This Week: Celebrated author Marisa Silver exorcises her right to write… We go on the lam with Ronnie Biggs… and Brendan discovers a sandwich shop inside a bodega wrapped up in an enigma.
Icebreaker: O. Henry award-winning author Marisa Silver walks into a joke.
Small Talk: Geek Love, Pork Detectors, and Killer Looks
The staff at Marketplace tell you about some news items your dinner guests probably missed.
A History Lesson With Booze: Ronnie Biggs and the “Rob Me Ronnie”
This month back in 2001, Ronnie Biggs, an unrepentant UK criminal who spent decades as a fugitive, returned to England for a pint of bitter, knowing full well he’d be arrested for his role in one of the most audacious robberies in UK history. We asked Robert Krajewski, of Adventure Bar & Lounge in London to create a drink to help us escape.
The “Rob Me Ronnie”
In a shaker, combine:
- 1.5 oz. Beefeater gin
- 1/2 oz. Galliano vanilla liqueur
- 1/4 oz. of simple syrup
Shake well with ice, and pour over 1 oz of London Pride Real Ale in a martini glass.
Drink with your palm in, index and middle fingers in a V facing England.
Guest of Honor: Marisa Silver
Marisa Silver writes handsome stories about ugly things. Her new book Alone With You is a collection of short stories that examine how relationships with people push and pull our emotional lives. Before turning to fiction, Silver made several feature films, including Permanent Record — notable for both its Joe Strummer score and the actually good performance by a pre-Matrix Keanu Reeves. She talks to Rico about her curiosity, life’s beautiful mysteries, and watching people puke demons out of their bodies.
The Main Course: Parasite-aurants
Pal’s Takeaway is a permanent pop-up restaurant hidden inside a nondescript bodega in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. Brendan finds that it’s not just another twist on the food micro-entrepreneur trend (although it is that), but it’s also a metaphor for how neighborhoods can change harmoniously. (Oh yeah, and it’s also a place to get the best organic-loco-hand crafted sandwiches in San Francisco)
One For The Road: Ariel Pink – “Round and Round”
Ariel Pink is the avant-pop-weirdo musician’s avant-pop-weirdo musician. Revered for his hundreds of lo-fi home recordings that blend pop with sentimental psychedelia and sonic experimentation, this new track from his upcoming album is a squeaky-clean dream that draws inspiration from Michael Jackson, blue-eyed soul, and Pink’s sweet, sad, heart.
Music In This Episode:
The Sea & Cake – “The Argument”
The Wedding Present – “Signal”
Link Wray – “Jack the Ripper”
Tipsy – “Liquordelic”
Esquivel – “Street Of Dreams”
The Sex Pistols feat. Ronnie Biggs – “No One Is Innocent”
The Ventures – “Fugitive”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Up Jumped the Devil”
The Mollys – “Parasite”
