Beatles Or Bottles

New Math at Orange Monkey in Rochester, New York
New Math at Orange Monkey in Rochester, New York

Every time I hear a Beatles song I think of the bikers at “Big Daddy’s” on Lyell Avenue who challenged “New Math” with shouts of “Beatles or bottles”. They didn’t like what we were playing and I can’t quite remember how Kevin handled it but it seems like he announced one of our songs as an “obscure Beatle song”. At least that sounds like something he would do.

We streamed “Stones in Exile” last night with our Netflix app. We had the iPad cranked through the stereo and the footage from the “Exile” period was great. I have the double lp out and have played it quite a bit since reading the 33 1/3 book on the lp. That corresponded with the re-release of the remaster lp on a double cd. I ripped a copy of that while at a friend’s but haven’t listened to it yet. I don’t think I can handle the new tracks that Mick tarted up.

We stopped down at Vic & Irv’s while Duane was here and he spotted a skull and cross bones tattoo on the back of neck of the woman behind the grill. Rochester’s Lou Gramn was playing on the sound system. Their onion rings and milk shakes are sensational and have been since I started coming here back in the British Invasion days. In the Stones documentary Kieth says Mick’s rock and he’s roll. I have always felt that Vic & Irv’s is Stones compared to Don & Bob’s Beatles. The Beatles may have been more musical but the Stones have better hot sauce.

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Stones Vs The Beatles

Bathroom doors at Vic & Irvs
Bathroom doors at Vic & Irvs

Nuuj emailed me something through Facebook. It was kind of a rant about a mutual acquaintance. I ran into him at Mex’s ten year bash and I apologized for not replying. I went into my own rant about fb. I don’t like how people email you through fb and then you have to respond through fb since it doesn’t show his email address. Facebook has that in the giant database they’re building. I joined fb when a client asked about the business generating possibilities of the network. That should have been a warning. I told him “I’ll get back to you” and I signed up.

I didn’t build my portfolio but one was being built for me. I have never put a photo up there yet I had over fifty photos in my profile. I just “untagged” most of them. People “friend” me so I have lots of friends but it is a little disturbing to not know who your friends are. And I get invited to all sorts of stuff.

I like fb alright though. Stan the man put an old photo I took of Vic from Vic & Irv’s up there because I was tagged I was cc’d in on a round of comments from Vic and Irv’s fans. Duane Sherwood emailed us today to say his sister had sent him a link to Vic’s obit.

My brothers and I used to ride our bikes down to the lake when we were in grade school. We’d take a few rides at Sea Breeze, run through the funny house and sit at the counter at Vic and Irv’s. In high school we drive down there with our dates for late night snacks. I’ve been going down there on my birthday for years. I used to love watching the teenage help. I loved how sloppy they were, the music they played behind the grill, the “I could care less” serving style. The workers seem older than they did in the past when you’d think they would be looking younger to me now. It’s probably today’s economy. Some people like “Don and Bob’s” better (or “Don’s Original” as it is called now). I always looked at it like a Stones vs. Beatles kind of thing and I knew exactly where I came down. That may have been a young Keith out back peeling the potatoes but it sure wasn’t Paul McCartney.

The D&C article on Vic called it the “end of an era.” Hardly. I’ll bet a lot of people are down there right now paying him their respects. I only eat beef on special occasions so it will be a while before I get down there. I went through my photos of the palce today and found this one of the bathrooms, which you can only get to by leaving the restaurant and going around back where the rats scamper around.

I guess I going to have to cross post this to Facebook.

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Why I Hate The Beatles

Today’s paper had a picture of “Rain” doing their Beatles tribute. I guess they are in town at the Auditorium. It was one of those dreamlike pictures where the people sort of look like somebody you know and you stare at it but something is off.

Maybe my perception was altered by the dream Peggi told me about this morning. We had a big party and my brother and sister-in-law’s RIT buddies were all here with my family. I was thinking,”we don’t really know their RIT buddies”. My mom sat on the coffee table that my brother built and it broke so my brother tried to fix it. Maybe it was the Vox amps in that picture but something triggered “From Me To You” and that damn thing was stuck.

I went to Kevin’s blog hoping to cleanse my mind but he didn’t have a fresh post up there. He has some cool links to other music blogs so I followed a few. I bought an Amy Rigby/Wreckless Eric 45 with PayPal bucks and then found the perfect audio antidote.

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