And We'd Love to Take a Bath!

Sunday. Strong coffee. Two French presses worth. The breakfast 'burrito' is never a proper substitute for a breakfast taco. Beer and British food for sustenance. It's always a wonderful day for a Guinness. What Virginian pub experience is complete without Nascar or complimentary Irish car bombs? Scotch and beers while standing in line for the show? Absolutely. 

The dread beast falls to his knees.

I fucking hate clowns, even if they have my hat on.

Set One:

Sanity
Wilson
Foam*
Bathtub Gin
Undermind
AC/DC Bag
My Friend, My Friend
Scent of a Mule
All Of These Dreams
Maze
She Thinks I Still Care
Army of One
Tube
Cars Trucks Buses
Free
Frankenstein

Disco.

Set Two:

Down With Disease
Seven Below
The Horse >
Silent In The Morning
Twist
2001
Moma Dance
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Wading In The Velvet Sea
Slave To The Traffic Light

Get that thing out of my face, man.

A reason to rejoice.

Encore:

Contact
Bug
Tweezer Reprise

The George Jones cover–She Thinks I Still Care–was done up proper like thanks to Mike and his country twang. Rumor has it that Phish will headline ACL this fall. I'll wait until then to see them again.

*A fugue with a view. Behold FOAM!

Stay On Target

Saturday. Better living through chemicals. Coffee is better with espresso shots in it. Chicken and waffles is a genius idea–especially at 2 am. Seats. Seats are good. Sitting is good, preferably not on an indiscernibly wet surface. Planets aligned. Magic happened. Limb by limb is totally about coming off heroin. This was my grand epiphany. 

Pastrami on rye. Marbled. 

Before.

Set One:

Back On The Train
Runaway Jim
Brian & Robert
Split Open and Melt
Heavy Things
Punch You In The Eye
Gumbo
Reba
Mexican Cousin
It's Ice
Halley's Comet
Beauty of a Broken Heart
Guelah Papyrus
Lawn Boy
Run Like An Antelope

After.

Deep space.

That's no moon...

Set Two:

Rock & Roll

Limb by Limb
Story of the Ghost
Piper
Birds of a Feather
Wolfman's Brother
Prince Caspian
Mike's Song>
I Am Hydrogen>
Weekapaug Groove
Character Zero

Encore:

A Day in the Life

No, I am hydrogen.

What did you do this weekend?

Was it this cool?

Doubt it!

They're heading towards that small moon.

White out.

We were high up.

Sweet.

This encore was both poignant and impeccable. You can't beat Daylight Saving Time and Don Julio Resposado. An eleven AM check out is too early.

P.S. - Chicken and waffles slam.

Was It For This My Life I Sought?

Friday. Phish comes out of the gates hard as fuck, exhibiting the tenacity and passion of a hobo looking for his next bottle. This is why I see Phish shows. If you don't know, you just don't know.

Ballin'.

Flapjacks descends on the Muthaship.

The Mothership awaits.

Set One:

Fluffhead
Divided Sky
Chalk Dust Torture
Sample In A Jar
Stash
I Didn't Know
Oh Kee Pah Ceremony >
Suzy Greenberg
Farmhouse
NICU
Horn
Rift
Train Song
Water In The Sky
Squirming Coil
David Bowie

If you were on drugs, you were probably afraid.

Ooooh. Step into space...

Ladies and Gentlemen: Dad.

Set Two:

Backwards Down The Number Line

Tweezer
Taste
Possum
Theme From The Bottom
First Tube
Harry Hood
Waste
You Enjoy Myself

Encore:

Grind

Bouncing Around The Room
Loving Cup

As crazy as it looks.

Hi.

Sick as SARS.

Beautimus.

New Month, New Horizons

This blog fell off a bit last month. I was able to salvage its reputation with at least one good story before it shrunk away into the ether. March is here, and with it comes a myriad of adventures, and activities.

This coming weekend, Cory and I will be traveling to Hampton, Virginia, to see three Phish shows. The first three in five years. This experience should be interesting. I'm looking forward to eating some nice seafood while on the East Coast, and will blog about that, no doubt. The opening of the long awaited film adaptation of Watchmen also happens that weekend, which is something that me and my nerdy friends have been looking forward to for quite some time.

