@ — Wednesday, November 14 . 1990 - North Shore News

A pack of Camels
and a Bud at Bogey’s

1 GOT to know a bar in
Seattle known as Bopey’s
this summer. Ht was just a
block uphill from the wharf
where the boat I was to
board was tied up, being
readied for sea.

Hd arrived at the boat on what
was supposed to be the day before
departure, back in June. But one
quick fook at the still-rusty hull
and the chaotic deck told me we
weren't going anywhere for a
while. This was disconcerting, to
say the least, since [ had pro-
ducers, publishers and editors to
satisfy;as well as travel budgets
for me and my video cameraman
to justify,

1 quickly discovered Bogey’s.

There were only two choices,
really. One was to stay on the
boat, getting caught up in the
sandblasting, driliing, equipment-
loading and engine-testirg that
was going on, as well as the day-
to-day, minute-by-minute draina
of two dozen idiosyncratic human
beings setting off on a voyage
together.

Not me, thanks. Hell, [ was the
oldest guy on board. Older dudes
don’t have to be involved in
everything. Especially older dudes
who write and broadcast for a liv-
ing.

There is an extra degree of em-
pathy that such an individual must
possess in order to get the heart of
everybody's story, and do it
quickly. Empathy makes you vul-
nerable to averload. If they
suspect for a minute that you are
a good listener, a lot of people
will talk your ears off.

Apart from needing a place to
hide out, | liked the ‘‘Bogey’’ im-
age, might as well come right out
and admit it. I’m a 1940s kind of
guy. Started my first job as a
reporter wearing a Fedora and a
trench coat. Smoked. Drank.
Talked fast.

So when I fied this bar smack
dab in the middie of the dockside
area above the lake and below the
freeway, weeds growing out of its
cracked, potholed asphalt parking
lot, a swinging porthole-style
door, and I see the big stylized
painting of Humphrey Bogart on

N. Van man
to stand trial

A 53-YEAR-OLD North Van-
couver man has been ordered to
stand trial after appearing in
North Vancouver provincial court
for a Nov. | preliminary hearing
on a charge of attempted fraud.

The charge against Mashallah
Esfahanian Ershad stems from
alleged incidents between April 19,
1989 and Nov. 30, 1989 in which
Ershad is accused of attempting to
defraud the Insurance Corpora-
tion of B.C. of more than $1,000.

Ershad will next appear in B.C.
Supreme Court on Nov, 28 to set
a trial date on the charge.

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Bob
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ECOLOGIC

the wall above the bar, [ settle
down with a smile of relief into a
wrinkled leatherette chair, peel
open a pack of Camels, and order
a Bud.

A great thing happens. The kid
who shows up to wait on me can’t
be a day over 18, or whatever the
legal rninimum age for beer-
waiting is.

He scowls at me and says: **Got
any 1D?""

Being 48 years of age at the
time, | arm of course first amused
by his sense of humor, and say
something wise-ass back. But he’s
serious.

I point 10 my sideburns, which
are white-haired.

“How'd I get these, do you
figure?”’

He flushes, but shakes his head,
not to be fooled: ‘*Conlda painted
‘em on.”’

Well, that gets a wheop of
laughter out of me. [ happily haul
out my driver's licence. Now he is
really flushing as he squints at the
date of birth, 1941. f assure him
it's all right. He's just made my
day, maybe my year. | had, after
all, been brooding about getting
old lately. This was just the tonic
a middle-aged man’s ego needed.

Thus nicely shoehorned into the
right frame of mind, 1 admire my
new-found home away from
home.

Bogey’s is a barn-sized bar,
with a giant video screen, three
other lesser but still-massive
screens, and a quadraphonic

DON DAVIS

If you have any q

Hl

DEDICATED TO WORK DILIGENTLY ON
YOUR BEHALF TO MAKE
NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT
AN EVEN BETTER PLACE TO LIVE

VOTE YES

Don

ALDERMAN DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER
uestions call Don at 980-3656

pee e an ee

sound system going from the
jukebox full blast, so while you
cannot avoid seeing the titantic
TV images, vou cant hear a word
they’re saying. Sound and pics are
totally, utterly oul of synch.

