Cocktail Hour

I like starting cocktail hour at around 5 or 6:00. If I start too much later it affects my sleep. (Picture by Shag)

Great Music for Cocktail Hour Part 5

The Ultra-Lounge Series: Bachelor Pad Royale is one of the numerous entries in the Ultra-Lounge series from Capitol Records. The series began in 1996 during the swing/cocktail culture revival and has so far continued to 2009. The Theme From Route 66 by Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra is the first track on this disc and it really sets the tone. All of the songs on the disc were recorded between 1956 and 1965. The following is from the liner notes: "There is an abiding coolness in this music, in this philosophy of the bachelor pad. It is tumescent, numbnuts cool, to be sure. But remember, this was a sublimated time, when entertainers twisted hokum into eros like clowns making balloon poodles. You had to pretend the musc was other than what it patently was - this was a time when the very way Milt Buckner 'gently touches the keys of the Hammond organ' (as it said on the back of one of his albums) was supposed to set off other organs. but scintillating his music was, as surely as Senor Wences was the hidden had of eros." -RJ Smith

Quote - Lord Byron

"Gin and water is the source of all my inspiration."
-Lord Byron

Great Music for Cocktail Hour Part 4

Cocktail Mix Vol. 4: Soundtracks With a Twist is the 4th and final disc in the Cocktail Mix series from Rhino Records. Highlights include A Man and a Woman and Stripping Really Isn't Sexy, Is It?

Bernie Fuchs

I don't know that I've ever seen a picture that I've wanted to jump right into more than this. It makes me want to put on a tuxedo, light up a cigarette and drink whatever it is these guys are drinking. The illustration was done by ad illustrator Bernie Fuchs. Very 'Mad Men-esque'.

Great Music for Cocktail Hour Part 3

Cocktail Mix Vol. 3: Swingin' Singles is the third compilation in the Cocktail Mix series. This fun collection includes unique versions of some cocktail music classics. Robert Mitchum sings Calypso(!), Sarah Vaughn takes it to the limit with One Mint Julep, and Della Reese really tears up The Lady Is a Tramp. This is not to be missed.

Quote - E.B. White

"Martinis . . . have a muting effect on the constant ringing in my ears, and as five o'clock approaches, my thoughts turn towar the elixir of quitude. Gin stops the bell from tolling."
- E.B. White