty rough by the way) came up and I shouted:"I hear someone say somethin' 'bout FIRING UP!" and Tommy turned and gave us a wave and a yell. Flaherty tells us that earlier in the day, while we were at the bar, one of the boys came over to order a beverage and sat there very briefly...and Dave happened to turn right as he pulled a dollar bill out of his pocket....folded it in half and did a line right there at the bar. Amazing.No names, but....it wasn't one of the headliners of the event, let's just say that.So just before the banquet ends, a couple of things catch our eye. One of the fans, and I'll admit his timing was pretty poor, attempted to walk right into a group conversation that was being held away from the bar by the Nasty Boys, Erik Watts & Lacey Von Erich (Kerry's daughter and absolutely stunning---she does not belong in the wrestling business. She should be a model somewhere. Beautiful.). Well, as you might imagine, the Nasty Boys take issue with the interruption and begin to verbally harang the guy and his buddies about the interruption. Again, the guy was completely wrong as far as timing and everything else (I think he was looking for a photo with Lacey), but Saggs just began to browbeat the guys about their conduct and manners, etc....which is pretty ironic when you think about it. Later on, someone notices that a guy sitting down in one of the chairs right outside the bar has either fallen asleep or passed out. Now...mind you....his girlfriend is standing right there next to him, and she's laughing at him, sort of giving it the old shrug of the shoulders. Well someone, I'm not sure who it was first, comes along and does a photo of themselves standing next to the guy. And it totally snowballed to where at least 20 people (myself included) went over and for a laugh took a photo next to the guy, who was still asleep///passed out and completely oblivious. A couple more moments go by and all of a sudden the guy wakes up, looks around...and then sort of goes back to sleep. And then....you see him go into sort of a full body heave and then......there she blows! All over the chair, himself and the rug. It was NOT pretty.Amazingly....his girlfriend just stands there doing nothing. Saggs then comes over and along with someone else helps the guy get up and they take him to a nearby bathroom. Now, if we had stopped right there....I would've thought that Saggs had been a pretty upstanding guy for helping the guy out. But, again....this is wrestling. It was at this point that Saggs walks over to one of the guys who had been standing near our "victim" and asks him if he had taken a photo of him. The guy admits that he had and then Saggs begins cutting a promo on him for taking advantage of the guy. Again, the word "irony" comes into play as I can seem to recall a lot of stories about how the Nasty Boys were the #1 guys in the business for pulling ribs on people who were....shall we say, in no position to assist themselves. Someone mentions that if it had been a few years before that Saggs probably would've shaved his eyebrows.The banquet finally ends and as we're all standing there, the guests begin coming up the escalator and some make their way to the bar.Finally the moment that many in the room had been waiting for happened. Ric Flair comes up with his girlfriend on his arm and begins walking towards the bar. He's just about there when......this guy who is dressed up in a suit while sporting a mullet (that would make him a 2 out of 5 on our master list) runs up to him and begins launching into this hilariously loud, over the top Ric Flair impression. I mean, it lasted almost a full minute. When its over, Flair looks at him....and then turns around with his girlfriend and heads out of the bar area and up to his room.The look on the kids face was priceless. He had done what almost no one had ever been able to do.....he had sent Ric home WITHOUT going to the bar. As Ric is walking away, Flaherty walks over to him. Now, truth be told, Dave sort of "knew" Flair in that years and years ago Dave had sold Flair some music CD's and it was always his "brush with greatness". So Flaherty walks over to "re-introduce" himself to the Nature Boy----and Flair sort of brushes him aside. Completely hilarious. Dave comes back over to me and announces that he's sorry that he has even come to the event. Being the good friend I am.....I begin to complete hammer him about it. Hey, what are friends for????Later on, I go over and share a beverage with Sir Oliver Humperdink and then call it a night around 1:30am. Interesting first day.Jeff

