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Pumpernickels Bagelry and Delicatessen on Connecticut Avenue NW has a dizzying array of overhead chalkboards from which you’re supposed to place your order. This “Wrap ‘N Roll” menu, tucked way back in the bowels of the shop, caught my eye because of its musical bent. All the wraps were named after safe, mostly respected artists—-Zeppelin, Buffett (as I said, mostly respected), Otis, Aretha, etc.—-until you reached the bottom of the list.
There at the bottom, a vegetarian wrap with carrots and cucumbers and hummus and such, was given the unfortunate handle of “Captain and Tennille.” I laughed out loud when I saw it. Then I turned to the young man in the ball cap behind the counter and asked if this was a joke.
The counter man, safely removed from the schmaltz and pap of the ’70s, didn’t know who Captain and Tennille was. I envied him. I couldn’t get “Love Will Keep Us Together” out of my head.