2 posts tagged “whiskey”
Watching any award show except the Oscars has become tedious. Especially music award telecasts. Too much shrieking from the audience. Too many drunken or unprepared "presenters." (Tip: there are cue cards, genius. You have to be able to read 'em. Wear contacts, glasses, or binoculars. Lay off the martinis. Do your job.)
So I hardly give the Academy of Country Music awards a second thought. But I scanned the list of nominees, just to be sure George Strait made the cut. (He did, so there really is a god.)
And then I saw, way at the bottom, the following categories:
Nightclub of the Year
Casino of the Year
Excuse me? Casino of the Year? Isn't that a place that does its best to separate oxygen-bottle-toting people from their money? What does a casino have to do with advancing the art of country music? Who wrote a song called, "I Left my Chips in Your Heart?"
Strictly my opinion: nightclubs and bars are entitled to awards from the hospitality, restaurant, and loan shark industries. No whiskey mill or gambling joint deserves an award from a country music association -- at least, not an association that still refers to women musicians as "cuties" on its website.
No one does this anymore. Maybe it's the lower blood-alcohol limits most states use in DUI cases.
But in the days when I toiled at an ad agency, we had a colleague named Ralph. And every Wednesday before Thanksgiving, he would come around with thimble-sized plastic cups. And a bottle of whiskey. And he'd visit every office (pre-cube farm, we had offices) and we'd have a brief toast to the holidays.
If you watch "Mad Men," the ad agency dramedy on AMC, you'll get a pretty clear picture of the environment that promoted on-the-job libations. Sometimes, we didn't need a holiday as an excuse.
Ralph? Lost track of him years ago.
The agency? Rumrill-Hoyt, one of Rochester's most enduring shops. Acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi, renamed a half-dozen times, and it closed a year or two ago.
But, I'm not shy about maintaining a tradition -- even if it's a virtual one. Here's my wish to you for a restful, warm, safe Thanksgiving. And have a glass on me. And Ralph.
