THE BEARD IS GONE

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I developed the habit of trimming my two year old beard once a week. On fridays. Yesterday, I screwed up!

I have an electric beard trimmer. The cutting blade trims close to the skin. There is a barricade /guard that has to be placed over it to avoid a full trim. The barricade/guard also permits one to determine the desired length of the beard.

I was doing the friday routine yesterday. Trimmed one side of my face. Don’t know where my mind was. I forgot the barricade/guard. Three sweeps and the left side of my face was bare.

Oh, shit!…..I thought.

Things have to balance. I intentionally shaved off the right side. Left me with a mustache and small chin beard. I did not think it looked good. Shaved the chin beard off. Did not like how I looked with just a mustache. The mustache went.

My face was entirely clean. The skin as smooth as a new born baby’s behind.

I liked what I saw. I have decided to go beardless for a while. The new me!

The interesting thing is that everywhere I went last night, no one noticed my beard was gone. Do people really look at each other?

The Chart Room was my first stop. Sean and Katherine were just leaving. I was glad I got to say good bye in person. They leave for Austin this morning. Katherine has a position with a Leading Hotels of the World there. God bless and good luck!

Ran into Dale. Met him last year. He spends six months in Key West and six months in Ocean City, New Jersey. Lives on a 44 foot sail boat. He is an independent contractor working with the pharmaceutical industry. I learned a lot I never knew about prescription drugs.

Decided to stop at the new Key West Pub to see how they were doing. They were not. A handful of people. The place was basically empty. I had a drink and chatted with the general manager, Eric.

There was a dance floor last week at the opening where a baby grand used to sit. The dance floor was gone. Replaced by tables. I suggested they bring Larry Smith in to play. I was told they had no piano. I said Larry had one. The one he bought when he left the Wine Galley.

My next and final stop was Square One. Ate at the bar. Enjoyed myself immensely.

Jimmy Olsen was seated at the other end. I rarely see him. It was good to say hello.

Good friend Patrick bartending. Always a pleasure to be in his company.

My former bocce partner Frankie the Plumber was having dinner at the bar, also. Chatted with Frankie and his friends. Frankie just returned from a three week cruise through the Hawaiian Islands. Jet lag still affecting him.

Mary Lou Hoover came in and sat next to me at the bar. She and Charley were waiting for a table. Mary Lou and I talked quite a while. The most we have ever talked. The first time I can recollect we have been alone to talk.

Mary Lou is both dynamic and a dynamo. Among her many accomplishments, she started Girl’s Night Out back in 2006 or thereabouts with six attendees. Today, it numbers in the thousands.

I was impressed once again with the crowd at Square One. Many standing and drinking waiting for a table. Happy faces all! Carmelo has done a great job in resurrecting the restaurant.

This afternoon, I bowl! Don is throwing a bowling party. At the Boca Chica Naval Base. The only bowling alleys in the area.

We did a similar party three years ago. We ate pizza and wings and drank.

This will be the fourth time in my life I have bowled. I think three years ago my high score was 70 something and my low 40 something.

No one wants me on their team!

Enjoy your day!

CALABRIA…..THE FOOT OF THE ITALIAN BOOT

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The sky is overcast this morning. Accompanied by a moderate breeze. The breeze is carrying the morning smell of the ocean into my kitchen. Pleasant.

It was back to bed yesterday. My back! Thought I was ok. Apparently not. The spasm takes my breath away. Not much better this morning. Been through this before. At some point, the spasm will cease. I wish it would hurry up!

The Wichita/Kentucky game last night will be remembered as one of the greats. Kentucky squeaked out the win. Coach Louis thought the difference between the teams and the reason for the Kentucky win was conditioning. Towards the end of the game, the Kentucky players were still going up and down the court as if the game had just started. Wichita began making mistakes. Mistakes that seem to have been brought on by the tired factor.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog how much money Patrick raised at the fundraiser. Patrick cut his very long dreds for charity. Raised $12,000! Good for you, Patrick!

