Roll Me Away
The weather has turned nice. That means one thing: cheap bowling. Bowling alleys slash prices dramatically to attract bowlers during the warm months. This Lebowski-like observation was triggered by a recent issue of New York magazine: Not Your Father's Bowling Night. It gave snapshot descriptions of six bowling alleys in NYC. It also provides a snapshot of the bowling alley renovation that is rolling across America. Sample:
Brooklyn Bowl
For Food-, Beer-, and Audiophiles
Even without the Blue Ribbon restaurant, live-music stage, and local-beers-only bar menu, Brooklyn Bowl would be an exemplary place to play. When it opens sometime in May (they're just waiting for final city permits), the alley will offer digital scoring systems, a rainbow array of never-used bowling balls and shoes, an energy-efficient pin-pickup system, and eight HD screens showing anything from classic B-movies to the rock (or possibly burlesque) act going on right behind you. $30”“$50 per hour; $3 shoe rentals; 61 Wythe Ave., nr. N. 11th St., Williamsburg; 718-963-3369.
And if you're gay, go to Lucky Strike: "the bar ledger includes Cookie Shooters, soft chocolate-chip cookies with a shot of milk."
Based on the story, games in New York cost around $10 apiece. Ouch. I know things are a lot more expensive in NYC, but that's triple what it costs around here. I think I'd rather hang out in the lounge at 300: "have postgame drinks in the Loft, a lounge overlooking the entire alley." Now that's a neat feature. Drink some beer; do some Lebowski watching; if that gets boring, watch people dance or a game on TV.
The Green Monster
I've been seeing more and more advertisements for, and articles about, absinthe. I speculated that it was making a comeback. And now I know why: The United States lifted its ban in 2007 (though I assume some states still ban it within their borders). The New York Times had a good absinthe piece earlier this week:
Since absinthe was legalized in the United States in 2007, it has gone from forbidden fruit to virulent weed. Once smuggled from Eastern Europe or procured from back-alley producers, absinthe is now just another bottle on the bar. Yet mystique continues as marketing. . . .
Without water, though, almost any absinthe would be difficult to endure. Absinthe in general is simply too strong to drink undiluted. Of our 20 bottles, 13 were 60 percent alcohol or more. Not only do they require water, they require just the right amount, anywhere from three to five parts water to one part absinthe, the amount rising – usually but not always – in tandem with the original strength of each bottle.
G.K. Chesterton hated absinthe. He referred to as a "bad drinking." I think he would have considered it closer to cocaine than a fine bottle of rum.
I'm not sure what Dorothy Parker thought of it. The NYT article ends with one of her drinking poems:
I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
after four I'm under my host.
If you're not acquainted with Parker, look her up. She was a fiery and entertaining journalist with a quick wit. While on her honeymoon, her editor called about a deadline. She yelled, "I'm too f****ing busy! And vice-versa!" I started to try that line on my wife when she called me at the office to ask me to run a personal errand, but caught myself just in time.