My father's birthday is in a few weeks. He will be older. I'll probably have to hang out with him, or something obligatory like that. Fuck it, if I do it now, maybe I won't have to later on down the line when he needs to be fed, and changed. Remember our agreement, Old Man! Also, we'll be moving parts of our operation into the new addition at work, which will bring much change, and excitement.

March means SXSW here in Austin. Another year for Lewis Black to rake in cash, and bring all the hipsters out of their stylistic caves so they can compete for most ironic shirt, and best rendition of the obligatory Sid Barrett hair cut. Will the prize go to New York or L.A. this year? Last year's tight jeans and white belt champion will be on hand to judge the "Who Looks Like They Want to be Here the Least" competition at the Mohawk, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon. Soon these clowns will realize that it is us who want them here the least.

April is looking bright, too. I was able to score six tickets to see Leonard Cohen at the Long Center. F'n sweet!!! The Flight of Conchords will be here in May, and Avenue Q is coming, which I hear is offensive, depraved, crude, and lewd. Sounds like something I'd love.

Mostly, I'm excited about the seasons changing, and getting out in garden. My winter garden has been subjected recently to some violation of the rodent persuasion, ultimately resulting in some necessary fence mending, and bed building. Those rat bastards. Spring and early summer veggies are some of my favorite. Life is beautiful, and so are you.

Comfort Food

Last night the butcher and I watched a hilarious film, National Lampoon's Electric Apricot: The Quest for Festeroo. Electric Apricot is a mockumentary about a Californian jamband and their attempts to make their first album, and get in to one of the best festivals on the West Coast, Festeroo. 

Written, directed by, and starring showman extreme Les Claypool, this film had me laughing my ass off. As someone who has been on multiple 'tours', of several bands, this film hit home on many levels, capturing the absurdity, hilarity, and hippy-ness of this unexplored niche of American Pop Culture. There were several great cameos, including Phish's bassist, Mike Gordon, and Government Mule's Warren Haynes. I suggest seeing this film, and laughing your ass off. If you don't know much about Les Claypool, well, your missing out. He is the front man of Primus, and Colonel Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade. He has also been in some other groups, such as the supergroup Oysterhead, with Trey Anastasio (Phish) and Stewart Copeland (The Police, soundtrack hero -- The Dark Crystal, etc.), and Sausage.

After the Butcher left, I needed some food. I'm about as broke as you can be before heading off on an international trip, so, I've utilizing the freeboxes at work like it was 2003. I scored a nice local Richardson's Farm pork chop the other day, a pie pumpkin last week, and some nice potatoes yesterday. I went down to the garden and grabbed some turnip greens. I was feeling the need for some comforty food. 

Turnip greens are very prickly.

I peeled and cut up the pumpkin and potatoes, and got some water boiling. I didn't have any bacon, so I trimmed the nice hunk of fat off the chop, and started to render that in my big cast iron skillet. After caramelizing some onions in the pork fat, I added the turnip greens, mashed the potatoes and pumpkin with generous amounts of Parmesan, Remember When butter and their heavy cream. I added some dried Arbol, and Pasilla peppers to the water before hand, for that nice smokey chile flavor. 

Using my little cast iron I cooked up the chop and set it aside to rest, as I finished up the turnip greens with some golden balsamic vinegar. Everything was done, and I was hungry, so I pulled out the trusty rectangular plate, and ate. The turnip greens were so good, and make me look forward to eating more when I get back from London. I may make a big batch to take over to Mikey's for Thanksgiving. 

Shiny happy people, laughing...

Eat your greens...

Goin' Phishin'

Two weeks ago, Phish announced that not only would they be getting back together (again!), but that they would be celebrating doing so by playing three nights at one of their favorite venues, the Hampton Coliseum. 

It's a weird looking place, isn't it?

The way ordering Phish tickets works is still a bit of a mystery to me after all these years. Phish is allotted a certain amount of tickets to sell to their fans prior to tickets going on sale to the general public, several thousand tickets. In order to be as fair as possible, they do a lottery system of distribution.

