Yesterday was my birthday. We low keyed it because of my insomnia. After a lifetime as a night owl, I’ve become a morning writer but who the hell wants to awaken at 5?

The real celebration is tonight when we dine with a fellow August baby at Brigtsen’s. It’s not just a great restaurant it’s one of my happy places. Here’s hoping that there won’t be a flood like there was when we went to Brigtsen’s on my birthday in 2017. I blame the weather gods, not Chef Frank. He da man.

I failed to note Jerry Garcia’s birthday on August 1st. He would have turned 80.

Jerry and Robert Hunter wrote this week’s theme song for Jerry’s eponymous 1972 solo album Garcia. It became a staple of the Dead’s live shows as well as the song I sang to my late great tuxedo cat: “Shake it, shake it Della Street.” I still sing it that way. Does that make me a one-man tribute band? Beats the hell outta me.

We have three versions of Sugaree for your listening pleasure: the studio original, Grateful Dead live at Winterland with me in attendance, and a cover by Graham Parker.

We’re doing something different with our second act and following up on some some recent NOLA centric posts. But first Ella sings Jerome Kern:

Forked Tongue: Remember the scathing review I wrote about the expensive eatery Lengua Madre? It was a popular post after publication as I turned venting into an art form if I do say so myself and I do.

Something funny happened earlier this week. I started getting oodles of hits on that month old post. It turns out that someone on Reddit posted a link to my Forked Tongue piece on this thread: Looking for a poor quality yet expensive restaurant to recommend to an enemy. Any suggestions?

Thanks to the Old Roadhog, whoever they may be, for giving this post a second life.

One thing Lengua Madre served that was edible was some fancy corn bread, which leads me to a song by my old friend David Bankston:

District Attorneys 3 Feds 0 was a post about the acquittal on tax fraud charges of Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams. Williams kept a low profile until last Monday when he made a statement about the case and his agita over the conviction of his co-defendant Nicole Burdett.

That was all well and good but then Williams proceeded to personally prosecute a murder case. That’s where he lost me: it’s a showboat move. DAs belong in the office, not the courtroom. It’s an administrative and policymaking post. Williams should have spent his first post-acquittal day rubbing elbows with his people and reassuring them that he was back on the job.

The last word of our second act goes to George Harrison:

We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Casting Edition: Wild Bill Hickok is a legend of the Old West who has been portrayed onscreen many times over the years. Our wild foursome from left to right: Keith Carradine, the real Wild Bill, Jeff Bridges, and Guy Madison.

The poker hand Wild Bill held when he was gunned down has come to be known as the dead man’s hand. Here’s a song with that title:

Lordy, lordy. I thought Huron was a great lake, not a indie rock band. Ya learn something new every day.

The Movie List: Another day, another movie list inspired by Eddie Muller and Noir Alley. He recently featured the #5 movie on the list. It put lapsed lawyer and genre picture director extraordinaire Phil Karlson on my mind.

The Phil Karlson Dozen

1.      The Brothers Rico
2.      Kansas City Confidential
3.     The Phenix City Story
4.     Scandal Sheet
5.     5 Against The House
6.     99 River Street
7.     Hell’s Island
8.     Tight Spot
9.     Gunman’s Walk
10.     Hell To Eternity
11.    The Silencers
12.   Walking Tall

The Silencers, of course, was the movie that Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate went to see in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Matt Helm, baby. Ring-a-ding-ding, baby.

Here’s Vikki Carr with the theme song for The Silencers:

Best Of SCTV: I adore Rick Moranis’ Merv Griffin impression. Here’s a swell sketch in which Merv plays Andy of Mayberry. Eugene Levy’s Floyd the Barber is just as good as Rick’s Merv: Oooooh.

Saturday GIF Horse: Harry Morgan as Colonel Sherman T Potter on MASH was famous for his euphemisms for the word shit. Here are three of them. No shit.

Tweets Of The Week: We already miss the wit and wisdom of Tommy T. First Draft founder Allison Hantschel DBA Athenae paid tribute to our friend Tommy on the Tweeter Tube.

Thanks to Tommy, we all saw Trump coming as the face of the modern Republican Party. The Freepi were, and are, the most vile sons of bitches on the internet, largely because they're so much dumber than the inhabitants of all Very Online's other cesspools.

— Allison Hantschel (@Athenae) August 2, 2022

Despite this constant immersion in the lowest swamp on the planet, Tommy is one of the best people I've ever met, just a stupendously kind, generous dude. I'm proud to know him, thankful for all his work, and wish him the best of luck in well-earned retirement from this nonsense.

— Allison Hantschel (@Athenae) August 2, 2022

We miss Athenae around here as well. The door is always open for her or Tommy to make a guest appearance.

Now that I’m done being all nostalgic and shit, let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.

Saturday Closer: The Grateful Dead weren’t big on making music videos for MTV or VH1. This is their last known promo video:

What’s not to love about a skeleton playing a record on an old Victrola?

That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Dean Martin and Phil Karlson on the set of The Silencers.

 

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