Big Blue Huddle

Subject: FW: : Psychiatrist vs. Bartender
Ever since I was a child, I've always had a fear of someone under my bed at night.
So I went to a shrink and told him:
"I've got problems. Every time I go to bed I think there's somebody under it. I'm scared. I think I'm going crazy."
"Just put yourself in my hands for one year," said the shrink.
"Come talk to me three times a week and we should be able to get rid of those fears."
"How much do you charge?"
"One hundred fifty dollars per visit," replied the doctor.
"I'll sleep on it," I said.
Six months later the doctor met me on the street.
"Why didn't you come to see me about those fears you were having?" he asked.
"Well, $150 a visit, three times a week for a year, is $23,400.00. A bartender cured me for $10.00. I was so happy to have saved all that money that I went and bought a new pickup truck."
"Is that so?" With a bit of an attitude he said, "and how, may I ask, did a bartender cure you?"
"He told me to cut the legs off the bed. Ain't nobody under there now."
It's always better to get a second opinion.







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Quote from: files58 on March 06, 2024, 08:54:24 PMThere is a famous quote "there is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert". It's true. At my first aforementioned concert I was straight, just on oxygen, and the music itself just blew me away, floating on a cloud. They had the best sound system in the business. A formula that has been copied. Their music is an amalgam of several genres. Rock, country, bluegrass, and jazz. Jerry was greatly influenced by bluegrass, Phil Lesh the bassist was classically trained. Ok so you're familiar with Wake of the Flood. Albums are nice but their genius is live. Improvisational jamming at it's best. No two shows are alike. Go onto archive.org and you can search Grateful Dead. Listen to the Mississippi Half Step from the 77' show I posted, you can go to you tube and search Grateful Dead, or just search Eyes of the World, Here Comes Sunshine and you'll get a feel for live vs album. Turn it up, and enjoy. There is a reason so many of us Heads travelled around to see them. Another famous quote "they're not the best at what they do, but the only ones who do what they do".

Thanks I appreciate your reply. I'll definitely listen to those songs. I remember buying Wake of the Flood as a teen even though I was completely unfamiliar with anything on the album. It was in the cut outs for a couple bucks, I'd heard some of their songs and thought I'd give it a try. It became one of my go-to late night chill albums. I no longer have it, or any of my old LPs as I donated my turntable and albums, not wanting to pack and move them from NY to CA. But before I did I digitized a bunch of albums, Wake of the Flood being one of them. The copy sits on my music server and I still listen to it from time to time.

Quote from: files58 on March 06, 2024, 05:50:44 PM2

Here's 11/6/77. When I say I'm a fan I've been to 150+ shows, and now see the main cover bands for lack of a better term. Dead & Co., Phil & Friends, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, DSO, and Stella Blues Band(NYC Metro), and some others. My first show 9/2/78 with about 40,000 of my closest friends in Giants Stadium.

https://archive.org/details/gd77-11-06.sbd.nawrocki.283.sbeok.shnf

John Mayer asked Bobby how would I know the Dead. Bobby told him listen to 1977, and Spring of 90'. They were blazing hot in 77', and 90' was a very good year.

That's awesome!! I never saw them in concert, nor would I consider myself a big Grateful Dead fan. I only have one of their albums - "Wake of the Flood," which I do really like. Also a few years ago @weeze burned me a copy of "American Beauty." Aside from those two albums I'm only familiar with their hits. Though I have known about the significance of the 1970 Binghamton concert, in the grand scheme of things, because I don't live totally under a rock. 

Maybe I'm wrong Len, but that seems to be primarily an American thing. It's a money grab - have success and bleed it dry, quality be damned. Case in point, the US version of The Office, a show with many great episodes, went on for 9 seasons, Too long!! The original, UK version went just 2 seasons and was excellent throughout. And The Walking Dead is an even better example.

Quote from: files58 on March 06, 2024, 02:45:24 PMMy son is a BU student at the Watson School of Engineering.

In a related subject to your post, being a devoted Grateful Dead fan two shows stand out 5/2/70 which took place on campus(there's a wall plaque in a dining hall), and 11/6/77 which was at Broome County Coliseum. My son tells me that one of the bars in town serves a Jerry Garcia cocktail, Deep Eddy Peach Vodka, Razzmatazz, and Triple Sec.

The Grateful Dead's May 2nd 1970 concert at SUNY Binghamton was an important concert in the band's evolution.

