Today’s tune is Dream On by Aerosmith because it was on in the background of one of these fine drinking establishments of The City; however, first, let’s enjoy a few pints…
#GuinnessChallengeSeason
@Kids don’t try this at home. Not just because you’re underage and will have plenty of pints to drink if that ends up being your thing when you’re older but also because Guinness is actually best served in a pint glass from a tap. A pint of Guinness varies depending on the drinking establishment. If the keg it sits in is rarely poured, it can lead to some underwhelming taste. Rather than stealing gimmicks, I’d like to start taking Notes while drinking Guinness. My grandfather from Connemara, whom I never got the chance to meet, Thomas Davis, used to drink pints and by all accounts was a self-taught thinker. The one rule I’ve imposed on myself is that I will only have 1 pint per sitting from each establishment I review, so @AnyoneWorrying, don’t worry about my drinking habits. The Guinness Challenge is to “cut the G” on your first sip (more like a gulp and a half). If this is your first time hearing about it, I didn’t come up with the fun challenge @YouTheReader can try the next time you have a Guinness. The 0.0 to 10.0 scale will be extraordinarily nuanced but as a reference point, the only perfect 10.0 I plan ever to give out is at the Guinness Factory in Dublin one day.
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: Mike is the bartender. I’ve been here a few times in my yesteryears for a Guinness before going to Gotham Comedy Club with the lads. NLCS Game 2 is on TV. I’m in the middle of my Top 25 Taylor Swift Songs Power Rankings. It is truly tough to choose from, so many good options and there are so many that are speaking to me. Halloween decorations behind the bar. Ginger Collins is the recommended cocktail. Jake’s has their own Tricky Ale and Wild Wheat beers. It's a dimly lit nice spot. The Jake’s burger is recommended.
Located on W. 23rd near 7th Ave in Chelsea, Jake’s Saloon has a cozy and warm atmosphere. They have some nice booths red booths in the back if you want to sit down for a bite, or you can hang out at the long bar that’s right in front of you as soon as you walk in. They are always showing sports on TV. Philly would shut out the D-Backs in Game 2 of the NLCS, winning 10-0 by the time I got home. Jake’s Saloon is one of George Clooney’s favorite spots, so keep that on the low so he can enjoy a drink in peace. I hope you enjoyed my Top 25 Taylor Swift Power Rankings, a lot of Guinness thoughts were put into them as I Stumbled Along to my next spot. I look forward to grabbing another pint of Guinness at Jake’s Saloon again soon!
Song On In The Background: Take It Easy by The Eagles
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: Concert at MSG tonight. I just got ID’d, maybe I should bring back the beard? Bartender Joe is from Schenectady, NY. He is the part owner of Ridgewood in Queen and also a public defender. How he does it is, “I work all the time.” Mustang Harry’s is hosting a Paramount networking event upstairs. Omar Apollo and Daniel Caesar are playing at the Garden. Kristen and Jess sitting next to me are going to see them. Joe has been at Mustang Harry’s for 12 years, “They’re family.” The burger is recommended. Bud Light is Joe’s favorite drink to serve. I have to Google the reason for the name of Mustang Harry’s. Kristen and Jess suggest Jameson Ginger-Ales & Tequila soda. Irish-owned, it’s a great spot if you’re heading to the Garden.
Joey, Kristen, and Jess were great craic! The Mustang Harry’s was inspired by the movie When Harry Met Sally. Located down the street from Madison Square Garden, Mustang Harry’s is an excellent choice to grab a pint or drink before a concert, show, or game. They are a Midtown staple that has now been a fixture for more than 2 decades. The Conroys of County Tipperary run the spacious 2-level bar. They have pub grub as well as an elevated menu of plenty of options for food. Mustang Harry’s also has an extensive cocktail menu of all sorts of spirits, including 200 varieties of whiskeys and tequilas. Not only is it a great place if you’re heading to the Garden, but you can also catch a game there or have your own party upstairs. Being that it’s famously been around the block for a bit, you may run into some people such as Rangers C Mika Zibanejad, Yankees 1st Baseman & helluva ballplayer Anthony Rizzo, or even a Dublin man like Conor McGregor who worked a bit behind the bar. I look forward to grabbing another pint of Guinness at Mustang Harry’s again soon!
