Jump to content

The Hersch

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,783

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    23

 Content Type 

Everything posted by The Hersch

  1. The Hersch
    In Spanish as in Portuguese, the final syllable is accented if it ends in "l" or "r", unless there's a written accent elsewhere. Unlike French, accent marks are not supposed to be optional over capital letters, so if "Escobar" has the stress on the first syllable, it's misspelled. What really puzzles me about Spanish, in this regard, is how many names are written with an accent mark that is redundant, such as Pérez. I see them all the time.
  2. The Hersch
    I was around during his hits, and remember "Hold What You Got" and several other records from when they were getting play on top-40 radio, but I didn't really start paying close attention to soul music until about 1970, when Memphis soul lay dying. Always late to the party, the story of my life. It's funny, and probably true, what you say about the R-rated, adult-party-record compartmentalizing of the material he was given to record, especially in light of the fact that he was among the most thoroughly church-gospel inflected of all the Memphis soul singers of his era. But I really haven't studied Joe Tex's career in sufficient depth to answer your question. Here's a very churchy hit from 1965, "The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)": On the other hand, and more in line with what you suggest, his last single to chart in the U.S. was the 1977 release "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (with No Big Fat Woman)", but I certainly wasn't following his career at that point
  3. The Hersch
    Joe: I meant to follow up on this when you posted it almost three years ago. I don't recall ever seeing Combier triple-sec on a store shelf. Do you stock it at Ace?
  4. The Hersch
    I know it's a little bit hard not to cringe at the complacent sexism of this material, but Joe Tex was one of the greatest soul singers we ever had, and this was probably his definitive recording, "Hold What You've Got", from 1964. And I love it. I never had the pleasure of seeing Joe Tex perform live.
  5. The Hersch
    Much. Thanks.
  6. The Hersch
    Oh my, Don, you've certainly changed your tune. Back in October of 2012, when I objected to your own use of "begs the question" to mean "raises the question", you said: Henry Fowler, in his magisterial Modern English Usage, defines question-begging thus: I'm glad you've seen the error of your ways, but sorry it wasn't I who convinced you.
  7. The Hersch
    I was going through piles and piles of old papers and such the other day, and came upon this postcard. It shows an oil-on-canvas painting titled "Enjoy Life" by Mark D. Clark, dated 1978. The painting is a view of the bar at the Benbow, on Connecticut Avenue just south of R Street (next to the Janus movies theatre at the time), and a very evocative view it is. I don't recall how this postcard came into my possession, but I believe it was while the Benbow was still in operation, which it was until about 1981. (If anyone can furnish the date of its closure, I would greatly appreciate it. As I said above, the best neighborhood bar that ever was.) This is a pretty low-res scan, but the card itself is rather dingy.
  8. The Hersch
    As I mentioned a few years ago on some forgotten thread here, Portofino on 23rd St. was pretty good when I had dinner there in 1970, a high-school-graduation treat from one of my best chums' parents. I haven't been back in the intervening 46 years, but the fact that it has survived all these years must mean something good.
  9. The Hersch
    I love Big Maybelle. I used to have a two-LP compilation of her work that was fantastic. I haven't heard it in probably 20 years (or more), but I recognize this track from it. Thanks for posting it. I must confess I don't remember ever hearing of Sid Wyche, so thanks for your research. Turns out he co-wrote the widely recorded standard "Well all right, okay, you win" and also the mischievous (to put it mildly) "(I Love to Play Your Piano) Baby Let Me Bang Your Box", first released by The Toppers in 1954:
  10. The Hersch
    This is a great, not-very-well-known blues number with some great recordings. Here are Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughan, and Dakota Staton.
  11. The Hersch
    I saw Shane about 20 years ago and I absolutely could not stand it and wondered why it enjoyed the reputation it had and still has. Unfortunately, I don't remember many particulars of what made it seem so awful to me. The one thing I remember distinctly is the whiny, irritating performance of Brandon deWilde. Anyway, that makes at least four of us.
  12. The Hersch
    The marble-faced building at the northeast corner of Constitution Avenue and 23rd Street was designed by the very important architect John Russell Pope (who designed the Jefferson Memorial, the west building of the National Gallery of Art, the National Archives, and the ineffable Masonic Scottish Rite Temple at 16th and S. NW) and dedicated in 1934. It stands now, as it stood then, on land owned by the pharmacists' association, known variously over the years as the American Pharmaceutical Association and (currently) the American Pharmacists Association, with the building itself sometimes known (officially, I believe, even now) as the American Institution of Pharmacy. In the 1950s, with a land-swap deal with the GSA and State Department, the pharmacists acquired a parcel of land immediately behind the Pope structure (which has always looked like a mausoleum to me) and built an annex office building on it. In the early 2000s, I believe with another land-swap with the GSA and State Department, the pharmacists acquired an additional