INTERSECTION

When vision is blurred distinctions between reality and fantasy are quite narrow. This morning I experienced such. Alas, I went to bed sober. Unfortunately that is my usual state these days.

At 1:39 I was awakened by the ringing of my telephone. It is 2011; one doesn’t just answer the phone. Thus, I scrambled for the light in order to view the caller id to make sure it wasn’t some maniac chick seeking thrills I probably couldn’t deliver. Alas, it was a familiar number but not one that I immediately recognized. I let it go to the machine. After giving them time to leave a message I picked up the phone and accessed the message: “Ted, this is Rene (Randy Brown’s girl) – Randy needs a ride home to Lancaster (from Enola it is about a 90 mile round trip at 2 am!) because he is a jerk.” That was easy, I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Soon, I found myself in my old room at the 340 Club. It was cleaner than I remember with more exposed brick than had been the case. It was definitely on the 3rd floor though. Strange, it felt like my mom and sister – rather than Randy or Phil – were living on the first two floors. Someone was coming. Someone had entered the house and was climbing the stairs. I may have been alerted to that by one of the other inhabitants or I may have simply heard what I thought were footsteps that seemed not to stop on the second floor. Suddenly, in my midst was the Gilt. Kenny Giltner, bigger than life, was standing in my room urging me to “get up Ted. C’mon – get up”

It took me a moment to figure it out. This wasn’t my room at the 340 but a dreamlike replica. This wasn’t Kenny, who has been dead of his own hands for years, but a facsimile in my fantasy. Nonetheless, we greeted each other warmly. It had been a while. I got dressed and we went downstairs. I assumed we would go down the street to Johnny’s or the Forester’s Club and have a few beers.

Kenny didn’t seem to want to go out. I suggested we sit on the stoop a bit. The 340 Club stoop; a marvelous place. Who knows who would come by even at this hour? We sat and talked and eventually Kenny got around to asking me for $20. Some things never change. I gave him the twenty and he was off – like a dirty shirt.

I lay in my bed for a bit and checked the time. It was 3:39 a.m. My dream had ended at 3:38. I looked back at the clock and in big red electric digits it read 340!

I will play the juke box tonight, loudly; after all – it is McMorial Day.

Quick Box Items

Winding down a career provides excellent motivation for cleaning closets and cupboards. Tonight, in so doing I found these two gems from the 340 Club era. The first is a brief piece likely written during Chris Joyce brief tenure as a resident. The second, my work, is easier to place in time because it clearly pinpoints its date.

Untitled, by Chris Joyce

They thought Paul was dead
When they saw 28 IF
But I was only sure
When I read of Stu Sutcliffe

Circa 71974 by Tee Knorr

Remembering the past is fun. It’s forever being done, for its all we know. We can’t predict tomorrow and we are busy creating today. So all that we know is yesterday. We know what was good and we know what was bad. We try to repeat the former and forget the latter. But repearting is no fun and forgetting is hard. So we are doomed to remember and that’s what’s fun.

It seems that I met her yesterday and maybe I did, I know I can’t forget her and it seems I can’t repeat her. It might not have been love but it’s as close as I ever came. So to me who knows no better it feels just the same. I remember the night I met her though my mind was not too clear. On July nineteenth it will have been exactly one year.

Juke Box Favorites & Special Announcement

Bachman-Turner Overdrive (well, Randy Bachman and C.F. Turner) and Styx will appear at the Sturgis Road Show. I will keep an eye open for Biker Bob Robert and Mayor Gray!

In related news, the juke box has gotten into my head and therefore I announce: a 340 style blowout on Friday, July 1, 2011 after work till whenever at my home in Harrisburg. Everyone is invited but RSVP's are appreciated. I have two lovely young damsels next door whom I hope to talk into a companion 4th of July event at their place where we do share a backyard which in any case will have the fence down. I will have a half barrel but, as is customary, BYOB & munchies is appreciated. There is a sub shop with beer just down the street so there should be no problem. All are welcome to spend the night but there is only one couch.

The party will commemorate the end of an era - July 1 being the last day I hope to ever need to work in my life. Understanding I live 46.4 miles from the 340 Club itself I do not expect a deluge but I will be seeking any interested 340 Clubbers, ZSBAL members, class of 69ers, City Hall workers, Knorr's, O'Neill's, New Fox Ridge neighbors, SABRites, and Marauders

Next 340 Club Party or ...

Okay, okay ... so a party might not be so easy to pull off but .... lets get together some Friday or Saturday at a Happy Hour or a ball game. Lets shoot for May or June so we have plenty of time to plan, save the date and early enough to do it again July or August.

Here are the Fri/Sat in May and June:

May 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28
June 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25

NOTE: June 11 is Senator's Charity Auction and June 24th is 340 Clubber Dick Lichty's Cancer Walk at E-town

Lets Do It!!!

40th annual Saint Patrick's Day Pub Crawl

The 40th annual Saint Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl will take place in two weeks, Thursday, March 17, 2011 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I want to see you there. Here is the schedule; consider dropping in somewhere along the line. The earlier, the better, as my coherence will definitely degenerate.

