Royalty is going back to the Bay Area over Labor Day weekend!

Here's the game plan:

The King & I are flying to San Francisco on American Airlines. We leave New York JFK Airport on Thursday, August 30th at 7AM Eastern Time, we arrive in the City by the Bay at 10:19AM Pacific Time if all goes well. Upon arrival, I'm renting a car for the long weekend from Payless Car Rental. I plan to drive right to San Jose upon arrival. Due to a change in plans, we're going to Oakland that night instead. Thanks to our pal & fellow sports traveler Tike Narry we'll be sleeping at his new house while we're there. Friday morning I plan to drive to Stockton so we can spend some quality time visiting the King's sister who lives there. We'll be returning to San Francisco that night to see the Giants play. Saturday we get to see a Bay Area baseball doubleheader with the Giants playing that afternoon & the Athletics home that night. Sunday afternoon we're going back to AT&T Park then we're going to Tike's house warming party that night. Labor Day Monday we'll be in Oakland that afternoon. We should have enough time for a farewell dinner before we head back to the airport in San Francisco to catch our red eye flight back home. We're scheduled to leave there at 10:16PM Pacific Time & if we don't get delayed for any reason we should land back at New York JFK Airport at 7AM Eastern Time Tuesday morning.       
   
Thursday August 30th Stockton Ports at San Jose Giants 12:30PM Pacific Time

                                       Mariners at Athletics 7:05PM Pacific Time

Friday August 31st Mets at Giants 7:15PM Pacific Time
                            
Saturday September 1st Mets at Giants 1:05PM Pacific Time                                                            

                                          Mariners at Athletics 6:05PM Pacific Time

Sunday September 2nd Mets at Giants 1:05PM

Monday September 3rd Yankees at Athletics 1:05PM Pacific Time 

If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join us & many other people we plan to meet out there.

It's going to be a blast so why not come for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty is going back to the Bay Area for a Roadtripping Reunion in December!

Here's the game plan:

The King & I are flying to San Jose on American Airlines. We leave New York LaGuardia Airport on Friday, December 9th at 6:59AM Eastern Time, we have an hour layover in Dallas. We're then scheduled to leave there at 11:10AM Central Time if we're not delayed for any reason. We're supposed to land in San Jose at 1PM Pacific Time if we're on time. Upon arrival, we're meeting up with fellow roadtripper & a good friend of ours, Tike Narry who's going to drive us around while we're in the Bay area for the weekend. We're also planning to meet up with our pal Scott Bultman who's planning to arrive on Thursday & he'll be with us all weekend long. In addition, we're going to see our good people from Buffalo as well, they being Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell aka USRT if you will. Due to scheduling conflicts, we'll only see them in Sacramento that Friday night. Furthermore, we're going to see a very special guest & fellow roadtripper who normally just focuses on seeing as many baseball games on the road in the shortest time possible. I'm referring to Chuck Booth who will be flying to the Bay area on Sunday for the day to join us in Santa Clara for some football. Before the King & I escape that night on a red eye back home, we're all going to have a farewell dinner to cap off another memorable weekend of road tripping. Our flight leaves San Jose at 11:05PM on Jet Blue & we land in Boston at 7:31AM Eastern Time where we have a connecting flight that departs Beantown at 8:50AM & is scheduled to land at 10:03AM Eastern Time at LaGuardia Airport if all goes according to plan.    
   
Friday December 9th Knicks at Kings 7:30PM Pacific Time

Saturday December 10th San Diego Gulls at San Jose Barracuda 1:15PM Pacific Time

                                           Hurricanes at Sharks 7:30PM Pacific Time
                   
Sunday December 11th Jets at 49ers 1:05PM Pacific Time

If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join us. If you live in the area and/or happen to be around that weekend & you want to meet up let me know. As I like to say, teamwork makes the dream work. No doubt about that. This weekend getaway is a total team effort.

It's going to be a blast so why not come along for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty goes to Los Angeles to see the Mets play the Dodgers!

