R
Rhoq
Thursday – October 24, 2002
Well, things started out just like any ordinary Thursday night. Fate, RummyG and myself met up as we usually do on Thursdays. It’s kind of funny how back in the day we would have the time to hang-out with each other almost on a daily basis, but now as we are older and mature, responsible adults – we are lucky just have our Thursdays.
Fate & Rummy arrived at my house around 7:30 PM. They walked in on a chemistry experiment (a/k/a making things go “boom”) that Tek and I were fu*king around with. Things exploded, we had a blast (pun intended) 😀
Unfortunately, Tek was unable to join us for the evening so as Fate, Rummy and I set out to grab something, Tek went on his way.
Now before I continue, I think it might interest you to know that we are probably the most indecisive bunch of individuals that you could ever meet. We played our usual game.
Rhoq: “Where do you want to go to eat?”
Rummy: “I don’t know, where do you want to go?”
Rhoq: “It doesn’t matter to me. Yo Elvis (Fate) what are you in the mood for?”
Fate: “I don’t care. Whatever you guys decide on is fine with me”
Yes my friends, this happens every time we go out. We ended up at Bennigan’s. The only seat they had was a booth that was really not accommodating for a party any larger than 2 people. A larger booth was requested and all they could offer was to bring over a stand-alone chair to put at the head of the table (using the excuse that the only booths they have are only 4 inches longer. Those who have been to Bennigan’s before know that they have booths much larger than that.). Anyways, RummyG says “Fu*k this, let’s go to Applebee’s”, just as the store manager was walking by. Rummy told the guy that we visit Bennigan’s often and that have come to expect better service. The manager got a bit “snotty” and said “Well, if you come here all of the time then I don’t understand why you would want to leave”. So we went to Applebee’s, LOL.
Applebee’s was good as always. We ate, we drank and we had a good time discussing how primates have better hygiene than some people we know. Anyways, the waiter had the balls to inform Fate and I that our bill totaled around $56.00 and we only gave him $57.00, telling him to keep the change. Back in the day, I would have asked for that dollar back, but since I am now a kinder, gentler a*****e, I threw a few extra dollars on the table. We figured that even with the extra money we left for the tip, we still screwed him - $5.00 on a $70.00 bill…
Originally my plan was to go out, grab something to eat and go home. But it was barely 9:30 PM and the alcoholic beverages flowing through my circulatory system had me filled with a lot of energy.
Rhoq: “What do you guys want to do?”
Rummy: “What’s up Rhoqie? You want to go get some beer?”
Rhoq: “Yeah, It’s too early to go home.”
Rummy: “I was hoping you’d say that. Elvis (Fate) – is this alright with you?”
Fate: “Yeah – that’s cool”
We arrived at Knock-Outs “Sports Bar” (it’s not really a sports bar, but they call it that anyway) around 9:45 PM for our traditional Thursday night Freestyle karaoke session. It looked like it usually did around that time – a small crowd, and a few drunk men and women singing songs that they would never sing if they were sober.
We heard out usual greeting over the mic “We’ve got the guys in the house tonight: RummyG, Fate and The Rhoq – The Rhoq is here ladies and gentlemen”. We knew we were home.
On a typical Thursday night, we are essentially the only Freestyle lovers at the bar (Yeah, a few of the other patrons sometimes get it into and start dancing and some even mouth the words to the songs, but we are talking a very small handful of people).
On any given Thursday, we are most certainly the only ones that sing Freestyle songs for karaoke (everyone else does R&B, Hip-Hop, Salsa/Merengue and some soul classics), but last night was different. As I approached Nick Formosa (his company, “Nick’s Extreme Entertainment” hosts the karaoke every Thursday night) to request Peter Fontain’s “JUST LIKE THE WIND” as our first song of the night, I overheard someone requesting “Freestyle”. More specifically, “anything by Coro”.
So after a few minutes, it comes time for another karaoke performance. “This is going out by special request for Nick. Nick’s gonna sing a little something for you – some Freestyle”. At that moment, the opening keyboards to the club mix of “CAN’T LET YOU GO” by Coro start playing. I look up and it was the same guy that I overhead request “Anything by Coro” just moments before. He was drunk off of his ass and having a good time. “Somebody in the house say yeah…S-S-S-S-Somebody in the house say yeah”. I don’t know if you have ever heard a drunk guy try to imitate those samples, but it was funny as shit.
Anyways during the breaks he was talking shit, saying that nobody at the bar knew anything about Freestyle music and this is what Freestyle is all about…
Yes my friends, during his trash talking session – he threw down the gauntlet. We knew, things were about to get very interesting. This was not just another ordinary night at Knock-Outs. Tonight we actually had ourselves some competition…and we loved it!!!
