the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias
Oh joy. Baseball's just begun and the Orioles are already in last place in the division. I fear it's gonna be a fucking long season.
« February 2008 | Main | April 2008 »
March 31, 2008
days of speed and slow time mondays
Saw this on boing2 a while back but hadn't got 'round to blogging it: a London-based DJ troupe who spin 78s on gramophones, the Shellac Sisters. There's not much content on their website (a bit more at the Shellac Sisters myspace page) but it's still a cool enough idea that I wanted to pass it along. I wonder how many gramophones they have. And how hard is it to find someone to fix a gramophone these days. I did read recently that the best way to clean old 78s is with soapy water. Apparently, the last thing you want to use is the kinds of cleaning fluid sold for vinyl LPs as it can dissolve the shellac on 78s.
March 30, 2008
the screech of brakes and lamplights blinking
Somehow I thought I'd get more done this weekend. I blame the weather. I did get started Friday evening on re-arranging the soaker hoses in the garden beds. And we made it to the farmer's market yesterday and picked up a few things, including some ferns for the side of the house near the rain barrel and another hydrangea to replace on of the ones that didn't survive the drought. Oh, and we watched a movie tonight: the Illusionist, which was good. Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti in a tricky story revolving around late 19th century stage magic, with some political intrigue and sex thrown in too. Other than that (and watching the final nail driven in the coffin of my NCAA bracket) not so much. Well, sometimes it's nice to just take the weekend off.
Here's a link to an hilarious interview with Anthony Bourdain in which he expounds on the many and several ways in which the Food Network sucks. Bonus: it was done for the Food Network website.
March 29, 2008
a talking goat will bring you a box of wine, for free
Here's a funny summary of an interview with Alton Brown.
Also an interesting post by Michael Ruhlman about chefs who blog. Altho I must admit my first reaction was "aw, hell... how am I gonna keep up with all that?" Still, it's good to know there are all those resources out there.
March 28, 2008
poisonous and ill-smelling articles
see more crazy cat pics
re: meat product recycling
As we move into spring, I'm having to find seasonally appropriate beverages to replace the porters and stouts I've been drinking for most of the last few months. Several recent finds, the first two of which also continue my project of learning more about Belgian-style beers. There's Clipper City's Holy Sheet, described as an Über Abbey Ale. It's a bit over the top, in the way of many American craft beers. I like it, altho maybe not as much as CC's saison ale from last year. Also Belgian, and in a more classic style, is the Allagash Dubbel. I'd put this right up there with Ommegang as the best Belgian-style American craft beers I've tried. Finally, and moving away from Belgium, there's Terrapin's Rye Squared. Like the Holy Sheet, this has an ass-kicking ABV -- it ain't a chugging beer. It definitely is part of the US craft beer "if bigger is better, then biggest is best" style of manic over-hopping (Dogfish Head and Stone are some of the best at that, I think). I've enjoyed the regular Terrapin Rye IPA on tap at Dain's so when one of the guys at Sam's recommended the Rye Squared, I knew I had to check it out. Spendy but worth it.
On a related note: I saw a comment somewhere recently which expressed amazement that people would pay $10 for a sixpack of Rogue. No other context was provided so I don't know if this was: (a) a slap against the quality of Rogue; (b) a get-off-my-lawn moment of surprise at how damn expensive everything is these days; © reverse beer snobbery holding that since a sixer of Bud only costs $5 that it's crazy to pay twice that for a microbrew.
On a completely unrelated note: Tennessee getting stomped last night pretty much wrecked my last good bracket. And, as I type this, Davidson's up 19 on Wisconsin which would finish me. But, hey, go Davidson! If anyone in your pool actually had the gonadal fortitude to pick Davidson into the Elite 8, you oughta just call the damn thing now and give them the money.
March 27, 2008
have i ever told you guys about my irrational fear of the late 1800s?
For the first time in a while, it's not just fun, it's meme fun. Courtesy of Ms. Pants. I'm also taking her somewhat casual approach to the tagging process. If you see this and feel moved to participate then please do. Or not. As y'all see fit.
10 random things about me (and I tried to make them as random as possible)::1. I’ve been a college radio DJ since 1998.
2. I saw Penn & Teller at the airport in Las Vegas and went up and thanked them for many years of cool entertainment.
3. In high school, I played percussion in the orchestra. Some of the things I played: cymbals, bass drum, triangle, sleigh bells, tympani, block of metal (standing in for an anvil).
4. My first pair of Doc Marten’s was bought in Edinburgh.
5. Back in the 80s, I published 2 issues of a zine.
6. My favorite season is winter.
7. When I was in Italy, I discovered gelato di riso. Yes, that's rice gelato. It’s the best thing ever. I look for it whenever I’m in a place that sells gelato but I’ve never seen it in the US.
