99

Happy 99th birthday, Ethel Merman!

Not much doing today in the voodoo bungalow. Thinking about some of the worst songs of my teenage years, which were unrecognized as such until much later, like maybe not even until today. On Songfacts.com, there's a fervent discussion about whether Toto's song "99" is about Agent 99 from "Get Smart," or some kind of reference to George Lucas's THX1138. Just in case you really and truly have nothing else that you should be doing. Like, looking into the stomach contents of dead songbirds? No? Yeah, bit messy, that. Ralph Dexter, indeed. (And thus a new euphemism for "barf" was born.)

Messier object M99, by the way, is a magnitude 10.5 spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, which means "Bernice's Hair."

Oooh: I love Google. At 99 Bernice Street in North Attleboro, MA, you'll find the All Pro Chimney Sweeps, although as this house is being listed on MLS I worry that you'll perhaps have to look somewhere else for your soot solution.

If you're having trouble with that, I guess you could call your senator, Ted Kennedy, whose brother, JFK, enjoyed a marvelous inauguration, one that featured "Everything's Coming Up Roses" as sung by Miss Ethel Merman.

Whose birthday we shall now remark by sacrificing this here fruity cocktail to the angry tiki gods.