Buffa's Buffet: 5 things on my mind

Interviews aren't my specialty, but I find them irresistible.

Confession: I am not a huge fan of doing interviews, as in the question-giving side. Who doesn’t love a good answering session where you can cut loose and reveal something about yourself? The other side can be challenging, and it can make you feel stupid on occasion.

For example, interviewing the likes of George Clooney and Channing Tatum was exhilarating, until I started thinking about the questions I was going to ask them right before we were hitting record. Softball tosses or hardcore info-seekers, both seemed tiring or pointless to me. I just wanted to talk. There isn’t an actor or athlete who wants to hear the question, “how did (doing this big act) make you feel?”

That’s two tickets to Snoozeville. What I do in order to overcome this stopgap is turning a standard Q&A into a conversation, where each side is talking and adding in their experiences. It makes it a lot easier to get the interviewee comfortable, and allow the question-asking side to find some levity.

It will be put to the test this week as I interview the co-author of “Heat 2,” Meg Gardiner, this Friday. I kid. Meg is awesome, and an outstanding writer. She’s also very good on the Twitter stream, engaging and putting out potent messages. Did I try to get Michael Mann too? Of course, but when it comes to novel-writing and more specifically crime novel-writing, Gardiner is more of the expert in the dynamic duo (the book made Top 10 lists). The filmmaker broke into the book world by teaming up with one of its most celebrated scribes.

So, if you’re a big fan of the 1995 movie “Heat” and/or the sequel, look for that to post here next week. Here is my review of the best-selling sequel novel.

You can find a fascinating and sad-but-true docuseries on the fast food phone grifter. That nickname was issued by me, not Netflix, after watching an episode of “Don’t Pick Up The Phone.” In the three-part (thank god!) series, detectives in Mount Washington, Kentucky recount how a man posing as a cop on the phone got a fast food restaurant manager to strip-search an employee. This came after an accusation by the cop on the phone.

We’re talking about a young employee taking ALL of her clothes off in a manager’s office, just because a mysterious man on the phone told her boss to. It’s sad and twisted until you find out it was done over 73 times in different stores and states. I could only find myself rolling my eyes at the thought of this guy possibly getting away with these acts. I could spoil it, but the series is relatively new.

Let me just say this. If someone called me on the phone about something so pressing, I’d say “wrong number” and hang up. To quote a great George Clooney movie when asked about the cops’ procedure for arrest and seizure: “They don’t call.”

Remember that if some perennial asshat tries to scam you or the innocent folks working for you. That’s free, legit advice from me to you on this preemptive holiday week. What can you do for me? Consider subscribing below. We’re going on a full year of constant commentary, even while working full-time hours. Give back to your loudmouth writer:

How about those St. Louis Blues? The 2022-23 season is a streaky one so far, with the team winning and losing large batches of games in sequence. Being three points back of a playoff spot in the West (which isn’t as good as advertised yet), they can’t afford to keep playing hockey like Tyler O’Neill swings the bat.

101.1 ESPN radio host Randy Karraker made a solid point this morning about plans to unload pending unrestricted free agents. If the team is still skating around streaky play and not climbing over .500 that much closer to the trade deadline, this team will have to take the notion of trading popular players more seriously. That includes players like Vladimir Tarasenko and possibly Ryan O’Reilly.

First, I don’t think both will be traded if rigid play continues, and that’s an IF. I also don’t see Doug Armstrong making drastic changes to bolster the roster this season due to the immovable cap on payroll. Until the NHL works that down, teams are stuck in a tough spot to make substantial moves. So, the only way to clean it up would be to cut big salaries and try to get something in return.

When there was absolutely no money to even make David Perron a follow-up offer to stick around this past summer, you knew the bank account down at Enterprise was tightening up. Now, it will become a game of mix and matching for the GM if the team can’t pull it together. Like him or not, this won’t be good for Craig Berube either, even if the man can’t make much out of the same group of players.

St. Louis is 15-15-1 before their game tonight against Vancouver.

Great movies don’t leave your mind soon if the soundtrack is well done. Two days after finally watching “All Quiet on the Western Front,” the pulsating score is reverberating in my head. It carries more punk rock punch than the usual war movie, standing apart in the way it hits the ears AND the heart with its sounds.

There’s slower moments in the listen, but the sharp slamming hook of doom that punctuates 90% of the score rattles you as you listen, bringing you back to the scene and movie at hand. It’s the kind of film score that could be enjoyed without viewing the movie.

However, DON’T skip this one. If it takes watching in sections to get through it, do it.

Last but not least, please go support a local restaurant. Wherever you live, go eat local. Unlike the human body, mom and pop type restaurants couldn’t receive a booster shot that rid them of their COVID-19 problems. It doesn’t work that well with a small business. They need our constant love and attention, like a beautiful flower that we don’t want to see die.

Go support places like Edibles and Essentials, Katie’s Pizza and Pasta, Russell’s on Macklind, Southwest Diner, Panda Chinese Restaurant (Kirkwood), Salt & Smoke, and about 45 other great places I eat at as regularly as possible. There are places I’d eat at instead of paying a bill due to how good they are. Go get some, and keep a business going at once. We can be heroes, even for just one meal.

That’s all for now. Monday is slowly dying…