Friday
BYCU
So, I won a $25 gift certificate to our local bookstore at the office Christmas party last Friday. I went there on Saturday, looking to spend it and saw they had a single issue of Modern Drunkard Magazine on the shelf. I bought it.
Long-time TDE readers know I'm a fan of the magazine, or at least a fan of Frank Rich, who I think might be one of the funniest writers alive. Yeah, our views about drinking don't match up well: I view a little alcohol as a virtual sacramental, something that imparts joy and lightens the heart, as the Psalmist tells us. Rich, on the other hand, seems to view alcohol as The Sacrament, something to drive one's life and to be indulged immoderately.
Still, I prefer his view to the neo-Prohibitionists' view. He recognizes the goodness of drink and would make it much more widely available, which is exactly what this country needs (I've expressed my rationale on so many occasions, I won't repeat it here). So even though I can't embrace the excess, I figure we line up closely enough to embrace his prose, so I bought the issue and brought it home.
It's good. Glossy and a bit gaudy, with that 1950s comic-book artwork everywhere. I saw that they're continuing "The Clash of the Tightest," wherein they match, tournament-style, the greatest drunks in history against each other (sample here: Kerouac v. Nixon). My issue featured Truman Capote against Blackbeard (Capote won). It had a great feature about Natty (Natural Light), which, unknown to me, is now the 5th-best selling beer in America, as well as a story about an 1826 occurrence at West Point called "The Great Eggnog Riot." The issue also has a lot of neat side bars, with funny quotes ("Dear Booze: The floozy at the end of the bar keeps drinking shots. Apparently, I'm not handsome yet").
I liked the magazine enough that I'll probably buy it again. Heck, if Marie is reading this, she can get me a subscription for Christmas, but as a practical matter, I'll probably just walk over to the bookstore and buy it occasionally. The price is the same, whether I subscribe or just buy each issue separately. I'd just assume give my local bookstore some business.
In any event, I'm really happy I bought this issue. It looks like a thriving magazine, and I love to see someone take something quixotic (celebration of drunkenness) and successfully turn it into a living. I have no idea whether MDM is making much profit, but based on the advertisements in this issue and the amount of drinking gear they have on sale at their site, it certainly appears that Rich has carved out a niche for himself. I congratulate him, even if I pity his liver.
