Music Sweet Music!! and Albany Poker Club Redux

Wow, what an incredible weekend of music at Mountain Jam IV. I was completely blown away by some of the bands I had never seen and by those I've heard or seen many times who brought their craft to a new level. But first I have to organize my thoughts and get ready to recap for Coventry.

I came back to find a comment on my previous blog entry from the "neighbor" of the Albany Poker Club/Italian Social Club. She asked me to remove the link to the post as she was fearful for her family which I did. I only linked it up to illustrate how it must have looked to the other side not to out her as a complaining resident of the area. I have since suggested that any new location be in a non-residential area. A comment on her blog refers to me as "some person she doesn't know or care to know" who had linked to her. Now that will get a good chuckle from the people who know me (family/friends) as well as the poker community be it live or on-line as I am far from being a menace to society. I don't drink or smoke, I pay my taxes and vote, I bake cupcakes and garden . I'm past president of one of the largest running clubs in the country. I guess the running club will soon want to take away my Distinguished Service Award since I'm a person of "questionable character". She has apparently password protected that particular post for only family and friends. Heck, I stumbled upon her blog pretty easily doing a pretty basic key word search as did probably a host of others (including actual paid journalists) . The internet is hardly anonymous if you don't want to be read don't put your journal on-line.

First, all I can say is she has more to fear from her "neighbors" around the corner then from anyone who showed up to play cards who apparently she feels are a bunch of gambling degenerates and lowlifes a stigma that most of us poker players endure. Even my own mother, doesn't get it but when I win a nice tournament score she is the first to say." Good you can buy lunch today". Most of the people who played cards there were everyday people including college kids trying to make some spending money, a retired judge, radio DJ's, members of law enforcement, restaurateurs, current and retired state workers, engineers, lawyers, doctors, hair stylists, computer programmers etc. And without a doubt we all want the bad guys caught too.

As someone who had 25 years in law enforcement said to me.... "I hope the dude with the dew rag and baseball hat cocked on his head and who was sitting out on the hood of one of the residents cars at 3:30 AM in the morning turns out to be a better "neighbor". The guys who I played cards with would walk us ladies out to our cars in the late hours because of some of the more unsavory characters who frequent the street or live near where the club was located. Yes its largely a residential neighborhood on the back side of the club, but North Allen where the club was situated is mixed use: a bunch of bars, a funeral home, other businesses and a lot of houses that are "lower-income" aka slummy heck its the city. I'm a gal from the burbs.

Now, I have three days of WSOP coverage and poker news and blogs to get caught up on as well as figuring out where to start with the synopsis of Mountain Jam IV. Thank goodness I have today off. Starting next week I have every Friday off for most of the summer including the whole week of July 7th thru the 13th for the Main Event.

Mountain Jam IV Bound

Tomorrow I'm off to Mountain Jam IV. My first music festival in the new millennium!! I'll be kicking it old school with pen and paper and won't be able to post till the Ratdog grand finale and my descent off the Mountain in the wee hours Monday. Internet and cell phone reception may be spotty at best and I decided not to drag the laptop with me. I will be armed with disposable cameras and notebooks to record the memories and energy. BFF & music teacher, Kim is bringing her drums and we have enough people at our camp to have a real drumming circle. Yes, IG is camping for the first time since I camped on Cape Cod on the eve of a hurricane during the Falmouth Road Race circa August 1993/1994. Normally my idea of camping now is a Holiday Inn.

I'll be doing most of my writing about Mountain Jam IV over on Coventry. Be sure to follow me and my merry band over there!!

Till Monday Peace all!!

And online poker still sucks!!!

And for all you Tri-City locals looking for info about the Albany poker club closure read a neighbors point of view here. *****

*****link removed by request (see new post)

When Last we Left Our Heroine

I opened up the back of my Dell and blew dust and cat hair out of it and used that wonderful can of compressed air that freezes to your hand and that seems to have done the trick. The fan still hums, unlike my work computer which is quiet. But the tower has pretty much hummed since I've had it. It will be four years old at year end so I'm sure Ill be due for a new one. In the meantime I think I need to get myself a zip drive to save and back-up all the shit I think is important to save but probably isn't.

