Good Wednesday morning.
If I say “Do you remember The Pina Colada song?” I’m sure most people of a certain age all of a sudden will start humming the refrain.
If you’re not familiar, the song is actually formally titled “Escape” and was originally sung by British-American singer-songwriter Rupert Holmes (not, contrary to popular believe, Jimmy Buffett).
A quick Google search will inform you that “Escape” was the lead song on Holmes’ fifth album, “Partners in Crime,” which came out in 1979. It rose through the charts to eventually become a No. 1 song in the U.S. in the 1970s.
The song is actually kind of ironically depressing, as it’s about a guy who gets bored of his long-term relationship and notices an ad in the personals section placed by a woman who is looking for a man who, among other things, enjoys Pina Coladas and getting lost in the rain.
He answers the ad and when he shows up for the assignation with his exciting new potential love interest – joke’s on him! – it turns out to have been placed by his long-term partner, who was just as bored in their relationship as he was. What’re the odds?
Anyway, the song has been covered quite a bit over the years. Everyone from DJ Cassidy and Shaggy to Kiki & Herb (they’re a drag cabaret duo, in case you weren’t familiar) and many others in between have put their respective spins on the tune.
Holmes, who has also authored numerous plays and at least one mystery novel, lives in the Hudson Valley (or did for a while, anyway). He apparently warred with his record label over changing the song’s name, because everyone knew it as “The Pina Colada Song,” and it was experiencing sort of weak performance as a result of the confusion. He never fully relented, but a compromise was brokered in the end.
From what I was able to glean while researching Holmes, he had never tasted a pina colada when he wrote the song “Escape.” That’s really unusual, because the drink is wildly popular – especially in Puerto Rico, which has adopted the frozen concoction of rum, pineapple juice, and coconut cream as its official alcoholic beverage.
Puerto Rico is believed to be where the pina colada originated – San Juan, to be exact – sometime in the 1950s. Multiple bartenders have laid claim to creator status for the drink.
The Caribe Hilton maintains it was the brainchild of a man named Ramón “Monchito” Marrero, who worked at the hotel’s Beachcomber Bar and was commissioned to create a signature cocktail in 1954. Meanwhile, a different bartender who also worked for the Caribe Hilton, Ricardo García, claims that he was the one who came up with the recipe.
Still a third bartender, Ramón Portas Mignot, who worked at a place called Barrachina, which is in Old San Juan, insists that he was the one who invented the drink, but not until almost ten years later – in 1963. The hotel, which still exists, boasts as much on its website. It also has an official commemorative plaque affixed to one of its walls that reads: “The house where in 1963 the piña colada was created by Don Ramon Portas Mingot.”
No matter which origin story you believe, pina coladas are delicious – the virgin version for me, thanks – assuming you’re into the tropical flavor thing. If you’re not planning to travel to Puerto Rico anytime soon and you’re yearning for a taste of paradise, you’re in luck, because the recipe for the Barrachina pina colda is readily available online.
Whip up a batch in honor of National Pina Colada Day, and, in case you were wondering “pina colada” refers to the fresh pressed and then strained pineapple that is integral to making a really good version of this drink.
It will be a good day for cool drinks, (just maybe hold off on the alcohol until after work hours). Temperatures will again flirt with 90 degrees, and skies will be overcast with the potential for severe thunderstorms.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden welcomed NATO leaders to Washington yesterday by celebrating their unity against Russia’s Ukraine aggression and underscoring America’s ironclad commitment to the alliance under his watch.
Biden opened the 75th anniversary summit of NATO by acknowledging the decade-long leadership of the outgoing secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the U.S.
Speaking in a strong voice, with few errors, Biden sounded themes from some of the most memorable speeches of his presidency, painting an image of a fearsome and growing NATO with an ironclad commitment to Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky blasted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being photographed hugging Russian President Vladimir Putin while on a state visit on Monday.
Zelensky said it was a “huge disappointment” and a “devastating blow to peace efforts” to see Modi hug Putin on the same day a Russian missile attack hit a children’s hospital in Ukraine.
A U.S. marshal on a Supreme Court security detail shot and wounded an armed man who tried to carjack him early Friday near Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s home in northwest Washington, according to court documents.
The marshals were parked in separate vehicles when Kentrell Flowers, 18, of Southeast, got out of a vehicle, approached a marshal and pointed a handgun at him “in an apparent attempt to carjack him,” police said in a statement.
There’s no indication that the justice was in her home at the time of the incident, or that she was ever in any danger.
After largely ceding the spotlight to the mounting turmoil surrounding Biden ‘s campaign in the wake of their debate, former President Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail and reveled in the Democratic infighting that has played out in public.
Trump spent a significant amount of time attacking Vice President Kamala Harris, considered to be Biden’s likeliest successor should he step aside.
