Hello for the first time. I have had this blogspot for some years under a different name ("v" - yeah imaginative I know) and never once took the time to actually to give it a proper name, let alone post anything. I think I may have been toying about on the internet one evening and just set one up to see what it was about. Being a person of limited attention span and only average intelligence at best I quickly forgot all about it (for about five years).
So something started nagging me recently in my mind about writing a blog for some reason. I don't know why to be honest. I am not on social media as I detest its toxic nature. That said there are some good things about it, but just not enough to persuade me. So the blog was nagging at me for a month or so and the question had to be asked: what will it be about? The answer: nothing pretty much. It really is a little vanity project to amuse my time instead of doing more worthwhile things in the world.
That said, I have a few interests and I should endeavour to publish the odd post. Perhaps I will reveal these over time. There's nothing nefarious about my interests (at least I don't think so) and my pursuits, if you can call them that, are all legal and harmless.
So, first things first, why The Peppermint Lounge? Well an easy question to answer, I simply like the way the words sound together. Say them to yourself - go on. It feels good when it comes out your mouth. Those repetitive "P's" have a nice punch on the lips. Mint - mmmmmm mint. Lounge - well lounge is one of the great words in the english language. Long and languorous lounge. Loooouuunnnnggge. Feels good.
I have a peppermint lounge by the way. Well more like a chair, but lounge will do me in the post-truth era. You can see photo of it in my profile. Note the peppermint flavoured wall behind it with the beautiful painting by a late Aboriginal artist here in the Northern Territory. Wow! That's all by design - so clever. No in fact. Complete coincidence. The words peppermint lounge fell out of my mouth, you know pppp - mmmm - lllll and then I was sitting back thinking - what a great name for the blog, you are great, such talent, a new career beckons - when I turned and cast my eyes toward my peppermint lounge and wall. Oh yes. Oh dear. Can it get any better?!
After all this nonsense I thought I had better actually look the name up. I had some vague awareness the Peppermint Lounge was/is an actual place. So Wikipedia came to the rescue and it turns out it was a Manhattan discotheque for the jetset in the late 50's and 60's. A sort of Studio 54 for an earlier generation. Jackie Kennedy, Truman Capote and other luminaries of the era. Just an aside - isn't discotheque such a great word? So much better than the shortened disco or the 80's bloated sounding nightclub. Give me the exotic and Euro trash vibe of discotheque any time
I imagine they played a lot of jazzy lounge tunes at the Peppermint Lounge back in the day. I enjoy that era of music very much, but I am no aficionado . My knowledge on this style of music is pretty much nil. Nevertheless I often listen to a radio show on PBS FM in Melbourne called Ports of Paradise on Friday mornings. It's worth listening to the intro to the show alone and its presented by none other than Palmtree Paddy. Palmtree Paddy! Who can beat a name like that?
Notice there's a theme emerging here? It's the letter P! Peppermint, Ports of Paradise, Palmtree Paddy. Such power in the letter P!
So now you know the origin of The Peppermint Lounge and you have a new radio show to tune into in Melbourne if you live there or via the internets. Until next time - peace and love.
