| CHRISTMAS C ARD |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|10:39 am] |
In order to motivate me to actually make them today, please send me your address if you would like a Christmas card.
Comments screened. |
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| My Upcoming Shows |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|05:33 am] |
12/30 Capitol Theater Backstage -Olympia, WA w/ Japanther and Broken Water 7:30 $8 all ages
1/9 The Rickshaw Stop -San Francisco, CA w/ Your Heart Breaks and Angelo Spencer 5pm $12 all ages
1/10 The New Parish -Oakland, CA w/ Your Heart Breaks and Angelo Spencer 8pm $12 all ages
1/11 Zami Coop -Santa Cruz, CA w/ Your Heart Breaks and Angelo Spencer
1/14 The Smell -Los Angeles, CA w/ Your Heart Breaks and Angelo Spencer 8pm $8 all ages |
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| up at 6am. |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|01:09 pm] |
i tried to stay up as late as possible knowing that was the only cure for jet lag but still i crashed out at 7:30 and woke up at 6am.
this is what it's like to live in scandinavia and the south pole certain times of year isn't it?
being awake and it's dark.
there's a peacefulness to this hour of the morning though....probably new mothers and people that exercise realize this.
the tour.
i will post pictures as soon as i get my lazy ass to download them into the computer.
each show had its own special thing...each country too.
i overcame my fear of heights and climbed up a ladder in a bunker to use the bathroom. what am I talking about? Ladders scare me. Looking down from buildings and bridges scares me too. My stomach does flips. Flying also scares me but not for the height...just other little anxieties like "what if we CRASH?"
So anyway, we played in an old bunker in nantes, france called the Blockhaus and the bathroom was only up a steel ladder and then you had to jump 2 feet to get to the floor from the top. I did it holding my friend Solena's hand....and the next time I had to pee I was so confident I practically danced up the ladder. Solena was like "Nan, pretend you are in a musical..."
I remembered seeing my friends dance in the show Pippin in college and that seemed to do the trick.
Our first show of the tour was in Paris at the pop in. Our pal clement did a little interview and a few clips of the show. the sound is not good at the show, i'm just saying.....but you can get the spirit.
*Monpellier, France was sort of incredible...during our song "balloon" the promoter stephane had arranged for the whole audience to blow up balloons and throw them at us.
we were bombarded with balloon love.
*Getting around on trains in France was hard because we had a lot of vinyl to carry (which is HEAVY) in our suitcases. Trains are definitely a cheaper way to travel but we were not as organized in carrying light bags this tour as last time...we got cocky thinking we were strong from rodney yee yoga and suddenly we are making our way down train platforms with 2 big clothes bags, 2 merch suitcases, a guitar, a keyboard, and a heavy shoulder bag with a computer. We were pack mules in a desert but luckily we had friends/promoters meet us at stations or we hopped taxis to the venues.
*We went from rennes, france to mannheim, germany in one day....and that night we had off.
we were staying in the top of an old firetower - it was a luxury we could actually eat dinner (think we had schnitzel, fries and salad), do some laundry, and then pass out.
*Our friend Klaus met us in Mannheim to drive us around to our 10 shows in germany.
Klaus is amazing. He is gentle and patient and FUNNY. He has this ability to make me laugh when i'm in the throe of "nanxiety" which usually relates to time (like being late) or generally just riding in cars on the autobahn.
*Also klaus is a bassist. He has a band called Jenny Lund which he describes as "dark, brooding old man music".
It wasn't though. They played with us in Regensburg. It was dreamy and deep, and one of my new favorite drummers Ludwig, is in it. He is like Neman from herman dune in that he's inventive and feels the songs in his gut & super skilled from years of playing. He plays drums like he's singing. that sounds wierd i know...but you know it when you see it.
My favorite drummers are the ones who can FEEL the song and yet play cool shit skillfully through that feeling.
