Cigar Smoker Magazine

Description

My wife was telling my kids that drinking soda pop was not very good for them, and I recalled how important Coca-Cola was to my early development. I grew up in Rogers Park, a Chicago neighborhood along Lake Michigan. My fathers ’ mother used to make “Black Cows ” for us whenever we came to visit. A “Black Cow ” is root beer with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Very tasty. As kids, we used to ride our bikes to the corner candy store. Do they exist anymore? We ’d get a bottle of Coke and hang out in front of “Sid ’s ” candy store drinking our pop and looking cool. As we were riding our bikes, we also looked for empty bottles for which we would get 2 cents a bottle. We would save the pennies up for candy, Cokes, and the new issue of Superman comics. First of all, we live in the suburbs where there are no porches, almost no apartment buildings, and certainly no alleys. It seems so long ago that I rode my bike everywhere, (It was called a Corvette Stingray and had high handlebars and a long, “banana ” seat), and drank soda pop every day! Another favorite drink was a “Green River ”. Every once in a while, usually in a delicatessen, I ’ll find a Green River, or even better, a “chocolate phosphate ” on the menu. The stuff we grew up on we ’re now telling our kids is no good for them. It makes me think that maybe all my problems came from drinking too much soda pop! I remember my first Green River was with a hamburger and fries at a restaurant on Clark Street across from our apartment. It must have been 1964 -- the jukebox was playing “Secret Agent Man ” and Roy Orbison ’s hit song, “Pretty Woman ”, Grrrrrrrrrrr. My neighbors were over last night for cigars and drinks and we were talking about soccer and football. It dawned on me that my parents had nothing to say about what sports I played. Every day in the summer we played baseball. Either against a wall, or if we had enough guys in the street, or at the park. Same with football. When the weather changed, as it is doing right now, we got out the old pigskin and played touch or tackle. We weren ’t wusses. We played until it was too dark to see! Something is lost. There was no organized sports where I grew up. No soccer dads or hired coaches. My grandparents, aunts, and uncles all lived within walking distance. Now everyone lives in a different city, or different state. There ’s no Coke bottles, no corner candy store, no organ grinder with his monkey, and no guy sharpening knives from building to building. Oh well, I guess I ’ll go on-line and check out www.dietcoke.com which the can says is all about me! Y2K I ’m ready! The superstar superagent is a new phenom as well and we ’re lucky to have Robert Wuhl as our cover story for Fall. Robert plays superagent Arli$$ Michaels on the HBO hit tv show Arli$$ with the style and panache of a freight train heading straight into a collission. Brassy, ballsy and self absorbed Arli$$ fights for every multi-million dollar contract from the boardroom to the bedroom. The show has just been picked up for its ’ third year and if you ’ve seen it you know why. It ’s one of the funniest shows on television.

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