Well, actually it was in Metairie, Louisiana at Buffalo Billiards.
This story is primarily going to be about Nick Varner. Many of you know Nick and he has a great sense of humor and can still play a mean game of pool.
I volunteered to pick up Nick at the airport. He came in a few hours ahead of Mark Cantrill and Buddy drove to New Orleans.
It was around noon time when I picked up Nick and he had a ton of luggage with him, mostly cues and the props that he uses in his exhibitions. Trust me, it was a lot of equipment and luggage. Anyway, I had held off on eating lunch because I thought Nick might be hungry since the airlines don't feed you like they used to. After Nick and I had loaded his materials into my Camry, I asked if he was hungry. He said yes, and I inquired what type of food was he interested in. I mentioned the fresh shrimp and oysters but he passed on that and said something about fried chicken. You could have knocked me over with a feather, as I LOVE fried chicken and always have.
We have a unique restaurant that specializes in FRIED CHICKEN in New Orleans called Willie Mayes Scotch House. It has limited seating and isn't located in the best part of town but the chicken is pretty darn good along with the simple sides that they serve. If you've been watching the HBO hit series TREME; that's where the restaurant is located. They have made several national magazines and I asked Nick if he had ever heard of them. He said no but that it sounded pretty good to him. I didn't tell Nick where the restaurant was located and it had been a while since I had been there and I called a buddy for directions and plugged in the information into the GPS and off we went, driving here and there listening to the GPS and not listening to the GPS missing a turn here and there but Nick was getting a tour of the inner city of New Orleans and I had plenty of gas in my 2011 Camry.
As we pulled up to the restaurant, a small wooden building in the heart of some of the poorest parts of New Orleans you have ever been. There was a crowd already waiting at the front door to get inside out of the heat. New Orleans is HOT all summer long, even when it rains. Anyway, I am kind of looking at Nick out of the corner of my eye as I find a parking space just across the street from the restaurant. Nick is eyeing the rather large crowd of local citizens standing in the sun waiting to get inside. There are neighbors who have concertina wire across the top of their fence and one neighbor had a pair of chained pit bulls barking menacingly, tugging at their chains, looking to take a bite out of some tourist's butt or maybe just barking to keep away the banditos that might be roaming the street. I had thought Nick might be thinking about his valuable cue collection, luggage and other things he had brought on this trip so I asked him if "because of the waiting crowd", would he prefer to go to another restaurant. Nick hesitated for just a second and asked if I thought my car and the things inside would be safe. I told him being across the street from the restaurant was a good thing and thought we would be OK. My friend Paul Laplace and I regularly go where some people fear to tread, just to eat at some of the local places which serve fried chicken and this location wasn't much different. To Nick's credit, once he was assured that the cues would be safe, he agreed to wait in line with the rest of the customers. After a relatively short time, we were ushered inside out of the heat, only to wait for another 20 minutes sitting on a bench with the rest of the people waiting to eat. Nick looked like he was kind of nervous, so I volunteered to go check the car every 15 minutes or so to make sure it was still there. Each time I came back to the seating area or our table, Nick never once mentioned for me to not bother with checking on the car.
I had thought that Nick would have failed the test but he was a real trooper and held up well. We had a fine meal at Willie Mae's Scotch House and when we left the car and windows were still intact. :smile:
We had a lot of fun with Nick and Buddy. We learned some great things at the clinic and both of them answered each of our questions (which we had written beforehand). I changed a couple of things with my own game and am in the process of changing some others. (Some things take more time to change than others).
To give credit where credit is due, "Buffalo", the owner of Buffalo Billiards offered to pay a portion of the clinic fee to anyone who decided to attend. I was first on the list.:grin: The exhibition was a blast. My son had a chance to play pool with Buddy along with several other patrons who had been picked to do so. Nick did some INCREDIBLE trick shots and Buddy entertained everyone with his skill and charm as only Buddy can do. It was one of the most fun nights I have had in pool in many years. Nick and Buddy posed for a photo with my son and I mentioned that I would love to have them autograph the photo as soon as I had it developed. I sent it that night via the Internet thinking a local Kinko's was doing the printing, hoping that it would be ready the next morning so that they could sign it before they left town. Of course the photo didn't get printed until a day after they had left but Nick called me the next morning asking me if I had the photo for them to sign. That was very thoughtful of those guys to think about signing the photo but we'll just have to catch them on another trip.
If Mark Cantrill's traveling show of PRO PLAYERS happens to pass your way, you should make sure to visit and take advantage of this rare opportunity.
