The mini-explosion continues; carts and trucks, oh my!

Now that we're past a few days of rain, it's time to get your food-cart on! And you're in luck, because they are out. in. force. I know in places like New York, this is nothing new -- there, they even have food cart awards.. the Vendys! -- but it is notable here in San Francisco, where we've had a dirth of carts until fairly recently.

I'm mean, you've always been able to find a taco truck. And then there's the Tamale Lady, who, while not in a truck/cart, serves the same purpose (though perhaps with drunker clientele). Then the Bacon Dog Cart started showing up in the Mission..

And, recently, there's been a mini-explosion of "high-end" carts showing up around town over the past couple of months (well, mostly in the Mission). Yeah, you may have heard of -- or have seen -- the Magic Curry Kart, the Crème Brûlée Cart, or the Amuse Bouche Cart (which seem to be traveling together these days) in Dolores Park, or somewhere along 24th Street..

But we ain't done yet. In the next week or two, another will roam:

Chez Spencer chef takes French food to the streets

Yes, I'll take my skate braised with capers or frog's legs with curry on the street, where it belongs. haha. Oh -- you'll find this new cart/truck, "Spencer on the Go", in SOMA, near Terroir Natural Wine Merchant & Bar, spreading the foodie wealth outside of the Mission a bit; good show!

Library fines magically transform into burritos

Oh, you done wrong. Lost book(s). And that cool National Geographic DVD is nowhere to be found. At this point, you've probably amassed fines for more than $10.

Right? If so, you're effectively banned from (borrowing from) the library. Forever. (Or -- ahem -- until you cough up the bucks.)

~~~~

Not so fast!

The San Francisco Public Library just announced an "Overdue Fine Amnesty for Returned Materials", from May 3rd - May 16th. What this means is that you can return any overdue materials that you have at home during this two week period and not incur any library fines on them. Pretty cool; the last time they did this was 2001!

(Note that this amnesty does not erase any existing balance at the library, that is, for books/DVDs/etc. that you've borrowed+returned *before* the Amnesty period.)

In any case, I happen to have a couple of overdue DVDs in my possession -- "Being John Malkovich" and "Downfall" -- so this event comes at a great time.. basically saving me a burrito's worth of coin (and I'll potentially be able to add some extra avocado; green salsa please).

How many burritos will the Fine Amnesty save you? Find out the conditions/details at the SF Public Library's website.

Awkward, indeed.

Now I'm not saying this site is safe-for-work, but I *am* saying it's funny-fodder-for-a-slow-Saturday-night.. it's the Awkward Boners blog; check it!

File under "comedy"?

Well, at the least, I can say, "we've all been there" -- at least to the guys -- but, shizz, do have you had it captured on camera (or video)? haha. I feel like this sort of thing was more of an issue in high school? Or maybe in high school it was more a topic of conversation?

Maybe it was because I wore more sweatpants back then?

Anyhoo.. do you have a memorable awkward boner story? Write about that shizz in the comments; get it off your chest, score some karma points. And if you have a picture, well, you know where to go..

~~

Thanks to Thrillist New York for, um, pointing the way (to the site).

I'm interested in a strawberry fight

You know what would be awesome?

Having a dj at my next party.

Hmm.. but given space and noise-level restrictions at the ol' apartment, that's probably not going to happen. (Sad, I know.)

All is not lost, though; what would be second-tier-awesome is to get my hands on a projector and throw this video of Adrian Lux mixing his Vanity Fair #2 mixtape up on my living room wall. I'd be cool; a so-fresh dj in my house for the greatest hour ever; people would talk (in a good way). haha.

Adrian Lux - live mix of Vanity Fair #2
http://www.discobelle.net/2009/03/14/adrian-lux-vanity-fair-2-mixtape-video/ (video)

The video is courtesy of the show "Svartklubb" on Swedish cable channel Z-TV (which I found through the Discobelle blog, purveyor of all things Swedish-music.. really, purveyors of good music all over the world!). I hope they keep up taping/posting these mix sessions; I dig something about the setup, so simple and cute; I dig the black background and the Hackers graphics (I love that movie, by the way). ;)

~~~

But yeah.. when's this Adrian Lux fellow coming to tour in the US? I'm interested in a bikeride and a strawberry fight (video); it's been awhile.