Our trip up the Eastern seaboard---part deaux

So after picking up the new SUV, we leave lovely metropolitan White Plains and hit the road. Since Kim & I are both fans of the Foot Network show "Diners, Drive-In's & Dives", we decided to let Mr. GPS take us to an authentic New Jersey diner before heading home. So we swung by the greater Clifton, New Jersey area to see how the food was at the Tic-Toc Diner. Here's America's favorite traveling couple with the actual visual proof that we had lunch at the afore-mentioned diner:Yep, its true. One of us is pretty damned good looking---the other one wears a hat. So lunch was pretty good, although it was here that we had our first glance at what a truly fussy dining experience that eating with my sister could be."Shouldn't there be mozzarella cheese on my salad?"She is one of those people who, ya know...actually makes the waitress EARN their tip. Since I was in the greater New Jersey area, I decided to have a Philly cheese-steak, which...truth be told...was pretty amazing.Andy gave his fried chicken (remember that order in regards to Andy) a thumbs up....and Kim had the traditional diner burger, which she enjoyed. Rene & Kim did, however, split on the fried mushrooms they ordered. One thumbs up from Kim, one thumbs down from lil Ms. Fussy. We then headed out back on the road and made yet another visit to the New Jersey Turnpike....this time the traffic down the coast was a lot heavier and we had not only to deal with that getting through the nation's capital, but also some absolutely horrendous weather. We ended up stopping for the evening just south of Richmond.....and hoped to stop at a Holiday Inn Express. I say "hoped" because the gum chewing girl working the front counter informed us that they didn't have any rooms left, although the hotel next door might have some rooms available. We decided to skip that offer and made our way over to get some Chicago style pizza---available right there in northern Virginia! Rene once again put the waitress through the ringer in her search for an absolutely perfect cocktail ("Um, excuse me....I asked for a SMALL glass. Thank you, you're an angel.")My sister had to win the award for Most Difficult Customer of the Evening....hands down. I had some pizza, while carelessly ignoring that it was getting a little late to be eating that much food that late in the evening.Especially when you're (OUCH) 47 years old. Getting old is hell folks. Which is why I spent half of the middle of the night....um....worshipping at the porcelain altar. I do love a nice vacation. The next morning we were up and back on the road (I, uh...skipped breakfast needless to say). We drove all the way through to Varnville, South Carolina (population shrinking by the day apparently) to see our cousins Mike & Lydia Cook. They both inherited the home that my Aunt Ruby lived in for the better part of 50 years. Kim had never seen the house, which a truly amazing 2 story structure with twin gables in the front. The house itself is over 100 years old, and needless to say....full of stories all by itself. We visited for awhile, and then we all drove over to nearby Waltersboro (the "big" town nearby) for some BBQ---South Carolina style. And we discovered something we hadn't known. South Carolina BBQ? BETTER than North Carolina BBQ.That's right....I said it. And it had all those great side items that the North Carolina BBQ had. And the sauce was better to boot. Bring on the controversy folks...bring it on. Later that night, we returned to Mike & Lydia's to catch up on the latest going's on---and to play with their Boxer puppy..."Bo". I have the scratches on my arms to prove it. Then we all took turns trying to creep each other out with eerie stories about strange things that have happened in our past....Mike & Lydia won the award, with