The day the music died

On this day in 1959 a private plane carrying Jiles Richardson (The Big Bopper) of “Chantilly Lace” fame, Ritchie Valens who sung “La Bamba” and Buddy Holly crashed shortly after takeoff killing all on board.  The tragic death of three major performers was the first of its kind in American music.  
.

The Historical Inebriant:  (rî)¹ Rye Whiskey
www.drinkhacker.com/2008/11/10/review-ri1-rye-whiskey



Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singing "This'll be the day that I die,
This'll be the day that I die."

Excerpt of “American Pie” by Don McLean

One of Holly's hits was "That'll be the Day"; the chorus of which contains the line
"That'll be the day that I die".

Long live the Queen

It’s not always easy deciding what to write about on a given day.  For example, Wiki lists the following events for today, February 2nd.  

506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates The Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum orLex Romana Visigothorum) a collection of Roman law.  (This could have made for fascinating reading/drinking if I came up with a drink that goes with promulgation.)

1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.  (Fascinating for me and six other people on the planet)

2009 – The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe devalues the Zimbabwean dollar for the third and final time, making Z$1 trillion now only Z$1 of the new currency - this is equivalent to Z$10 septillion before the first devaluation.  (Okay, I’ve worked in finance for many years, and I wouldn’t even attempt to do the math here.  All I know is that it’s bad, very bad.)


In the end, I decided to write about a topic very near and dear to me, the death of Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria was laid to rest on this day in 1901.   She became the Queen of England in 1837, on her 18th birthday, and ruled for over 63 years - the longest reign of any female monarch in history.

At age 81, Victoria had ruled over the largest empire in the world, survived seven assassination attempts, saw the birth of 42 royal grandchildren and had her life immortalized as “The Victorian Era”.

Her portrait also graces the label of the Bombay Gin bottle, IMHO no tribute is greater.

The Historical Inebriant:  Bombay Gin Dry Martini

http://www.mybestdrinkrecipes.com/2010/02/how-to-make-bombay-sapphire-dry-martini.html

I'm drinking heartbreak motor oil and Bombay gin
I'll sleep when I'm dead
Straight from the bottle, twisted again
I'll sleep when I'm dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0otLhqSYCo0&feature=related

My New Years Resolution Goes to Hell

Feb 1st is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian or Western calendar (it’s the one most of us use) and I think it’s the same for the Julian calendar (the precursor to Gregorian, but it is intrinsically off by 11 minutes per year so we don’t use that one anymore {obviously}) and we are just a few days into the Lunar Calendar (New Years Day was just last week).  It really doesn’t matter to me because whenever my remaining new year’s resolutions get thrown head first out the window...it’s usually February 1st.

That being said, I wonder if in 2005 Janet Jackson’s new year resolution was “I will not bear my breast(s) on live TV this year.  It would have been a fitting resolution - for on this day in 2004, on the halftime show of the Super Bowl, Janet did just that.  In what was described as a “Wardrobe Malfunction”, for just a few seconds, we were up close and personal with Janet’s nipple.

For those who don’t remember or were too young at the time, I have attached a link:
http://rhinoxsis.homestead.com/janet_jackson_superbowl2.html


It was tough to come up with a suggested drink for today, but I gave it a shot.

The Historical Inebriant:  Slippery Nipple
http://malebrainatwork.blogspot.com/2009/09/slippery-nipple-at-work.html



As an aside, the New York Times reporter William Grimes wrote that the Slippery Nipple (and its contemporaries the screaming orgasm and sex on the beach) marked the beginning of the Cocktail Age's decline.  God knows what he thought of the “Malfunction”.

As a second aside, I would love to hear from anyone who is still keeping any
New Years Resolutions.  Mine was to never use cheap sex references to promote
this blog.

Richard Drew, Scotch tape, and the only way to drink Scotch

On this day in 1930 Scotch tape, invented by 3M engineer Richard Drew, went on sale.

Introduced during the Great Depression, Scotch Transparent Tape quickly helped people prolong the life of items they could not afford to replace. The new tape was used to seal opened cans, mend torn pages of books, and fix broken toys.  Banks used it to repair torn currency, and farmers used it to seal cracked eggs, for example. The possible uses for Scotch Tape, it seemed, were limited only by consumers' imaginations. (paraphrased from About.com)

Who knew.

The Historical Inebriant:  Scotch, neat

Want to know more:
http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/scotch-tape#scotch-tape

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/04/05/the-art-of-manliness-guide-to-scotch-whisky/

Axis of Evil

On this Day in 2002:

In his State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush describes regimes that sponsor terror as an Axis of Evil.

I don’t know anything about politics, but I know that even in my world where the ice clinks against the glass like a wind chime on a summer day and the soft aroma of a Single Malt Scotch brings to mind the rolling hills and sweet songs of Scotland, or where the sea green hue of a Margarita reminds me of the slow cadence of waves returning to the shore...evil does lurk.

Evil does lurk, and Bartenders have no qualms about sponsoring terrorism when asked
for certain drinks in a clear and level voice.  Here is my Axis of Evil:

The Historical Inebriant:  Long Island Ice Tea
Masquerading as a nice drink for a hot summer day, it seems perfect for those

“Let’s go to that bar by the beach and have drinks on the patio!” days.  
Until the back of your head blows off.

The Historical Inebriant:  Jagermeister
If you’ve ever been in a bar and heard that thunderous explosion - the sound of multiple Jager Bombs being fired back all at once - and later looked into the glassy eyed, 1,000 mile stare in the faces of the young men and women who got caught up in that event, their hands, faces and clothes dotted with brown liquid, you will never forget this evil.

The Historical Inebriant:  The Martini
Perhaps the most evil of all.  There is no wind-chime clinking of ice, no aroma to revel or reminisce in,  no hue to visualise and fantasize about.  It is three ounces of alcohol 
delivered straight to the brain. It is, as a good friend always describes, “A quick and cold Icepick between the eyes.”

”Evil is out there my friends, stay vigilant - vigilant...but thirsty.”

THI on twitter

Still building it up, but THI is now on twitter
sharing some of the local CT happenings.
Keep checking @THI_Stamford
for updates on the local bar scene