The Nut Bar

Letting Go

2011-06-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a parent for a little over 4.5 months and I have to say it’s one of the most challenging, albeit rewarding, experiences I’ve ever had. I was lucky to be able to take seven weeks off earlier this spring to take care of her and watching J grow and change over those weeks was amazing, making itthat much harder to go back to work when it was over. Spending that much time with her I learned a number of things such as the sound she makes when she’s getting tired, the signs of hunger, and how to distract her when she’s throwing a fit. That last one saved me early on when she just wouldn’t stop crying and as a last resort I started clapping and it just mesmerized her to the point where the crying stopped and she stared at my hands. But of all the things I learned the most important was letting go.

When K was pregnant with J we consistently got two pieces of advice: 1. Get as much sleep as you can before the baby comes and 2. Go out to eat because it’ll be a while before you can again. We got lots of sleep and we ate out but here’s the thing, you can’t store sleep and we went out to eat not too long after she was born. I think the most useful advice anyone could have given us is to just let go. Let go of the idea that you’ll be getting a full night’s sleep because you won’t, at least not for a while, and you’ll be fine. Let go of spontaneity of your choosing because this pooping and crying creature has their own ideas. Like that last minute decision to take a little day trip up north that was interrupted because the baby wouldn’t stop crying for the first 20 minutes of the drive so you turned around. There will be spontaneity but that’ll be of the baby’s choosing. Let go of control. You don’t control how long your baby’s hair is going to stick up no matter how cute it is. Let go of things. That sleeper you bought because it’s so adorable, yup, she outgrew it in a week. Oh, and that favorite pair of jeans of yours, yeah she just pooped all over them when she blew out her diaper. Letting go of late night dinners out or going to concerts during the week. Letting go of some of the things you thought defined who you were before the baby.

But here’s the thing, you’re letting go of some things to welcome in the possibility of much more wonderful things. That TV show I would have watched is now replaced with trying to make my daughter laugh so hard she throws up, which I’ve done and resulted in me being equally proud and grossed out. The quiet time in the morning where I eat a bowl of cereal and catch up on the news has been replaced with singing made up songs to J. Those concerts at night, well let’s just say now I much prefer holding a sleeping baby than standing on my feet for hours as drunk people push by.

All of those things that I’m giving up now will come back slowly but as they do I’ll be letting go of other things…things that will be harder to let go of. That quiet in the morning will be because we just got home from taking her to school for the first time. The television show I’m watching will be because she’s out with friends or, heaven forbid, a date and finds them to be more interesting than she finds me to be. Spontaneous trips will be because she’s all grown up and out of the house at college or working on the other side of the country.

The more I think about it the more I realize the letting go never ends. Now excuse me while I go home, put some product in J’s hair to make it stick up again, and refuse to stop hugging her.

A Selfish Post

2011-05-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

I wasn't planning on writing a post on the passing of my dear friend Kim Ricketts vowing to leave it to the much more capable and eloquent writers out there who would no doubt do a much better job than I ever could. I didn't know if I could write about the too soon passing of a friend again. It just isn't fair. We always say that with the passing of someone close to us to the point of cliche but rarely is it ever not true, especially with Kim.

But I had to write something and I will admit this is for very selfish reasons. When I look back on the time I got to spend with her it is filled with smiles and laughter. There were the stories and hugs we shared, the encouraging words about being a parent, how we planned to revamp the event series we worked on together, and the dishing. I would not trade any of the time I spent with her for anything, even the time when facilities screwed up and there weren't any chairs for our event and she gave me the look I'm sure her children are familiar with that just said, "Fix it."

It's not the time we spent together that makes me sad but rather the time we won't have. I know this is really selfish because there are three wonderful people out there who won't have another chance to hug their mom and husband who won't have another chance to hold his wife's hand. I know this but I'm going to be selfish for a moment and I hope you forgive me for that.

When Kim found out we were having a baby she was so excited for us. At one point I expressed some nervousness about being a parent and her response was, "You'll be great, just make sure to read to her." She missed our baby shower because she wasn't feeling well and was still going to doctors to try to figure out what was going on but the next time she saw me she greeted me with a big hug and a bigger stack of books.

She never got to meet Julia. I think that's one of the things that has made me so sad over the past week. When Julia was born Kim was in the same hospital but on a different floor. We were so tempted to find out what room Kim was in and bring the baby to her but we said we'll have lots of other chances to introduce Julia to her Auntie Kim. Over the next few months we were back at the hospital a number of times with Julia and I would often send Kim a message saying we were there and Julia says hi and can't wait to meet her. She would often tell me to give Julia a hug for her and once she got out of the hospital and was feeling better she couldn't wait to hold her.

There was never a doubt in our minds that there would be another day, a day when Kim would feel better and be able to hold the baby and read her a book. If we had known how little time we had we would have just said screw it and showed up at her hospital room door with the baby. Julia would have loved Kim, I have no doubt in my mind about that. I'm going to say it again, it just isn't fair. It's not fair that Julia has to grow up in a world without Kim Ricketts. It's not fair that she'll never get to hear Kim's voice or her laugh. It's not fair she'll never get an email from Kim where the subject line is used as the introductory sentences to her message. It's not fair she'll never get to hear Kim tell stories, especially the ones where she gets really animated (like the Marco Pierre White story).

I've gotten to experience all of that and I look back upon those things with joy and happiness. But Julia will never get to experience them. The sadness doesn't come from looking back at the time we had together but rather the time taken away from us and the things we won't get to do. Because Kim told me to, and you never want to disappoint her, we will read Julia lots of books and in doing so Kim will always be with us.

I know I'm not the only one that misses Kim and I'm being selfish but sometimes you just have to be selfish.

Oh, and cancer, if I ever run into you in a dark alley be warned I will kick you in the nuts you fucking asshole.

Three's Company

2011-03-13T03:25:00.000-07:00

I thought I talked about poop a lot before but my perception of a lot changed a little over seven weeks ago. That's a lovely way to begin a post now isn't it? But seriously, if you have kids you totally know what I'm talking about. I'll just leave it at that for now but I reserve to right to revisit the topic later on.

It really boggles my mind that our daughter is seven weeks old already...it boggles my mind even more that I'm a father. I mean come on, have you met me or read the first paragraph? But you know what? I'm loving it. Every day with little J is an adventure and I can honestly say it's never boring. It's so much fun seeing how much she changes and how much her personality becomes apparent as each day passes. I can tell already this little girl is going to be trouble when she gets older.

She made us wait for her awesomeness though; there was a point where we weren't sure she was ever going to come out. We tried everything to cajole her to come out and by everything I mean anything that involved eating. I think that's where we went wrong because after our due date passed we decided to take advantage of the extra time and do date nights. We went out for spicy food twice after a number of people told us that was a reliable way to naturally induce. It didn't work. If anything it made her want to stay in there longer because she was enjoying all the food we were eating. After a while it was decided she either had to come out or start paying rent. Since she didn't have any monetary assets, as far as we could tell, she was evicted but not without putting up a fight first. After over 25 hours our little gigantor was born.

I won't lie to you, a lot of what you read about having a newborn makes it sound magical and easy but it isn't. Sure there's the lack of sleep that everyone talk about but that's not all. Don't get me wrong it's an amazing time that I will always cherish but it's hard. As hard as it might be for me I'm not the one that has to provide food for the little one and this kid likes to eat. If it wasn't for our friend Matthew Amster-Burton's book Hungry Monkey this whole child rearing thing would have been one big failed experiment and we'd be trying to trade the baby in for something easier to handle...like a unicycle with a flat tire.* So if you have a baby or are expecting a baby get his book. The first chapter on breastfeeding is worth the cost of the book because he tells you how hard breastfeeding really is in the beginning.

[* I don't actually condone trading your children for money or goods and we never considered giving our baby away to the gypsies. Of course that's not what we're going to tell her when she's being a pain in the ass as a teenager.]

As difficult as some of it has been we've been amazingly lucky to have such a wonderful support system made up of our friends here in Seattle and our families who took time out of their busy lives to come out and help. I gotta tell you, having friends that are chefs and amazing cooks come bring you food makes those sleepless nights a lot easier to take. It was also really nice having family stay with us when I went back to work. Knowing someone was at home making sure Kristen was being taken care of while she was busy with J made going back to work a little less painful. Of course it was, and is, still hard to have to leave Kristen and J in the morning. It seems like when I get home every evening J is so much bigger and much more active than when I left 11 hours earlier.

With all our family having gone home we're now on our own so it's up to us to figure out how to work, do laundry, wash the dishes, and occasionally pick up the house while wrangling a baby who doesn't really care what else we have to do. But it's okay because it's fun. Seriously. I know I said it's hard but it's the funnest hard thing you'll ever do. (Shut up Marc.) Plus, when else do you have the chance to laugh at someone else for having pooped all up their back?** Okay maybe college but chances are the person that does it in college is not nearly as cute as your baby and you definitely won't be offering to clean it up.

[** I told you I reserved the right to revisit this topic.]

P.S. Does anyone have tips for taming this kid's crazy hair?

3.6.9.

2010-07-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

369. That's the number of days ago when we were trying to decide whether we should change our plane tickets to stay longer. We had already spent a lot of money to be here and we couldn't imagine leaving now so an extra couple hundred dollars wasn't going to sway us one way or the other. After some discussion we decided to see how things went that night and would decide in the morning. Little did we know the decision would be made for us when we woke up 368 days ago.

Kristen's best friend since high school, Christine, had been battling stage IV colon cancer since August of 2005, she was 28 when she received this diagnosis. I know what you're thinking and we all thought and still think the same thing. 28 is way too young. WAY TOO YOUNG. But over the next few years Christine seemed to be doing better and her cancer went into remission. She went back to school to get a graduate degree in Public Health with a focus on advocacy based on her experiences fighting cancer as a young person who didn't have health insurance at the time of the diagnosis. Of course she came to visit us a couple of times including staying with us for a couple of weeks over Thanksgiving in 2008 and attending our wedding.

But then a week after celebrating the 4th of July things changed. Kristen had been getting worried in the weeks prior because conversations with her weren't the same anymore, what was once a sharp mind started to get easily distracted and forgetful. Then the phone call came. Christine was in the hospital. The news hit Kristen like a punch in the gut. The doctors had performed exploratory surgery a couple of times and discovered the cancer had returned to her liver and colon and it was very aggressive. The conclusion they came to was news everyone was dreading, there was nothing more they could do other than try to keep her comfortable. After the phone was hung up and some tears were shed we immediately went online and booked a flight out to Nebraska for Kristen early the next morning. I would stay behind for a few days to get things in order at home because we weren't sure how long we'd be away.

When I got to Nebraska Christine was no longer conscious but the days prior to my arrival, while Kristen was with her, she was awake and in good spirits. Despite what was happening her personality persisted and at one point she even played a practical joke on Kristen and her best friend from college, Mandy.

We took turns with Christine's family at the hospital, choosing the night shift so her parents could go home and get some sleep. Kristen and I would spend the night watching movies, puttering around on the internet, eating food we normally wouldn't (like Little Debby snack cakes and Pringles), and doing what we could to make sure Christine was as comfortable as possible. We'd have to call the nurses when the bags that were holding the fluid that was being drained from her abdomen needed to be changed and try to figure out what she wanted when she started moaning since she was not conscious, whether it be a swab of water against her lips or a hit of pain medication. We didn't know, we just did what we could.

In the morning Christine's parents would return and Kristen and I would head down to the cafeteria for breakfast before we ventured out into the Omaha sun. She played tour guide and showed me all the places she liked to go in Omaha and Bellevue and shared stories about growing up there. We hit up a couple of restaurants she liked and met up with her brother for lunch one day, making sure to get the fruit pie for dessert at the Village Inn. After sightseeing we headed back to Christine's parents' house so we could grab a quick nap and shower before we had to be back at the hospital. It wasn't under the best of circumstances but it was nice to see where she grew up and get our minds off of things for a few hours.

After I was there a few days a decision was made to move her to a hospice so she could be in a more comfortable environment. The first night there Kristen and I watched the Royals game on television so we could see Yuniesky Betancourt play at short. Yuni had been traded to KC from the Mariners and was actually on the same flight as Kristen when she came out to Nebraska. I’ll be honest, I have no idea why but he was Kristen’s favorite Mariner. While watching the game we also debated whether or not to change our flight because we were supposed to fly back to Seattle the following day. We didn't know how much longer we'd stay but it seemed like we should stay.

Later that night Christine seemed to be doing okay so we decided to get some sleep. At one point Kristen woke up because Christine was making some sounds but they weren't anything unusual compared to what we had been hearing the nights before. Kristen started talking to her and told her that everything was going to be okay and after a little bit Christine settled down. That was 369 days ago.

Early in the morning I woke up and noticed her breathing had changed. It was different but didn’t seem to be labored or pained like it had been before. I drifted back to sleep and about an hour later I woke up again because the room was silent. I got up to check on her and noticed she wasn’t breathing anymore. Gently, I woke up Kristen to tell her and then called the on call nurse. We also called her parents to let them know she had passed. Kristen and I both thought that her telling Christine everything was going to be okay let her know what we were going to be okay and it was alright for her to go. We also joked she was so polite she didn't want to keep us from going home. That was July 18th, 368 days ago.

We flew home later that day and spent a week in Seattle before heading out to Minnesota/Wisconsin for the funeral. Mandy let us stay with her and we got to meet a bunch of Christine's friends as well as enjoy three (3!) different kinds of tot casserole. Everyone shared their memories at the service and over beers later that night. But Christine wasn't done with us yet. Kristen's family has a big reunion every two years but we had to miss it because we were in Omaha. Where the service was held ended up being really close to Kristen's Uncle and Aunt's place, which is where the reunion is held, so we were able to stop by and see them as well as some of Kristen's cousins. Plus the goats. The fainting goats. And yes, we did make them faint.

So it's been a year now and there have been good days and bad days. The days when Kristen reaches for the phone to give Christine a call and then remembers. The days where she starts crying because she just misses her friend. It was 369 days ago she last told her friend that everything was going to be alright. It's been 368 days since we told it to ourselves.

2-17-2010 Show: Westward Bound

2010-02-17T18:38:00.000-08:00

In the late fall and early winter our lives got turned upside down. The owner of the house we were renting passed away and the trustees decided to sell it. Of course they tried to keep it from us as long as they could before telling us this information so we wouldn't move right away and they would keep getting rent money. Well when we finally found out we weren't too happy and scrambled to find a new house. We lucked out and found one pretty quickly but ended up having to move during the holidays which is definitely not a good time. This is when I started this show and now, a couple of months later, I'm finally digging out and publishing this.

It's actually good timing because last night I took K to see Visqueen for the first time and she loved them. She loved them so much she kept asking me why I had waited so long to bring her to one of their shows. My response was that when we first started dating Visqueen was too loud for her, but now she can handle it. :) If you aren't familiar with them I highly recommend you check them out. They were actually one of the first bands I saw in Seattle when I moved out here 11 years ago and they're still one of my favorites.

Westward Bound

Forgive Me - Visqueen
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon
Crumble - Dinosaur Jr.
The Ruminant Band - Fruit Bats
Genesis 3:23 - The Mountain Goats
The Aviator - Stars of Track and Field
I Belong to You/Mon Coeur S'Ouvre a Ta Voix - Muse
Pearl's Dream - Bat for Lashes
Luna - Fanfarlo
Hen of the Woods - The Cave Singers
Silver Amongst the Gold - The Grand Archives
To Kingdom Come - Passion Pit
Dragon Queen - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The High Road - Broken Bells
40 Day Dream - Edward Sharp & The Magnetic Zeros
The Horizon is a Beltway - The Low Anthem
Nomenclature - Andrew Bird
Strange Overtones - David Byrne & Brian Eno
When We Were Alive - The Thermals
T.V. Lieyes - The Cops
Darling - Sons and Daughters

You can find an archive of my old shows at the DJ PegLeg Podcasts on Libsyn.

10-24-2009 Show: Grey Skies and Rain

2009-10-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

It's been almost five months since the last show I put up. I had every intention of doing one every couple of weeks over the course of the summer but then life got in the way. Before I knew it summer was over, it started getting dark earlier, and the grey skies and rain moved in.

I started this show back in late August/early September and it was originally called "Last Days of Summer". Well as things dragged on summer quickly came to an end and by the time I finished it we were deeply entrenched in fall.

Grey Skies and Rain

Hold the Morning - Hey Marseilles
She Called Up - Crowded House
Apartment Story - The National
Take Me to the Riot - Stars
Blacking Out the Friction - Death Cab for Cutie
23 Minutes in Brussels - Luna
Just Stand Back - Low
Une Annee Sans Lumiere - Arcade Fire
See the World - Gomez
Subject Drop - The Pernice Brothers
Spellbound - Doves
Undisclosed Desires - Muse
Folds in Your Hands - Passion Pit
Say Aha - Santigold
Be the One - The Ting Tings
Hysteric - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Oslo Novelist - The Grand Archives
Magpie to the Morning - Neko Case
California Rose - Laura Cantrell
Drunken Hiccups - The Tallboys

Since it's been so long since my last shows you can check out an archive to listen to the older ones. You can find them at the DJ PegLeg Podcasts on Libsyn.

The Summer Bounty

2009-10-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Lunch

2009-07-14T01:13:00.001-07:00

A burger made from Skagit River Ranch beef topped with onions that were caramelized with some diced homemade maple bacon all topped with some of the leftover tomato barbecue sauce from our 4th of July BBQ. The only thing missing was some cheese, which I realized we were out of after I had already started cooking the onions and bacon. Next time. I bet a fried egg would taste pretty good on that too, but it might also kill me.

4th of July BBQ - the Shoulder Series

2009-07-14T01:07:00.001-07:00

For the 4th of July we got a whole bone in pork shoulder from Sea Breeze Farm over on Vashon Island. The plan was to smoke it and make it into pulled pork for sandwiches at our barbecue.

Of course once we got it home we realized there was no way it was all going to fit on the Weber grill I use for smoking. I know a lot of people have smokers and this might have fit on one of those but my Weber does a more than adequate job at about a third to a fourth the price. You do have to be a bit more attentive to keep an eye on the heat but after a couple of times you get the hang of it and it's not that difficult.

After removing what was probably the shoulder blade I then attempted to determine how to break the shoulder down into a couple of smaller pieces. I consulted my CIA text to figure out where the picnic and boston butt were and to see if I could figure out where the joint was.

I was close, but sadly I missed the joint by about three inches. So I had to do a little surgery to make my way up the bone to find the joint and once I found it I was able to pop it and make a pretty easy cut through the shoulder. The boston butt end was totally intact while the picnic end bore the brunt of the surgery. So instead of sewing it up I broke that down into a few pieces. Two large ones for smoking and a smaller piece to make rillettes.

After applying a homemade rub I went about smoking it over some applewood, which I usually use for smoking bacon as well. The two pieces of the picnic were smoked together for about 8 hours and the larger butt piece was smoked for over twelve. The first time I smoked pork shoulder I was excited just to get a smoke ring but now I'm more excited when the smoke ring goes deeper.

We then shredded the still very warm pork and dressed it with a tomato barbecue sauce that we got out of the Gourmet Cookbook. The pork was kept warm in a slow cooker and after guests arrived we loaded it onto a bun with the coleslaw from the great book Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. It was served with potato salad, molasses baked beans, Santa Maria style beans, and a quinoa pesto salad.

4th of July BBQ - Part 2

2009-07-14T00:59:00.000-07:00

4th of July BBQ

2009-07-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

Pizza!

2009-06-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Winter overstayed its welcome...so much so that Spring never stopped by and we went straight to summer. When we got back from Taiwan, where it was in the 90s, we were met with rain and temperatures in the 50s and 60s. But all that has changed, we've been entrenched in 70 degree weather for the past few weeks with a period of time where we were consistently in the 80s for a few days. We're even on the verge of breaking the record for the most consecutive days without rain. The record is 29 and I believe we're at 27 or 28 now.

Now trust me, I'm not complaining because for the longest time I didn't think we'd be getting any produce this year until July because of how cold it was. Thankfully the sunshine in the heat kicked things into gear and spring vegetables started showing up quickly followed by strawberries and then cherries. What's next? Hopefully peaches, plums, nectarines, and tomatoes.

Another great thing about spring and summer is the food starts tasting fresh and alive again. As much as I love kale and chard, I'm done with them come May and want spinach and arugula. The raw milk I get from Sea Breeze Farm will taste like the clover the cows are now munching on and the fresh halibut and salmon are starting to be caught by our friends at Wilson Fish again.

But not only am I excited by all the new stuff that shows up at the Farmers Markets, but so are the farmers. They'll happily, and proudly, tell you all about their snap peas, how their strawberries just took off after the first day of hot weather, their fresh ricotta, stories of how they only caught a couple of fish on one of their trips out, and much more.

Of course seeing all that great food at the market inspires me to start making more than just braises. Pan roasted marble salmon with sauteed spinach one night, burgers using beef from Skagit River Ranch the next. And then I heard Sea Breeze Farm was making their own mozzarella and I knew I needed to make a pizza.

