Ol’ Blue Eyes
Given Sinatra's widespread admiration amongst grown men it's almost surprising to think that he first found fame in the 1940s crooning to teenage girls. It was the eventual loss of his voice for a time, his career, his fortune and, most notably, the loss of second-wife Ava Gardner, that meant that when listeners found his voice pressed on vinyl again it was frequently imbued with all the blue melancholy, loneliness, emotion, and sense of survival - despite it all - that he became a legend for.
Living Standards
I seem to drink more and more Scotch and soda these days. Since young adulthood, there has been a part of me (for a long time considered wisdom) that reproaches the rest for wasting Scotch by diluting it with soda. Despite that voice, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to do so quite happily – my regular pour being one part Johnnie Walker Black Label, one part soda water, and then going the extra step towards the gallows of adding a large, cracked cube of ice as well.
Repeat After Me…
Christmas is perhaps the brightest marker that we pass on our annual circuit around the sun. Whilst our lap time doesn’t vary with the years, our performance often does, and so consider it that last order’s bell reminding you to make the most of the days remaining.
America Distilled
This story originally appeared on the Gents Cafe Newsletter. You can subscribe here. It is a distinctly American…
Black Tie – Formal Informality
This story originally appeared on the Gents Cafe Newsletter. You can subscribe here. Barathea, boutonnière, cocktail-cuffed dinner jackets,…
“Never Let Them See You Smile”
For decades, many have been fooled into thinking that the James Bond saga is the tale of an MI6-agent, like all of us however Bond isn’t best defined by his day-job. Any long-time follower of Bond will know that the secret-agent persona is just a cover. If Bond is singularly anything, he is perhaps the last remaining member of the jet-set - that all too modernist group of well-heeled, mid-20th century international pleasure-seekers.
A Man for All Seasons
This story originally appeared on the Gents Cafe Newsletter. You can subscribe here. I’ve often said that wines…
How best to live in the modern world
This story originally appeared on the Gents Cafe Newsletter. You can subscribe here. For millennia man survived without…
What men do
In the TV-series “Band of Brothers” there’s a scene at the start of Episode Six in which Captain…
The best Martini ever
He’d refined his martini over many years. Keen to share the result of his passion, he would serve…