as an exploratory journey through that old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? History is full of people you’d love to have a drink with. Let’s meet a few.
as an exploratory journey through that old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? History is full of people you’d love to have a drink with. Let’s meet a few.
The Flour Rioters of 1837 Bread, meat, rent and fuel Ask them about: sourdough starter? In the pandemic months of 2020, one of the most initially surprising facts of life was the desolation of the supermarket baking aisle, with flour in desperately short supply as we all stress-baked our way through isolation. It isn’t the first…
Have (many) drinks with: Thomas Fitzpatrick Hold my beer. Ask him about: air traffic control Just last month, a small plane made an emergency landing on a busy street in Washington state (apparently even managing, no small feat, to stop for a red light). These sort of landings are not uncommon, as unusual as they may…
Have a drink with: Claire Heliot “Sentimentalist and lion tamer.” Ask her about: herding cats In 1905, the New York Hippodrome opened its doors with a banner performance of A Yankee Circus on Mars, a freewheeling half-circus, half-opera in which the King of Mars, acting as an intergalactic talent scout of sorts, comes to Earth…
Have a drink with: Jumbo The Children’s Giant Friend Ask him about: bath time in the Thames There’s one conspicuous problem with the 1941 Disney movie Dumbo and Tim Burton’s remake, released last week: the elephant’s name is not, in fact, Dumbo. The little elephant with the big ears is, in fact, given a family…
Have a drink with: Harry Hill “Take a little wine for thy stomach’s sake.” Ask him about: How’s your head? Harry Hill was a British-born horse-racing enthusiast and barman who ran a multi-purpose bar, concert hall, fight venue and gambling house at Houston and Crosby Streets in 19th century lower Manhattan, a scant mile and…
Have a drink with: Edwin Forrest & William Charles Macready The play’s the thing… Ask them about: Dead sheep as theater criticism The New York Public Theater’s recent production of Julius Casear, in which the emperor bears a striking and not unintentional resemblance to Donald Trump, was hounded by controversy throughout its run. On June…
Have a drink at: The Central Park Zoo Gordon Bennett! Ask about: Does the gift shop sell firearms? Highly partisan news engineered to manipulate media and line the owners’ pockets has become particularly virulent in current politics – and, thanks to the wackadoo likes of Alex Jones, highly visible as well – but it is not…
Have a drink in: New Jersey Jug handles and justice. Ask: what exit? No one would blame you for reading the news lately and deciding that 2016 was the year that somehow squeaked past quality control at the Time & Space Assembly Plant, having been created from spare parts by drunken intern howler monkeys. Even…
Have a drink with: An Anonymous Neat Freak Not a fan of the cake smash. Ask him: so how do you feel about nursing in public? In an evergreen forest of advisories, parenting blogs, media content and pop-sociology books on parenthood it’s easy to suspect that no era outside of our own has ever been so…