But not just any pizza, a pizza that tasted like the new season we're in. Something fresh and bright and utilizes something I could find at the market. So it was decided, arugula pesto pizza. My favorite pizza dough recipe is from The Cheese Board: Collective Works: Bread, Pastry, Cheese, Pizza. Anyone that has spent any time in Berkeley is probably well acquainted with the Cheese Board and most likely their pizzas as well.

So I started out making the dough and while it rose I...went out and got a burger. But when I got back, I whipped up the arugula pesto with some toasted walnuts, garlic, parmigiano reggiano, and of course olive oil. The recipe for the pizza dough yields three 10 inch pizzas so I went about dividing and shaping the doughs. Let me just tell you I can't make a round pizza to save my life. They each took their turn in a 550 degree oven on a pizza stone and each came out a little different. The first had a nice puffy crust but was a little light in color. The second was a little darker because I brushed some olive oil on the edges, but not as airy. The third was much much darker because I used a little heavier hand with the olive oil and almost as puffy as the first, most likely due to the fact that I actually let the oven get back to temperature. Ah, the fickle nature of cooking. Regardless of their differences, they were each a wonderful amoeba shaped taste of spring.

6-6-2009 Podcast: I Don't Dance

2009-06-07T22:29:00.001-07:00

So why a new show so soon after the last one? To be honest, it's because I didn't particularly enjoy my last show. I mean, it was fine but not great. I put the last show during breaks from putting the yard back in order after having been gone so this time I focused and did it all in one sitting.

So, as the name of this show states, I don't dance. Don't even try to get me to dance because I won't. I made an exception at my wedding and there's photographic evidence of it, but that's it. No more, I'm done.

I Don't Dance

Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Little Secrets - Passion Pit
Iceage Babeland - Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
Time to Pretend - MGMT
Night on Fire - VHS or Beta
Filthy Gorgeous - Scissor Sisters
We R the Handclaps - Junior Senior
Keep Your Head - The Ting Tings
Your Kisses are Wasted on Me - The Pipettes
Patches - The Saturday Knights
Southside Revival - Blue Scholars
None Shall Pass - Aesop Rock
So Human - Lady Sovereign
Take a Chance - The Magic Numbers
Giddy Stratopheres - The Long Blondes
Corner Store Girls - Tea Cozies
Flourescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
Sick Muse - Metric
The Royal We - Silversun Pickups
Don't Save Us from the Flames - M83

You can find an archive of my old shows at the DJ PegLeg Podcasts on Libsyn.

6-2-2009 Podcast - Making Hay

2009-06-02T22:34:00.001-07:00

Well how do you like that, another podcast and so soon after my last one. Let's see how long I can keep this up before I get distracted by something else.

While we were in Taiwan our grass decided to have a little growth spurt so of course when we got home it was a foot and half tall. To make things worse it rained a lot when we got back so we couldn't mow and the grass just got longer and longer. Finally this past weekend we got some help and got the grass under control. Cleaning up the initial cutting of the grass with the weed whacker was a lot like dealing with hay and I even wished I had a baler. Now the next project is getting the garden back in shape. As of today, we have two sugar snap peas on the vine. I don't think that'll be enough to feed us throughout the summer.

Speaking of feeding us throughout summer, we've been loving all the fish our friends over at Wilson Fish have been catching. My new favorite is marble king salmon, which can only be found in this region. It's so delicious and harder to find than your regular king salmon that I always get some if they have any. Other than that it's been a slow start to the season. Everyone is eagerly anticipating the return of berries and stone fruit so much so that the early strawberries that showed up last week were selling like hotcakes even though they weren't quite ready yet. Mmmmm...strawberries and hotcakes...

Making Hay

Passionless, Pointless - PJ Harvey and John Parish
I'm an Animal - Neko Case
The Privateers - Andrew Bird
Perfect Fit - Clues
Dreams Old Men Dream - Cold War Kids
Actor Out of Work - St. Vincent
Sleepy Head - Passion Pit
Animal - Miike Snow
Evident Utensil - Chairlift
Shut Up and Let Me Go - The Ting Tings
The Underdog - Spoon
Black Dresses - The Builders and the Butchers
Prophets - A.C. Newman
I'm Now - Mudhoney
Waiting List - Cops
Loose - The Stooges
Here Comes Your Man - Pixies
Apartment Story - The National

As always, for an archive of my shows go to DJ PegLeg Podcasts on Libsyn.

5-24-2009 Podcast - Where's the Rock?

2009-06-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, it isn't May 24th anymore. But since it's been years since my last playlist/podcast/show you have to give me a little leniency. Now that podcasting is more mainstream and storage is cheaper the show is coming back. It isn't as involved as it used to be, for now it'll only be an hour or so and I won't be listing upcoming shows. That may change moving forward but for now I'm just trying to ease my way back into things. So take a listen to this show and if you feel like it, let me know what you think!

Where's the Rock?

Intro
Life is Long - David Byrne and Brian Eno
To Travels and Trunks - Hey Marseilles
Saint Bernard - Or, The Whale
The Greatest Denier - Doves
Pretty Pages - Tea Cozies
City Lights (Days Go By) - Bob Mould
I Let it Go - The Thermals
21st Birthday - Von Bondies
Dragon Queen - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I Got You Dancing - Lady Sovereign
What's a Girl to Do? - Bat for Lashes
Gimme Sympathy - Metric
Rebel with the Ghost - Sons and Daughters
Sacred Trixter - Sonic Youth
Slap Dash for No Cash - Art Brut
Hang You from the Heavens - The Dead Weather
Polar Nettles - Neko Case
Swans - Camera Obscura
Never Had Nobody Like You - M.Ward

For an archive of my shows, of which there is only one so far, go to DJ PegLeg Podcasts on Libsyn.
Enjoy!

Jumping the Shark

2009-05-31T15:35:00.001-07:00

I've said before and I'll say again, bacon has jumped the shark. How can I be sure? Take a look at this:

Proof Bacon Has Jumped the Shark

Having said that, I just put in an order for a slab of pork belly from Skagit River Ranch to make my first batch of bacon of 2009. Even though it's jumped the shark, it's still delicious but don't expect to see me wearing bacon shoes while carrying a bacon bag with a bacon wallet and bacon business cards.

Highlights From Taiwan Baseball

2009-05-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks we've been in Taiwan visiting my Grandparents. Of course while we were there we had to go check out some baseball and luckily there was a game in Taipei while we were there. Here are the highlights from that game between the Brother Elephants and La New Bears. Of course the Brother Elephants are our new favorite CPBL baseball team.

Hey there beef cheeks

2009-04-06T22:21:00.001-07:00

The weather the past two days has been unseasonably warm here in Seattle...it's been a nice respite from the crazy weather we've had this winter. Of course once the sun comes out everyone around here comes out of hibernation and are everywhere trying to soak every bit of sunshine they can get before the clouds move back in. Of course after three days of sun the forecast has cooler than normal temps and rain.

This weekend, more in line with what the weather typically is, we decided to braise some beef cheeks for tacos. At a taco truck you'll probably see it listed as tacos de cabeza, or tacos of head. It might sound a little strange but if someone didn't tell you what it was you would just think it's a neatly trimmed piece of meat that could be from anywhere on the cow.

Looking at them you can see some lines of fat and connective tissue running through the cheeks, making them ideal for braising. Before I get into the nitty gritty of what we did let me just say I love braising for a number of reasons. The first is it allows you to turn a cheap, and often tough, cut of meat into something luxurious and tender. Secondly, it's easy...really easy. You sear off your meat, sweat some aromatics, add your braising liquid, and then throw the whole thing into the oven for a few hours. And finally, you can use the braising liquid as an easy sauce to go with your meal. Since it's what you cooked your meat in you know it's going to go well with it and the meat has added a ton of flavor to it. Now, on to the details.

After trimming off the silver skin and any extra fat the cheeks were seared in a hot dutch oven until they were nice and golden brown.

After that some diced onions went into the pan to sweat, when they became translucent in went the spices. In this case we used chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Also going in were a couple of chipotle peppers with a bit of adobo. The spices and chipotles were allowed to cook a little bit to help develop their flavors. Next went in some chicken stock and beer to act as our braising liquid. This recipe uses less than a can (or bottle) and since you probably had to buy a six pack consider the rest of the beer as your reward for working so hard in the kitchen.

The cheeks were added back to the pot and the braising liquid was brought to a boil. If the liquid isn't covering the cheeks I usually add a bit of water until they are covered.

After the liquid came to a boil the pot was put into a 275 degree oven and braised until they were tender. In our case this happened to be a few hours, but it could be more or less depending on your cheeks. We then pulled them out of the liquid put them in the fridge to chill until the next day.

Before we were ready to eat them, I put the cheeks on a sheetpan and into a 300 degree oven to warm up and also to give us a nice crusty exterior to go with the moist meat inside. Since we were going to be making tacos out of them we shredded them once they came out of the oven and served them on tortillas with radish, cilantro, onion, and lime.

Like with any other braise this was super easy with most of the work being done in the oven. Not only were the cheeks tasty but it also provided endless hours of entertainment with us calling each other beef cheeks.

Pure and Simple

2009-04-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

An inside look at Una Pizza Napoletana and Anthony Mangieri. Anthony serves only one thing at his restaurant in New York, and that's pizza in the Neopolitan tradition.

Two attempts at bread...one good, one not so good...plus pork

2009-03-22T23:30:00.001-07:00

The good...

This was a loaf of white sandwich bread using a sponge to start the dough. The first proof was overnight in the fridge.

The bad...

These were the result of me trying to make baguettes but not using a sponge. These also proofed overnight in the fridge and they tasted fine...they just didn't turn out the way I expected a baguette to turn out. Next time I'm going to use a pate fermentee and a poolish and see if that helps out at all. Also, I'm going to bake it directly on my baking stone instead of on a sheet pan before moving it to the stone.

And the porky...

This is a pork shoulder roast that I seared off before braising pretty much all day. I wish I had a picture of the finished product but we were hosting our friends and were too hungry for a photo shoot. The braised pork shoulder roast was served with some polenta, kale, and a reduction of the braising liquid. The braising liquid consisted of mirepoix, tomato paste, red wine, chicken stock, and rosemary. The pork shoulder roast was seasoned with a thyme salt I made along with pepper.

Just another weeknight...

2009-02-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

Handcut pasta with braised lamb shank ragu.

2009-02-17T00:36:00.001-08:00

This is something I haven't made in over a year and it was long overdue. The ragu took about 5-6 hours of cooking time with about four of those hours braising the lamb shanks and another hour and a half reducing it the braising liquid which would become my sauce. The lamb was first seared to begin the process of building the flavors for the ragu thanks to the maillard effect.

If there is too much fat in your pan after the searing, feel free to pour some out leaving about a tablespoon or two left to saute your aromatics. After the lamb was removed from the dutch oven, onions and garlic went in with a healthy pinch of salt and pepper. As the onions cooked they also released some liquid which helped to deglaze the bottom of the dutch oven. After the onions have softened and are translucent I put in about a cup and a half of red wine. I let that reduce by about half. Next went in a couple of large cans of whole peeled tomatoes, my favorite being Muir Glen. As you bring that up to temperature start breaking up some of the tomatoes with your spoon. Then return the lamb shanks and if you need more liquid add some water until the lamb is just covered with liquid.

Next I bring it up to where it is just about to boil and then throw it into a 295 degree oven, uncovered. The reason I keep it uncovered is two-fold. First, I need to reduce the sauce anyway so if I keep the lid off then it will slowly reduce while the lamb braises. The second reason is because with the lid on it increases the pressure in the cooking vessel and as those of you who remember high school physics will recall an increase in pressure results in an increase in temperature. So putting the lid on could increase the temperature from your desired 295 to something higher which could result in dried out meat.

It stays in there until the lamb is tender and falling off the bone. This will probably take you a few hours. Typically what I do after I get to that point is I turn off the oven and let everything sit in there together until it cools. The meat will continue to braise as it slowly cools, plus at the end you will be able to pull the meat off the bones without burning off your fingers.

The marrow that was once inside those bones is now part of the sauce which will help to give it body and richness.

After the lamb has been removed and shredded, the braising liquid, which is really just a tomato sauce, is slowly reduced on the stovetop until it gets to the saucy consistency you desire. This can take about an hour and a half, more or less, depending on how much water you needed to add in the beginning.

While it's reducing we started making the pasta by using Thomas Keller's pasta dough recipe from the French Laundry cookbook. You'll have to tweak it depending on the conditions in your kitchen at the time. It was really dry in our kitchen so a little more liquid needed to be added to the dough to bring it all together.

After resting for a little while we portion out the dough and begin rolling it into sheets.

After the sheets are rolled out I divide them into long sections.

The sections are then rolled up like a scroll of paper and then cut into pappardelle, which happens to be my favorite pasta.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, salty like the sea, and throw these guys in. They won't take very long to cook so hopefully your sauce is ready. Oh yeah, about that sauce, after it gets to the saucy consistency you want fold, in your shredded lamb shanks and bring everything back up to simmer.

When your pasta is ready toss it with the sauce and use a little of the pasta water if necessary. Most of the time I'll do this in a large pan on the stove over a medium heat because as the pasta continues to cook with the sauce it'll absorb the sauce. If you're doing it family style throw it all into a big bowl (sorry I didn't wipe down the sides of the bowl before shooting the picture).

Or just plate it up.

I like to top mine with a little pecorino because a lamb ragu with a sheep's milk cheese just seems to make sense. Enjoy it with a nice glass of chianti or sangiovese or whatever other red wine you like.

Blue

2009-02-17T00:22:00.001-08:00

This really rich blue is my favorite color for the spring. It might not really come across here in this little box but it's a color that reminds me of bright sunny days with clear blue skies. That's definitely something that you need to be reminded of when February rolls around in Seattle.

Since it's such a rich and bright color I think it'll be more evident as a complimentary accessory as opposed to the main show when it comes to clothing. A little flash of blue popping out between the cuffs of your pants and your shoes or a bright scarf to keep you warm during chilly spring evenings. You can see those being pulled off extremely well on the Sartorialist's site. For the bold I think it would make a great color for a light cashmere sweater or a short sleeve polo.

I already have some of the bright blue socks, now if only the sky will follow my lead.

Winter in New England

2009-02-08T20:39:00.001-08:00

We just got back from a cold week in New England. Even though we complain about the rain here in Seattle, I'd definitely take that over the 9 degree temperatures and -6 degree windchill. But we knew what we were getting into when we booked our tickets on a whim. Thanks to JetBlue's 9 hour sale to celebrate their being named the official airline of the Boston Red Sox we got a super sweet deal. Our flight out was surprisingly empty and I'm sure a part of that had to do with the lack of vacationers heading out to Boston in February. But another contributing factor had to be the economy with fewer business and leisure travelers.

After landing in Boston we headed back to my sister's place in Somerville to take a quick nap and visit her cat Phoebe before heading over to Brookline to have brunch with the Gleckels. Missy and Jessie officiated our wedding this past September and their trips back home just happened to overlap with ours. We met up with them and their parents at Zaftigs in Brookline so Jessie could get one last whitefish salad before heading down to Ethiopia for 6 months. After brunch and saying our goodbyes we headed down to Rhode Island to visit my parents for a few days.

For some reason I was a little surprised at the amount of snow that was on the ground when we got to Lincoln. Living in Seattle the past ten years has conditioned me to thinking when the roads are clear then there will be no snow elsewhere and if there is snow on the ground it'll only be an inch or so. When we pulled up to the house I grew up in I was a little astonished that there was at least seven or eight inches on the ground.

The next day the weather was quite a bit warmer with the highs in the mid-40s. Because snow was in the forecast for upcoming couple of days we decided to get out of the house and try to take a walk along the Blackstone River. Since I've moved out of RI a new trail has been built along the river that people now use to walk and bike throughout the year. Unfortunately for us, the trail was covered with snow and slush and we spent most of the walk staring at the ground making sure not to slip instead of looking at the surroundings.

Like many towns in Rhode Island, Lincoln has a history of mills and the mill towns that were built to house the workers. My town is made up of a number of smaller villages with mine, Albion, built up around the old mill on the Blackstone River.

At one point this mill made American Tourister luggage before closing down. If you happened to own an American Tourister suitcase in the 80s, chances are it was made here. It was then resurrected as condos in the mid-90s and was the first mill to do so in Rhode Island. In addition to old mill houses and a very small New England post office that closes every day for lunch we have a traffic dummy (aka buoy aka light) that was erected in 1932 over the old well that was once used by the residents of Albion.

After our aborted walk we then headed down to Providence to putter around the Brown area where Kristen picked up the book "You Know You're in Rhode Island When...: 101 Quintessential Places, People, Events, Customs, Lingo, and Eats of the Ocean State." This is when we decided that we would need to introduce her to some quintessential Rhode Island experiences such as a coffee cabinet, a wiener, Papa Gino's pizza, duckpin bowling, and Del's lemonade. Since she had already tried coffee milk before there wasn't a need for her to sample it again, even though the Autocrat factory is situated in my town. Kristen also got to learn the difference between a milkshake, a frappe, and a cabinet. If you aren't from Rhode Island and order a milkshake don't be surprised if you don't get what you were expecting.

Unfortunately the weather didn't hold out and the only thing she got to try was some Papa Gino's pizza. We weren't able to venture out for a wiener, cabinet, or duckpin bowling and it just wasn't the right season for Del's. We also had planned on visiting the Culinary Archives and Museum at Johnson and Wales, but we'll have to save that for our next trip out.

We then made our way back up to Boston to hang out with my sister for the last couple of days. Luckily the roads were clear and dry so the drive up was no problem at all after getting 3-4 inches of snow the day before. If this was Seattle the roads would be covered with packed snow and ice for days afterward. After getting into Boston we grabbed a bowl of ramen in Porter square before jumping on the T to Davis square where we stopped for some coffee and hot chocolate at our favorite cafe in Somerville, The Diesel Cafe.

Following that brief respite to warm up we putzed around Davis Square a little bit more before heading over to Sacco's Bowl Haven for a little candlepin bowling. Sacco's is an old school candlepin bowling alley that was pretty empty when we got there with some folks in the back playing pool.

It was probably for the best that there weren't other people around because it was the first time I had been candlepin bowling in probably a decade and a half and the first time Kristen had ever candlepin bowled. I'm not sure if my sister had been candlepin bowling before, but if she had it was probably a long time ago. For those who have never experienced candlepin before, it is a much different game than ten pin bowling that most people are familiar with. For one thing the balls are much smaller, 4.5" in diameter, and usually 2lbs 5oz to 2lbs 7oz. You also get three balls per frame instead of the two you get in ten pin. The pins are tapered at the ends and just under 3" wide at the middle. Now if you think it sounds like it's easier than ten pin because the ball and pins are smaller and you get three balls per frame you're wrong.

Evidence of this is the fact that there has never been a 300 game in candlepin and we weren't even close to challenging that with our attempts. Over the course of the 6 games we did show steady improvement with everyone getting at least one spare in each of our last couple of games. Our final game we decided to switch over to bowling lefthanded just so our right arms wouldn't be super sore the next day. Kristen was actually quite good lefty without much drop off between throwing righty and left.

In addition to all the fun of bowling, Sacco's was also decked out with a lot of old candlepin memorabilia including old candlepins, posters, and newspaper articles.

After a little debate we headed over to Kendall Square to catch a movie. When we got there we realized we had about an hour to kill so we down the street for a quick bite and drink at Hungry Mother, a tiny little restaurant that serves local and seasonal food. We only had some small bites since we didn't have a whole lot of time but we definitely wished we could have stayed longer and had a whole meal. It's on our list of places we need to go eat next time we're back in Boston. We concluded our day by watching Slumdog Millionaire, which I highly recommend.

The next day was freezing cold so we just took it easy. I was feeling a little under the weather so Kristen and my sister headed over to Harvard Square where they made the requisite stop at L.A. Burdick for hot chocolate and chocolate mice. They needed the hot chocolate since that morning it was only 9 degrees. They did come back with burgers from Mr Bartley's for lunch which did a good job of stuffing us before we had to head out for the airport.

It was great to be back in New England, even if it was only for a short time, but it was also really nice to come back to Seattle. It felt downright tropical when we stepped out of the airport and made a stop at the taco truck on the way home for late night dinner. I've been getting over my jet lag for the past couple of days and I'm not ready to head back to work on Monday.

A New Year and a Fresh Start

2009-02-06T13:15:00.000-08:00

I know I've said before how it's been too long since I've blogged and how I will try to pick it up again, but this time I mean it. It's a new year so it's time to turn over a new leaf. But before I start posting new stuff I might as well recap the past year with photos.

Summer in Seattle

2008-09-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been so negligent in posting over the past few months. Things have been crazy as the wedding quickly approaches. In addition to that, the summer was been an odd one. We planted a ton of veggies this year and even built a new raised bed to house the lettuces, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and various asian cabbages. The lettuces did a little too well and we had a hard time keeping up with them before they got too large and bitter. We're definitely going to do some more playing around with the soil next year to figure out what the right ph is, especially since the broccoli ended up being a bit bitter.