Last Friday I took the Day off and road tripped with mama IG. We headed down into Litchfield County CT to White Flower Farm. My second trip to Connecticut in 8 days. I grew up where NY, CT and MA meet. My home ski area of Catamount where I spent most of my teen winters would see me skiing across the NY/MA state line and back. Litchfield County is that NorthWest corner of Connecticut where it meets NY and MA and is full of charming little towns and prep schools.

I had some ideas of what I was looking for but the day was miserably cold and rainy and flowers weren't on my mind. Plus a lot of the plants weren't blooming yet and its hard to buy something when you have an idea of what you want it to look like but aren't sure it will grow into just that. But Tomato-mania was going on and I did buy some tomato plants, actually about 4 or 5 different varieties. I got some nice San Marzano plants which are great for "gravy" aka sauce another type of Roma tomato, a yellow tomato plant and some regular old Beef steak type tomatoes. I also bought pepper plants and herbs (dill, basil (regular and purple), and sage and a Rosemary tree.

Now, my mom and I are very good friends and very close but we are two very different people. I am not sure if it is her age or what but she has this awful habit of talking about people she sees like they are invisible. For example, we were seated near the french doors of Tosca grille on Mothers Day. A man walks towards the door, kind of heavy and he's leaning forward as he walks and kind of shuffling. He's like right in front of the table and my mom says...."See that man?" I immediately cringe and give her the look and mutter 'Mother, people can hear you!" I'm thinking she's going to be critical about his weight but instead she says. "No, he cant. and I wonder if he has spinal stenosis?" . My mom has been diagnosed with it but it hasn't effected her yet. "That's how people get when the stenosis gets bad"

I am happily cavorting in the rain looking at tomatoes and herbs (not the smokeable kind you potheads out there) and my mom is complaining that I told her to leave the umbrella behind in the car. Anyway she comes out from under the tent to look for some tomatoes herself. She announces: "I want a patio tomato" and "Do you have patio tomatoes". One of the worker bees, a woman about my age or so, brings her over to the regular tomatoes and says any of these varieties would be good. They are early tomatoes (meaning they have a shorter time to maturity which means to the table quicker and better for a short growing season like we have in the NorthEast). She points to one and my mom snorts. "UHHH, I won't buy anything that says BUSH!!! " I had to stifle a huge laughter because the woman's mouth just about fell to the grass. I looked at my mother and said. "Good one mom, you know we just happen to be in Republican territory (Litchfield County is horsey rich, second home to NYC executives country)."

Later that weekend I am catching up with Snake. I'm telling him about my road trip with mama and make this statement. Well shes not really a bad driver but this is what she did -She takes her hand off the steering wheel on a rainy day to dab her lipstick and I see the guardrail on my side looming very very close to my window on a twisty part of Rte 8 near OTis. And I have to tell her how she should have two hands on the wheel (I want to live to see another day!) So, Snake says to me.. IG that does not make sense. You just said she gets sidetracked just like my father does and my father is not a good driver therefore your mother isnt a good driver because she doesnt keep her mind on the driving. I immediately felt like I had to defend my mother till I realized he was right.

On Sunday I run into my old neighbor Terry who has just retired. He tells me his wife is driving him crazy as she will always say. 'Do you remember....?" and Terry tells me he looked at Linda and said. 'Linda, I'm a man we invented Instant Replay. I cant remember what I had for lunch and you expect me to remember something from last week?" So I look at Terry, and chuckle and say. "Well, men are like dogs Terry you only have a small 200 word vocabulary. I totally realize that when we women start yapping you men shut down after about 5 sentences."

After chatting it up with the retirees: Terry and Snake and exchanging some emails with Rob in California who told me he liked what we were doing on Coventry but he wasnt going to listen to that Franti dude because he cant stand him, I was left wondering and thinking about how does this all work with men? How is it that we ever find that common denominator. And I already no that one or more of my male readers is going to type into a comment the answer is..........