Hotel options I could get down wit'

My parents are coming through San Francisco next month and, as a good son, I'm doing a little research for them on where they should stay here in the city. They've made several pilgrimages to SF over the years, and have been guests at a wide variety of places, including various Holiday Inns on one end and smaller European-style bed and breakfast's like the Red Vic and the Hayes Valley Inn on the other. (I try to steer them towards some of the local flavor contained in the latter choices.)

They've enjoyed all these places, even with their quirks (or perhaps because of them); who doesn't get a kick out of the many young mid-western punk panhandlers in the Upper Haight? That said, my mom requested recommendations for something more, um, familiar (and with an elevator) this time around; so in that vein, I've been looking at straight-up, modern, city hotels.. while still trying to given them a unique SF experience.

In the course of the research, I came across an article on "The Coolest Hotel Designs in California", as chosen by California Home + Design magazine. In fact, a couple of the hotels I was looking at for my parents are actually on this top-10 list: Good Hotel and Hotel Frank; and rooms in either can be had for about $100. Cool stuff.

Here's the full tenner:

1. Good Hotel in San Francisco
2. Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles
3. Custom Hotel in Los Angeles
4. Hotel Frank in San Francisco
5. Viceroy in Palm Springs
6. Ivy Hotel in San Diego
7. Thompson Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills
8. The Standard Hotel in Los Angeles
9. The Parker Palm Springs in Palm Springs
10. Hotel Tomo in San Francisco

Yeah, so given that this list covers the whole of California, it's got *my* imagination going to maybe do some hotel-exploration myself (with at least one other partner-in-crime, natch); and the ones down in Palm Springs are especially appealing to me. You see, I could always -- always -- use a nice cocktail-by-the-pool after a few days of hard climbing and camping in nearby Joshua Tree National Park. haha. And beyond the two hotels mentioned above, a commenter on the original article says to check out the Ace Hotel as well.. and from their website, I think that's another solid option I could get down wit'.

To the desert! In style!

Ready To Be Strepped?

I skipped the December "cycle", but I'm back with a new mix for the Spring edition of my mix-CD-by-mail club. Let's call this one "Strep Out Onto (the Dancefloor)".

Tracklist:

01. If I Know You - The Presets (video)
02. Shooting Stars - Bag Raiders (blog)
03. Little Bit (AutoErotique Bootleg Remix) - Lykke Li (blog)
04. Strawberry (Kocky & Trash Remix) - Adrian Lux (blog)
05. The Electric Road - Morgan Page vs. Lifelike (blog)
06. Dawn of the Dead (Station X Remix) - Does It Offend You, Yeah? (blog)
07. Black History Month (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix) - DFA 1979 (blog)
08. Anything, Anything - Dramarama (video)
09. Ceremony - New Order (video)
10. Heartbreaker - Metronomy (blog)
11. Kelly (Lifelike Remix) - Van She (blog)
12. Kilometer (Moulinex Remix) - Sebastien Tellier (blog)
13. Let's Call It Off (Girl Talk Remix) - Peter Bjorn & John
14. We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off - Jermaine Stewart (video)
15. Hold Me (Breakbot Remix) - Pacific! (blog)
16. Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson (video)
17. Goodbye Horses - Q Lazzarus (blog)
18. Iran So Far - Andy Samberg & Adam Levine (video) **

