Brew's Cafe

"Two Guys Talking Sports" might be a better title for this week's episode. And who better to talk sports with than the one and only Joe Gonzalez. As bartender at Rowdy Hall for over 25 years (currently working "the stick" at South Fork Country Club), Joe not only knows sports, but is eager to talk about it. We cover mostly baseball and football, and mostly from a Yankees and Giants viewpoint. We delve into whether and how the Yankees ought to sign Aaron Judge, what else the Yanks need to win The Series, the good and bad about changes to the game of baseball, and the direction of all sports. We also bask in the excitement of the Football Giants' best start in many years and the beauty and grace of the great Eli Manning. So if you're not a member or guest of SFCC, and you're missing the angle of Joe's take on sports, jump in to this week's episode.

You might be excused for thinking that after a long, successful run in Hamptons Real Estate, one might want to take it easy. You know, play golf, sail the Caribbean, travel the world. Well, first off, even though Diane Saatchi has been as good as anyone in the local Real Estate game for as long as just about anyone, she's still quite active as a successful broker. And taking it easy? Well, I guess the above wouldn't be true if she were one to take it easy. No, when most of the world was taking it easy during COVID lockdowns, Diane decided to do something hard. Very hard. Like, coordinating the most successful (I keep using that word!) voter registration drive in US history. But not just any group of voters: the toughest to get to the registration office and to the polls: young men. In the first major registration drive, Diane and her team registered more new voters than Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez. Yeah. Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez working together. Listen in to the fascinating story of how she and a couple of friends, working from East Hampton, pulled it off. Of course, she throws in a couple of juicy real estate stories just to round out the episode!

Chances are, if there's something going on at night in East Hampton, Amagansett or even Montauk, especially if it involves a popular live band, Nick Kraus is somewhere behind the scenes. Many have come and gone from the Hamptons nightlife scene, and very few have remained relevant. At the top of the latter list, though, is Nick Kraus. Whether it's scheduling bands, promoting the party, coordinating details or being on site for the event, Nick probably has a hand in it. You might find him anywhere on a given evening, but most likely he'll be at Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, arguably the best (not-so)  little bar on earth. In addition to his dedication to your entertainment, Nick has long been deeply involved in The Wounded Warrior Project, a highly successful nonprofit benefitting injured combat veterans, specifically Soldier Ride, which was hatched one night here at the Talkhouse. Nowadays he's working on "Warrior Stories", a recorded first-person history of the lives of America's many combat veterans.  Things change, naturally, and so has Nick, and with a family to go home to you might not find him out as late as the old days, and you may find him running in the mornings or jumping in the ocean, no matter how cold. Throughout it all, Nick remains entertaining, optimistic and dedicated to his craft, as you will hear throughtout this episode.

What's news? Nowadays, with a 24/7/365 news cycle from nearly unlimited sources, pretty much anything. But what goes into a small town weekly newspaper?  The answer to that question is a little more nuanced. Add to that the fact that the "East Hampton Star" is not your typical small town newspaper, and David Rattray, Editor and Publisher of "The Star", often has some hard choices to make about what makes it into the paper. And consider that many of his subjects are people he might run into in the grocery store or the post office, this can be a very tricky task. But David's been at it for a while, as his mother had before him, and his father before that, so experience counts when deciding whether to report from "The Springs" or from "Springs", whether a candidate's war record is something he should be totally honest about, or whether the "negative donkey" on Buell Lane should be in the Police Blotter (tune in to find out if that's the paper's most popular feature). As you'll hear in this conversation, David is honest and forthright about making these choices, and living with the results, like 'em or not.

The week Jolie Parcher opened Mandala Yoga in Amagansett Square more than 20 years ago, Yoga was still in what she calls "Weirdoville". Two people showed up for the first few classes. The next week, Oprah declared on her show that Yoga was "a good thing'. And suddenly Jolie was looking for more space. All these years later, Jolie applies Yoga to every aspect of her life, and on this episode, she explains how and why that works for her.  Of course, she fills us in on the progression of Mandala Yoga from the small studio where it started to her latest passion, Mandala Gives, where she's bringing Yoga to those people for whom it may not otherwise be available: Local first responders, for instance; those suffering from Parkinson's Disease, for another; people seeking shelter and a new start in life at The Retreat. Naturally, we diverge from the obvious topics and drift into a deep discussion of local concerns, whether it be how to make a living, that greener grass we so often envy-- correctly or otherwise, and, as always, the difficulty of making a living and finding housing in our community. As I'd hoped, Jolie brings an interesting, compassionate and thoughtful perspective on everything we discuss. 

