Cleveland Sports Forum

Hillbilly wrote:Cali:

I think I mentioned this to you once before but speaking of sight-seeing in San Fran ... if I ever visit the city one place I for sure want to check out is a building on Battery Street where vigilante's used to hang out. If I remember correctly they would do their own quick trials and hangings there.

I'll have to do some more digging and talking, and maybe you can remember another clue.

I'd love to identify the place.

There are two bars that try to lay claim to "the oldest bar in San Francisco."

One was first established in the hull of a ship as it was being landlocked as it's mates ran to the gold fields and was abandoned and set up as land filler with ships experiencing the same.

I know many San Francisco stories, but I've missed the "vigilante" keyword.


I DO know about real Pirates in Savannah, Georgia.

It is believed by some that 3-7-77 meant you better go buy a 3 dollar ticket for the 7:00 am ride to take the 77 mile trip from Helena to Butte, otherwise it's your ass.

That's right up there as "Live Free or Die," when it comes to serious mottos.

Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:

Darkstar wrote:TFiSC(nC)

I thought about you last night (Sunday) as my wife had a rare day she wanted to go to The City and we landed late in the same venture you and I experienced in "the oldest bar in San Francisco."

The same guys were playing. Of course, that's what a "house band" is.....of course.

Did Mrs. TFiSC(nC) enjoy Blues Power? I may have an opportunity to go to Chicago this spring/summer, which is where Apple Jack hails from. Hoping to track down some of his old haunts.

A few years ago, I met up with my boss, and we went to Starbucks and got some coffee. On the way, we walked past this little joint, and I could hear some sweet sounds coming out. After we parted ways for the evening, I went back, plunked the $10 cover, and walked in. Some eclectic stuff - this Asian lady playing a piano, doing some scat/rap over top of it. Backed by percussion, lots of horns, and a guitar or two. More jazz than blues, but still some fine stuff.

The Laphroaig didn't hurt either, and at $14/glass, was probably the cheapest per-glass price you can find Chicago.

Cali:

I did a search and found it. The vigilantes headquarters in San Fran was called Fort Gunnybags. They placed sandbags and armed men around the building to protect themselves.

At the time I first heard about this story it was my understanding that the place still stood and could be visited. When I make it to your town I'm gonna have to find out for sure cause I'd like to check that out. If you ever hear anything about it fill me in. I find the story interesting.

BTW ... at the time this vigilante group started a guy by the name of William Tecumseh Sherman was heading up the military base in San Fran. He thought the group was bad for the city. He didn't like them at all.

The sandbagged warehouse converted in 1856 to the use of the San Francisco Vigilantes as its armory and drill hall, Fort Vigilance, popularly nicknamed Fort Gunnybags, also served as the dictatorial group's headquarters The vigilantes were ostensibly organized to establish law and order within the city, but they disbanded when it was determined that they were much worse than the supposed offenders. The site of the pseudo fort in San Francisco is on Sacramento Street, bounded by Front, Davis and California Streets.


http://www.militarymuseum.org/FtGunnybags.html



I know exactly where that is.

I also know a jazz and blues bar close by.

Did Mrs. TFiSC(nC) enjoy Blues Power? I may have an opportunity to go to Chicago this spring/summer, which is where Apple Jack hails from. Hoping to track down some of his old haunts.

My wife loved Blues Power. The first, second and third time.

I've had to remind her she has seen them before.

She claims to have ADD.


Her name is Dee Dee.

I tell her she has A Dee Dee.

She's cute, and I Love her.

Cleveland about to erupt!!!!!!!

Oh that Cleveland........Mt Cleveland Alaska

Feb 2, 9:40 PM EST

Montana man starts police chase as part of wishlist


BUTTE, Mont. (AP) -- A 55-year-old Montana man who says he "always wanted" to be part of a police chase can check that off his bucket list.

The Montana Standard (http://bit.ly/xPc9Yc ) reports John C. Hughes followed a patrol car for seven blocks early Thursday before pulling his SUV around and taking off at speeds of up to 70 mph. Officers say the Butte man was driving faster than 100 mph on an interstate toward Rocker, Mont.

Officers in that city laid out a spiked strip to flatten the tires on the SUV.

A police report says Hughes told officers he "just always wanted" to see what it would be like to be in a police chase. Officers say Hughes had not been drinking.

