This one is for Richard Ginn who mentioned in Hickey League today that he just got back from seeing Eric Clapton in Nashville.  Rather than post some typical Clapton song, let’s go further back to when he just left Cream and joined up with Stevie Winwood who just left Traffic to form Blind Faith with Ginger Baker on drums and Ric Grech on bass.

Their album turned out to be a really rare one that I wish I kept a clean copy of.  I went thru 2 or them mainly listening to this song along with…

So when the oldest guy in the room has a day where he wins 19 out of 20 games, I guess all you can say is “Great Job, Larry!”  Yep, Larry Berg tied the only other 19 we’ve had since I started tracking stats back in 2014.  Billy Schmidt had the other one back on 3/14/24.  So I guess I still have something I can work on for the next 10 years😂!

His team is now way out in front with their 60-40 win over new captain, Dave Bowmer’s team.  On the other side of the room it was a close 51-49 match between the Greg Shearer and Barney Stuart teams.

Current detailed standings for this session can be found here…
The league details and history can be found here…

Ron Boyle’s Stingers team increased their lead and are now out in front of Jim Cupilary’s Nine Ballers by 7 games this week (9/10).  Doug’s Clean Break team dropped down to 3rd one game behind.  We are no longer looking for players to fill out the teams but if you’re interested in playing in one of the oldest leagues in TV for the next session, either drop by on a Wednesday or shoot me an email and I’ll get you on the draft.   Standings are posted here.
NOTE: We are playing the original schedule as it is listed.  We are not making up the week that was missed when Silver Lake was closed – no matter what rumors you have heard!  Bill is trying to get one more session in this year.

The Master Schedule and Roster for this session are here.

Stu LoGuercio sent in the Week #2 standings for his Intermediate Straight Pool league that he runs at the Canal Rec Center on Wednesdays at 6PM.   Matches played ahead are not included.  Looks like he, Ron Taylor and Glenn Allen are all tied in 1st place with 2 wins each.

Here are the latest Weekly Results from This Session.

Ron Boyle sent in the Final standings for this session of his Advanced 8 & 9-ball league that plays on Tuesdays at Silver Lake.

Looks like Jim Turner’s team held on to their lead with 301 wins and John Stackpole’s guys finished 6 games behind.   Mike Asselin’s team garnered 3rd and Zeb’s team brought up the rear.

Click here to go to their web page with a description of the league and the complete stats.

Rich Patterson posted the Week #3 results from the new session of their Snooker League that started on 8/26.  Dave Watson and Mike Rood are still out in front with 6 wins each now.  Mike Bass dropped out of that 1st place tie and is now even with Barney Stuart at 5 wins.  Barney still has the high run of 30 points.  Check out the standings link below for details of other scores.

The league plays on Tuesdays at Sterling Heights and the latest standings along with info about the league are posted on their page here.

You didn’t really think I ran out of Frank Sinatra videos, did you!

This one is Frank’s “Where Or When'” performance from the “Sinatra and Friends” special, featuring guests Loretta Lynn, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Dean Martin, Leslie Uggams, John Denver and Robert Merrill.

Jim Turner’s team is still in 1st place with 21 wins.  Doug Edwards’ team is in 2nd with 18 wins.  Roger Wright and I are tied for 3rd with 17 wins.  The teams and schedules are now posted on Bill’s website.  My page here has links to his site – the Current Schedule, Roster, Member List, Latest Standings, etc.

Info about the league is on Bill’s website.

The results from the Saturday, September 6th, Silver Lake 9-Ball Handicap Tournament are in.  It was a 32-player, double elimination tournament.  Congrats to:

• • 1st – Jeff McCarthy
  • 2nd – Mike Dunn
  • 3rd / 4th  – Jim & Michelle Gorman Gorman
  • 5th-8th – Phil Pulsonetti, Dave Bowman, Bob Pizarro, Mark Kynett

  NEXT EVENT NOVEMBER 22nd @ SILVER LAKE
  Brian Bedford, Grover Henderson and Greg Shearer run this event, Click here for details about the format, rules, etc.