8. I’ve thrown up on a NYC subway
9. My brother and I once bought the same exact Xmas present for each other. But I found where he’d hidden his and was able to buy him something else in time.
10. I was married by an Elvis impersonator.
March 26, 2008
makes you like your eggs on the jersey side
The other night we watched another DVD of soundies. This one featured big bands: Duke Ellington, Lucky Millinder, Count Basie, and Cab Calloway. All excellent but I especially loved the Calloway tracks, which included both familiar tunes ("Minnie the Moocher") and some less so. Including "We the Cats Shall Hep Ya" which I only knew from Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive so I assumed it was a Louis Jordan song. And here's a clip of a Cab Calloway performance of another song I heard first from Joe Jackson, "Jumpin' Jive." Extra special bonus -- the clip also features the breath-taking Nicholas Brothers dancing up a storm.
March 25, 2008
and she thought the wrrld was a playground
XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 23 mar 08)
Ishumar :: Toumast
Cryland :: Don Cavalli
Duetos :: Gilberto Gil
Blackout :: Monguito Santamaria
Healing the Music :: Embassadors
Greatest Hits :: Todos Tus Muertos
the Mandé Variations:: Toumani Diabate
What's Happening in Pernambuco :: various
Home Again :: Rahim Alhaj
Italuba II :: Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez
this week's video feature: Toumani Diabate
March 24, 2008
the violence inherent in the system
This afternoon I saw an AP story about protests at the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony. The headline was something like "Protest Mars Torch-Lighting Ceremony" and one of the first quotes was from a Greek Olympic official in high dudgeon because protesters had dared to besmirch such an important event with their petty concerns about, you know, people getting killed in the streets of Tibet. I think you can guess from that last sentence that I had a big ranty rant all set to go about the relative importance of a pointless orgy of sports-based nationalism vs. people getting killed in the streets of Tibet. But when I got home and checked my link to the AP story, I discovered that it wasn't quite the same story anymore. I wonder if they got complaints or if the story just went in a different direction in the longer version as more complete info became available.
March 23, 2008
like that, but way more sequins
I forgot to mention one of the highlights from Friday night: a mariachi version of "My Way." Not sure if it was a request or just the band's choice but it was awesome.
Bracketology update: stepping away from the gates of mediocrity, I went 13-3 for the Sweet 16. No doubt just setting myself for next weekend's crushing defeat. Still, it's one of my best days o' picking in a couple of years.
March 22, 2008
there's a whole bunch of pirates in the next car
In today's bracketology update, I remain the very definition of mediocrity -- 22 and 10 after the first two days. That's on the two brackets I'm still tracking, having given up all hope for the bracket of which we will speak no further. Hey, sometimes I guess right and sometimes I guess wrong and sometimes I guess wrong a lot all in the same bracket.
But enough about that. Here's a clip of "el Mariachi Loco." I don't think it's quite as good as last night's performance but it's one of the few clips on YouTube that doesn't look like it was recorded from someone's phone (while they were juggling it).
March 21, 2008
i could be wrong...
At the end of the first day, I'm 11-5, 11-5, and 12-4. Which is plenty mediocre. Plus one of those 11-5 brackets is completely blown up, with two of my Elite 8 picks already bounced.
I was told there would be no math
March 20, 2008
the cerebral fireworks movement
So it was an odd day of radio/blog crossovers. This morning while I was at the station, Sam (the DJ who comes on after my show) mentioned that he'd seen this blog after following a link from a comment I'd made on one of the local food blogs. Then this evening, I was reading one of the local food blogs and followed a link to Hex Conduction Hour. Which turns out to be the blog of another XDU DJ. Small town, sometimes...
I was going to post this over at Hex Conduction Hour, in response to a post about John McGeoch. But a Blogger or Google ID is required to comment. I have neither and I'm too much of a lazy bastard to go sign up for one. So instead I'll link it here. It's one of my fave "forgotten gems" from the 80s: the Armoury Show.
an unlimited supply
I think the first days of the NCAA tourney, with its wall-to-wall hoops, are right up there with early round World Cup for most fun days in any sports year. I have three brackets which are 7-1, 6-2, and 5-3 after this afternoon's games. Somewhat oddly, it's the 7-1 picks that are slighty worse off, since that's the one where I took a flyer on Kent State to beat Kansas in the next round. Not that there's anything all that impressive about any of my picks so far, since today's been straight chalk.
And just to advance a well-rounded blog experience, here's a neat fashion blog I found via boing2. Interesting commentary and amazing sketches.
