In the Land of Cocktails

Madly Entertaining

Posted by Ti Adelaide Martin on May 7th, 2009

We’ve always known Bryan as the multi-talented singer, dancer, actor, etc. (etc., etc., and etc.)  We’ve seen him count­less times on Broad­way and doing his one man show in New Orleans (soon to be in New York, too!).  He is cur­rently star­ring on AMC’s hit TV Show Mad Men as Art Direc­tor Sal­va­tore Romano who’s per­sonal life is – let’s say some­what com­pli­cated (though maybe not so com­pli­cated).  The show fol­lows Jon Hamm as Don Draper (who Lally has a major crush on) and is based on the cut-throat adver­tis­ing world of Madi­son Avenue in the 1960’s. The cloth­ing, dec­o­ra­tion and polit­i­cally incor­rect lan­guage and behav­ior – it’s all wildly enter­tain­ing.  There is con­stant smok­ing, drink­ing in the mid­dle of the day in the office, ram­pant sex­ism and plenty of inap­pro­pri­ate touch­ing.  I occa­sion­ally feel jeal­ous that Bryan gets to “play dress up” and re-live the era of our par­ents’ prime.

Bryan and I grew up in the same cock­tail world.  While the Batt boys were busy con­coct­ing Tiki drinks at Bali Hai, Lally and I were learn­ing to sip Saz­er­acs (while main­tain­ing a smile — it’s a bit of an acquired taste) at our family’s New Orleans Cre­ole restau­rants.  Regard­less of the dif­fer­ence in venues, both busi­nesses (and fam­i­lies) empha­sized cocktails.

His mother epit­o­mizes ele­gance and ran in Aunt Adelaide’s crowd of jet-setters, movie stars and New Orleans racon­teurs.  Our fam­i­lies dressed for din­ner and enter­tained often and lavishly.

Din­ner at Bryan’s today is still an ele­gant affair – com­plete with antique china, vin­tage glass­ware (filled with well-made cock­tails, of course) and all of touches that say “wel­come.”  I have to admit, the last time Bryan was at my house for a party, he, Tom, Lally and I danced the night away with lots of twists, twirls and dips.  We recov­ered from all of them – except that last one.  We had spe­cial cock­tails invented for the evening – the Oh Mai! and the Oops (rather fit­ting for that night).  As on most occa­sions, almost every­one brought a host or host­ess gift (which is per­haps why we sell so many copies of In The Land of Cock­tails).  We had a won­der­ful time, as we always do with Bryan.  He is the essence of style and fun and we love him and the entire Batt crew.  I do won­der, though, when I get to put on my fur for a cameo?

- Ti