stories about the "friendly ghosts" (no lie) that occasionally come out in their "new" house. Mike almost had us running for the exit door with his account of a mysterious knocking on his mother's window one night that no one has ever been able to explain. YIKES!They also filled us in with the latest details of our cousins Larry & Chris, who are Mike's two older brothers who live in an assisted living facility in Varnville. Chris has cerebral palsy and Larry has a developmental disability and both have lived in this small town their entire lives. Its literally all they know. And yet, since their mother passed away....their younger brother and his wife are trying to do everything they can to keep them in the town that is all they know....and somehow, some of the good folks of the community have decided that its a really good idea to "run Larry out of town" since he's prone to act up in public. Its like Kim said: "Its 2009. How can you run someone out of town?" We all tried to give Mike & Lydia some advice on a direction they can turn to for help. The next morning we got up and said our good-bye's to everyone and made our way about an hour south to Savannah, Georgia. We made our reservations for lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant in downtown called "The Lady & Sons". We then headed down to the riverfront area to walk around and do some shopping (and have perhaps an adult beverage or two). Finally it was time for lunch. We were really looking forward to this as being the capper for our trip. We were not disappointed.Paula Deen's speciality is southern food. The food that I remembered having every summer when my mom would take me to see my grandparents in Beaufort, S.C. We were taken to our table on the 3rd floor of the restaurant and I ordered an iced tea. A sweet iced tea. Like grandma Bunton used to make. None of that namby pamby stuff with raspberry or peach flavored. I want iced tea with SUGAR...and that's what I got.My sister wanted a mint julep and she got one as if it had been made in Kentucky on Derby Saturday.Then it was over to the buffet. And what a buffet. Fried chicken, baked chicken, black-eyed peas, rice, mashed potatoes rolling with butter (not margarine--BUTTER), collard greens, macaroni and cheese (again--real mac & cheese), green beans with ham.....it was heaven for fans of southern food---a complete nightmare if you were watching your caloric intake. Oh, and did I mention the cheese biscuits & hoes (sort of like a small pancake) that they give you before you go to the buffet? And the dessert? Yeah, it comes with dessert also. Your choice of: banana pudding (not even a sign of anything "instant"), peach cobbler and various cakes. Good lord, I thought I was going to explode. So naturally, I only took the nana pudding. Which was awesome in its overall awesomeness. And it may have been....and I say this at my own personal peril....as good as my Mom's. The cobbler, after a spoonful, might have been a tad heavy on the breading...but who was going to complain? Not me. What an experience and definitely...and I mean...DEFINITELY...not to be missed if you visit Savannah.Later in the evening we made our way back to Jacksonville to drop off my sister and spend a last night on the road. The next day, we got up and before leaving, my sister took me to a local Jacksonville institution called Chamblin Bookmine....which just might be the biggest and most impressive used book store that I've ever been too. Let's just say, after an hour, I got out of there somehow only spending $20....and with a plan to come up one weekend with the idea of spending one entire Saturday there. After I save my money.We finally made our way home, unloaded our rental...and awfully glad that we had not one...but TWO days to recover from our trip up the East Coast.

