The Thirties - Night of the Decade

Of course you know this excludes the birth of the boyos, who by the way were born in late afternoon and morning, no this is about a banner night and since i'm tired and lazy and waiting for the painkillers to really kick in this might be short and sweet, see they been killing me at the job lately, actually making me work and shit and lugging shit and loading trucks can wear on a man when really what i'm used to is mid-afternoon naps and reading books at my desk but so be it, i said i'd write about this decade a bit and though some of it will end up as Wilderness Years i must press on.

New Year's Eve- 2005, 2006 was just hours away when a gaggle of us poured into my favorite place, Ray's Marlin Bar and Grill, it's no longer there, well it is just with a new owner and a new name and more hipsters and less drag queens. Ray the owner was a little guy from Miami who knew how to make money and ran a top notch joint, he liked to dj and sit around on slow nights and bullshit about New Order, Joy Division, The Smiths and all kinds of old bands, he was a good ten years older than me but we enjoyed each others company and he once told me that i would be at home at any bar in the world, said i could walk in not knowing a soul and leave with the whole place saying "So long Kono", but this night was glorious, just the right amount of people downstairs, good tunes, better company and copious amounts of drugs, see my brother was in town from across the pond, he's not my blood brother and you may recognize him as the Limey or possibly this Gulfboot character, this was roughly ten years since we had met and it was/is the only long distance relationship i've ever been successful at, probably cuz he's not worried about me fucking around on him, that was a joke of course, but the Limey had brought a Manc by way of Spain who i hit it off with, spent much time with and enjoyed talking with to no end, of course he also brought Woody but we'll forgive him for that, and let's not forget the lovely Missus, but on this night i had my two or three best friends in the world, the girl was at home with child and was more than gracious in letting the impending Dad do his thing, the only stipulation was a call at midnight which was placed with tears in my eyes as i thought about how fucking happy i was, a son on the way, my brother handing me a drink, a cigarette dangling, when i hung up the phone i stood and stared at the barren Butler St. while listening to fireworks and hoots and hollers and was overwhelmed by how far i had come, how this fucking idiot could be the happiest and luckiest man alive, when i opened the door the Limey looked at me and pulled me aside and asked if everything was alright, i smiled and told him it couldn't be better and then Ray, who had begun dj'ing played Fairytale of New York by the Pogues and the Limey and his missus took turns singing while people just smiled and drank and joined in on the chorus, strangers kissed, friends hugged, and Ray being ever the expert and knowing he had a bunch of Englishman and Anglophiles in the house went right into Don't Look Back in Anger by Oasis and the whole bar was singing so loud that the private party from the second floor actually stopped and came down to see what the commotion was, mind you there was only 20-25 people in the main bar but we were screaming our lungs out cuz though no one wanted to say it but this was about as perfect as life fucking gets, your best friends and perfect strangers and a 6'6 inch drag queen and her slave in hot pants with a choker and being led on a leash, it was like the island of misfit toys and we knew we all had a place and we sang and danced and laughed and cried and as we walked towards the Ginger Yinzer's house in the cold a.m. of 2006 we knew that we had just had one of the best nights of our lives...