** This last track doesn't fit on the CD, so it's an, um, web-only bonus. That's probably for the best because the video brings those love-lorn lyrics to life! Besides, the laugh-track embedded in the song makes a lot more sense that way. haha.

~~~~~~

Into the mail with you!

If you're interested in a copy, let me know.

Run straight down to the SFMOMA for Dystopia

The SFMOMA's next film series, "The Future of the Past: Utopia/Dystopia, 1965-1984", starts TODAY and runs Thursdays and Saturdays through April 25th.

Mar 7th @ 1pm: Westworld, 1973 (video)
Mar 7th @ 3pm: Logan's Run, 1976 (video)
Mar 12th @ 7pm: Logan's Run, 1976 (video)
Mar 21st @ 1pm: Soylent Green, 1973 (video)
Mar 21st @ 3pm: A Clockwork Orange, 1972 (video)
Mar 26th @ 7pm: A Clockwork Orange, 1972 (video)
Apr 2nd @ 7pm: Fantastic Planet, 1973 (video)
Apr 4th @ 3pm: Fantastic Planet, 1973 (video)
Apr 9th @ 7pm: Stalker, 1979 (video)
Apr 11th @ 1pm: Stalker, 1979 (video)
Apr 16th @ 7pm: Alphaville, 1965 (video)
Apr 18th @ 1pm: Sleeper, 1973 (video)
Apr 18th @ 3pm: Fahrenheit 451, 1966 (video)
Apr 23rd @ 7pm: Fahrenheit 451, 1966 (video)
Apr 25th @ 1pm: Alphaville, 1965
Apr 25th @ 3pm: 1984, 1984 (video)

While I have heard of most of these movies (and their place in pop culture), I've really only seen one: A Clockwork Orange.

A Clockwork Orange. Wow. I've got a weird association with that movie from high school: whenever I was hanging with a certain group of friends we'd start watching that movie only to get through the first half hour or something.. at which point our attention would turn towards more pressing matters like stealing lawn ornaments or driving around in circles while yelling random shizz out the car windows all night. We had our priorities. ahem.

Yeah, so, I assumed the whole movie was about chronicling the misadventures, ultraviolence and all, of Alex -- "Your Humble Narrator" -- and his crew. Little did I know, at the time, that it wasn't a futuristic snuff film, that it would, instead, be posing questions about, for example, the nature of man's free-will and the need to balance individual freedoms versus social stability (and if that needs to be the zero-sum game it's so often portrayed as). I don't think I was ready to tackle those subjects in high school anyway; hmm.. maybe that's why we never got past the first third of the film?

In any case, I'm planning on checking out at least one of these films, with "Stalker" at the top of the list. But depending on how my schedule shakes out over the next couple of weeks, I may try for "Sleeper", "1984", or -- yes, I could use a refresher on it -- "A Clockwork Orange" too (especially given a personal appreciation for language -- in many forms -- developed over the past couple of years).

~~~

Whoa! "Westworld" is about to start! Run straight down to the SFMOMA; you've got 10 minutes..

Ten until The Twelves

I'm definitely a big fan of The Twelves; you may know this.. I've mentioned them a few times, for example, here and here. I even flew over to NYC last December to see them live at the Famous Friends 1st Anniversary party (and get wasted on Red Bull and vodkas -- whoa!, flashback -- hey.. it wasn't my idea initially, but I bought into it very quickly). Let me just say that you should ask for the "big cup" when ordering drinks at Club Europa. haha.

In any case, they be back on tour in US; and I'm seeing them again, this time in San Francisco. You should too.

> The Twelves at 103 Harriet; doors at 9pm.
> http://www.blasthaus.com/calendar.html#twelves

The show was announced after I had posted my last concert list; place The Twelves between Cut Copy and Simian Mobile Disco, date-wise.

Mar 12th: Cut Copy @ The Fillmore
Mar 14th: The Twelves @ 103 Harriet
Mar 15th: Simian Mobile Disco @ Mezzanine

