The Daily Dose/July 27, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from our human experience.
EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT: In July we started making our memoir Backstairs at the Monte Carlo available as a daily entry. This was easy to do because it’s written as a diary, convenient to post on a daily basis. The whole book is still available in our famous flipbook format, but we were surprised to see the popularity of the daily entries so we’ve decided to make my latest novel, Criminals, Courtesans and Constables, available this way, too. A new chapter, or portion of a chapter, will be posted each day, starting later this week.
Yeah, Yeah, Whatever: It’s the usual funny, thoughtful crap you’ve come to enjoy from yours truly, a story about important things like love and champagne and unimportant things like sex and money. The story starts in prison and ends on death row and in between takes place everywhere from Europe to America, from palaces to throne rooms to safe houses and 5-star hotel suites. The main character is a friendly bloke who’s unnamed, a technique we first came across in Geoffrey Household’s excellent novel Rogue Male. You’ll meet courtesans Rachel, Monica and Lindsay, plus assorted constables and other criminals, too.
Dry, Technical Matter: As with Backstairs at the Monte Carlo, the first few entries will be on the house. This is to get you hooked and in the mood to get your wallets out, the same trick the drug dealers use.
The Bottom Line: So dive in and get hooked. There will be a new entry every day, navigation’s a snap and it’s easy reading on any device, even your phone. So get to know the unnamed protagonist, Rachel, Monica, Lindsay and the constable crew. The fun starts Wednesday.
Editor’s Note: If you’ve already purchased the ebook, your access is automatic. If you haven’t, of course we’ll have a special for you.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Woof, woof. Today’s Diary.
The hotel continues to be a kennel…It’s unreal…We weren’t even close to being sold out tonight and there were two dozen or doggie rooms and it’s been that way for a good two weeks…I don’t know why people are traveling with their dogs…You’d think they’d be sick of them having walked them five times a day for the past four months, but no, they’re all over the place…Fortunately, none of them have been barking when I’ve been passing out folios.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: X-Ray gets promoted to Henry 3.
I’ve said it before: X-Ray is going places in the hotel racket and this promotion is just the latest step, done, no doubt, in deference to the fact he works the hotel 3-4 nights a week. Jose, a fine hotel officer in his own right, is primarily an outside unit now who works the hotel one night a week just for funsies. He took the switch in his customary good stride, noting that Henry 4 has regular access to the executive washroom.
OK, we lied. The $2.99 special does not end today, it will end Wednesday. Sue us. Click on the button to take advantage of this special now.
On This Date
History’s long march to today.
In 1858 – The first transatlantic telegraph cable is completed, connecting Ireland with New Brunswick, Canada. The project had begun in four years earlier the first message, from Queen Victoria to US President James Buchanan in August. The cable only provided three weeks of service, though, as signal quality declined rapidly and an attempted repair sent too much voltage through the system and it ceased working in September. A new cable was laid in 1866.
In 1996 – Donovan Bailey of Canada establishes a new 100-meter world record of 9.84 seconds at the Atlanta Summer Olympics. Bailey took the gold medal over Frank Fredricks (Namibia, 9.89 seconds) and Ato Boldon (Trinidad and Tobago, 9.90 seconds) and broke the world record of 9.85 seconds established by Leroy Burrell (US) in 1996 and the Olympic record of 9.92 seconds Carl Lewis of the US established at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. Both records are now held by Usain Bolt of Jamaica (WR: 9.58s, 2009; OR: 9.69s, 2008).
In `1968 – Hugh Masekela is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second and final week with the instrumental Grazing in the Grass. It was the fourth and final chart single for Masekela and remains his only Top 40 hit. Grazing in the Grass was also in its third of four consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart and the song returned to the Hot 100 in 1969, when the Friends of Distinction took it to #3. Masekela was originally from South Africa before moving to London and later New York City and he died in 2018.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Does anyone know what is and what isn’t likely to be of use to him in life? – Hitler
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Jenny Thompson has won eight Olympic swimming gold medals, the most of any Amerian woman.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What was the first #1 instrumental song on Billboard’s Hot 100? – Answer next time!
