E. Michael Harrington

____________________________________________________________________________________________

This past Saturday was a unique day for me as there were a few firsts. The first of the first, GS, cannot be mentioned here. The second first though was my walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I should have done this years ago. The views are great and the people crossing the bridge are the usual (for New York) wild mix of locals and tourists. Next first - I bought a suit at Century 21 - a very nice grey suit with some kind of pattern and thin blue lines and other stuff, and it had M approval.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

The most important point of the day was to go see my friends' CD release party at B. B. King's on 42nd St., and after a great meal (chardonnay, clams, mussels, shrimp, squid, vegetables, rice) at Yum Yum Bangkok in Hell's Kitchen, we arrived. Beatallica sounded great and the audience was large and really into them. We were Standing at the back, then seated on the stage right side, and then standing in front as we moved our way to the front and center. I was not the only Boston Red Sox fan in attendance but I was the only one with a green Red Sox hat complete with red shamrock. The guys were happy to see me. Jaymz smiled and threw me his pick. A song or so later, Jaymz told the audience that there was an important person in the audience who did a lot to help them get their CD released. He then introduced me with more of a shout out. I got a big ovation and then Jaymz went further and told them I was from Boston. He also noted that it is OK to be a Red Sox fan at B. B. King's, and another ovation took place. I was quite embarrassed but very honored by the band's very kind words.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Into the next song, Kliff, the bass player came towards me, pointed his bass at me, and signaled me to come up on stage. My facial expression said NO, but he was not going to let me get away with this, so onto the stage I went. It became clear to me that the stage right microphone and mic stand were about to make my acquaintance. So, sing I did! It was Beatallica's "Hey Dude." Of course I knew the words and especially the long ending melody. So with green Red Sox hat and law school t-shirt, I sang away. It was way too much fun. At the end of the song, I thought that I had done well but probably did not need to sing in another song, and I didn't see a spare guitar or instrument, so I happily exited stage right and went back to my roost standing in front of the stage. I got treated like a star for the rest of the night by fellow Beatallica fans and after the concert both downstairs, upstairs and on the street - again, that green Red Sox hat red shamrock stick out like mad in the city with the bad team of old whining men on 161st Street.

One of the best people I met immediately after I came back to the audience was Andrew, a very muscular young guy from Brooklyn who told me that he had my back against any Yankees fans who might want to cause me harm. I appreciated that. He was a Mets fan. I told him that Mets fans and Red Sox fans do have the united enemy - the New York Yankees - and that I view Mets fans as friends by default. I also told him that we would be seeing the Brooklyn Cyclones - the baby Mets AAA team that plays on Coney Island - the next day.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Did you ever notice that at 1.17 in the bridge of the Beach Boys song, Wendy, someone coughs? I had forgotten and thought that the guy sitting behind me in Amtrak Business class was getting too close. (I have been seeing the Atlantic Ocean and the Connecticut and Rhode Island shoreline for the past few hours on Amtrak from NYC to Boston.)

And did you ever notice that there are no nice songs about anyone named Wendy?

Wendy Wendy left me alone, hurt so bad
Wendy Wendy left me alone, hurt so bad
Wendy Wendy left me alone, hurt so bad....

____________________________________________________________________________________________