As for what-we're-in-store-for -- if I, ahem, remember correctly -- The Twelves live show had a few more bangers than I was expecting at the time, given the spacey Fred-Falke-esque remixes I had heard from them up until then. But the opening dj's had gotten everyone in good spirits and into the groove. And anyways.. I can definitely get into a night of bangers in and of themselves.. especially when there is some disco-ee-electro-shizz thrown in there for good measure. These guys can mix!

~~~~~

ps. Tickets for Devendra Banhart (video) at The Independent go on sale this Sunday at 10am PST; show is on April 14th.

Your new single speed is $252, today only!

I've wanted to replace my commuter roadbike* -- an old Cinelli from the mid-80's -- for probably about a year now.

I mean, it's been a great workhorse over the years (especially in the days when I was Caltraining it down to Mountain View and then riding over to Santa Clara for work most of the workweek), but the frame has always been *slightly* too small for me.. and, well, it just never fit 100%. We even had a little tiff back in July -- and this was the final straw with respect to me riding this bike regularly -- involving an attempted sprint through a SOMA traffic light, a rear derailleur failure, and, ultimately, a trip to the emergency room for my first real stitches. (Oddly enough, no actual crash happened; I stayed on my bike through the whole episode and, in fact, rode most of the way to the hospital. Can you guess what happened?)

Yeah.. so I've had my eye out for a well-fitting road or cyclocross bike ever since; I've even considered getting a single-speed (with a freewheel, thank you very much). I know, me getting over my aversion to the too-cool(-but-usually-not-deservedly-so) style of the single-speed here in the city: whoa! And, haha.

Admittedly, I haven't really tried too hard to make a purchase because I still have two *other* bikes.. bikes which basically fit most of my two-wheeled needs these days: a dusted-up-but-so-solid citybike (i.e. one I can feel ok about locking up around town), and a great 2006 Giant TCR C1 roadbike for my long(ish) rides (and very occasional race) up in the Marin "countryside".

But today; today, I came across a deal-almost-too-good-to-pass-up at performancebike.com:

Scattante Emerald City Single Speed Road Bike
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?sku=26052

Right now, it's on sale for $280; and with a today-only 10% discount, this bike is $252.. down from an original price of $599. For real. (By the way, Scattante is the house brand of Performance Bike, not some fancy Italian shizz.)

I've tried to do a little online research to see what folks' thought of it, but I didn't really come up with too much. The Bikes for the Rest of Us blog wrote a post about it, but didn't *review* it. And the Blog Snob NYC railed on the whole Performance Bike "Courier Series" (of which the Emerald City is a part), but, again, didn't say too much about the actual bike itself. I'm just looking for some comments in the way of its comfort or speed or durability.. or just it's general utility/value.

Man, it's $252.

So cheap. And Performance Bike has a pretty good return policy. In fact, I just chatted with customer service and if I need to switch the bike for a different frame size there's no restocking fee; you just take it to the store and do an exchange, even if you've ordered the bike online (they may not have a replacement bike in-store, but in this case, you just have to wait for them to order it).

I'm on the fence; my main concern is that if I'm going to get another bike, I should get something more versatile (read: more gears!) for any future long commutes, cyclocross or touring opportunities.. or whatever. More gears = peace of mind? Yeah, but, that said, I'd have to drop at least $800 for something decent in one of those categories.

In any case, I have until midnight to decide (at least if I want to take advantage of today's extra 10% off online coupon).. so, on the off chance that anyone has any knowledge/experience on the Emerald City here, let me know asap!

~~~~

* That's not me in the picture. ;0

Ура! for Spilled Pants

Looks like you're talking to a college dropout. (Yeah -- another one.)

Last week, I dropped the Russian Culture class (en anglais) I was taking at CCSF; I had missed two weeks in a row due to some work commitments and just wasn't interested enough in the subject to bust my ass to catch up. I mean, the class -- while taught by an awesome teacher -- was always just a stand-in for my desire to take a Russian *language* class this semester (i.e. one that was, sadly, not offered on the night school schedule).

In any case, I made a deal with myself to spend this newly-freed time in the week studying Russian again. So, I've been going back to my old Russian textbooks (with online videos), my ripped Russian CDs on the ol' iPod, my memories of Чебурашка, and otherwise trying to surround myself with the language.

Beyond those more, um, scholarly methods, I lucked out this past week and happened across a music blog written in both English and Russian; so, I can study *while* still deep in the blogosphere, searching for new shizz:

Spilled Pants.
http://myspilledpants.blogspot.com/

Even if you have no interest in the русский язык, this site posts some great (dancey) stuff on a fairly regular basis; and his Blogroll is handy: see the latest updates from Discobelle, Trash Menagerie, and other like-minded blogs, all in one place.

Ура!

If you're going to do chicken soup, do it with dumplings

Cabbage.

