Have you ever been to another country and after being there for about 10 minutes you realize that you are in a completely different culture? Well, every year a few friends of mine and I, along with about 80 other guys get to experience this feeling in a little place called Hazleton, Pennsylvania. You see, we make the trek to this little place every year to play in a three day golf outing. We look forward to this event every year almost like it is Christmas. We start emailing each other somewhere around the first of the year with messages of anticipation and trash talk. The emails intensify the closer we get to the outing.The golf is great. Don't get me wrong. It is a great chance to play with friends, drink some beers and even make some money. However, along with the golf is the town of Hazleton and the people who reside there all year long. Hazleton sits in a beautiful area of Eastern Central PA. However, it seems like a place that time forgot. The dress, the haircuts, the culture seem stuck somewhere between the Reagan and Clinton administrations.
And there, at the center, is Richie. I call him Richie because a last name is not needed in Hazleton. Richie, is Richie Molinaro. He is, I guess, a local celebrity of Hazleton. The Ryan Seacreast if you will. He does a little of everything. He has a TV show. He is big within the local Chamber of Commerce. He works at a local car dealership. However, what he may be best known for, and how he crossed our path, is that Richie is a singer. No, Richie is a "performer". He performs regularly at the Timbers Lounge in the hotel that we stay in for this outing.
Here is a link to his myspace page or maybe someone devoted to promoting him. Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if it were the latter.
A "concert" of Richie's is more like an experience. He sings the best of Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Frank Sinatra and a host of other well known lounge tunes. He sings like he is performing at Radio City Music Hall. However, in actuality, he is in a dark lounge about the size of a football endzone. However, the people come out for him like he is U2. The place is PACKED and people dance the night away. Since the first time we saw him a few years ago, the legend of Richie has grown. The last two years he hasn't performed while we were there (though I make my annual call to the Comfort Inn a few weeks before to see if he is going to be there). So some guys have never had the Richie experience. But those that have will never be the same.
So this year, we sponsored a hole, like we have the last few years. It is a way to bring money into the event and keep it going. None of us own businesses (yet) and we didn't want to be boring so we decided to come up with an interesting faux name. The choice: The Richie Molinaro Fan Club. We felt very proud of ourselves for coming up with a clever name that probably many people wouldn't get.
However, one of the guys who DID get it was one of the people who ran the event, Mr. Terry George - who looks JUST like Puddy from Seinfeld. And he pulled a move on us that I still can't believe. To keep it short - he called us up in front of everyone on Saturday night to recognize us and our fake organization. However, as a way to express our appreciation - he had something for us. I give you, an actual signature from Mr. Hazleton, Richie Molinaro.
It turns out that Terry did a little, no ALOT of, research and found out all of this stuff about Richie. And he called him. And he told Richie about us. And Richie loved it. So he swung by the Comfort Inn on Friday and signed a bunch of autographs for the Fan Club. That doesn't really exist.
It was incredible. Mine is going to be framed.
So overall, the weekend was somewhat of a wash out. It POURED on Friday. Was OK on Saturday and then rained again on Sunday. However, my most cherished keepsakes from the weekend are a picture next to our "Richie Molinaro Fan Club" sign and personally autographed picture of Richie Molinaro.
For bookings - 570-455-7369. Trust me. You will never be the same.
3 comments:
Ryan,
I enjoyed reading this once Steve provided your blog to Dan Y and he forwarded to me.
As I read this, I share many of the same opinions:
* Hazelton certainly still has that "older town" feel, although the surrounding area is growing by leaps and bounds
* I (and many of the other players) do look forward to this golf outing every year, and the anticipation does parallel your "Xmas" comparison.
* Richie is most certainly a local celeb & a great entertainer, regardless of the venue he plays in.
As I told you already, I had a blast setting this whole thing up w/Richie. He was a great guy to talk to and went out of his way to help out some guy that he didn't know from Adam (or in this case... Puddy). The best was "trumping" your posse's fake alias sponsorship.
So, due to sponsorship obligations, I have setup a hyperlink to this blog page from the Hilltown Golf Outing's website (http://www.golfdigestplanner.com/4930-Hilltown_Golf_Outing/ - click on the pic of Richie at the bottom of the page) so the "Fan Club" can get their money's worth from the sponsorship.
I have e-mailed Richie the results of the fun we had w/the Fan Club as well as a link to the Hilltown Website and your blog!
Had a great time this year in Hazelton...cannot wait for the 20th annual in 2009!
some day i'll get to meet the man.. the myth.. the legend.. until then i'll satisfy myself with the retellings of old by ryan delp and treasure my picture and small part in sponsorship of the fan club.
Of course I can't imagine it trumps the entertainment of watching an intoxicated Cap belt out the lyrics to "dead or alive"...
I know Richie pretty well. He is just as real and down to earth every single day of his life as he was when you met him. He's a good guy. He could have made it... but you have to understand that in his eyes, he DID make it. Love, life, family.
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