Sunday, August 3, 2008

Days of the Beer, August 3

The beer for today is Shmaltz Brewing Company He'Brew Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A.

On August 3, 1966, Lenny Bruce was found dead in the bathroom of his Hollywood Hills home. There was a photo taken showing him naked on the floor, with a syringe and burned bottle cap nearby. The office cause of death was acute morphine poisoning caused by an accidental overdose.

Bruce is famous for being a Stand-up comedian and author. He wrote the book, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People. On October 4, 1961, he was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco. His use of the word "cocksucker" and "come" apparently caused a problem. He was acquitted of this charge. He later was targeted by the police in other cities where he would perform. He was also arrested for drug possession in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

You can thank Lenny Bruce for pushing the envelope of decency. He was arrested for saying things that are commonplace today on cable television.

About the beer:

Ladies and Gentlemen, Shmaltz Brewing Co. is proud to introduce Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. Brewed with an obscene amount of malts and hops. Shocking flavors - far beyond contemporary community standards. We cooked up the straight dope for the growing minions of our nation's Radical Beer junkies. Judges may not be able to define "Radical Beer," but you'll damn well know it when you taste it. Bruce died, officially declared a pauper by the State of California, personally broken and financially bankrupt simply for challenging America's moral hypocrisies with words. The memorial playbill read: "Yes, we killed him. Because he picked on the wrong god." -Directed by, the Courts, the Cops, the Church... and his own self-destructive super ego. Like Noah lying naked and loaded in his tent after the apocalyptic deluge: a witness, a patron saint, a father of what was to come. Sick, Dirty, Prophetic Lenny: a scapegoat, a martyr, a supreme inspiration.
So in honor of that cocksucker; get a bottle of mother fucking He'Brew Lenny's R.I.P.A. and get fucked up.

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