Hughes faces a charge of reckless driving while eluding police.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... 2-21-40-15

Montana's quiet life isn't for everybody. Alot of people get bored and look for ways to amuse themselves.

Hillbilly wrote:Montana's quiet life isn't for everybody. Alot of people get bored and look for ways to amuse themselves.

I spent a night in Dillon, Montana.

I had no prior plans when I checked into the motel, but really enjoyed the female offerings of Dillon as I found the three or four bars by the tracks.

One of the things we found amusing when we moved here was no matter how small a town you could always counton there being a bar. You pass through towns with no post office, no grocery store, not even a gas station, but there will be a bar.

Hillbilly wrote:One of the things we found amusing when we moved here was no matter how small a town you could always counton there being a bar. You pass through towns with no post office, no grocery store, not even a gas station, but there will be a bar.

On the converse, my wife and I have noted that when driving in small towns in Utah, few if any bars are to be found.

On that note, there was a saying back when I lived in South Carolina....

The mating call of a Southern Belle?

"I do believe I've had a bit too much too drink...."


When I attend the horse races at our local fair, it's normal that a winery sponsors a race each day. Usually the owners or workers sent out to pour at the accompanying tasting on their sponsorship day know little if anything about horse racing.

I happen to like to taste wine, and do know a bit about horse racing.

Suffice to say I've made fast friends and have a small pile of comp wine tasting coupons I've collected after drinking and conversing with the winery owners and personnel.

Today, my wife decided we should perhaps cash a few comp tastings in. "Shall we?"

So I said, "oh, lets."

(some cartoon characters of my youth used to exchange the same)

We found a few nice wines, a couple really nice, and then drove home to attend the wine tasting at our nearby small family owned grocery.

I outweigh my wife by maybe 75 pounds these days. I was barely affected by the tastings (plus, I'm Irish, German and Native American), but she was not unaffected.

She announced as we walked into the house that she was drunk and felt like getting out of all of her clothes.

I suggested she was on to something, and I encouraged her to embrace her thought.

It was a good day.

The only bad part is that I am now watching Lawrence Welk all by myself as I have since covered her up and am checking on her with the dog's help every 10 minutes, or so.

I think I've taught the dog CPR. If not, I should have. She does know the equivalents of "little Timmy is in the well!"

She'll be fine. My wife, that is.


One of those tasting days at the local horse racing track I learned the risk of touting my intended wagers. There was a 30-1 first time starter that I had researched and observed in the paddock and I mentioned to the wine folks I thought she was a lock to hit the board in the ten horse field so I was going to have a rare solid bet to "show." They knew I had cashed winning tickets the prior races I had discussed with regard to handicapping angles. Turns out, many in the group piled on my thoughts and my 30-1 shot did run 3rd with the favorite out of the money. My wager on a normal day should have resulted in at least a $10 payout on a $2 wager in such conditions......if not closer to $20. The payout was $6.60.....because so many had listened to me with a smallish betting pool that day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edffynKrkaE


And even better yet, the version with Olivia and John from three plus decades later:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvOWox2o ... re=related

Whitney Houston, superstar of records, films, dies


Feb 11, 8:04 PM (ET)

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale."

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

"The time that I first saw her singing in her mother's act in a club ... it was such a stunning impact," Davis told "Good Morning America."

"To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine," he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with

"Whitney Houston," which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. "Saving All My Love for You" brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. "How Will I Know,""You Give Good Love" and "The Greatest Love of All" also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, "Whitney," came out in 1987 and included hits like "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

The New York Times wrote that Houston "possesses one of her generation's most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity."

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the "Soul Train Awards" in 1989.

"Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?" she told Katie Couric in 1996. "You're not black enough for them. I don't know. You're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them."

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop's pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

"When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place," she told Rolling Stone in 1993. "You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that's their image. It's part of them, it's not the whole picture.

I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody's angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy."
It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America's sweetheart.

In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with "The Bodyguard." Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy's record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the "Bodyguard" soundtrack was named album of the year.

She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with "Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife." Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, "My Love Is Your Love," in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut "It's Not Right But It's Okay."

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time "The Preacher's Wife" was released, "(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. ... I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. ... I wasn't happy by that point in time. I was losing myself."

In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown's reality show, "Being Bobby Brown," was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared "crack is whack," was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album "I Look To You." The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on "Good Morning America" went awry as Houston's voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.