Three cheers for Art Sutton

 


Three cheers for Art Sutton


     Mister Art Sutton was a talented bartender who was hired by Kevin Welch for Kevin Smith's bachelor party held just blocks from the Sheehy mansion on Frances avenue in La Crescenta. The Welch family was a rather colorful bunch on their own but Kevin was balancing on a razor thin wire between normal and fucking insane. His bizarre, inebriated shenanigans and statements at this party are remarked upon to this day.  However, he did host a soiree for Kent and it was attended by all of the better gentlemen in the Smith purview. Sutton, a flat-topped mixologist wore a dinner jacket and made damn sure everyone was well oiled as he would move around the area with a jug of wine in hand re-filling any glass that looked close to empty. He would crisply say "more wine gentlemen?" and then pour the vessel full. To top off his perfect execution of the bartending tasks he also removed a pair of musical bones from his jacket and spoke the words "here's your entertainment gentlemen" At that time he tapped out an astounding percussive version of the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil." Mike Sheehy was so moved he began shadow dancing which added another component to Sutton's extraordinary performance. It may have been part of the affection we had for the man that got everyone smashed but deep into the party the assemblage toasted Art Sutton, giving three heartfelt cheers. From that day forward, there could be no bartender greater than Art Sutton and his memory lives on as long as we do.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Athletic Club Flower shop

Image
  Athletic Club Flower shop      This phrase is actually the telephone greeting at Greg's uncle Johnny Tassano's flower shop at 808 W. 8th street near Flower street in downtown L.A. Greg loved the place and culled many a story and line from his experiences at a place he worked and visited fondly. Even when he wasn't employed he drove around with cousin Kent (Kevin Smith) and they had a ball observing the absurdities of modern living in the Southland. The phone was answered by different employees and each had a unique turn of "Athletic Club...flowershopppp" There was owner John Tassano, right-hand man Ronald P. Lord, "Speed," a delivery man, and Carmen who cut flowers and told odd anecdotes such as the origin of pizza. I believe Greg and Kevin could go on for weeks about the people they met on their deliveries as they set forth across the city of the angels to spread floral joy. This might include places to eat, fascinating neighborhoods, cemeteries, lone...
Read more

Oil and gas crowd

Image
  Oil and gas crowd       This one comes from cousin  Kevin's bold political action volunteering for the Fred Harris presidential campaign in 1976. Kevin got a terrific piece on the campaign published as an editorial in the Los Angeles Times and also developed an imitation of the candidates speaking voice. Fred Harris was everything you would want in a public servant  and had come close to being asked to be Vice President but his brand was not widely known. Despite representing Oklahoma as a senator Harris managed to be an admirable liberal who favored the Great Society and economic democracy. Way ahead of his time Fred wanted to wrest control away from corporations and millionaires. He travelled in a recreation vehicle wth young Smith aboard to cut down on costs and was as grass roots as it gets. Fred was married to native-american LaDonna and to this day we have buttons stating "LaDonna for First Lady." Kevin would repeat the phrase from Fred's speeches a...
Read more

alright mother

Image
  alright mother- “You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart.” —Carol Ann Duffy  Greg was always delighted by a story told by his mother in law about a "sortie" dinner party attended by a Doctor "Putty" Putnam who had been forced to attend an opera by his wife. When asked by a clueless guest if he enjoyed the opera, his response was  "fuck you!" When I was visiting Bear Cove and sitting next to the matriarch Greg goaded her into telling the tale. But a rum n' coke had loosened "Minnie's" tongue and when she got to Putty's answer she blurted a rather hard FUCK YOU!  Roy, hearing his bride curse thusly said across the table "Alright mother!"
Read more