Like the actual, wrinkly-round, vegetable. (Nevermind any other uses of the term.) For the past couple of weeks, I've been getting heads of cabbage in my CSA box.. and, well, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I've let a couple go to waste.

One of the things I like about getting the CSA box is that I'll receive fruits and vegetables that I normally wouldn't buy myself (in addition to many that I would).. and this becomes a forcing function to get out of my culinary comfortzone, to discover new recipes or cooking techniques. But my ambition waned with this cabbage business..

Weird, because I'm generally a fan of the stuff; I really love good sauerkraut. Right out of the jar.

In any case -- as luck would have it -- I stumbled upon an awesome chicken soup recipe (with chive dumplings!) at chow.com earlier this week; it was part of their "Cooking with Winter Ingredients" feature, which included, among many other fruits and veggies, the venerable cabbage. I modified the recipe slightly to amp up the vegetables and reduce the chicken a little bit; here's my version of "Easy Chicken and Chive-Dumpling Soup":

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VEGGIE1
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, small dice
3 medium celery stalks, small dice
6 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2t crushed red pepper
salt and pepper

CHICKEN
8c low-sodium chicken broth
2t poultry seasoning
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces

DUMPLING
2c all-purpose flour
1/3c fresh chives, thinly sliced
1T kosher salt
2T baking powder
2/3c 2% milk
1/3c crème fraîche
3T unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

VEGGIE2
3 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 large head savoy cabbage, large dice (about 6 cups)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Heat oil in a large, shallow pot over medium-high heat (I used a cast-iron dutch oven). When oil shimmers, add all the VEGGIE1 ingredients and season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook until onions begin to soften, about 5 minutes.

2. Add CHICKEN ingredients and bring to a boil.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, chives, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl to break up any lumps. In a separate bowl, mix the rest of the DUMPLING ingredients: milk, crème fraîche, and butter. Once combined, add these wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix until dough just comes together (it will be very thick).

4. When chicken is cooked through (it will be firm and opaque), add VEGGIE2 ingredients, reduce heat to medium low, and add additional salt and pepper if necessary.

5. Drop 1 heaping tablespoon of dough at a time into the soup and repeat until all dough has been used. Cover and cook until dumplings are fluffy and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

(Find the original version of the recipe here.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The soup came out really well; the dumplings make it hardy and memorable. And I definitely recommend making it on a chilly, rainy, or otherwise inclement night because it's going to hit the spot on multiple levels. If you can, share it with friends (although the only downside to that idea is that you probably won't have any leftovers). haha.

My experience.. Monday night, found this recipe online, made a few calls, sent a few txt's; and Tuesday night, I had 10 SF peeps in my kitchen, um, chowing down. I can assure you: it wasn't my company that they were after.. it was the free soup. Apparently, the economy *is* that bad after all! ;)

Weather the storm with soup; I'll join you.

The only threat I see..

It's been 30 years since the Islamic Revolution when, in 1979, Iran transformed itself from a constitutional monarchy into an Islamic republic. While I know very little about the event and its long aftermath (still ongoing), it's pretty straightforward to discern that there have been many successes (ex. education and health care) and failures (ex. religious/political oppression and the economy) along the path to yesterday's rally in Tehran celebrating its anniversary.

It's been 30 years of cold-to-very-cold relations between Iran and the US; the countries have been headbutting most recently over the funding of terrorist organizations (ex. Hezbollah) as well as the development of a (civilian-only?) nuclear program.. nevermind last week's satellite launch. But with a new US administration in place (Obama! et. al.), there is potential for a subtle warming. Long overdue.

In a televised address, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "promised that if the United States was truly serious about changing the countries’ relations, then Iran was ready to respond in kind." Read more at the NYTimes..