Here is the itinerary:

TIME BAR ADDRESS COMMENT
3:00 The Tap Room 1402 N 3rd spectacular faux Irish celebration all day
3:40 Al’s Tavern 268 Verbeke cheap beer & ho’s
4:05 Shady McGrady’s I 204 Verbeke best beer selection on the tour
4:30 MidTown 1101 N 2nd a little early but it could be dinner
4:55 Fire House 606 N 2nd been tossed here previously, it is an early stop
5:20 The Pep Grille 209 Walnut my favorite stop, it is the pivot, all north after
6:00 Molly Brannigan’s 31 N 2nd start of the madness quartet
6:45 McGrath’s 202 Locust have been refused admission on occasion
7:30 Shady McGrady’s II 225 N 2nd never been there; small, may not this year either
8:15 Ceolta’s 310 N 2nd I tend to wander off at about this time
9:00 The Quarter 321 N 2nd beer bottles are aerodynamic
10:00 St. Moritz 714 N 3rd I know I have a good time, just don’t remember
11:00 Garrason’s 400 Forster but you can’t stay here

This and That

I thought I surprise young Ted Knorr with a post. My first one in ages. Feeling a little nostalgic after a few adult beverages, I have been reflecting on my life after trading in my human companions for dogs with Ted's departure from Seymour Street in 1989. Would I trade my canine connections for the camaraderie of real people, probably not.
I do miss the guys stopping in at all hours usually toting a six-pack and Ted calling me downstairs from his upstairs bedroom when all he had to do is holler down. Mortality is very real. Everyday in the newspaper I am reminded of it with the passing of another acquaintance. I have been blessed with good health despite abusing my body during the 340 days and beyond. My pop, 87 years old, has been in and out of the hospital repeatedly the last few months.
Have I been really just talking to my dogs,Bojac,Lobo and Cisco these past 21 years ? Perhaps, the solitude of living alone has been a welcome respite from the hectic Club days. With a pet though I have never really felt alone. Approaching "old age" I have to wonder whether this lifestyle can continue. I have no doubt that I will not take the matrimonial plunge ala our roomie Sil did so that leaves me with four legged room-mates. Cisco, my current dog is five years old. A normal life expectancy is 10 or 11 years so I will be 65-66 when he passes on to the Rainbow Bridge.
I will have to make a decision then whether or not to get another dog. Maybe at that time there will be another 340 in the works to make my options clearer. Forgive the rambling, I have been imbibing on Pabst,Spaten and Peroni. Maybe they don't mix all that well.

3rd Anniversary of the Virtual 340 Club

Happy 3rd Birthday to the Virtual 340 Club!!! a member of Al Gore’s world since December 4, 2007 ...6,031 visitors in 1096 days = 5.5 visits per day; 487 posts in 1096 days = a post every other day. However, more realistically 410 posts in the first 187 days (over two posts per day) and only 77 posts over the last 686 days (1 every 9 days)

By year,
2007 65 posts
2008 368 = 343 prior to the 2nd periodic reunion + 23 after
2009 41 posts
2010 13 posts, including this one

I sit on my well worn, worthy of the 340, couch amidst other furniture older than I ... nostalgia has me in my grasp and in honor of the 3rd anniversary I raise a toast ... alas, it is only one beer ... if it truly were the 340 it would be the better part of a case ... no, the 340 it ain't but it is the virtual 340 and its all I got ... gonna play the juke box now.

Happy Third Birthday to the Virtual 340 Club!!!

It was three years ago today that Philip & I began this blog ... I can only speak for myself but, particularly being out of town, it provides me with a fun place to go. It kinda makes the past the present and sorta makes living in the past, living in the present. Kinda sorta being the key words. I wish that all of us felt the same way and posted more often. to reminisce but also to share what we are doing now.

I speak to Phil rarely but we still play the lottery together weekly and that is fun and inexpensive. Sil & I end an e-mail every now and then. I've been filling in Dave & City L on some recent happenings and Dave replies ... City L needs to return to life (just my opinion mind you). Dicky called just last night; he is a good guy, God bless him, fighting illness. Dan is a professor and he & I play poker 3 or 4 times a year. Timmy lives in jersey and has a wife, kids, job, etc. Dean still lives and works in Lancaster; being the only person who lived at the Club that I did not live with. Nobody lived with everybody. John & Sue still live within a half mile of the Club. Haven't seen Jimmy since the reunion but it was grand seeing him then; still looks the same. Randy is still 27 years old. Joyously, Gloriously, Kenny, Mitch and Clack are at a much greater Club that hopefully we all are going to be. As you may know, it was recently discovered that there is beer in heaven.

Coach is the most loyal reader of this blog and has the toughest job. He represents all of the many, many partiers and revelers who passed through the 340 Club on a daily basis at all hours. It is he and those that made it what it was. So, I will hoist an Iron City beer tonight in honor of him and all the rest of them and you celebrating three years of electronic madness. I encourage all of you to keep in touch to post more of what you are doing with yourself or any special memories that you may wish to share.

Oh and I've forgotten the Kegman ... sorry.