Thanks again Mark for a great time. Hope you pass our way again.
This story is primarily going to be about Nick Varner. Many of you know Nick and he has a great sense of humor and can still play a mean game of pool.
I volunteered to pick up Nick at the airport. He came in a few hours ahead of Mark Cantrill and Buddy drove to New Orleans.
It was around noon time when I picked up Nick and he had a ton of luggage with him, mostly cues and the props that he uses in his exhibitions. Trust me, it was a lot of equipment and luggage. Anyway, I had held off on eating lunch because I thought Nick might be hungry since the airlines don't feed you like they used to. After Nick and I had loaded his materials into my Camry, I asked if he was hungry. He said yes, and I inquired what type of food was he interested in. I mentioned the fresh shrimp and oysters but he passed on that and said something about fried chicken. You could have knocked me over with a feather, as I LOVE fried chicken and always have.
We have a unique restaurant that specializes in FRIED CHICKEN in New Orleans called Willie Mayes Scotch House. It has limited seating and isn't located in the best part of town but the chicken is pretty darn good along with the simple sides that they serve. If you've been watching the HBO hit series TREME; that's where the restaurant is located. They have made several national magazines and I asked Nick if he had ever heard of them. He said no but that it sounded pretty good to him. I didn't tell Nick where the restaurant was located and it had been a while since I had been there and I called a buddy for directions and plugged in the information into the GPS and off we went, driving here and there listening to the GPS and not listening to the GPS missing a turn here and there but Nick was getting a tour of the inner city of New Orleans and I had plenty of gas in my 2011 Camry.
As we pulled up to the restaurant, a small wooden building in the heart of some of the poorest parts of New Orleans you have ever been. There was a crowd already waiting at the front door to get inside out of the heat. New Orleans is HOT all summer long, even when it rains. Anyway, I am kind of looking at Nick out of the corner of my eye as I find a parking space just across the street from the restaurant. Nick is eyeing the rather large crowd of local citizens standing in the sun waiting to get inside. There are neighbors who have concertina wire across the top of their fence and one neighbor had a pair of chained pit bulls barking menacingly, tugging at their chains, looking to take a bite out of some tourist's butt or maybe just barking to keep away the banditos that might be roaming the street. I had thought Nick might be thinking about his valuable cue collection, luggage and other things he had brought on this trip so I asked him if "because of the waiting crowd", would he prefer to go to another restaurant. Nick hesitated for just a second and asked if I thought my car and the things inside would be safe. I told him being across the street from the restaurant was a good thing and thought we would be OK. My friend Paul Laplace and I regularly go where some people fear to tread, just to eat at some of the local places which serve fried chicken and this location wasn't much different. To Nick's credit, once he was assured that the cues would be safe, he agreed to wait in line with the rest of the customers. After a relatively short time, we were ushered inside out of the heat, only to wait for another 20 minutes sitting on a bench with the rest of the people waiting to eat. Nick looked like he was kind of nervous, so I volunteered to go check the car every 15 minutes or so to make sure it was still there. Each time I came back to the seating area or our table, Nick never once mentioned for me to not bother with checking on the car.
I had thought that Nick would have failed the test but he was a real trooper and held up well. We had a fine meal at Willie Mae's Scotch House and when we left the car and windows were still intact. :smile:We had a lot of fun with Nick and Buddy. We learned some great things at the clinic and both of them answered each of our questions (which we had written beforehand). I changed a couple of things with my own game and am in the process of changing some others. (Some things take more time to change than others).
To give credit where credit is due, "Buffalo", the owner of Buffalo Billiards offered to pay a portion of the clinic fee to anyone who decided to attend. I was first on the list.:grin: The exhibition was a blast. My son had a chance to play pool with Buddy along with several other patrons who had been picked to do so. Nick did some INCREDIBLE trick shots and Buddy entertained everyone with his skill and charm as only Buddy can do. It was one of the most fun nights I have had in pool in many years. Nick and Buddy posed for a photo with my son and I mentioned that I would love to have them autograph the photo as soon as I had it developed. I sent it that night via the Internet thinking a local Kinko's was doing the printing, hoping that it would be ready the next morning so that they could sign it before they left town. Of course the photo didn't get printed until a day after they had left but Nick called me the next morning asking me if I had the photo for them to sign. That was very thoughtful of those guys to think about signing the photo but we'll just have to catch them on another trip.
If Mark Cantrill's traveling show of PRO PLAYERS happens to pass your way, you should make sure to visit and take advantage of this rare opportunity.
Thanks again Mark for a great time. Hope you pass our way again.
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