Iran Offers ‘Dialogue With Respect’ With U.S.
By Nazila Fathi
Published: February 10, 2009

Who knows what will come of this sort of nice-talk (on both sides). But certainly we got to start somewhere..

~~~~

In any case, the lightening tone (too hopeful?) of Iran-US relations has put the country back on my radar for, um, vacation travel.. potentially later this year, or, more likely, next. (Traveling through Iran initially came up in discussions with a travel buddy during my sabbatical planning in 2007; we went to Russia and the lovely Kyrgyzstan instead.)

In an effort to bolster my general knowledge about traveling in the country -- I really know zero about Iran -- I borrowed the new Lonely Planet (5th Ed.) from the library last week; and I'm starting to ask friends/acquaintances if they have any contacts or advice. Plus -- conveniently enough -- Iran borders a couple of other cool places on my ol' international to-do list: Azerbaijan and Armenia.. so I could potentially knock off a couple (with the addition of Грузия, natch) on one big trip.

Wait. Wait.. wait! Stop the presses..

Who am I kidding?; this is the real reason why I want to go to Iran..

Iran So Far (video)
(An SNL Digital Short)

From Andy; to Mr. Ahmadinejad: "You can deny the Holocaust all you want, but you can't deny that there's something between us." Oh man.. hahaha.

~~~~

This may all end up being an exercise in daydreaming, but we'll see. I've been known to make shizz like this happen on occasion. ;) I mean, southwestern Russia and the Caucuses are still the tops on my international travel list, but Iran is a rising star (with respect to sparking my imagination). So, if you *do* have any experience with the country, especially in the northwest -- say, Tabriz, Rasht, or the surrounding areas -- let me know. Ultimately, though, I'm open to it all; any and all advice is welcome. ;)

Got 2 B Down

Keepin' this short-and-sweet..

I got tickets for a few of these shows already, but if you're interested and any of them, let me know; I'd be down:

Feb 6th: Matthew Dear @ Mighty
Feb 7th: Tim Sweeney + Mike Simonetti @ Paradise Lounge
Feb 15th: Lykke Li @ The Fillmore
Feb 17th: Post Ventura @ Cafe du Nord
Feb 21st: Unicrons launch party @ Mezzanine
Feb 25th: Stephen Malkmus (solo) @ GAMH
Mar 1st: Veil Veil Vanish @ Bottom of the Hill
Mar 12th: Cut Copy @ The Fillmore
Mar 15th: Simian Mobile Disco @ Mezzanine
Mar 19th: MSTRKRFT@ The Independent
Mar 26th: Tricky @ Mezzanine
Mar 28th: Pelican @ Slims
Apr 15th: Crookers + the Bloody Beetroots @ Mezzanine
Apr 16th: The Presets @ Mezzanine

Are you down?

Drink some cherry wine!

I did some massive archiving/cleaningup of my laptop harddrive last week, mostly a ton of music to an external drive (or deleting the unlucky altogether). And before I knew it, I had kept only a few selected CDs and mixtapes downloaded over the past year or two; hundreds of others bit the dust..

So this was the elite.

Among those left digitally-intact on the ol' laptop was the "We Are the Future Mix", by Futurecop; I had found it back in July on the everspring-of-dopeness that is the Disco Dust blog. (I need to dig through those archives for my next mix! Soon!)

"We Are the Future" starts with the warbled piano (piano?) of "Borderline" by Madonna. And that pretty much sets the stage for this epic-80's-lovefest. C'mon.. one of the middle tracks is "Hungry Eyes"?!

I mean, none of the songs are going to blow your mind; they are all familiar (to most), yet slightly obscure (for anyone in their, ahem, early 30's or younger, anyway). In fact, it sounds like the whole thing could have been mixed by your buddy-with-the-turntables playing at your houseparty. Maybe that's the appeal?

Yeah -- this mix would be awesome at your next houseparty.

No crazy technical whizz-bang; but after a few listens, you come to realize that this simplicity fits with the vibe of the songs themselves (i.e. songs from a "simpler time"). And, somehow, the whole is so much more than its FM-lite constituents..