Tuesday morning August 13th we woke up after getting a good night sleep. We checked out of the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, Nevada. We bought gas at the Shell station which was right next to the hotel. It was a wise decision because the gas prices in Nevada are a lot cheaper than they in California. Once we filled up we made our way towards Los Angeles which was still about 400 miles away. We left there at 9:50AM.

We drove a few hours on scenic route 395 into California. We stopped off in Bishop, a town along the way. We were told by Tike that there was a place he saw on Yelp. He strongly suggested that we go there. He said he hasn't been there. With that being said, I planned accordingly. Ironically when I went to the team store in Reno to get my minor league pass-port book stamped, I overheard a gentleman say he came from Bishop to see the game. I asked him about this place that Tike told us about. He said it was a must see. He warned me it could be crowded. As we approached the town of Bishop, I did notice a billboard on the side of the road saying that Erick Schlat's Bakkery, home of the original sheepherder bread since 1938 was just up the road. I had the address thanks to Tike and we found it with no problem. We turned in to the parking lot and we waited a minute as a few cars were pulling out. The lot was packed. When we got out of the car and we walked towards the entrance. There was a seating area outside too. It was quite a set up. They have an area for sandwiches where we got on line just in time. The line wasn't terribly long when we did. After we were paying at the end, I noticed the line grew and grew. It was a madhouse. It looked like a bus load just pulled into the parking lot.

Erick Schlat's Bakkery

As for the sandwiches, we all got carved turkey on their famous sheepherder bread. It was a tremendous sandwich to say the least. My sandwich had dark green lettuce which was excellent it should be noted. We sat inside and ate. After we finished I noticed they had a separate pastry area with no one on line so I decided to get a cinnamon twist which was scrumptious. Duck took out some cookies as well. It turned out to be a great stop. Once again I have to thank Tike for telling us about it. If he didn't I probably would have drove right by it.

After we got back in the car, we continued on our way to Los Angeles. We drove on route 395 until we saw the cut off for route 14 which we took until we got to I-5. We did make a quick stop in Lancaster to check out Clear Channel Stadium where the Lancaster JetHawks of the California League play. It was conveniently located right off the highway so I decided to get off & take a look.

It should be noted that the drive we took was amazing as we drove through mountains and cannons on different elevations. It was truly breathtaking.

As we approached the Los Angeles area, we surprisingly didn't run into too much traffic. As a result, we got to Dodger Stadium around 5:30PM. We wound up parking the car on the street just before the entrance to the stadium parking lot. We proceeded to walk over to the stadium.

We didn't have tickets yet so we just went to the box office and bought them. We picked the wrong game to attend though. For whatever reason, this game was deemed a three star one. That meant the ticket prices were higher. We wound up paying $20 for Top of the Park seats in the upper deck. It should be noted that Monday night was a one star game for $8 and Wednesday night was a two star game for $10. We got our money's worth when we walked and they gave us a skull cap. I didn't realize it got that cold in Los Angeles. Apparently it's for fashion purposes. You got to love LA. Honestly speaking, I don't. It's one of my least favorite cities to visit.

Once we went inside the ballpark we were limited to where we could go. We could have gone down to the reserve level below us but that was all. That's the drawback of being in the upper level there. As a whole, Dodger Stadium is a great ballpark. Unlike the majority of today's modern parks, you're there mainly to see a baseball game. We decided to eat there too. By doing so, we had the famous Farmer John Dodger Dogs. It was nice to return there. The last time the King & I were there was in June 2008. As for Duck, it was his first time so it was a treat for him.

View from the Top of the Park 

As for the game we saw, the Dodgers were hosting our New York Mets. It was an intriguing pitching match up as the Mets had their young stud Matt Harvey on the mound against the Dodgers' rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu from South Korea. The Mets drew first blood when Juan Lagares, the second batter of the game hit a solo home run to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead. It stayed that way until the Dodgers finally got to Matt Harvey who escaped trouble as he got the Dodgers to hit into three double plays in the first four innings. In the fifth inning, his luck ran out as shortstop Nick Punto hit a two run double to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. They added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning when catcher A.J. Ellis drove in two more with a two out single to make it 4-1. The Mets managed to get one back in the top of the ninth inning off Dodger closer Kenley Jansen but they couldn't get anymore as they fell to the Dodgers, 4-2.