The plants relegated to pots and other containers included various peppers, basil, chard, kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, and strawberries that supplemented the remaining strawberry plants from last year. Of everything we planted the only things that did well were the lettuces and the strawberries. The tomatoes have just come in the past few weeks, about two months late. The peppers have pretty much done nothing but taunt us and chard was the biggest disappointment because last year we feasted on it all summer and this year we haven't eaten any. Despite those lackluster performers we did enjoy some really great strawberries. The new strawberry plants we put in delivered a few crops and we have eaten freshly picked strawberries as recently as last week. The plants leftover from last year were just as productive and both sets of plants produced much larger and sweeter fruit compared to previous years.

Our plants weren't the only ones behaving weirdly thanks to the weather. Much of the crops were producing much later than usual thanks to a cold summer. Some things came out as late as two months after they should. But that didn't stop us from feasting on some great locally produced food. We really got to know a lot of the local farmers a lot better this year, many of whom we've been buying from for the past couple of years. The folks at Alvarez farms have been wonderful, often sneaking a free head of lettuce or giving us a big discount on their produce. Not only is their food amazing, but they are definitely genuinely nice people who love what they're doing. Skagit River Ranch again has been a major supplier of our meat and eggs. George and Eiko are always quick with a smile and a greeting whenever they see us. Thanks to them we were able to get a couple slabs of amazing pork belly so we could make bacon. Also, their spareribs are just amazing and great for smoking. We did a comparison of theirs with another farm and their ribs were head and shoulders above the other one.

Sea Breeze Farms has been supplying me with raw milk which has allowed me to drink milk again. I've been pretty lactose intolerant since my junior year of college and the only way I could drink milk was with Lactaid. Well, raw milk is amazing because I'm able to drink it with no ill effects. There are many arguments over whether or not raw milk really is more easily digestible thanks to the bacteria that are still alive in it. They can argue all they want but I know it works for me. Pete's Butter Toffee has continued to supply us with our sugar fix and we get to talk about the Red Sox when we visit them.

I mentioned Foraged and Found Edibles about a year ago when I posted about our harvest dinner. Well, since then we've gone to them regularly and feasted on lovely truffles, morels, sea beans, chanterelles, miner's lettuce, watercress, and much more. They even remembered my large order of chanterelles last year and called me a few weeks ago asking if I'd like any and offering me a special deal. Trust me, if we didn't have a wedding so close I would have happily invested in many pounds of them. And no discussion about our favorite farmers and purveyors would be complete without mentioning Wilson Fish. They have the most amazing halibut and salmon during the summer. Honestly, the first time I tasted their fish it was a revelation. You really can't compare the taste of fish that had been swimming, literally, the day before with anything else. Plus, they're amazing people who are always happy to joke around with you and sneak you some extra samples of smoked salmon.

Even though the weather has been weird, it has been a really wonderful summer. The picture earlier in the post is of the sky as I was crossing the 520 bridge on my way home from work. Don't worry, I was on the bus and not driving at the time. I really just love the sky here, it is filled with so much drama and many layers of textures. I know most people hope for sunny blue skies for their wedding, but I'm hoping for some clouds because they make life just a little more interesting and fun and that's exactly what I think my life with K will be like. Look for a post in the next week or so where I'll share all the foods we are going to get to eat along with some pictures from the big day.

And we're done...

2008-04-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

We just finished our last games here at Sunset. We're contemplating coming back at 4am but that might be a little crazy. Now we're scheming to figure out how to keep our shoes. I think the strategy right now is bartering. They're charging $20 a pair, but we're going to try to get all 4 pairs for $20. After all, they're pretty old and somewhat disgusting. But they say "Sunset Bowl" on the bottom! That's a piece of Ballard history right there. And so our 4 hour bowl-a-thon comes to an end. RIP Sunset Bowl - it was good to know you.

Bowling left-handed

2008-04-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

After Crushmonster left, we decided to keep the bumpers up in his lane and bowl left-handed. So far it's going better than we thought it would - I've bowled a spare (thanks to geometry and the bumpers) and Sally bowled a strike. I think I'm doing better left-handed than right-handed this game...

This may be our last game. Sadly, Sally and I have work to do and Polly is going to see the Dalai Lama. I suppose it's for the best - we're starting to lose momentum. Bowling doesn't seem like real exercise, but your arm definitely gets tired after a while. I still don't understand how we managed to work up a sweat bowling.

--TT

Review - The Sundowner Restaurant

2008-04-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

When you're bowling at 6am and you need a quick pickme up at 9, what do you do? You have the Sundowner Restaurant deliver breakfast to your lane. Yeah, that's right. Nothing hits the spot while you're bowling like greasy hashbrowns, a big piece of hame, and some scrambled eggs. While not the epitome of haute cuisine, the Sundowner Restaurant fills a very important food niche and they fill it well. So the next time you're at Sunset Bowl* make sure you grab some grub from the Sundowner Restaurant.

*As long as the next time you bowl is today.

Robbed!

2008-04-12T08:58:00.000-07:00

We're all having a rough game except for Crushmonster! After two frames he's bowling a 22. By the way, Crushmonster is 4...

We're eagerly anticipating food being delivered to our lane, apparently there was drama in the restaurant. The line cook clearly doesn't like the dishwasher, who was complaining that someone took her nametag off of her apron. The cook (also her boss) pretty much said, "Waah. Get over it." Then she proceeded to tell a customer at the counter how she had tried to fire the dishwasher but hadn't succeeded. I guess it's good that they won't be working together anymore.

These are the things you miss when you don't go bowling at 6am...

Breakfast at Sunset

2008-04-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

TT: We just ordered our breakfast, which will be delivered to our lane shortly. I'm going to miss service like that. Maybe we'll have to come back tomorrow just to eat...

LL: TT is up now and so far she's kicking everyone's butts this game. I think hunger makes her bowl better while it makes the rest of us bowl worse. At least the music is somewhat improving.

Crushmonster is in the house!

2008-04-12T08:37:00.001-07:00

We've now been joined by Crushmonster and Crushdaddy! Can you believe we've been bowling for two and a half hours already? This fourth game is turning out to be my worst so far and the food in the restaurant smelled a little too good. Maybe we'll order some food and have it delivered to our lane. My battery is dying so I'm not sure how many more posts we'll have.

Synchronized strikes, baby!

2008-04-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

TT: Polly and I just did our synchronized bowling round and we both got strikes! Next time we're adding in some choreography...

Going downhill...

2008-04-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

TT: So the synchronized bowling is starting to not work out so well. At first I was getting all strikes and spares, but the past several frames have been disappointing. Oh well - it's a worthy sacrifice to make for the entertainment value of counting off our walk.

Game 1 is in the books

2008-04-12T07:00:00.001-07:00

After a bunch of synchronized bowling and lane dancing, game 1 is in the books. Everyone did better in lane 19 than lane 20 but my differential was much greater...142-97. We're on game 2 now and Tenpin Tessie is explaining how Wii bowling hasn't helped her real bowling game.

That's right, it hasn't. In fact, there seems to be an inverse ratio of Wii to regular bowling. The better I am at Wii, the worse I am at Sunset. Also, I have a totally different spin on the "ball" in Wii bowling. Maybe it's because there's no weight attached?

Music update: Rock Lobster is now playing so the music selection is getting better.

What you don't know is I am not left handed...

2008-04-12T06:43:00.001-07:00

So far Lane 19 is much kinder to me.

Really, Larry? That's the wittiest repartee you can muster? Very disappointing.
Missy and I had matching splits, so we bowled at the same time and knocked down the same pin. It was much more exciting than it sounds here! Now we're listening to "Two Hearts Livin' in Just One Mind" by Genesis. Or is it Phil Collins? I'm up again...

Um, you need to refer to me as Louie Lanekiller thank you very much. So right after I said 19 was better for me I bowled a 5 in that lane and had a spare in 20. The guy in the next lane mush be wondering what he's walked into with us crazies doing synchronized bowling and TT and PP dancing right after they bowl.

Double strike!

2008-04-12T06:31:00.000-07:00

Missy and I just bowled back-to-back strikes, and Jessie got another spare. So did Larry! We're on a roll now...

Jessie just asked them to change the music - normally it's 80's but when we came in today it was really bad soft rock. You know the kind..."the best of the 80s, 90s and today." But now we're rocking out to "With or Without You" by U2. All is right in the world again.

-Tenpin Tessie

Introducing...

2008-04-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

Let's take a minute to introduce the players today. We've got Sally Striker, Pinkiller Polly, Tenpin Tessie, and me, Louie Lanekiller. We're currently bowling on two lanes right now to get as much bowling in as possible. Over the course of the day we'll be joined by some other bowling friends.

Live blogging at Sunset Bowl today...

2008-04-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

Jessie wants me to title it something like sunsetting on bowling, but it's too early to be witty. We're going to be blogging live from Sunset Bowl in Ballard this morning since it is the last day of open bowling before they close. We've been coming here the past 5 or 6 weeks on Sundays at 7am but tomorrow they're having an all day tournament so we're mixing it up by coming on Saturday. Look for pictures and updates on how we're doing throughout the morning.

Louie and Sally are up. Their early attempts at left-handed bowling (they're both righty) were not the most successful moments in their bowling careers. But Louie has moved on to a strike-spare back to back.

There's a party...

2007-11-03T10:53:00.001-07:00

I might have to sing this everytime I eat.

Mushrooms!

2007-10-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

There's a great article in today's Seattle P-I about Jeremy Faber of Foraged and Found Edibles. Some of you may remember he is the one who helped supply me with mushrooms for our Harvest Dinner a month or so ago. If you get a chance, make sure to stop by their stall at the University and Ballard Farmers Markets and pick up some tasty treats.

It's been too long

2007-09-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

I know it's been forever since I last posted, it's been quite a busy summer. This year we decided to grow more of our own vegetables than we had in previous years. This included 15 different tomato plants, bok choy, rainbow chard, cippollini onions, leeks, red peppers, sorrel, strawberries, blueberries, basil, thyme, and I'm sure I'm missing something else. It was pretty great being able to just go into the backyard and pick what we were going to eat for dinner that night.

But the weather this summer was kind of weird so a lot of our tomatoes didn't start coming in until the end of the summer and the bok choy was done pretty much right away. Our only consistent crop was the rainbow chard that kept on giving all summer and is still producing even today. Our strawberries were a pretty big disappointment, I think we only got to eat 3 or 4 of them the entire summer. I'm sure the squirrels got away with a few more than that, but not many.

We've actually done a pretty good job procuring most of our produce, fish, and meat from the farmers markets this year. It wouldn't be uncommon for me to visit three different markets over the course of the week. There's something pretty fun about trying to figure out what you're going to make for dinner based on what's fresh at the time. "Looks like asparagus is almost done, but look at the beets!"

I've been getting getting a bunch of meat over the past couple of years from Skagit River Ranch up in the Skagit Valley. I think the aha moment happened a couple of months ago when I had made a pork shoulder roast. We were sitting down eating it and I had noticed Kristen had nothing left on her plate while I had trimmed off the pieces of fat. When I asked her about it she said, "I don't think my piece had any fat." Being pork shoulder I knew there was fat all over that thing so maybe she just didn't notice. So I decided to sample a bit of the fat with my next bite and it was a revelation. It just melted in my mouth like the most beautiful butter you had ever tasted. Normally with the fat from factory farmed pigs it would either be chewy or leave a greasy film on the roof of your mouth. But not with this pork and that's when I knew I couldn't go back to factory farmed meat.

Harvest Moon

Tonight is the first night of the harvest moon, which is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. During this time the moon rises pretty close to when the sun sets which means there isn't a long period of darkness so farmers could continue to bring in their crops under the light of the moon.

To celebrate the ushering in of autumn and the harvest moon we decided to throw a little harvest moon feast at our house this past weekend. It was a great time with lots of great food and a whole lot of good friends. At first I was a bit overwhelmed because a lot more people were coming than I thought would. It's kind of like college admissions, where the school would accept a certain number of people know x% wouldn't accept the offer. While the idea of feeding so many people was daunting, I must say it was heartwarming knowing so many of our friends were willing to spend their Saturday night with us.

I had originally planned four courses, three of which I would do the bulk of the cooking. In order to make sure I got everything done on time I had a little notebook that I used to schedule my week and assign tasks for each day. I gotta say, coming up with that schedule save my butt because luckily I got everything done with minimal stress on the day of the dinner.

The first two courses were salads and starches and I tried to do as much of that in advance as I could. Two days before the dinner I rolled and cut the pasta as well as made the two different sauces. The day before I braised one of the proteins and made one of the salads and prepped the other's dressing. The morning/afternoon of the dinner I cooked mushrooms, made the last starch and made my mise en place for the rest of the night.

The night of the dinner went pretty smoothly and according to plan. First course was salads so all I had to do was bring the one prepped salad and the other prepped dressing up to room temp and grill the romaine prior to serving. The starch course just involved cooking the pasta I had made two days before and reheating the sauces. I also had to reheat the third starch dish I had made earlier that day.

The protein course was the most challenging because a lot of that had to be made a la minute. So while people were working on their starches I threw the snapper in the oven to roast. I then took the chicken out to the grill to cook but soon found out the coals had burned down too much so I had to cook them on the stovetop and finish in the oven. While I was doing that, I also needed to make my polenta, saute my kale, warm up the mushrooms, and fire my shortribs that had braised the night before. It sounds like a lot to do, and it was, but everything happened really quickly. When the chicken was ready to be finished in the oven, the snapper was ready to come out. That made it easy to put the chicken and shortribs in the oven while I plated the fish. On the stovetop the polenta cooked, while the kale sauteed, and the mushrooms reheated. The fish went out first with the kale while I plated the shortribs, chicken, and polenta. Then those two went out and I was done. Phew!

I left the last course, dessert, for our guests to supply and I was happy I did. People brought all sorts of wonderful crumbles and cakes and other sweet tasty treats. It was an exhausting but amazingly fun night and I can't wait to do it again.

Here is the menu of things we prepped:

Course 1
Potato, bacon, haricots verts served with a dijon and sherry vinagrette
Grilled romaine with roast garlic and asiago dressing

Course 2
Braised lamb ragu with hand cut pappardelle
Veggie ragu with homemade linguine
Farro with chard and chanterelle and lobster mushrooms

Course 3
Whole roast Alaskan wild red snapper (aka rockfish) with sauteed kale
Braised shortribs with creamy (and cheesy) polenta
Pan roasted chicken breasts with chanterelle mushrooms

Today in the news...

2007-04-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Such sad news today at Virginia Tech and I'm sure there will be more questions than answers in the days ahead. Today's events reminded me of a similar incident that occurred at my school when I was in college.

In 1996 at Johns Hopkins, Rex Chao was killed after being elected the President of the College Republicans. The shooter was his predecessor and former friend Bob Harwood. I heard the shot that night and the memory is still as clear as if it happened the other day. That evening I was on the phone with my sister in my dorm room that overlooked the beach, which is what we called the grassy area in front of the library. While on the phone I heard a loud pop and commented to my sister, who was also a student at Hopkins, that I heard what I thought was a gunshot. Her response was that it was probably just a car backfiring because who would believe that something like this would happen at your school. A place that is supposed to be about learning and growing as you make your way into becoming a full fledged member of adulthood. Where your parents pay a lot of money under the assumption you'll be safe. Even though we were in the middle of Baltimore, a city with one of the nation's highest murder rates at the time, I never would have dreamt something like that could happen.

Not long after I made the comment on the phone, the sound of sirens filled the air and the night was filled with flashing lights. Sadly, what I heard was a gunshot and even more shocking I knew the shooter.

Bob was a friends with my sister and a roommate of one of her good friends. He was two years ahead of me so I didn't know him real well. My only experiences with him were in Rhode Island politics as we were both from the smallest state in the country. I had been working with the Lincoln Almond gubernatorial campaign in the summer of 1994 prior to starting my freshman year of college. We had run into each other at some functions including the Republican convention where Lincoln was officially named the Republican candidate after a surprising upset in the primary. Now, before all my liberal friends here in Seattle start disparaging me for participating in a Republican convention I must point out that New England politics are different than politics elsewhere in the country. Also, Gov. Almond was a protege of the late Sen. John Chaffee who was a well known moderate and was probably more liberal than a number of Democrats, past and present.

On election night in 1994, I got a call in my dorm room from Bob congratulating me on Lincoln Almond's victory that night. I thanked him and we chatted a little while about a hard fought campaign before ending the call and getting back to studying. That was the last time I remember talking to him and didn't really think about him until that April night almost a year and a half later.

None of us could really believe what was happening and the internet was as omnipresent as it is these days so we couldn't just go to msnbc.com to find the latest news. Slowly, throughout the night, the details emerged. There was a shooting after a meeting. After the College Republicans meeting. Someone was hurt. That person was dead. He was just elected the president of the College Republicans. His name was Rex Chao. His shooter was a senior that had graduated early and come back for the election. He was caught by security shortly after it happened. His name was Bob. Bob Harwood.

That's when it became more than just a story on the 11 o'clock news. The sound of the gunshot, the sirens, the flashing lights, that wasn't something on TV or in a movie. It happened outside my window and someone I knew was involved.

On my way to class the next morning I passed the spot where this tragic incident happened. The area was taped off and there on the asphalt was a small pool of blood. Just the sight of that made it even more real and knocked the wind out of me. I continued to class saying a silent prayer for Rex and for Bob.

Over the days and months there were memorials for Rex and outrage that something like this could happen. A statue was built to commemorate a life cut short by someone whose life was now to be spent behind bars.

A few years back I was in Berkeley for Thanksgiving with my sister and her friend that was Bob's roommate joined us. He gave us an update on how Bob was doing in prison and how he had grown a beard and wore dark glasses to seem tougher and not to get into trouble if someone thought he was looking at them funny. They talked about their memories of him and we all said how tragic it all was. Two promising young men who would never have an opportunity to realise their dreams or potential.

Eleven years later and it just seems things have gotten worse. When I first heard about the shootings at Virginia Tech this morning on my way to work, the first thing out of my mouth was, "Not another shooting. Seems like there's one every week." I don't know what the answer is, but I do know an incident like this affects so many people. As time goes on, we move on...but we're never the same.

because i'm a lazy bugger

2007-02-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

Kristen has much more pics and details about our trip back east. I promise to put more up here when I get a chance.

Kristen's Books Written for Girls

Bergdorf Holiday Windows

2007-01-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

The Bergdorf windows were some of the only holiday windows still up when we were in NY the week after New Year's. Here are some pictures, I'll have pictures of the full window up some time later.

My interview with "Santa"

2006-12-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

Here is a transcript of my interview with "Santa" over MSN Messenger. I have some serious doubts it is really him.

Larry says:
are you really santa claus?
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, Larry! I'm Santa Claus!

Tell me, are you a boy or a girl?
Larry says:
why do you want to know?
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho! Am I talking to a boy or girl?
Larry says:
why?
Santa Claus says:
Sorry - Santa really needs to know if you're a boy or a girl.
Larry says:
is it because if it's a girl you'll talk down to them?
Santa Claus says:
And what do you want for Christmas, Larry?
Larry says:
i want to know if you're really santa
Santa Claus says:
Great, Larry! I'll see what I can do.

And what else would you like?
Larry says:
i would like you to answer my question
Santa Claus says:
My elves will get right on that.
Larry says:
speaking of your elves, how many do you have working for you?
Santa Claus says:
What was that?
Larry says:
how many elves do you have working for you?
Santa Claus says:
There are too many elves to count!
Larry says:
are these elves unionized?
Santa Claus says:
Hmm...
Larry says:
that isn't an answer santa, if that is your real name
Santa Claus says:
Hey! That's my name! I won't call you that.
Larry says:
so answer my question, are the elves unionized?
Santa Claus says:
What was that?
Larry says:
i don't understand why you keep ducking the question
Santa Claus says:
Interesting!
Larry says:
yes it is santa...
Santa Claus says:
Are you sure it is?
Larry says:
are you at least paying the elves a living wage?
Santa Claus says:
Hmm... I don't know, Larry, what do you think?
Larry says:
i think if you were you wouldn't be avoiding my question
Santa Claus says:
What do you think, Larry?
Larry says:
i just told you
Santa Claus says:
Whatever.
Larry says:
what about comprehensive healthcare?
Santa Claus says:
What was that?
Larry says:
are you providing the elves comprehensive health care?
Santa Claus says:
Hmm... I don't know, Larry, what do you think?
Larry says:
it doesn't matter what i think
Santa Claus says:
Interesting!
Larry says:
so are you saying you aren't paying the elves a living wage and denying them healthcare?
Santa Claus says:
What do you think about that, Larry?
Larry says:
i think that's just wrong
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho! What?
Larry says:
oh, you know what
Santa Claus says:
What?
Larry says:
i'm beginning to think you aren't really santa
Santa Claus says:
Yes, that's my name!
Larry says:
if you are really santa, then what did you get me last year?
Santa Claus says:
What do you think, Larry?
Larry says:
that doesn't answer the question
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho?
Larry says:
saying ho ho ho over and over again isn't going to convince me you're santa
Santa Claus says:
That is entirely unnecessary.
Larry says:
who is kris kringle?
Santa Claus says:
My name is Santa Claus.
Larry says:
have you ever been known under the name of kris kringle?
Santa Claus says:
Yes!
Larry says:
really?
Santa Claus says:
Yes, really.
Larry says:
where do they call you that?
Santa Claus says:
Santa Claus! HO HO HO!
Larry says:
um, that isn't a location
Santa Claus says:
Hmm...
Larry says:
have you been drinking?
Santa Claus says:
I assure you I'm quite sober.
Larry says:
let me talk to mrs claus
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho!
Larry says:
please let me talk to mrs claus
Santa Claus says:
Really?
Larry says:
yes
Santa Claus says:
Yup.
Larry says:
you've avoided all my questions so this interview is over
Santa Claus says:
Ho ho ho?
Larry says:
are you calling me a ho?
Santa Claus says:
That's quite unnecessary.
Larry says:
i will be sending osha to check in on your elves
Santa Claus says:
Great, Larry! I'll see what I can do.
Larry says:
please see that you do
Santa Claus says:
Take care, Larry.
Larry says:
bye santa...if that's really who you are...
Santa Claus says:
See ya later Larry. Good talking to you.