parcel that extended their property all the way to C St., when they proceeded to demolish the 1950s annex and build the new annex that you see today. For several years beginning in 2006, I occupied an office that overlooked the intersection of 21st and C, from the northeast. I had a view of parts of Rosslyn originally, but as the new building took shape, I lost that view, although Rosslyn isn't that much to look at anyway. Sadly, I never did have any view of the river. At any rate, as I understand it, all of the land occupied by the pharmacists is owned by them, and they rent part of their new annex to the State Department. It is said that theirs is the only privately-held property on the Mall, although this causes me to wonder who owns the National Academy of Sciences building and its land, next door. Although created by act of Congress during the Civil War, the NAS is a private non-profit. You can read about the history of the APhA and its DC facility here.
  13. The Hersch
    One tiny correction: Don Grady played Robbie on My Three Sons, who was originally the middle brother. Late in the series, after some cast changes, he sort of graduated to eldest brother, as the original eldest brother vanished without explanation (that I can recall).
  14. The Hersch
    Or you can do what our grandparent's generation (and among some of our older comrades', mothers) did, and go with B in B in the cute little jars and cans. If I recall correctly, fresh mushrooms only started appearing in Americans supermarkets, at least around here, in the mid-sixties, and champignons were all you could get. Do you suppose the mug o' shrooms with a slice of lemon was a "Mushroom Cocktail", an hors-d'oeuvre sensation among ladies giving smart dinner parties?
  15. The Hersch
    Thank you! I've often wondered about the various "producer" terms. One term here I think is oversimplified, however, and that is "executive producer". I think this title is often bestowed on people who have helped raise funds for a production but who have no role in the actual making of a film. I've seen films with ten or twelve names listed as "executive producer" -- they're surely not all supervising the producer.
  16. The Hersch
    A gin gizz! I love it!
  17. The Hersch
    I don't disparage the drinks you suggest, as they're both quite nice, especially for summer, but I question their being called cocktails. I would call them long drinks or highballs.
  18. The Hersch
    I always thought the German city of Darmstadt has a pretty funny name: It means "intestine city" or "gut city".
  19. The Hersch
    If you're saying it's ironic that someone on donrockwell.com would characterize as "elitist" objecting to being treated like shit while being served inedible slop, I'd say I have to agree. If you're saying something else, well, perhaps not.
  20. The Hersch
    Two of the worst meals I've ever had in my life were at an Applebee's and a TGIF. The food was incredibly bad at both; at Applebee's, the service was annoying and intrusive, while at TGIF the service was passive-aggressive and frankly bizarre. I am perfectly happy to hate both establishments and will never set foot in either for the rest of my life.
  21. The Hersch
    They don't say on their website, but I imagine they borrowed the name of their company from the second half of "canola".
  22. The Hersch
    The "ola" in Shinola has no discernible relation to "oil". As the OED says of the -ola suffix: Used to form nouns denoting commercial products (as Editola n., moviola n., Victrola n.). Probably the earliest use was "Pianola". There was an interesting item on PBS the other day about a start-up company using the name Shinola (which it bought the rights to) making semi-luxury goods in Detroit. Their flagship product is the Shinola wristwatch.
  23. The Hersch
    You can add the illustrious Oxford English Dictionary to the Wikipedia deniers. From the canola article in the OED (new in the 3rd edition, March 2010): Etymology: Acronym < the initial letters of Canadian oil, low acid, after formations in -ola suffix I'll trust the OED over Wikipedia any day of the week, especially since the Wikipedia etymology cites "official" sources, such as the Canola Council of Canada. I still don't use canola oil, but not because of its name but because it sucks. ETA: Oh, and can anyone on earth identify another context where "ola" refers to or means oil?
  24. The Hersch
    Matt Taibbi, making sense as usual. "The Reaction to Brexit is the Reason Brexit Happened" by Matt Taibbi on rollingstone.com
  25. The Hersch
    This touches a number of topics that have come up over the years. My bottle of Cherry Heering, an essential component of the famous cocktail Tarlton's Resurrection, finally ran dry, a bottle that had served me well for at least five years. When I went to Calvert Woodley to replace it, I found that they no longer carry the stuff. The only alternative they could offer me was Cherry Kijafa, which I hadn't tasted in at least 40 years. I couldn't imagine that it would work, but I was surprised by how not-awful the resulting cocktail was, although it had a sort of vinegary undertone and produced a decidedly inferior result. So today I was in Washington Circle and stopped into Arrowine, asking for Cherry Heering. The excellent gentleman there told me they didn't carry it, but suggested I give Leopold Bros' Michigan Tart Cherry Liqueur a try, it being a much finer product in his view. Well, it is a much better product. It's an almost infinitely superior liqueur, and the resulting cocktail was a revelation. Substitute it for Cherry Heering in the formula above, and add a few drops of Fee Bros' Cherry Bitters, and you'll have a very fine cocktail indeed, especially if you can enhance it with a garnish of fresh cherries.
×
×
  • Create New...