Life in the Chocolate City

Folks, I've been in the ticket hustlin' business for about 14 years now and what happened yesterday was a first. Now as most of y'all well know, I scalp buy and sell tickets for events in the DC area. When I get a hot lead on a good show or game, I'll generally post it here or elsewhere on my website as a way to sell advertise the fact that I've got good seats. With the Erykah Badu & The Roots show being in DC this week, I've enlisted my usual outlets in trying to unload the tickets... StubHub, craigslist, message boards, blogs and word of mouth. I got a response from a craiglist ad I had posted for the tickets sometime on Monday evening. The guy was inquiring as to whether I still had seats remaining. At that very moment, I had one set of box seats left. He and I corresponded back and forth until sometime Tuesday morning, where we finally agreed on a price and a location to meet.

So early afternoon yesterday, I roll downtown DC to K St. I wasn't too far from where I work and the walk was good for me anyway. Dude left his job and we met up at a halfway point. He was a cool Black dude, dressed professionally and we talked for a few moments right there on the corner of 15th & I St. He showed me the cash and counted it out. I took the concert tickets from the envelope and allowed him to look at them to make sure he was getting what he was paying for. I accepted the money, he accepted the tickets and we both walked away happy.... so I thought. I wasn't even 3 blocks away and my cell phone started ringing. I looked at the number and quickly realized that it was the guy I had just made the exchange with. I looked at the number hard before answering. I was trying to figure out what it could be that dude wanted. I finally answered and he was like "Hey ummmmm... I thought this was for the show on Thursday night". I responded with "Naw maaan, the ad clearly said Wednesday. I even let you look at the tickets to verify everything before we made the deal". Dude comes back with "Well, I can't use them... where are you now?". Where was I??? Was this clown serious!!!??? He surely didn't think I was going to turn back around, give him his money back and he give me the tickets back... did he? I honestly had to be back in my office for a 2pm meeting, so I gave him the brush off. I just told him that I couldn't turn back at the point due to obligations in the office (which was true) and that I'd see what I could do to help him out. Know you know good and well I was like "Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah right, should've read the ad correctly".

Now folks, I'm a really nice guy. I don't make deals that screw people over. I've never done that in all my years working tickets on the streets or using the net to facilitate purchases. I've probably made over thousands of ticket transactions in that time and never once had I actually sold to someone who realized later that they had the wrong tickets. That convo usually takes place when they inquire as to what seats and the date of the show I have. I was kind of stuck. I honestly could believe that he made an honest mistake. When we stood there on the corner talking, he was pretty excited about getting the seats for his lady. But now that he had the wrong date, what was he going to do? Suppose I was headed to the airport or something and really couldn't do anything about it. I mean, dude had no legal ground to stand on. Yeah, call me ghetto, but I'm always thinking about folks trying to sue for dumb reasons. Therefore, I'm all about business and don't deal with people I see as shady.

So here I was in a situation trying to figure out what to do. Meet up with him again and undo what had been done or take the stand of business is business, no refunds regardless. In an effort to see what I could do, I made a few calls and sent a few emails. Within about 2 hours I found a person willing to give up their Thursday box seats in exchange for the box seats for Wednesday that I had given him. It was a win-win-win for all three parties involved. I kept the money, my friend would get seats for Wednesday and dude would get tickets for Thursday. One problem, how was I gonna get all of us together? That was quickly solved by me being able to get the PDF file of the tickets that my friend had purchased. I never print tickets off my computer when buying off Ticketmaster. Folks who buy tickets from ads are skeptical of those. They want to see hard tickets printed from the box office. Those electronic seats can be printed off by the hundreds and when the date of the show arrives, the first person with those electronic seats gets in. By that point, the ticket seller is long gone in most cases. Anyway, I had her tickets printed on my office printer and headed to meet dude.

I got off work kinda late and met up with him over at one of the local hotel bars that me and the ticket crew chill at. He showed up about 20 minutes later. The minute he saw the paper tickets, he was like "Ummmm... are these good?". I was like "Brother... I came back to help you out. Do you think I would even waste your time with giving you seats that weren't good? I could've just forgotten that you called me back and chalked it up to you not paying attention to the ad". He agreed, we shook hands and chilled for a while there. After talking with him for a while, I realized that he was a pretty high profile political guy. I had never heard of him, but he was Canadian. I didn't catch the French accent when we first met, but it was very apparent for the time we chatted at the bar. Come to discover that he and his fellow colleagues attend Wizards, Redskins, and concert events all the time. I had made a good connection. Being able to lookout for dude after his error was going to pay off for me in future business. I didn't expect that to occur, but it did. I can't say honestly whether I would've given him the money back had my friend not come through with her tickets to swap. But that's an afterthought now. It's a done deal and everyone is happy.

I sure plan on enjoying Erykah and The Roots show with the wife tonight. Hope all the folks who've bought from me do as well.

Peace-N-Love...

