I had this great idea. When I saw that Sausage listed that we would be running at the “Bar formerly known as TA Flannery’s” I thought, wouldn’t be great to make the whole trash under a formerly known as? I mean, it sounded good on paper, but it’s execution was, well… I blame myself of course, I made the mistake of telling Rash, who thought it was a neat idea, so, Guinness-fueled (That stuff makes me good looking, witty AND charming) I bounced it off of everyone ahead of time, which was the literary equivalent of saying to that girl you just kissed, “Are you ready for the goop?” You don’t telegraph your punches.
Time marches on, like it or not. Having said that I was filled with nostalgia as I drove up Ludlow to the bar formerly known as TA Flannery’s (For all you folks out there, it’s called Rogues Gallery now, even though all the menus say TA Flannerys), and my customary parking space on the sidewalk behind the firehouse had been replaced by steel pilings. I was worried about quarters to fill the meters when I saw that the Parking Authority had taken them all and replaced them with a credit card reader/ ticket thingy. While I was doing this The hashers formerly known as Just Steve and Just Joslyn pulled up and had some poor kid staring at them ala Little Rascals. His mother was halfway down the block and came running back, screaming at the tyke, “Why do you keep talking to strangers? He could kill you or something.” For some reason Rash thought this was uproariously funny and insisted I put it in the trash.
HASHERS FORMERLY KNOWN AS: Just Shelly, Rash, Just Steve, Just Amber, Red Light School District, See Me Feel Me Touch Me, Brad, Just Gabe, Just Bill, Just Mike, Just Bill, Randy, Just John, Just Melissa, Vanessa, Just Pat, Lauren, Just Brian, Rick , Just Chaz, Just Dev, Just Tammy, Victor, Just JC, Just Trish, Just Gwynneth, Dave, Just Mike, and The Horse Wacker
As Just Shelly walked in with her short distance Just Bill in tow, the former Just Steve and Red Light School District jumped up and VOLUNTEERED to lay trail. A part of me thought Oh no, this is going to get ugly.
TRAIL:
And it did, First of all, the former Just Steve firmly believes that we should get a workout during the hash, and while I agree, he does carry things to extremes at times. Fortunately the little clump clump man was there to temper his urges and instead we ran down East on Ludlow, then South on 20th, then East again on Chestnut, past the usual people outside eating and wondering what the hell we were doing, then North on 19th, past where Penn Station used to be, as well as the old Great Wall of Philadelphia (Look it up), We all check hung at 19th & Cuthbert, then 20th & Cuthbert, then onto the railroad tracks headed to 30th St. As we stopped at one check, I noticed a piece of cardboard with a pair of feet sticking out, and realized we had found a guy who used to have a home. Now this dude must have been either dead or really sleeping, because if I was sleeping under cardboard near a flippin train track and a bunch of people ran practically on top of me, I would have woken the hell up.
From there, we found the only piece of classic shiggy in the city and walked down this hill, through all sorts of stinky bushes, then North up 22nd St. We started thinking good thoughts as we neared Cherry St Tavern, the sight of many a Beer Stop and hash in the past. The hares dick teased us with a check at that location. Evil, rotten bastards…. I digress, so we continued North on 22nd then east on Winter past the Boy Scout headquarters and past some formerly cool guys who recognized the hash for what it was almost like and started to sing a British Rugby song;
“I want to know, oh oh oh if you’ll be my girl.” Nope, no one bit.
Then we found a trail going ¾ the way around Logan circle that for some reason really pissed us off, as we ran North on 19th into Spring Garden, where Rich people used to live, and then ran behind where the Youth Studies Center once was. I miss hearing the sounds of childish exuberance that used to emanate from there such as; “Yo, hold the motherfucker down, bitch!” ah, childhood in Philly. Ahh, sweet youth, where have you gone? Up at 20th St, Just Jill CSIed which way the trail would go, “Oh look, a couple drops went that way,” and sure enough she was WRONG WRONG WRONG, and we ran West instead, into the parking lot of the former Fresh Fields and into the high rise parking lot above the 9th District and Central Detectives, coming out again on 20th and Hamilton. We ran up to Green and then hung a right and ran past the former Tavern on the Green, which turned itself into some foodie heaven. From there, we found that the trail went back South down 20th Street and heard the blessed call from the FRBs of “BEER NEAR!!!” and wandered into the bar formerly known as Connie’s (Gallagher’s).
