First of all, hiiii! I always like to give a warm Southern welcome to my readers, y’all! As some of you who follow my exploits know, I’m working like a rented mule to become the Ultimate Washington Insider (UWI), which is not easy when you’re looking down the barrel of the big Five-O, do not [...]

A very special “Drinking on $11 a Night” as Kevin Downey, Jr. returns to the dive bars of his early years! Welcome back. My dreams were my ticket out of Detroit, specifically the Warrendale section, though the real estate people now refer to my neighborhood as the (gulp) Herman Gardens region. Warrendale was still a [...]

Some people see Alaska as a dismal place: summer lasts about 4 minutes and small house pets become food for eagles. And it’s really, really cold. Despite this, Alaskans are some of the proudest people I’ve met. Prouder of their state than Texans. Alaska is frequently the last stop for people …

I used to think people that grew up during the Depression were the cheapest in the world. Then I met some Eastern Europeans (and married one). The Nazis and/or Soviets did a number on the peeps, and they in turn passed it on to their kids. These folks can live on …

The Swig Easy! The French Quarter of New Orleans is odd in that it is both unctuous and deliciously creepy at the same time. Bourbon St. is redolent of vomit and full of knuckleheads screaming to see tits. Morons rent balconies, or “galleries,” on which to perch and scan the sea of faces looking for [...]

Las Vegas! I constantly hear people griping about how “Vegas was better back in the day,” and how you “can’t get a good 99¢ shrimp cocktail anymore.” Sure, the prices in Vegas aren’t going down, but that’s no reason to give up. When the going get tough, the tough lower their standards! I wanted to [...]

Louisville, KY Almost 2 years ago I sat watching a 120-minute documentary on the Bermuda Triangle. Turns out the reason for all the sinking ships and crashing planes is loads of methane gas under the ocean floor. It seeps up, sinks boats and knocks WWII era Avenger torpedo bombers out of the sky. Afterwards there [...]