The Last Block Party

I was driving around Saturday and noticed that some neighborhoods were STILL having block parties. Labor Day was two weeks ago and summer has "unofficially" ended (even though, there are technically a few weeks left). Apparently, somebody forgot to tell that to the residents of certain West Philadelphia neighborhoods.

I don't know if they do this in the ATL, Chicago, or Houston but, people in New York City and New Jersey know what I'm talking about... several cars or SUV's will park in back of each other and close off both ends of the block so that no traffic can get through. There is always someone on the block that has the largest speakers in the world in their possession... (speakers that couldn't possibly be played in their homes so, they must be saved for just this occasion.) These speakers are hooked up to a sound system and a DJ (or two) who rocks the block with the most current sounds of the day.

Several families had grills going and the smell of hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, and barbecued chicken wafts through the air. There were several tables set up with a variety of barbecue sauces (some homemade, some store bought) and crowds of people were on different porches eating potato salad, macaroni salad, hamburgers, hot dogs, and did I mention ribs and chicken? It sounds like I was actually at a block party doesn't it? I was... right around the corner from me.

Unfortunately, every block I have ever lived on in my life has been the jivest block in history. No organization... no block club... thus, no block party. I always had to go to somebody else's block party and that still holds true today. I've lived on my present block for 15 years and we never had a block party.

I had a friend... his name was Keith also but, we called him "Baldy". He and I were once masters at "crashing" block parties. We did it in much the same way Tupac Shakur and Joe Torry did it in the movie "Poetic Justice". We would ingratiate ourselves with one person on the block who had too much to drink or smoked a little too much weed and that was our "in" to an afternoon of dancing, eating, talking to girls, and just having fun. And, believe it or not, we were rarely challenged. If we were, we would simply say, "Man, we lived on this block back in the day... this is like a homecoming!"

Considering we were barely in our twenties, how far back could "back in the day" possibly have been? I'm surprised that nobody bothered to take it any further. Surely somebody lived on that block long enough to know that neither one of us ever lived there. Mostly though, nobody really cared... we weren't troublemakers and the more people, the merrier. A good time was had by all.

I'm way too old to play those kind of games now so, I just walked on the block. Most of the people in my general area know who I am and that I live in the vicinity. I went to that block party with no problem. I contributed to a debate about whether the Eagles are going to beat the Cowboys this coming Monday and polished off some ribs, a hamburger, and a hot dog. I listened to the wack DJ try to mix some music and even tossed him a fake compliment.

My New York and New Jersey folk know how skilled a DJ had to be back at the dawn of hip-hop. He or she was playing the popular jams of the day... adding break beats and rhymes to a record and blending it right into another record, while being challenged by another DJ doing the same thing right down the street... all to the crowds approval. This is how hip-hop got started. This guy wasn't even in their league but, I suppose, he was okay for today.

Oh well, I partied like a condemned death row prisoner yesterday... I've got to fast again today.