Monday, February 22, 2010

My New Series: "Drinking with Johnny 'The Iceman' Hildreth" Episode One, “ So, just what's in a ‘Spanish Harlem'?' "

Famed actor and all around really fine attractive man Mr. Phil Ridarelli jogged my memory tonight in his post on Facebook about having a Manhatten tonight.

I decided to begin my new series of articles entitled "Drinking with Johnny 'The Iceman' Hildreth".  However, in all honesty the series should be entitled "Getting Drunk with Johnny ‘The Iceman’ Hildreth”.

I happen to know almost everyone, and I mean everyone, has a least four such stories they can contribute to this series. I look forward to all of them.

Episode One: “ So, just what's in a ‘Spanish Harlem'?' ". First, a little background on the Manhatten, and on Johnny “The Iceman' Hildreth.

The Manhatten is certainly fine cocktail…and my favorite cocktail. It is an old cocktail. There is a mystique and myth to the Manhatten. It is composed of whisky, sweet vermouth, a hearty dash of bitters, shaken (not stirred! please) on ice and poured straight up in a martini glass or one the rocks, with one or two maraschino cherries.

Personal preferences:
1. Whiskey: I prefer American rye whiskey over bourbon, but it is almost impossible to find American rye in most public houses. You can also use a Canadian whiskey all of which are rye whiskey, but I prefer American ryes, or Kentucky Bourbon, over Candidan Whiskeys. Old Grand Dad Rye or Old Overholt Rey or Wild Turkey Rye or Jim Beam Rye. I just bought a bottle of 6-year-old Russell’s Reserve Rye for my next Manhatten.
2. Vermouth: I am a Noilly Pratt man.
3. Bitters: Angostura, or Peychaud’s if you are in the mood. 3-4 vigorous shakes for one cocktail
4. Ratio Whiskey to Vermouth, three to one. The history of the Manhatten has ratio orginally one to two, one to one, up to ten to one. Trust me on this, three to one.
5. Good clear ice. Chill the shaker.  Chill the glass.
6. Two cherries, please...

Johnny “The Iceman” Hildreth

My good friend Johnny “The Iceman” Hildreth had many really good convivial drunken evenings in the years between 1984 and 1998. Ah, the memories! John Hildreth is an actor, director, teacher, and playwright in Chicago. A founding member of Cardiff Giant, he easily one of the most talented and funniest guys I know, which is saying a great deal. 
     I remember an evening with John Hildreth at Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap in Chicago. We indulged in a series of Manhatten. We usually didn’t need a reason to drink, but still always tried to find new ones. I think the reason that night was that John may never have had a Manhatten up to that point. I remember little else about reasons for that evening. I do remember it as one of our best drunks ever.
     After several Manhattens another friend of mine, Mr. John Bowman, sauntered by. We exchange bon mots, and then JB asks us about our evening's choice of libation.

"Manhattens," we reply.

John Bowman: "Ever had a 'Spanish Harlem'?"

Iceman and Rockin'K (in unison and with much curiousity): "No. So, just what's in a ‘Spanish Harlem'?"

JB: "Well, it's like a Manhatten...with sweet vermouth...except instead of bourbon or rye you use Mezcal. Oh, and instead of a marashino cherry you use a hot pepper...ideally a Jalapeno or even better...a Habenero"

JH/RK: "Sounds fascinating..."

Well, as we expected there was no Mezcal behind the bar at the Woodlawn Tap, but there was tequila. The only peppers to be found were those sort of yellowish hotish pickled Italian Peppers served on salads.
Still we made do and saw the evening through to its inevitable conclusion.
I am not sure I can recommend the Spanish Harlem as the drinks of Kings...but it has its charms...
With much delight I report that the Spanish Harlem is indeed a bonefide cocktail of sorts…


Friday, February 5, 2010

Folks Say California's a Garden of Eden (Ahbez Nature Boys) - Loaves & Fishes

SUNDAY 11-29-09
I had worked the previous night on call in the NICU at Roseville Kaiser. I had the day off …which turned out to be my first day off ever in my three work junkets to Sacramento from Albuquerque. I was going to make a day of it. So I visited "Loaves and Fishes" soup kitchen/day care/shelter/etc. in Sacramento.

