"The First Step Of A Cure Is..." A KISS mix tape by Eugene B. Sims

I met a few buddies after work last night down at Natty Greene’s. The bar staff reminded me of my long absence… Yes, it had been awhile since I last put down some Old Town Brown in their establishment. Sometimes gasoline is a little more important than beer.

Yes… I know what I just said.

The plan was to meet there oh… we’ll say… seven-ish. Since I left from work, I got there about 10 minutes of 7. I got a great spot right in front of the Green Bean coffee shop. I couldn’t believe my luck!

So I took a seat at the bar upstairs where Tracy asked… “Pint or a big glass of Brown?”

I was touched that she remembered and of course I went with the big glass. Four more ounces, baby!

The minutes kept ticking away and there was no sign whatsoever of Weather Dave, Doug McKnight, Will Bastard, or anyone else that usually shows up. The only thing being shown on the televisions were the College World Series (1 TV) and the U.S. Open golf tournament (ALL the other TV’s). I chose to feign interest in the golf tournament.

I like to play golf, but I haven’t done so in about a decade since Tim Beeman and I last hit the links. But I can’t sit and watch it on television. It’s much too quiet and about as exciting as watching Fred “Rerun” Berry’s sex tapes.

The crowd started filtering in around 7-ish… If your definition of “ish” means “thirty”. Now I could stop looking at guys with pleated pants who whack balls for a living and have some conversation.

Dave and I were greeted by Cindy Farmer from FOX 8. We got talking about her appearance on 2GNC and her trip this weekend to Asheville’s Grove Park Inn. I asked her if she was going to do some ghost hunting along with her spa experience.

Cindy had no idea what I was talking about. So I explained what little I knew about the ghost and for some reason, I couldn’t remember that much about it. I forgot the name and I forgot the room.

So I contacted the “Shell Answer Lady”, Kristina. Since she has lived in Asheville and recently spent some time at the Grove Park Inn, I knew that she would know.

Her text back was quick… The ghost is called the “pink lady” and she’s seen hanging around room 545 and around the Palm Court.

So I passed on that information to Cindy Farmer and who knows… She may just meet the Pink Lady this weekend.

Today’s musical choice was part of the musical exchange program with my ol’ buddy Chip Kinney. We both used to work at Capitol Records and we would exchange mix tapes on the last Friday of every month. Chip was never really that big into KISS, so I turned him onto a “get to know them” kind of mix. I intended to make a mix for every decade, but I only got this one collection with their 70’s tunes because they were a little bit crunchier.

Here’s a copy of the contents… (the last song title was cut off a little… “See You In Your Dreams”)