Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Dino]

Awesome find, Acid!

Any other exciting stuff? "Effect of the Draw" by Graham Wheldon, perhaps?

Available for 7p plus postage.

[Chompy]

Awesome find, Acid!

Any other exciting stuff? "Effect of the Draw" by Graham Wheldon, perhaps?

Available for 7p plus postage.

Crikey! Never seen that before. 7p about value but certainly wouldn't go to 16p. Sure isn't out of date.

[Supernova]

Tikay,

Did you see the Michael Portello train trip program?  I guess was talked about previously in the thread, I've probably missed it.

Yes. I adore Portillo. Hated him as an active Politician, of course, but he is A+ TV now, he has a great TV voice, & a certain air of gravitas.

None of the vainglorious stuff (see, got the word in!), with great humility, & very self deprecating now.

One of the people I most enjoy listening to & watching.

Please God he never dumbs down & does Celebrity Dancing or whatever he is a national treasure.

I hope not too but with the shirts & jackets he wore, well you have to wonder.  Great series though.

[tikay]

Tikay,

Did you see the Michael Portello train trip program?  I guess was talked about previously in the thread, I've probably missed it.

Yes. I adore Portillo. Hated him as an active Politician, of course, but he is A+ TV now, he has a great TV voice, & a certain air of gravitas.

None of the vainglorious stuff (see, got the word in!), with great humility, & very self deprecating now.

One of the people I most enjoy listening to & watching.

Please God he never dumbs down & does Celebrity Dancing or whatever he is a national treasure.

I hope not too but with the shirts & jackets he wore, well you have to wonder.  Great series though.

Sharon - great to see you here, you are a Lady of fine taste.

Hope all is well in Supernova land.

The Portillo reminder enables me to post something which, on the geek-scale, must be at least 8.9 - the book Mr Portillo is seen holding is "Bradshaw's Tourist Handbook".

Bradshaw was a really special man, he died over 150 years ago, but he changed peoples lives for the better via the introduction of - wait for it  - printed railway timetables, see....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bradshaw

Tighty will show interest, Mere will probably be able to recite the contents of Bradshaw's missives from memory, & everyone else will politely move on.

[tikay]

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

I mentioned some recent reading yesterday, but was scant on detail. Memory issues.

The cricket book, light, but extremely funny, was "And God Created Cricket".

The author, who I think I described rather disparagingly as "Simon someone" was none other than the ubiquitous Simon Hughes. He really is a most accomplished writer, & many will remember him for his Cricket reports from the back of an OB trailer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Hughes_(commentator)

He has a brother by the name of "Bettany", a name I have never heard before, but Bettany took a far less interesting course in life - he was a historian.

Simon's book is a great read, it will barely take a day, but it would be a day well invested.

[tikay]

The book on Pool hustlers - Minnesota Fats, Wimpy Lassiter, & the main subject, Jersey Red (as well as the likes of Willie Mosconi, after whom the "Mosconi Cup" was named), was called "Hustler Days" & was by R A Dyer.

Characters, gamblers, wrong 'uns, illegal betting, the book is so Karabiner-esque that I fear he may have loaned it to me. If so, sorry, Ralph!

The review here sums it up better than I ever could.....

Minnesota Fats was a brilliant pool player, but he was even better at lying about his past. Wimpy Lassiter, the gentlemen hustler, started playing at age seven and for the rest of his life lived for the rush of victory and high stakes. Violent and determined, Jersey Red made and lost a fortune at the table.


With a passion for the game evident on every page, R. A. Dyer takes us through smoky bars and late nights where a win was just as dangerous as a loss. He captures the game's popularity in the Thirties, its dark days in the Fifties, and its renaissance and apex in the Sixties, fueled by the smashing success of Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason going face-to-face in The Hustler. It was an era that culminated in the legendary, nationally televised tournaments in Little Egypt, Illinois, where Jersey Red and Wimpy Lassiter went at it for hours. And it was an era that ended in perhaps the most dramatic scene in all of pool. Just as Jersey Red beat Wimpy Lassiter in 1969, after a decade of bitter rivalry, the police shut down the tournament. Cameras in tow, they arrested eighty hustlers—including the new champion.


Dyer offers fascinating insight into the game of pool, as it parallels the economy of our country and its trends. Readers will embrace Fats, Wimpy, and Red—the fool, the poor-boy-done-good, and the hustler with a heart of gold—as their stars rise and fall. Complete with a glossary of pool terms, a list of tournaments, and profiles of other top players, this is the definitive book on a time when pool was king and those three player, its princes. From Fat's first showdown—in Brooklyn, with a Texas-style gunslinger in cowboy boots and revolvers—to world championship clashes, Hustler Days is a rollicking portrait of America's most roguish sport

Wonderful, really wonderful, writing in this one.

[tikay]

The only photo of Minnesota Fats I can find.....

[tikay]

Jack Breit, later to be known as "Jersey Red".

[RED-DOG]

Click to see full-size image.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Help-DVD-Emma-Stone/dp/B006FVHRYK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330419392&sr=8-1

[tikay]

Thanks for the reminder, Tom, but you never told me it was in foreign?

[Karabiner]

That book about the pool-hustlers is indeed one of mine Tony.

I actually bought it and a few other pool books when Tank had a clearance sale a few years ago.

The fairly little known Wimpy Lassiter was the best for many years. He beat all of those other guys with much higher profiles and loftier reputations in almost every significant tourney for a decade or more.

[tikay]

I've been inundated with requests for more info on the other book I mentioned yesterday.

No words are necessary from me, mere words would be inadequate to describe this masterpiece.

A review is here.....

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/books/routemaster.htm

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

That book about the pool-hustlers is indeed one of mine Tony.

I actually bought it and a few other pool books when Tank had a clearance sale a few years ago.

The fairly little known Wimpy Lassiter was the best for many years. He beat all of those other guys with much higher profiles and loftier reputations in almost every significant tourney for a decade or more.

Well I'm very glad I mentioned it, & as I noted in my Post, it was SO you that I had a horrible feeling it had to be yours. What amazing times those "road hustlers" enjoyed! Lots of 50's Vegas mentions, too, as they held a Tourney there every year.

If you are @ DTD this weekend, I will return it to you, & with much gratitude, I enjoyed it immensely.

You do have superb taste in books, if not jackets - the book about Paul Raymond & the RevueBar was very good, too. (Was it entitled "Members Only"?).

Did you also loan me that book about the Routemaster Bus?

[TheChipPrince]

In that shot of ''Jersey Red'', looks like he's playing a 'masse' shot, while looking up exactly how it got its name I found this diagram for 1893, cool eh.