Not many locals know the story of The Miegs Raid and its importance in the American Revolutionary War. Some, but not many, might know of the Battle of Sag Harbor, which was the same event. But if Bryan Downey-- photographer, cinematographer, musician, carpenter, local historian, civil disruptor, are among the many hats he wears-- has his way, we'll all know a lot more about this crucial battle in the Revolutionary War. Bryan is known locally for his one man crusades, against beach littering, for the Shinnecock Tribe's right to use the beach, for kids to write and record music among others. His next project will be the reenactment of Miegs' raid, and if the stars align it'll happen next spring. One thing for certain, Bryan can tell a story. So whether it's an obscure bit of American History, or a recent anecdote about Eli Manning, it's worth a listen here for the entertainment of a story well told.

Ron White is one of those guys who uses up every available character in his job description: Successful Real Estate Agent, Head Coach of the Bridgehampton HS Boys Basketball team, President of the BH School Board, plus husband, father, brother and generally great guy. Whenever Ron and I get a conversation going, two things are inevitable: it's going to be interesting, and we never know where it's going to go. Fortunately, both those truths hold up in when we recently put a couple of mics in front of us and recorded the convo for the world-- or at least the world of this podcast-- to hear. Two topics we generally count on are parenting and coaching, and the challenges anyone attempting either of these face in today's rapidly changing world. But we go much deeper here, as to what makes raising kids right such a challenge today, and how coaches need to learn entirely new skill sets while instilling the values of hard work, discipline, teamwork, sacrifice and patience. Naturally, we drift into other topics such as paying college athletes, our local housing crisis, the real estate market to name just a few. 

If your legal knowledge is limited to "Better Call Saul", or even "Law and Order", and you're curious whether either of those are remotely accurate, you might want to check this one out. As a Former Prosecutor, Public (and private) Defender, as well as a practitioner of all aspects of the law (including real estate!), it's hard to think of a person better equipped to teach me about the inner workings of the criminal justice system. Curious about the hullabaloo over Bail Reform? We cover that in depth. Thinking of mounting an insanity plea? Better listen here first. Is it true only guilty parties plead guilty? We dig into this one as well. So tune into this one and you may learn a lot more than, like me, you thought you already knew based on the television shows. Only one caveat, though (see what I did there?): you might want to fact check him on Westhampton Beach surfing history!

I'm always a little intimidated when I interview a guest who's actually a real journalist, but in this case I was a little extra intimidated because not only has Amanda Fairbanks written a highly successful book, "The Lost Boys of Montauk", but she's been interviewed by countless real journalists, book writers and other literary intellectuals. Of course, my misgivings were entirely misplaced, because, as you'll hear from this episode, Amanda could not have been more engaging and easygoing. "Lost Boys" is an amazing tale, not solely of a group of young men lost at sea, but of their family histories, their relationships with their loved ones, and how they all ended up on this doomed fishing voyage. But the book is not without some controversy, as some (well-known) family "secrets" get revealed, and Fairbanks made a few interesting literary choices. But the author is honest and forthcoming about her work, the choices she made and the response to it, good and bad. And as usual, we go off on a few tangents about life on the East End, her next project, and our mutual New York Times Spelling Bee addiction.

Anyone who's ever worked in an Honest Man Restaurant, which includes Nick and Toni's, Rowdy Hall, La Fondita, Coche Comedor, Town Line BBQ and a few others which have come and gone over the years, knows if there's one phrase which describes the owners here, and Mark Smith in particular, it's "hands on".  At any given time you might find Mark at one of the restaurants clearing tables, chopping onions, scrubbing equipment, re-programming computers and doing just about any other gritty, grimy task required to keep things running--including refrigeration repair as we find out in this podcast. Naturally, he's most often greeting guests at their tables and generally overseeing the operation. He might also be found casting a fishing line between lunch and dinner, or taking a boat ride,--something uniquely available to us in this community. And then, anyone who knows Mark also knows that when things go wrong, whether it's during service on Saturday night, in the aftermath of a "Superstorm", or even in the horrors of a war torn country, he's willing to pitch in and serve the need. Please join Mark and me for this very special episode, where he not only shares his thoughts and stories of the restaurant business, but also his recent service mission in Poland, helping feed displaced Ukrainians with World Central Kitchen.