With Stephanie Gregory “Stormy Daniels” Clifford back in the news, Owl Chatter is taking a look at sides of her that the public hasn’t gotten to see. First, she’s a mom to her beautiful daughter Caiden, who is now 12.
Second, did you know she was a declared candidate for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana back in 2010? That’s a good 8 years before we heard about her for the sordid Trump business. She had been a Democrat for most of her life, but was drawn to the libertarian aspects of the GOP, so she ran as a Republican, seeking David Vitter’s seat. She made several listening tours around Louisiana to focus on the economy, as well as women in business and child protection. She said she’d retire from the adult industry if elected. But she dropped out of the race saying she could not afford to undertake it, and complaining that the media never took her candidacy seriously. Someone must have been taking it seriously — her campaign manager’s car was blown up at one point — Yikes! No one was hurt.
In May of 2018, she appeared on Saturday Night Live, and she appeared as a dancer in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Hang in there Daniels!
Today’s puzzle’s theme was Dine and Dash, which is what it’s called when you dine at a restaurant and then dash off without paying. It’s more serious than the mere social “crime” Eat and Run. It inspired a few tales:
From egsforbreakfast:
One year during college, my brother worked as a short order cook at the Duck In drive in, as did Steve Prefontaine. For those not in the know, Pre was one of the premier middle distance runners in the country and, eventually, internationally. One day a guy did the DINEANDDASH thing, so Pre took off after him and ran him down. To this day I chuckle when I think of that hard-luck, would-be thief looking back and seeing the hopelessness of outrunning his pursuer.
And from GILL I:
I did it once.
Right after graduating high school from the American School of Madrid, my two girlfriends and I decided we’d go on a southern trip to Gibraltar and a little boat ride HOP to Tangier.
We were dirt poor and relied on some hitchhiking to get us to our destination. Although you didn’t see many “Americanas” standing on “out-of-the-way” roads, trying to hitch a free ride, we always got some sweet farmer to give us a lift. We’d flip a peseta to see who’d get the back of the truck usually filled with a goat or two. Those were the days, my friend.
Anyway, by the time we got to Granada, we were dirty and hungry. We found a cheap little pension in the center of the city that had a shower (shared by about 20 other men) and two small beds. It was clean and it had the view of the town square so we were content. But we were also hungry.
After getting cleaned up we headed to a local tapas bar to nibble on bread and mejillones and maybe a little tortilla. Four (ahem) older men came up to the bar and started flirting with us. They insisted on paying for our tapas and then insisted we have dinner with them in a restaurant near the Alhambra. I guess you could say we were desperate because we accepted.
Up, up, and up we went through charming cobblestone paths, passing Gypsy flamingo dances enticing us to enter their caves and watch. Only vente duros they would shout… but we were on another quest.
We got to the restaurant and the ordering began. I even remember what we ate this long time ago. Pheasant!
Our “dates” were becoming drunker and more (shall I say) aggressive. We were young but not yet stupid. The bill arrived and my TWO girlfriends and I told them we needed to use el WC. They politely got up from their seats to let us go. Once alone, we decided to DASH. We actually SPLIT. We left around the back and started running down the cobblestone street. The men decided to run after us shouting much worse than any F WORD you’ve ever heard. I remember laughing so hard that I probably soiled myself. The gypsies were standing outside their caves clapping, dogs were barking. My friend Robyn lost her shoe and a dog bit Erica’s dress and ripped some of her skirt off. The men were still shouting at us but we were younger and spryer.
We finally made it to our pension. We just stood there in a daze then began laughing madly. We actually laughed for days after our ne’er do well soiree.
I’ve told this story a thousand times because recalling that night brings me nothing but joy. I have never done another DINE and DASH since; it would never be the same but hot damn it was fun.
J. Caramanica’s review in the NYT today of Taylor Swift’s current Eras tour was serious and engaging. It focused on two songs: “The most meaningful TS recording of the past few years is almost certainly ‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version)(Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),’ as layered and provocative as its title is unwieldy. A revision and expansion of one of her most gutting songs, it dissects a problematic, lopsided and ultimately scarring relationship with forensic detail.” It says this version of the song is enriched by Swift’s understanding of herself today that she couldn’t have seen when she first wrote it over ten years ago. She performed it about halfway through the three-hour show “at the center of the long runway stage, elevated on a platform, holding 70,000 people rapt with this tale of righteous fury and anguish. Plenty were singing along with her, but somehow, the accumulated voices sounded like one huge hush, students in awe of the master class.”
Later in the review, he mentions a series of songs towards the end of the show, and says “But something far more meaningful had come just before. During an acoustic segment, she came out to the very farthest point of the stage, sat at a small piano and played her very first single, ‘Tim McGraw.’ It was the night’s other pillar performance. It’s a song about memory and the ways in which people fail each other, and she sang it heavy with regret and tinged with sweetness.
“But unlike ‘All Too Well,’ which now benefits from the wisdom that time affords, ‘Tim McGraw’ remained as raw as the day it was recorded. No real tweaks, no rejoinder from the new Swift to the old one — just a searing take on the sort of love that makes for a better song than relationship. There are some things Swift simply has understood all along.”
Good night readers! Glad you could pop in today — thanks! Owl Chatter surpassed its 150th post this week. Ridiculous.
The Wellington Files 