I expected more dirt...

2006-11-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've blogged and I blame television for that. There are so many shows I've gotten hooked on, and some others I thought I would be but they've lost me over the past month or so. Anyway, TV isn't the point of this post so I digress.

There's a new restaurant that has opened up in my neighborhood and it's one of only two Oregon Tilth organic certified restaurants in the country. Tilth has taken over the location of my much beloved Mandalay Cafe on 45th in Wallingford and I finally had a chance to try it last Thursday. Since I heard what was moving into that space I was interested in checking it out, especially after learning Maria Hines was the owner and chef. Kristen actually got to go a week before I did and you can read what she thought of it on her blog.

I really enjoyed Tilth, the food was well executed and enjoyed the flavor profiles of the dishes. I started with the Local Comice Pear Salad and Kristen had the Full Circle Farms Baby Lettuces. I was expecting the blue cheese in my salad to be a lot stronger than it was and it played well with the arugula and walnuts. Not really paying attention to what was in Kristen's salad I was really intrigued by the light fruit of the vinaigrette. When I asked her what it was she said it was just a lemon vinaigrette and I really liked how it was executed. It was a little sweet and tart without any harsh acid. I can say that a lot of times something as simple as a vinaigrette can make or break a salad, and this one made it.

Our main entrees came out shortly after we finished our salads. Kristen was presented with Sablefish and a polenta cake while I received the seared Top Sirloin. My first impression with the top sirloin was how perfectly it was cooked. Usually when I go out to eat at a restaurant and order a steak I tend to ask for it to be rare/medium rare because if I ask for it just medium rare it'll get cooked to medium. This time, they delivered exactly what I asked for and I was very pleased. The sirloin had a good flavor that I attribute it to being grassfed. I did notice that it could be a little harder to chew if I didn't cut it across the grain of the meat. But when I did, the beef was very tender and almost buttery. This proved to be an excellent counterpount to the accompanying radicchio which provided a nice bitter note. When I took my first bite of the fingerling potatoes I really didn't want to eat anything else. I'm a sucker for potatoes and these were amazing when I had them alone. The saltiness of the seasoning and the creaminess of the potato itself was a little bit of heaven. The flavor profile of the entire dish was well done with the saltiness of the potatoes, bitterness of the radicchio, and beefiness of the sirloin all playing well off each other with no one flavor overpowering any other.

Kristen's balsamic glazed sablefish was the polar opposite of my entree. It was much lighter but just as flavorful. While my entree was a play on some bolder flavors, this dish was all about quieter ones. The mild white sablefish played host to the subtley sweet balsamic glaze while sitting atop a creamy polenta cake. Like most white fish, the sablefish was very neutral in flavor so if paired incorrectly it could easily be overpowered by the flavors in it's companions. But once again, everything played off each other and provided a complimentary and harmonious flavor profile.

After a slight miscommunication about whether or not we wanted dessert, they arrived at our table. We ordered the Mini Caramel Heirloom Apples that Kristen had been raving about since her visit as well as the Smoked Theo Chocolate Pudding. The mini caramel apples were little apples on a toothpick that you then dipped into a side of caramel. I really wished the apples were bigger because I couldn't get enough of the caramel. I tried to get as much caramel as I could on the last mini apple we had, but even then that wasn't enough. The vanilla marshmellow kept throwing me off in the pudding dish. Every time I combined a bite of the marshmallow with the pudding, all I could taste was the vanilla. The pudding itself was really good, but how could it not be seeing that it's made with Theo chocolate. In the interest of full disclosure, my friend's wife is a chocolatier at Theo but that in no way influences my assertion that Theo chocolate is damn good.

As I'm sure you could tell, the food was very well done but for some reason I was slightly underwhelmed by my experience overall. The clean white and green interior threw me off a little because I was expecting something more in line with the tilth theme. Also, our server seemed a little less polished than I would have anticipated but I can't complain because we were never left wanting and our food was also brought out when it should have been. Our server just seemed a little nervous or unsure of herself, which she shouldn't because she did a good job and suggested an excellent wine pairing.

Overall I would highly recommend Tilth. Since this was only my first time visiting I'll give them a few more tries before I pass final judgement on the atmosphere.

Inaugural Podcast: Nothing fits...

2006-10-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

I've finally decided to do a podcast. It's all music so I'm sparing you the sound of my voice, but that might change as I get more ambitious. Of course I've encoded it in Windows Media Audio format, so you'll need a compatible player for it. Moving forward, I might encode in MP3. The playlist is below, I hope you enjoy it!

10.10.2006 Podcast: Nothing fits... (right click to Save Target, not sure how it works on Macs)

The Decemberists - The Perfect Crime No. 2
Belle and Sebastian - Funny Little Frog
Stars - Reunion
Death Cab for Cutie - Your Heart is an Empty Room
The Pernice Brothers - My So-Called Celibate Life
Regina Spektor - Better
Lily Allen - Friday Night
Beck - Nausea
Metric - Hand$hake$
Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up to Dry
Sandi Thom - Sunset Borderline
Laura Cantrell - 14th Street
Iron and Wine|Calexico - A History of Lovers
Math and Physics Club - Graduation Day
The Long Winters - Fire Island, AK
The Posies - Love Comes
The Raconteurs - Together

Fall is in the air

2006-09-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first night where it felt like fall, and I have to admit I was pretty excited. Fall is one of my favorite seasons and I think it's because it always signifies change and new experiences to me. First of all I was born in October and there's no bigger change than being born. Also, fall was always the start of a new school year. It was a time where you started a new grade or new school or when you moved away to college. Speaking of moving, I moved out to Seattle at the end of September 8 years ago so whenever this time of year rolls around it brings back those memories of when I first came out here. I got hit with that nostalgia the other day when I was walking around my neighborhood and it felt just like when I was wandering around 8 years ago with the sun and cool air. Last year, at this time, is when K and I got the keys to our house together.

So you can see why fall is a favorite. But in addition to the emotional ties, there's just something that I love about the cool, crisp air when you're outside. The angle of the light in the evening when the sun is setting makes you just want to wrap yourself in a blanket on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. Not wanting to leave the warmth of your bed in the morning, or the hesistancy to climb into your cold bed at night. Plus, you get to break out your sweaters and warm jackets for the first time.

Heat Wave 2006

2006-07-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

Heat wave 2006 has taken over the Northwest over the past 4 days. Temperatures have been in the mid to high 90's since Friday. With pretty low humidity I wouldn't have minded how hot it's been back when I lived in Baltimre, but being out here was made me used to moderate temperatures. So over the course of the weekend, when I haven't been watching the Red Sox take on the Mariners, I've been spending time in the basement in our spare bedroom and studio. It's about 20 degrees cooler down here and the cats have taken to lounging on the concrete floor down here. One cool thing we discovered is that we have cable in the basement so we can hang out down here and still have cable tv and internet access. The only thing we're missing down here is a food source.

It's been a while since I last blogged, but during that absence I've noticed my traffic increase. Strange, but true. Also during this time, I've become addicted to a new blog, The Sartorialist. The Sartorialist is Scott Schuman and his blog shows pictures of stylish people that he finds on the streets of New York. What's refreshing about this site is that a lot of these people are just regular people walking around and they aren't necessarily wearing the most expensive clothes. It just goes to show that you don't need to have money to have great personal style.

Staying on the fashion topic, the third season of Project Runway has begun and we celebrated by having a party to watch the season premiere. We had a great turnout and there are already some early favorites. Personally, I don't think PR would be what it is without Tim Gunn. I know this is a sentiment that is shared by many Project Runway fans. My early picks are Robert Best, the Barbie designer; Kayne Gillaspie, the pageant wear designer; and Michael Knight, a fashion designer from Atlanta (and no, he doesn't have a talking car...that we know of). The villain of the show to this point is Keith Michael and it doesn't seem like that will change any time soon. I had a feeling he was no good during the road to the runway show no to our guests, "Oh, he's got two first names, you know he's going to be trouble."

To try to segue to another topic, I went to Nordstrom a while back with Kristen to check out a sale after a baseball game. I usually don't shop there because everytime I go I get treated horribly. We first went to the women's shoe department so she could scope out the sale shoes and ended up getting a sweet pair of pale blue Diesels. Since we were there I decided to check out the men's department to see what they had. I saw a pair of brown and orange Adidas that I liked and decided to try them on. Well, it took me forever to get someone to offer to get them in my size for me to try on. When I finally did, the person "helping" me couldn't care less about me and kept looking longingly at some other guy who was looking at $300 shoes. He obviously wished he was helping him and not me. In the end I got the shoes, not because of the service but because I liked the shoes. After we left Kristen said she couldn't believe how horribly I was treated and I explained it's just par for the course when I go there which is why I don't normally. I don't know why I always get this type of service there since Nordstrom is supposed to be all about the service. Because of that I choose to shop at another store, that I won't mention, but I love it there and the people that work there send you notes thanking you for visiting the store.

I did end up having a good experience, finally, a week ago when I went there during their anniversary sale to get a suit. The man who helped me was the most stylish of all the folks there. A very kind, older gentleman with a great suit and yellow socks that matched his tie and pocket square. He didn't try to push the really expensive suits on me, but don't be mistaken he did make sure to show me the Hickey Freeman and Zegna suits, and was more than happy to keep helping me when I chose the half price suit. So maybe Nordstrom isn't so bad after all, you just have to find the most effortlessly stylish person in the department to help you.

So one final thing that has come up a lot recently is the topic of racism, something I was naive enought to think I would never encounter when I was growing up. The reason this has come to mind for me as of late are some things that I've encountered and I don't think most of it was intentional. The first thing is that someone recently asked me what my nationality is. Well, the obvious answer is I'm as American as the next person. I was born here in the US and even have Benjamin Franklin on my birth certificate. Now, I knew what they were really trying to ask was what my ethnicity is since I've come across this before, so I told them. What kind of bothered me about this was not what they asked but the fact that they asked me this during a meeting at work. Now, I work at a place that is supposed to have only the best and brightest so I was shocked at the inappropriateness of this and the other person in the meeting with us exchanged a look with me that communicated that she was as horrified as I was. I let it go because I don't want to make it out to be a huge deal because I know this person didn't mean any harm and I still had to work with them but I'm a little wary around them now.

The other things that kind of surprised me happened within the last week. As many may know the Seattle Sonics were recently sold to a group in Oklahoma this past week. This delighted a group of people here who don't think the public should help finance professional sports or their arenas and would be excited to see them leave town. While reading through the message boards on some of the sites for our local newspapers I was astonished by a number of the comments that were left. Whether they were intended to be racist or not is not for me to judge, but the message did convey very racists meanings. Calling all basketball players "thugs" and saying they had illegitimate children scattered around the country and how they didn't want to have those types of people ruining their community. I don't know who these people were or where they live but I was pretty surprised that these comments were left, I'm assuming, by people here in Seattle. Then at the baseball game on Saturday, the person behind me cheered for Ichiro Suzuki by yelling, "Go you chinaman!" First of all, that term is an obvious racial slur and B, Ichiro is Japanese is not Chinese. To make matters worse, this guy spilled his beer on me, my friend Missy, and the folks in front of us. He was so classy he didn't even apologize. Finally, on the way back from the game yesterday we stopped at the Elliot Bay Bookstore so Kristen could pick up the book for her next bookclub. While she was tracking down the book I went down into the cafe to use the restroom. On the wall in the men's room, the wall was filled with writing as is common in a number of restrooms. What caught my eye was the number of swastikas that were drawn on the wall.

All of these things made me realize that hate and racism still exist, even in one of the most liberal cities in the country. It may not be overtly evident at all times, but it's still there lying beneath the surface to some degree. What surprised me was that I had never encountered any racism until after I moved to Seattle.

A Taste of Summer

2006-06-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a fleeting glimpse of what summer in Seattle is like. With temperatures in the 70's and bright blue skies, you couldn't ask for a better day. But summer in Seattle isn't just about the weather. A big part of it is the new produce that starts to show up at farmer's markets. For me, I know summer is here when there fresh strawberries, cherries, and tomatoes start showing up. Now I know you can get these items year round at your local megamart, but I'm talking about fresh, local grown produce. Items that are picked at their peak, ready to be eaten. Not the stuff you find at the grocery store that was picked who knows how long ago and shipped out here from far flung parts of the world.

Do you know what a tomato tastes like? Well, go to your local farmers market and pick yourself up a locally grown heirloom that was just harvested. Take a bit into it and you'll be shocked, and pleased, at how amazing they taste compared to the bland mushy stuff you get at the grocer. This is my experience when I taste my first tomato of the season after a winter of the other kind. Earlier today, we made a trip to the farmer's market and got a brandywine and a green heirloom tomato. We served it very simply with a balsamic vinagrette to make sure we didn't overpower it. The tomatoes were sweet and juicy and almost melted in your mouth. I remember when I was little I used to love to eat the tomatoes we grew (or got from a farmer's roadside stand) like an apple. You could definitely do that with these.

I'm very finicky when it comes to strawberries. I hate it when they're crunchy and dry with that white hull. So when we sampled some strawberries at the farmer's market today and they were red throughout I knew we had to get them. What's the difference? The white hull means that it was picked before it was ready so it wouldn't spoil before it got to where it was going. When there isn't any red, that means it was picked at it's peak of ripeness and you'll be rewarded with a juicy and sweet treat. You have to eat them quick, which shouldn't be a problem, because they'll spoil in a couple of days. A couple of years ago I went to a strawberry farm and picked my own. I got a little overzealous and picked way more than I could possibly eat before they went bad. To remedy the situation I made a big batch of strawberry ice cream. I must say, that was some good ice cream.

I think the highlight of my trip the farmer's market was meeting and talking to Eiko of Skagit River Ranch located in Sedro Woolley, WA. They raise grass fed cows, pigs, and pastured chickens. We talked a bit about Michael Pollan and all the good he's doing just by bringing up the issues of where are food comes from these days. We also discussed how different industrial food tastes when you compare it to what comes out of small organic farms. You know, when a tomato tastes like a tomato. Talking about it made me remember the local farmers market we used to go to when I was a kid and the dairy farm we would frequent to get ice cream. I remember how much I would enjoy walking around and checking out all the cows on the dairy farm and then going home with a half gallon of ice cream under my arm. After talking with her for a while I looked through what they had left (that's what I get for going there late in the day) and left with a brisket and some pork rib tips. Before I went I promised to come by the farm one saturday to see how the animals are raised and pick up some more stuff.

Which brings me to my project for this summer. I decided a little while ago that I'm going to try to get to know where my food comes from. This is why I asked Eiko about visiting Skagit River Ranch and promised that I would come by. But that's only the first step, next I want to connect with some other farms to see how they grow their food. I'm planning on joining Boistfort Valley Farm's CSA but I wanted to meet and talk to them a little before I joined. Unfortunately I couldn't track them down at the market today but I don't think that will stop me from signing up. If anybody knows of any other farms that you like that welcome visitors please let me know.

When I was talking to my friend on IM about this while I was working on my show he said, "You're crazy about your food source." I wouldn't go so far as saying I'm crazy about it, but I'm beginning to understand how important it is to know where your food is coming from and what is really in it. I'm getting older now and becoming more cognizant of my body, some pretty nasty injuries will do that to you. So what is more important when it comes to taking care of your body than the food you put into it?

Dear music,

2006-05-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I haven't been paying as much attention to you as I should. I just needed a break and I hope you can understand. You have to admit though, you hadn't really done much to keep things exciting lately with your somewhat predictable phrasing, recycled rhythms, and cliched lyrics. Maybe this break was just what we both needed as we had both become complacent in our relationship. It's made me work harder to discover all that you offer as well as revisit old gifts that I've loved and neglected. I promise to cut back on my NPR listening when I'm in the car and baseball broadcasts at the office. I promise to listen because just hearing you isn't enough. I promise to drop all pretenses and just get lost in you. I promise to be more forgiving and to give you a second chance when the first listen doesn't grab me. I promise all this because I miss you. I miss the feeling of playing a new album that is so enthralling that I can do nothing but just sit and stare at the wall.

So what would I like to see in return? I'd love to see you continue to grow and not get caught up in the hype. I'd like to see you try new things and push the boundaries. Also, I'd like the people that play you (DJs, musicians, etc.) to remember it's about you and not them.

a sad day in the world of music...

2006-05-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Reggae legend Desmond Dekker died from a heart attack in his home in Britain at the age of 64.

Read the NYTimes article (via Reuters).

slow news day at the NY Times...

2006-05-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Seriously, it must have been a slow news day for this article to be run on the front page of the New York Times.

And if It's a Boy, Will It Be Lleh?

It's an article about how the 70th most popular name for baby girls in 2005 is Nevaeh. Do you know where that name comes from? You guessed it, it's Heaven spelled backwards. When I saw the title I thought it was pretty funny how the Times was mocking these folks. But then I got a little scared when I realized that maybe they weren't mocking at all. Gawker doesn't seem to think very highly of the author, so maybe it was an inadvertent dig, but it was entertaining to me.

But seriously, do people really need to start making up names by just turning words of things backwards. Will people who really love wine start naming their kids Tonip? We all know how loyal Packers fans are so will there be a bunch of kids in Wisconsin called Srekcap? Gosh, I sure hope not.

organic? local? both?

2006-05-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

I'm sure many of you have become very aware of the organic movement as of late. Not to be outdone, Wal-Mart has even gotten in on the act. Buying organic has never been cheap so we'll have to see what happens to prices as they enter the market. Like most people I would love to be able to eat organic but doing so requires money and some planning. I've noticed that with organic fruits and vegetables they don't tend to last as long so you really have to buy what you are planning on eating in the next couple of days. There's nothing worse than seeing that expensive, albeit delicious, produce rotting in your refrigerator after a few days.

One thing that I hadn't thought about when it comes to organic foods is that not all organic is equal. Michael Pollan brought this up yesterday on Weekday, here on KUOW in Seattle. He discussed many topics such as the difference between eating organic local foods and organic foods that have to be transported here by planes, trains, ships, giant trucks, etc. Like many people I always thought of eating organic as an issue of doing something that is good for me, and it is. But in addition to that there is the idea of organic farming is also important for the environment.

With industrial farming, the soil ends up being stripped of nutrients over time making them unusable for growing anything. Granted, this can take decades but why would you want to do something that would take away valuable land for growing food to feed an ever increasing population. So by practicing sustainable farming they are able to keep the soil fertile so it can feed us for generations. The question here is, when large companies like Wal-Mart start pushing organic and need larger supplies of this type of food there will be large farms using industrial farming techniques to grow organic food. So in the end, is this organic food really that good for us and our environment?

In addition to the industrialization of organic food, there's the idea of eating locally. How good is that organic tomato you're eating if it's had to be shipped all the way from South America? In addition to it not being picked when it's ready to eat because it has to travel, the fuel that is being used to transport it to you has to be considered. Granted, some sort of transport has to happen with all foods but wouldn't it be better if all that was was just a three hour drive from the other side of the state? Of course, in order to do this people will have to change how they eat. These days everyone is used to having things like tomatoes all year, but if you only ate locally then that wouldn't be possible. There'd probably be high incidences of scurvy in some parts of the country where citrus isn't native so there would have to be some exceptions. I know I probably wouldn't be able to grow mangos here in Seattle, but eating locally when I can will have to be a conscious decision I make when shopping.

The best strawberries I had ever tasted were ones that I had picked myself at a strawberry farm here in Washington state a few years back. I never knew what a real strawberry tasted like because I had always bought them prepackaged at the supermarket. These however were ripened naturally in the fields and I was rewarded with sweet and juicy berries. I think that is the biggest selling point for buying locally. Farmers can harvest what is in season and ready to be eaten instead of picking items early for shipping and letting them ripen in giant storage facilities.

Luckily in Seattle we have amazing farmers' markets all over the city, from the famous Pike Place Market to all the neighborhood markets starting to spring up this time of year. In addition to that, there are a number of CSAs here in Seattle, such as the Pike Place Market CSA, Boistfort Valley Farm CSA, and the Full Circle Farm CSA. For those of you unfamiliar with CSAs, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. For some you pay a certain amount of money upfront and during a period of time (usually summer through early fall) you'll receive fresh produce delivered weekly to one of many delivery locations. Others you pay per delivery but it is still delivered weekly and sometimes you can get a discount if you pay for a certain number ahead of time. What's great about this is you get what is fresh at that time and if you pay in advance, the money helps to give the farmers some working capital for the year. It's a win win all around.