Jeff

Jeff & Kim take on the Eastern seaboard...I think it ended in a draw!

So last Friday (5/1/09), I left work early in preparation of our trip up the East Coast to pick my son Andy from his college in beautiful Hoboken, N.J. Now, I had left early with the knowledge that my lovely wife had made a 10am reservation (key word here) with the good folks at Hertz (remember their motto? "We try harder") to rent either a mini-van or an SUV so we could load up a college freshman with all his stuff from his college dorm and bring him home. Well...it sounded like a good plan at the time.I mention that because, much like a famous episode of Seinfeld from a few years ago, there is apparently a pretty major difference between MAKING a reservation and Hertz KEEPING a reservation.So I get home, hmm....around 1:15pm or so, and my wife tells me that not only did she not get the rental at 10am, they are hopeful they will have one at 2pm. We're already running behind schedule and the trip hasn't started yet!! So Kim calls at 2pm to see if our vehicle is there yet...and it is not. Now they are hopeful it will be there by 4 or 4:30pm. At this point, your personal favorite emailer of alltime (that would be ME) takes the phone and begins to make...."polite inquires" as to what is going on. After finding no satisfaction, I asked to speak to the manager who is on duty and am told--no lie---that "he is busy". I proceed to tell them that the manager had better make him self "not busy" or I was going to come down there and make my displeasure known in a rather loud and vocal manner. Suddenly the manager becomes available! I indicate to him my personal level of displeasure at the situation and ask what he...as the manager...is going to be doing to make me feel like a happy person again. I told him of the rather urgent time restraints that we were up against--having to be up in New Jersey and have my son out of his dorm by noon on Sunday. His reaction was a rather audible...um.....GULP. And I told him that I was willing to give him until 4:30pm to honor the "reservation" and then I would be forced to bail. The reason I didn't bail sooner or at that point is that, quite frankly, Hertz was offering a price at least $250 to $300 cheaper than anyone else. So finally I get the 4:30pm phone call from Hertz with the old "good news, bad news" scenario. They had an SUV....but it was a small SUV. One that was not going to be big enough to cart Kim & I, my sister Rene (along for the ride and some fun with her baby bro) and a teenage boy and all his stuff from school. He showed us the prospective ride. 2009 Lexus SUV. Leather seats, GPS....sweet ride. After some negotiation between Kim & I, and a last minute appearance by a pretty dirty Ford mini-van (big enough but it looked like a former resident of Anything on Wheels!), we decided that....by God, if we had too....we would take the Lexus. Life ain't easy folks. Oh, and the free tank of gas...and the no charge for the GPS....and we were told that once we got to New Jersey we could exchange it for something a little bigger. And away we go......only 8 hours late! We make the drive up to my sister's place in Jacksonville, Florida to spend the evening and sort of hang-out.The next morning we were up early and hit the road for our big adventure. We stopped for lunch in Lumberton, N.C. to enjoy some authentic Carolina style BBQ. Our timing was all that good as apparently the local church group in town decided to show up right before we did and the 2 or 3 people in line before us were apparently representing approximately 30 people waiting outside. DOH! Now, to me...the actual BBQ itself was "good". Not great, but "good". It was a buffet style restaurant, and what really made the lunch special was being able to pretty much go back in time and eat all the sort of stuff that my grandmother would have for lunch (which she called "dinner"). Butter beans, speckled butter beans, macaroni & cheese (and not that disgusting KRAFT mac & cheese--I'm talking about the REAL McCoy here), biscuits made from scratch, green beans.....I mean it was awesome. My sister was slightly more adventurous than Kim and I, and tried a couple of the "what the hell is THAT?" items from the buffet. We finished up with a small cup of 'nana pudding---not bad, but not as good as my Mom used to make!After that culinary explosion, we were back on the road again....this time driving through the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, Virginia & up into Maryland. We ended up somehow driving right through downtown Washington, D.C. (hello GPS!) before finally stopping for the evening in Baltimore....where we had dinner with my old friend Dennis Wiley & his wife Lori and son Devin. We had Mexican dinner that night at a Chevy's--which I can truly say was the only chain restaurant we ate at the entire week. It was a nice visit, with Den and I laughing over old stories and his son impressing everyone with his knowledge of various baseball team's entire starting line-up's.The next morning we stopped across from our hotel at a 7-11 to gas up and my sister got out of the car and promptly almost stepped into....some fried chicken. Yep, some obviously classy individual decided they were through with their dinner and dropped it on the ground at the gas station. My sister was completely disgusted to be started the day that way, but reminded us that...."All is well....all the time". (that apparently is her motto---I am far too negative to have that positive an approach to life) We then headed up the road about 3 1/2 hours--including a stretch on the lovely New Jersey turnpike--until we arrived in Hoboken to get Andy. One thing the trip only confirmed to Kim & I was how much