When Bob Mann told me that a friend of his from out of town wanted to visit Buzzy’s Friday afternoon and meet up with some other folks whom they used to work with on Base, I of course was all for it.
One of the things I like best about running Buzzy’s is having it serve as a reunion/meeting place for folks to gather and catch up with family and friends whom they haven’t seen in awhile. It usually happens on a last minute basis, but it always works out well. Everybody has a good time getting together, reminiscing, telling stories and swapping “Do-you-remember-the-time we……” stories.
So Friday morning as I was driving down the road to the Store, my buddy Pat Woodburn texts me the following:
I called Pat and he informed that it was discussed at their Tuesday night card game. Turns out that it was Dave’s brother Jim who worked with Bob in the Pax Program back in the day and it was his (Jim’s) suggestion to visit Buzzy’s.
Jim graduated from Leonardtown High School 1 back in 1965, and he invited several of his former classmates to also drop into Buzzy’s Friday afternoon. Thus, it really was a Twofer of Reunion Parties at Buzzy’s – the Pax Program boys and the LHS Class of 65 fellas.
Somewhere in the churn however, I blew it by not getting a semi-formal photo of everyone out on the Buzzy front porch. However, I did manage this grab shot of some of the crew sitting around in the Store. (Note that I am uncertain what was being discussed as I took this photo, because most everyone is looking a little on the mum and glum side of the ledger here.)
Seems that most parties and events of today are elaborate affairs involving planning for this, thinking about that, worrying about what to serve, where everyone is going to park etc..
However, I think that the Buzzy KISS-approach of hosting impromptu parties works best as in “Everybody just meet here at such-and-such a time.” Reminds me of the old joke “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.” At Buzzy’s, folks drop in and a party breaks out.
CBS Sunday Morning featured an excellent segment on Henry Mancini and a tribute album released in honor of would have been his centennial. If you missed that, you can view it when you (click here.)
And because it is a Twofer Tuesday, here is my nomination for the Best Mashup song ever. For all you Sopranos’ fans, you will recognize it from the opening Episode of Season 3.
Using the same chord progression and similar bass track, coupled with the overall stalker theme of the Feds spying on Tony and his family, the mashup really does come across as one song. Again, it also confirms that “The Sopranos” really was the best T-V show ever. Don’t even try to argue with me about it. (Right Paula?!)
P.S. I went looking for the Sporanos video featuring this particular scene and song but came up empty. Maybe they need a tutorial on how to do things spontaneously.