I had been thinking about joining a CSA for a while but always thought it was too expensive. But the other day I was breaking down the cost and it wasn't really that much more than what I spend every week. Plus, not knowing what I'll get will force me to be more creative with my cooking. That could be a good thing, or a bad thing.

So what have I taken from all of this? The first thing is I'm going to try to eat more organic food. The second is, when eating organic I'm going to try to eat locally. And the third is that there is definitely a tie between what we eat and the world around us. What's the point in eating organically if we just end up killing the planet anyway?

Having said all this, I'm going to go see how the strawberries I planted last spring are doing.

things i've learned from tracking traffic

2006-05-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

As I sit here listening to my all the voicemails that have accumulated in my voicemail box over the months since my phone doesn't work, I'm going to write about some of the things I've learned since implementing tracking on my blog. Okay, there's a weird message on my voicemail asking if I believe all religious holidays should be banished from schools. The next message says "Press 1 for male, press 2 for female."

Moving on. I've discovered that my blog is currently being linked to from some random trampoline site because I mocked trampoline being an Olympic sport some time back. I've also discovered that a lot of people are looking for a picture of Charlotte Martin.

It looks like asian fit sunglasses is a bigger issue than I had originally thought. Since I posted not too long ago about Oakley making asian fit sunglasses my blog has gotten a good amount of traffic from those folks looking for those glasses. I even updated my blog post to include a link to a list of their sunglasses. Who knew? Well, considering how many asian people there are in the world I guess I should have known.

The final thing I've learned is that people really want to know what celebrity they look like. I get a bunch of hits every day for that post alone. I wonder how many of them end up leaving that site disappointed when they find out they look more like Paul Giamatti than George Clooney. No offense Paul!

me want cookie

2006-05-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

I love warm chocolate chip cookies right from the oven. The melted chocolate chips along with the moist cookie that almost melts in your mouth is a little bit of heaven and calls out for a cold cup of milk. Now imagine you were allergic to wheat and weren't allowed to experience that anymore. It's sad isn't it? Well, luckily I'm not allergic to wheat. Unfortunately Kristen is, so we haven't been able to bake chocolate chip cookies in a while. I mean, I guess I could but it wouldn't be very nice of me to torture her like that and I'd really prefer not to sleep on the couch.

Last night, Kristen wasn't feeling very well so she went to bed early. While she attempted to sleep, I put on some Sondre Lerche and set out to attempt a wheat/gluten free chocolate chip cookie that actually tasted like one. We've played around with making gluten free stuff before, with mixed results. Kristen made some scones that tasted pretty good but they just crumbled too easily. She also attempted to make pasta with brown rice flour, and lets just say we won't be doing that again. Last weekend I made some pancakes using gluten free flour and it turned out really well. So with those couple of successes I thought I should be able to do this.

Earlier in the day I found a recipe from Epicurious for chocolate chip cookies that called for the use of a brown rice flour mix that included tapioca flour and potato starch. Using this as my template I stopped at the grocery store to stock up on various flours and xantham gum, none of which was very cheap. So, while Sondre crooned in the background I went about making my brown rice flour mix, creaming my butter and sugar, and combining all of my dry ingredients. As I assembled the ingredients into a cookie dough, there was noticeable difference between cookie dough with wheat flour and this wheat free/gluten free dough. It had an elastic quality to it, as opposed to regular dough that is a little stiffer. Because of the dough consistency I decided to give them a little more room on the cookie sheet when I baked them, expecting them to spread out a bit more. They browned much quicker than I expected them to but I remembered reading that tapioca flour helps promote browning.

When I normally bake cookies, I tend to pull them out before they're completely baked through. The main reason for this is because they continue to cook after you pull them out so if you leave them in the oven until they're completely done, they'll be overcooked by the time you get to eat one. Using this same method, I pulled them out while they were still a little blonde and moist in the center. Seeing they hadn't spread as much as I thought they might, I put the next sheet, crammed with cookies, in the oven.

By this time Kristen had gotten up to see what I was doing. After letting the cookies cool a little bit, I let her give them a try. When trying to get them off the sheet, we immediately noticed that they fell apart very easily while they were still warm. But that didn't stop us from giving them a taste. I asked Kristen if she thought they tasted like real cookies and she gave me the thumbs up. After eating a second cookie she headed back to bed. The main thing I noticed about the texture was that appeared to be a little grainy, I figured it was probably due to some of the flours and starches that were used. Maybe if they had a chance to rest more the cookie would firm up and the texture would improve. Another thought was maybe I should let them bake a little longer.

I let the second batch stay in the oven a little longer. When I pulled them out I was worried I had let them bake too long as they went a little past golden. As I attempted to get them onto the cooling rack I noticed the color wasn't a good indicator of doneness as they still appeared to be very moist. It was kind of mess moving them as I had put too many cookies on the sheet this time and some of them had merged together. There was also the same problem of them being very fragile while they were still warm. Tasting one from this batch I noticed the grainy texture was much improved, but not gone entirely. The last batch was now in the oven.

I let the final 8 cookies get to the same brownness of the previous batch before pulling them out. While they cooled I went back to the first batch and noticed that they had firmed up nicely. The texture also seem to have improved. With that I set off for bed, hoping as the cookies rested over night all the issues would disappear.

This morning I was not disappointed. The cookies held up nicely and the graininess from the night before was completely gone. I would wager that most people wouldn't be able to tell these cookies were wheat and gluten free. The ones from the second and third batches were crispy at the edges and chewy in the center. All in all, I think this would be recipe we'll be making again in the future.

from the world of news

2006-05-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

Some entertaining things from the world of news today:

Rhode Island wants statewide Wi-Fi
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (Reuters) -- America's smallest state is seeking to become its first to offer a wireless broadband network from border to border.

Retired teacher fights huge cable porn tab
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) - A 62-year-old retired schoolteacher is fighting with a cable company over a hefty bill for porn and gangsta rap programming she says she never ordered.

In a Tiny Queens Apartment, 70 Cats Gone, and 28 to Go
Thirty cats in a cramped apartment in Queens may seem like a lot, but five years ago, Melanie Neer and her mother Barbaralee had 100 in there.

Mirabelli to catch Wakefield tonight vs. Yankees
The Boston Red Sox reacquired catcher Doug Mirabelli from the San Diego Padres in exchange for catcher Josh Bard, minor-league pitcher Cla Meredith. The Padres also received $100,000 in the deal, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney is reporting.

And of course, the headline you thought you would never see unless it was a sign of the apocalypse:

Anna Nicole Smith Wins Supreme Court Case
The former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith was given a new chance by the Supreme Court today to try to get part of the vast fortune of her late husband, a Texas oil tycoon who was six decades her senior.

5th Annual Crawl for a Cure

2006-04-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

This great event is happening this Saturday, April 29th, in Fremont. Here are some of the details:

Join us in the fight against cystic fibrosis as we crawl for a cure on Saturday, April 29, 2006 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood!

Support important CF research while traveling from pub to pub enjoying your favorite ales! Bring your friends and have a great time! All participants will receive a 7 oz beer at each of the 6 participating bars, a very stylish Crawl T-shirt, a 16 oz bottle of Vitaminwater Revive, and a free concert for all participants with Amanda Lammert and The Filthy None at Nectar Lounge on the last stop of the crawl!

Participating bars include: Nickerson St. Saloon, Brouwer's, Red Door, Triangle Lounge, Norm's Eatery & Ale House, Dad Watson's and our "7th" bar Nectar! A Tully's coffee cart will also be serving complimentary espresso beverages to all participants.

For more information about the event and to register online visit the Crawl for a Cure web site.

dining out for life

2006-04-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder to all of you that tonight, 4/27, is Dining Out for Life. When you eat at one of the more than 150 participating restaurants, a portion of your bill will go directly to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance. For a list of participating restaurants go to the Dining Out for Life web site.

the joy of food

2006-04-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

What is it about food? The smells, the tastes, the sounds, how it looks, and how it feels. I'm not just talking about eating, but also the immense joy you get when you turn a bunch of stuff into something delicious. Part of it must have to do with all the senses that are involved which helps you remember and enjoy your food experiences.

Food has been a big part of my life for a long time. Without realizing it, I had been involved in helping put together meals since I was a kid. At first it was just doing the simple things like washing and making the rice. Learning what the correct ratio of water to rice was and then forgetting all about once I heard about the finger test, or a similar method referred to by some as the Mt. Fuji test.

Next, it was helping out with the making of dumplings (known as jiaozi in chinese) on Sunday nights. Making dumplings was a family affair where everyone gathered in the kitchen, each assigned a job. From making the dough to rolling it into little balls and flattening them into little discs (making sure the edges were thinner than the middle) to stuffing and folding them into beautiful little packages. Once everything was done we were greeted with steaming plates of dumplings that made you feel all warm inside when you ate them. This wasn't just about getting dinner on the table, but a chance to sit together and talk before the beginning of another hectic week.

Like many people my age, I was a latch key kid. Both my parents worked and often it was us kids who were left to get dinner started before they got home. On easy nights that just involved heating up some leftovers and making some rice. But most often we would be tasked with peeling vegetables, taking some meat out of the freezer, maybe soaking some bean threads in hot water, nothing very complicated. Once my parents got home all the prep work we did would be quickly turned into a tasty dinner with a couple of dishes served family style.

Little did I know I was learning about the importance of organization and prepping your food ahead of time. Something that is known in the world of cooking as a mise en place. A fancy french term for a pretty simple idea. Obviously I've been talking about chinese cooking and for those who are familiar with that style of cooking know the importance of your mise en place. I can remember back to my childhood when we would have dinner parties at our house. The morning would be spent chopping vegetables, slicing meat (if it's still slightly frozen it's easier to get thin slices), scrambling eggs, cooking noodles, making rice, etc. By the time the guest would arrive the kitchen was filled with little bowls of perfectly cut carrots, celery, etc. and the refrigerator would be packed with bowls of marinating sliced beef, chicken, and pork. When everyone showed up my parents would put on a show with how quickly everything in those little dishes would come together to create a dazzling and colorful meal with so many different choices to taste.

It wasn't until my junior year in college that I realized how much I enjoyed food. By that time I had moved out of the dorms and was forced to cook or starve. I started out with simple things, like pasta, the college student's mainstay. Slowly I began to play around with my food some more while trying to stay within a poor student's budget. Simple things like stir-frying some chicken and then mixing it with some of the prepackaged seasoned rice my roomates and I tended to buy, more for the value than the taste.

Over the next couple of years I began to do more and started to avoid prepackaged processed food. I began pan roasting chicken breasts with little wedges of potatoes, asking my parents how to make some of my favorite dishes growing up, making giant pans of lasagna, discovering how simple chili really was, and playing around with making sauces. Many times friends would stop by while I was in the middle of a meal and stare at my plate incredulously. "Dude, what the f**k is that?" "It's a beef and vegetable stir-fry with a sauce that's kind of like a sweet and sour barbecue sauce." "I don't know, that's kind of scary looking. The sauce isn't even fluorescent pink like most sweet and sour sauces." This would then be followed by them picking a piece of food off my plate. "Dude, that's good. Mind if I have some more?"

I think my real food revelation didn't happen until I moved to Seattle. One of the memories I have from when I first came out here was me sitting at my little kitchen table on a winter evening slicing meat and chopping vegetables after having just come home from my temp job. In the dark living room Monday Night Football played on the television as I prepped my dinner. I remember feeling a little sad that I was cooking alone but at the same time I was comforted by doing something familiar and that reminded me of my family and friends on the other side of the country.

Over the past seven and a half years here I've experienced so much food, as my belly can attest to. I've discovered the gorgeousness of a simply prepared roast chicken with schmaltzy potatoes. The wonderful energy of going to the farmers markets in the city and seeing what was now in season. The pleasures of a fresh grilled fish sandwich at the Pike Place Market or how good a roast beef sandwich on a baguette with a raspberry croissant from Le Panier tastes. I've eaten Sengalese food, something I never would have even thought about growing up. The inviting warmth of Cafe Campagne on a cold evening. A paper cone of hot frites after a show. Eating a plate of chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes at a dive bar at 2am.

I'm sure you're wondering why I'm writing all of this. A couple of months ago the stress of work was starting to take it's toll on me and I was just feeling down. One Saturday afternoon I decided I wanted to make some pasta because I hadn't done that in a while. While working with the dough I began to remember the pleasure I got from cooking. The smell of the flour, the effort you have to put in while kneading the dough, and the feeling of the dough when it starts to come together. Eschewing the pasta cutting attachments on my pasta machine I decided to handcut it, after it had been rolled it, to make pappardelle. There was just something about meticulously cutting the dough into wide ribbons that brought me joy. Of course the chinese look at noodles as symbols of life, long noodles symbolizing long life, which is why you have to eat them on your birthday. How appropriate that these noodles had brought me an escape from what had been getting me down.

The next day I decided that I needed a sauce to go with these noodles, sauce in a jar just wouldn't do. So I set out to make a batch of bolognese, based on the bolognese they make at Babbo. I spent the afternoon making my mise en place with finely diced carrots, celery, onion, etc. There was something extremely meditative about cutting up those vegetables into tiny little cubes. After sauteeing the vegetables and throwing in the bacon and other meat I added the wet ingredients and let it simmer for a couple of hours. When it was ready I quickly cooked the pappardelle in some boiling water, ladled some sauce into a pan, and finished the pasta in the hot sauce. This was much better than any therapy I could have received.

So what was so special about that meal? It wasn't like I hadn't been cooking, but I was just cooking the same stuff all the time. I love my roast chicken, but it isn't the most challenging thing in the world to make. The same goes for a lot of the other stuff I was making, I was just on autopilot and not really taking the time to enjoy the experience of cooking. It's hard to do so when you're coming home from work and with just making something simple you won't be eating until 8 or 9 at night. But since then I've tried to do more, mostly on the weekend. Making a light spring salad with shaved fennel, blanched french beans, and tomatoes with a lemon vinaigrette; poached garlic soup; fingerling potatoes boiled and then browned in butter; and hopefully there will be much more. I even took a road trip out to Walla Walla to spend a couple of days away from work just eating great food and drinking amazing wine.

I've decided that no matter how crazy and hectic and stressful things get, I'll take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures of food. Immersing myself in all the great aromas and tastes, as well as the beauty of things like a perfectly roast chicken coming out of the oven. The feeling of flour between your fingers as you start combining the ingredients for some dough and the sound you get when you place a piece of meat into a hot pan or onto a hot grill. Food can really make everything better.

i ain't no fit asian

2006-04-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Oakley makes "asian fit" sunglasses? I was looking around on their site earlier today to see if I could find a suitable replacement for the sunglasses I had recently lost due to theft. While I was checking out all the different styles I noticed one that said "available in asian fit." Curious, I clicked the link to see what that was all about. Here is the opening sentence I saw for the description: "Designed to compliment Asian facial anatomy in both fit and comfort." At first I didn't know what to make of it. But then I remembered back to something Margaret Cho had written in her blog some time back about how difficult it was for her to find glasses that actually fit her face and how nobody made glasses that fit asian faces. When I shared the link to a friend, she told me how her fiance hates how he can never find sunglasses.

So I guess Oakley has found a way to address an overlook niche. You can't really argue against it since it helps out a large group of people and I'm sure it isn't hurting their bottom line.

Update: Here is a link to a listing of their asian fit sunglasses

and it continues...

2006-04-19T23:09:00.000-07:00

So, I told them to replace my battery since it wouldn't cost much more than if I bought a new battery and did the work myself. But instead, they totally flaked on that probably because all they heard was don't do the $800+ service. Sweet...

no luck so far...

2006-04-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

So, my hope that they wouldn't find anything wrong with my car was dashed. My battery failed their tests so I have to get that replaced. Not too big of a surprise since I've had that battery for a while now and the last time I was in they said it looked like it was starting to lose it's charge. Then they recommended I get the timing belt replaced, which for those of you who know, is pretty darn expensive. Well, I think I'll put off that service for now because the recommended interval is 90k miles or 6 years and I last replaced it at 55k, 7 years ago.

planes, trains, and automobiles...well, automobiles at least

2006-04-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

Traffic yesterday (and today) was pretty insane. The president of China was in town and that just led to the perfect storm or weird traffic. I've been driving from where I work to where I live for about 5 years now so I've seen all the traffic patterns, or so I thought. Usually when there is a backup on the highway across the water I'll take a shortcut through the side roads to get closer to the bridge.

As I write this I'm going to say things like the highway was all black, which means the road was totally stop and go. This is based on the traffic maps we all study very intently when deciding how to get home. Green means wide open, yellow some slow going, red heavy volume, and black you better not have had too much water before you left the office.

So, when I left the main highway was black all the way to the point where it makes more sense to go the shortcut. Little did I know, things weren't going to go like they usually do. I first noticed some weird traffic when I was headed down one of the main side streets and noticed that cars were lined up and not moving going in the opposite direction. There usually isn't much volume headed that way at that time, so I thought maybe I'd get lucky and nobody would be taking the same route as me. Everything was going fine until I approached the intersection to the second major side street that I take to get onto the highway. From about a block or so away I could see that cars weren't moving and backed up all the way to the intersection I was headed towards. In all my years of doing this commute I had never seen this happen and thought it was just an anomaly and would begin moving soon.

Well, after I got onto that street I found out how wrong I was. At this point there was no alternative for me so I was resigned to just sit there and inch forward. At one point I lamented that I didn't take the turn to go the super secret squirrel way when you have 2 people in your car, only to realize that I hadn't even reached it yet. This was about 30 minutes after I had turned onto this street and I hadn't reached the light that usually only takes a minute or two. As we all inched closer I decided to check how things were going on the highway, expecting it to be much worse than when I left. Using the real time traffic map on my phone I discovered to my surprise, and horror, it was now all green. In the 45 minutes since I had left my office it had gone from all black to all green, it didn't make any sense. How could it have emptied out that quickly? Not believing what I was seeing I checked out the traffic cameras and saw that it, indeed, was wide open with only a few cars. I began getting really frustrated know that if I had just gone on the highway to begin with I probably would have been home by now.

About an hour after I left I was finally getting on the highway. Expecting it to be wide open I was pretty surprised to see that it was now all black again. In the span of 15 minutes it had gone from wide open to stop and go again. So during this trek it had gone from all black to all green back to all black, all in the span of an hour. This was insane! It was kind of like the 15 minutes of wide open highway was the eye of a hurricane. After a commute of about an hour and 20 minutes I finally made it home, cursing the commute that I have slowly begun to hate more and more every day.

Once home, I had to turn around rather quickly so we could get to the baseball game. When we got downtown, 5th was a mess because the president of China was staying at the Olympic between 4th and 5th on University so a bunch of streets were closed. With no other option we stayed on 5th and tried to navigate our way through confused drivers. At one point, a pedestrian decided was a good idea to run across the street against the light. I narrowly avoided him by slamming on the brakes, but a small part of me thought it would have been a little cathartic to have nicked him just a little bit. That was just the frustration that had built up sitting in traffic for so long and the anger at how stupid some people are. Anyway, we finally got to the game, grabbed some hot dogs, and got into our seats in the bottom of the first so we hadn't missed too much.

So you would think that was the end of my car saga, but it isn't. This morning when I got out to my car I doesn't some things just didn't look right inside. Once I got in I realized things were definitely out of place. The glove compartment was open, the trash tray was too and some things were strewn about. It looks like someone broke into my car in the night, but luckily all the made off with was my sunglasses. All things considered, that isn't too bad but I sure will miss those glasses. Whoever it was totally missed the windbreaker in the back seat, the change tray next to the steering wheel, and didn't look in the trunk (probably due to the fact that the sticker for the trunk lever fell off a few weeks back). As I was making my way downtown to drop my car off for some scheduled service I noticed that it smelled a little like b.o. inside. A nice little present left for me from the scoundrel who absconded with my sunglasses.

Well, I got to stew about this personal violation for a while because traffic was again a mess downtown thanks to the chinese presidente. It took me about a half hour to go the 8 or so blocks to the mechanic. That just capped off a great couple of days. Let's just hope they don't find anything wrong with my car.

Maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket tonight because my luck has to change...right?

random thought

2006-04-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

For some reason, the building I work in has smelled like a mall this past week. It's kind of weird.

i know i know...

2006-04-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I know I over simplified the immigration issue in my last post. The issue is definitely more complicated than I initially portrayed it, and I know that now and I knew it then. The underlying issue of how do we deal with folks who get into this country illegally is one that has me torn. Of course, illegal is illegal but it isn't as cut and dry as that. On the one hand, you've got to think about the folks who are sneaking in here to find work to help support their families back home. On the other, you have to think about the people who come in legally by following all the appropriate processes to do the same thing. What is the underlying issue for why these folks need to sneak into the country? Are our immigration policies so out of whack they don't address the needs of our economy?