So after fulfilling someone’s hip-hop request it was time. “Let’s get the guys up here. RummyG, Fate and The Rhoq – they’re gonna do some Freestyle for you”. The club mix of “JUST LIKE THE WIND” kicks in at the edits at the very beginning, just after the opening keyboards. Nick (the guy who sang Coro) went ballistic!!! “Oh Shit, Oh Shit – that’s Freestyle!!!” He and his girl bum rushed us and grabbed my mic. RummyG and Nick’s girl, Maria, began singing (of cue)…I was a bit pissed off at this moment. Fate was able to wrestle the Mic away from this chic just in time for the first chorus. He passed the mic over to me (and hit me in the tooth with it, LOL). I don’t know if it was the thought of competition, the alcohol, or the adrenaline flowing through my body (or a combination of it all), but I belted out the second verse in a way that could have only been topped by Peter Fontain himself…
How many times deep down inside
I’ve asked the questions “why?”
If you loved me like you said you do
Why aren’t you by my side?
Why deny that there’s no hope
If you don’t give our love a try
Steal my heart – commit the crime, then push me aside
Act like you never loved me
When I can see love through your eyes – you finally realize
That I’m standing all alone as you walked away
I’ll take the fall girl…With nothing else to say
So I walk...
Into the world of tomorrow
Hide, behind the rain drops and sorrow
Dream of a love that could have been
But now your gone forever my love, my girl
Just like the wind
No, no, no, no, no, no – Just like the wind
While all of this was going on, an unusually large number of people were dancing and singing along with us. I was so excited that I decided to call Pete Hernandez.
It was around 10 PM and I stepped outside for second to say “What’s up” to Pete. He shared some great news with me about a surprise guest that will be going to Backdrafts on November 16th. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, so you guys just better bring your asses to Backdrafts!!!
I went back inside and we decided that we would show off a bit and sing a song that not too many people other than the true hardcore Freestyle fans would be familiar with. “BEATING OF MY HEART” by The Nas-T Boyz. Unfortunately, Nick (the karaoke guy), didn’t have the CD I gave a few months back with that song on it – so we decided to go for our old stand-by “THE QUESTION” by Concept Of One feat. Noel. About 45 minutes passed and I turn to Fate and say “I’m gonna give Nick (the karaoke guy) a dirty look and see if I can speed things up a bit!!!” Literally seconds after I said that (and yes, I gave him a dirty look, LOL), Nick gets on the mic: “This going out by special request to Maria. We have a song a for Maria, followed by the guys”. Classic moment as the dirty look actually worked. Then again, the last time Nick was on the receiving end of that look, I stopped patronizing his Thursday night karaoke for 4 months, LMAO…
What was Maria’s song? “LOVE LETTER” by Giggles. She got on the mic and began to sing. Oddly enough, she sounded just like Giggles did on that song (not sure if that is a good thing). The song ended and “THE QUESTION” came on. Nick (the drunk, Freestyle-loving maniac) starts getting hyped up again. “Oh man – that’s THE QUESTION. THE QUESTION. That’s some real Freestyle!!!”
So Maria comes up to me and starts singing in mic. I was smart this time and refused to let go of my grip, LOL. The crowd was still on fire, there must have been a good 20 people singing along and dancing (a new record for Knock-Outs).
2nd verse – things start getting hot. Maria starts grinding the 3 of us. RummyG was so into singing that he payed her little attention. She focused on Fate and myself. Fate was singing and she started to grab his ass and rub him down. I grabbed the mic as he was a bit pre-occupied to concentrate on singing. She then moves over to me and starts grinding her beautiful, big, round ass on my nether-regions. She then reaches behind me to pull me closer. I pass the mic back to Fate and start grinding her back. Then I reached around her and felt her up. 😀 She was really into it.
The crowd (especially the girls) was really into it. They were treating us like we were a once well-known Freestyle trio, LMAO (no prima donnas here, sorry). We were treated to “Go Boricua” chants. (If they only knew that I’m just your average white guy and RummyG is Indian, LOL)…
We decided that we would get going after “THE QUESTION”. The music stops and Nick (the drunk guy) runs up to us giving us hugs, pounds and hand-shakes. He said that we are “Freestyle’s Greatest Beats”, LOL. He reminded me of myself back in the day when I approach people and talk about Freestyle for hours on end. He started singing Freestyle classics and told how happy was to see that there are other Freestyle fans other than him.
