Lew, however, noticing the way the Archduke seemed to keep inching stealthily but unmistakably toward the street door, thought it wise to do the same.
* * * * * * * * * *
Looks like the Archduke is still interested in causing trouble; he just didn't want to cause trouble around his bodyguards or his American watchers. Now that everybody seems to have forgotten his upsetting behavior, he's off to find another bar in which to start a fight.
After a while somebody started singing, "All Pimps Look Alike to Me," and half the room joined in.
* * * * * * * * * *
I'm surprised that's a name of a song from 1893. But what's more surprising is the rabbit hole it leads to. Pynchon is an expert at dropping a reference that will mean practically nothing to a modern audience but if they dig into it, they're usually well rewarded. In this case, evidence for the song "All Pimps Look Alike to Me" doesn't seem to exist on the Internet. It may not have even been a song. But it was a line from a song which Ernest Hogan, a Black American songwriter, heard one evening in a back room bar in Chicago in the 1890s (perhaps this very one on this very night!), which he used to create a song of his own. Being that "pimp" was a bit too harsh and derogatory, Ernest decided to change the song to "All Coons Look Alike." In one fell swoop, he pretty much invented the horrible practice of coon songs and ragtime. It was a curse on him for the rest of his life, and one of his greatest regrets. Not because of the ragtime! He was elated about the ragtime and seemed to forgive himself for the negative aspect of his song and what it created because it brought ragtime to the masses.
That's a pretty short synopsis of this history, mostly because anybody can find lengthy discussions of Ernest Hogan online. I just want to point out Pynchon's control of cultural references from the past and how he seeds them subtly into his narrative for anybody wishing to dig a little deeper. I'm not sure how deep he'll get into, plot and theme-wise, race relations in America in this novel. But he'll always have time for a little nudge of the elbow. He just makes a slight nod to the tiny rock about to start an avalanche of racist pop culture and says, "See that rock? Follow it if you want. Watch how it cascades into more and more boulders over time. It's gonna be a fucking disaster. Or, you know, just keep reading."
Which helped to restore a level of civility in the room, and soon even of cheer, as smart neckties were soaked in suds, the piano player came back out from under the bar, and people in the room resumed dancing syncopated two-steps.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Alcohol heals all wounds" is a saying, right? Or is it "Alcohol has charms to soothe the savage breast"? Maybe "An alcohol in time saves nine"? These all seem pretty apt for this moment so maybe they're all sayings, probably by Benjamin "I Love Alcohol" Franklin.
Turning to the room, "When Franz Ferdinand drinks," he cried, "everybody drinks!"
* * * * * * * * * *
I'm not sure why the Archduke went so quickly from wanting to start some shit to trying to smooth everything over. Maybe the Archduke was insulting a little guy and the large, dangerous-looking man took the brunt of the insult, causing Ferdinand to back down when he realized he actually could get killed. Starting shit with everybody in a bar is a bit different than shooting a rifle at unarmed workers just getting off their shift at the Stockyards.
I must say, after the way the Archduke has been acting, I'm kind of seeing Gavrilo Princip's side of things.