I think my skill is slowly catching up to my feeling as a drummer...when i'm 70 dudes i am gonna be ON FIRE.
*I love Germany.
Matt and I felt really taken care of by our friends there....
Berlin on thanksgiving was the absolute best thing ever. so many sweet friends it felt like we were home. and everyone dancing off their turkey!
Munich was also fun - feels like we made some new pals there.
we stayed at the home of klaus' friend peter who is in this band Mexican Elvis.
Here's an interview we did at the radio station there - just one day after the Pete Doherty scandal of singing the german national anthem on tv.
munich interview
we played "big pink eraser" live acoustically too.
We drank a lot of gluvein at xmas markets in germany.
In Gunzenhausen, Munich, Darmstadt, and Wetzlar to be exact. The best Gluvein was in Wetzlar with Siegmar. It was tart & sweet, but strong....
okay i have to eat some toast.
more capping soon. hey the sun is up now. |
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| Atelier de Joel Robuchon |
[Dec. 15th, 2009|10:42 am] |
For the Annual Alexis And Adrienne Christmas Feast, we went to the Atelier de Joel Robuchon, which fully met all expectations. It was really wonderful.
The Space
It's in a cozy recessed area off the Four Seasons restaurant. There are maybe two dozen tables in front, and then in back there are another two dozen seats along 3 sides of a big square around the plating station, and behind the station (the fourth side of the square) is the kitchen, which is also visible from the seats. It feels a little bit like sitting at a sushi bar, except that the servers are not elevated, and the table has only a small decorative glass element in front of you, not a whole wall. The glass is neat, they can change what's inside it for the season.
 
The Food
Ok, on to the important part. We started with a round of amuse bouche that were shots of foie gras mousse, a layer of some kind of gravy and a foam. This was SO delicious I couldn't believe it. I mean seriously, I feel like all my life I've been hating on foie gras and this was a total revelation. Nutty and warm and sweet and meaty and delicious. I swooned.
Next we had starters: Alexis had a lovely little langoustine in papillote, fried and served with a pesto sauce, and I had a warm, fragrant, creamy chestnut veloute with cardamom and almonds and some little bits of something maybe turnip I don't know but both were so good.
 
For the next course, we shared two yummy meaty offal plates: Sweetbreads served with a piece of lettuce wrapped around bacon which was all perfect, the gravy for the sweetbreads was especially yummy, and Les Burgers, which were two baby burgers cooked medium rare, topped with giant cubes of foie, on tiny little buns, served with a cute little thing of fries and a bizarre little Geode full of homemade barbeque sauce. The people next to us actually ordered two platters of these (though this crazy woman first asked for a half order and then complained that it wasn't what she wanted and kindof started yelling at the waitstaff and then continuously started asking for more hot water and claiming she'd been waiting forever. That's when Alexis and I ordered our martinis).
 
We finished with spaghetti carbonara which was yummy and creamy and doesn't require a photo. Honestly, now.
For dessert we ordered the souffle, which was Yuzu-flavored and had a scoop of burnt sugar ice cream in the middle, and which was preceeded by mandarin orange gelee shots and followed by little fleur de sel caramels.
 
The whole meal was just wonderful, everything was delicious and elegant and the server was friendly and knowledgeable and the surroundings and most of the other diners were friendly and contributed to the experience. Overall, a very successful meal for AAAACE. |
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| Skül! |
[Dec. 13th, 2009|09:38 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Ft Sex Pawz | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Boxcar Racer- This is | ] |
Spent half the day in my meat freezer of a studio knocking out Christmas prints for folks. This was my glorious experiment I wound up with at the end of the day- blue ink with a black base, on perfectly rock-poster sized paper.
(More pictures and art geekery from today on the blag).
