The Bird & Bottle Inn

I sometimes use a random system to pick what I’m writing an article about—for example, vinyl records—I have my albums listed in a spreadsheet and use a random number generator to pick which one to listen to next. In that way, I don’t have to choose—and also, I can pretend I’m working for a long-lost music magazine and getting paid for it. So, I figured I’d use a random system to pick a restaurant from my library of favorite restaurant guidebooks as a title for each of these weekly newsletter posts—just to get the ball rolling.

I decided to try a weekly newsletter via this platform—Substack—and see how it goes. I used to send out one mass email a year (none last year!), but I want to reach out a little more. I’ve heard good things about Substack—but need to try for myself. It offers the option to send free or paid newsletters—this one is free. My idea here is to write a weekly letter—could be long or short—and then excerpt a few things from my website, RSPEEN.COM, where I typically write and post two to six new things a week—always available to check out for free, no ads. It’s just out there, but some of the writing is buried pretty deep, so I thought it might be fun to go back and see if I can find articles worth reprinting in this newsletter. I’m not sure how much or many—I’ll see what seems to make sense—or if I get any feedback. I welcome any questions, comments, or concerns—email me, or contact me any way convenient for you! I’m going to try to send this out weekly, on Sunday evening. I used to watch Columbo every Sunday, when it was consistently on one of the broadcast TV channels, same time as 60 Minutes. I would love it if a few people getting this welcomed it as a way to end or start their week. (Or else put it aside for an idle 10-minute spell, midweek.) But, of course, feel free to not subscribe, unsubscribe, or simply ignore it. That said, I’d love to keep in touch.

Below is my review of Sandy Posey’s 1966 LP, Single Girl. I wrote about The Best of Sandy Posey (1967 LP) in this week’s vinyl review. It’s funny to see how I inadvertently repeat myself. Also, a 2018 review of the restaurant guidebook, The Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes from Famous Eating Places – Nancy Kennedy, editor (1950, 1955). That is the book from which I picked the restaurant, The Bird & Bottle Inn, for the title of this post.

The Bird and Bottle Inn, happy to report, is still open, at 1123 Old Albany Post Road, Garrison, NY, 10524—it’s looks remote, but not far off Highway 9, only about 10 miles north of where U.S. Route 6 passes through Peekskill. This is particularly exciting to me because of my “U.S. Route 6 project”—but more on that, later, hopefully! Anyway, the illustration in the Ford Times book shows an old inn, painted yellow, and today’s internet shows a similar paint scheme, and some impossibly quaint interiors. They boast being open “Since 1761”—believe it or else! Also, you can stay there (five unique rooms). I’m not going to excerpt the inn’s history—too much there—but it’s well worth reading about on their website, especially if you’re in the area and want to stop by. I’d imagine that reservations would be wise.

Sandy Posey “Single Girl” (1966)

Sandy Posey must have sold a lot of records in the late Sixties, because I’ve had no trouble finding inexpensive copies of them—the problem is, Sandy Posey fans listened to these records to death—they are always well-worn. I had a copy of this one, from 1966, earlier, but it was so warped as to be almost unplayable, so I eventually got rid of it. This copy plays okay but it’s so scratchy it sounds like someone used it as a soup tureen. I don’t mind the sound of scratchiness so much, but at this level of scratchiness it makes me feel like it’s doing my stylus grievous bodily harm. It’s such a good record, though, I’ll keep an eye out for yet another copy. I guess she had some big hits at around the time this came out—her first or second album—and so she had the good fortune of recording with some very good Nashville studio musicians and having the pick of some really great songs—sometimes a bit backwards lyrically—but all catchy and beautiful songs. That goes for the other Sandy Posey records I’ve heard, as well. The songs, production, and performances fall into this area I like that’s, I guess, at the intersection of country, pop, and early rock’n’roll—kind of the area Skeeter Davis inhabited, sometimes—and there is that record I have that’s SP on one side and SD or the other—and it’s a good one. I like all twelve songs on this record, but if I had to pick favorites they’d be: “Single Girl,” “Hey Mister,” “Patterns,” “The Last Day of Love,” “Shattered,” “Don’t Touch Me,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now),” and “I’m Your Puppet” (when considered ironically). Also, the album cover is the best of hers I’ve seen—she’s got a pretty menacing expression and is wearing a cadet blue trench coat with the collar turned up. Her monumental hairdo gives her an extra eight inches, easily. The background is blurred out, but she’s definitely standing next to an iron gate and a stone wall—giving the impression that she’s either just outside of a prison—or a factory that’s one step down from a prison. I suppose the idea here might be illustrating Single Girl—and the primary reason she’s single is because her dude’s locked up without much chance of parole. Or, if you want a darker take, seeing how “Single Girl” could be interpreted as an ode to prostitution, maybe she’s the one on the wrong side of the law. 10.22.21

The Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes from Famous Eating Places – Nancy Kennedy, editor (1950, 1955)

This is the first volume (and revised volume) of my very favorite-ever national (USA) restaurant guidebook, later to be known as the “Ford Times Cookbook.” My parents had this one, and I was obsessed with it as a kid. It’s a collection of brief restaurant listings from around the country that were first published in Ford Times magazine, a post-war publication, I guess (I've never seen one), encouraging auto travel. This collection is arranged by region and state. Each restaurant listing contains a recipe from the menu (many are odd and dated), but most significantly, an artist’s rendition of the place, sometimes exterior, sometime inside. The style of the art is all over the place, and fascinating—from naturalistic color painting to ink sketch, to stylized magazine style illustration, to just plain weird, impressionistic renderings. It’s somewhat of a compendium of this kind of thing. My favorites are the nostalgic, formal paintings that you could imagine hanging in the establishment itself. Some of these restaurants are still around, and some are gone, of course, but I try to visit the existing ones, or the site, when traveling, which I've occasionally documented in a blog called Restaurant Time Tunnel. I included the 1950 and 1955 editions here because they have the same cover (if you can find the original dust jacket, it folds out to a cool restaurant map of the US), and mostly the same content, though there are a few omissions and additions in that later revised edition. When they published these, I think they were surprised at its popularity, and later came out with additional volumes, which I’ll review later. 11.28.18

Best,

Randy