{"id":11999,"date":"2010-05-15T15:00:51","date_gmt":"2010-05-15T22:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=11999"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:28:46","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T16:28:46","slug":"the-desperation-waltz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11999\/the-desperation-waltz\/","title":{"rendered":"The Desperation Waltz"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story<\/em><\/p>\n

“Hey, Tommy,” Jimmy said without looking up from the newspaper he had spread out on the bar, “what’s Reubenesque mean again?”<\/p>\n

“Jeesh! It means ‘fat’. How many times do I have to tell you that?”<\/p>\n

“Statuesque?”<\/p>\n

“Fat.”<\/p>\n

“Weight proportionate?”<\/p>\n

“Fat.”<\/p>\n

“Full figured?”<\/p>\n

“That means really<\/i> fat. Whaddaya doin’ that for? We got a whole club full of babes here. How do you expect to get next to a girl in the personals?” He thumbed his own chest. “Tommy Klein, he knows better. Tommy Klein is an operator. You just stand back and watch me work.”<\/p>\n

This is the truth: I don’t even like bars. I can go for years at a stretch without taking a drink, and the last place I’d be tempted to drink would be a bar. But I had come to a club that is not but ought to be called Desperation to see a singer and songwriter, a chanteuse named Celia Redmond who is making a name for herself.<\/p>\n

Desperation is her name for the dumpy little country bar stuck right in the heart of the big city. The real name is “Country City” or something equally forgettable. It’s a costume bar, really, as phony in its way as a gay bar or the tap-room at the American Legion Hall. Country transplants and the children of country transplants and would-be country transplants put on clothes they don’t wear all day, speak in an affected diction and dance and drink until the house band strikes up “The Desperation Waltz” at midnight. Desperation is a place to escape from the real life of the big city: Office work, factory work, construction work — and unemployment.<\/p>\n

Jimmy and Tommy were not untypical of the crowd, just more immanently pitiful. Jimmy’s a gentle giant of a man, as broad as he is tall. His hair was cut down to the scalp and he had a fringy little mustache and his neck was very, very red. Tommy was dapper. If Jimmy had asked me what dapper means, I would have told him: “Short, and overcompensating for it.” He was trim and toned without actually bearing muscles and his Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story “Hey, Tommy,” Jimmy said without looking up from the newspaper he had spread out on the bar, “what’s Reubenesque mean again?” “Jeesh! It means ‘fat’. How many times do I have to tell you that?” “Statuesque?” “Fat.” “Weight proportionate?” “Fat.” “Full figured?” “That means really fat. Whaddaya doin’ that for? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,24,212,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","7":"category-egoism-in-action","8":"category-flourishing","9":"category-group-therapy","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3585,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3585\/the-buck-stops-where\/","url_meta":{"origin":11999,"position":0},"title":"The Buck Stops Where?","author":"Thomas Hall","date":"July 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ya know - I've decided that I want run for Congress - my dilemma: overcoming the paradigm that one aspires to move up and not - um - down. BUT! Just think of all the fun I'd have riding the train under The Capitol - sitting in convertibles waving at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dirty Laundry"","block_context":{"text":"Dirty Laundry","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/dirty-laundry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16380,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16380\/two-turtle-doves-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11999,"position":1},"title":"Two Turtle Doves (revisited)","author":"Geno Petro","date":"December 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I was weathering a Category 1 hangover the day my big fat Vice President dropped by the office and found me asleep at my desk. He\u2019d come to personally deliver my Christmas bonus (a twenty-dollar bill stapled to a battery-operated Rudolph necktie) and to spread some holiday cheer to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13728,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/13728\/jeff-brown-says-you-might-want-to-keep-your-goals-to-yourself-jim-klein-says-every-intentional-action-you-take-is-the-expression-of-a-goal-even-just-the-goal-of-wasting-time-greg-swann-says-simply\/","url_meta":{"origin":11999,"position":2},"title":"Jeff Brown says you might want to keep your goals to yourself. Jim Klein says every intentional action you take is the expression of a goal, even just the goal of wasting time. Greg Swann says simply this: If you track your achievement of your goals, you’ll achieve more of them.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"So... Get tracking. Here's a calendar for December.","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1448,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1448\/renet-waist-loss-challenge-mid-term-report-cards\/","url_meta":{"origin":11999,"position":3},"title":"RE.net waist-loss challenge: Mid-term report cards","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We're about half-way through the RE.net waist-loss challenge, so it seems like a good time to pull out the scales and the tape measures. This was the plan I laid out for myself in March:My goal: A 34-inch waist by August 1st. My plan: A half-hour a day on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12651,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12651\/a-guest-post-from-jim-klein-owing-on-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":11999,"position":4},"title":"A guest post from Jim Klein: “Owing on earth.”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"My friend Jim Klein has been hanging out with us here at BloodhoundBlog for the past few months, gently tossing rhetorical hand-grenades into our discussions where he thinks they might do the most good. I met Jim fifteen years ago on Usenet, and we've been philosophical allies ever since. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17789,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17789\/overnight-news-feel-something-in-your-eye-it-could-be-the-big-fat-thumb-of-the-ruling-class\/","url_meta":{"origin":11999,"position":5},"title":"Overnight News: Feel something in your eye? It could be the big fat thumb of the Ruling\u00a0Class.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, the putative \"elite\" struck back \u2013 twice. Not for Gamestonk and not even for Trump, specifically, but simply to put you in your place. So, first, in response for a four-year domestic espionage and political interference operation unparalleled in American history, precisely one person was tried and convicted of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11999"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15447,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11999\/revisions\/15447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}