The Man-Cave in Boston: Has it Been a Week Already?

Recently I have been withholding some personal stories off my site unless they bear some kind of interest to my readers, so I thought I would tell you all about my trip to Beantown. Last week, I was in Boston for an industry trade show, running the show with an awesome co-worker/friend, which was a treat within itself. But the highlight of the busy week had to be finally meeting The Darkness Within director Dom Portalla in the flesh, whom I will now refer to as "friend" Dom Portalla.

I have been to Boston so many times since 2004 and I can honestly say that I have never spent a bad day in the city. But nothing will take the cake (what does that expression even mean?) as what went down on when I met up with Dom Portalla. Dom and I have been in contact with each other since he sent me a screener for Dom's latest feature The Darkness Within (thanks to my boy Cortez the Killer over at Planet of Terror). And all of you loyal followers know the rest - I loved the film, reviewed it, interviewed Dom, did a giveaway, and have been promoting the film like I have stock in it. So it seemed like a good idea to shoot over a message when I landed in his city to potentially hang out.

We met up the night before and threw some brew back at Cheers (The Bull & Finch Pub) where we met up with some other people who also worked on The Darkness Within in some capacity: Dennis (aka Pinto), one of the producers, and Sean Pierce, one of the film's stars. These guys were f'n great and I can't say enough good things about these guys in the 4-5 hours we hung out.


Pinto pimping his G-style!

Pinto and our waitress recommended me some great local beer including the Brick Red. I had seen this on tap at another bar the night before and read some stellar online reviews, so I was happy to throw one or two or three back. Then we tried another local beer on my radar called the Green Monsta which was 8% APV of deliciousness which we all had another one or two or seven. I need to spotlight these brews on some special upcoming editions of Booze Reviews coming soon.


This waitress kept forcing beer down my throat and I love her for it

Now I have said plenty about Dom and Pinto, but I have to say that Sean is also one hilarious mofo who kept me laughing all night. The wit on that guy is top-notch and worthy of a man whose nickname is Chooch (like Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz). I mean how great is that nickname? Chooch! I must have yelled Chooch a zillion times that night.


Chooch and Dom

Again this post is just to give a shout out to these guys who treated me like we were BFFs since high school or something and how much fun we all had last week. We clicked early on and after that it was laughs and good times for the remainder of the evening. Something completely unexpected that definitely ranks at the top of my cool list is that they refused to let me pay for anything and treated me like family. So if you are reading this my friends, much thanks to you for your northern hospitality and I hope to return the favor one day of you guys can head down to Philly...or maybe we tear it up again on your stomping grounds for round 2.

Finally, The Darkness Within is now available for purchase from the official Door Eleven Productions. And check out Cheers/Bull and Finch Pub next time your in Boston.