we both are looking forward to one day leaving South Florida. It takes us a minimum of 5 hours just to leave the state of Florida from where we live, and here we were in Baltimore, a few hours from either New York city or North Carolina BBQ. So we get to Hoboken, and the weather is completely miserable. I had brought, based on information from my son that the weather the weekend before had been "90 degrees and sunny" approximately 6 or 7 t-shirts, couple of pairs of shorts, and ONE pair of jeans. It was 55 degrees and raining when we got there. I was slightly cold.We made our way up to Andy's room....and mind you, Andy's mom had told him to "have yourself prepared to leave when we get there". Apparently that translate to: "wash your clothes and....partially dry them".Nothing was packed. NOTHING. Clothes everywhere. Shoes everywhere. Dust---EVERYWHERE. Just allow me to say that apparently, in the men's dorm....hygiene...not a huge issue. I went across the hall to use the community bathroom and......wow. I'll leave it at that. Kim & Rene immediately took control of the situation and began packing Andy to leave....forcing him to decide what he was taking and what could be either thrown out or given away. We decided not to take the lovely collection of fingernails that Andy had going on his desk. (No, I am not kidding) The best part was Andy's comment when we pressed him on why his room was so amazingly filthy. "You should see the kid who lives upstairs."He informed us that his bedsheets had last been washed....uh....."bout a month ago". Oh my!!!We finally got his stuff ready for packing into the Lexus with the help of a couple of his buddies from school, one of whom was apparently wearing a rabbit or squirrel on his head (don't ask) and were all packed so tight into the smaller SUV that I'm pretty sure there were probably one or two code violations happening.We left Hoboken and headed up to the lovely villa of White Plains, New York. Once again, our friend Mr. GPS let us down at a key moment as we got off the interstate at one point and saw a sign that said:"Now entering the Bronx."Folks, allow me to say.....this....this is not a sign you want to see as a tourist unless you are going to see a Yankees game. Luckily Mr. GPS, who had gotten us into this mess, also got us OUT of this mess and on our way.....to scenic White Plains, where we had a reservation courtesy of my cousin Mary Ellen, who went above and beyond the call of duty in getting us a room at the Residence Inn that was pretty much bigger than the first apartment I had. I thanked my cuz, who immediately, in top notch Mission Impossible government fashion....disavowed any knowledge of how I got the room at a government rate.Later that evening we went out and had a nice Italian dinner with my cousins Mary Ellen and her two daughters, her brother Terrance & my Uncle John ("the good looking uncle") and my Aunt Cecilia. It was great visiting with family and laughing, updating each other on what was happening with our lives. After dinner we took advantage of some down time and stopped by a local mall to pick up a sweatshirt for me to wear since I was absolutely FREEZING MY REAR END off---this portion of my letter has been edited for content so my parents won't think "I'm working blue". But you get my meaning. And excuse me for asking, but...what's with downtown White Plains, New York looking like East L.A. at night?We were up early the next morning for our trip into Manhattan, which took about 30 to 45 minutes by train from White Plains....not a bad trip, but the scenery wasn't exactly up there with the mountains of North Carolina. We get to the city...and my sister....who lives in Florida.....starts looking for this hole-in-the-wall restaurant for some killer Cuban food. You leave Florida to find Cuban food? What's up with that???We finally locate it and afterwards we decide to take one of those NYC tour bus trips. In the rain.We were getting soaked through pretty much. We finally ended up at Union Square and took in the green market, which my sister was pretty impressed with---and all the while she's talking with everyone, pretty much sharing her ray of light on everyone she came into contact with. She's relentlessly peppy. It must be exhausting being that happy! Rene talks us into having a late dinner at Carnegie Deli, where they bring you about a pound of lunch meat with every sandwich....but since they charge you $22, it still works out for them. There are a ton of celebrity photos on the wall, which is sort of kitschy....but personally I think the place is sort of overrated. We also made our way down to Battery Park so we could make sure Rene had a look at the Statue of Liberty, and then took a cab back uptown---Rene came pretty close to starting a relationship with our cab driver "Bashir" (from Pakistan), which became the source of a lot of my material for the rest of our trip. After getting back to the hotel, we decided to have a late dinner at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel, and I truthfully had the best sweet and sour chicken I've ever had in my life---Rene struck up yet another relationship with our waiter "Andy", which he explained was his American name, as his real name---no lie----was Chow Chow.The next morning we got up, took everything out of the Lexus...piled it into our hotel room//apartment and headed out to the White Plains airport--which by the way looked like one hell of an alternative to Laguardia if you ever need it--and switched vehicles by picking up a Ford Explorer...with a GPS AND satellite radio.We went back to the hotel, packed up the entire vehicle...with at least half a foot to spare.....and began our long trip home.End of part 1.

