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David Rhoden

I got in a fight with Batman on my birthday.

. Day .

It was my fortieth birthday. I was living in Brooklyn, but I had come back to New Orleans for a visit. I went to Circle Bar to see who was there, and it was a bunch of people. Alison Fensterstock was there, and she said she was going to Parasol's to pick up food, so I put in an order for a roast beef, dressed. While she was gone, I got a phone call.

I walked down the sidewalk toward the Taylor building to take it but I didn't get too far. I don't remember who was on the phone, but this barrel-shaped man standing by his car with the trunk open started yelling at me. He was wearing a yellow sweatshirt with a Batman emblem on the front.

I tried to wave him off but he kept yelling. So I said "what??!?"

"Can you get out of here? I'm trying to use my two-way radio! You're interfering with my signal." Was he talking about something real? I didn't know what he was talking about. I waved him off again.

"Forget it, I was here first," I said. A second later he was all over me. Taking big sweaty roundhouse swings, and connecting with my face every time. I was trying to get my phone folded up and put away, and this little beer barrel of a guy was beating the tar out of me. He had me up against the fence, just swinging away. I didn't get a punch in. His friend came from somewhere and pulled him off of me. "What the fuck are you doing?" the friend said. "You're gonna get the cops called on us." They shut the trunk and sped off. I guess they'd have to chat with Commissioner Gordon another time.

I got in a fight with Batman on my birthday

I went in the bar and Luke, who was tending bar at the time, asked me what happened. Pretty sure I got a free drink out of the otherwise bad deal. And Alison brought me a messy sandwich that I ate with my messy face.

A few months or maybe a year later I was visiting New Orleans again and I went back to the Circle Bar. I think Luke was tending bar again. A band was playing. And when i went in, this guy I sort of recognized gave me a little nod hello. And I thought, "now where do I know this cat from?" And that's when it hit me. Same guy. I think he was completely coked out the first time. He thought we were friends somehow.

(I have heard a few hypotheses on who this guy was. Do you know?)

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