After hanging out there for a few minutes, while someone berated the hares for going ¾ the way around Logan Square (someone was really peeved at this, and it wasn’t me believe it or not. What’s going to set them off next? Car not using turn signals?). The pack waited a few minutes after the hares took off and of course we ran STRAIGHT back to the bar formerly known as TA Flannerys. At one point, on Ludlow, we encountered trail again and strolled on in for…
CIRCLE:
HARES: The Former Just Steve and Red Light School District
VIRGINS: Brad: the former Arpanet made him come. Vanessa, Just Meghan made her come.
VISITOR: Just Amber (Tig old Bitties) from some hash in Florida
FIRST IN/LAST IN: Just Rick / Just Amber
CUMS LATELYS: Just John, Lauren, Randy, See Me Feel Me Touch Me (Who snuck out before circle)
AUTO HASHERS: Just John, Just Pat, Just Trish, The Horse Wacker, Just Tammy (Who conveniently arrived AFTER circle)
VIOLATIONS:
Brad: For wearing shit like that (that’s what my notes say!)
Red Light School District : For being from Manyunk
Just Meghan: For not briefing her virgin about A. New Shoes and B Just Chaz’s new shoe fetish.
Just Gabe: For forgetting his name and buying a shirt
Just JC: for having a situation in his shorts
Dave: For turning sweatpants into knickers (?)
Brad and Just Shelly: Matchy Matchy
Just Chaz: For meat gazing
Dave: For excessive whining
Just Mike and Just Brian: Just because
Red Light School District: For trying to eat out of somebody’s hand
Just John: For that Glenside home invasion
NAMING:
We had two hashers who had yet to be named, Just Dave and Just Randy. First we got Just Dave on his knees and gave him the third degree about farm animals, jock straps, his favorite position, being a Public Defender, etc. During this time, Rash kept whispering suggestions in my ear with a “OH OH” that reminded me of Horshack in “Welcome Back Kotter.” For some reason, the soon to be former Just Dave got quite vocal about hating the Dave Matthews Band, so the nominations for his name were:
Make A Hole, Make a Bigger Hole, Slow Dance Chubby, Likes Lambs, Brother of Goat Fucker (Guess who gave that suggestion), Doggy Style Not Receiving, Takes It Up The Ass Like A Lamb, Flowers In The Basement, Dave Matthews, Puts The Lotion Under Its Skin, Gets People Off, Gets Sick Fucks Off, Sex On A Keyboard, National Pornographic, Fucking Bedwetter, Fuck & Piss, Virginator, I Like Big Butts, Ass A Lone, Has An Ass For Lone, Ass For Lone, Sheep For Rent, Gay Matthews Lamb, Happy Strappy Hero Pups, and Lamb Jam. The mob voted and he shall forever (or until he can convince someone to rename him) be known as GAY MATTHEWS LAMB.
Just Randy then dropped to his knees and being a former sailor who once had someone walk in on him masturbating, received the following nominations; Ran Off To Bathroom, Shaft Divers, Poop Deck, Father Shaft, Sheep Save, Shipwreck, Shaft Inspector, Sheep Style, Father Penis, Wackus Interruptus, Sheep Sleeve, Shit Break, Down Below, Reverend Shaft, Shaft, Shut Yo Mouth, Works The Left, Shot In Hand, Rear Admiral, Semen On The Poopdeck, Deep C Diving, Chop My Bits, Salty Semen, and Upper Decker. The Mob spoke and he is now known as SEMEN ON THE POOP DECK. Welcome, both YFFs.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Cousin It’s Tailgate party is no longer, but will still go on without him
Sat, 25 Jun Bachelor and Bachelorette hash: fishtown (NOTE: As of press time it already happened. great time, lots of beer, and a wiffle ball contest to die for. Rear’s sister made a showing and competed with Flipper Over for who had the highest pitched scream)
Finally the circle closed and some hashers left and some stayed. For those that left you missed a wild time. I, for one can’t believe that….
OVERHEARD AT THE HASH:
“I exposed myself to children” – Rash
“He’s Taking us to see hookers & Blow” unk hasher
“I’ve got ones” Rash
“Holy shit, there’s a dimmer switch in the bathroom” – unidentified hasher
“Congratulations on your finding cancer.” Just Shelly to Just Dev
“Herpies Herpies herpies!” Found written on my notebook.
“Whatever happened to the special glasses of the Philly Full Moon?” Just Mike
“Do you have a burning desire to drink out of a penis?” Rash
“When one asshole drinks…” – unk hasher
“We’d run out of beer.” – Unk hasher
“I’ll text you my shit next time” – Just Tammy
“You can DO that? I need a newer cell phone” Just Dave
“You’re ALWAYS out of context” Red Light School District
“He’s Like Herpes, if you ignore him, he goes away.” Unk hasher