Pontious Pilate & The Death of Il Gatto

When I think of Pilate talking to Jesus, I like to envision the scene from "Last Temptation of Christ."

David Bowie played the Roman Ruler and William Defoe was the Messiah....you just can't get better than that.

If historical notes are accurate, it appears that Pontious wasn't all that jacked to send the Son of God to his final demise.

Like most good rulers, Pilate searched for a loop hole, and guess what....he found one.

Imagine that.

Under Roman law, once a year the government was able to give that mob called Rome a prisoner back.

This gesture was supposed to be symbolic, representing the forgiving heart of Caesar.

Typically the cat that avoided the noose was a noble person that was wrongfully persecuted, somebody like...oh, like a Desmond Tu Tu.

So Pilate gives the mob a choice.....

"Do you guys want me to set free this religious zealot, this man called Jesus, this guy who talks about love? Or would you prefer that I give unto you that serial killer dude Barrabas whose crimes are torture, rape and basically every heinous deed that will inspire deprived minds for generations to come?"

B.T.W. that Pilate quote was kinda a Klecko paraphrase, in case you didn't figure that out.

Collective perception, old fashion values and common sense are something that should never be taken for granted.

The human species is flawed, and 9 times out of 10, you can count on them to make the wrong choice, just as long as it pumps up the drama and contributes additional gossip for the afternoon session around the water cooler.

If you are an Atheist or Agnostic.....I'll take you to chapter last.

The mob not only let the serial killer free, but for all practical purposes, they had parties, did Jello shots and whooped it up as the Romans drove spikes into the hands and feet of Danny Klecko's all time favorite hero.

So whats this post all about? Is Klecko dropping bombs of religion on us?

Geesh....and we were just starting to like him.

LOL....shut up ya'll, I'm just using this as a historical reference to set you up for how easy it is for a mob to act foolishly.

In Sunday School when they told us that story, most of us kids would say.....

"Those people were stupid to kill the Christ, didn't they stop to think about this for a split second?"

No....people usually don't, not if common sense can be replaced with drama.

In my city there is a business group named Parasole.

For decades they have created numerous restaurants across the Twin Cities.

In addition to inspiring a metro area with culinary delights, this concept has provided countless-countless-countless jobs for many folks across the TC's.

Within the last week however, a snafu has hit their business plan.

Everything I am about to report is basically gutter talk and gossip, words from the street if you will, but my objective here isn't to aim the spotlight on the people at Parasole as much as the rest of the Johnny Lunch Buckets in the Twin Cities Foodie scene.

Earlier this week I got a phone call hipping me that Parasole's prized Il Gatto had shut their doors this past weekend.

Rumors circulated that management, servers and additional staff pulled up to the concept but the doors were locked.

Pissed off food workers from my city started to grab their pitch forks and chime in........

"I heard that those bast**** were packing stuff up while the employees stood freezing out on the side walk."

Dude....you would have thought they were writing a sequel to "The Little Match Girl."

As the week started, I witnessed peoples angst, it was a type of pebble that like the ones that get stuck inside their Adidas, but as a few days passed.....people began upping the anti and launching verbal boulders.

Yeah-Yeah-Yeah.....I get it. It's almost Christmas and a bunch of people lost their jobs. Yes that is tragic.

I feel ya, just read the Blog post were the Fed's shut down the bakery I worked at 10 days before I married Sue McGleno.

Klecko was stressed out. Klecko hated it when the new relatives asked him what he did for a living, basically I just said....

"Right now I'm pretty much sitting at home following the O.J. trial."

That period of my life sucked.....HARD!

But, with all that said, I never-ever-ever dissed on the ownership group.

I knew what I was signing up for.

This is the hospitality industry.

Haven't you guys ever seen that Clooney movie - Michael Clayton?

He was a government spook, a cleaner, a fixer.

Daddy-O could set empires on their ear, but if you recall, towards the end of the movie.....dude couldn't keep a restaurant afloat.

It is such a hard thing to do.

Maybe the hardest.

If you don't believe me, just go talk to somebody smarter than me, somebody like a banker.

They'll tell you that the odds of a restaurant making it in today's world is Long Odds at best.

People who have been in the show for awhile realize that it's not a matter of if, but when.

Like Kings...Every-Every-EVERY restaurant is eventually deposed.

When you sign on to work as a server, a chef, a baker, an accountant in a restaurant.....you are playing Russian roulette.

When you put the gun up to your head, the odds are in your favor that your skull will remain intact after you squeeze the trigger, but eventually...somewhere down the road that bullet is simply going to slide into a chamber that blows your top off.

People have watched far too many food Network montage's where they are led to think that their are rainbows at the end of the Food Service Workers race.

Let me give you a little clue......there isn't even a finish line.

If I sound annoyed, maybe it's because I am.

I don't have any deep connections with anyone over at Parasole, but I too thrash frantically in the water, trying to stay above, just like they do.

I know for a fact that they put a ton of cash into that concept, and nobody is going to take a bigger financial hit than their ownership group, but Klecko's no fool....he's been to the rodeo before and knows that an ownership group losing money don't always resonate good will in a story where people lose work during the holidays.

But since you've tolerated me up until this point, you might as well just let me finish off my rant with...........

Days, months and years have passed, and during that time the Parasole Group has sent home over ten thousand employee pay checks.

They have offered stability and great dining options for our community.

With that said, I'm just gonna shout at the peeps who are hating to back off.

Seriously....after everything this group has done for our city and it's economic base....now you're gonna get all self righteous and point your finger in their face?

Sigh.....Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.