The Old Men of the Mountain

near white-out here at Windham... Lunching with Guy & Bob at Jimmy O'Connor's. Burgers & beer and Guy gave me a WRIP shirt.

Wooden Tap

Sugarpants has returned from the wilderness so we went out for drinks.

A Very Explosive Christmas

After a few Christmas cocktails, we decided to celebrate the "late December 4th of July" (as Toby Keith & Stephen Colbert refer to Christmas) with some fireworks.

Kielbasa Angel

She comes bearing meat snacks...

Patriots!

Watching Pats / Bills at Mom's, actually in New England.

My brother knits

Making a sweater for my Mom

$10,000 for a Snow Angel?!?!

In what I thought was the greatest TD celebration ever (and rewound to watch 4 times), the Patriots' tough Texan Wes Welker made a snow angel in last week's crushing victory over the playoff-bound Arizona Cardinals.  Now, after having been penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct during the game, he has been fined $10,000.  Doesn't that seem excessive for an exceedingly humorous, childlike and festive display?  As opposed to the self-aggrandizing showboating that normally accompanies an NFL touchdown, this seemed downright wholesome.  And funny.  To all of the Grinches at the NFL I say, "Boo."  I hope you got coal in your stockings...

Red & Green

Grotesque Christmas colored track suits

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas to one & all

Operation: Bandy

has begun...  First deployment is underway.

Breakfast Gumbo

the breakfast of champions. With "Guts & Glory" hot sauce "The Wildest Sauce in the South" from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola

Grand Central

Have just returned from a good meeting in Greenwich, CT

Naughty & Nice

Fabulous.  And their hats read "Save the Elves."

Breakfast of Champions

At Andy's in suburban NJ

Thoughts on the Absurd

It has been quite a year. Not just for me, obviously, but for all. Continued war, historic elections, and the complete implosion of our economic system. Heady stuff...

I am currently ensconced in the Library of the University Club, watching the snow swirl outside the windows, surrounded by history and working diligently remotely. Part of the appeal, other than the obvious grandeur, of working here in the Library is that I can't have my cell phone on and so can't be disturbed - this affords me much needed time to catch up on research, as my chosen industry moves quickly and I certainly have much to still learn.

While skimming through the latest issue of Forbes magazine I paused as usual at the final "Thoughts on the Business of Life" section, which is my favorite section as it is a list of quotes around a theme. This issue's theme was one of my favorites and so I thought I would share some of the quotes with all of you.

"Only exceptionally rational men can afford to be absurd." - Allan Goldfein

"People who cannot recognize a palpable absurdity are very much in the way of civilization." - Agnes Repplier

"If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done." - Ludwig Wittgenstein

"The deeper the experience of an absence of meaning - in other words, of absurdity - the more energetically meaning is sought." - Vaclav Havel

There is tremendous value in absurdity. I enjoy it, as do many of my closest friends. In fact, I find it necessary and try to encourage it in others (e.g., our Jazz Fest costume parties and other frequent appearances in costume). And my brother just reminded me of one of our favorite quotes, from the master himself: "It never got weird enough for me." - Hunter S. Thompson

And so, as we travel through truly absurd times I wish you and your families the best, brightest and most absurd joy for this holiday season.

(Also, if anyone is looking for a Christmas gift idea for me... Look no further...)

Terry for US Senate

was emailing with Terry as the (incredible) Jazz Fest lineup came out today, and he announced his bid for the New York Senate seat vacated by Hillary:

"On another note, I too have decided I want to be the next senator from New York.

Will you loan me a room so I can fulfill the residency requirements?  If so, I am willing to bring the full fund raising brunt of the Brooks tribe to bear.

I am well educated, well travelled, and have better teeth than Caroline Kennedy.

May I count on your support for this very important position?"

well of course I pledged my support and have already gone to work:

"A glitter roach in every pot, and an art car in every garage."

"I'm Terry Brooks, and I may have imagined this message."

No it never gets old

"Happy Birthday!" Love the animated spectaculars...

Santa Pit Stop

A liquor store packed with Santas

The Red Menace

Has entered Macy's

THOUSANDS of Santas!

Wow

A lot of Santas

at the main branch of the Post Office.  awesome.

A bar filled with Santas

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel

Gearing up for Santacon, bitches!

