Truman Capote once said, “In this profession, it’s a long walk between drinks.” Tis true, as I discovered in the December chill last week.

I knew my night would end up at Grace’s to see my friend behind the tender bar there, but first I decided I would end my three year boycott against Chaucer’s, a neighborhood pub located at 20th and Lombard. It is named for the great writer of the Canterbury tales, Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer’s used to be a great place, oozing character with plants aplenty, free drinks for birthday patrons, and enough dollars bills taped to back bar mirror for the bartender, Jack, whose been pouring there for 26 years, “to start a retirement fund.” But when the owner suddenly died and the place was sold to the owner of South Street Souvlaki, things started to change. Treasured employees left, the plants left, and a lot of the people that had been coming there for years left. But last night, I just got over it. Maybe it was Jack (who played Creedence all night and looked like a band member himself), or maybe it was my perfectly poured O’Reilly’s stout. But, alas I will return, and I might even bring my beer club along with me.

Here comes my long walk. ‘Twas spent scratchin’ me noggin’ on what to write about this week. I am actually so indecisive that my roomate bought me one of those Magic Eight Balls that you turn upside down to get a decision on whether or not you should like the boy sitting next to you in math class. It’s been g-r-e-a-t. I just asked the brainy ball if I should go for a run today, “Outlook not so good.” Perfect!

Continue reading “Ginger Thursdays on Friday” →

Hey gang, I started driving up the road today and then decided I wanted to spend a little more time with my family. So the Inquizzinator is gonna take control tonight. Now, now, I’m coming back on Saturday, so if you’ll just wipe the tears out of your eyes, maybe we can do something together on Saturday. Anybody got any fun ideas? The night before New Years should be good.

Now, I usually start the Week in Review with coverage of Movie Monday. But when Christmas Miracles occur, they get paragraph one treatment. Quizzo at the Rendezvous seemed like the usual quizzo at the Rendezvous. The Jams held a 12 point lead going into the final round. But they missed the special holiday edition of the 12 point weekly double, and two other teams got it, giving us our first ever three way tie in quizzo history (89-89-89). The first question of overtime was, “What year is on the screen at the start of the Christmas in Hollis video?” Perennial sixth place finishers Leftover Crack and the Jams got it right with 1987. The Merry Jolly Consumers guessed 1984 and were eliminated. Next question: “In what year was ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ released?” The teams both got it correct, 1946. Triple overtime. “In what year was the George C. Scott Christmas Carol released?” The Jams guessed 1971 and Crack guessed 1983. The correct answer was 1984, and we had one of the biggest upsets in quizzo history! God Bless Us, Every One!

Continue Reading to see who won, who lost, and what questions were asked.

Continue reading “A week for Christmas Miracles” →

Ginger missed her deadline yeserday, so we had to push her back to Friday’s edition. Today she talks about the Pen and Pencil and her Christmas wish list:

As many know, you never wake up the next day, with the notion, “Wow I am really glad I went to the Pen and Pencil last night.” For those of you who don’t know, back in the day the Pen and Pencil was a place for journalists to go, write and chat. Current day, it’s a late night destination for hospitality industry folk. Bathroom lines are long due to lines in the bathroom, if you catch my drift. Co workers smut it up- sitting on each other’s laps, throwing back whiskey and lagers, hoping everyone’s so out of their mind that they won’t remember who was making out with who the next night at premeal.

Now that I have educated you on the glory laden club, let’s talk about the lovely ginger’s christmas wish. I am asking the bearded one for a new late night destination spot for Philly. One with separate rooms, so you can avoid someone if you don’t want to see them. Possibly a Miss Pacman machine. Good craft beer like Sly Fox and Yards is a must. A bowling lane or two would be nice. Oh, and I don’t want it to be open every night of the week, because that’s too tempting and the lovely ginger needs her beauty sleep.