In short, it's not brain (um, ear?) food, but it's totally fun; here's the tracklist:

1. Madonna – Borderline
2. Cameo – Word Up (video)
3. Phil Collins – Sussudio
4. Belinda Carlisle - We Want The Same Thing
5. Janet Jackson – Principle Pleasure (video)
6. Jermaine Stewart – We Don't Have To Take Clothes Off (video)
7. Futurecop! – Tonight's Hero
8. Eric Carmen - Hungry Eyes (video)
9. Bruce Hornsby – The Long Race
10. Kenny Loggins – St Elmo's Fire
11. Robert Tepper – No Easy Way Out
12. Simple Minds – Don't you (Forget About Me)
13. Futurecop! – Transformers
14. Robbie Robb – In Time (Futurecop! Edit)

And the funnest -- the funnest! (funniest?) -- part of all comes in at minute 11:55.. Jermaine Stewart lets us know that he's not a piece of meat on "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off". A little bit silly, yes; but it's oh-so-catchy.

Drink some cherry wine! Check the video here. (video)

I've basically been playing it non-stop for the past two weeks. Really! Yeah, so, beyond any hipsterbusiness I download from the music blogs over the next couple of months, this song is definitely going on the next mix. I gotta. haha.

~~~~

Branching off, you'll find a couple remakes (tributes?) of "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" on youtube; most are crap, but I actually like this poprock version by Lil' Chris:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGVqEDk9YpE (video)

I mean, his voice is a little too young and emo (for lack of a better word) and the production is a little too "clean" for my tastes, but I can get beyond those things. To start, I love the na-na-na part of the chorus up front, and, besides, the filled-out band sound (guitars, drums, etc.) really works. Overall, this version makes for a totally different vibe, but still captures the essence of the original for a new audience. Naiveté is universal! haha.

Oh -- one last Jermaine Stewart-related thing.. do not adjust your television set (um, computer screen) for this last video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGVqEDk9YpE (video)

There is no irony in its creation or delivery; it's just a totally tripped-out piece of work (in the best way possible.) hahahah.

Huh.. I think it *does* have artistic merit, regardless of the director's (danceyman's?) intention. At the least, it could (should!) be employed as a wonderful hypnosis device; add some research-grade ecstasy, and let the healing begin! Amen! And hallelujah. haha.

Yeah -- we gotta get this thing into the MOMA (SF or NYC); if I'm not mistaken, I think they're trying to bolster their respective video art collections. This shizz is gold.. nice one, Christopher Reynolds (i.e. the young man *feeling* the music in that last video); I'm willing to share any tribute payment MOMA bestows on me for such a quality submission. ;)

Watch out for flying spoons, at Humphry Slocombe

When I was younger, I didn't like cake. Yeah: a kid that didn't like cake! Whaa?

Even at my elementary school birthday parties -- wow: I can still remember the feel, the snap, of the cheap stretchy string that held cone birthday hats on our heads, the same cheap stretchy string that could also be used to launch various projectiles at a younger brother or sister -- yeah, my mom would get me an ice cream cake from the local Carvel, black cookie crumbs sometimes pressed into the sides. The spread also included sickly-sweet sherbert from Pathmark, served directly out of their clear plastic containers.

No cake.

While I've grown, over the years, to like a selected variety of cakey things -- give me ginger or carrot or lemon anything -- I've never lost that love affair with ice cream. In high school, I used to eat it by the half-gallon (rocky road, natch). Whew! But cut to 2009; and while I'm still into the stuff, I indulge in MUCH smaller quantities, refined quantities.

I got my latest fix just last week at Humphry Slocombe, a new, innovative ice cream shop in the Mission. Folks on yelp, on chowhound, on dailycandy -- not to mention in the local print -- are writing up a storm about it. Have you been? Have you been? Have you been?

Humphry Slocombe is the buzz of the town, it seems.

And, I think, with good reason.

First, you gotta check out the list of flavors that they have made or will make. At any given time, they will be selling maybe 12 or so of them (which seems to be the limit of the freezer in the front), with some favorites always on-the-ready and a rotating cast of, um, creamy-dreaminess(-and-sometimes-whimsiness).

I'm looking at you, foie gras, and, you, Andante chevre + strawberry jam.

On my particular visit, I got to sample quite a few of the offerings (the scooper seems to be patient enough to allow you to sample pretty much as many as you want -- on a quiet night, anyway): the Guiness gingerbread, the Valrhona fudgesicle, the Blue Bottle Vietnamese coffee, the balsamic caramel, the olive oil, and the Secret Breakfast.

Without getting into individual reviews, my lasting impression is that the ice cream of Jake Godby -- owner/chef of Humphry Slocombe -- really embodied the ingredients. And given their high quality, this makes for a wonderful experience for the palate. Tummy too.

Now, I'm not saying that you'll like all the flavors -- for example, the balsamic caramel wasn't for me (I'm not a fan of vinegar tang in general) -- but you're going to really like something. Even for the ones that aren't totally up your alley, you're going to appreciate the flavors on an academic level (well, maybe if you're like me and occasionally dabble in foodie-dom); you'll say, "I've never had this flavor of icecream before"; or, "this flavor has never been captured in icecream so well". Word.

Well, like I said, I ain't the first one to say it, but here goes: check this place out! Humphry Slocombe, on the west side of Harrison St., a tad north of 24th Street (map).

You'll see a few tables outside.

You might even see me there, Secret Breakfast in hand.. er, dish. One warning though: if I'm wearing a cone birthday hat with one of those elastic string things, watch out for flying spoons. Whap!

Fluo Kids: keep the pics coming; music too

Since when do I wax French? Since never.

(Waxing French *people* is another matter.) Damn girl, I will s’il vous plaît. For reals. Wait!; I mean..

Nevermind; yes, I should save any discussion of waxing *anything* for a future post.. probably in the less-titillating context of endurance sports (ex. biking or swimming).

Ahem; where was I?