Los Angeles

"City of Angels" my ass...

Just returned from an incredibly frustrating business trip to the West Coast.  A few days in San Francisco (which I am starting to enjoy - a larger proportion of authentic dive bars than in most cities) and a day and a half in Los Angeles.  

Our host on the West Coast was supposed to travel to LA with us and make some introductions.  Unfortunately, he got sick so we were sent by ourselves.  Suboptimal at best as these were his relationships and so, after our first meeting, we decided to cut our losses, return home early, and spend the rest of the day on an LA bar crawl to drown our sorrows.

Thankfully we have good friends like Alex who, despite being in NYC, quarterbacked us by text message on where to go in LA.  We changed hotels, went to the Beverly Laurel Motor Hotel (as previously posted) and went to Al's neighborhood near Hollywood & Vine, starting at The Bowery for a late lunch.  We then wandered, finding the Starlight Room (quickly left, as we didn't know it was a gay bar), The Frolic Room (which was delightful, and our favorite - very authentic and the poet Bukowski used to drink & write there.)  

Then we had dinner at Velvet Margarita:

Which was fine - well decorated with velvet paintings (including Elvis & Sinatra), a lot of skull imagery, and good music playing.  Food was just okay but the margaritas were great, as was the decor.  Walked across the street, per another Al recommendation, to the Hotel Cafe for live music.  An incredibly nice bouncer let us go in to check it out without paying the $10 cover charge.  Great venue but the chanteuse (resplendent in a Mrs. Roper-inspired muu muu-esque dress) "singing" that night was warbling Apple-ad nerd folk and I simply couldn't take her yodeling her never-to-be-a-hit "In My Garden."  (The internets tell me it was Obi Best singing "Within These Forest Walls.")

(For those of you who know me & my musical tastes well, you can imagine my horror...  Gano actually liked it.)

So we left and wandered to another Al recommendation, The S Bar.  Very slick (upside down lamps as chandeliers) with remarkably happy, attentive, & amusing bartenders making fancy drinks with very fresh ingredients and a very pretty - if stupid - clientele.  ("You've got a whale on your shirt!"  "Yes.  Yes I do.")

Finally we called it a night, feeling we made our best of it and retired rather early for us, after a late night meal at Swingers Diner where we had brunch the next day and then went to the airport and fled Los Angeles, very excited to leave.

Thank you very much Al for steering us to some good places.  However, in very much the same way that New Orleans speaks to me and I feel different, and better, when I am there; Los Angeles is the antithesis.  It is so abundantly not my town that it messes up my mojo when I'm there...

Beverly Laurel Hotel

Our hotel

The Man in Black

awesome

Hollywood

Decided to cut our losses here in LA. So are headed to some Lyras-recommended bars...

Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker's

A great bar w/ 40 antique motorcycles, Tiffany lamps & General George Custer memorabilia.

The Stinking Rose

Lunch at a famous garlic restaurant. "We season our garlic with food."

Gano at the Buena Vista

American home of the Irish Coffee

A Seafood Lunch

Overlooking the bay

Alcatraz

In SF

Wow...

My French is rusty but wow... This was a note aviators carried that has, in multiple languages, a message for downed aviators. It essentially reads "I am a downed American pilot, my plane is destroyed. Please take care of me & my government will reimburse you." Wow....

Mom & Former Crewmembers

Yep.

Former crew

Awesome

The Fighting I

On the anniversary of Pearl Harbor

Black Widow

Blackbird

Mom on the flight deck of the Intrepid

Mom & the Blue Knights

Biker rally

Mom & Tree

The Brother

Santapants

The Wife

A fictionalized version... but not by much! My brother found this at the new House of Blues in Houston while watching Buddy Guy. As my brother also said, very early upon meeting The Wife, "Two-Gun Charity out of Missoula." So accurate.

The Wife Shoots

Little Charity Oakley in St. Louis. God bless her...

Fresh Venison!

From Shickshinny, Pennsylvania to our plate...  Spectacularly delicious!  Cooked per Uncle Harry's instructions - a little olive oil, salt & pepper and sauteed in onions.

Rusty!

Bumped in to Rusty at the Glastonbury Barnes & Noble's!

First & Last

The alpha & the omega. A great pizza tavern in Hartford for Chris' post-divorce lunch. First & last indeed.