- ABOUT THIS BLOG
- Everyone has done it – you’re in a bar, looking for a scrap of paper to write a woman's name and phone number on, or just want to make a note to yourself so you don’t forget something. You grab a cocktail napkin.
- (In the TV series The West Wing, a political consultant decides that Jed Bartlet – played by Martin Sheen – should run for President. He takes a cocktail napkin and writes down the slogan, “Bartlet for America.”)
- I work in bars. Over the years, I’ve accumulated enough of my own cocktail-napkin notes to fill six liquor bottle boxes.
- Here are the people and stories that wound up in those notes -- real-life characters like Jackie Rabbit and Maude the Broad, the narcotics cops Paul and Sonny, mafia guys, some shameless tramps and one suicidal young man. You'll meet an old-time boxer who wants to take me into the gym to teach me his trade, and a woman who thinks God is on the stool next to her, urging her to have one more whiskey and ginger. It's life behind the taps.
Popular Posts
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Recent Entries
- LIFE ON A COCKTAIL NAPKIN, the book—a story of the joyous, free-spirited, and sometimes unsettling early years in the life of a city bartender in the 1970s— is now available on Amazon
- DANNY (sample chapter)
- BLINDFOLDS AND BINDINGS (and then a big step)
- THE BRUTAL LESSON (last sample chapter)
- JOHNNY D’S IS CLOSING . . .
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Check out the stories you’ve been missing in our Archives (below). And my sincere thanks to all of you who have visited here!
Archives
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Blogroll
Author Archives: MikeQ
QUIET HEROES OF 9/11
It’s always gratifying to hear from readers, but in mid-July someone named S. Dickens left a curious comment on one post: “Came across the article after doing a search on 9/11. How can I get a hold of the individuals … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
13 Comments
“NEITHER SNOW, NOR RAIN . . . ” (The Hurricane Irene Pub Crawl)
By the time of its arrival in the Boston area, Hurricane Irene had diminished in strength. For us, the worst was over by noon on Sunday. Inside Johnny D’s, a trimmed-down crew of two waitstaff and two bartenders served just … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
7 Comments
SPOTTING THE EX-STRIPPER
At Johnny D’s, a young woman leaned over the bar, almost grabbed my arm as I walked past. “Hey!” she said, “What’s the matter . . . you won’t say hi?” For a second I thought she must be someone I should … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
13 Comments
JOHNNY LA LA and the HICCUP CURE (And two more short notes)
1.) ONE THAT NEVER FAILS . . . A guy at the bar had the hiccups. It was at Johnny D’s this past Saturday night and the place was packed. I’d come over to ask the man if he would … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
13 Comments
A CHILD’S TRICYCLE (and drinking to forget)
I was behind the bar at The Sunflower Café in Harvard Square when I got the call from Bruce S. Bruce was a drinking buddy from my Albany, NY days. He and his girlfriend Betty had been regulars at The … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
8 Comments
