2004 - A Year in the Life of Schmooze

It is with great pleasure that I wish all of my ambassadors, courtiers, and loyal subjects a very Happy New Year.

2004 was an intresting year in the Kingdom of Schmooze, and 2005 is focused on more of the same. Although maybe this year we'll Schmooze without the haze of Chartreuse on our minds. Here are some of the highlights from the year passed:

Jan. 2004 - The King of Schmooze and his Ambassador of 'Stile', Matt Humphreys, made a pilgrimage to Las Vegas to meet some of the King's growing court. Some of the highlights were meeting actor Keifer Sutherland, billionaire Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks), and actor Tony Danza. Unfortunately, there is no pictoral proof that I did in fact meet Mr. Danza, but it did take place in the slots at the Venetian.

January was also the month when the King of Schmooze flexed his creative muscles on the set of the forthcoming movie 'God's Army 2: States of Grace'in the tough streets of Santa Monica, CA. Richard Dutcher, the director, producer, and writer of the film proved to be a great inspiration during my stay. Dutcher is a leading force in the production of films specifically using the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) as the basis for plots, etc. It was a unique and intersting set to visit and I must thank my good friend Dan Urness for allowing me the privilege to be part of the filming. Dan was the Line Producer on this flick so being the miserly skinflint that he is, he put me to work as a Production Assistant. It's not often that one goes on vacation in sunny southern California only to spend one's days lugging 50lb bags of sand across, well the sandy beaches of Venice Beach. Dan wasn't all that tough though, as I was able to stay at their luxurious accommodations which were located right on the beach at the foot of the famous Santa Monica Pier. This was a treat! Originally built in 1908/09, the pier has been a fixture of the shoreline in Santa Monica for almost 100 yrs. It is the westcoast finish line of the famed 'Route 66'.

By the way, you can rent one of Dutcher's earlier flicks, "Brigham City" at Rogers. I've seen the movie and it is rather good - a good suspense, crime drama.

Having never visited this part of Los Angeles before, I made a special point of soaking in as much 'SoCal' lifestyle that I could. Always on the lookout for the neighbourhood 'divebar', I was lucky enough to stumble onto Washington Blvd. in Venice Beach one afternoon while the crew was filming at the famed 'Muscle Beach' of Venice Beach.

The one bar that caught my attention on Washington was the Hinano Cafe. Being the experienced world traveller that I am, I was able to immediately draw the connection between this bar and 'Hinano Beer' which is the national beer of Tahiti. For those who like dives (like The King of Schmooze), Hinano Cafe fits the bill. It's dark, has patrons all dressed in old t-shirts and has a pool table. The most redeeming quality of the bar, besides the $2 ice-cold glasses of Bud Light on tap, are the Cheeseburgers. By the way, 'Hinano' is the name of the Pandanus flower. It's also the most famous tahitian first name in French Polynesia. But enough about Tahiti, that's a whole other blog.

If you've never visited this part of SoCal, I would recommend it. From where I was staying at the Santa Monica Pier, I was able to bicycle on the 'boardwalk' all the way to Venice Beach and the Hinano Cafe. There is great shopping in the downtown of SM, as they have turned Third Street into a Promenade, an open-air pedestrian mall alive with cafés, bookstores, kiosks, cinemas, fashion boutiques and novelty shops. At the end of 3rd St. is Santa Monica Place, an ocean-view shopping mall, designed by world-renowned architect Frank O. Gehry.

In terms of accommodations, there are plenty of hotels in the area but perhaps the most famous is the Fairmont Miramar Hotel. Originally the site of a private mansion owned by John P. Jones, a former U.S. Senator and the founder of Santa Monica, The Miramar Hotel has served as an exclusive playground for Hollywood celebrities, and a quiet retreat for guests, since 1921.

According to the Fairmont website, Sultry blonde Jean Harlow (discovered by Howard Hughes and made famous in "Hell's Angels") rented one of the Miramar's bungalows in the early 1930s, and years later another famous blonde, Marilyn Monroe, frequently retreated to the Miramar when she wanted to disappear from the media. Throughout the years, the bungalows have attracted their share of public figures, including Eleanor Roosevelt and aviator Charles Lindbergh. So needless to say, the King of Schmooze had to at least use the washroom in this famous hotel to experience its history and grandeur. Not settling for the washroom only, I did have a coffee in the oasis like patio area.

For those who might consider a trip down to Santa Monica, it is a short distance from LAX on Lincoln Blvd. through Marina Del Rey and Venice Beach. The next community up the road is Malibu, so SM is certainly not East LA.