Song On In The Background: Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: Rachel is bartending. She is from North Carolina, is an actor, and has spent 1 year in New York. “I love it.” Her father was a music pastor so she grew up singing and got the lead part in her school play called “Back to the 80s”, which then got her accepted to UNCSA. The Las Flores is her recommended cocktail to make. “The cheese streak egg rolls are a hit.” Rachel’s favorite part about NY is the people. Being that she is from North Carolina, she loves Duke and hates UNC. That’s how it goes. Rachel’s a big fan of Greyson Allen and Coach K. She played basketball and softball but quit for dance. Pennsylvania 6’s name comes from it being the original area code of the area. The Bills players come to the bar when they stay at the hotel above.
Pennsylvania 6 is also conveniently located just minutes away from Madison Square Garden and is another spot I’d recommend if you’re going to see a concert, show, or game. Their menu consists of fresh, American-style food that they make from scratch and they have plenty of options to pick from as well. One thing they are known for is that they are a raw bar with plenty of seafood dishes aside from their excellent egg rolls. When the Buffalo Bills come to town, they stay nearby and have frequented Pennsylvania 6. @FellowJetsFans please don’t use this information to try to get Josh Allen hungover next time he plays the Jets at MetLife, that would be a real shame. If you’re a Bills fan, they have a nice atmosphere to catch games away from Buffalo.
Today’s tune is Dream On by Aerosmith. The song was the band’s original single that came out in 1973 and it peaked at #59 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Aerosmith formed in Boston in 1970 just a few years prior. You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who doesn’t like this song. Aerosmith came up with their name when their co-founder and drummer, Joey Kramer, was at high school in New Rochelle, New York. He had been inspired by Harry Nilsson’s Aerial Ballet album and would jot down band names on his school notebooks…
“We started kicking around this word ‘aerial,’ and ‘aerial’ eventually came into ‘aero’ – I don’t know how that happened. And it was like Aeromind, Aerostar, Aero-this, Aero-that; and somebody said ’smith’—Aerosmith? Wow! And from then on it was all over my high school psychology books and my math books. The question was always, ‘What’s Aerosmith?’ And I would tell people, ‘When I leave high school I’m going to go have a rock ’n’ roll band, and that’s what it’s going to be called. And we’re going to be big and famous, and that’s the scoop.’ And they were all like, ‘Oh, that’s very nice, Joey.’”
Steven Tyler wrote this song when he was 25 years old. It’s about not giving up on your dreams and “the shit you put up with when you’re in a new band.” The opening verse sets a scene where the protagonist is looking at his reflection in the mirror. His past left him with wrinkles on his face and he is accepting of the fact that he is getting older, which is something that everybody lucky enough to be alive goes through, so it should be embraced even if it’s a bit melancholy.
As a 90s Toys-R-Us Kid who used to suffer a bit from Peter Pan, maybe this is me coping, but doing Week to Week Notes has in some ways helped me look forward to the future in ways I never did before. It hasn’t given me too many wrinkles just yet, but my beard is what makes me feel older. You see, I prefer to be Yankee clean-shaven, but I’ve gotten called “Peter Parker” with my little Notebook. (I swear, the bartender at Billymark’s West called me that in Pint&Pen&Paper Week 48 Vol II). My options are to walk around like the Little Sitting Leprechaun or be dubbed Spider-Man’s nerd side. I guess it’s not the end of the world, maybe one day I’ll find a happy medium, but I gotta move on from this topic or it’s going to start giving me wrinkles.
In life, sports are the easiest way to relate how you got to lose to know how to win. All the people who we think of as winners were at one point losers to some degree. Here are some examples… Bernie Williams doesn’t go on to become the unsung hero of the 90s Yankees dynasty without getting hazed on by Mel Hall. Derek Jeter before becoming the captain made 60 errors in a season in the minors. The 1996 Yankees don’t win the World Series without losing in 1995 and having to see the look of Don Mattingly’s face on the plane ride home knowing his career was over. The 1998 Yankees didn’t become the best baseball team in the modern era without losing a heartbreaker in 1997 to Cleveland.