A couple of weeks ago, I told you Fuddruckers was opening up next door to Burger Fi. I was wrong. Not Fuddruckers. It is Johnny Rockets.

I have never seen a Johnny Rockets. Most people have, however. They tell me a 1950s place, waitresses on roller skates, etc. A burger joint. I look forward to trying it.

My Italian friend Antonio spent an interesting few days this past week. Antonio lives in Novara. His wife I love dearly. Mariam from Morocco. A chef, she cooked a birthday dinner for me a couple of years ago.

Antonio and two of his buddies went on what was described as a hiking trip. Into the Sila Mountain range. Still snow covered, much of the trip was made wearing whatever one wears on their feet while walking on deep snow. I am experiencing a mental block. Permit me to describe them as  like tennis rackets. Snow shoes?

Sila Mountain is in southern Italy. In Calabria. Calabria is located in the boot of Italy.

The Sila Mountain range consists of three separate mountains. One of the mountains is called New Greece or Greek Sila.

You will recall that during my first Greece trip, I realized I had to have Greek blood in me. I who thought I was pure Italian my whole life.

While in Greece and especially the small islands, I noticed the Greek food I was eating was exactly like the Italian food I had been raised on. My grandmother and mother’s cooking. Everything. Even down to the bread.

I started asking questions. Then went to the books to verify what I had been told. I wrote a blog about this three years ago and did a segment on my television show.

Greece way back when was a great commercial nation. Way back when means hundreds of years even before the birth of Christ. Greek ships conducted commerce throughout whatever the known world was at the time.

Greece was interested in doing business with southern Italy and Sicily. Hundreds of Greek citizens were sent to these two areas to settle and develop trade with Greece. The Greeks and Italians got along extremely well. The Greeks remained. Intermarriages were common.

We are all aware that northern and southern Italian cooking are radically different. The difference is a result of the Greek immigration. For whatever reason, the Greek food predominated. Ergo, the Italian food I grew up on is the same as the Greek food I ate on the tiny Greek isle of Amorgos for a month.

Interesting.

Enjoy your day!

PATRICK “PATTY CAKES” HAYES

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I am alive and almost well. Blood pressure ok. My back has 20 per cent to go. However, the back is sufficiently better that I am able to move around experiencing only an occasional twinge of pain.

I am stir crazy. I have been confined to bed and home a few days. Have to get out! Tonight!

Today’s KONK Life E News Blast features a picture of one of Key West’s most beloved persons. Patrick Hayes, aka Patty Cakes. Patrick was at a charity fundraiser yesterday afternoon at Square One and shed his dreds to help with the fund raising. They were almost down to his butt. I will not say Patrick looked good in them. From my perspective, he did not. He was like a wild man from Borneo. I am glad they are gone. The Patrick I knew has returned!

Patrick is a good friend. For more than 20 years. He is also Lisa’s friend. Her best friend after her husband. Patrick is also unofficial godfather to Robert and Lisa. They know him well and love him, also.

Patrick tells the story that he came to Key West straight and ended up gay. He lived with Les for many years. Les made Patrick an honest person two years ago. They ran off to Iowa and married. I attended their wedding reception on Shark Key when they returned.

Patrick seems to have worked forever as Square One’s bartender. He is pure goodness and always available to lend a helping hand.

I am having dinner tonight at Square One. I look forward to seeing the new Patrick with normal hair.

On this day in 1956, Italian actress Anna Magnani won the Academy Award for Best Actress. The movie was The Rose Tattoo. The screenplay and movie were written by Tennessee Williams when he lived in Key West.

The Tennessee Williams’ home is on Duncan Street. Two blocks from Lisa’s home. A lovely well maintained house presently owned by my friend Evan Roberts.