From their website…”Our Philosophy …Without passing judgment, and in a spirit of love and hospitality, Loaves & Fishes feeds the hungry and shelters the homeless. We provide an oasis of welcome, safety, and cleanliness for homeless men, women and children seeking survival services.” It is run by a lady named Sister Libby. In college, many years ago, I worked in a shelter called St. Martin de Poor's in Chicago, run by Sister Connie and Sister Theresa. Ah, nostalgia…
”May I help you with something”, asked a 30-something African-American guy, wearing an official name tag. He was directing the traffic of a large dolly of cheese into the door labeled DINING ROOM/KITCHEN.

This was Hugh Thompson, or maybe it was Hugh Thomas. He had come to Sac to take a job driving a truck, but got laid off about a year ago. Then he started volunteering here, and now he works here for pay. Nice guy. L&F has a real big operation...which is a shame of course that the need is so great. Hugh tells me the crowds gather about 8 am at the L&F “Friendship Park”, where they pass out food tickets for lunch, and help people find work, or provide medical care, or child care. The operation is “across the tracks” literally from lots of nice homes and gentrified restaurants, etc. The Salvation Army is on the L&F side as well.

I asked him if there were still the tent cities that were in the paper back in the Spring. Hugh said “they” had moved them out, but he didn’t know to where, or who “they” were. I guess in truth I had kinda come over here today to see for myself… looking for those tent. I asked him if the folks had been moved to the State Fair Grounds. Hugh said that there was talk about moving them to Cal-Expo but that fell thorough. City was now making plans for where folks were to go this winter.

That their operation is "across the tracks" I found poetic...and as there are limited numbers of roads to get from the gentrified side to the L&F’s side. Here, every corner has a congregation of the dispossessed which I found sad but typical. There were small groups of maybe 10-25 people, men with long beards ala John Brown and leathery women, sitting on corners in a kind of industrial park area of their side of the tracks. Some of these folks had bikes to ride around…apparently the best mode of transportation. Me, I had a rented Chevy. Getting across the train tracks was a challenge in the car. It was a beautiful sunny day...big ass blue sky. It almost seemed like all the roads led out of this place and fast, rather than letting some drive into the place. The only people over here were the homeless and the very few folks caring for them. And me, I was the tourist…like in that Dave Massengil song. It wasn’t a bustling community really, teeming with people, but just the small groups and lots of empty space between them. It was kind of like Time Square was the week after 9/11.

I parked and went for a walk around. I left my iPOD behind. Technically it was my son Max’s iPOD. He gave it to me when a friend gave him a better one). I figured walking around in headphones might give someone a poor impression of me. There was a lovely new bike trail near the American River. Lots of young families with their well maintained little kids on new bikes riding across the bridge that took you over the river. It was a beautiful day to ride a bike.
On the walk, I found few stands of colorful newish Eureka tents nestled in gullies between the Union Pacific railroad tracks and the bike trail. There was a pit bull wearing a light jacket chained up near one tent...it seemed he yearned to be free. I snapped a picture, but then a guy called up asking “What are you taking a picture for”. I felt kind of ashamed. I asked him how long he’d been living there. He said “for a while”. I apologized for invading their privacy. I kept the picture anyway. I’ll put it up here when I can get it off the cell phone and into the computer.
On the walk I found this large opening in a razor wire fence at 14th and Ave C that seemed inviting. It seemed to be there for a purpose. So I climbed through and then up onto the railroad trestle. I walked about 3 miles along the railroad track to back behind the almond factory...Blue Diamond Almonds and the International Almond Exchange. Hell, I didn't know almonds came from factories. There were a few folks around but no massive encampments. People seemed isolated…leaning up against fences in places folks weren’t supposed to be, sitting on some fresh cardboard or an old mattress, sometimes listening to an MP3 player.

I made it back through the razor wire to the nice side of the tracks, got in my car, and drove back to a grocery store and then back to my comfortable hotel room. It is really nice here. I settled down to a DVD, a tumbler of sherry, soft cheese, some French bread, and a jar of pickled herring.

