Kurt Vonnegut

[Stone]

For a period of time, (1986ish) I was the manager at Squid Roe, on 77th and 3rd. The owner of Squid Roe, Cockeyed Clam and I think one or two other

Hobeaus?

[Rebecca]

Which one, Rebecca? I know he did several.

Don't remember. Have to dig it out and will let you know.

[Kim]

Hobeau's was one for sure...butterfish hole sounds strangely familiar so that must be the other one.

 

The fish was fresh, if not best quality. Back when swordfish was one of the cheapest fish, and the salads were delivered pre made to the restaurants, in 10 g. garbage cans that would be inverted. The salad was then funnelled down into a small door, which was blocked by a piece of plywood that you would shift to the right to let the salad fall into the family style bowl.

 

So it goes.

[Stone]

Hobeau's was one for sure...

I worked there in December '85.

[Kim]

Hobeau's was one for sure...

I worked there in December '85.

 

 

wow, do you remember Richie, one of the owners, and Marguerite, his girlfriend? Ray...or Roy?? the young guy who kinda ran all the restaurants? Most importantly, do you recall the inverted garbage cans/salad servers? And the lazy susans filled with Russian, Italian and Blue cheese?

[lovelynugget]

15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has or Will

 

#12 especially rolls off the tongue

[ngatti]

15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has or Will

 

#12 especially rolls off the tongue

 

I think #15 resonates.

 

15. "We must be careful about what we pretend to be."

 

In Mother Night, apolitical expatriate American playwright Howard W. Campbell, Jr. refashions himself as a Nazi propagandist in order to pass coded messages on to the U.S. generals and preserve his marriage to a German woman—their "nation of two," as he calls it. But in serving multiple masters, Campbell ends up ruining his life and becoming an unwitting inspiration to bigots. In his 1966 introduction to the paperback edition, Vonnegut underlines Mother Night's moral: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." That lesson springs to mind every time a comedian whose shtick relies on hoaxes and audience-baiting—or a political pundit who traffics in shock and hyperbole—gets hauled in front of the court of public opinion for pushing the act too far. Why can't people just say what they mean? It's a question Don Imus and Michael Richards—and maybe someday Ann Coulter—must ask themselves on their many sleepless nights.

[Stone]

I believe one of his books contained something like the following:

 

The ulimate sign of the fall of our civilization is that boxes of toothpicks come with instructions printed on them.

I should add that I once read the instructions on a box of toothpicks, and learned that I'd been using them incorrectly.