Um...is it too late for a "Happy New Year"??

Remember that classic Seinfeld episode where Jerry complained about being "Happy New Year'd" in March? Well...thank God I didn't wait THAT long to post on my blog! Its been a pretty eventful holiday season for the Bowdren's. Andy came home from college, where he displayed some signs of maturity....and some signs that he may still be 9 years old. (more on that later) First of all, the biggest news in our home right now is that Kim & Kellie are currently in Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration, as Kellie's Taravella High School band was selected as the ONLY high school band in the entire state of Florida to be chosen to play during the inaugural parade. Ha! Take that Sebastian! (Their biggest rival in statewide competitions)
Kim reports that they are having a great time, but freezing their butts off! They left on Friday about lunchtime, and the city of Coral Springs really did things right for them. After a month long drive to raise $150,000 for the entire band to make the trip (including a $25,000 pledge from Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade), with all sort of different fundraisers....the city had the fire department line the street outside of the high school with fire engines and shot the water cannons into the air forming a "bridge" for the kids and their buses to drive underneath. Kim said it was really nice and the kids were really excited. The police department then gave them an escort out to the turnpike and they were on their way!! The band director had decided that to save some $$ for the trip, that they would leave around lunchtime on Friday and drive straight through to Washington DC...thereby saving the money that would've been spent on a night's stay in a hotel on a road (to say nothing of the aggravation that 150 teenagers might have caused the chaperones during a one night stay on the road in a hotel). So, the roadtrip began for my wife...which basically meant a non-stop ride. Or, as Kim put it...."two days....no shower."
Oh my! She called me to let me know that they had arrived....and that, as expected, it was insanely cold there (good thing my daughter brought those thermal socks). Today they visited the Museum of Art and their departure coincided with....the beginning of tonight's festivities.
Translation? As I write this, my wife just called to say that she's standing outside the museum and the buses are not able to get through....uh, and oh yeah....its really, really cold. Kim has already said that if she ever mentions going on another band related fieldtrip.....immediately kill her. I'm sure its tremendous fun (outside of the cold) and an experience that all the kids will remember for their life....but....the truth is, because of the last minute nature of the trip....it hasn't exactly been really well organized. Not to say "I told you so"....but I sort of kept mentioning to the wife this past few weeks that organization didn't appear to be a strong point.

Meanwhile, back to the holidays. Andy came down and stayed about 3 weeks with us. During that time...he spent maybe 2 hours visiting with his family. The rest of the time was spent either playing videogames or messing around with his online gaming. Like they say....youth is wasted on the young. Before he leaves, Andy goes to the dentist for a visit. Kim calls to get the info on things, since Andy is not exactly what you call..."forthcoming" on this sort of thing.
And the dentist procedes to tell Kim that Andy has the early stage of gum disease because he's not taking particularly good care of his teeth at college. Which would be in concert with the fact that he's not taking really good care of his face either. So we sit Andy down to give him the old "tough talk" about his teeth (especially since we spent a fortune getting his teeth STRAIGHTENED when he was younger) and before we began, I asked Andy a question.

"Okay," I said. "I'm going to ask you a question...and you get a free pass on the answer. You won't get in trouble no matter what the answer is. I just want the truth. You ready?"
"Yes."
"Since you left here in August.....tell me that you've brushed your teeth more than 10 times."
"Um.....uh....no."

Yeah...like I said....he's not exactly TOTALLY mature just yet.

Later,
Jeff

Still more movie watching

Okay....so I went and checked out like 10 movies at the library...what in God's name was I thinking? But, I have managed to watch a few of them......here's my thoughts:

