Call My Bluff
A Confederacy of Dunces, Happy Hours, Boston, Jerry West, Lime Green Lambo
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week’s issue includes my favorite TV game shows, a novel that was published eleven years after its author’s death, two restaurants offering affordable happy hours, a band whose logo is a spaceship, Mr. Clutch, and a kidless car. I hope you like the picks and pics.
Last night we hosted six of our friends for dinner and games. The first game we played was Call My Bluff which is also known as The Dictionary Game or Bullsh-t. It involves two teams who take turns selecting an obscure word and then presenting multiple definitions, one of which is correct, with the others being made up. My brother David and I used to watch this show on TV back in the 60s when it briefly aired in the U.S. In the 70s Barb and I played it often with friends. The game tests your ability to think on your feet and lie convincingly.
After a slow start, our guests got the hang of it last night, and we played three rounds. The words were pellitory, monody, and medaka. Here they are in a sentence: “I cried when reading the monody for a medaka that died from choking on pellitory.”
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Fave Five 89: Call My Bluff
Cult Classic (A Confederacy of Dunces), Happy Hours (Mitchell’s Fish Market and Brentwood Grille), Brad’s Band (Boston), Zeke from Cabin Creek (Jerry West), and a Lime Green Lambo.
Fave Five Lists: Favorite TV Game Shows
In addition to Call My Bluff, here are my five other favorite TV game shows from the 60s and 70s:
Book Best Bet
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
My mom (whose 102nd birthday would have been tomorrow) had this book and gave it to me. I read it a few years later and found it witty and amusing.
From Amazon: After four decades, the peerless wit and indulgent absurdity of A Confederacy of Dunces continues to attract new readers. Though the manuscript was rejected by many publishers during John Kennedy Toole’s lifetime, his mother successfully published the book years after her son’s suicide, and it won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. This literary underdog and comic masterpiece has sold more than two million copies in over two dozen languages.
A Confederacy of Dunces features one of the most memorable protagonists in American literature, Ignatius J. Reilly, whom Walker Percy dubbed “slob extraordinaire, a mad Oliver Hardy, a fat Don Quixote, a perverse Thomas Aquinas rolled into one.” Set in New Orleans with a wild cast of characters including Ignatius and his mother; Miss Trixie, the octogenarian assistant accountant at Levi Pants; inept, wan Patrolman Mancuso; Darlene, the Bourbon Street stripper with a penchant for poultry; and Jones, the jivecat in space-age dark glasses, the novel serves as an outlandish but believable tribute to a city defined by its parade of eccentric denizens.
The genius of A Confederacy of Dunces is reaffirmed as successive generations embrace this extravagant satire. Adulation for Toole’s comic epic remains as intense today as it was at the time of its initial publication.
A masterwork . . . the novel astonishes with its inventiveness . . . it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue. — The New York Times Book Review
Ignatius J. Reilly is huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures — (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times).
John Kennedy Toole (born December 17, 1937 in New Orleans; died March 26, 1969 in Biloxi, Mississippi) was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Although several people in the literary world felt his writing skills were praiseworthy, Toole's novels were rejected during his lifetime. Due in part to these failures, he suffered from paranoia and depression, dying by suicide at the age of 31.
Restaurant Recommendations
Happy Hours
Given the high cost of dining out at nice restaurants, the idea of taking advantage of their happy hour specials is appealing. I did so twice in the last week, and I will continue looking for more to try.
One note of caution: neither happy hour menu shown below states that the specials are only available in the bar. That would be helpful to know. We ended up passing up the reservations I made for the dining room so we could dine in the bar, which worked out well in both cases.
Mitchell’s Fish Market 17600 Haggerty Road, Livonia, MI 48152
On June 6, Barb and I celebrated our 43rd anniversary by sampling four of the happy hour specials at this nearby seafood restaurant. We had Crispy Crab Rangoons, Crispy Calamari, Tomato & Goat Cheese Flatbread, and Spicy Crispy Shrimp.
There is a rotating special Monday through Thursday where one of the items is available for just $5. On Thursday, it was the Crispy Calamari. Our favorite was the Spicy Crispy Shrimp. The other dishes were decent but nothing special.
From the restaurant: We serve the freshest and finest seafood from the world’s great fisheries, and our seafood expertise means we know the ideal species to source depending on region, season and weather. After the day’s catch arrives, we inspect every piece to ensure it meets our standards for world-class quality, then cut and prepare everything in-house.
Our menu is updated daily to feature Today’s Market Catch, and we offer a variety of seafood options grilled or broiled, blackened, cooked Shanghai style, or prepared to your taste.
Brentwood Grille 43150 Grand River Ave, Novi, MI 48375
Monday was the night of Barb’s book club, so I arranged for another Book Club Counterprogramming dinner for the husbands. My friend Mark Mitra, channeling his inner Noah, ordered two of almost every food item on the happy hour menu.
Seven of us shared two orders of Pimento Cheese Dip, Seared Beef Tips Velez, Crispy Fried Calamari, Shrimp Cocktail, Crispy Pork Belly, Truffled French Fries, and Oysters Rockefeller, and four orders of Meatloaf Sliders. We all agreed that the food was excellent, and I plan to return to try the regular menu in the dining room.
