A Love Letter to Manhattan's Café Luxembourg

   For over a quarter century, it has been an honor and privilege to be welcomed here, despite some bumps in the road. It was at this bar nightly, for years, that I fine-tuned my voice to a social lubricity, exploring the boundaries of excess in the context of good manners. The biggest part of my recovery from addiction came from involved, fearless conversations with countless wonderful patrons. Many of my favorite people work, or have worked, on the staff. They are the truly beautiful, fascinating and ambitious.

  

Over the years, there have been various invasions; and the constants are the ill behaved through social entitlements, or, anticipated rights as neighbors. Those vocal few who have been banned for their inability to control themselves, whether from a surfeit of alcohol, celebrity or chemical imbalance are whom I address here. Knowing all three of these conditions first hand as a young adult, I’d like to revisit one of my mentor’s projects: BMA - Bad Manners Anonymous, based on the AA paradigm. Some worthies have earned monikers such as the Menace, the Downer, the Reaper, Old-Austin, the Molester, Dark Sky and Little Black Cloud, etc.

In café society, it is rude to physically touch someone, unless invited. It is boorish to shriek, shout or spit on or near others at the bar. Advertising, loudly, your own relationship with the rich and famous is reciprocally demeaning. So is social terrorism through perfume or flatulence.

Better to impress yourself than others! It’s wonderful to know that if I can’t recognize an inability to be sensitive to my companions, at least I trust my bartenders to let me know when it’s Time To Go (TTG.) I greatly appreciate Luxembourg’s management to ensure a good time is had by all.

~ CrackCritic