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March 03, 2023
Stand-up Guys: Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847), "Liberator of Ireland", led a movement that forced the British to pass the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, allowing Catholics to become members of the British House of Commons. As a leader, O'Connell had moxie, brains, drive, patience, organizational skills, and big personality. More about him here and here. O'Connell was also a consummate and legendary trial lawyer, a bit of an actor, and way-fun just to be around. In a set of lectures published in 1901, John L. Stoddard said of him:
He was a typical Irishman of the best stock--wily, witty, eloquent, emotional and magnetic. His arrival in town was often an occasion for public rejoicing. His clever repartees were passed from lip to lip, until the island shook with laughter.
In court, he sometimes kept the spectators, jury, judge and even the prisoner, alternating between tears and roars of merriment. Celtic to the core, his subtle mind knew every trick peculiar to the Irish character, and he divined instinctively the shrewdest subterfuges of a shifty witness.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2023
Hunter Thompson: On Quality Time.
Excerpt from the famous November 1974 Playboy Magazine interview with writer and humorist Hunter S. Thompson conducted by Craig Vetter, a well-regarded writer and storyteller himself.
PLAYBOY: ....this morning you've had two bloody marys, three beers and about four spoons of some white substance and you've been up for only an hour. You don't deny that you're heavily into drugs, do you?
THOMPSON: No, why should I deny it? I like drugs. Somebody gave me this white powder last night. I suspect it's cocaine, but there's only one way to find out...
PLAYBOY: What do you like best?
THOMPSON: Probably mescaline and mushrooms: That's a genuine high. It's not just an up -- you know, like speed, which is really just a motor high. When you get into psychedelics like mescaline and mushrooms, it's a very clear kind of high, an interior high. But really, when you're dealing with psychedelics, there's only one king drug, when you get down to it, and that's acid. About twice a year you should blow your fucking tubes out with a tremendous hit of really good acid. Take 72 hours and just go completely amok, break it all down.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2023
Racehorse Haynes: On His Imperfections.
“I would have won them all--if my clients hadn’t kept reloading and firing.”
--Richard "Racehorse" Haynes (1927-2017). Trial Lawyer.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 28, 2023
National City
The hour doesn’t matter. The gates never close. I daily walk by them during the workweek and maybe several times a day on Saturday or Sunday. This is the smallish Courtyard—it even has it own smallish Outdoor Chapel—at the entrance to the offices of the National City Christian Church. 5 Thomas Circle, N.W. Built 1930. Neoclassical. The architect was John Russell Pope. Pope loved big, no-ignore, national center city projects. The Jefferson Memorial, completed in the early 1940s, is another Pope building. National City Christian was Texan Lyndon Johnson’s church. LBJ’s state funeral was here in 1973. Worshippers in this nearly-200 year Presbyterian offshoot often have strong Southern roots. Think Presbyterians who like full-immersion baptism. They are also non-obnoxious inner-city activists of varying political and cultural bents. Educated. Devout. Musically sophisticated. Upbeat. They like people. Not every church does. Bonus? They love Dogs, too. In a big dog way. One spring Sunday a year you can get your dogs blessed on the DC church steps. A dog blessing. One of the warmest and funniest annual scenes in DC.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
Heidelberg Schloss
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By Jacques Fouquières, Hortus Palatinus, (before 1620). Heidelberg Palace, gardens and terracing.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2023
Happy 216th, Mr. Longfellow.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born February 27, 1807 in Portland, Maine. He died on March 24, 1882 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)
Cincinnati's Big Joe Duskin
Went to a couple of his practices when I was in high school. Authentic bluesman in the staid Queen City.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:45 AM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2023
Kitzbühel
Speaking of snow, which I like and D.C. so far has escaped this season, Kitzbühel is a medieval town in the province of Tyrol, Austria, near the river Kitzbühler Ache. The Illyrians, a war-like tribe from the Balkans, mined copper around here starting between 1100 BC and 800 BC. Around 15 BC the Roman Emperor Augustus occupied and claimed this area--by that time the old Celtic province of Noricum--which included the Austrian Alps. After the fall of the western Roman Empire, the Bavarii tribe settled in the Kitzbühel region (around 800).
So Kitzbühel is old, with a 12th century wall around much of it. It's small (around 8500 people), beautiful, historical, and a bit slow--but loads of fun for those with pluck. In modern times, and before non-Austrians found it and made even it more famous for skiing, the region was a resort for wealthy and proper Austrians from towns like Vienna.
But Kitzbühel has loosened up a bit. Well, a lot. It now has decent jazz. Drinking happens. It's inexpensive to live or visit here. It's surprisingly quiet. You can write your novel or textbook. You can miss editors' deadlines--and count on forgiveness. Oh, you can ski. And you can watch some of the best skiers in the world.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Digital in the next life.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:08 AM | Comments (0)