As we left, we told him about Edwin Ramos’ party at Backdrafts in Queens, NY and also told him to make sure he checks-out ClubFreestyle.com
Well, things started out just like any ordinary Thursday night. Fate, RummyG and myself met up as we usually do on Thursdays. It’s kind of funny how back in the day we would have the time to hang-out with each other almost on a daily basis, but now as we are older and mature, responsible adults – we are lucky just have our Thursdays.
Fate & Rummy arrived at my house around 7:30 PM. They walked in on a chemistry experiment (a/k/a making things go “boom”) that Tek and I were fu*king around with. Things exploded, we had a blast (pun intended) 😀
Unfortunately, Tek was unable to join us for the evening so as Fate, Rummy and I set out to grab something, Tek went on his way.
Now before I continue, I think it might interest you to know that we are probably the most indecisive bunch of individuals that you could ever meet. We played our usual game.
Rhoq: “Where do you want to go to eat?”
Rummy: “I don’t know, where do you want to go?”
Rhoq: “It doesn’t matter to me. Yo Elvis (Fate) what are you in the mood for?”
Fate: “I don’t care. Whatever you guys decide on is fine with me”
Yes my friends, this happens every time we go out. We ended up at Bennigan’s. The only seat they had was a booth that was really not accommodating for a party any larger than 2 people. A larger booth was requested and all they could offer was to bring over a stand-alone chair to put at the head of the table (using the excuse that the only booths they have are only 4 inches longer. Those who have been to Bennigan’s before know that they have booths much larger than that.). Anyways, RummyG says “Fu*k this, let’s go to Applebee’s”, just as the store manager was walking by. Rummy told the guy that we visit Bennigan’s often and that have come to expect better service. The manager got a bit “snotty” and said “Well, if you come here all of the time then I don’t understand why you would want to leave”. So we went to Applebee’s, LOL.
Applebee’s was good as always. We ate, we drank and we had a good time discussing how primates have better hygiene than some people we know. Anyways, the waiter had the balls to inform Fate and I that our bill totaled around $56.00 and we only gave him $57.00, telling him to keep the change. Back in the day, I would have asked for that dollar back, but since I am now a kinder, gentler a*****e, I threw a few extra dollars on the table. We figured that even with the extra money we left for the tip, we still screwed him - $5.00 on a $70.00 bill…
Originally my plan was to go out, grab something to eat and go home. But it was barely 9:30 PM and the alcoholic beverages flowing through my circulatory system had me filled with a lot of energy.
Rhoq: “What do you guys want to do?”
Rummy: “What’s up Rhoqie? You want to go get some beer?”
Rhoq: “Yeah, It’s too early to go home.”
Rummy: “I was hoping you’d say that. Elvis (Fate) – is this alright with you?”
Fate: “Yeah – that’s cool”
We arrived at Knock-Outs “Sports Bar” (it’s not really a sports bar, but they call it that anyway) around 9:45 PM for our traditional Thursday night Freestyle karaoke session. It looked like it usually did around that time – a small crowd, and a few drunk men and women singing songs that they would never sing if they were sober.
We heard out usual greeting over the mic “We’ve got the guys in the house tonight: RummyG, Fate and The Rhoq – The Rhoq is here ladies and gentlemen”. We knew we were home.
On a typical Thursday night, we are essentially the only Freestyle lovers at the bar (Yeah, a few of the other patrons sometimes get it into and start dancing and some even mouth the words to the songs, but we are talking a very small handful of people).
On any given Thursday, we are most certainly the only ones that sing Freestyle songs for karaoke (everyone else does R&B, Hip-Hop, Salsa/Merengue and some soul classics), but last night was different. As I approached Nick Formosa (his company, “Nick’s Extreme Entertainment” hosts the karaoke every Thursday night) to request Peter Fontain’s “JUST LIKE THE WIND” as our first song of the night, I overheard someone requesting “Freestyle”. More specifically, “anything by Coro”.
So after a few minutes, it comes time for another karaoke performance. “This is going out by special request for Nick. Nick’s gonna sing a little something for you – some Freestyle”. At that moment, the opening keyboards to the club mix of “CAN’T LET YOU GO” by Coro start playing. I look up and it was the same guy that I overhead request “Anything by Coro” just moments before. He was drunk off of his ass and having a good time. “Somebody in the house say yeah…S-S-S-S-Somebody in the house say yeah”. I don’t know if you have ever heard a drunk guy try to imitate those samples, but it was funny as shit.
Anyways during the breaks he was talking shit, saying that nobody at the bar knew anything about Freestyle music and this is what Freestyle is all about…
Yes my friends, during his trash talking session – he threw down the gauntlet. We knew, things were about to get very interesting. This was not just another ordinary night at Knock-Outs. Tonight we actually had ourselves some competition…and we loved it!!!
