The university tells us its teacher and writer-in-residence Stephen Frater "wants to craft the definitive biography of a man whose personality and accomplishments in the state's military, business, social and political circles make him the 'Frank Sinatra of Rhode Island.' "
Jeez, we aren't sure who should be more embarrassed by that, Ol' Blue Eyes or the man we lovingly called "Captain Blowhard" in this space. But no doubt both would give Mr. Frater an earful over his audacity, if not a faceful of knuckles.
Still, P&J will try to audit certain classes — most definitely the raccoon hunt field trip.
SMOKIN' HOT
Phillipe is busting his buttons this week.
P. was one of three national winners in The Smoking Gun website's weekly competition, wherein contestants match five criminals' mug shots with the stuff they were arrested for stealing — no easy task given the folks involved and the bizarre range of items they boosted. Particularly vexing in P.'s gilded lineup were the macaroni and cheese and the over-the-counter cold sore medication.
The prize is a hardcover from the New York Times best seller list, which demonstrates that TSG pretty much has its contest entrants' demographic nailed. We can't tell you how many times we've had to step over a pile of books by Stephen Hawking, Michael Ondaatje, and their ilk while visiting a good friend in his double-wide.
THE WORD FROM HUDSON
Perhaps you've noticed the latest web video from Barry Hinckley, the GOP candidate for the US Senate seat held by Sheldon Whitehouse. Mr. Hinckley, who is a little-known quantity, got a burst of attention by making his young son, Hudson, the star of the bit.
On the big screen in the Casa Diablo Boom Boom Room, it looked like young Hudson delivered a first-rate performance. Displaying charts and graphs detailing rising gas prices and our escalating debt problem, his "Economics 4 5-Year Olds" lecture is quite amusing.
The spot caused enough of a buzz in national Republican circles that Fox News host Neil Cavuto decided to do a brief sit-down with Hudson and his dad. We saw a clip of the Cavuto interview on-line and noticed that young Hudson had somehow lost his focus. When asked by Cavuto, "Are you worried about our (national) debt?," young Hudson nonchalantly replied, "No."
Whoops! Looks like Barry might want to think about speaking for himself in his next campaign ad. But that doesn't mean that young Hudson shouldn't be offered a Hollywood contract posthaste.
RAINBOW SHERBET
What a wonderful story — Louise White, the 81-year-old matriarch in Newport winning the third largest Powerball prize ever. Early Tuesday morning, thenewportbuzz.com website reported a rumor flying around the City by the Sea that someone in popular Newport-based musician LeRoy White's family was holding the winning ticket. As it turned out, it was his mother.
LeRoy had a hankering for rainbow sherbet ice cream, so Louise headed out to the Stop & Shop on Bellevue Avenue and decided to get a Powerball ticket as well as the treat. When Louise discovered she was holding the winning ticket, she tucked it away in her Bible before transferring it into a safe deposit box. If you tried to sell this as a movie script, no studio would buy the story.