March 18, 2008
the wrrld was set on fire
XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 16 mar 08)
What's Happening in Pernambuco :: various
Duetos :: Gilberto Gil
Fraise Vanille :: Helena
Ethnic Minority Music of North Vietnam :: various
Italuba II :: Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez
Blackout :: Monguito Santamaria
Supersaund 2012 :: Señor Flavio
Shoghaken Ensemble :: Shoghaken Ensemble
Greatest Hits :: Todos Tus Muertos
the Mandé Variations:: Toumani Diabate
this week's video feature: Otto (doing one of my favorite songs from What's Happening in Pernambuco)
she probably lives in tahiti
Sarah's already mentioned Charles and Brooks Ann's wedding. Which was indeed wonderful. Congrats, you crazy kids! The wedding was at Ayr Mount, a historic house in Hillsborough, and the reception was at the super swanky Carolina Club on the UNC campus. Good food, good people, good time.
I also was unable to ID the song "I'm Sticking to You" as being by Velvet Underground. But I was pleased to realize that, just after we arrived, the musicians (a guitar/bass duo, with extra parts pre-recorded onto an iPod by the guitarist) were playing "the Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric. Like fun!
March 17, 2008
cead mille failte
For yr holiday listening pleasure (via Boing2), the amazing Leprechaun Brothers...
March 16, 2008
a point is all that you can score
I was listening to a couple of excellent new CDs for the station this week: Ishumar by Toumast. They are in the same "desert blues" style as Tinariwen. In fact, Moussa Ag Kenya, founder of Toumast, was formerly in Tinariwen. Perhaps. The internets seem conflicted on this information. Where Tinariwen's sound tends a bit towards the ascetic and serious, Toumast is a bit more expansive. Perhaps because they're based in France and working with African and European musicians. They do add new elements to the basic Touareg sound. In one track they play the wailing ululations (still one of the most amazing sounds) against a string section. Quite spectacular. As is probably clear to anyone who's read this blog for a while, I'm not much of a roots music purist. So the fact that Toumast are building on the original sound as defined by Tinariwen (who have been performing for over a decade, altho their recordings have only been available in the US for the last few years) and looking to move into new sonic territories (egad... fusion!) does not strike me as automatically a bad thing. Altho I'm sure it does to many world music types.
So not my problem...
And speaking of insane fusions, there's Don Cavalli who comes on like the long-lost French cousin of R. L. Burnside. With some Jon Spencer and Little Axe thrown in. Plus some bits o' reggae and soul and Cajun stomp. And a cover of Gershwin's "Summertime." And cover art that looks like it was done by a middle school art student in 1975 with a big pack of Flair markers. Bluesy funky good time, y'all.
March 14, 2008
ladies take their shoes off after the ceremony
In honor of π Day, here's a fun link: Futurama Math. One of the best bonus features on the Bender's Big Score DVD is the math lecture, by a professor from App. State up in Boone. (The best feature is the how-long-can-they-keep-this-up episode of "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad") Loads of fun geekiness relating math concepts to Futurama episodes.
March 13, 2008
the eye is superficial
Can I just get an amen for college basketball? ACC and other conference tourneys this weekend. I'm watching MD hand BC their asses at the moment. And then next week it's the NCAA for weeks of college hoops fun. I really need something to distract me from obsessive reading of political blogs and obsessive obsessing over delegate counts.
March 12, 2008
i was almost an eyewitness to something
We were at the Original Q Shack tonight and they had a new special: pastrami sandwich. Holy flerking shnit was it good. Even better than the often available smoked ribeye sandwich. They're making the pastrami in-house (which makes sense since they've got plenty of brisket). I haven't had a chance to try Piedmont's pastrami but I'd say Q Shack is slightly ahead of Barbecue Joint in the house-made pastrami primaries.
Meatastic!
March 11, 2008
because black is the new black
There's nothing about this I don't love: candied bacon ice cream. I believe this will be the inaugural batch for the 08 ice cream making season.
Another fun thing I found on Serious Eats: apparently there's going to be an Iron Chef America game of Wii and DS. That's the only downside of having gotten the PS2 last year -- that none of the new games will be available for our machine. Then again, we've had it for a couple of months and I still haven't gotten thru both the katamari games so I'm clearly not the sort of person who's going to be burning thru titles at a rapid clip.