Stay tuned as the journey continued as we made our way to the desert for a mid week doubleheader in the state of Arizona. Please bear with me as I try to find the time to play catch up.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty rides to Reno to see the Aces play!

After spending another night at Casa De Narry Sunday night August 11th, the King, Duck & I woke up after the Narry family left to go to work Monday morning August 12th. Tike gave me a key to lock up the house once we got ready to hit the road. They woke up early & we slept through.

Tike who now works for Amtrak as an engineer was driving a train to Reno. We arranged to meet him later in the day there. He decided to join us for the minor league baseball game we were seeing there that night.
Once we left his house we drove back to Stockton because I told the King I was going to make sure that we would go visit his sister Alice Casiano who lives there. True to my word, we did indeed. We wound up going to her home first. We saw her and her husband Miguel. After we spoke for a short time, we decided to go to get something to eat. She recommended Denny's which was nearby. We asked her is there anything else. I suggested IHOP because I know Duck likes that place. She said yes there is. So she decided to drive us all in her SUV. We wound up having a nice breakfast together. It should be noted everything we've gone to Northern California, we've also made time to see her along the way. With that being said, it was nice to see her again.

Once we got back to her house, we said our goodbyes and we continued on our way to Reno aka the Biggest Little City in the World. We got there around 4:30PM. We parked the car in the El Dorado casino garage for free thanks to Tike who told us to do so. We then walked over to a restaurant in the Casino called The Brews Brothers where we met up with Tike for a pre game meal. He told me they have amazing specials from 2-5PM. We timed it perfectly as we got there just before that ended. As a result, we got to take advantage. Even after Tike told us about a time that he and some buddies drank there for a few hours for next to nothing, the King couldn't believe the bill when the waitress brought it to us. We had some really good pizza, wings and microbrewed beers. I want to thank Tike again for another solid recommendation.
After we finished eating, we walked over to Aces Ballpark, home of the Reno Aces which was a few blocks away. It should noted that the Triple A All-Star Game was held there in June. On the way, we stopped by the Amtrak station which is right by left field. Tike showed around there. We then proceeded to head towards the box office to get tickets for the game. Before we got to do so, a guy outside said here's tickets for the game. We were all caught off guard. He just gave them to us. We all thanked him and we proceeded to go inside. We were in the right place at the right time. As I like to say, timing is everything.

View from Aces Ballpark

As for the game we saw, the Reno Aces, the Arizona Diamondbacks' affiliate were hosting the Nashville Sounds, the Milwaukee Brewers' farm team. The Aces got up to a fast start as they batted around in the first inning. They wound up scoring six runs. There were a few walks, an error, a wild pitch and a few timely clutch two out hits that resulted in the big inning. The Sounds broke the shutout with a run in the top of the third inning to make it, 6-1. The Aces answered back in the bottom of the third inning with three more runs to go up, 9-1. The Sounds came right back as they scored four in the fourth & two more in the fifth to make it a game at 9-7. The Aces responded with three more in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the game away as they went on to win, 12-7.

Duck, The King & Tike

After the game we said goodbye to Tike and thanked him again for all he did for us. We told him we'll see him again Saturday when we return to Oakland.

We drove 45 miles to Minden, Nevada where we spent the night at the Carson Valley Inn, which was another great recommendation by Tike.

Stay tuned for the next installment of this journey as I try to make time to catch up.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty meets up with a few ballpark chasers at Citi Field for the White Sox!

Me with Jen Obirek  & Jim Wood at Citi Field

I was wandering around Citi Field before the game on Tuesday night May 7th when the White Sox made their first ever visit to Queens to play the Mets. As I was, I found out someone I follow on Twitter was also at the game thanks to my pal and fellow ballpark chaser Tike Narry who lives in the Bay area. His Twitter handle is @eddiesofficials. Please feel free to follow him on Twitter. He tweeted me with the heads up. I'm referring to Jen Obirek. Her Twitter handle is @keribo1. Please feel free to follow her. She lives in Chicago on the South Side. She likes the White Sox and the Blackhawks. She was at the game which was her first "road" game for the White Sox she said. Ironically she wound up sitting in section 516 row 3 which happens to be where the King & I have our season tickets. We usually don't sit in our seats though. We prefer to sit up near the top of the section so we can have more space. In addition, people we know can sit there with us without a hassle.