So after fulfilling someone’s hip-hop request it was time. “Let’s get the guys up here. RummyG, Fate and The Rhoq – they’re gonna do some Freestyle for you”. The club mix of “JUST LIKE THE WIND” kicks in at the edits at the very beginning, just after the opening keyboards. Nick (the guy who sang Coro) went ballistic!!! “Oh Shit, Oh Shit – that’s Freestyle!!!” He and his girl bum rushed us and grabbed my mic. RummyG and Nick’s girl, Maria, began singing (of cue)…I was a bit pissed off at this moment. Fate was able to wrestle the Mic away from this chic just in time for the first chorus. He passed the mic over to me (and hit me in the tooth with it, LOL). I don’t know if it was the thought of competition, the alcohol, or the adrenaline flowing through my body (or a combination of it all), but I belted out the second verse in a way that could have only been topped by Peter Fontain himself…
How many times deep down inside
I’ve asked the questions “why?”
If you loved me like you said you do
Why aren’t you by my side?
Why deny that there’s no hope
If you don’t give our love a try
Steal my heart – commit the crime, then push me aside
Act like you never loved me
When I can see love through your eyes – you finally realize
That I’m standing all alone as you walked away
I’ll take the fall girl…With nothing else to say
So I walk...
Into the world of tomorrow
Hide, behind the rain drops and sorrow
Dream of a love that could have been
But now your gone forever my love, my girl
Just like the wind
No, no, no, no, no, no – Just like the wind
While all of this was going on, an unusually large number of people were dancing and singing along with us. I was so excited that I decided to call Pete Hernandez.
It was around 10 PM and I stepped outside for second to say “What’s up” to Pete. He shared some great news with me about a surprise guest that will be going to Backdrafts on November 16th. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, so you guys just better bring your asses to Backdrafts!!!
I went back inside and we decided that we would show off a bit and sing a song that not too many people other than the true hardcore Freestyle fans would be familiar with. “BEATING OF MY HEART” by The Nas-T Boyz. Unfortunately, Nick (the karaoke guy), didn’t have the CD I gave a few months back with that song on it – so we decided to go for our old stand-by “THE QUESTION” by Concept Of One feat. Noel. About 45 minutes passed and I turn to Fate and say “I’m gonna give Nick (the karaoke guy) a dirty look and see if I can speed things up a bit!!!” Literally seconds after I said that (and yes, I gave him a dirty look, LOL), Nick gets on the mic: “This going out by special request to Maria. We have a song a for Maria, followed by the guys”. Classic moment as the dirty look actually worked. Then again, the last time Nick was on the receiving end of that look, I stopped patronizing his Thursday night karaoke for 4 months, LMAO…
What was Maria’s song? “LOVE LETTER” by Giggles. She got on the mic and began to sing. Oddly enough, she sounded just like Giggles did on that song (not sure if that is a good thing). The song ended and “THE QUESTION” came on. Nick (the drunk, Freestyle-loving maniac) starts getting hyped up again. “Oh man – that’s THE QUESTION. THE QUESTION. That’s some real Freestyle!!!”
So Maria comes up to me and starts singing in mic. I was smart this time and refused to let go of my grip, LOL. The crowd was still on fire, there must have been a good 20 people singing along and dancing (a new record for Knock-Outs).
2nd verse – things start getting hot. Maria starts grinding the 3 of us. RummyG was so into singing that he payed her little attention. She focused on Fate and myself. Fate was singing and she started to grab his ass and rub him down. I grabbed the mic as he was a bit pre-occupied to concentrate on singing. She then moves over to me and starts grinding her beautiful, big, round ass on my nether-regions. She then reaches behind me to pull me closer. I pass the mic back to Fate and start grinding her back. Then I reached around her and felt her up. 😀 She was really into it.
The crowd (especially the girls) was really into it. They were treating us like we were a once well-known Freestyle trio, LMAO (no prima donnas here, sorry). We were treated to “Go Boricua” chants. (If they only knew that I’m just your average white guy and RummyG is Indian, LOL)…
We decided that we would get going after “THE QUESTION”. The music stops and Nick (the drunk guy) runs up to us giving us hugs, pounds and hand-shakes. He said that we are “Freestyle’s Greatest Beats”, LOL. He reminded me of myself back in the day when I approach people and talk about Freestyle for hours on end. He started singing Freestyle classics and told how happy was to see that there are other Freestyle fans other than him.
As we left, we told him about Edwin Ramos’ party at Backdrafts in Queens, NY and also told him to make sure he checks-out ClubFreestyle.com