From the restaurant: Brentwood Grille is a modern American restaurant offering hand-crafted cuisine, an inviting atmosphere and a lively bar, with our goal being to provide a consistently superior dining experience. Located in Novi in the former Steve & Rocky’s location, we pay homage to the popular restaurant by keeping a number of the signature Steve & Rocky’s menu items available to our guests
Our menu offers a selection of American classics using the freshest seasonal ingredients, carefully prepared by our experienced staff, including local favorites like the grilled north-shore ribeye steak, trofie pasta with shrimp, spice-rubbed rotisserie chicken, lake perch sauté with spinach & hazelnuts, barbecue ribs, center-cut filet, and the Brentwood cheeseburger with house ground chuck and brisket.
Marvelous Musicians
Today is the birthday of Boston's lead singer, Brad Delp, who was born on June 12, 1951 in Peabody, Massachusetts and died on March 9, 2007 in Atkinson, New Hampshire. I loved Boston's first three albums and the songs "More Than a Feeling", "Hitch a Ride", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", and "Don't Look Back."
From Wikipedia: Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, which had its most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on multi-instrumentalist founder and leader Tom Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the debut album, and lead vocalist Brad Delp, the band is a staple of classic rock. Boston's best-known songs include: "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Rock and Roll Band", "Smokin'", "Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be", "Hitch a Ride", "Party", "Amanda" and "Feelin' Satisfied". The band has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, making the group one of the world's best-selling artists.
More Than a Feeling
Hitch a Ride
Don't Look Back
My Playlist
Sports Star
Jerry West passed away today. He was a great player and executive — one of the best ever at both roles. As a diehard Knicks fan, I vividly recall the three-quarter court shot he made against the Knicks in the 1970 NBA Finals. He averaged 27 points for his career and 29 points in the playoffs in his career. The legendary logo has left us.
Jerry West, One of Basketball’s Greatest Players, Dies at 86 by Bruce Weber of The New York Times
During his tenure, the Lakers buzzed almost perpetually around the championship, but West had the misfortune to play while the Boston Celtics, with Bill Russell at center, were at the height of their indomitability — they beat the Lakers in the finals six times.
It wasn’t until the Lakers acquired their own giant, Wilt Chamberlain, that they triumphed, but even that took four seasons — and a seventh defeat in the finals, to the Knicks in 1970 — to accomplish.
The 1971-72 Lakers won 69 games, a record at the time — the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls won 72 and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors won 73 — including a streak of 33 in a row that remains unequaled. When they avenged their loss to the Knicks, winning the 1972 championship, West spoke after the last game with a colossal sense of relief, recalling that his thirst for the ultimate victory began before he entered the pros. In 1959, his junior year at West Virginia University, his team made it to the national finals against California, only to lose by a single point.
In the 1970 finals against the Knicks, West made one of the most memorable shots in league history. With the Lakers down by two and the clock ticking down, his buzzer-beating heave from beyond half court tied the game. The three-point shot was not yet in effect — the NBA didn’t adopt it until 1979 — and the Lakers lost in overtime.
From Wikipedia: Jerome Alan "Jerry" West (born May 28, 1938 in Chelyan, West Virginia; died June 12, 2024 in Los Angeles) was an American basketball executive and player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "the Logo", in reference to his silhouette being the basis for the NBA logo; "Mr. Clutch", for his ability to make a big play in a key situation such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks; "Mr. Outside", in reference to his perimeter play with the Los Angeles Lakers and "Zeke from Cabin Creek" for the creek near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia. West played the small forward position early in his career: he was a standout at East Bank High School and at West Virginia University, where he led the Mountaineers to the 1959 NCAA championship game. He earned the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player honor despite the loss in the championship. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers and was the co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, a squad that was inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2024, he will be inducted to the Hall of Fame as a contributor to the sport as an executive and consultant.
West's NBA career was highly successful. Playing the guard position, he was voted 12 times into the All-NBA First and Second Teams, was elected to the NBA All-Star Team 14 times and was chosen as the All-Star MVP in 1972, the same year that he won the only title of his career. West holds the NBA record for the highest points per game average in a playoff series with 46.3. He was also a member of the first five NBA All-Defensive Teams (one second, followed by four firsts), which were introduced when he was 32 years old. Having played in nine NBA Finals, he is also the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team (1969). In 1980, West was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and named to the NBA 35th Anniversary Team. West was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history in 1996, and to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
After his playing career ended, West took over as head coach of the Lakers for three years. He led Los Angeles into the playoffs each year and earned a Western Conference finals berth once. Working as a player-scout for three years, West was named general manager of the Lakers before the 1982–83 NBA season. Under his reign, Los Angeles won six championship rings. In 2002, West became general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies and helped the franchise win their first-ever playoff berths. For his contributions, West won the NBA Executive of the Year Award twice: once as a Lakers manager (1995) and then as a Grizzlies manager (2004).
In 2011, West joined the Golden State Warriors as an executive board member, reporting directly to new owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. This role also came with an undisclosed minority ownership stake in the team. In 2015, the Warriors won their first championship in 40 years; the championship was the seventh earned by West while serving as a team executive. He earned his eighth in the 2016–17 season.
After helping the Golden State Warriors win the championship against the Cleveland Cavaliers, on June 14, 2017, West announced that he would go to the Los Angeles Clippers as an executive board member and consultant. Clippers coach, Doc Rivers, floated the idea of West joining the organization during the 2016 season. West referred to leaving Golden State as "one of the saddest days of his life," but was excited to find a new challenge.
Jerry West 60-Footer
Picture Pun
And after buying this, moneyless.