G. Mo

I'm tellin' you, for the past 6 months or so I've been going crazy. I've looked high and low for this stuff cuz it was one of my favorite drinks. My wife will tell you that's it gotten on her last nerve how I run to the Juice section of whatever store we're in. It didn't matter if it was Superfresh, Giant, Safeway, Shoppers Food Warehouse, Target, Walmart, Weis, whatever. I used to make random stops at stores all over the DC area in search for Ocean Spray's Cranberry Mango juice. After searching endlessly for this product, I finally gave in and emailed Ocean Spray directly. The response received back was not what I had desired. I had sort of given up hope a while back that they still carried it and their answer confirmed my suspicions.


May 9, 2008

Hello G. Mo,

Thanks for contacting us over here at Ocean Spray, where we pride ourselves on more than 75 years of taking great care in harvesting and manufacturing our products. It’s nice to hear from people who are as into cranberries as much as we are.

We’re glad to hear you chose us, but we’re very sorry that you were disappointed you couldn’t find us at your local store. We immediately shared your feedback with our marketing department.

Unfortunately we are no longer producing Cran·Mango® Cranberry Mango Juice Drink. Although we considered it to be a very fine product, consumer demand was not what we had anticipated. Consequently, a marketing decision was made to stop production. We are sorry that our answer could not be more favorable.

Thanks again for choosing Ocean Spray. Be sure to visit us sometime at OceanSpray.com, where you can get all the latest information on our products, find delicious recipes, and join the Cranberry Club for special news and offers. And don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any more questions or comments. Or if you just want to say hello, we’d like that too.

Tastes Good. Good For You.
Signature of Mr. Robert Stuve
And Your Friends at Ocean Spray


This sucks. I like a few of the other Cran drinks, but this one was my favorite. All I got for them is one more question. If it's discontinued, why do you jokers still have it on your website then??? Huh????
Cran•Mango® Cranberry Mango Juice Drink

Don't you hate it when a manufacturer discontinues something you really liked? I can't tell you how many things I used to eat/drink that are no longer with us. RIP Ocean Spray Cranberry Mango

Peace-N-Love...

G. Mo

Jesse and Angie 101

I'm sitting here flicking through channels and come up on ABC's All my Children. Now I used to watch the hell out of AMC back in the 80's. I mean, I used to record episodes on my VHS when in HS and watch them either when I got home or in a marathon on the weekend. So anyway as I'm chillin' here, I took a quick glance at the screen and I see Jesse Hubbard (Darnell Williams) and Angie Baxter (Debbi Morgan). I'm saying to myself... hold up, I saw Jesse get shot and killed in '88.



Keep in mind when I was younger I didn't see too many Black folks on the Soaps. So back then, I always enjoyed seeing characters of color on the screen. I think I followed the saga of Jesse and Angie for at least 7 years. Everything from them getting married on a few occasions to Jesse's confrontations with his half brother to his dealings with Yvonne Caldwell to Angie's father Les and the black market baby scame where he ends up falling to his death down some stairs after he and Jesse struggle to Angie becoming a nurse and Jesse a cop, I watched it all. Thanks Ma. Those days of my mom working at Howard U, sitting in her office in the CB Powell building, listening to the TV shows on radio or having the small B&W TV had me addicted. It made no sense for me to be watching Soaps as much as I did back then. I still remember Debbie Morgan being in the Cameo video Attack Me With Your Love in '85.



Anyway, I had to jump online to see what the deal is for 2008. Evidently, the writers decided to resurrect Jesse Hubbard from the dead. Apparently he came out of hiding cuz Frankie (their son) had some sort of life threatening illness. It's all on the Wikipedia page, so I won't post it all in here. But still, that's crazy. I've looked at a few articles and checked out the AMC website and the whole thing is still wild to me. I mean, I remember women literally crying out loud when Jesse got killed. I wonder how many of them are at the grocery store counter buying daytime soap magazines again. I mean on the real, I know a couple of my boyz who used to be all in the Soaps too. From AMC to One Life To Live to General Hospital. I know for a fact that I wasn't the only one watching them.

I did a quick YouTube search and came up with this clip from the episode when they reunited.







Anyway, I know somebody who reads my blog used to be a AMC fan. Futhermore, I know that at least one person out there used to watch the saga of Jesse and Angie like I did back in the days. Go ahead and reveal yourself. I need to feel like someone out there understands me today. Someone else who's sitting there saying "Jesse is alive???" too.

Peace-N-Love...

G.Mo

Those were the first words that popped in my head when I saw this. The powerful photograph above was taken at rally for Barack Obama in NC. It is part of a collection of photos from Time Magazine entitled Behind the Scenes with Obama - TIME photographer Callie Shell trails the candidate through the final hours of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries. Do yourself a favor and just take a glance through some of the images.