On this night, Matt Harvey was pitching a perfect game until there were two outs in the seventh inning. As a result, I decided to stay in the seat I sat in for the whole game. When the game ended, I went down to row 3 and I introduced myself to Jen. She was there with a guy named Jim Wood, who I've seen on the ballpark chasers website. Jim said he was originally from the South Side of Chicago but he now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He's been to 44 major league ballparks as well as an impressive number of minor league ones too. Jen introduced us. Jim's twitter handle is @BWB2013. Please feel free to follow him too.

I wound up walking out of the ballpark with them. They were taking the 7 train back to Manhattan where they were staying. We got to talk to one another. I gave them my contact information. I couldn't get theirs because my phone died on me. I told them to contact me if they needed any assistance getting around while I was at work.

They said they were coming back for the game Wednesday night May 8th. I told them to come up to section 516 near the top which they did. I was glad to see them because I didn't hear from them all day. I made sure I took down their contact information so we can stay in touch in the future. We got to enjoy the game together. Unlike Tuesday night, this time the White Sox beat the Mets. It worked out well for all of us that both teams won a game. They went home early Thursday morning. We enjoyed each others company. We said our goodbyes and we hope to meet up again down the road.

Stay tuned for another special post that we recap another visit by a special guest as the Pirates came to town for the weekend to play the Mets at Citi Field.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty welcomes Roadtrippers to NYC for Opening Week at Citi Field & Yankee Stadium!

Scott Bultman, Steve Fekete, Tike Narry, Vincent Ascanio, Me King & Bryan Gilligan 

Tuesday night after work I came home. I made myself dinner then I went out & I did my laundry. While I was doing that the King was entertaining fellow roadtripper Steve Fekete aka the Padre Punk who was in town to see his Padres play the Mets. Since the Mets and Padres had the day off, they took public transportation out to the Nassau Coliseum to see the Islanders play the Winnipeg Jets.

Wednesday night after work I arranged to meet up with Scott Bultman, another ballpark chaser who now lives in the Twin Cities. He flew in from Minneapolis to LaGuardia Airport earlier in the day and Steve Fekete who was staying in New Jersey. They wound up meeting me by my office in Midtown Manhattan at 5:30PM. We greeted each other and we proceeded to walk over to the subway so we could go to Citi Field. Quite amazingly, the plan didn't go as expected. Due to a stalled train at Queensboro Plaza, we had to take an alternate route which wound up costing us 10 minutes. As a result, instead of going to Taste of Dolly's for dinner, we decided to go to Subway instead. It should be noted that's Steve's restaurant of choice no matter what part of the country he's in. In that regard, things worked out well. Scott is also a fan of Subway on a lesser scale he said. The same can be said for me. Luckily I was ready for the alternate plan as I dug out some Subway coupons which came in handy as we all benefited as we were able to save some money. It was part of the royal treatment they expected and deserved. In addition, we got to meet up with my pal Vincent Ascanio who was on the same train as us. He joined us for dinner. After we ate, we all got back on the 7 train at Junction Blvd. and we took it one more express stop to Citi Field.

We got off the train and we proceeded to head into the ballpark. We did so in royal fashion as we saw my pal, Sam Citron who greeted us at the gate. Sam was so happy to see me. I introduced him to Scott & Steve. As for Vincent, he's a regular so Sam knows him well.

We proceeded to go up to our seats after I contacted another roadtripper who was at the game with his wife and son. I'm referring to the Narry family that is Tike, Dawn and their seven year old son Patrick who came in from the Bay area. They have San Francisco Giants season tickets. They wound up getting great seats way downstairs. They did so because they were all seeing Citi Field for the first time. More importantly they all were seeing their last current ballpark together. Tike told me he would come upstairs to where we were sitting in section 516 after a few innings. Since it was just before 7PM, we got on the elevator and we went up to see the rest of the royal court who were present & accounted for. We had the King, Bryan Gilligan, Pat Gorman & David Sack on hand on a cold windy night. We also got a quick hello from another person we know as JeanAnn Harrison came up to see us. She was also seeing Citi Field for the first time. She happens to like multiple teams. Two of them are the Mets & the Padres. With that being said, regardless of the outcome she couldn't lose. It was nice to see her again.

