All Star Thursday Chronicles - September 20, 2007

All Star Thursday Chronicles - September 20, 2007

Hail & Well Met My Brethren and Sistren in Plastic, The weather was magnificent when I set up camp at the manhole joining early bird Bradford T. Blue sky, amazing cumulus, stratus, and cirrus cloud formations to go with a strong mid-September sun seemed to anticipate some shred-filled times ahead. After last week’s big doings, it was the sight of one Jaime-TJH returned from upstate NY followed in quick succession by Ralph Heaver, Dan W. Heaver, plus Brooklyn’s own Aldo Heaver that told me my day would be starting with some o’ dat extra length. It was smokin’ to have all of that arm-strength on the field. That and the early shift arrival of Jay "The Mojito Man", an innovative NYC entrepreneur who has a portable blender and a strong customer base added to the good times ahead.

Folks started arriving in bunches led by the best type of Guest Jammers as new Dad Pat Rabdau came out with Mama Hana and brand new baby Maxwell AND dragging Old School homie Chris Ryan for his first official first A*T appearance. Of course Ted Shred & the Lovely Chrissy were on hand along with Emperor Rob (who loses the nickname the moment he’s off the DL) & Susan, The Oracle, Roger, Kevin, with JB, and Mary-Mary rounding out the Peanut
Gallery with some light tossing of their own. Since it was the last official A*T of the summer season and the light is getting scarcer by the day, there was no time to lose. I got up with Roger and Kevin who has worked hard on his overhand, increasing his accuracy and getting decent Zzzzz. Roger was his usual reliable self hitting several of his spinning triple-fake seals and one high angle behind the head catch where he caught the trailing edge at the last possible moment that looked really cool. After getting the first Jam sweat in, I broke for a while to have a taste of Meadow Ambrosia, catch up with the new parents and my buddy Jillski who stopped by. .
The Jam of the Day started inconspicuously as everyone was cooing over the baby n’ stuff, but TedShred and The Oracle got up together to loosen up and immediately locked in. It
began with some glorified speedflow—quick catches, 1 or 2 moves then seals. They went dropless from the jump and Joey’s throws were as Hein as any of his assortment of appropriate seals including the Gitis off of TO’s front roll pass. Ted of course took the bait and ripped a whirling Dhervish double spinning flamingo after another crazy roll combination. This all happened as they were just warming up. Joey later said this was the hottest they ever got together none who were there would bother disputing that.

This action inspired Pat and Chris to slick up a 90’s vintage Yellow (not Yella) Skystyler and peel like it was, say 1999 maybe. The Roginator waited patiently and then busted The Oracle and TO’s monster Jam bringing the right mix of passing and airtight seals to raise the level of play yet higher. I took my turn with the fresh blood, have a grand time with Pat and Chris who both looked hungry for the plastic. When those two had their fill, I went and created some Mob-op action with the The Hard Corps and the festivities continued unabated until the disc finally gave out and Joey said his work was done.

Naturally, since there was a trace of daylight, TO grabbed another disc, drawing me and Kevin out into the fray for last licks. Well, actually, the final At Bat went to Fearless Lou, who made his entrance in almost complete darkness but got a few in there. All in all, it was a great way
to finish a wonderous summer of plastic play.

Oddly, the Yella Joisey was never passed forward so we’ll have to wait ‘til next time to see who shall be the Designee. Until Next Time…

TP, TJH

Skippy-logue
Saturday saw shredding at the highest possible level. Barak was in the house early and often
getting The Oracle for his first Jam and they went toe to toe in total flow. Barak is a gifted athlete to start with and to see these guys trade licks was insane. Barak hit a Gitis pull to a Gitis Seal and was basically a Double Spinning Gitis machine. So Joey kept dialing it up higher and higher, dropping in a Double Spinning Scarecrow brush set for one of them bad boys as if on cue. At this same time Skippy and Fresh were conversing in vertical variations, fluent in the language of Tai Chi with a Tool playing as virtuosos. Skippy described one sequence as a "Brain Motel, to a Skid Frenzy, then finishing with a Vacation". Now I believe the Brain Motel is a swooping Osis pull-out but Sir Skipford would have to verify this. I jammed a lot with everyone above and can’t really recall the combinations. It was all a blur of Heinous behavior and nothing short of amazing.

Other Notables:
Fearless Lou playing completely out of his mind setting up Joey for an instant Gitis. Roger, Bradford T. and Kevin shredding. Jay "The Mojito Man" passing out Write-in ballots for the Village Voice’s Best of NYC issue. Joey hitting several Mons Variations (UD rolls to the Delay on variety of sets). Skippy Sez "Once at a tournament, a named(less) competitor came up to him and said ‘you beat us you bastard’ and I replied ‘well Excuse Me for Shredding’" I just love that story. That and the one about the Japanese translation of Skippy meaning "degenerate" and leading to a classic, er, miscommunication. Life is good!