Like I said, I oversimplified before and I still am now. There are so many different facets of this issue that are really hard to wrap your head around and come up with a clear solution. My last post really talked about the racial issue, which I hate to play the race card. But it seems like race has been a major talking point of this whole thing. A lot of focus has been placed on those individuals who are coming in from the country south of us. What about the people sneaking in from Canada? What about the human smuggling rings that are sneaking people from Asia? How do these proposed bills and laws affect them? The part of the proposed immigration reform that is absolutely ridiculous is anyone in the country is automatically a felon and anyone who provides them assistance of any kind is also considered a felon. Nice.

Anyway, I should just get back to talking about music and food, those subjects are so much easier. But, my last thought on this topic. Don't demonize everyone who has come into this country through other than regular channels. There are a lot of honest, hard working men and women who are providing a valuable service to our economy. If we could find some way to get them out of hiding who they are we could do things like providing them with valuable services like unionization, legal protections from employers who don't pay them for their work, making sure their working conditions are adequate, etc. Things that we take for granted. At the same time we need to revisit our immigration policies so that people don't see that they have to enter the country illegally.

Just my two cents on the issue. Feel free to disagree or add additional views on this topic, I'd love to hear what you have to say.

first day back plus other stuff...

2006-04-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

I hate the first day back at work after taking some time off. Nothing like digging through all the crap that piled up while you were gone. You also have to dig the subtle jabs at you when you get back for waiting so long to do something. I was taking my first vacation in a very long time. Nothing like that to raise my ire.

So, I'm not sure if people have been following this immigration thing going on but I don't know how you couldn't. One thing I don't understand is why other minorities that have been oppressed in the history of this country aren't rallying with the hispanic community. This isn't the first time the land of the free has attempted to keep people from coming here. I know it was a long time ago but let's not forget the Chinese Exclusion Act from 1882. It kept Chinese people without family already in the US from entering the country and Chinese Americans weren't allowed to even apply for naturalization. The Exclusion Act wasn't repealed until 1943 only because China was an ally in WWII. In 1952 first-generation Chinese Americans were allowed to apply for citizenship and all the restrictions weren't removed until 1964 with the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Only 42 years ago were there restrictions on Chinese Americans from becoming full fledged American citizens, so why won't more Chinese Americans stand up for another ethnic group that is about to be subjected to similar restrictions? Are we afraid of rocking the boat? I sure hope not, because all the reasons they are saying now sound an awful lot like what they were saying back then. So it's about time we do something before this country ends up making the same mistakes again.

Butter Poached Halibut

2006-04-09T00:44:00.000-07:00

I just recently got back to Seattle from a trip to Walla Walla for a little eating and drinking excursion. There were a lot of little disappointments on the trip. The first being my ticket for going 80 in a 70. Now that was not a good way to start my vacation. The next was when I checked into my hotel and realized luxury hotels in Walla Walla were only slightly better than a Days Inn or Holiday Inn in other places. The final disappointment was the camera bag I ended up buying that wasn't the one I really wanted but bought anyway because I thought I would need it...then ending up not using it.

That was really it though, the rest of the trip was full of pleasant surprises. There's nothing like walking into a tasting room and being the only one there. It's nice, but also a little stressful since you don't want to sound like an idiot and you try to make some small talk while not gulping down the wine. Everyone was nice, though, and Dunham gave me some pretty generous pours. The biggest surprise of the whole trip was my dinner on my first, and only night, there.

I had made a reservation for myself at 26brix the day before I drove out. When I arrived at the time of my reservation, the hostess said, "For 1?" and I couldn't tell if she gave me a look of pity or something else, like "Kudos for you, I could never got to a fancy restaurant to eat by myself." I wasn't really surprised when I was seated at a little table in the corner, I actually liked it because it gave me a good view of everything that was going on.

What I was surprised about was the service. Dining alone, I kind of expected to get just the bare minimum of service since my check would definitely pale in comparison to the tables of two+ people, which would result in a smaller tip. But what I ended getting was extremely attentive service from 5 people. Yeah, I said 5. There were the two folks who filled up your water and cleared your used dishes. Then there was my server who had to visit me because the worst thing that could happen to a restaurant is having someone starve to death in there. The captain also visited me on multiple occasions to make sure I had ordered, check in on how things were, presenting me with the dessert menu, etc. Additionally the sommelier came by to help me pair wines with my courses and even poured it for me for each course. He actually came by at the end and almost poured me an extra glass by accident before I stopped him.

I really appreciated how they gave me the same level of service as everyone else, of course they probably knew that I was going to eat and drink more than my share. I probably ordered more stuff than the guy there with his college-aged son, I have a sneaking suspicion I tipped more too. But now on to the important stuff, what I ate:

First Course
Vegetable Bisque with Black Truffle Coulis
Wine: Woodward Canyon Riesling

Main Course
Butter Poached Alaskan Halibut: saffron and halibut fumet, "Parisenned" potatoes with shaved artichoke hearts, braised fennel and pea sprout salad
Wine: Chinon

Dessert
Coconut Tapioca Soup
Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea

At the end of the night I went out of my way to thank the sommelier for the great pairings and my server for the dessert recommendation after my first choice (the brioche bread pudding) was no longer available. Eating alone is always a little awkward, but they did their best to treat me like everyone else and because of that I left a little something extra for them to show my appreciation.

If you're ever in Walla Walla make sure you don't miss 26brix: http://www.twentysixbrix.com/

What Celebrity Do You Look Like?

2006-04-09T00:24:00.000-07:00

Interesting site I just found. On http://www.myheritage.com you can run a face recognition tool to see what celebrity you look like. While trying to do this I realized I have no photos of myself, which is kind of weird. When I ran a picture of Bill Gates, it said he looked like...Bill Gates. But only 70% like himself.

Archive is working again...

2006-04-09T00:10:00.000-07:00

It's been like two years since my archiving was working and I've finally gotten around to fixing it. Maybe this will motivate me to blog once again. Or, at the very least to post my playlist from my shows.

Closing Ceremonies and thanks

2005-07-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

I didn't have much time to write a whole lot yesterday. It was a super hard day, much harder than any other Day 3 I've ever experienced. It was a shame too, because it would have been nice to be able to take our time to enjoy the people and scenery around us. But that didn't take away from the amazing experience of the three days. Yesterday saw my first cheerers in the three years I've done the 3-Day and I was excited to see them. Candice, Tricia, Katie, Kate, and Candice and Tricia's Mom were out at the first cheering station. They had LIANG spelled out on individual pieces of posterboard and each had t-shirts that read Team Liang on them, even Candice's little daughter Kate. Not too far past them was Kristen. She, of course, made an awesome sign that said Go Larry! Three years of three day! It was very sweet and she also met me at Cheering Station 2 at Sunset Hill Park.

From camp to the first stop I walked with this nice woman how was kind of hurting with a giant blister that took over the bottom of her foot. In addition to that she was having knee problems so she was going a little slow with a lot of people passing her. I wanted to make sure she got to Pit 1 okay and with some company. The first few miles can be the hardest because you're stiff and tired and you have so many miles in front of you. We had some great conversations and made it into the first stop without a problem. The rest of the day saw me hurrying to make up time and try to get in and out of pit stops before they closed. There was no way I was being swept. I had never been swept before and there was no way I would be on the third day. I really felt for some of the other walkers. I'm not the fastest but I can move when I need to and I was relatively injury free. I had caught up and passed a lot of walkers that had left camp way before I did and I still just made it. The spirit and resilience of those walkers was amazing though. I heard so many people say, "There is no way they're getting me on that bus. I've walked all the miles this weekend and I'm going to walk all of them today."

I wasn't feeling so great when I got to the holding area and closing ceremonies. I was feeling a little nauseas which isn't a good sign. It's usually a symptom of something more serious like dehydration, hyponutremia, or heat stroke. I made sure to keep drinking liquids (water and sports drink) and to eat because I was hungry too. That's what I get for deciding to skip food and refilling my water bottles at the Gas Works stop because I just didn't have time. The closing ceremonies were amazing as usual. I ran into some walkers that I had walked with in San Diego so we caught up and they introduced me to the survivors they were walking for. We then walked into the ceremonies, cheered on our fellow walkers, crew, and survivors. It was emotional for everyone.

My friends Missy and Jessie picked me up to give me a ride home since Kristen had rehearsal. When I got home I just crashed on my couch, called for some delivery Chinese food, and then fell asleep.

Thanks to all of you who have supported me in this walk. From the people that came out to cheer to those who send messages throughout the weekend to all of you who gave. I'm very grateful to have you with me in supporting this great cause. As the people involved in the 3-Day say, we walk because we believe and we're one step closer to a world without breast cancer.

Day 3 holding area

2005-07-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

Today was harder than any other day 3. Lots of miles with less. I made it but i had to hustle.

Day 3

2005-07-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Another cold morning. Left knee and hip are pretty sore. Walking through ballard, fremont, and u district. Breakfast time.

Day 2 camp

2005-07-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

We are camping at Shoreline community center and it is not great. Half the tents are on grass half on astroturf. My tent is on the astroturf. The worst part is that it is so far from the rest of camp. Plus i had to go back to get a tent. Not all the pieces were in the tent bag. The day was good but really long. My hips are pretty sore and i got a blister. Time for dinner, a shower, then bed.

Day 2 lunch

2005-07-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

Funny how the lunches are the same every year. Sunny and warm today. They even have pb&j at the pitstops.

Day 2

2005-07-23T05:12:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 430 this morning and trying to decide what to do. It got pretty cold overnight. I don't feel too bad. A little sore but ok. Today is supposed to be our longest day and the hilliest. Not too excited about that last part. I'd better get my gear together and have some breakfast.

Picture of camp

2005-07-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

The punchline of a joke

2005-07-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

So i ended up not having one, but two tentmates. If 2 men can't fit in a tent i don't see how 3 would. Luckily meg switched me to my own tent. I've finished dinner and a shower is next. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.

In camp

2005-07-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

Made it to camp. Hopefully i can find an empty tent because two men can't fit in one.

Lunch

2005-07-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Made it to lunch and my shoes are soaked. It's clear now.

Day 1: opening ceremonies

2005-07-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

30 min from exit to park. Now it's raining. Opening ceremonies delayed because of traffic delays.

Thank you for all your support

2005-07-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

It's Thursday night, just 8 hours until I head over to Lake Sammamish State
Park to start my third Breast Cancer 3-Day. I'm excited and nervous and I
keep feeling like I've forgotten something. My pack is, well, packed and
there's nothing left to do other than grab some sleep. It'll be nice to walk
in Seattle this year, but I will definitely miss San Diego. If you're in the
Seattle area and feel like coming out and cheering on some walkers here's a
list of cheering stations:
http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/ccp.asp?ievent=61814&ccp=45390

I don't know the exact route yet because they don't tell us the route for
each day until that morning. During the walk I'll be posting little updates
to my blog throughout the three days. Don't worry, I won't be blogging while
I walk just while I'm waiting in line for port-a-potties. You can check out
the blog here: http://www.butterheadproductions.com

Since you have been so critical in supporting me in this endeavor I figured
it'd only be right if you were the first ones to hear about a great event
that'll be coming up soon. I'm putting together a benefit concert for the
3-Day in late August. We have 5 artists signed up already and we're working
on a sixth. I'll make sure to keep you posted on all the details.

Well, I best be going to sleep now. Thanks again and I'll be thinking of you
all while I walk.

Take care,
Larry

Blogging from the 3-Day

2005-07-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

It's the day before the 3-Day and i'm setting up blogging from my phone. So tune as i blog from the 3-Day.

It's Been Too Long

2005-05-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

So, it's been forever since I posted last. I'll be updating this blog with all the shows since my last post and make sure to be better about posting my shows.

9/28 Show: More Walking, Less Talking!

2004-10-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Two days until I leave for sunny San Diego to walk 60 miles. If you haven't given yet, you still have time to do so by visiting my donation page. Remember, every little bit helps. According to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, over 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.

So, as I'm sure you all have noticed from the music I play that I'm a big supporter of local and independent music. With the consolidation of record labels and radio stations, we all need to do our part in making sure independent music is getting heard and not just what the big corporations want us to hear. One great way to do that is to support listener powered KEXP. KEXP is a public radio station that offers a mix of music that can't be heard anywhere else, entertaining listeners in Seattle at 90.3, in the South Sound at 91.7, and streaming live around the world at KEXP.org. After you hear some great artists on KEXP and you want to go out and buy their album, why not go to an independent record store while you're at it. Sonic Boom Records can be found in Fremont, Ballard, and Capitol Hill, with their new Vinyl Shop open underneath the Fremont location.

Because I'm going to be gone this will probably be my last show for a couple weeks, so I made it over four hours of yummy goodness. Enjoy!

Carbo-loadingly,
Larry
The Nut Bar

Show this Week
9/28
Norah Jones & The Handsome Band - Key Arena
Graham Travis, Levi Fuller - Green Room
Dolour, The Pale, The Senate Arcade, Little Hand of the City - Graceland
9/29
Snow Patrol, Eisley - Showbox
Jen Wood, Andrew Norseworthy, Matt Hopper, Kate Earl - Sunset Tavern
10/1
Three Imaginary Girls present Trash Can Sinatras, Roddy Hart - Crocodile
10/2
Visqueen (CD Release), The Girls, Smoosh - Crocodile (5:30pm)
Visqueen (CD Release), The Muffs, Johnny Polanski - Crocodile (Late)
Â
The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
The Black Keys - 10 A.M. Automatic
Visqueen - Manhattan { CD Release Party 10/2 @ the Crocodile }
The Get Up Kids - I'm a Loner Dottie, a Rebel
The Minus 5 - Where the Wires Meet the Sky
A.C. Newman - The Battle for Straight Time
Broken Social Scene - Stars and Sons
The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love
Death Cab for Cutie - Why You'd Want to Live Here
Elbow - Not a Job
The Finn Brothers - Anything Can Happen
Joseph Arthur - Honey and the Moon
Scissor Sisters - Filthy Gorgeous { by request }
United State of Electronica - Emerald City
Ozomatli - Ya Viene el Sol (The Beatle Bob Remix)
Basement Jaxx - Hot 'N Cold
Groove Armada - Groove is On
Supreme Beings of Leisure - Last Girl on Earth
Jem - Come on Closer
Keane - Everybody's Changing
Snow Patrol - Wow
Sparklehorse - King of Nails
The Killers - Change Your Mind
Longwave - Meet Me at the Bottom
Luna - Swedish Fish
Rilo Kiley - It's a Hit
Belle & Sebastian - String Bean Jean
Ambulance LTD - Anecdote
The Long Winters - Scent of Lime
Nada Surf - Fruit Fly
Tom Waits - Day After Tomorrow
Rosie Thomas - Sell All My Things
Zero 7 - In the Waiting Line
Elvis Costello - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?
Rocky Votolato - Suicide Medicine
Jay Farrar - California
Elliot Smith - Tomorrow Tomorrow
Iron & Wine - Naked as We Came
Sufjan Stevens - In the Devil's Territory
Pedro the Lion - The Fleecing
Radio Nationals - Golden
Drive-By Truckers - The Day John Henry Died (House of Fame Music)
Uncle Tupelo - Warfare
Old 97's - Blinding Sheets of Rain
Grant Lee Phillips - Lily-A-Passion
The Jayhawks - One Man's Problem
The Mountain Goats - The Young Thousands
The Polyphonic Spree - Section 16: One Man Show
The Shins - Young Pilgrim
The Thrills - Big Sur
Sun Kil Moon - Carry Me Ohio
The Decemberists - Song for Myla Goldberg
Tanya Donelly - Butterfly Thing
Rachael Yamagata - 1963
The Eels - Somebody Loves You { by request }
The Pixies - Where is My Mind? { by request }
The Clash - Revolution Rock
The Ramones - Oh, Oh, I Love Her So
Budapest - Wake Up Call
Guster - Ramona
Magnetic Fields - I Looked All Over Town
Mark Lanegan Band - Hit the City
Shawn Smith - Sing that Song for Beauty
Jon Langford and Sally Timms - Broken Bottle

9/21 Show: Getting Closer

2004-09-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my big walk is only 10 days away and I still have a ways to go
on my fundraising. If you haven't already please take a look at my
donation page. Remember, any little bit helps.

If you haven't registered to vote yet, I don't know what you're waiting
for.

Sleepily,
Larry
The Nut Bar

Shows This Week
9/21
Mike Watt, Leuko, Dalmations - Crocodile
Smoosh - Ballard Sonic Boom in-store
Dzihan & Kamien, Darek Mazzone - Chop Suey
9/23
Scissor Sisters - Showbox
"Cure Cover Night" - Crocodile
9/24
John Vanderslice, Matthew Caws & John Roderick, Robbers on High Street,
Will Johnson, The Zutons - Crocodile
9/25
Rilo Kiley, Tilly & The Wall, Now It's Overhead - Neumo's
Mudhoney, The Avengers, Kinski, Pansy Division, David Cross - Showbox
John Doe, Grant Lee Phillips, Alan Sparhawk, Mark Pickerel - Sunset
Tavern
Vendetta Red, The Divorce, Blue Sky Mile - Graceland
9/26
Siouxie & Yhe Banshees, Siouxsie & The Creatures - Showbox
Cracker, Radio Nationals - Tractor
Jon Brion, Jon Auer - Sunset Tavern
9/27
Joseph Arthur, Amy Correia - Crocodile

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Keane - This is the Last Time
Belle & Sebastian - Wrapped Up in Books
Athlete - El Salvador
Elefant - Misfit
Stellastarr* - My Coco
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
McLusky - That Man Will Not Hang
Muse - Butterflies and Hurricanes
PJ Harvey - Pocket Knife
The Reindeer Section - I'll Be Here When You Wake
Graham Travis - Tripped You Up
Nada Surf - Treading Water
Longwave - All Sewn Up
The Fire Theft - Backwards Blues
Preston School of Industry - Line it Up
The Von Bondies - C'mon C'mon
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Date with the Night
Pretty Girls Make Graves - This is Our Emergency
Ryan Adams - Burning Photographs
The Dandy Warhols - I Am a Scientist
United State of Electronica - Takin' it All the Way
Sarah Vaughan - Whatever Lola Wants (Gotan Project Remix)
Jem - 24
Notwist - Pick Up the Phone
Stars - Life Effect
Mark Lanegan Band - Methamphetamine Blues
The Helio Sequence - Harmonica Song
Menomena - Oahu
Mojave 3 - Starlight No 1
Rosie Thomas - You and Me
The Mountain Goats - Your Belgian Things
M. Ward - Sad, Sad Song
Pedro the Lion - Arizona
Los Halos - Reasons to Smile
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - We're All in Love
The Stills - Love and Death
The Wrens - Faster Gun
British Sea Power - Remember Me
The Veils - Lavinia
Snow Patrol - Wow
Tahiti 80 - Listen
Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham - Moonshot
Clem Snide - All Green
Tanya Donelly - My Life as a Ghost
Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
Elliot Smith - Pictures of Me
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

9/14: Still Sleep Deprived

2004-09-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'm back from 17 hour work days at Bumbershoot! I have some bad news though. I had to cancel my upcoming benefit show at the Crocodile because too many bands had conflicts with political benefits they were doing this month. I'm trying to put together some other event so watch out for that. Can you believe the summer is almost over?

Register to vote. Really.