As calls grow louder for the president to step aside, some high-profile Democrats are unifying behind Harris, 59, as the natural candidate to replace him.
Trump challenged Biden to a debate this week and an 18-hole golf match, calling it a chance for Biden to “redeem himself” after a disastrous performance during a June 27 debate that has dramatically altered the presidential campaign.
A top Democratic pollster has a new survey showing Biden still in contention against Trump, but at further risk of losing the election — with other leading Democrats now surging ahead.
Democrats emerging from a closed-door meeting yesterday to discuss Biden’s political future offered support for their party leader a day after the White House’s full-court press to beat back critics within his party, even as some detractors pushed for a reset.
Biden held a video call with nearly 200 Democratic mayors last night, reiterating that he was staying in the presidential race, reminding the city leaders how best to support his campaign and discussing his second-term agenda.
Confidence is increasing that post-Tropical Storm Beryl will affect parts of the Northeast in the coming days.
While hurricane-force wind gusts and a storm surge are not anticipated locally, New York could experience heavy rainfall and scattered severe storms.
The Biden administration was apparently blindsided by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s eleventh-hour decision to “pause” congestion pricing, a top official with the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) confirmed to reporters this week.
Grassroots advocates and state lawmakers are urging Hochul to sign bills meant to make childcare more accessible for more families. More here.
Affordable housing advocates and others are asking why Hochul is sitting on a large swath of transit-adjacent property that could bring thousands and thousands of units of affordable housing.
New Yorkers who rely on public transit, major highways and bridges to get around can expect more delays to their daily commutes as the city continues to confront record-breaking temperatures, multiple experts said.
A New York State Police investigator was suspended after being charged last month in a domestic incident, troopers confirmed.
Faced with the drownings of four New Yorkers less than three weeks into summer, Mayor Eric Adams rejected elected officials’ calls to extend lifeguard hours at the city’s beaches. He said efforts should instead focus on teaching the public about water safety.
Adams said lifeguard staffing is improving after years of hiring issues. New York City has about 800 lifeguards citywide due to enhanced pay and bonuses and streamlined training requirements with the lifeguards union.
Adams tried to slam the door shut on two prospects for the infamous lockup: its closure by 2027 and a takeover by the feds. He insisted he was “not concerned at all” ahead of a court hearing about a federal receiver potentially taking control of Rikers.
Adams said that he supports a conservative-pushed rollback of sanctuary city policies passed during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.
After plenty of fighting against a bill that would increase the City Council’s powers over his appointments, Adams didn’t wield his veto pen.
The news surprised the council, which was planning to vote this month to override an expected veto on the so-called advice and consent bill that grants lawmakers say over mayoral appointees to lead top city agencies.
NYU will take a number of steps to respond to antisemitism as part of a legal settlement with three Jewish students who said they were verbally harassed because of their identities and support for Israel, the university and plaintiffs said in a joint statement.
NYPD patrol cars are getting a new slogan and design — just a year after their last update. Decals imprinted with the old motto — “Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect” — will be replaced with decals bearing the new one: “Fighting crime, protecting the public.”
A plan to build a casino over a sprawling rail yard on Manhattan’s Far West Side has a new, formidable opponent: parkgoers. Friends of the High Line said that it will muster supporters to attempt to thwart the development plan.
Manhattan prosecutors said they were “actively pursuing” additional allegations of sexual assault against the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein ahead of a new trial that was likely to begin in the fall.
At a court hearing in Manhattan, ADA Nicole Blumberg said her office could be ready for a November retrial, countering Weinstein’s defense lawyer, Arthur Aidala, who said his client is in fragile health and “is begging us to move forward” with a sooner trial date.
Aidala complained to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber that his client has been behind bars for nearly five years as he accused prosecutors of using “delay tactics” in retrying the sexual assault case against the ex-Miramax honcho.
Weinstein attended the hearing and was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair. He wore a blue suit and clutched a book. Jessica Mann, who brought claims against Weinstein in the first trial, was also in attendance, sitting in the gallery with prosecutors.
An educational program for children that has operated at a Troy Housing Authority site for 45 years will close next month. The Ark, which provides after-school and summer camp programs for 55 children at its River Street site, didn’t get its state funding renewed.
A Troy police officer whose speeding SUV killed a 30-year-old pizza delivery driver last year was terminated this week because he no longer met the department’s minimum qualifications after his driver’s license was revoked.
A 21-year-old man behind the wheel of an car was killed yesterday evening after a man on foot fired at the vehicle on Delaware Avenue, Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said at the scene.
It’s always sunny in Saratoga on the eve of track season and the city’s business community said that general enthusiasm has not dropped off in the month since Saratoga Race Course hosted the Belmont Stakes.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