I don't talk much about politics, but best believe that I'm a Barack Obama supporter. In looking at the photo above, I was reminded of photos that I took while attending the Million Man March on Oct. 16, 1995. The photos from that day showed unity and promise as do many images taken from across the country where Barack Obama has spoken. Yes, it appears that a few of the persons in the pic are not old enough to vote. So what? More often than not, the images that we see of our Black youth are of violence, something associated with celebs and entertainment or where someone is holding a ball in their hands on a field or court. Look in their eyes. Something about that pic just says promise and hope.

We talk so much about younger generations lost with all the nonsense out here. However, I'm sure that there are just as many youth out here doing positive things and educating themselves on the goings on of our country. If you haven't done so already, please make sure you use your God given right to vote.


Peace-N-Love...

G. Mo

I stopped playing Red Light, Green Light and Hide & Go Get Seek a long long long time ago, but through the wonders of the blog world I've been tagged by The Angel of Spelman to take part in this ongoing game of freeze tag.

The rules are as follows:

-Link the person who tagged you.
-Mention the rules in your blog.
-Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
-Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
-Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

Time to unfreeze myself. Forgive me, I kinda get long winded. I'll be sure to thaw all the ice off me from the freeze... that's for sure.

Quirk #1 - When I shop for produce, I smell everything. It doesn't matter whether fruit or vegetable, I'll test for softness/hardness and then take a sniff. Expanding on this I do one thing that makes no sense at all. When grabbing a bunch of bananas, I ALWAYS take one banana off the bunch. I ALWAYS do this. Seriously, if I grab a batch of 6, it'll be 5 before I throw it in the bag. I never take off more than one and I never buy a batch with the number of bananas that it had when I picked it up. I honestly don't know why I do this, but it drives my wife crazy. We'll be in the store and one of two things will happen. Either she'll see me rip off one banana from the bunch and then take that banana and try to slide it in the plastic bag without me seeing or she'll go and get the bananas herself. That slide in thing hardly ever works though cuz I tie the bag pretty tight.

Quirk #2 - I'm always pulling hairs from my face. It doesn't matter whether it from facial hair in my moustache or beard, stray hairs on my cheeks or on the side of my lips, under my chin or neck and sometimes even nose hairs which sometimes is mistaken for 'Pickin' Boogers'... lol. I'm always picking. This is usually done when driving in traffic, long staff meetings or sitting in bed watching TV. It's comforting to me. I don't like hair everywhere. If it's too long, I'm gonna pull it. No need for tweezers, I got this. My nails are non-existent but I get a good enough grip with the skin from my fingers to pull em.

Quirk #3 - Everything in the refrigerator, pantry and cabinets must be facing forward. I have to see the front of everything in the fridge whether it's juice, milk, ketchup, margarine, salad dressing, whatever. Same with the pantry and cabinets. I must see the name of each can of soup, beans, canned fruits & veggie, jar of peanut butter, etc Now with boxes of rice, cake mix, crackers, cold cereal, etc, they all must be facing the same direction with the ingredients facing towards me. Sometimes my wife with turn stuff backwards just to see how quickly I catch it. It's like a game to her.

Quirk #4 - I make loud noises. When I sigh people think I'm grumbling or grunting. When I yawn, you'd think I was a wild orangutan who had just been set free after 20 years in captivity. When I sneeze it scares people and airbags start popping out from no where. A friend once told me that I had the 'old down south church' sneeze. I don't know why I'm loud when I do this stuff. Most folks are used to it in the office and they just mock and make fun of me. Family members just give me the "oh not again" looks when I do it and keep it movin'.

Quirk #5 - I'm a pack rat. I keep stuff from way back when and it kinda borders on ridiculous. Off the top of my head I can tell you that I have a Harlem Globetrotters program from a game I attended when they played in DC at the Capital Centre in '79, a school paper written in 10th grade about being stuck and broke down on the NJ Turnpike with Ma and baby bro & baby sis in snowy weather, autographed fan club pictures from Vanessa Williams and Pebbles from '87.... hey they were hot back then, notebooks of diaries and all the poems I wrote as a kid, a VHS tape of the news report of when Channel 9 interviewed me while I was at the box office standing in line for Wizards tickets in '99, newspaper clippings and magazine covers from the 80's until now and TONS of sports memorabilia like ticket stubs, game day programs, key chains, rally towels, etc. I have no less than 10 storage bins full of stuff in the basement and probably about another 3-5 bins at the spot where my sister has her stuff.

Quirk #6 - I never forget names or faces. I see folks in the mall or out and about and I might not have seen them in 20 yrs. It could be from high school or Howard U. days, old jobs, time spent working at the radio station, cats I just ran b-ball with, someone my parents knew, my days promoting and touring, etc. But I'll still remember their names and in most cases, where I know them from. That's good and bad I suppose. It's sometimes fun to fun to friends and associates and reminisce. But then you have some folks you'd really rather forget about...

Now, I can't say for 100% certainty that all these folks listed below haven't been tagged with this one already, but I'll just tag them anyway cuz I know they check out my blog or least have at one time made a comment. So therefore, Tag... you're it. Remember, this is Freeze Tag. You can't unfreeze yourself until you answer the questions. So be cool with a brotha and play along.


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