Overhead, an air conditioning
machine routinely spits sparks,
but nobody seems concerned. fm
not sure this is the kind of joint
Malcolm Lowry would have liked,
since he was so hung up about
Americans, but Jack London
would have been at home.

I have some writing to do, as it
turns out. Moreover, iC is writing
that can be sent by fax to North
Vanecuver. The fax has meant
that writers can leave their laptop
computers and portable typewrit-
ers behind.

We are back to the pre-electric,
maybe even pre-Guttenberg, era
of writing: a stylus and a pad. We
don’t need a printing press at
hand, let alone a floppy disk. We
can file longhand by fax. It has to
be typed into the computer at the
other end, anyway.

There is a certain quiet ecstasy
to a hot summer afternoon ina
dockside bar ia Seattle, complete
with flies and a trace of salt air
amid the cigarette smoke, sipping
a Bud, tanguidly scribbling one’s
thoughts, head down in a storm
of rock and roll, letting one’s eyes
feast from time to time on amaz-
ing giant news pictures of wars in
distant lands, racing cars, football
games, baseball games, bikini
beauties playing beachbail, soap
operas, you name it, and just the
lips flapping.

As luck would have it, my ship
got delayed for seven days. I got
to spend a week in Bogey’s,
becoming bar writer-in-residence,
a slightly-known local character
who sits there, hunkered over,
scribbling by the hour, sipping
Buds, smoking Camels, and get-
ting to know a few other regulars.

{t couldn't last. For one thing, |
had to go back to being a non-
smoker, Lungs couldn't take it.
Also, it's not wise to drink by
yourself too much. And writing is
best done with coffee.

Still, while it lasted, it was a
great minor life-chapter. Summer
days at Bogey’s in Seattle, waiting
for the boat to get going.

ISSUES

® Protection of the
quality of life that is
unique to the North
Shore.

© Responsible long
term financial
management

2 Long term planning
with the flexibility
to meet changing
needs

© Individual and
corporate

environmental
action.

x

For Alderman in
west Vancouver

-- Experience

4iaerman 1930-1986
— Integrity

— Commitment

YOU HAVE A STRONG VOICE],
IN PATRICK BRUSKIEWICH

See ON NOVEMBER 17th
ELECT

PATRICK
BRUSKIEWICH

. : : * EXPERIENCE
ts mam | * COMMUNITY SERVICE
: 7 * PROFESSIONALISM

NORTH VAN DISTRICT ALDERMAN
- better government
~ better environmental protection
~ better community. programs
~ better quality of life
An independant man who listens and who
cares... A strong voice on your behalf.

ELECT
BRUSKIEWICH

PATRICK

ALDERMAN

The Committee to elect Patrick Bruskiewich

ROD HELYAR Chairman

af

* S :
Mayor Marilyn Baker greets Kaderali, Chairperson N.V. Family & Youth Justice Committee
We believe Salim Kaderali will make an excellent

School Trustee:

Normaa Smith

Pres. Montroyol R PA

Bob & Sheila Gilmore

Delbrook

Umeeda Switlo

Pres, Lonsdale RPA.

Mee Youth Lai Cum Advis
.V. Fami TP acl 7m,

Ald. Bill Roagen Lynn Teetzel

N. ¥, District Pemberton Heights

Jim Glassford Jane Thompson

Pres. NV. DistricvCitw RuPA Edgemont

Ald. Ernie Crist Roger Clarke

N.Y, Disrict _ Upper Delbrook

Dwight Rouse Pam MacDonald

Chum. Suite Justice Coen.

Seaator Ray Perrault

Highlands

Zaher Meghji-Ahamed
Pres. Me Communications
Mary Segal

Lonsdale

Bob McCormic .
Chm, Advisory Com. Comm. Services

Com. Recreation

Deep Cove
Ald. Rich Buchols
N. V. District

Jay Straith Bob Rathie
Lynn Valley Capilano Heights

KADERAL! FOR SCHOOL TRUSTEE

DERA