It was a really fantastic day.

Written Tuesday 12-1-09 while I should have been doing something else.



YouTube - Rich Krueger Video Channel!

Here is the link...SEND DOWN MORE FILM...I NEED MORE FILM!

YouTube - Little Richard's World of Mirth



Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Little Richard's World of Mirth - An Unnecessary Film by Rich Krueger

One might begin at the beginning which was 1995 but let’s just begin at my blog note of Monday, January 4, 2010 entitled “The Making Of The FIRST EVER Dysfunctionells Music Video: Trying To Give Credit Where It Credits Due While You Are Actually Stealing Another's Work”. Well, the video is finished and published on youtube.com ...The FIRST EVER  Dysfunctionells music video of "Little Richard's World of Mirth" from the good people at Copyright Schmopyright, Inc. and Unnecessary Art, Ltd. I hope you like it and PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

Initial praise has been awesome...

Ladies and Gentleman it is time to get your pull quote raving about the film right her…right now…so WATCH THE VIDEO, EH?


I would like to say that after seeing this film I made...I think it gives insight into how my mind works...or rather, wanders.  No wonder I am often distracted.  Anyway, there are a couple mistakes in the film I hope to correct.  First, I meant to include images or clips of Kenneth Anger and Anais Nin  and Aleister Crowley from Anger's "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome"  (bits of "Rabbit's Moon" appear as well of course) as well as Samson De Brier and Renate Druks.  In addition I labeled Renate Druks footage as being Anias Nin. Further I had hope to include the boobies-bearing Julie Andrews from Blake Edwards film "S.O.B" and of course the very hot Natalie Wood from "The Great Race"  I certainly wanted to include some hot band footage from Billy Wilder's "Some Like It Hot", but I thought it too too well known.  And I did misspell a few names in the credits...including my own.

I would like to take this time to send out a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all the folks appearing for free in tonight’s film: the dysfunctionells, frank 'cannonball' richards, francesco lentini - the three- legged man, waldo the regurgitating geek, luis martinetti – contortionist, john wilkes booth – mummy and actor, adolph elizabeth hitler and his mercedes, koo-koo the bird girl, johnny eck the man born without a body, the marx brothers, george herriman's ignatz and krazy kat, winsor mccay's gertie the dinosaur, the town of dildo newfoundland oh Canada, anais nin, renate drukskenneth anger, samson de brier, aleister crowley, grim natwick and max fleischer's betty boop and ko ko the clown and  bimbo, emile cohl's fantasmagorie and hashers delirium, jack lemmon and peter falk, keenan wynn and tony curtis, gypsy rose lee, wgn and bob ‘bozo’ bell, and nancy and sluggo and in addition we have to thank our families, our fans, our friends, marshall was it dawson? who recorded and mixed the track ...you done really good, wendy and the charleston, jimmy's woodlawn tap, cardiff giant, chris farrell, susan and brian kozins, john bowin, doug brush, sue miller and julia adams and the lounge ax, the mercury lounge, peter stampfel and  the holy holy modal rounders, the jim rose circus, riverview amusement park on belmont, jims polanski and newberry, phil ranstrom, beat kitchen, coney island in brooklyn, various and sordid carnival workers you know who you are, little richard thomas who is still alive running a folk fest somewhere on the east coast for christ sakes and still selling those french fries, kurt weill, tom waits, tod browning, death, life magazine, the world wide web, so many unnamed filmmakers everywhere, http://www.youtube.com/, max fleischer studios, paramount pictures, google, wikipedia, genetic mutation, julie andrews, blake edwards, the santa monica pier, http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/, http://thehumanmarvels.com/, edison's 'black maria' studio,  PLEASE DO NOT SUE ME FOR INFRINGEMENT I MEAN WHAT WHAT REAL HARM HAVE I DONE I MEAN COME ON!

I give you all my love as usual...
Your humble servant,
Rich Krueger

PS Hey Everybody! BIG NEWS! Just landed a job in Chicago so I finally get to go back where I belong.