Yo-Yo Ma

A bonus program in the Guilford College Bryan Series of lectures, Monday October 26 saw a concert performance and discussion session with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Third row seats in the orchestra pit. VIP, baby! It was intriguing and engaging. He discussed various levels and pockets of development in his life. I was mesmerized.

No embedding onto websites, so you have to go to YouTube for a brief discussion clip here. His main focus on performance was the Bach Cello Suite. He talked about it being the first cello piece he learned. He broke it down for us all. Pattern recognition is the foundation of most of life. Listen to the patterns. Listen to the repeating theme. Beautiful.

Washington, DC (again) - Sunday 10/25

Sunday was a relaxing day. Had to be at work Monday morning at 8am, but until then, I could squeeze as much Alexandria time as I could. The entire Brannon clan and I went out for brunch in Old Town on the water. A number of choices are at our disposal. Some of them were not open yet, so it whittled our list down somewhat. Where did we end up? At Chadwick's. French toast with strawberry cream cheese in between? Yes, please.

After brunch, Monica and I did some driving around checking out the real estate scene. Never know what might happen or where if anywhere I may end up. So I wanted to see what you would get for the cost. Eye-opening to say the least.

Afterwards, it got to be about 6:00pm, and time to head home. Sam is drugged, the Jeep is packed, and we hit I-95. 4 & 1/2 hours later, we're home and ready for bed. Another great Alexandria/DC weekend!

Washington, DC (again) - Saturday 10/24

Saturday, James and I were debating on where to have breakfast: the Brannons' for his world famous omelet, in DC at the Lincoln Waffle House for possibly the best sausage on the planet, or favorite haunt Ben's Chili Bowl. This decision was not to be taken lightly. The first meal of the day is an important one. What to do? Consume a famous homemade omelet??? Go across the street from Ford's Theater and have pancakes and the best sausage in the world? Or maybe, just maybe.....chili on U Street. Needless to say, with Metro travel time, by the time we got up to U Street, it would indeed be close enough to be considered lunchtime. Ben's it is!!! And what a delicious lunch it was...


From Ben's, we Metro'd back inward in DC to 7th and F. There's rumors of a particularly delicious beverage to be found at the District Chophouse: Bourbon Stout. So James and I bellied up to the bar, and ordered a couple of "warm up" pints before the grand finale: Bourbon Stout. Yum!!!
Satiated beyond belief, we walked over in the rain to the Newseum to make sure we got a good seat for a 4pm program: "The Future of News: Investigative Journalism...How Will It Survive?" The main attraction? An appearance by the man himself, Bob Woodward. Giddy! Being Newseum members, we RSVP'd to get first dibs on seating before the unwashed masses. And it worked. We were there about 3:00 and ended up in the front row on the floor. Nice. Perfect view of the interview. It was taped and will be broadcast sometime in January for PBS.

What I like to call "Take 1":


And what I like to call "Take 2" (with a YouTube upload since it's too large for Blogger):


And of course afterward, as a nightcap before heading back to Alexandria, a stop at Gordon Biersch for some fine schwarzbier. And the final photo of me with a girlie. James was on a mission to get my photo with whomever amongst the hotties he could find along our travels:

Washington, DC (again) - Friday 10/23

It's been a while, fair reader. Been quite busy around here. Trips out of town. Workin'. And a sudden debilitating case of a snottily clogged cranium. All have taken me away from my usual quiet time here with you on these pages. Never a dull moment for me. Let's catch up, shall we?

After work on Thursday October 22nd (yes, that's over 10 days ago) me and the pooches pile into the Jeep and travel one state northward to Alexandria, VA to crash at the Brannons. Late after arrival, James and I begin the first of our two cinematic critiques. We'd been arguing back and forth via telephone, email, and Facebook on the merits of Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil. I am firmly in the Kane camp, James in Evil's. Late, late Thursday...into the wee hours, and the cinematic gem Citizen Kane is in the books.

Early Friday morning after scarce sleep, and it's time to hit the Metro at Huntington Ave. to make my way into DC. First stop? The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. They were having a special exhibit on Charles Darwin and his travels, writings, and theories. Quite interesting. I'm always a sucker for a good museum exhibit. And I am always amazed at the cursory glance some museum-goers give the displays. I know I am a notoriously s-l-o-w museum visitor as I read everything, but some people looked as if they were speed walking through the place.

