If you've ever found yourself wondering these two questions:
1. Why is the address of this blog "fine-and-mellow"?
2. What does "It's Not Just Ice Cream Anymore" mean?
I am here to set the record/tape/cd straight.
Back in 1997 when I was a freshman at Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge) I was registered in an English 1157 (English Composition - Part I) class taught by Chad Rohrbacher.
This guy was a hoot, he wasn't a PhD, so he wasn't a "Doctor"...so we didn't call him Dr. Rohrbacher...but at the same time "his dad was Mr. Rohrbacher" so we didn't call him that...and he didn't like "Mr. Chad" (he wasn't from the South, and he thought that was dumb)...so we just called him "Chad" (which was a culture shock for me to call an adult by their first name [gasp!])
Anywho, "Chad" offered the class extra credit if we would attend a poetry reading at a cafe in downtown Baton Rouge, and write a critique of the poetry.
The cafe (on 3rd Street, which is no longer there) was called, "M's Fine and Mellow Cafe" - sounds like some place you'd buy dope out of the back...but I didn't take the dope back then, so I didn't find out. So, question 1 answered: the address is the name of this defunct cafe.
The only thing I remember about either visit to M's Cafe was this one poetry reading that ties in with the name of the blog.
During this poetry reading a guy gets up and sets up his new poem. I may be exaggerating, but this guy "set up" the poem for like 5 minutes. When someone is talking about absolutely nothing, 5 minutes is an eternity.
So anyways after setting it up he said the first word of the poem, which was also the title of the poem. The title of the poem sounded like "Neopolitan", but it wasn't, it was something that sounded like it, but wasn't it (I couldn't hear the guy all that well).
To this day, I have no idea what that first word/title was, but what followed the first word was, "it's not just ice cream anymore." Which drew the most raucous laughter from the crowd, with the exception of myself, who just sat there puzzled. I mean the crowd laughed for like 2 minutes (an eternity of laughter)...people were laughing so hard that he could did not get past the first line until people could compose themesleves.
Ridiculous if you ask me.
So anyway, now you know that there was a man named Jack Dawson and he saved me (and answered questions about the blog) in every way a person could be saved*
*Of course you'll recognize this paraphrase from the end of Jim Cameron's seminal 1997 work: Titanic. Another ridiculous this, of course is that Jack Dawson did not talk to Rose about Jesus, so he obviously didn't save her in every way that a person could be saved...
- Recently someone asked me why I was so certain he didn't say "Neopolitan", and I stick by the original story that following that word with "it's not just ice cream anymore" isn't the least bit funny...sort of like this blog.
