Back to blues and billiards

My editor, Barry Smith, is putting the screws to me to ease off on the karaoke coverage. I was "working" on a review of one karaoke venue each week for this column and having fun with it, but Barry says it's time to move on. I think I pretty much covered all the options in town anyway -- even making my way out to Dayton twice. Tuesday, I called to ask about the karaoke scene at Comma Coffee, but June Joplin explained they had stopped because everybody's doing it. So I'll move on ... begrudgingly. Give me call, if you've got one of those scenes readers MUST know about.

I stopped in to see Carson City's very own bluesman, Bobby Joe Holman, do his solo act at Daddy Dick's Feb. 20.

He was sitting there on the edge of the stage with his guitar and two drinks, tapping his feet while strumming licks on the strings.

There wasn't an open seat in Daddy's cozy space --Eyet there was still room to dance. Whenever Holman wrapped up a song, folks would hoot and whistle until he started another.

One of the guys who was cheering said he used to deliver the Appeal when he was a kid. Giving only the name Dennis, he said he keeps a pretty low profile. Dennis described riding the Fifth Street route back in the late 1960s --just before his junior year at Carson High School, when it was on King Street. His was the last class before the school's move to the new location. He'd ride his banana-seat bike with riser bars and deliver the paper on what seemed like one of Carson's only paved roads.

"What I really remember was the smell of the ink, the huge presses and the gigantic rolls of paper," he said.

Dennis has a good memory -- that's what it looks like on the presses today.

Speaking of presses, Appeal pressman Cliff Rutherford plays a bit of pool down at Cue-Phoria, 55 E. Winnie Lane. Actually, he plays more than a bit. His team, the Cue-medians, are looking good to win the championship for the eight-ball league, which wrapped up Wednesday.

Unfortunately, this page hit the presses before the Cue-medians faced their challengers so I can't tell you how it turned out, but I can tell you about Saturday's singles tournament. All league-registered eight-ball players are eligible. It's everyone for themselves in a race-to-three, double-elimination competition.

Rutherford says it should be pretty hot because it's a weekend, so everybody's gonna be there. "It's a real cast of characters -- they range in age from 21 to 89," he said.

After that, it's back to eight ball for the Cue-medians and the rest of the league, with the post season getting under way soon.

There has been some argument as to what, exactly the post season is all about.

"Most of us just look at it as another chance to play pool, which is what we're all there to do," Rutherford said.

Karl can be reached at 881-1219 or e-mail at:khoreis@nevadaappeal.com