A villanelle is not a small cottage in the French countryside. It’s a kind of poem where you can make the same point – for example, making out with a bartender at The Maple Leaf – in a number of chorus-like ways.

That’s about the only literary fact you’ll learn from Louisiana’s ex Poet Laureate Julie Kane on this Happy Hour, but you will learn some more about Julie and the kind of life you can lead when you’re a superstar poet, even if Julie does have Bobby Jindal of all people to thank for the recognition.

Fame is no stranger to Richard Pomes. Richard is famous in the world of liquor and millennial liquor lovers as “The face of Fireball,” the sweet cinnamon flavored whiskey that took the 20-something drinking classes by storm over the past few years. Today Richard is making an even bigger splash with his new brand, Ghost Tequila. It’s a smooth tequila infused with Ghost Pepper – one of the hottest peppers in the cosmos. After a shot of Ghost and a few minutes of Richard’s magic spell binding sales poetry, you’d probably buy anything off of him. 

John Shirley was at one point the 5th best golfer in Mississippi. That was a while back. Now he’s the singer, guitar player and one of the songwriters in the 3-piece band Cardinal Sons. In all the many hours of Happy Hour, John is the first guest ever to literally call bullshit on his own work. The new Cardinal Sons record is out on cassette. Remember you heard it here first: according to John, cassettes and cassette players are coming back.

These guests could go for another hour or two and the conversation wouldn’t dry up or get anywhere near dull. If you’re looking for three smart, funny, nice, talented, and ego-less people to stumble into in a bar, you’ve found them. If this ends up being your favorite Happy Hour we wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Photos at Wayfare by Alison Moon.