"The Grateful Dead's performance at SUNY Binghamton on May 2, 1970 is the stuff of legend, even for a band with a lengthy history of such events. Not only was the show seven hours of music, not only was it all broadcast on FM radio several weeks later and not only was it widely bootlegged and finally released as Dick's Picks Vol. 8. The show epitomized the expansion of the Grateful Dead from a cultish phenomenon in San Francisco and Manhattan to an extended community throughout the United States and beyond. I would argue that no show did more than Binghamton to expand the band's legend, since it was broadcast, circulated on bootleg lps, circulated on tape and then finally released, so Heads of every era absorbed it as their own."

https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/search/label/Binghamton

https://www.amazon.com/Dicks-Picks-Vol-College-Binghamton/dp/B00004TYB6



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV_O-VgxmPU

Quote from: MightyGiants on March 06, 2024, 12:50:06 PMDuring the Writer's and Actors strike, I started watching a lot of British and Aussie TV via Netflix and Britbox (Acorn is another service).  Their top shows are often better done than our American shows.   First, they tend to be better written.  Second, they hire actors and actresses rather than models who can act. 

It's sort of funny; after months of watching so much of that TV, I have returned to some of my regular shows (now that the strike is over), and they don't seem as good as I remember them.   

A majority of shows I've been watching recently are produced and filmed in countries other than the US. Recent series I've been enjoying are from England, Australia, Poland, Spain, France, Iceland and Sweden. Generally speaking I tend to agree with your observations above regarding their quality.

Quote from: TDToomer on March 06, 2024, 08:44:30 AMAwesome! But that beer should be in a Tulip shaped glass so you get the full aroma of the hops. I have pint glasses in my house that I use for everything but beer now.

Yes, I have all the requisite glasses. In this case the pic was taken four years ago and the intent was to highlight the glass as much as the beer for friends of ours who had just bought a summer home up in the Thousand Islands.

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on March 06, 2024, 10:29:14 AMBTW, SUNY B now means the old Broome Tech College, turned into Broome Community College by Nelson Rockefeller, and is now officially SUNY Broome. So if you say SUNY B around here, they think you're talking about the "other" college...but I digress.

You're right of course, old habits die hard. And of course BU used to be called Harpur College, and we used to jokingly refer to Broome Tech as Front Street High.

I've enjoyed how this thread has evolved.

Quote from: AZGiantFan on March 05, 2024, 02:49:39 PMI'm thinking it must be a pretty different place with an age 21 drinking age then my day when it was 18, the Pub was downstairs in the Student Union and the OP was across the street.  Some places I remember are Kelly's Bar with decent pizza and $2 pitchers of Bud or Schlitz, Lee's subs (first subs I ever had), Pancho's Pit. And a steak place across Vestal Parkway that put discount coupons in the school newspaper for a steak dinner for something like 3 buck that included unlimited salad and bread bar and beer.  First place I ever worshipped at the porcelain god Ralph.

Good times.  Class of '77.

Missed this post earlier. We have a lot of common memories, but I don't remember a sub shop called Lee's. Where was that? Somewhere in the back regions of my memory it seems like you and I may have had this discussion before regarding sub shops, though I could be wrong about that. But Pancho's Pit? - OH YEAH!! One on Riverside Drive in Johnson City, and one on Main St. in Endicott. Their lamb spiedies were quite a treat late, after a night of drinking.

*That steak place, across from SUNY B, I'm thinking that was probably The Vestal Steakhouse, with the big 10ft steer in front?

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on March 05, 2024, 03:31:37 PMYeah...a lot of taverns, pubs, and nightclubs have a short shelf life. I don't know if you ever got over to the North 40 in Ithaca, but that was a fun place to go like the OP. They brought in big name bands back in the 60's and early 70's...I remember seeing Tommy James and the Shondells there, playing as if they were a local band at a local watering hole. The place burned down, but was rebuilt and changed into "Lakewatch Inn", a wedding venue without the electric checkerboard dance floor. Place was crazy fun

The Esprit/Eclipse (locally known as the clit because of the abundance of women) in Binghamton was also a place where crazy stuff went down...but it's gone. As is Flashbacks with the lighted checkerboard dance floor and music from the 60s-80's. Also gone, The Blue Moon on Old Vestal Road, West Side Cheers, Edigans, Shenanigans, even the Number 5, and Country Bobs no longer exist. Party on the Patio every Saturday night was a blast...it's gone. Such is the life of taverns and bars. Some are still around, like Rathskellers (we always called the "Rat Cellar"), an underground nightclub beside the Grand Royale Hotel on State Street. But it's no longer packed like the old days...the fun days no longer exist in this town

Wow, I remember a lot of those bars you mentioned, Ric. Not surprised they're all gone now. I was probably in all or most of them, at least once or twice. But I didn't hang out at bars around the Binghamton area too much for the most part, as I lived on the west end of Broome County. Although back in those days I was heavily into the city softball leagues and we would usually stop in at the closest bar following a game or tournament for a beer or two, but then head closer to home for a majority of our post game celebrations. The one bar I do remember spending some time in was The Little Jewel, just south of Binghamton on Rt.7 But mostly because I was able to get served there as early as age 17, and also because they always had Bob Seger's Live Bullet album playing on their sound system. It was my first introduction to that classic album.

