Small Celebrity

I've been going through extensive dental work lately to make up for the ten-year hiatus I took from going to the dentist while I was in college and afterward while I was unemployed. That's eight years with no dental insurance, followed by two years trying to figure out how to expain it to the dentist. I was lucky enough to find a dentist who understood. Or at least didn't feel the need to lecture me. I was also relieved to find out I don't have to have my wisdom teeth removed.

And once again, my friend John wrote to me to tell me his English class loves me. This is the class who convinced me last year to become a vegetarian. As ridiculous as it seems, every time he writes to me to tell me that, once again his kids have questions and that, once again, they love my answers, I get a little thrill. It's just a little reminder that I've grown up to be the person my teenage self would have liked.

Slowly lifting the ban...
There was recent article in the NY Times about a liquor company out of New York that has set out to create an absinthe legal for production in the U.S. The product, which is called Lucid, has been a hot subject of debate among American absintheurs. The problem of producing absinthe has long been one of food regulations. The FDA bans any product that includes wormwood, ostensibly because wormwood contains the chemical thujone, which is dangerous if ingested in large enough quantities. Quantities that don't exist in any properly made absinthe (in fact, there's more thujone in sage than in wormwood, so you're likely to get a larger dose of it from eating a plate of stuffing than you will from a proper absinthe).

There have been attempts prior to this to make an absinthe that can fit U.S. regulations, most notable among them being a wormwood-free product called Absente (pronounced "absent"...it's a pun, you see), which replaced wormwood with a related plant called southernwood. What makes Lucid different is that they have supposedly left in the wormwood, but produced the absinthe in a way that leaves out the thujone. It remains to be seen whether the product is any good--Absente is crap--but I'm hopeful that this is a good first step to creating a legal absinthe in the U.S.

Beer me...
In other brew-related news, last weekend I took a trip down to Indiana to attent the Three Floyds Dark Lord Day. For those unfamiliar, it's a once-a-year event to kick off their Dark Lord beer, which is regarded by beer enthusiasts as the Holy Grail of stouts. Dark and sweet and thick like motor oil, it's a pretty impressive beer. I wasn't going to go to the event initially, Munster, Indiana being a long and difficult way to go for a beer, but when I woke up, it was a beautiful day. Just the kind of day for a good adventure. So I hopped a train down to Hammond and took a cab to the brewery and then stood in line for several hours, waiting for the beer.

On the way back, I hitched a ride to the train station with a pair of guys who were very insistent that I accept their ride, and then chatted for an hour with a musician who had just missed the same train I had, which was his ride to a gig.

All in all, the journey was more interesting than the goal. Which tends to be the way these things go.

Laugh or Cry...
Bonnie sent me this article earlier today. For those of my readers who don't like to read, the first sentence should say it all:

Utah County Republicans ended their convention on Saturday by debating Satan's influence on illegal immigrants.

Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan's minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.

Satan's minions, in this case, are illegal immigrants. The article contains a number of gems, including this one, which made me laugh out loud:

Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to "destroy Christian America" and replace it with "a godless new world order -- and that is not extremism, that is fact," Larsen said.

Ah yes...I had forgotten about the truckloads of migrant television executives roaming about the country. The whole article is really hilarious until you realize these people are elected officials. It's just another reminder that, as good an idea as Democracy is, if you allow ignorant people to rule themselves, they will do so ignorantly.

Finally...
I'll be running the door at the Belmont Burlesque this Saturday. This week, the show is at Martyr's on Lincoln just south of Irving Park. Apparently, there's a Canadian troupe coming in to be guest dancers. Join us, won't you?