I hit East Coast land come Wednesday, and I'll be in town until January 4th- bouncing between B'more, DC, and Lancaster as fancy and my ability to borrow a car suits. Same procedure as every other year I come home for the holidays, more or less! |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 13th, 2009|09:54 pm] |
life is confusing
i don't care about my geology exam in the morning. after my senior recital, it don't matta
i've made a good amount of $$ the past couple weeks, i guess that's good.
jim gave me a bunch of leonard cohen, and thus my obsession begins.
memphis soon! but i sort of don't wanna leave the boro... |
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| Let us now praise gay monogamous partnerships |
[Dec. 12th, 2009|02:45 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | melt-banana "spider snipe" | ] |
In recognition of three months of monogamy—Ben suggests I call it polyfidelity—here is a link to a recent committed-relationship–themed interview someone did with Mark Allen, a talented Internet person across whose site markallencam.com (NSFW) I stumbled in college and which I visit from time to time. His man is Jim Krewson, of Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops and a multimedia artist. I remember visiting Mark's site around the time he and Jim met. I think they are super cute together and relish the opportunity for insight into their eight-year-and-counting love affair.
Cool Married Gay: Mark Allen (page SFW, site NSFW) |
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| Raven Books has good bags |
[Dec. 12th, 2009|01:08 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | bill orcutt "sad news from korea" [lightnin' hopkins] | ] |
Raven Books in Cambridge has good bags with which I protect my books when I am in transit. Photo credit Chris (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) the55, @the55), August 2009. |
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| Cladogram |
[Dec. 12th, 2009|03:15 am] |
| [ | music |
| | the magik markers "body rot" | ] |
ghosting around
can't sign
their work
can't resist
some bottles
can't via
phone leave
for dead |
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| Bryant Park |
[Dec. 11th, 2009|07:45 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | beak> "iron action" | ] |
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| Mystery Team |
[Dec. 11th, 2009|12:30 am] |
Saw the movie. It was so much fun!! And hilarious. Highly, HIGHLY recommended. Let's make this take off! I think these Derrick Comedy kids may have a future in the entertainment biz. I seriously loved every second of it. And it wasn't just jokes either. It had some serious plot and drama as well at times. Much love. |
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| Rack and Soul |
[Dec. 10th, 2009|07:49 am] |
Mike and I had dinner Monday night around 8 at Rack and Soul. It was very quiet and quaint inside - - a pile of firewood near the entrance, old school furniture, a cute little bar with a few stools. Our waitress was actually from South Carolina and had a cute twang. They have a pretty standard southern menu with a few forays into Louisiana items. Everyone gets biscuits right off, and we ordered Abitas of course. Then he had the beef ribs with brocolli and mac n cheese as sides (everyone gets 2), and I asked the waitress to pick for me and she chose the pulled pork with collard greens and mac n cheese. It was all really delicious -even the collards - and tender, and there were 4 yummkinds of sauce on the table I think. What was kindof odd was that his food was $20 and was a normal large portion. Mine was $17 and literally there was so much meat it was like a joke. I ate plenty of it that night, but brought so much meat home that I've had dinner once, Angeliki and I have had lunch once, and there is still more pork! I would guess a large carnivorous man might be able to eat it in 2 sittings if that were the goal, but I don't think anyone I know would require more than a third of this portion for a normal meal. I personally enjoy having leftovers but this is something that really annoys some people, and the prices are kindof steep if you're not saving your leftovers. Also odd that his food was so much less, though maybe that's the nature of ordering ribs. Anyway, definitely want to go back and try some other things there. |
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| Texas, I'm Here!!!!! |
[Dec. 8th, 2009|08:35 pm] |
Wednesday 12/9
KIMYA DAWSON
GRAHAM WILKINSON
DANNY MALONE
The Mohawk
912 Red River
Austin, TX
8pm All Ages $10
Thursday 12/10
KIMYA DAWSON
GRAHAM WILKINSON
THE SHORTEST DISTANCE
DANNY MALONE
1919 Hemphill
1919 Hemphill St.
Fort Worth, TX
7:30pm All Ages $6 |
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