Let’s get back to some swingin’ jazz — I do love big band music!

Can’t believe this song is almost 90 years old, going back to 1937.  The recording below is from a live show 60 years ago in 1965.

His orchestra used it to close each of their concerts for half a century. It was reportedly titled “Blue Ball” at first but a radio announcer feared that title was too risqué.  Crank it up!!

Results are in from the 3-6-9 Pool Is Cool Tournament held on September 3rd at the Hibiscus Rec Center.  Don Simpson runs this with the help of Jerry Tripp and Greg Shearer.  They used the tournament recording system on digitalpool.com which also records the results to your Fargo rating.  You can find all the results by clicking here.

The amazing Steve Luskey was undefeated until he ran into Mike Dunn. Mike lost reasonably early in the tournament and had to fight back through the loser side to get to Steve. They went Hill-Hill for the final match and…

Stan Martin sent in the standings from Week #2 of his Sur de 44 league.  

Current record MSP Score: Dave B 82
Current 2nd MSP Score Dennis D 78
Current 3rd MSP Score: Bill S 77

The new schedule along with a description of the league, its format and complete standings are posted on his page here.

This Sunday is the last week of this session and it’s a really ending.  Larry B. & Pat Moses are tied with Roger Pollock & Mary Jordan but Don Sell & Joan Kreuzer are only 1 point behind.  Theoretically, any of the top 5 or 6 teams could come out in front.  Of course the stars would not only have to align but possibly also fall out of the sky for us to slip in there!

The schedule, teams and standings are now posted on his league’s page here.

The results after 9 weeks from Fred Caprio’s Friday morning Advanced Straight pool league are now posted.  Looks like Joe Donly has only 2 more weeks to make it thru the season undefeated.  Mike Kellough is in 2nd with 8 wins, Fred is in 3rd with 7 wins, then Dan Sciacchetano and Phil Pulsonetti are tied for 4th with 6.

Complete results as well as the new schedule and info about the league are posted on his page here.  There is also a paper copy of a scoresheet in case you don’t get to play on a table with beads.

“Moonlight Serenade,” which was Glenn Miller’s signature opening instrumental number in 1938 and probably the most famous of all his recordings, only reached #3 on the Billboard charts in 1939. It was originally the B-side to “Sunrise Serenade” which also became a big hit, but not nearly as big as “Moonlight.”

This one is for Sally — one of her favorite songs to request when we’re in a piano bar.

Nicknamed The Velvet Fog, Mel Torme was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books. He composed the music for the classic holiday song “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells.

Ginger sent in the Week #8 standings from her Odell 8 and 9-ball league that plays on Tuesdays at Hibiscus.  Looks like Tommy Maffatone is still out in front with Robert Revelli and Glenn Allen now tied for 2nd.  Larry Hicks is in 4th.

The schedule and latest results are now posted on her league’s page here.

Ginger had her 8-Ball Billiards Open tournament this past Friday night (08/29) at Silver Lake.

Winners were:
1st  – Steve Luskey
2nd – Jim Gorman
3rd  – Craig Blough, Bob “Mr. Cheerful” Cornell (tie)
4th  – Phil Leduc (not pictured)

Check out Ginger’s Friday Nite Billiards Open here for additional info and pics of the winners.

I can’t believe that I haven’t uploaded a Dire Straits video since I do have most of their albums. I just happened upon this live one of my faves by Dire Straits – Romeo and Juliet.  This song contains one of my favorite lyrics – “And all I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme” — just brilliant.

Are you interested in playing in a qualifying 14.1 straight pool tournament (must be a VBC member) to get free entry into the St. Augustine International 14.1 Professional event in November? 

Jim Vaccaro is trying to set up 4 flights of 4 players. You will have 2 weeks to coordinate your matches with your opponents in your flight and should have all matches completed by October 3rd.  Please Contact Jim (352-638-3264) for details.  Info about the International tournament can be found by clicking here.