( item 1)

dalliances and cross-encounters of the best kind

Speaking for and of myself, it is necessary to uniquely qualify my social position in this matrix ,

- I am certainly and irrefutably THE ONLY person who has met both Dave Craft's mother AND Gary Hemming's mother.

But enough about me - let us proceed to crucial nexii:

Once in a distant galaxy , long long ago, when stars were round and munificence liquid, and innocence lavished on rocky sandy shoals 

one Gary Hemming transponded upon the Shawangunk shores - circa 1959 - a visitor from outer space - the far flung shores of Caffilornia -

blonde haired, blue eyed, transmogrifier of the absurd , bringing new cultures and evil seeds that would multiply in the fertile nascent emerging breeding ground of the compressed beyond the Schwarzschild radius hot tumescent Gunks.

At that time, the few feeble man-infestations of that region groveled upon the rock in mute mechanical advances - step by step - lurch by lurch - advance inexorably upward , upon thinner and thinner holds - for that was the word of the day - thin - and , as we were younger then, and thin atude was easier to come by , we ( Craft, Roman, Geiser, Al De, George Bloom and even Art Gran-diouse ) soaked up like a pre-moistened towelette all that penetrated from beyond our nay-bore-hood.

Hemming , purportedly , first was welcomed and immediately sandbagged by McCarthy upon some , what he described as a, "trick climb". For years after he regaled about Shawungunk "trick climbs" - however he subsequently mastered numerous straightforward climbing master works such as an early ascent of the Salathe-Steck in Yosemite (1960) ,"les Americans dans les Alpes" avec Royal Robbins, and most notoriously a rescue of Walter Bonnatti and others (some of whom perished) on Mt Blanc  (for which Bonatti reports most graciously and thankfully in his epic book) and of course the rescue he accomplished on the Drus which is captured on the cover of Paris-Match - close up of Hemming's steel blue eyes gleaming into the camera from a spare steep wall - full frame - full cover !!

Before Hemming had arrivee - before this crossing path - at certain times - when low and viscid and clear - in dark recesses of Anal's Mounting Bra House and then Charlie's Barbarian Inn 

(the extremely local nurturational establishments ) - it was manifested by Dave Craft in reverential and warning tones , and merely raconted with awe  - that several years before - in the vicinity of then Stewart AirForce Base , near Newburgh (which is now a NYC peripheral airport - SWF- and still an ANG base) there were in existence and in play some very tough bars.

Laudatory and commendable in their face of potential hostility and reek of DANGER, so much so that Dave described, several times, when conditions had reached such a level, about how this bar was patronized by such bad asses that ( and this is before we had ventured to Jackson Hole Wyo. where real cowboy bars existed , where Hemming also made or better, recieved his mark )  ....such bad asses that Dave (Dave was a local apple farm boy from nearby Montgomery, NY and big and strong ) would exclaim - he was carefully, as would all novices, shifting around with his beer BOTTLE in his hand - avoiding armed confrontations , yet absorbing the intense action vibrations. He noticed a Hell's Angel type tough guy pestering and hitting upon a patron at the bar who had a desirable chick under his wing. The bad guy persisted - it was a smoldering conflict wannabe. Dave turned his attention elsewhere - a few minutes later he heard above the background radiational roar an escalational outburst   - quickly muted and punctuated by a 'clink'. Dave felt a blip on his shoulder - he turned, a glass fragment had bounced off his shoulder - he then stared immediately in the direction from which the glass fragment had travelled from. There was the intrusive "bad guy" backing off and slumping - his hand to his bloody mouth  - the guy with the chick , who was being pestered , still retained a broken beer glass in his hand. He had instantly solved his problem by smashing his beer glass into the mouth of the offending  perp!

The story then goes to a bouncer escorting the bleeding "hit man" outside. Now THAT is an object lesson - a true heroic spontaneous judgement - action from the people. Nuff said - great story - told often - in justicial tones - how things went down in tough guy bars outside of Newburgh - watch your ass and fly right.

Now, several years later, a few pitchers of beer into a post cimbing hang at Charlie's and Hemming and Craft and other peripherals are talking Old Times. Turns out Hemming used to be in the Air Force - AND - Hemming used to be based at Stewart. Pretty soon it is revealed that - HEY - I used to go to that bar outside of Newburgh on occasion.

Hemming was the guy who smashed the beer glass into the mouth of the hitter who wouldn't quit, and Dave Craft was the guy who got hit with the glass chip on his shoulder!!!

Contact - Action - reConnect .........network theory in practice.

Some day - some time - I will tell you about Hemming's mother ...............................and maybe Craft's ................................[to be included in the piece