August 18, 2005 - The Record Ed Word

There was something surreal (or maybe syrah-real) about Tim Owens, executive director of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RB&D) lying shoeless on his conference table, with members of the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association behind him holding their bottles of wine. The members were all smiling, with their heads leaning to the right at roughly 45-degree angles – not quite Sideways, but close enough.

The occasion was the photo-op portion of the RB&D’s recording of the Sideways Book and screenplay by 18 Vintners from Santa Barbara County. It seems that “Sideways” has been such a good thing for our local vintners that any chance to keep it alive is welcome. The Sideways phenomenon has also been a good thing for the Hitching Post II Restaurant that was featured so prominently in the book.

The old sign in front of Hitching Post II Restaurant in Buellton says, “World’s Best BBQ Steaks”. It’s the sign that was featured in yesterday’s Wednesday Where Is It contest. But, most people knew that.

Most people even knew that the Hitching Post I Restaurant is in Casmalia.

The Hitching Post was at the RB&D’s recording yesterday. They brought the food. Frank Ostini, the owner and chef of the restaurant, told the crowd yesterday that Rex Pickett, the author of Sideways, hung around the restaurant when he was writing his book. He wasn’t famous then, but everyone was nice to him. It just goes to show how important it is to be kind and courteous to every customer. You never know.

There were 18 wineries that contributed voices to the recording. They were Babcock, Bridlewood, Byron, Carhartt, Calzada Ridge, Carina, Clos Pepe, Costa De Oro, Consilience, Daniel Gehrs, Fess Parker, Fiddlehead, Flying Goat, Longira, Margerum, Sanford, Vogelzang, and Whitcraft.

RB&D, in case you don’t know, creates audio books for educational purposes. Students with disabilities who use RB&D’s books are able to learn more in school, receive better grades, and become more successful and productive citizens. If anyone is interested, RB&D is looking for volunteers to record books (mostly textbooks) for them.

At the recording reception yesterday, there were too many wines and not enough time. The dedicated staff of edhat.com did have a chance to talk to the owners of Fiddlehead and Flying Goat. They are neighbors on the vine, and in the real world as well – they’re next-door neighbors. We also talked to Amy Freeman of Byron who expressed great relief that Byron is no longer owned by a large wine conglomerate.

Maybe it was the wine, but the dedicated staff was in a talkative mood yesterday. We offered some unwelcome advice to the folks from the Hitching Post (open number 3 in downtown Santa Barbara), and for the RB&D (distribute your books with Podcasts). Unwelcome, yes, but everyone was polite. You never know.

Forty-one subscribers correctly hitched their Edhat contest entry wagon to the Buellton restaurant. The Edhat dog, who thinks that wine is something you do by the back door when you want to come inside, was called into action to help award the prize. We asked her to sit and stay, as our computer picked a random number between 1 and 41. And when we were done, we gave her a dog biscuit and some cheese. The winning number was 8, and it to belonged to SBLora. Lora wins a bottle of FRS-Plus, the new nutritional supplement that is making everyone feel better and wiser.

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