1) Mamma Mia--actually this was one that the kids bought Kim for Christmas. We saw this on Broadway a couple of years ago, and all I can say is.....wow, it was WAY, WAY better on the Great White Way. First of all, Meryl Streep is probably the greatest actress of her generation and might have been terrific in this role except for two small things. Uh, first of all she can't sing and secondly, its not 1991. Meryl is just a wee bit long in the tooth for the role. Which isn't too obvious because quite frankly, so is Pierce Brosnan....who, uh...can't sing either. But other than that....the movie is tons of fun! Let's just say there are a couple of times in the movie where the timeline becomes completely screwed up.....so badly that as a viewer, you begin to notice.
That's not good. **
2) Ride the High Country--classic western with oldtime stars Randolph Scott & Joel McCrea as a couple of oldtimers doing the proverbial "one last job", which in this case is the transporting of some gold for a bank. You have some absolutely stunning visuals here as they make their way through the mountains, but to me the best part of the movie is the amazing supporting cast.
I mean, literally you have a who's who of character actors from the 60's & 70's. Warren Oates, R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones, James Drury, Edgar Buchannon.....folks....its incredible. Really good film. ****1/2
3) Bad Lieutenant--I have to tell you, I'm a pretty open-minded guy. It really takes a lot to offend me, truth be told. But here....you have some pretty offensive material. I read a review where they mentioned that a lot of the offensive imagery was a result of "Catholic guilt". Uh, somehow...I don't think so. Harvey Keitel is an amazing actor who does a really great job in the title role, as a cop who's addicted to not only drugs, violence, sex and gambling....but he's kind of confused on his role as a Catholic apparently also. Pretty much something here to offend everyone. Keitel's performance give the film its * (that's one star).
4) Planet Terror---Part 2 of the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez double feature that is an homage to the crappy and cheesy drive-in films of the late 60's & early to mid 70's. This one is the better of the two films. Our plot here, such as it is, has the military (its always the military!) "accidently" releasing some poisonious gas into the air around a small Texas town, which results in the citizens turning into the inevitable zombies. (Its a drive-in movie, remember?) Our cast is actually a pretty good one, with supporting roles by Bruce Willis, Michael Biehn, Michael Parks, Jeff Fahey, & Josh Brolin. The real star of the film though is Rose McGowan, who began dating director Rodriguez during the filming of the movie and who, quite honestly, looks just smoking hot. Good zombie fun with lots of fake blood and a really high body count. ***1/2

Later,
Jeff

Watching a bunch of movies over the holidays

This weekend I've seen three movies...

1) Stepbrothers w/Will Ferrell. Absolutely filthy, but in a hilarious way. Not as good as Talladegha Nights, but still very funny.

2) Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Its from the same group of people who did Superbad & Knocked Up.No where near as funny as those two movies.More of a romantic comedy. I actually thought the real revelation in the film was Mila Kunis (who most know from That 70's Show and as the voice of Meg Griffin on Family Guy). I thought she was really, really good.

3) The Ox-Bow Incident. Absolutely fantastic.***** A terrific character study and look at the effects of mob violence and rush-to-judgement.

4) Run, Fatboy Run--very cute British romantic comedy featuring Simon Pegg, who was so good in Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz. Here he plays a guy who has run (literally) from responsibility his entire life but decides to enter a marathon as a way of proving himself to his family and friends. Not everyone believes he can do it. Also starring Thandie Newton & Hank Azaria, who is very good as his ex-girlfriend's smarmy new fiancee. ***

5) A Christmas Story--well of course I watched it again. Its Christmas!! How can you NOT watch the classic film set in the late 40's in Indiana about little Ralphie and his desperate attempts to get Santa to bring him a b.b. gun? CLASSIC *****

6) Love Actually--one of my new holiday favorites, this British film stars the likes of Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley (luminous), Alan Rickman, Colin Firth & Emma Thompson. Its about the lives of a group of seemingly unrelated people in London in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Very funny & romantic and a terrific soundtrack to boot. ****1/2

7) Dark Command--so how does this classic John Wayne western manage to find its way onto the list? I'll tell ya how. It starts with a little post-Christmas treat for my dogs and then a 3:30am wakeup call when nature calls---one of the dogs that is. So then I sit up for 2 hours waiting for (no pun intended) all things to pass and I check out TCM to see what's on. Lucky for me, it was a very solid John Wayne effort co-starring Claire Trevor & Walter Pidgeon. Good action, including a spectacular dive off of a cliff that resulted in an industry-wide change in policy, and a very good group of co-stars. Very good.

That's it....so far. I still have a bunch I rented.

Later,
Jeff