A Night With Derek, Change100 and Pauly Drama

I got a text from Derek informing me that Pauly Drama and Change100 were coming into the city for the weekend. Of course I was rather pumped because I had some bad beats to talk to about with PD, Change100 and Derek. I was hoping that they would be willing to post them on their blog so people could add in the comments what they thought of the hands I played and how I played them. Wait, I have a poker blog, maybe I will put my beats up here...haha!

In any case, since Pauly Drama is now bi-coastal I figured he needed to close some business and pick-up his mail. If case you were wondering, yes, this is how the jet-setters or other half live. I just get the close up camera view, but in the end I'm on the outside looking in. Yes, I'm a monkey in a suit that sits in a cube.

The good thing about PD still having roots in the NYC is that I know when he comes to town he always sets aside time for a few drinks with the A-Lister's (cough!cough! and I raise my hand). But even better than that is that PD enjoys grabbing some beers in my hood and he’s a bar troll like me. Viva The DP!! I always find it rather odd that PD enjoys hitting a lot of places in one night...I always figured him to be that strange guy sitting in the corner writing in his little book. But I'm happy PD is a bar troll and I was even more happy to hear that his hotel was right around the corner from the one and only, YOGI’s.

So I head off to Yogi’s and I arrived a few minutes late and I see Derek, Change100 and PD as I enter. DP asks me if I want to stay and have a beer there. As if you didn’t know the response to that question? Twist my arm and make me yell uncle...but of course. So we order a round and I think to myself, Let The Drinking Begin!!

For those of you that don’t know the history behind one of my favorite drinking places in NYC known as Yogi's. Well basically it is the only bar that plays country music 24/7. So we are sitting next to two guys who are chewing tobacco and spitting it into a shot glass (I found the practice rather odd myself). So I’m singing along to every damn song that comes on and they ask me who’s singing the song. So I’m telling him who singing the song that is playing, what album and the year it was released. Of course Derek and PD have seen this routine before but they always get a kick out of it and are standing on the sidelines laughing as I go into my Billy Martin rant. I think Change100 is a bit in shock...poor-poor Change. Maybe she thought the rumors of me being a country boy are a joke or maybe she was hoping they were. Either way, now you know, Change100! The Rooster is a hick...thank you Baby Jesus for that.

I digress. So one of the young bucks asks me about how much of the music box I know. I spout off 90% and he calls BS. I rattled off who was singing the current song playing and what year it came out. I gave him the HMIC (Head Mexican In Charge) cadence so I think he believed me. I probably know about 95% come to think of it...cough!cough! Yes, that does include Country Rock which is still country music in my book. I'm an expert in that area also...and I will take G-Rob and my good buddy Todd Jeffcoat on in a heads-up Country Rock Trivia game. Wait, both guys have families and so I don’t want to take their money. Here are the young bucks that I had to school on country music.



So off we go in search of more bars. The next bar we head over to is around the corner and is this Latino Fusion place. I wanted to go there because from what I read about Change100 is that she likes to try new things and they have this great white sangria there. For those of you who are looking for eye candy on the UWS I highly suggest you hit this place. I was happy that Change100 liked the drink and we were off and running to the next bar.

We hit the next bar which has about 50 beers on tap. One night my roomie and I stumbled in there and we then proceeded to try and drink every beer on tap. He started at one end and I at the other. By the time we had drank five beers the bartenders were betting on us and who could go the furthest. Of course I got up on the stool and started to yell at the bar to bet on me because everyone wanted action on my roomie. I had to get the crowd on my side and what better way to show them how agile I was on the swivel chair. Shortly after they asked us to leave after my outbreak. In any case, we had a quick two beers there and we were off to the next bar.

Well this is where is starts to get ugly. If you don’t like sad stories and see me as an angel stop reading here...thanks Mom.

Well we are sitting outside because it is a beautiful night in the city at the Dead Poet Bar. This bar is an Irish Bar where they have poems and saying by Irish poets on the wall (On a side note, my friend Julie is the first girl to have her name on the wall for 100 Guinness’s drank at the place). This is also a place where another time Pauly and I met an aspiring actress who had just done a dog food commercial. Nice girl, to bad I called her a B-Lister for her representation.

Moving on...o.k. so we are sitting there and I see this little kid walking by with a book in his hand. Yep, the new Harry Potter Book had just been given out to him. I looked at my watch and it read 12:30am.

Conversation as follows:
Me: Hey, hey, did you just get the HP Book.
Kid: With huge smile nods yes.
Dad in Excited Voice: Yeah, we just got it around the corner at Barnes and Nobel.
Me: Hey, let me take a picture of you with the book.
(Dad nods to kid that it is ok)

Here is the kid and his new book:



Me to Kid: Hey, I have to tell you something.
Kid Looks at me with a smile.
Me: I illegally downloaded the book for free and read it and let me tell you, Harry Potter and Hermione die.

Kid looks and me and face goes all wrong and I mean all wrong...he starts to cry right there on the spot. I look over at PD, Change100 and Derek for help but I get none (Mo Rivera where are you...I'm in a jam). The father is pissed off and people around me are telling me obscene things that I can’t type here. I was a bit in shock that this went all wrong. The Dad just grabs his kids hand and says, “Thanks Jerk.”

Needless to say that put a damper on the night. We left the rest of our beers and headed out of dodge. The people next to use were really pissed that I upset the kid. I don’t know, I thought I was doing a service to kid so he wouldn’t go through all the shock of reading it. I was trying to lessen the blow.

After that we called it a night. We figured that we should just cap it.

Coming next…my last night out with A-Lister’s at an A-Lister’s place. I'm even going to Live Blog It!!

posted by Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa @ 12:26 AM