The Day was clear and the winds gusty as I made my way into the Meadow from the North East.  I was bearing The Gamboa and had my yellow shirt and shorts in my bag as punishment for leavin’ it on my mantle last week.  The Young Bucks were already doing their version of the Eddie Bennett “Light Toss” and the Oracle was making a recruiting pitch to one of their buddies.  “Freestyle’s cool and chicks dig it…” was the essence, I think. 😉 

The Ageless Trevor Brown (TATB) was out next, then Jaime-TJH, Mary-Mary, Rod Heaver, Mojito Man Jay, Bradford T, and Quinn-O.  Roger and Mr. E Fresh arrived from opposite directions at about the same time with a late arriving TedShred and the lovely Chrissy rounded out the Tribe on this day.

Did I mention it was gusty?  We do not need no stinking conditions, but we do like to test them.  The best way to do that is to grab a 175 and launch some test flights.  TATB and Jaime went out, while me and Rod-Heaver grabbed three discs, to try and recapture last week’s magic.  We started slowly with 3, went to 2 to catch a rhythm, then got back to getting all three moving.  This is definitely a good workout, and a great way to get a read on the air movement.

The sun was shining brightly on all of us but the clock was tickin’.  Joey and Quinn got up and were joined by James.  I saw them get some nice Flow going, while off in the distance Fresh, Roger, and Dan began punching the clock.  The Gamboa was resting on the manhole just waiting to be claimed.  Everybody was loosening up early so they could make their bid.

I spotted Quinn-O grabbing a cool beverage and seized the moment to get my Jam on.  “Big Man Bustin’” I said to The Oracle, and he sent me a basic backhand, which I zinged over to James, and we are off to the races.  We had a couple of early O’Malley’s including a sequence Joey hit a Scarecrow Brush– that I was just able to get the tip of my size 14 foot under–to kickbrush it on to James who brought it home with a nice combo, sealed with it with a Bad Attitude.  Quinn-O hopped back in, and it got even hotter.  My favorite moment came when I snapped off a Hi-Z Counter UD overhand, and The Kid does a perfect TO slap/mac to the delay.  Not only was the disc now sizzling, I heard Sir Tedley say “No move is safe around these kids!” from the Peanut Gallery.  And things got better.

Trevor added spice to the Fresh, Roger, and Dan Jam and I saw TedShred seated for far longer than a normal day.  I went over to rescue him, giving a bit more room for Quinn-O, James, and The Oracle to go off.  Nothing quite like going to the bench a pulling an Oberhaus.  Sure makes it easier to get a nice Flow.  As time went on James, came in, and later Quinn too and this became the roots of the Last Jam standing.  The winds were not ‘zackly true, but the air was live so everyone was able to get their groove on.

As the dusk settled in, I realized that I had to stop having fun and check with the committee of between 2 and 69 to decide which Jammer was Hein enough to take home The Gamboa.  The main contenders were The Oracle and The Roginator who rotated in for me in that last Jam and was still playing.  This was a hotly contested race to the finish.  Roger got hot, hitting four straight spectacular combos, including his patented double spinning Triple Fake causing Fresh to chime in “This could be it…I think he’s going for it…if he hits Gitis, it seals the deal.”

Roger seemed up for the test.  He got a Z-filled set from James, worked it extremely well, sets it high…Fresh says “Here it goes!”…and…she sloooowly got out of the vehicle.  Everything but the girl.  This one broke the streak and suddenly things kind of went South for a while.  On the other hand, as we were being politely chased out, he finished the last Jam standing with a spinning Gitosis.
The Gamboa went to The Oracle on a split decision.  Daniel became the youngest Yella man in A*T history and while there were many candidates for the Yella rag next week, I do believe that the Board will come to an fair, if not impartial, choice.

Speaking of choices.  It is my honor to share the inaugural invitee of the 2010 All*Star Thursday Guest Jammer Initiative is a gentleman from the Northwest.  There shall be a Roast Beast East!  That’s right, May 13th (coincidentally the birthday of TBGITW)the Beast, anchor of the Seattle scene for so many years, is coming to the Big Apple.  You will try to make your way in this direction in two weeks, if you know what’s good for you.  Hey New England—come REPRESENT!  I’m callin’ you out Toddy.  Saw lot’s of fresh faces in the VA pix.  Who’s itchin’ to get some more cut roast Beast?!  Come make it happen!