The Rose Tattoo was filmed in Key West. Probably at Tennessee Williams’ insistence. The house it was filmed in is on the same block as the Tennessee Williams home. Williams is at one end and The Rose Tattoo home the other. The filming  took place in Key West and on the same block as Williams’ home probably for Williams’ convenience. All he had to do was roll out of bed in the morning and walk less than 100 yards to his place of work.

I do not believe Key West had anything to do with the movie. Magnani played a Sicilian widow. Her co-star, the great Burt Lancaster, a lusty truck driver.

Williams insisted Magnani have the starring role. He said at the time she was “…..the most explosive emotional actress of her generation.”

Burt Lancaster was one of the outstanding male actors of his day. His day being in my life time. He was a contemporary of Kirk Douglas who is still alive. Lancaster was a man’s man and played such roles. He died about 15 years ago. I was disappointed that many younger than me were not aware of who he was. How soon  a great can be forgotten!

The Rose Tattoo house has not been well maintained at all. Run down. Someone started renovating it two years ago. However, it appears the renovations stopped in their early stages.

Syracuse won its first game in the big tournament yesterday. Easily defeated Western Michigan 77-53. Tomorrow at 7, Dayton.

Notice how calm I am.

Enjoy your day!

SQUARE ONE AND FAT ALBERT ARE NO MORE

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I started coming down to Key West some 25 years ago. Two mainstays then either are or soon will be no more. I refer to Square One Restaurant and Fat Albert.

Square One Restaurant opened its doors about the time I discovered Key West. I became an instant customer. For years as much as 2-3 times a week. In recent years, not so much.

Michael Hayes opened Square One. In Duval Square. The perfect place for a restaurant. You had to look for it.

Michael was the perfect host. Always the gentleman. Tall and thin. His shirts perfectly pressed. He did them himself.

The bartender from almost day one was Patrick Hayes. Also known as Patty Cakes. Patrick knew everyone in Key West. Whenever I was in need of anything, I would ask Patrick. He would tell me who to see.

Patrick and Lisa have a bond. Patrick is Lisa’s best friend.

Square One’s food was great! Always! The service equal to the quality of the food. The restaurant attracted an upscale clientle.

Square One closed last thursday. For all time. The word is Michael sold to Carmelo. Carmelo is an experienced Key West restaurateur. He started the original La Trattore and Virgilio’s.

Whatever you do Michael, I wish you well. Patrick, also.

There is a large white blimp  that hovers over Cudjoe Key. To the left of US 1 going north. It has been there as long as I can remember. Turns out it has been operational for 33 years.

It took years for me to find out what the blimp was for. No one seemed to know. Then I was told it was for Radio Free America to air in Cuba.

Actually, the blimp had a two fold purpose. Beam television freedom type shows to Cuba was one. The other was as a tethered radar station. Generally used in recent times to help interdict drug runners.

The blimp acquired a name along the way. Fat Albert.

We are in an economic crunch. One of the things cut from the federal budget was Fat Albert. As of March 15, it will be no more. Not even to be seen. It will be taken down.

Turns out there were two blimps rather than one. A smaller one. Way up, also. I never saw it. Do not know any one who did.

I will miss Square One. It is another piece of Key West to disappear that will never be replaced. Probably could not be replaced. I will also miss seeing the big white blimp as I drive north on US 1.

My first stop early last night was Don’s Place. Sat and chatted with Herschel quite a while. I enjoy talking with him. He is a political junkie as I am.

David came in for a moment. He has a new dog. Female, 9 months old. She was jumping a bit as young ones are apt to do. David will have her trained shortly and she will be the perfect lady. David is a dog expert.

I stopped at the Chart Room. Captain Peter was there. I spent a couple of hours talking with Peter. Worldly, a knowledgeable man.

I was lucky. Two unusually intelligent people with whom to communicate.

My neighbor Andrew has returned. Andrew owns the MTV home across the water. He has spent the past several months in Switzerland. He called yesterday. We are having dinner together tonight.

Enjoy your day!