I am also asking Santa for a digital camera (time to stop the ghetto disposable thing),
knee highs,
an alarm clock, (currently using my cell phone),
more bars with fire places and mulled wine,
inspiration to actually use my gym membership,
a new computer,
this owl tea set,
A better neighborhood grocery store than save-a-lot,
A new advertising campaign for Old City’s Eulogy (nodody wants to read in the PW every week that you are the only Real Belgian-owned bar),
a partner in crime to help me bomb the Philadelphia Parking authority on Filbert St and George Smith Towing in Southwest Philadelphia,
a trip to Belgium or the Czech Republic, and
a new best friend, because Johnny gets too tempermental sometimes.

Renowned food and booze blogger Trivia Art (who rumor has it will be receiving a pretty sweet award manana) presents us with his tips to ensure a great New Year’s Eve. My advice? Give up. New Year’s Eve always sucks, except for that one where I kissed one of my sister’s hot friends right at midnight. That one was fun. Other than that they’ve all sucked. But Trivia Art is more of an optimist than I. Here’s his advice:

It first rears its head a little after Thanksgiving. Then you hear it again when you get together with friends in mid-December. By the week before Christmas it has become the elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge. “What are you doing for New Years?” Uggh! How has such a simple excuse to party it up and get drunk become such a production. What are you to do?

Foobooz helps you navigate the trials and tribulations of the biggest night out of the year.

Continue reading “Foobooz Tuesdays” →

Yeah, we’re going to have a very special Holiday edition of the Wheel of Terrific tonight, followed by a showing of the Grinch cartoon on the big screen! After that they will also be showing Home Alone. The Wheel kicks off at 1003 Arch at 7:30 p.m., and then you’ll get to see the Grinch like you’ve never seen him before!

We got the party started on Monday with Beerfest and I can honestly say that we had a blast. The Wheel of Terrific included beer bonging, a schwag beer taste test, and a very special appearance by Lindsay Lohan. It may have been the highest energy crowd we’ve ever had for the WOT, and it was awesome. The movie was actually a lot better than I thought it would be as well. Then, after the movie Ginger and I engaged some worthy opponents in a hard fought game of beer pong.

Continue reading to see the winners this week, the toughest questions of the week, and whether or not your team makes the bold print.

Continue reading “The Week that Was” →

As many of you know, my good friend Trivia Art runs a popular local website called Foobooz, where he searches out the best food and drink deals in town. Every Tuesday, he’s gonna come on this website to talk about some of his favorite spots around town that are also a great deal. Here’s his first:
If you’re familiar with Foobooz at all, a guide to eating and drinking in Philadelphia you know it serves multiple masters. On one hand it aims for a place in the foodie’s heart, highlighting what’s new and coming soon on
Philadelphia’s dining scene as well as what’s creating the loudest buzz. On the other hand Foobooz is a frugal boozer’s good friend, putting the spotlight on drink deals around our fair city.

So for my first column on johnnygoodtimes.com, which master to server? Well luckily there are places like Little Fish and their Sunday night prix fixe dinner. Just $28 gets you five courses of excellent seafood, and since it’s a BYOB, no expensive liquor bill.

Continue reading “Tuesdays is Foobooz days” →

Beerfest, a film produced by the guys who brought you SuperTroopers, will be showing tonight at the Trocadero (1003 Arch). A film that you should be drunk to see at a place where you can not only drink to your heart’s content, but you can also win free beer! The Wheel of Terrific will be kicking things off at 7:30p.m.

Wow, this was a wild one. Started with the Eagles game at the Troc. The Wheel of Terrific was pretty good, though we did one skit called “What did you ‘Putin’ My Sushi” that was high on concept but came off like a ton of bricks. But the other games went well, and the $100,000 Pyramid is always a huge hit. The game was great, of course, as the Eagles pulled of a win. BeerFest will be showing on Monday.

See if your team made the bold type and see if the Sofa Kingdom got upset in the Bounty Bowl after the jump,.

Continue reading “THe Week that was” →