Happy Primary Day,
Larry
The Nut Bar

I'm Doing it Again!
Yeah, that's right. I'm walking another 60 miles to show my support for the fight against breast cancer. I will once again be participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in San Diego this October. It's an amazing weekend where thousands of men and women get together for three days and walk 60 miles to display our commitment to continue the fight against breast cancer. We take this time to honor lives lost, celebrate survivors, promote breast cancer research, and help bring breast cancer care to those who so desperately need it. You can read a little bit about my experience last year, it's a big reason why I'm doing it again. You can also watch the 3-Day video to help you get a little taste of why we do it. If you would like to support me in this effort please visit my donation page. Net proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust, funding important breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment. Don't worry, your donations won't go towards paying for my flight or lodging, I pay for all that myself. Â

Shows This Week
9/15
Six Parts Seven, 'S' (Jenn from Carissa's Weird), Dave Bazan (Pedro the Lion) - Crocodile
People Under the Stairs, Giant Panda, Iguales, Massive Monkees - Chop Suey
9/16
Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, Rocky Votolato - Crocodile
9/17
Mountain Con, Heather Duby, Kuma - Neumo's
The Dudley Manlove Quartet - Sunset Tavern
9/18
Farm Aid with Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews - White River Amphitheatre
9/19
M83, Ulrich Schnauss - Neumo's
The Beastie Boys, Talib Kweli - Key Arena

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Visqueen - Blue { CD Release on 9/21, CD Release Party 10/2 }
The Long Winters - New Girl
The Format - Wait, Wait, Wait
The Pale - Big Dumb Smile
The Get Up Kids - Action and Action
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
Frou Frou - Let Go
Stereolab - Margerine Melodie
Ambulance LTD - Heavy Lifting
Snow Patrol - Run
The Helio Sequence - Don't Look Away
Athlete - Shake Those Windows
Rilo Kiley - Love and War (11/11/46) { by request, 9/25 Neumo's }
The Veils - The Tide That Left and Never Came Back
The Killers - Andy, You're a Star
The Drive-By Truckers - Tornadoes
Gomez - Sweet Virginia
Uncle Tupelo - So Called Friend
The Radio Nationals - Ghosts in the Room
Bobby Bare, Jr. - Don't Follow Me (I'm Lost)
Built to Spill - Else
Modest Mouse - The World at Large
Nada Surf - Happy Kid { by request }
Arlo - Too Sick to Tango
Death Cab for Cutie - The Sound of Settling
The Eels - Saturday Morning
Elbow - Fallen Angel
Guster - Diane
Concretes - New Friend
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Elliot Smith - I Better Be Quiet Now
Damien Jurado - Omaha
Evan Dando - My Idea
Rosie Thomas - I Play Music
Sondre Lerche - Track You Down { by request }
Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter
Cat Power - Free { by request }
Crooked Fingers - Sweet Marie
The Shins - Caring is Creepy { by request }
The New Pornographers - Testament to Youth in Verse
The Sleepy Jackson - Rain Falls for Wind
The Streets - Dry Your Eyes
Lyrics Born - Before and After
Michael Franti and Spearhead - Bomb the World (Armageddon Version)
Bob Marley - So Much Trouble in the World
Jimmy Cliff - Many Rivers to Cross
Reggie Watts - Your Name
Tanya Donelly - Whiskey Tango
The Decemberists - Los Angeles, I'm Yours
The Polyphonic Spree - Section 12: Hold Me Now
Aqualung - You Turn Me Around
Shawn Smith - Leaving California
Rachael Yamagata - 1963
Scissor Sisters - Music is the Victim
British Sea Power - Remember Me
The Catheters - Between the Creases
50 Foot Wave - Lavender
Mission of Burma - Max Ernst's Dream
Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
Franz Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinee
South - Mend These Trends
Keane - Bend and Break

8/23 Show: I'll Rummage You!

2004-09-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lateness of this week's show. But not only is it late but
it is the last one for a couple weeks while I go off to work at
Bumbershoot. It's my 5 year anniversary there! If you plan on being at
the festival come say hi, I'll be somewhere between the Fun Forest and
the Pacific Science Center with a walkie talkie pressed to my ear.
Hopefully this show will keep you company while I'm away. I'm going to
try to put up a page with links to all my old shows before I go. Let's
hope I can get out of here in one piece.

Register to vote. Really.

Happy Three Days Until I Get to Take Time Off,
Larry
The Nut Bar

Save the Date!
As you all know I'm participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in a month
and a half. To help me raise money I will be putting on a benefit show
at the Crocodile in Seattle on September 22nd. The bands playing are yet
to be announced and there will also be a silent auction. Expect to see
more updates in coming weeks.

The Breast Cancer 3-Day is an amazing event and you can read a little
bit about my experience last year, it's a big reason why I'm doing it
again. You can also watch the 3-Day video to help you get a little taste
of why we do it. If you would like to support me in this effort please
visit my donation page. Net proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast
Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust, funding
important breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment.
Don't worry, your donations won't go towards paying for my flight or
lodging, I pay for all that myself.

Shows This Week and Next
8/25
Tommy Stinson, Alien Crime Syndicate, The Charming Snakes - Chop Suey
Concrete Blonde, Kuma - Showbox
8/26
Amy Blaschke - Seattle Art Museum (5:30pm)
Man of the Year, Young & Sexy, Robb Benson & The Tree Mind - Crocodile
8/27
The Cops, The Gris Gris, Invisible Eyes - Sunset Tavern
8/28
No Vote Left Behind Benefit with Alta May, Mea Culpa, Kingsley - Comet
8/30
Prince - Key Arena
8/31
Hypatia Lake, Amor, Joy Wants Eternity - Sunset Tavern
9/2
"Arsonists Are Punks: A Benefit for the Giampinos" with the Long
Winters, Ben Gibbard, The Girls, The Lights, Preston School of Industry,
Damien Jurado, Big Business, XXX Audio, DJ Roy, DJ Cherry Canoe -
Neumo's
9/3, 9/4, 9/5, 9/6
Bumbershoot!
9/7
Keane, French Kicks - Showbox

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Ambulance LTD - Stay Where You Are
Keane - Can't Stop Now
Fountains of Wayne - Everything's Ruined (acoustic version)
Aqualung - Breaking My Heart Again
Travis - As You Are
Britta Phillips; Dean Wareham - Ginger Snaps
Belle and Sebastian - Your Cover's Blown { By Request }
Scissor Sisters - Mary
Shawn Smith - Wrapped in My Memory
Ozomatli - (Who Discovered) America?
Kinky - Sol (Batucada)
Alejandro Escovedo - Crooked Frame
Snow Patrol - Wow
The Veils - More Heat Than Light
Nada Surf - Your Legs Grow
Laura Veirs - Tiger Tattoos
Bobby Bare Jr. - Things I Didn't Say
The Polyphonic Spree - Section 16: One Man Show
Rosie Thomas - October
Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
Rilo Kiley - With Arms Outstretched
Sondre Lerche - Counter Spark
Rachael Yamagata - Be Be Your Love
Postal Service - Clark Gable
Radiohead - Karma Police
South - Colours in Waves
The Helio Sequence - Don't Look Away
Stellastarr* - Jenny
Visqueen - Buried Alive { By Request }
The Killers - Somebody Told Me
The New Pornographers - The Laws Have Changed
Pretty Girls Make Graves - This is Our Emergency
The Pale - Reasons to Try
The Ramones - California Sun
The Pixies - Debaser
PJ Harvey - Shame
The Notwist - One With the Freaks
Idlewild - I Never Wanted
Longwave - Strangest Things
Joseph Arthur - I Would Rather Hide
M. Ward - Outta My Head
Sun Kil Moon - Salvador Sanchez
My Morning Jacket - Mahgeetah
The Minus 5 - Retrieval of You { By Request }
Wilco - Handshake Drugs
REM - Finest Worksong { By Request }
Old 97's - Moonlight
The Drive-By Truckers - Careless
Ryan Adams - Burning Photographs
The Radio Nationals - Golden
Michael Franti and Spearhead - Feelin' Free
Maktub - So Tired
Ugly Duckling - Rio de Janeiro
DJ Shadow - Walkie Talkie
Beastie Boys - So What'cha Want
The Streets - Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
The Roots - You Got Me
Tanya Donelly - The Promise
Rocky Votolato - The City is Calling
Mike Doughty - Move On

8/17 Show: Trampoline an Olympic Sport?

2004-08-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you have been watching the Olympics, but if you
want to watch some entertaining coverage, you should watch on Canadian
television. It's pretty entertaining because you hear things like, "The
Americans go 1, 2 with Australia coming in 3rd. Canadian Roger
Mooseinboots comes in 18th, which is a personal best for him and a
Canadian record!" I'm trying to figure out what sport I could feasibly
make the Olympics in in 8 years, something where age doesn't really
matter or where I haven't passed the peak age for the sport. I'm
thinking air pistol or archery. Somebody said poker might be an Olympic
sport, which is just weird.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Danskin this
weekend! The extra 1/4 mile they tacked onto the swim makes it an even
greater accomplishment.

KEXP would like to send you and a
friend to the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas
September 17-19. You will win roundtrip airfare to Austin, 3 nights
hotel stay and 3 day passes to the festival. This year's lineup includes
The Pixies, Wilco, The Roots, Modest Mouse, Drive-By Truckers, Franz
Ferdinand, Neko Case, Old 97's, Calexico and more. href="http://www.kexp.org/events/giveaways.asp">Enter to win.

A friend of mine found some interesting information saying that people
who are registered to vote are considered "more likely" candidates for
marriage by the opposite gender. More reason to href="http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/register.aspx">register to
vote.

Happy Tuesday,
Larry

I'm Doing it Again!
Yeah, that's right. I'm walking another 60 miles to show my support for
the fight against breast cancer. I will once again be participating in
the Breast Cancer 3-Day in San Diego this October. It's an amazing
weekend where thousands of men and women get together for three days and
walk 60 miles to display our commitment to continue the fight against
breast cancer. We take this time to honor lives lost, celebrate
survivors, promote breast cancer research, and help bring breast cancer
care to those who so desperately need it. You can read a little bit
about my experience last year, it's a big reason why I'm doing it again.
You can also watch the 3-Day video to help you get a little taste of why
we do it. If you would like to support me in this effort please visit my
donation page. Net proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust, funding important
breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment. Don't worry,
your donations won't go towards paying for my flight or lodging, I pay
for all that myself.

Shows This Week
8/19
Tarbox Ramblers, The Jellyrollers - Tractor
The Turn-ons, The Divorce, The Cops, Charmparticles - Neumo's
8/20
Three Imaginary Girls present Kuma, Sushirobo, Infomatick, The Dead
Science - Crocodile
Roseanne Cash - Triple Door
8/21
No Vote Left Behind presents "Clash Cover Night" - Crocodile
"Curiosa Festival" with the Cure, Interpol, The Rapture, and many more -
Gorge Amphitheatre
Rosie Thomas, Tim Seely, Luke Temple - Tractor
8/22
Three Imaginary Girls, No Vote Left Behind, and I Heart Rummage present
"Celebrity Rummage Sale" - Crocodile
Alexi Murdoch - Tractor

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Michael Franti and Spearhead - Everyone Deserves Music
Athlete - One Million
The Helio Sequence - Harmonica Song
The Killers - Change Your Mind
Elefant - Ester
Guster - Amsterdam
The Long Winters - Stupid
Concretes - Lovin Kind
Sufjan Stevens - The Dress Looks Nice on You
Iron & Wine - Love and Some Verses
Camera Obscura - A Sisters Social Agony
Nada Surf - Fruit Fly
Longwave - Pool Song
The Wrens - This Boy is Exhausted
The Drive-By Truckers - Sink Hole
McLusky - She Will Only Bring You Happiness
The Catheters - Between the Creases
Franz Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinee
The Pixies - Where is My Mind?
Preston School of Industry - Caught in the Rain
Radiohead - Idioteque
Sleater-Kinney - Combat Rock
A.C. Newman - The Battle for Straight Time
BRMC - Stop
The Walkmen - The North Pole
Broken Social Scene - Stars and Sons
Elbow - Fallen Angel
Gomez - Catch Me Up
The Thrills - Deckchairs and Cigarettes
The Polyphonic Spree - Section 12: Hold Me Now
The Reindeer Section - You Are My Joy
Aqualung - Brighter Than Sunshine
Jeff Buckley - Eternal Life
Brandi Carlile - Eye of a Needle
Ambulance LTD - Anecdote
Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama
Elton John - Tiny Dancer
My Morning Jacket - Golden
Keane - Everybody's Changing
Coldplay - Clocks
The Streets - Dry Your Eyes
DJ Shadow - Six Days
DJ NuMark - Samurai
Badmarsh & Shri - Day by Day
Jem - Finally Woken
Stars - Heart
Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue
Tanya Donelly - Butterfly Thing
The Decemberists - I Was Meant for the Stage

8/3 Show: What? August already?

2004-08-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Despite the efforts of the deodorant lobby, cooler weather is upon us. Hooray! In the month of July, Seattle received a total of less than a quarter-inch of rain. According to some guy at the National Weather Service, July in Seattle is usually drier than the city of Phoenix. Now that's just crazy.

Tonight is the area's annual Night Out Against Crime, so get to know your neighbors and turn on your porch lights. One of the best ways to fight crime in your neighborhood is to know the people around you.

Do I really have to remind you to register to vote again?

Happy Day Before the Blue Angels Show Up,
Larry
The Nut Bar

I'm Doing it Again!
Yeah, that's right. I'm walking another 60 miles to show my support for the fight against breast cancer. I will once again be participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in San Diego this October. It's an amazing weekend where thousands of men and women get together for three days and walk 60 miles to display our commitment to continue the fight against breast cancer. We take this time to honor lives lost, celebrate survivors, promote breast cancer research, and help bring breast cancer care to those who so desperately need it. You can read a little bit about my experience last year, it's a big reason why I'm doing it again. You can also watch the 3-Day video to help you get a little taste of why we do it. If you would like to support me in this effort please visit my donation page. Net proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust, funding important breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment. Don't worry, your donations won't go towards paying for my flight or lodging, I pay for all that myself.

Shows This Week
8/3
Stiff Little Fingers, Throw Rag, The God Awfuls - Graceland
John Langford & The Sexy, Carolyn Mark, Scott McCaughey, Jace and John - Sunset
8/4
Drew Victor, Amy Blaschke, The Maldives, Tim Seely, Jeff London - Sunset
8/6
The Divorce, Dolour, the Turn-ons - Paradox
8/7
Elefant, The Lashes - Neumo's
Studio 66, The Green Pajamas, The High Dials - Lo-Fi Gallery
8/8
Ambulance Ltd, Robbers on High Street, Zutons, The Years - Crocodile
The Supersuckers, Tim Easton - Tractor
KC and the Sunshine Band, the Village People - Skagit Valley Casino-Disco Mania

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Smoosh - Rad (Live @ Showbox 2003)
Stereolab - Margerine Rock
Stars - Life Effect
The Postal Service - Brand New Colony
Radiohead - Go to Sleep. (Little Man Being Erased.)
Muse - Blackout
Damien Rice - Amie
The Polyphonic Spree - Section 16: One Man Show
Snow Patrol - Spitting Games {Sept. 29 @ Showbox}
British Sea Power - Carrion
South - Mend These Trends
The Reindeer Section - Cartwheels
The Decemberists - Red Right Ankle {Sept. 9 @ Neumo's}
The Mountain Goats - Your Belgian Things
The Shins - So Says I
A.C. Newman - Drink to Me, Babe, Then
Alejandro Escovedo - Crooked Frame
Radio Nationals - Fall Down
Crooked Fingers - Don't Say a Word {Sept. 5 @ Bumbershoot}
Wilco - Hell Is Chrome
Jay Farrar - California
The Drive-By Truckers - Hell No, I Ain't Happy {Sept. 4 @ Bumbershoot}
Elbow - Not a Job
The Fire Theft - Backwards Blues
Coheed & Cambria - A Favor House Atlantic {By Request}
The Pale - Wake Up Call
The Format - The First Single
McLusky - Without MSG I Am Nothing
Nada Surf - Slow Down
The Helio Sequence - People of the Secret {Sept. 3 @ Chop Suey}
The Veils - The Tide That Left and Never Came Back
Visqueen - Sailor {Oct. 2 @ Crocodile (CD Release Party)}
The Minus 5 - Courage is the Smallest Bird
Gomez - These 3 Sins
Athlete - El Salvador
Los Halos - Reasons to Smile
Guster - Amsterdam
Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love {Oct. 17 @ Neumo's}
Mojave 3 - Billy Oddity
Ed Harcourt - Watching the Sun Come Up
Kathleen Edwards - Six O'Clock News
Magnetic Fields - I Thought You Were My Boyfriend
Modest Mouse - The World at Large
PJ Harvey - The Letter
Rachael Yamagata - Even So
Rilo Kiley - Paint's Peeling {Sept. 25 @ Neumo's}
Mission of Burma - What We Really Were
My Morning Jacket - Master Plan
Michael Franti and Spearhead - Bomb the World

7/27 show: Look, it's the jumping guy!

2004-07-27T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry this week's stream is a day late, it passed out from heat stroke over the weekend. Someone needs to teach it a little something about hydration. Hydration was key at the Capitol Hill Block Party, especially on Saturday. Saw some great music from Smoosh, U.S.E., and the Long Winters. Thank goodness for SPF 45 sunscreen. If you haven't filled up a kiddie pool with beer recently, well you really should. I now have three of them, thanks to the kiddie pool klepto.

Dude, what's that smell coming from the coffee maker? Find out for yourself next time when KEXP lets you own a piece of the station. During the spring pledge drive KEXP let people sponsor a piece of the station, and we responded in force. Check out the proud sponsors of items like the men's urinal, Cheryl Water's office, the pile of asphalt, or your's truly and the lovely coffee maker. But don't wait until next spring to support the station where music matters, make a pledge today! You can listen to KEXP up here at 90.3, in the South Sound at 91.7, and streaming live around the globe at kexp.org.

Do I really have to remind you to register to vote again?

Happy Air Conditioned Day,
Larry
The Nut Bar

Shows This Week
7/27
Finn Andrews (of the Veils) - Crocodile CafÃ©
7/28
Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsom, Denison Whitmer - Neumo's
7/29
Benefit for Driving Votes: Radio Nationals, Dear John Letters, The More - Crocodile
7/30
The Hives, Sahara Hotnights, Reigning Sound - Showbox
Robb Benson, Scott McCaughey, Steve Turner, Sean Nelson, Dear John Letters - Sunset Tavern (7pm)
7/31
YouthCare Presents: Kinski, A-Frames, Climax Golden Twins (YouthCare hygiene drive-- please bring a hygiene item for homeless youth to the show. Those bringing three or more items will be entered into a raffle to win signed merch from the band!) - Crocodile

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Michael Franti and Spearhead - We Don't Stop
Basement Jaxx - Hot 'N Cold
Jem - Wish I
The Polyphonic Spree - Section 12: Hold Me Now
The Reindeer Section - I'll Be Here When You Wake
Belle & Sebastian - We Rule the School
The Long Winters - Scared Straight
The Helio Sequence - Don't Look Away
A.C. Newman - The Battle for Straight Time
Aveo - Hypochondria is Spreading
Franz Ferdinand - Darts of Pleasure
Built to Spill - Else
Graham Travis - It Goes Around
Damien Jurado - Birdcage
Pete Krebs - Carolina
Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
Iron & Wine - Cinder and Smoke
Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon
Bobby Bare Jr. - Things I Didn't Say
An American Starlet - Wait
Ryan Adams - I See Monsters
Shawn Smith - Leaving California
The Decemberists - Los Angeles, I'm Yours
The Killers - Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
Stellastarr* - Moongirl
The Veils - More Heat Than Light
Longwave - Everywhere You Turn
Gomez - Catch Me Up
The Thrills - Deckchairs and Cigarettes
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Nada Surf - Blonde on Blonde
The Sleepy Jackson - Rain Falls for Wind
The Streets - Dry Your Eyes
Jack Johnson - Rodeo Clowns
Ugly Duckling - Rio de Janeiro
Kinky - Soun Tha Primer Amor
Menomena - Strongest Man in the World
Mull Historical Society - The Supermarket Strikes Back
Pedro the Lion - The Fleecing
Rachael Yamagata - Under My Skin
Evan Dando - It Looks Like You
Elvis Costello - Episode of Blonde
Elliot Smith - Tomorrow Tomorrow
Rosie Thomas - All My Life
Visqueen - Mrs. Elder
The Von Bondies - Not That Social
The Fire Theft - Rubber Bands
The Format - On Your Porch
The Shins - Young Pilgrim
TV on the Radio - Dreams
Guster - Jesus on the Radio
Travis - The Fear
Aqualung - Brighter Than Sunshine

7/19 Show: There was an old man in a marsh...

2004-07-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

Who would've thought that with a weekend that had the KEXP BBQ, Camera
Obscura, Gomez, Ken Stringfellow, and Rock Lottery I would instead spend
my time at a church listening to modern choral music. Well, that's what
I did and I'm sure glad I did because it was amazing. The setting and
the music complimented each other so well, it was just beautiful. I also
got to remember how uncomfortable pews are.

Not registered to vote yet? Well what are you waiting for? Register
today! I'm not joking around. Seriously. Don't make me come over there.

Happy Day After National Ice Cream Day,
Larry
The Nut Bar

Shows This Week
7/20
Iron Composer Competition w/Paul Jensen (Dudley Manlove), Batum Schrag,
Sexy American Girlfriend, Emory Liu (Pomeranian) - Capitol Hill Arts
Center
Steve Burns, Sean Nelson & Jeff J Lin, Tennis Pro - Crocodile
7/21
Doublewide, Juke, Jared Clifton - Sunset Tavern
Dave Davies, Jon Auer - Triple Door
7/22
Scissor Sisters, The Fitness - Neumo's
Tractor Sex Fatality, New Fangs, Samsonknight Featherqun, Utillikill -
Rendezvous
7/23
Youssou N'Dour - Paramount
West Memphis 3 Benefit w/The Supersuckers, Visqueen, The Black Panties -
Neumo's
7/24
Capitol Hill Block Party - 11th & Pine
!!!, Hint Hint - Neumo's
KEXP Presents Delays - Crocodile
7/25
Capitol Hill Block Party - 11th & Pine

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Muse - Time is Running Out
The Veils - Guiding Light
The Wrens - Everyone Chooses Sides
The Minus 5 - Lies of the Living Dead
The Stills - Gender Bombs
The Walkmen - The Rat
Michael Franti and Spearhead - Love Invincible
DJ Nu Mark - Down Home
Ben Harper - Bring the Funk
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
Aveo - The Idiot on the Bike
The Format - Wait, Wait, Wait
The Long Winters - Shapes
The Get Up Kids - My Apology
Hello From Waveland - Strange
Rocky Votolato - Suicide Medicine
Graham Travis - So Wonderful
Heather Duby - Coin Jar
Gomez - Sweet Virginia
Nada Surf - La Pour Ca
Pedro the Lion - Arizona
Sun Kil Moon - Salvador Sanchez
The Drive-By Truckers - Sounds Better in the Song
Alejandro Escovedo - Pissed Off 2 AM
Rosie Thomas - I Play Music
A.C. Newman - Miracle Drug
Pretty Girls Make Graves - This is Our Emergency
Revolutionary Hydra - You Wanna Get Lost?
Mission of Burma - Hunt Again
The Catheters - Brave Drum
The Clash - Revolution Rock
Jimmy Cliff - Sufferin' in the Land
De La Soul - Stakes is High
Mr. Lif - New Man Theme
Lifesavas - State of the World/Apocalypse/War
Lyrics Born - Before and After
Groove Armada - Suntoucher
TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun
Elbow - Fallen Angel
Stellastarr* - Jenny
The Killers - Somebody Told Me
PJ Harvey - Cat on the Wall
The Polyphonic Spree - Section 14: Two Thousand Places
Aqualung - Easier to Lie
The Helio Sequence - Everyone Knows Everyone
Franz Ferdinand - Tell Her Tonight
Belle & Sebastian - Asleep on a Sunbeam
Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham - Moonshot
Camera Obscura - Your Picture
Rachael Yamagata - 1963
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (live at Sin-e)

7/12 show: I Love Lamp!