A few innings later Tike and his son Patrick came up to join us for part of the game. We all congratulated them on their personal milestone. It was great to be part of their special occasion. We all enjoyed each other's company. We all hope to meet again at a ballpark somewhere in the country in the future.

As for the game we saw, the Mets got seven shutout innings from their starter Matt Harvey who left the game with an 8-0 lead thanks to two run homers by Lucas Duda, John Buck and Ike Davis. The Met bullpen did their best to make it interesting in the late innings as they gave up four runs but they managed to prevent the Padres from coming all the way back as the Mets won, 8-4.

Thursday while I was at work I asked the King to take care of my Cousin Andy who was off from work. My Cousin asked me if the Mets or Yankees were playing. I told him they both were. The Mets had an afternoon game and the Yankees had a night game. Since I was working during the day, I arranged for him to meet up with the King. I told him I would see him at Yankee Stadium for their game after work.
In addition, Scott Bultman and Steve Fekete also did the doubleheader. This time it was Scott's turn to get closer to a personal milestone as he was seeing new Yankee Stadium for the first time. It was his 29th current ballpark leaving him with just Arizona which he plans to get to sometime in May so he can finish seeing all the current stadiums. I was happy to join him for the game.

As for the games that day, the Mets dropped their first game of the season, 2-1. As for the Yankees, they beat the Red Sox, 4-2 to earn their first win of the season after they got beat the first two games. Andy Pettitte allowed just one run over eight innings to earn his 246th lifetime win.

Friday night after work I wound up meeting Scott Bultman by surprise because he originally planned to go to Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks who were hosting the Bucks. He contacted me during the day and he said he changed his plans. As a result, we arranged to meet up at my office again at 5:30PM. Scott spend the day sightseeing. We wound up taking the train to Citi Field without a problem this time. We stopped off at Taste of Dolly's and we each had a few slices of pizza.

We found out on our way to Citi Field that Steve Fekete who was suppose to go back home to Anaheim, California decided to stay in NYC another day because his flight got delayed. As a result, he wound up going back to Citi Field too as the Miami Marlins were in town to play the Mets.

After Scott & I finished eating, we took the Q48 bus that was coming. It dropped us off right across the street from Citi Field. We got off and we walked over to the Rotunda area where we saw Sam Citron again. We proceeded to go in & we went upstairs where we met up with the King and the rest of the royal court which consisted of Bryan Gilligan, Vincent Ascanio, Frank Anichiarico, Pat Gorman and Michael Abrams aka the Yankee emperor who has seen 909 consecutive Yankee home games.

As for the game we saw, the Marlins built a 6-0 lead as the Mets bullpen imploded after starter Jeremy Hefner only allowed a run over the first six innings. The Mets made a comeback as they cut the lead in half, 6-3 after seven innings. After a scoreless eighth inning, the Marlins tacked on a run in the ninth. The Mets responded with two more as they threatened but they fell short as they lost, 7-5.

After the game, we went to Donovan's Pub in Woodside for a post game meal. Scott decided not to join us since he had an early flight back home to the Mini Apple Saturday morning. Steve decided to join the King, Bryan Gilligan, Frank Anichiarico and I. We got to have a nice meal together despite the Met loss it turned out to be a fun night out.

Stay tuned as I finish recapping the weekend as our visiting roadtrippers departed NYC.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 7/30 in review

Monday night after work, I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles.

Before I went into the Stadium, I went to Burger King to have dinner. I wound up getting a Memphis pulled pork sandwich. After I ate, I picked up a frozen bottle of water from my pal Jin Kim who was hawking them outside his store, KJY Fruit Market on my way to Yankee Stadium. Since it was so hot I needed some relief. For a dollar, I couldn't go wrong.

