A Frolic of My Own

Jazz, Books, Food, and the Writing Life

Blogging from New Orleans, La

29 September 2008

The websites for the US House and my money manager are both down. Not a good sign.

Posted by Todd at 7:33 pm | No Comments

26 September 2008

In a week of scary news, this video of Pallin explaining her foreign policy credentials is the most terrifying thing I’ve seen:

Posted by Todd at 6:51 am | Comments (1)

24 September 2008

Got this in my inbox today:

Dear American, My Dear Friend:

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America.

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with “Mr. Phil Gram,” lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a citizen, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check.

We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction.

After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Do not discuss this message with anyone! Time is of the essence!

Yours Faithfully.

Minister of Treasury Hank Paulson

Ok, that’s actually the handy work of my friend Kevin Allman from the Gambit Weekly’s blog.

Posted by Todd at 11:05 am | Comments (2)

Yesterday I saw that Hansen’s was open again. That completely threw off my seasonal clock. Had fall, winter and spring passed without me noticing? Was it summer again?

Nope, turns out that Hansen’s is now open Wednesday-Saturday in the fall. I’ll try to find out how late into the season Ashley plans to keep shaving ice and report back.

Posted by Todd at 8:12 am | No Comments

23 September 2008

A fictional ex-present offers some advice to a hypothetical version of Obama in this dialogue from Aaron Sorkin:

OBAMA When I speak I try to lead with inspiration and aptitude. How is that a liability?

BARTLET Because the idea of American exceptionalism doesn’t extend to Americans being exceptional. If you excelled academically and are able to casually use 690 SAT words then you might as well have the press shoot video of you giving the finger to the Statue of Liberty while the Dixie Chicks sing the University of the Taliban fight song. The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it.

Maureen Dowd got Sorkin to write the piece. Maybe she should let him ghost write on a regular basis.

Posted by Todd at 10:54 am | Comments (2)

19 September 2008

Last Wednesday, master distiller Jimmy Russell celebrated his 54th year at the Wild Turkey distillery. Next week, he’ll be in town, along with the master distillers of Jack Daniel’s, Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve, talking about the fine art of turning corn into bourbon at the American Whiskey Fest. I’ve got the full story on Russell, and details on the American Whiskey Fest, in my piece today in the Times Picayune.

Posted by Todd at 8:04 am | No Comments

18 September 2008

The McCain campaign has decided to double down. According to Randy Sheunemann, the campaign’s foreign policy adviser, McCain meant what he said about Spain.

Posted by Todd at 11:09 am | Comments (1)

17 September 2008

We can only hope that John McCain is confused, ignorant, or senile. Because if he knows what he’s talking about, the man is terrifying.

In an interview with the Spanish press, McCain said that he wasn’t sure if he would be willing to meet with Spanish President Zapatero. He would meet with the friends of America and turn his back on our enemies. He hadn’t decided what camp Spain falls into.

Spain. A member of the European Union. A country that shook off fascism in the 1970s to create a thriving democracy and a vibrant economy. He’s not sure if Spain is our enemy.

As you might guess, this isn’t playing well in the Spanish press.

Update: The interview, which was conducted in English, has been released without the Spanish translation voice over.

Posted by Todd at 8:14 pm | No Comments

The Queen Is Dead:

Coleen Salley, author, Carnival queen, and the greatest character I’ve ever met, died yesterday at noon. R.I.P.

Posted by Todd at 8:23 am | No Comments

13 September 2008

A vivid report from the Times-Picayune suggests that the damage might be bad in Galveston. Time will tell.

Posted by Todd at 3:08 pm | No Comments

I just woke and am trying to get a sense of what Ike did last night. CNN is useless. The headline at the Galveston County Daily News says that, thankfully, no one died. Last I heard 40% of Galveston refused to evacuate, so the storm must have weaken. Or everyone left at the last minute. I can’t get any links on the paper’s site to load, so I know no more than the headline.

A Houston station, though, is reporting that Brennan’s of Houston burned to the ground last night.

Posted by Todd at 5:53 am | No Comments

6 September 2008

In case you haven’t heard, the Crescent City Farmers Market holds the “Mother of All Markets” this morning. Free coffee! Free music! And finally, after days eating fast food on the road, we can buy something green!

The market has a full update on its website of how the vendors fared.

Posted by Todd at 5:49 am | Comments (1)

2 September 2008

A quick update: We’re outside of Little Rock. Trying to decide where to go and for how long. No idea. If I can get a charger for my phone, then I’ll post more at twitter.

Posted by Todd at 9:08 am | Comments (2)