DNC Debate - Cleveland - Trip Report

“I arrived at the Jake (ie, Jacobs Field - now known as some-corp.-sponsor-name-here) at around 5:00. Cleveland's mayor threw a pre-debate function in the Terrace Club at the Jake (a tiered restaurant that over-looks the field). It was pretty sweet because it was snowing pretty heavily under the lights of the stadium/ food and drinks were free/ and there were a bunch of politicians with name tags running around trying to find out if you were important of not.

I hung out with a few co-workers, ran into my ex/gf (who now is a policy wonk for the current Lt. gov.) - she was looking fine, and I had a flashback to when I took her bping at Zaleski (a favorite haunt of Ohio bp'rs) and introduced her to the parks that she is now working to protect from the onslaught of republican privatization. I was overdressed with my hiking boots jeans and sportcoat, so most politicians prolly thought I was a Sierra guy, lol.

I went to the bar to grab some vino, and was standing next to a guy that only a non-politician would know, drinking beer. The current middleweight champion of the world and the pride of Youngstown, Ohio (the city that brought you Jim Traficant), Kelly "the Ghost" Pavlick was standing next to me, feeling out of sorts, enjoying a brew. Being a true boxing fan, I knew who he was. I'd watched most of his fights, including his last victory a few weeks ago over Jermaine Taylor.

This is where the story turns from a political TR to a down-to-earth-working-class-athlete story.

Kelly and I hit it off like we'd known each other for years. The amazing thing (and good for the Ghost, is that most people didn't even recognize the dude). For the next hour and a half, we BS'd about Don King, Kosovo, skirts & Barak.

I headed to the debate & had a great time. Williams may have tanked in his questioning, but he delivered a pretty good 10 minute stand-up act prior to the debate. Cleveland's own firefighting piper&drum band performed as well, and the Ghost continued to fly under the radar.

I haven't seen the debate on TV, and Williams heavliy stressed silence and no reaction from the audience during the debate, so people tried to repress thier initial reactions to what was being said. However, that wasn't the case at all times. There were times when the viewrs collectively sighed, groaned, put thier head in thier hands, durning the debate. Each and every time, it was after Hillary made a statement. I may agree with her on many issues, but she was annoying as hell.

After the 2nd commercial, I went outside in the blizzard to grab a smoke. I was approached by 2 SS agents, and told that I would not be able to return to the debate because the removed all the metal detectors.

I hiked the 1.5 miles down to The Clevelander, a bar on prospect owned by a good friend. The bar sits right behind the Jake (baseball field), and is a huge hit in the summer. It was packed that night because the pub sponsored an Obama campaign event. They even had a band that was following Obama campaign rallies at the bar that came all the way from LA. I watched the tail end of the debate with my buddy, gave him a program, and had a nice healthy discussion with him and 3 lovely ladies. (BTW - hot chicks digg Barak).

Next thing I know, it's midnight, the place is almost cleared out, and I'm still sitting there drinking water and getting made fun of (hey, I was driving). Three guys at the end of the bar (the band) kept trying to buy me shots for a program (I horked 6) including one that Kelly signed for me.

To make a long story short, Griif, squirrel and the piason (Italian kid) seemed to be pretty cool. They asked where a good place to stay in C-Town was (they just flew in from LA for the event and a Obama College Tour), and, without knowing anything about them, I said - my place! I'll put ya up. They took me up on it. I gave em' my addy, and they mapquested thier way to BB's B&B.

The streets of Cleveland were nasty. It had snowed quite a bit that day, and when I arrived home, i figured that they would never make it.

10 minutes later - a knock at the door, and the band members of Wildphyr were at my door, happy to have a place to stay.

Griff was the lead singer, and claimed the spare room. Squirrel was the bassist, son of a christian conservative republican senator, and the Italian kid, a fill-in drummer along for the ride.

We drank some shots, I heard horror stories of growing up in a christian evangelical conservative household and stroies of military school and running away to tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. They gave me a CD and I listened to thier stuff - good stuff.

I have to admit, I was a little leary heading off to bed, and having complete strangers in my home. But they were the coolest people. These dudes even made thier beds in the morn. Thanked me a million times for the hospitality, and left me with the NBA chest hug and a request to look them up on myspace.

It was one hell of a day, one heck of a debate, but the most fun was BSing with some regular dudes who have high profile careers, and who cared about the same stuff I, and most Americans do.

I prolly got in 3 miles of urban snow trekking, lol.

Links:

Kelly "the Ghost" Pavlik

check out "Naked Free"

Squirrel's Tree Rat Records

Best thing about that night, I didn't realize thier pedigree. The guys were amazingly humble, accomplished musicians. It also goes to show that you don't need a wilderness trip or peak to bag to find adventure. Adventure resides in the unknown, regardless of circumstance.
last edited: 2/28/08 5:52:05 PM”

“And just think, I knew you when you were still drinking wine from a bag.”

“Life in da fast lane ----   < G >”

“What? no discussion of the wine? We know it was a Merlot. BB's tastes will never be sophisticated enough for a Pinot Noir.”

“:-)
last edited: 2/29/08 5:03:48 AM”