After I got inside the Stadium, I went up to my seat in section 420B row 7. I got to see Vincent Ascanio who was up there already. We exchanged pleasantries and we got ready for the game.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees scored first as Eric Chavez delivered a run scoring single in the bottom of the second inning to give the Yankees an early 1-0 lead. The Orioles responded quickly as former Yankee Wilson Betemit lead off the top of the third with a solo homer to even the score at one. The Orioles tacked on a few more runs in the fifth inning as they hit a few sacrifice flies to take the lead for good at 3-1. The Yankees played catch up the rest of the night. Former Mariner Ichiro Suzuki followed a solo homer by Eric Chavez with one of his own in the eighth inning to get the Yankees within a run. It was his 100th major league home run since he came over from Japan back in 2001. Unfortunately for him and the Yankees, that's the way it stayed as the Orioles held on for a 5-4 victory.

Tuesday night after work I returned to the Bronx for game two of the series. This time I decided to go to the Court Deli Restaurant to get a sandwich for the King and I. Right after I walked in, I turned around and my pal Eddie Pelle was there. What timing that was. Eddie said this was his first time there. He said he read about it on my blog so he decided to try it out. He asked me what he should get. I told him they have great pastrami and corned beef. He decided to order a combo sandwich. After we got done ordering, we took the food out so we could eat it at the Stadium.

Eddie told me he had a seat in section 415. I told him to come with me so he could get an upgrade. We went up to section 420B and we ate our sandwiches. Shortly thereafter, I asked Eddie how his sandwich was. He said it was delicious. That was music to my ears. After we finished eating, we watched the game.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees got off to a fast start as they scored five runs in the first inning. In the second inning, the Orioles got a few hits then they struck out twice. They started a two out rally as they strung together five more hits and a walk before they made the third out. Chris Davis delivered the big blow as he hit a grand slam. When it was all said and done, they scored seven runs as they roughed up Yankees' starter Ivan Nova in the process. They added another run in the third inning to make it 8-5. They added on more runs later as they cruised to an easy 11-5 win.

Wednesday night after work I went home so I could do my laundry. I ate dinner and rested up briefly.
Thursday night after work I went out to Coney Island to see the Brooklyn Cyclones play the Connecticut Tigers at MCU Park.

As for the game I saw, the Tigers tossed the Cyclones a beating as they whipped them, 11-3.

Friday night after work I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees open a three game series with the Seattle Mariners.

Before the game, I met the King at the 7 Fish Market where we had a pre game meal.

After we ate, we went into the Stadium to see the game. We had a few veteran pitchers starting the game as the Mariners were throwing Kevin Millwood against Yankees' ace CC Sabathia.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees knocked Millwood around as they scored four runs off him in six innings. They added a few more runs against their bullpen. CC Sabathia on the other hand, pitched well and he even went the distance as the Yankees won the game, 6-3. He allowed just three hits and he struck out ten in the process.

During the game, I got a tweet from fellow roadtripper, Tike Narry, who was visiting the New Yankee Stadium for the first time with his wife and their seven year old son Patrick. I wound up meeting up with Tike and Patrick during the game on the concourse. He's from the Bay area. He told me he has season tickets for the San Francisco Giants and he goes to a lot of Oakland A's games too. It was nice to meet and greet them.
After the game, our friend Bryan Gilligan drove the King and I to Donovan's Pub in Queens for a post game meal.

Saturday the King and I went back to the Bronx to see game two of the series. We also got a ride to Philadelphia from Bryan Gilligan as we saw the Phillies game too that night.

Stay tuned for the special post that I'm going to do about our busy day.

Sunday the King and I went back to Yankee Stadium for the finale of the series.

As for the game we saw, the Mariners scored first to take an early 1-0 lead. The Yankees tied the game at one in their half of the first. They scored a run in the second and another in the fourth to go up, 3-1. Former Yankee Jesus Montero drove in his second run of the game to cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth. The Yankees answered with a run in the fifth and they got two more in the sixth to pull away as they beat the Mariners, 6-2.

With that, another week of baseball was in the books.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman