Carlos Alomar

WE'RE SITTING in Bogie's, a neighborhood bar in Chelsea not far from Carlos Alomar's loft. The bartender is putting together a Long Island iced tea for Carlos, whose tastes are well-known here — he's a regular. "What's a Long Island iced tea?" I ask naively. So the bartender demonstrates by pouring it all into the goblet before us: gin and vodka, rum and tequila, and a few other alcoholic ingredients precede the dash of cola that colors the concoction into a tealike hue. After an insisted-upon test sip — surprisingly smooth, like the Diddlebock, from a Preston Sturges movie we both laughingly remember — I retreat to my club soda, and turn on the tape.