The Benefits of the Authorly Life

Met up with reader[1] and sometime blog-commenter Damaso yesterday at Rudy’s Bar and Grill in New York City yesterday, after conquering my general fear of everyone who is not already known to me. Aside from a very interesting conversation about a variety of topics, and some of Rudy’s delicious Rudy Red beer, Damaso gifted me with this:

That’s right, moonshine from Hungary. When Damaso emailed me some weeks ago saying that he’d read my pleas for more, more more! liquor on this web site and in my zine and in just about everything I write, and he would bring me back some excellent homemade liquor he’d encountered in his travels, I didn’t believe him. When he emailed and suggested we have a drink so he could pass it over to me, I thought he was probably there to kidnap me and force me to be his own personal ghost-writer (shut up, that happens ALL THE TIME).

In reality, Damaso’s a cool guy and we had a great time drinking and chatting – though I drew the line at risking my life on the free hot dogs that Rudy’s offers. Damaso took a chance, and I hope he is still with us today. And also, he wasn’t lying about the homemade hooch. Sometimes, being a world-famous writer is worth the constant kidnapping attempts.

[1] I hate the term “fan”, which just sounds wrong to me, so I use the awkward term reader instead.

9 Comments

  1. Jayf

    Nice, love Rudy’s, it’s been years since I’ve been there. And I’ve also survived the free hot dogs at the bar, but maybe it was my Staten Island upbringing that allowed me not to be harmed by conventional weapons and suspicious hot dogs. That and going to Shea Stadium for years and surviving those dogs as well.

  2. DK

    Yeah, once you’ve eaten scrapple, a hot dog holds few terrors.

  3. Lunch

    Note to self: Do not try the free hot dogs at Rudys’s.

  4. Frank Marcopolos

    I’ve survived a Rudy’s Dog. But my stomach did explode, and it’s never quite been the same since.

  5. jsomers

    Jay,

    Yeah, Rudy’s is a millenial kind of bar for me–every few centuries I find myself there, usually through no impetus of my own. Love it, though. It’s the perfect bar in many ways.

    Funny, I’ve been eating Shea fare since 1982 and never once thought twice about it. Now, of course, I’m worried.

  6. jsomers

    DK,

    Jeff Somers: Scrapple-free since 1990.

    J

  7. jsomers

    Lunch: You will thank me.

    J

  8. jsomers

    Frank!

    Of course, I can say that about a lot of things I’ve consumed in bars.

    J

  9. Damaso

    Still here (he said weakly)… After a few glasses of “Rudy’s Red” (who knows how they “brew” that stuff) the hot dogs are quite appealing.

    Thanks to Jeff for leaving the safety of his compound in N.J. and coming to NYC. If you haven’t read Lifers, I highly recommend it (thanks for the copy, Jeff!).

    And if you haven’t gone out with Jeff for beers at a dive bar I also highly recommend it…

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