- 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
Category Archives: Life on a Cocktail Napkin
DOORS’ GUITARIST ROBBY KRIEGER PLAYS THIS FRIDAY NIGHT
(Sorry this is late, but today we’ll be talking about The Doors, customers that don’t listen, and Sandy Island — a missing piece of real estate in the south Coral Seas. Believe it or not, even the Sandy Island part … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
4 Comments
ROOMMATE HELL
When the crunch hits there’s no place I’d rather be than behind the bar. It’s a rush, it’s addictive . . . it’s like being in the big game. This is what Johnny D’s looks like on a busy night. … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
8 Comments
A THANKSGIVING DINNER FOR 9,500 GUESTS
(In today’s post we’ll look at two notable Thanksgiving gestures.) Guess who’s coming to dinner . . . Back when I was bartending at The Lark Tavern, I also volunteered … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
7 Comments
ROB GUZZO JR; Navy SEAL
Sad, terrible news . . . Ex-Navy SEAL Rob Guzzo Jr. died Sunday night, November 11, 2012, on Veterans Day. We’ve written about Rob Jr., and his Navy SEAL veteran dad Bob Sr., in several of our posts. Rob JR. … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
39 Comments
(Part two of) CHEAP PEOPLE
As I mentioned last week, 99.9% of the customers at our club are welcome any time. It’s a good crowd, and they treat us well. But anyone who works in this business runs into cheap people now and then . … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
6 Comments
