Celebrating Three Quarters of a Century with a Twilight Zone Experience

Yesterday was the day before my 75th birthday. We have been in the Hawaiian Islands for the past four weeks and will be on the Big Island for the next two weeks. If you had a chance to glance through my memoir, you know that my favorite place on Earth is the Big Island - my happy place. The native Hawaiian people, along with the transplants from all over the world are all wonderful; the vistas are breathtaking; the Hawaiian culture is like no other in the world, and the spirit of Aloha can be felt everywhere.

We try to sample Hawaiian cuisine and culture wherever we can, but must confess that we do partake in “happy hours” on a very regular basis. Most are mundane, although the conversations with the bartenders and fellow patrons are always interesting. As you know if you have followed me, I am very chatty. My life partner, Laci Loew, is equally gregarious and can speak with anyone at the drop of a hat.

So let’s get back to yesterday. We had not tried the Kona Biscuit Company before. It was always packed with customers and had a great reputation. They advertised a happy hour and we said, okay, time to give it a try.

Entering the front door around 3:30 in the afternoon, the place was deserted. No one - no customers, no greeter, empty - but open. We walked in and made our way to the bar and found the bartender hand-prepping ingredients for the evening’s drinks. We said hello and asked if the place was open. He said yes and we sat at the bar - our usual approach to happy hour - sit at the bar, chat with the bartenders and any of the other patrons willing to strike up a conversation with us. Felt a little weird, but hey, we are always open to a new experience. Well, did we get a new experience! The following is my favorite meme. Yesterday, we definitely added to my life story.

So, here’s the rest of the story. We are sitting alone at the bar and only the bartender is there. The bar had big screen TVs streaming a live feed of the erupting Kilauea volcano, with a towering fountain of red hot lava, another with a World Cup game, and other screens down the bar, with various programming. We started to chat with the bartender, who shared his name with us - Remington (Remy) - and the fact that he makes the best Mai Tai on the Island. We also learned about his life on the Big Island and lots of interesting tidbits about his life on the Island. The Happy Hour menu called it the Kai Tai - $12. We have now probably had hundreds of Mai Tais over the years and tons on the happy hour menus at all kinds of restaurants and bars. Well, he was right. This was the most unique Mai Tai we have ever had! Remy made it with care and with coconut rum and a concoction that he was hand-making when we walked in which is that fluffy foam topping. Oh, but that’s not all to the story I wanted to tell. Please read on!

After a few minutes sitting at the bar, a sole additional patron came in and sat next to us. Yes, the bar was empty and now the three of us are there at the end of the bar with the bartender. Remy immediately pulled out a bottle of beer and placed it on the bar for this new guy. For sure a regular. Since we had these great drinks in front of us, we asked the new guy if he would take a picture of us. As you can see above, he obliged. We learned he goes by Moneypenny. He was about 30 years old, from Cleveland, and has been on the Island for around 6 or 7 years, working in the beverage industry. After a few minutes we landed on a common interest — 70s and ‘80s classic rock music. As we chatted, Moneypenny grabbed the TV controller for the screen that was streaming the World Cup and changed it to a channel on which he could search and select any rock artist and any rock song he liked. Moneypenny obviously had done this many times before. His story evolved to who he had seen live, who he loved to listen to, and why they were his favorites. We did the same.

As you know if you have seen some of my interviews on my book, I am a live music and events junkie, with my favorite singer and band being Meat Loaf. After a few minutes, Moneypenny has navigated to a live recording of Meat Loaf singing Bat Out of Hell. And you probably can guess — Laci, Moneypenny and me, along with regular positive glances from Remy, are singing along and acting out the incredible Meat Loaf stage theatrics. Then I told him that my absolutely favorite song is the live recording of “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” from the Bat Out of Hell tour, with Karla DeVito. In two or three minutes, Moneypenny had that very song streaming on the screen that originally had the World Cup. We were all singing and acting out all of the roles. It was a world class performance by Laci, Moneypenny and me (with backup from Remy). The bar was still empty. Moneypenney was three beers into his time with us, and we had the best time we have ever had at a happy hour, or for that matter, any time at a bar anywhere in he world. We bought Moneypeeny his beers and tipped well.

So WTF just happened? We walk into an empty bar. Only one person comes in after us. We start talking and this stranger takes control of the TV in the bar and navigates to my favorite songs, and we are then all singing them together, including acting out the stage theatrics from the recordings of the live performances from 40 years ago!

After a couple or three hours (time flew!), Laci and I left the Kona Biscuit Company, we looked at each other and said “What just happened?” we almost simultaneously said that we thought we were in an episode of the Twilight Zone. We were expecting Remington and Moneypenny to rip off their masks and expose an alien from another solar system, a couple of angels or demons, or some other dimensional creature. Not to mention having Rod Sterling step in to close the episode with “That’s a signpost up ahead. Your next stop is the Twilight Zone!”

Aloha from this 75-year old dude who is now focused on my next quarter century!