MR. GAINES, THE MÃ†YOR OF HAPPY HOURâ„¢

About Me

"Served in fine establishments and questionable joints."
I like to have a good time, embrace my passions, and believe that one must live life to the absolute fullest to make it worthwhile. As William Blake said, "The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom," and I take it to heart - if one sits idle and just watches everything go past, can they truly say that they accomplished anything? In the immortal words of Frank Sinatra, I want to be able to say, "I did it my way."
Between my job at the bar, running my own business, and an active social calendar, I'm not left with a tremendous amount of free time, but what little I do have I enjoy hanging out with friends, shooting pool, having a beer or rusty nail, taking in a show, etc. I'm not really into clubs or pretentious bars, but rather prefer the confines of somewhere low key, ostentatiously stylish and laid back.
As the MÃ†YOR OF HAPPY HOUR,,, all are welcome (be sure to check out my group, the Stray Olive Martini Lounge), but as Cherry Capri put it, "...if I don't know you personally and you want to be my pal, please drop me a line first and tell me why we should be drinking martinis together..." That being said, grab a cocktail, prop your feet up, smoke 'em if you've got 'em, and peruse through the assorted photos, blogthings, and such that give insight into just who the MÃ†YOR OF HAPPY HOUR,, is.

My Interests

Join the Stray Olive Martini Lounge!
The Stray Olive Martini Lounge is a place for afficionados of the late-50's/early-60's martini lounge style to come together and mingle over libatious beverages. The lounge looks like a hep, groovy Playboy bachelor pad c.1963 with Sinatra on the hi-fi and a big round bed with a mink throw in the master bedroom. Any minute now, Tony Randall will make an ill-timed appearance to throw Doris Day and Rock Hudson off the love track.

OTHER INTERESTS:
Architecture
Shooting Pool
Yuengling Lager
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Nationals
The Ostentatiously Stylish

Drum lines are pretty fuckin' cool, too! Check out this footage of the Swiss Top Secret Drum Corps at the 2006 Edinburgh Tattoo - they're utterly amazing!

I'd like to meet:

Who I'd like to meet? More like, Who I'd Like to Have Cocktails With...

Music:

I like pretty much any type of music, though I do have a particular fondness for late 50's/early 60's jazz & lounge musicians, including the Rat Pack, Nina Simone, Combustible Edison, and Michael Buble.

Movies:

Anything with members of the Rat Pack, Pam Grier, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Coolidge, and/or Lucy Liu.

Television:

24, Family Guy, Robot Chicken, South Park, Law & Order: SVU, Little Britain, Simpsons, and anything on the History and Discovery Channels.

Books:

Anything by Whitman, Cavafy, Grisham, Maupin, Dan Brown, and myself.

(Shameless self-promotion)

Heroes:

My late-Nana, Catherine "Katie" Louise Peake Timms Jett, who passed away Nov 23, 2005 at the age of 101. She saw more changes in our world during her lifetime than I could ever imagine seeing in my own, and was forced to raise two children on her own when she became a widow at 35 (see my blog for more about Nana).

My late-Granny, Frances Lelia Parker Pantel, for holding down a full time job and raising two sons all on her own in the 1950's and 60's.

My father, for raising his first born child, and only son, having grown up without a real father of his own. But more importantly, my parents for accepting me for who I am. Simply put, Ben & Pam ROCK the Casbah!

My Blog

I made the local news!

The other night, after I left work and was trying to catch a cab, I was stopped by a news reporter who wanted to ask my opinions on three important gun bills that are about to go before the PA state s...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:19:00 PST

A Commentary on Southern Politics, Tradition, and Modern-Day Reality

In reading an article in the Washington Post regarding Mark Warner's possible run for the U.S. Senate, or a return bid as Virginia's governor (for a second run), a lot of information regarding politic...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:52:00 PST

New photos

As some of you know, last week I went back to Virginia to give a lecture on Annaburg, the house I wrote a book about. The 1960's nursing home wings have finally been removed and I was given a be...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:42:00 PST

Oh, Lindsay!

Lindsay! It's been way too long. What are you up to, besides Page Three of your to-blow list for the day? I know, that crazy DUI thing. Wait - another one? Busted at the ...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:40:00 PST

This is going to be one hell of a weekend!

This birthday weekend is definitely one that's going down in the books as one of the most raucous and interesting to have happened! I swear it keeps getting more and more interesting even before...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 02:55:00 PST

Life

I haven't posted a blog in about forever and a day, so I felt compelled to post one now.It's nothing major, but I just felt like saying life is good. I enjoy both of my jobs (despite working 7 d...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Thu, 15 Mar 2007 12:19:00 PST

New friend request

I've created a myspace page for the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion, the place I work at. I'm trying to increase the Mansion's visibility and interest, so if you are in the Philadelphia area, or would ...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:54:00 PST

Backyard Wrestling: An Insight Into Ran

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of meeting Randy, the video below gives quite an insight into the man once described as "a drunken cartoon character." (He's the bald one, btw.)G...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Wed, 20 Sep 2006 03:57:00 PST

A modern day "prohibition"

For those of you who either don't pay attention to current events, or don't live in the Philadelphia area, Mayor John Street just signed into legistlation a smoking ban for the city. To me, this...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:51:00 PST

Sexy!

In case you've been living under a rock and haven't notice, there's a crop of incredibly sexy videos out right now! I can't get the videos to load in here, but the links to the videos on youtube...
Posted by MR. GAINES, THE MÆYOR OF HAPPY HOUR" on Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:33:00 PST