We don’t all get to strive to be Like Mike if Air Jordan doesn’t get cut from his varsity team as a sophomore. Larry Bird didn’t become a “Larry Legend” without feeling overwhelmed at Indiana University with Bob Knight before dropping out to play for Indiana State. Tiger Woods doesn’t change golf forever without feeling a bit like an oddball at times growing up. Roy Keane doesn’t become well-fit without copping on after getting tossed out of pubs for having too many pints in his younger years at Manchester United. Caitlin Clark doesn’t become the all-time women’s College Basketball scorer without sticking up for herself on the court as a 5-year-old playing against boys. (Cool Story on Hawk Fanatic)
Curtis Martin doesn’t go on to become a Hall of Famer without going through a tumultuous upbringing. Tom Brady doesn’t become the greatest QB of all time without getting overlooked and benched at Michigan while falling to the 199th overall pick. Bill Belichick doesn’t go on to become the greatest head coach without failing with the Cleveland Browns. Travis Kelce doesn’t break Jerry Rice’s postseason records without getting kicked off his college team for smoking pot.
We can do this outside of sports too…Taylor Swift probably doesn’t stay up late at night writing a gazillion hits without getting publicly humiliated by Kanye. Drake doesn’t win a Grammy for Take Care without losing with Thank Me Later. Eminem doesn’t go on to become one of the greatest lyricists of all time without getting bullied and beaten up.
These are just a few on my mind, but there are millions of stories like this that we don’t spend too much time thinking about once these winners become “winners.” We’re not all going to be star athletes or Grammy winners, but if you keep showing up at least you get to learn from the experience. Also, in regards to sports, this isn’t an everybody gets a participation trophy PSA. Losing should never really sit right with you, but gotta embrace it for what it is, a result that makes you come back next time…Things are a bit different with music, art, film, fashion, etc. as it’s all subjective without a scoreboard, but there is still a bottom line. Anyway…yeah, Aerosmith was dead on about how before you succeed you gotta learn from losing.
No matter what field or path you take in life, you’re bound to have plenty of people who will write you off as if you’re a finished product. Some of them will offer sage advice and others will tell you foolish things. Guess what? You’ll never really know if people are laughing at you or for you, so you’re better off just laughing along with them. Value both the criticisms and kind words equally, that gets a lot easier once you start believing in yourself. All the words of encouragement or shit said about you will be a reminder of where you were when you first started on your path.
Sing for the highs and lows of life. Enjoy the good times and try to learn from the bad. None of us know when our time may come to an end so try to appreciate all the moments.
This iconic chorus was so nice, that they had to sing it twice.
It was previously mentioned how this tune peaked at #59 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1973. Even Aerosmith’s Dream On didn’t get to live out its dreams until 3 years later in 1976 when it made it to #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Now we don’t even think about that, the song is just a winner that rests firmly inside Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
People may believe this or they may not, but I never write Week to Week Notes with the dream of driving around in an Aston Martin or anything like that. Not that there is any problem with that if that is your goal, it’s a lofty one that will make you work hard, so I say go for it. When I first started writing about sports it was to my oldest friends and it was for a laugh. In truth, I never thought I’d ever make it to this point, where people outside of my immediate group of friends would read words that I typed. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s not so great, but either way, I’m living out a dream every day. I also have much more important real-life dreams outside of writing Week to Week Notes, that have nothing to do with sports, music, history, and pints so I haven’t come close to hitting the pinnacles I plan to reach just yet.
Now, blah, blah, blah, enough about my dreams, I’m getting nauseous. I rarely ever curse on here so I’ll emphasize that last sentence by saying, fuck my dreams. You’re never too young or too old to live out your dreams. Your dreams may come to you when you least expect it. Your dreams may be as simple as a simple task that brings you joy that you do once a day, a week, a month, a year, etc. Maybe consider doing whatever that may be today. Whatever it may be, it might lead you to more dreams. It doesn’t matter what your dreams are, just keep dreaming until they come true for you.