You can enter into the lottery, and reserve up to two tickets per show. In this case, that's two tickets for three shows, a total of six tickets for roughly $350. Yeah. It's expensive to see these guys. 

I got an email from my BFF, Cory, saying that he had struck out completely in the lotto. I was sort of not having the best night, was at the pub having a pint, and piddling around on the interwebs. I checked my Gmail, and sure enough, there was an email from Phish tickets. 

"Congratulations," it read.  I had purchased two tickets to all three nights of the shows. Wow. It made my day, and turned my attitude around. So far, I'm the only person I know that has received any tickets from the lotto, let alone all six. 

So. This couldn't have happened a worse time financially. I'm not talking about the economic crisis, I'm talking about my amazing ability to hemorrhage money. I'm leaving for London in twenty-two days. Have to pay rent, bills, eat, etc. And in the middle of all of this, I'm putting up tree fidy to see some washed up prep school hippies noodle around melodies, for the nth time. 

Well. Despite the tone of resentment that seems to come out when I write about Phish, I'm actually quite excited. So was Cory. Someday this whole 'going to the mountain' approach to seeing good live music will seem pointless, but not today. I mean, I'm flying to London to see Leonard Cohen, and that should say it all. 

Was It For This My Life I Sought? Maybe So, and Maybe Not…

So. There is this band I like. I've driven across the country to see them...

I first saw them late in their game, in '99, at South Park Meadows, which is now a strip mall. They took my mind places no one else had. The bizarre mixture of emotion and music. A hundred thousand other people celebrating the ecstasy of the moment; surrendering to the flow. 

Phish. Those bastards. They broke up in '00, and '04. Now? They're back…

Yesterday, the First, every Phish fan I know was woken up by another one telling them that they had announced three shows in Hampton, Va. March 6th, 7th, and 8th of next year. Limit two tickets per person. 

I entered the lotto for tickets. Two for each night. Six tickets. $340.00.  Only charged if successful. Damn. That's a lot of cash money.

Phish...

Those bastards. Six to seven of my top ten musical experiences are Phish related.

#1. Big Cypress - Phish plays the fear-laden Y2K New Years on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Res., over 100,000 people show up. They play four three hour sets. As well as from 11:59 to about 8 in the morning. Straight.

The power stayed on, no one dropped the bomb; Happy New Year - 2000!

The Big Cypress Venue, and Campgrounds.

If you were there, you know this sunrise.

#2. South Park Meadows - 9/24/99 - My first show. Kuroda turns off the lights during Lizards. The Moon eerily illuminates the audience. Sand into Misty Mountain Hop melts my mind into red gel deliciousness. 

#3. IT Festival - 8/2 & 8/3, 2003 - Loring AFB, Limestone, Maine. One mile from the Canadian border in the upper mitt of Maine. Over 100,000 people. The largest city in Maine that weekend. Phish plays six sets over two days. Ghost. 46 Days. Phish plays an hour long improv-noise set from the top of a flight control tower. Insanity.

That was about as cool as it gets.

I saw that.

#4. Coventry - 8/14 - 8/15, 2004 - The second last show of Phish. Coventry, Vermont. Weeping on stage, oxycotin, and rage. Mike and Trey note for note on  top of boulders.  Mud pit. Bliss.

Blue.

Abduction.

YEM vocal jam. The 'last vocal jam'...

Shave and a haircut. Flapjacks, circa August, 2004

#5. 4th of July, 2000 - Camden, NJ. Gross. New Jersey. Camden, even. Heavy rain. Bathtub Gin. The combo is over the top. As the rain intensified, so did the Gin. Saw some hippies get rolled by some Guido's. "This is our Nitrous tank..."

#6. Las Vegas '03 - 2/15 - 2/16 - Vegas. I loathe that place. Phish. In Vegas. Debauchery prime.  No need for details. 

#7. Sandstone, Bonner Springs, KS - 7/17/03 - Crusty kid pukes on me during Cavern. Irony ensues. What ever you do, take care of your shoes. Tweezer blows my mind. We sell ice cream and lemonade in the lot.

This guy fucked it all up.

Damn them. Leave me be. As long as Phish plays - we will be there.