2004-07-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

The stream took some time off but is now back, tan and relaxed. Of course while it was away, I was stuck here.

Don't miss the 2nd Annual KEXP BBQ this Saturday, July 17th, at the KEXP parking lot. There will be hot dogs, beer, and live music from The Ruby Doe. Everything starts at 6pm and admission is $10 at the door. Get there early before it sells out or run out of beer and hot dogs.

Not registered to vote yet? Well what are you waiting for? Register today! I'm not joking around. Seriously. Don't make me come over there.

Happy Whatever,
Larry
The Nut Bar

Shows This Week
7/13
The Walkmen, The Cops - Neumo's
7/14
KEXP Presents Sonic Youth, Wolf Eyes - Showbox
The Format, Steel Train, Hellogoodbye, Days Away - Graceland
Patterson Hood (Drive By Truckers), Cary Hudson - Tractor
7/15
Gomez - Easy Street Records (6pm/Queen Anne Store)
Lucinda Williams, Anne McCue - Woodland Park Zoo
7/16
Three Imaginary Girls present Dorkweed, Laszlo, The Dirty Birds - Sunset Tavern
No Vote Left Behind presents "Rockin' for Regime Change" - Comet
7/17
Camera Obscura - Sonic Boom in-store (Ballard, 2:30pm)
Camera Obscura, Heather Duby, Tullycraft - Neumo's
2nd Annual KEXP BBQ w/The Ruby Doe - KEXP Parking Lot (6pm)
Three Imaginary Girls present Pris, The Building Press, The More, The Emblematic, The Residual Echoes of the Great Explosion - Graceland
Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Gossip, The New Mexicans, Countdown to Armageddon - Showbox
7/18
Ken Stringfellow, Bridget St. John - Crocodile
KEXP Presents Gomez, The Thrills - Showbox
An American Starlet, Our Lady of the Highway - CafÃ© Venus and Mars Bar

Here's the Stream (finally):
* Know somebody that needs some music in their day? Feel free to forward this to them and let me know so I can add them to the list. You can also IM me for requests for next week's show: larryliang@hotmail.com Â

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Tahiti 80 - Listen
Stars - Romantic Comedy
Elefant - Tonight Let's Dance
The Sleepy Jackson - Come to This
A.C. Newman - The Battle for Straight Time
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
Franz Ferdinand - Darts of Pleasure
Gomez - Silence
The Veils - The Tide that Left and Never Came Back
Modest Mouse - Ocean Breathes Salty
Jay Farrar - California
Wilco - Handshake Drugs
Bobby Bare Jr. - Visit Me in Music City
M. Ward - Helicopter
Camper Van Beethoven - Cowboys from Hollywood (Original Version)
Graham Travis - Tripped You Up
The Long Winters - Scent of Lime
The Streets - Could Well Be In
Jem - Falling for You
Ed Harcourt - The Birds Will Sing for Us
Aqualung - Can't Get You Out of My Mind
Camera Obscura - Teenager
Frank Black - Everything is New
Elliot Smith - Pictures of Me
Rachael Yamagata - Even So
Menomena - Rose
Shawn Smith - Wrapped in My Memory
Sondre Lerche - Living Lounge
Snow Patrol - Chocolate
Stellastarr* - A Million Reasons
The Stills - Love and Death
The Thrills - Don't Steal Our Sun
X - Breathless
The Von Bondies - C'mon C'mon
Visqueen - Buried Alive
The Catheters - Between the Creases
Mission of Burma - Falling
The Notwist - One With the Freaks
Longwave - Everywhere You Turn
Idlewild - I Never Wanted
Luna - Swedish Fish
Nada Surf - Blonde on Blonde
British Sea Power - Something Wicked
The Wrens - Faster Gun
Built to Spill - Carry the Zero
John Vanderslice - White Plains
Minus the Bear - Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!
Muse - Butterflies and Hurricanes
South - Colours in Waves
Los Halos - Lovelife

What I'm Listening to...

2004-06-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

A.C. Newman - Slow Wonder
The New Pornographers frontman and Canadian wonder presents us with a very enjoyable solo effort. The New York Times did a great interview with him where he talked about applying for grants from the Canadian government to help pay for this album. Another example of how Canada rocks.

Bobby Bare Jr's Young Criminals' Starvation League - From the End of Your Leash
I'd be remiss to compare Bobby Bare Jr. to anyone. With alt-country, rock, and pop influenced songs, you can't go wrong.

Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory (Rerelease)
Oooooh! You get bonus and alternate tracks with this great album. Even if you have the original 1985 release, why not get this one too?

Wilco - A Ghost is Born
Ah Wilco. While not as "experimental" as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Jeff Tweedy and company come at you with a beautiful album sonically and lyrically. Jeff should really write a book of poetry...oh wait, he has.

Rachael Yamagata, Crocodile 6/28

2004-06-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

So I've been sort of neglecting this blog and going to shows thanks to a big project I've been working on. On Monday night I really wanted to go see Rachael Yamagata at the Crocodile because I am just in love with her latest CD, Happenstance. Unfortunately I couldn't go, so in my stead I sent a proxy. Adam Loving, of Loving Labs fame, ventured down to the Croc and here's his report. He mentions the people he hears in her voice and one person he didn't list was Fiona Apple, whom you can especially hear on the song Letter Read. Enjoy!

The World's Not Ready

And I mean that in a good way. I felt privileged to be part of a small audience to experience Rachael Yamagata's emotive voice, inventive but hooky compositions, intense sentiment, and talent. It was great to hear her singing from the heart and having a voice capable of channeling it. I appreciated that cello and violin accompaniment gave her live show a more eerie and less country sound.

What makes me say "the world's not ready" are lyrics like "is there a woman out there who'll take me". Yamagata had everything; I wouldn't say she should she should refine her sound - but rather use more intentional understatement. I am sure mainstream success would be hers if there were a bit more fog to cover the car crashes. Not that this should be the goal, or that it wasn't delicious to share the car crashes live.

My favorite example of inventive but hooky is "Letter Read" which has a discordant verse and catchy chorus. To crudely describe her sound, I would say it was equal parts Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, and Janis Joplin. I dug maybe half the songs, but felt the privilege of a soccer scout watching a young star due to the honesty and realness of her performance.

6/28 show: Mine...Mine...Mine...

2004-06-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

No 40 ounces of caffeinated Slurpee goodness for me this weekend, which is probably a good thing. I did get brought into a wiffle ball game as a closer, striking out one and giving up a hit on a pitch I threw between my legs. Good times...

So, as I'm sure you all have noticed from the music I play that I'm a big supporter of local and independent music. With the consolidation of record labels and radio stations, we all need to do our part in making sure independent music is getting heard and not just what the big corporations want us to hear. One great way to do that is to support listener powered KEXP. KEXP is a public radio station that offers a mix of music that can't be heard anywhere else, entertaining listeners in Seattle at 90.3, in the South Sound at 91.7, and streaming live around the world at KEXP.org. After you hear some great artists on KEXP and you want to go out and buy their album, why not go to an independent record store while you're at it. Sonic Boom Records can be found in Fremont, Ballard, and Capitol Hill, with their new Vinyl Shop open underneath the Fremont location.

Not registered to vote yet? Well what are you waiting for? Register today! I'm not joking around. Seriously. Don't make me come over there.

Happy Last Week of June,
Larry
The Nut Bar

Name That Band Contest!
Okay, time for some fun. Some of the folks from Hello From Waveland have started a new band and are looking for a name. As a way to give them a hand I'm offering up a contest of sorts, something I'll call the "Name that Band Contest!" Send me your entries for a band name by Saturday, July 3rd and the entry with the best name will get a CD (I'll let you pick). Then, if the band picks your name they'll give you something extra special, in addition to the satisfaction of seeing the name you came up with in lights.

Shows This Week
6/28
The Three Imaginary Girls are guest bartenders! - Hattie's Hat (6pm)
Rachael Yamagata, Jonathan Rice - Crocodile
6/30
Melissa Auf Der Maur, Kane Hodder - Graceland
DJ Premiere (of GangStarr), DJs Haul & Mason, DJs Scene & B-Mello - Chop Suey
7/1
Al Green - Paramount Theatre
7/2
No Vote Left Behind presents: DJ Mama Cassarole, DJ Super Jew, The New Fangs - Hideaway
Rush - White River Amphitheatre
7/3
MC5 (w/Evan Dando and Mark Arm), Suffrajet - Neumo's

The Playlist (sorry, no timestamps this week)
Rachael Yamagata - 1963
Graham Travis - So Wonderful
Guster - Amsterdam
The Long Winters - Cinnamon
Snow Patrol - Run
Ryan Adams - Wish You Were Here
The Stills - Let's Roll
The Veils - Lavinia
Coldplay - Clocks
The Flaming Lips - It's Summertime
The Format - Tune Out
South - Colours in Waves
Pretty Girls Make Graves - All Medicated Geniuses
Mission of Burma - What We Really Were
McLusky - Falco vs. The Young Canoeist
Murder City Devils - Lemuria Rising
Modest Mouse - The World at Large
The Postal Service - We Will Become Silhoettes
Jem - Come on Closer
Basement Jaxx - Right Here's the Spot
Stereolab - Hillbilly Motorbike
Tahiti 80 - Soul Deep
Belle & Sebastian - Asleep on a Sunbeam
Sun Kil Moon - Gentle Moon
Iron & Wine - Naked as We Came
M. Ward - Let's Dance
Menomena - The Late Great Libido
The Decemberists - Los Angeles, I'm Yours
The Jayhawks - Tailspin
The Mellors - Route 44
Rocky Votolato - The City is Calling
Jesse Sykes - Your Eyes Told
The Radio Nationals - Black Lung
Pedro the Lion - The Fleecing
Bobby Bare Jr. - Let's Rock & Roll
Wilco - Muzzle of Bees
The Minus 5 - The Town that Lost Its Groove Supply
Billy Bragg - She Came Along to Me
Neil Finn - Human Kindness
Nada Surf - Fruit Fly
Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
The Ramones - Suzy is a Headbanger
The Streets - Blinded by the Lights
DJ Nu-Mark - Hands On
Lifesavas - Resist
Lyrics Born - The Last Trumpet
Mr. Lif - A Glimpse at the Struggle
The Roots - You Got Me
Ramsey Lewis - Do What You Wanna (Mr. Scruff's Soul Party Mix)
TV on the Radio - Dreams
A.C. Newman - Drink to Me, Babe, Then
The New Pornographers - It's Only Divine Right
PJ Harvey - Shame

6/21 Show: Sunny Solstice

2004-06-21T02:04:00.000-07:00

So, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to drink a 40oz Coca-Cola Slurpee at 10pm last night. Of course all that caffeine made it possible for me to do laundry at 1:30 in the morning. Another benefit of being all hopped up on the caffeine is the opportunity to watch some infomercials. Have you ever noticed that they always treat people like they're idiots. I know when I'm trying to cut a tomato I make sure to put all my weight on it so as soon as I make a cut the whole thing gets crushed. A loaf of bread should also be able to support my weight, right?

It is now officially summer, I hope you all had a chance to go outside and enjoy the sunshine. If the rest of the summer is like the first day, well I'll have no complaints.

Happy 2nd Day of Summer,
Larry

Shows This Week
6/21
Lloyd Cole – Tractor
6/22
Pharcyde, X-Ecutioners – Chop Suey
The Del McCoury Band – Tractor
6/23
Three Imaginary Girls Presents Cinerama 7" Release Party with DJ David Gedge – Mirabeau Room
6/24
Paul Oakenfold, Donald Glaude, Eva – Showbox
6/25
Helio Sequence (CD Release), IQU, Menomena – Neumo's
6/26
Three Imaginary Girls present a Ladyfest Showcase with the Catch, Schoolyard Heroes, Scream Club, Smoosh, Ms. Led, Mon Frere – Graceland
Califone, Rebecca Gates, Erik & Travis – Tractor
I Can Lick Any SOB In the House, Memphis Radio Kings, Moonshine Hangover, Jared Clifton – Crocodile
"The Vera Project Presents" The Red Light Sting, The Catch, Travis Morrison, Smoosh, Informatik – Mural Amphitheater

The Playlist
0:00:00 The Streets - Dry Your Eyes
0:04:31 Jem - Wish I
0:08:27 Belle & Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo
0:13:53 Franz Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinee
0:17:57 Gomez - Where Ya Going?
0:21:38 Drive-By Truckers - Heathens
0:26:26 Uncle Tupelo - Give Back the Key to My Heart
0:29:52 The Wrens - This Boy is Exhausted
0:34:10 The Veils - Talk Down the Girl
0:38:20 Graham Travis - Jesus Build Me a Railroad
0:42:25 Shawn Smith - Leaving California
0:46:15 Rachael Yamagata - Worn Me Down
0:49:58 The Long Winters - Nora
0:54:21 The Mountain Goats - Your Belgian Things
0:58:10 The Reindeer Section - You Are My Joy
1:01:55 The Thrills - Your Love is Like Las Vegas
1:04:18 Rhett Miller - Four-Eyed Girl
1:06:47 The Minus 5 - The Night Chicago Died Again
1:10:42 Idlewild - Tell Me Ten Words
1:14:28 John Vanderslice - They Won't Let Me Run
1:18:21 Longwave - Exit
1:22:13 Nada Surf - Happy Kid
1:26:23 McLusky - That Man Will Not Hang
1:29:24 50 Foot Wave - Lavender
1:32:13 Visqueen - Omaha
1:34:59 Alejandro Escovedo - One More Time (Live)
1:39:06 Radio Nationals - Ghosts in the Room
1:43:32 Snow Patrol - Spitting Games
1:47:19 British Sea Power - Carrion
1:51:26 Elbow - Not a Job
1:55:50 Hello From Waveland - Powerless
1:59:23 Built to Spill - Else
2:03:32 Death Cab for Cutie - Lowell, MA
2:07:01 Menomena - Twenty Cell Revolt
2:11:07 Pedro the Lion - Start Without Me
2:14:19 The Decemberists - The Bachelor and the Bride
2:18:32 Aqualung - Everything Changed
2:21:52 Camera Obscura - Keep It Clean
2:25:09 Ed Harcourt - Watching the Sun Come Up
2:30:56 Mojave 3 - Billy Oddity
2:35:14 PJ Harvey - Pocket Knife
2:38:59 Sondre Lerche - I Know I Know
2:42:01 Elefant - Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid
2:46:19 The Walkmen - The Rat
2:50:47 Kinky - Soun Tha Primer Amor
2:53:59 Lyrics Born - Callin' Out
2:57:33 DJ Nu Mark - Samurai
3:00:19 DJ Krush - Candle Chant (A Tribute)
3:06:45 Stars - Heart
3:12:41 The Sleepy Jackson - Rain Falls for Wind
3:16:44 The New Pornographers - All for Swinging You Around
3:20:26 The Shins - Fighting in a Sack
3:22:53 Heather Duby - Providence
3:27:56 United State of Electronia - Emerald City

6/15 Show: So Tired...

2004-06-21T00:56:00.000-07:00

So the show is a day late this week, but I have a good excuse. Alright, so not really a good excuse, but an excuse. Bah, never mind. Anyway, the end of last week and this past weekend was a great few days for music. Last Thursday was Suicide Karaoke presented by the Three Imaginary Girls. I was bidding to have my friend sing Conga, by Gloria Estefan, but two minutes before the bidding was supposed to close he paid someone to outbid me. That was all sorts of wrong.

This weekend is the Fremont Fair. Come out to see naked bicyclists and join me for a beer in the beer garden. The Radio Nationals will be play at 6:15 on Saturday on the Redhook Mainstage and Snitches Get Stitches will be on the YMCA Fusion Café Stage at 8, also on Saturday. Afterwards, head on over to Hattie’s Hat to hear Jared Clifton (of the Radio Nationals) perform a free Hattie’s Hoot show at 11.

Not registered to vote yet? Well what are you waiting for? Register today! I’m not joking around. Seriously. Don’t make me come over there.

Happy Flag Day +1,
Larry

Shows This Week
6/15
The Streets – Neumo’s
6/17
Planned Parenthood Benefit w/ Shawn Smith, the Establisment Collective – Crocodile
Snitches Get Stitches, Fistsized, Basic Survival Mode – Doc Maynard’s (yes, that’s Pioneer Square)
6/18
Juliana Hatfield, the Damnwells – Crocodile
Rocky Votolato, Roy, Eyes of Autumn – Vera Project
6/19
Fremont Fair: Radio Nationals, Snitches Get Stitches, and many more – Fremont (duh)
Hattie’s Hoot with Jared Clifton of the Radio Nationals – Hattie’s Hat

The Playlist
Belle & Sebastian - Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying
Aqualung - Just for a Moment
Rosie Thomas - Sell All My Things
Damien Rice - Cold Water
Graham Travis - Why Don't You Know Me Yet?
Brandi Carlile - Fall Apart Again
Clem Snide - Fontanelle
Elliot Smith - Waltz #2
Gomez - Me, You and Everybody
Mull Historical Society - Asylum
Rhett Miller - World Inside the World
The Decemberists - I Was Meant for the Stage
The Mountain Goats - The Young Thousands
The Veils - The Tide that Left and Never Came Back
Snow Patrol - Chocolate
The Long Winters - It'll Be a Breeze
Nada Surf - Inside of Love
Preston School of Industry - Get Your Crayons Out!
The Fire Theft - Rubber Bands
My Morning Jacket - Master Plan
Menomena - Strongest Man in the World
The Streets - Wouldn't Have it Any Other Way
DJ Nu Mark - Melody
PJ Harvey - The Letter
The Von Bondies - C'mon C'mon
Arlo - Runaround
Visqueen - Zirconium Gun
Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Date With the night
The Stills - Still in Love Song
Stellastarr* - Somewhere Across Forever
Radio Nationals - Gone
Alejandro Escovedo - Tired Skin
Jay Farrar - Hanging on to You
Rachael Yamagata - Paper Doll
Magnetic Fields - I Don't Really Love You Anymore
TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun
Elbow - Buttons and Zips
Franz Ferdinand - Darts of Pleasure
Mission of Burma - What We Really Were
The More - All That Surrounds You
Muse - Butterflies and Hurricanes
Modest Mouse - Black Cadillacs
Death Cab for Cutie - TV Trays
Pete Krebs - Distant Lights of Home
Neil Finn - Turn and Run
Los Halos - The Back Home
Iron & Wine - Naked as We Came
Mojave 3 - She's All Up Above
Ryan Adams - This House is Not for Sale
Pedro the Lion - A Simple Plan
Elvis Costello - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?

The Streets at Neumo's 6/15

2004-06-16T00:38:00.000-07:00

Just got back from seeing the Streets at Neumo's here in Seattle. An amazing show. For those of you who don't know who they are, the Streets are a British group featuring hip-hop, ska, r&b, garage, and jazz. Some of the beats on their latest album reminds me of something revolutionary hip-hop producer Timbaland could be responsible for. Rapper Mike Skinner's lyrics tell a story of everyday life. Life in the streets, life at his girlfriend's "flat", etc.

Back to tonight's show. As soon as they got on stage, the crowd was feeling them. I can honestly say I haven't seen this many people doing the pogo at the same time since I've been in Seattle. From beginning to end, the crowd was dancing and dancing hard. While some feel their newest album, A Grand Don't Come for Free, isn't easily accessible for everyone because of the inventive beats, this wasn't the case live. While the night was nonstop booty shaking, there was a point where I wished the guy next to me would stop shaking it. Mainly because he didn't realize how big he was and how the people around him didn't enjoy getting slammed into in 4/4 time. What also struck me was how white the crowd was. But I guess that's also a reflection of Seattle.

I didn't catch the names of the openers, but those emcees were no slouches. While there was nothing too original or inventive about their rhymes or their beats, they did what they did well.