Archie Kobain

An old black wise man, friend of my dad’s, once told me…  Guys who are always talking about sex and women are always the ones who aren’t gettin’ any.  Hmm… I wonder if that’s true?

OK, so… Not to dwell on my big NYC night out of drinking a few weeks ago but, there I was at the party, overlooking the yet-to-be-lit giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, talking to two hot chicks.  I was taking pictures of them with their iGizmo. Then I was taking pictures of them with my iGizmo.  Little did they know that I had downloaed the X-ray App, so that I could admire what lovely undergarments they were both wearing…

…when my phone rings.  It was Alice.  Uh, oh.  Alice wouldn’t be calling me during my night of drinking in NYC unless it was an emergency, right?  So, I take the call.

Alice proceeds to explain to me that she is at a Publix Supermarket, about to conduct an independent taste test of snack cakes, including Ho Hos, Little Debbie and Yodels (listed here alphabetically).  The emergency was that she, and the other “judges”, were unsure how to effectively cleanse the palette in between snack cakes. 

I’m pretty sure that my first response, Vodka, was the best answer.  However, she then informs me that she and the other judges are studying for some sort of a final exam and believes that drinking any alcoholic beverages would be frowned upon.  So, we start discussing the merits of orange juice and how well it goes with chocolate.

By this time, a couple of dudes have started talking to my hot chicks and are claiming the ability to crash Jimmy Kimmel’s party.  Next thing you know, they are out of there.  I wonder if Tina Fey would have been at Jimmy’s party, she’s on my list, you know.

So, I’m still there going, “no…seriously.  Orange Juice goes great with chocolate.”  After a brief consultation with a couple of my friends, Alice decides to move forward with the orange juice decision and, I later found out that, Yodels won.  6 out of 6 judges determined that Yodels were “better” than either Ho Hos or Little Debbie snack cakes. Who knew?

My snack cakes got away.  Thanks, Alice.

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So the next day rolls around, and here come The Amigos. For those of you who may just be tuning in to La Vida de Archie, I have these three friends, two males and one female – we’ve been best friends since college and every two years or so, we get together for a weekend (or sometimes a whole week).

We are known as The Four Amigos, although lately only three seem to make it. Now that I’m thinking about it, Greg has only made it 25% of the time. Someone is going to get voted off the island.

Make you plans now HG, in 2013, we’re headed to Napa Valley. If you’re not there, we’re replacing you with a reasonable substitute…

New Greg

This year, The Amigos decided to converge on New York City. We had big plans and, I must say, we got to a lot of what we’d planned to do. Caught a Broadway show, Rock of Ages. That was a hoot. I highly recommend it for anyone who lived through the hair band era. Amigo Mark, who I do not believe to be easily amused said, “I don’t remember the last time that I was that entertained for over two hours.”

We caught a little stand-up comedy, we got some NY Style Pizza at Arturo’s on Houston Street…

Arturo's on Houston Street

Had a little dim sum at Jing Fong in Chinatown…

Jing Fong, Chinatown

And we took a stroll through Little Italy. Ironically, Chinatown didn’t seem that busy but there were about a billion people in Little Italy. 😐

Somehow, we never made it to Central Park. This is strange to me because, hanging out for hours in Central Park, doing absolutely nothing is one of my favorite activities in The City and I’m really good at it. Maybe that’s the problem. We did a lot and never really had time to do nothing.

On our last night there, we went to dinner at the River Cafe in Brooklyn. This place is over-the-top. Yes, this restaurant on a floating barge is tied to the Brooklyn shoreline, almost right under the Brooklyn Bridge, but it has the most awesome night views of Manhattan.

The River Cafe, Brooklyn

I heard that Billy Joel & Christy Brinkley were married here.  Haven’t really looked into that one.  Talk amongst yourselves…

Amigo Ashley brilliantly discovered the Six Course Chef’s Tasting on the menu and we found out that there was an available wine pairing.  Oh, yes…  This was brilliant.  The food couldn’t have been better and the wait staff couldn’t have been more attentive.  I’m going to recommend a night at The River Cafe, even higher than Rock of Ages.

We were at River Cafe for about three hours.  I didn’t hear Mark say it exactly in these words but, my guess is that he was entertained for over two hours again.  We ate, we drank, what a blast.  We had such a blast that we decided not find our way up and walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge because, someone was surely going to end up in the East River.  So, I’m not sure how we got back.  Particularly since we all had to take out second mortgages in order to pay the restaurant tab…

Again, what a great time…  But I can’t give all the credit to the restaurant or the city.  The Amigos rock.  I’m looking forward to Napa.

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OK…  I’m really a bit stressed.  Lots going on.  Trying to get some year-end things done and, I’m expecting a BIG 2012.  So, I also have a bunch of “gettin’ ready for the new year” things going on.  What does all this mean?

It means that, although I have much to discuss, I’m going to have to keep it short today.  I’ve got to look after my paying job.  So, we’re hopping right over to today’s musical guests.

Actually, while you are watching this, I’m going to go watch the YΔCHT video again, from a few weeks ago.  I love that video.  But for those of you not addicted to YΔCHT, I have several treats.  First, there’s Dylan Elise, Drummer Extraordinaire.

You might want to click on the YouTube link and watch this video directly from YouTube.  Those drumsticks move so fast, it’s incredible.  I had to watch it several times to make sure it was real.  Then, once you are totally amazed, he starts doing tricks and twirling his drumstick, while continuing to play.  This guy is amazing and not a bad opening act…

Next, there’s The Big Pink. Let me know what you think, are they also potential time travelers?  I have two videos from them.  Enjoy…

The Big Pink – Stay Gold

Next, the first time I heard this song, I thought of Jane’s Addiction.  I’m not saying they sound exactly like Jane’s Addiction.  They’re different but I’ll bet you they listended to a lot of JA.  Am I crazy?  Enjoy…

The Big Pink – Hit The Ground (Superman)

Alrighty then.  It’s almost Christmas. Then it’ll be almost New Year’s.  Then I might have to take a break for a while.  Maybe go down to Florida for the Winter.  I don’t know.  We’ll see.  Either way, expect a big finish.  A great year-end.  A happy ending, so to speak.

“Here’s to more bandwidth in 2012.” – AM

Gotta run.

– Arch