~~~~~~~

My lack of Francotextual knowledge doesn't stop me from getting off on the dancey track postings at the Fluo Kids music blog. It's straight dope, through and through, and that sort of thing pretty much translates in any language. In fact, they've been one of my go-to's for new-new music for the past year or so. (Sorry to keep it a secret for so long.) haha.

And with the emergence of the Diamond Street radio show this past September -- produced by some of the contributors to the Fluo Kids blog -- I really can't keep it to myself anymore, at least not in good conscience.

Already, they've got five episodes out and available for download; listen now! Find them at Fluo Kids, of course, or, more directly, at their myspace page.

Episodes seem to come out every 2-4 weeks.

Ah yes -- let me note that even as the blog commentary and radioshow is in the French (95% of it, anyway), most of the music is in English. For example, check the track list for the most recent episode (Saison 1, Episode 5):

Kleerup - Until We Bleed (feat. Lykke Li)
Happy Burger - Pizza All Around
Cheap Time - Glitter And Gold
Miami Horror - Don't Be On With Her
Del Shannon - Gemini (Pilooski edit)
Flight - Crackerjack Woman
Clinton Sparks - Still Got It 4 Cheap (feat. The Clipse & Pharrell)
Jay Z - Brooklyn Go Hard (feat. Santogold)
Dj Mujava - Township Funk (Radioclit remix)
A1 Bassline - Girl Thing
Octet - Euros Vs. Dollars (Pilooski edit)
Hot Chip - Touch Too Much (Fake Blood remix)
Tommie Sparks - Im A Rope (Yuksek remix)
Brodinski - Oblivion (Noob remix)
Digitalism - Home Zone (Proxy remix)
Meterhead - Biggie Dance (inst.)
Jesse Rose - Forget My Name (feat. Hot Chip)
Santogold - Say A ha (Phones remix)

In short, I gotta add these guys to the "Aural Delites" link listing over on the side there. That's it!; gotta keep my own shizz fresh, right?

And speaking of fresh, did you check out the pictures that the Fluo Kids post with each blog entry?.. snapshots of goodlooking young women frolicking in fields or rocking-out in clubs or whatever; the occasional racy photo doesn't hurt either. Do they take those themselves? If you read French and can find that out on their site, please let me know! haha.

For me -- and maybe this is because I can't read the postings -- the pictures became one of the main attractions; they allowed the blog to stand out among a cast of hundreds out there on the 'net. "Oh yeah -- Fluo Kids is the French music blog with the (tasteful) pics of hot chicks on it." To be honest, I think that was the only reason why I started going there regularly at first. haha. But now, it's straight-up for the music -- especially the Diamond Street entries.

That said, keep the pics coming. ;)