Quote from: TDToomer on March 05, 2024, 02:34:48 PMMy tastes have evolved with beer to the point I cannot drink any of these water downed mass produced lagers anymore. I call them college beers of the past. Give me Barrell aged Baltic Porters, Milk Stouts and NEIPAs. There is so much great craft beer in the USA now. Please tell me I am not the only one who visits Tree House who are arguably the most successful craft/independent/destination brewery the USA. 

@TDToomer I would agree, most of the mass produced lagers and pilsners in the US are pretty poor. The difference between the more common American lagers/pilsners vs. a Czech pilsner or German lager are like night and day. Luckily for us there are some US brewers who are knowledgeable and dedicated enough in their craft to brew them the right way.

I have a garage fridge full of beer, and the style I have the most of is bourbon barrel aged stouts, most between 10-15%abv, with some brewed 10 years ago or more. I'm also a homebrewer, and currently have 5 beers kegged and drinking - A Milk Stout with coconut, a Scottish Ale, an Irish Red Ale, an American Pale Ale hopped with homegrown hops, and a British Style Best Bitter. Additionally I have a ~10% Imperial Stout currently fermenting that I'll "cellar" until fall/winter time.

I also enjoy a well made neipa, although there are an awful lot out there that aren't made well. Tree House Brewing is certainly among the best when it comes to neipa's. I've never been to the brewery, but I have had quite a few of their beers. Top notch.

Speaking of neipa's, they are a very challenging beer to make, even for professional brewers, but especially so with my setup. I'm planning on using what I've learned over the past year or so and brew one later this spring. I'm hoping for the best.

Here's a picture of a neipa I brewed back in 2020. Certainly not in the same league as Tree House or other top examples, but it was still as good or better than some of the commercial neipa's I've had. I used copious amounts of Citra, Mosaic, El Dorado, and Strata hops in it. 

Since it's officially derailed....I'm a huge fan of Genesee Cream Ale, have been since my college days. It was likely a contributing factor as to why I dropped out. Genny Cream is the best cream ale I've ever drank, I'd love to try brewing it some day. I'm actually wearing a Genesee Brewery t-shirt right now. Last time I was in NY, in 2022, I drank some cream ale and also stocked up, bringing some back to California with me. Reminded me of the old days. In brewing circles it's rumored that Genesee ferments it with lager yeast, so, if true, I guess it's not technically an ale.

Early on, in my teens, I didn't especially like beer but just drank it because all my friends did. But I soon warmed up to the taste and Schlitz became my first favorite, drinking it in the early to mid 70's. Then they changed the recipe and it went to hell. I've recently read that whoever owns the label now is brewing it to the original recipe, or close to it, and it's supposedly tasting good again. I can't get it out here or I'd try it for myself.

Ric mentioned $1 beer night. Back in the mid-late 70's I remember 50 cent bottles of Molson Golden every Wednesday at The Other Place, (aka The O.P.), right across Bunn Hill Rd. from SUNY Binghamton. Never missed it. They also had bands occasionally, and I once saw The Talking Heads play there around the time their debut album was released.

Lastly, I'm a big fan of Ommegang. They brew some very good Belgian style beers. They're hugely sought after in the trading circles in areas where distribution doesn't reach. When I was living in NY, and working in Field Service at IBM, I had The Baseball HoF as one of my customers. Of course that was cool. I'd always tried to time my visits there for mid afternoon. Then after that I'd stop off at Ommegang to grab some beers to bring home. This was before they ramped up production and their beers became easier to get. Plus they used to have a release or two that was only available at the brewery.
The good old days.....

Quote from: Ed Vette on March 05, 2024, 12:46:58 PMThere are a couple of good Brewing companies in Cooperstown. I gave up beer years ago but I liked their brew.
https://www.cooperstownbrewing.com/
https://www.ommegang.com/

Schultz and Dooley glassware are in regular rotation at my house. Just took this pic after seeing your post, Ric.

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on March 05, 2024, 10:40:56 AMThere used to be a sports bar in Binghamton that had Tuesday Night specials: 1.00 for Rolling Rock "ponies" and "nickel wings"...my only experience with RR...not terrible...better than Genny, IMO (not saying much)

Schlitz is actually a great beer, and you can still get it at specialty beer houses. Tastes a lot like Yuengling. Utica Club is coming back in style in my area which is also a good beer...again, IMO

I have lots to say about this, but I shall bite my tongue so as to not derail this thread further.