February 2004 - February proved to be a rather forgettable month as I totally forget what I did. But, I'm pretty sure at some point I did visit my downtown palace at 142 Cumberland St. (otherwise known as Hemingways).

March 2004 - March was another month that has proven beyond my Total Recall, although I'm pretty sure that there were a few times that I took in Matt Humphreys' "humpday" show at Fionn MacCool's @ St. Clair & Yonge.

April 2004 - Another baseball season is upon us. 2004 marks the 5th season of the King of Schmooze as an usher with the Toronto Blue Jays ballclub. For something that started out as more of a whim, and an excuse to keep my mind occupied (post-fiancee fiasco), the Blue Jays gig has turned into an annual event (I recieved my invitation to return for a 6th season this past Christmas...yey!!).

What can the King say about the Blue Jays. The team looked so promising going into the 2004 season but they got off to a slow start. Things just got worse with Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Greg Myers and Carlos Delgado going down with injuries. For me there were some highlites though, mostly to do with the fans and season ticket holders.

Two of my favourite season ticket holders, Jeff Goodfield and his daughter Jayde always made it to at least one game/homestand. Jeff and his family have been season ticket holders since Day One with the Jays, and it is always fun when his family comes out to a ballgame. I've been able to watch Jayde grow-up at the Skydome and begin to become a great baseball fan. It's especially fun when Jeff's wife Natalie, 1-yr. old daughter Amber, and his mother come to the game on the same day. It always make the games go faster and more enjoyable to have good people and knowledgeable fans in the stands.

Over the years I've been able to meet some great people at Jays games: Kevin Hansen and his mother are season ticket holders in sec. 127, Matthew Sacco and his family are in the front row with Jeff, Joe and his wife are in row 8 seats 1 & 2, "Harvey W." and his buddy Marty don't have tickets in my section but they always come by to say hello. It's interesting to get overlap with season ticket holders as I've seen Kevin at Raptors games as well.

The big 'disappointment' this season was the thought to move people around instead of leaving experienced people in the same section. Having been fortunate enough to work most of the last few years in sec. 127 (3rd base on 100 level), it has become apparent to me that season ticket holders appreciate a friendly and familiar face when they arrive at the ballpark. Probably the best 'perk' of this is not having to be hassled to see their tickets. But this is a topic for another day.

May 2004 - The King of Schmooze really took off in the month of May. I officially registered both kingofschmooze.com and kingofschmooze.ca at the end of April so I was legitimately able to call myself the King of Schmooze. The phrase originated from Matt Humphreys' redesign of the www.urbanfolk.ca website where my exploits were outlined as his new 'business manager'. Not being one to miss an opportunity to own a bit of webestate, I quickly registered both domains.

May was the month when I discovered that the Boston Red Sox stay at the Park Hyatt hotel when they are in Toronto. I was able to get Jason Varitek's autograph for Ambassador Currie as I bumped into Mr. Varitek at the summer palace with some of his teammates.

My first legitimate use of my nobility following investiture was hosting the Anaheim Angels ballclub at my summer residence, 142 Cumberland. My Ambassador of Dimples, 'Nipples Wahl', and I had the good fortune to bump into former Jay Bud Black (now pitching coach with the Angels) and Joe Maddon (bench coach) in the downstairs bar. Both Bud and Joe proved to be great conversationalists about the game of baseball so it was a real treat to kibitz with them.

During the Angels series, May 24-27, Nipples and I had the pleasure of meeting some of the pitching staff as well. Scott Shields, Kevin Gregg and John Lackey all proved to be very personable. Darin (nipples) Wahl had actually played college ball against John so they were able to chat about that.

May was capped off by me attending the Jays/Angels game on May 27th and having Bud sign a baseball for me. It was the 1st official 'schmoozeball' as he signed it 'you can schmooze all the best'.

June 2004 - What can be said about June. The highlight here was definitely bumping into LA Dodger 2nd baseman Alex Cora @ the summer palace. Despite his attempts to pass himself off as a soccer enthusiast from Puerto Rico, Darin and I soon figured out who he was. He turned out to be a great guy and we talked some serious baseball with him. He was nice enough to remember to sign baseballs for both Darin and I, AND, was even nicer to remember that I'd asked for an Eric Gagne signed ball.

July 2004 - Go Sox! After months of talking about going, we (Tyler, Darin, Brad and myself) finally were able to head down to Boston for beer and baseball. It was the first time I'd ever visited Beantown, but luckily we had Mr. Currie along because Boston is 'his town'. I guess I would have come to this conclusion myself based on the amount of times he pissed all over the place ....... marking his territory no doubt.