March 10, 2008
we know how to blow the whole wrrld apart
XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 9 mar 08)
Fraise Vanille :: Helena
Blackout :: Monguito Santamaria
Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako :: Vieux Farka Toure
Supersaund 2012 :: Señor Flavio
Duetos :: Gilberto Gil
What's Happening in Pernambuco :: various
Ethnic Minority Music of North Vietnam :: various
Shoghaken Ensemble :: Shoghaken Ensemble
Italuba II :: Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez
Greatest Hits :: Todos Tus Muertos
this week's video feature: Gilberto Gil
March 9, 2008
lonely men love chicken
Here's a fascinating site I found while link-surfing today. Pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about rock band logos. Some posts are better than others. The best ones are when he's been able to talk to someone in the band or the designer -- Chuck D. on the Public Enemy logo and Winston Smith on the DKs logo. Or the ones where he just goes off on some vaguely related tangent. Plus lots of trivia I didn't know (Neubauten logo was Toltec, another of los Bros Hernandez' brothers was in the hardcore band Dr. Know, Pat Morrison (Bags, Sisters of Mercy) is-or-was married to Dave Vanian, and so on).
March 8, 2008
negative four or negative zero
It's the end of the college basketball season and the ACC women's basketball tournament is going on. Listening to the radio the other day, I was reminded of something that bugs the shit out of me when I hear it (which is not often because I don't usually follow women's basketball). Why does every damn women's college team have to be called the Lady "School Nickname"?? Lady Blue Devils. Lady Tar Heels. Lady Wolfpack. Lady Terps. And on and on and etc. Hearing someone rattle off the scores or schedule and having 10 or so Lady Whatevers roll out in 30 seconds reaches a high level of absurdity. Feh on that!
i got the fear
Just found out that Meat Beat Manifesto (note: that link is to the MBM site, which will play noises at you... just so you know) will be playing a show at the Cradle on 4/28. w00t! In terms of giants of the scene that I've always wanted to see live, Jack Dangers is probably #2 (right behind Orbital, and since they're officially broken up right now, that might not ever happen). So I'm pretty excited about that. Plus opening act is Badawi, who do an excellent fusion of north African sounds w/ downtown NYC style guitar shredding. I've always thought of their sound as sort of "Robert Quine goes to Algeria."
March 5, 2008
on a need-to-know basis
Good news, everybody...
Patent granted for Slurm. Probably will end up being some ghastly Red Bull clone (altho that's perhaps appropriate for Slurm) but it'll still be fun to actually see it on a store shelf.
March 4, 2008
i'll walk down the lane with a happy refrain
So, la Migra showed up in the parking lot at work the other day. Well, it's an industrial park complex so there's plenty other businesses in that space. And the car was parked facing away from our building but looking straight down the hill at one of the other warehouses. Altho, to be fair, they could have been observing our entrances thru their rearview mirror. That's seems a bit Jason Bourne for the average INS official, but what do I know...
Not all that interesting, I'll grant you but not much else has happened this week. Oh, I should mention that we had dinner Sunday at Azteca Grill w/ Ms. Pants and Sta Salsera. A fine time was had by all. I consumed too many glasses of horchata and was kind of sugar buzzy for the rest o' the evening. Altho the carne asada tacos were good (and crammed full o' meat), I've come to the conclusion that I prefer the food at Lopez. Azteca wins on atmosphere of ambiance points, tho, what with the serenading guitarist, the futbol on the big screen and tables of guys sharing growlers of Corona. A fine night out indeed.
Also, this just in: il pleut!
March 3, 2008
they know they'll rule the wrrld some day
XDU wrrld music top 7 (week ending 2 mar 08)
What's Happening in Pernambuco :: various
Supersaund 2012 :: Señor Flavio
Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako :: Vieux Farka Toure
Fraise Vanille :: Helena
Devotion :: Cheb i Sabbah
Shoghaken Ensemble :: Shoghaken Ensemble
Spiral On :: Brazz Tree
this week's video feature: Shoghaken Ensemble
March 2, 2008
the past lives on in our front room
On the left from 2004. On the right from 2008. Yes, it's the late and not-lamented New Frontier.
it's like a disco but with books
One of the stranger parts of our LV trip was Tuesday morning. Driving out of the Mandalay Bay parking deck (btw, I should mention that there's a cross street near the hotel called Road to Mandalay -- no, I did not get a picture, nor did I see any flying fishes) I made a right turn, thinking that would drop me back at Tropicana. Which I think it might have except I missed my turn. Next thing I knew we were driving thru the mess of construction that is City Center. I kept assuming we'd hit a cross street but I never saw one I could ID as a street -- it all looked like service entrances into various casinos. I don't remember what cross-street we ended up on but it was a pretty seedy part of town. Highlights included at least one more wrong turn, the now-shuttered Elvis-A-Rama Museum, and some place claiming to be the world's largest gentlemen's club. Is there an organization that verifies claims like that? Anyway, we finally got ourselves onto Sahara heading back to the Strip and order was restored to the universe.
This picture is from the Bellagio Conservatory, decorated in celebration of the Year of the Rat. This topiary rat also generated the second best overheard comment of this trip -- someone oohing and ahhing and urging their friend to come look at the giant koala.