From here, I Metro it over to Capitol South and walk up to the Library of Congress, specifically the Thomas Jefferson building. Absolutely beautiful here. Unless you're a Congressperson or a researcher, you cannot actually enter the reading room. (I ask every time.) But still, they have some sort of exhibit going on all the time. And the tour is nice. Ornate and grand and a spectacle. All for books. The Library of Congress is yet another of the multitude of structures in DC that fascinate me. The architecture amazes me. Since my recent relationship meltdown, I found solace in a previous trip to DC and a book purchased there at the Hirshhorn Museum entitled How to be an Explorer of the World. It's full of tips and tricks to take note of the small things around you that you probably pass up countless times a day. Buildings in DC offer up a variety of discovery points and minutiae that thousands may miss. Like for example these chaps holding up the facade of the LOC:

Pretty cool. I always enjoy the quiet and solace of the LOC. The books and books that must lie in wait behind the scenes. Thomas Jefferson's donation to the new nation after a fire destroyed virtually all the original library. Awe-inspiring.


After the LOC, it was a few blocks walk northward past the Capitol, past the Supreme Court, to my destination near Union Station for a late lunch: Capitol City Brewing Co.





Belly full and thirst quenched, I hopped back on the Metro to the Smithsonian stop for that was the closest stop to my next destination, my favorite in all of DC: the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Without a car (or a tour bus) there's just no easy way to get there. So me and my plodding feet hoofed it from the Mall, past the Dept. of Agriculture, past the Holocaust Memorial, past the Bureau of Engraving & Printing, down to the tidal basin and around its edge to the (in my opinion) most stately of presidential memorials. I love it. So I walked and walked and walked, then made it up all the steps, then just sat and pondered and meditated for a while. I brought a Jefferson book or two for kicks, so after sitting quietly in the rotunda where his statue stands, I sat on the steps of the Memorial and read. Instead of reaching and searching for things to bring me joy, sometimes it's just the little things that do it: sitting on the steps in front of Jefferson, reading about Jefferson, seeing the Washington Monument across the basin, and watching the sun go down. Outstanding.



The sun goes down, it gets chilly, so it's time to walk all that way back to the Smithsonian stop and catch the Metro back to Alexandria. A full day in DC to say the least.

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet

Last Thursday, I got the crazy idea to drive over to Black Mountain, NC for a concert. Granted, my presence at a musical performance is not all that extraordinary. But this time it was a 2 & 1/2 hour drive one way to the west to Black Mountain, a lengthy concert, the 2 & 1/2 hour drive one way back to Greensboro, then a little thing called "work"at 8am the following morning. Ah screw it...ROCK AND ROLL!!!

The performer? The Jeff Coffin Mu'tet. Who is Jeff Coffin you ask? His website is here. He plays horn for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and I was introduced to him via the two Dave Matthews Band concerts I attended this past spring where he filled in on horns.

The venue? Pisgah Brewing Co. A quirky brewery set inside an industrial park. The bar is no nonsense, cash only. Plenty of Pisgah taps along with a smattering of guest taps. L-shaped bar with seats for about 20 or so. Oktoberfest, Red Devil, Porter, Solstice all made their way down my gullet throughout the course of the evening's festivities. And at $3.00 for a pint (or $5 for a higher gravity offering) it was easy on the wallet too. All organic brewing here. Means they have to be creative in their concoctions as not all ingredients they might want to use are certified organic. But what they do have at their disposal for ingredients turn into some phenomenal beer...as the medals on the wall would suggest.

The performance was outstanding. The garage doors were open, a fire was roaring in the center of the picnic tables outside, the beer was flowing, the hippies were out, and some funky jazz was permeating your essence and making your feet tap and your head bob. A late, late night that offered me 3 & 1/2 hours of sleep before work, but that's what a barrel of coffee is for. FUN!!!

Sorry the videos are so dark, but I'm sure you can get the idea with the music...

Zombieland

I'm a little behind on some of my entertainment "goings on", and for that gentle reader (all three of you) I wholeheartedly apologize. Took in some late night brain candy last week after work. Hit the pool hall (won just 1 out of 3) then a 11:30pm screening of guilty pleasure and comically bloody Zombieland.

The trailer:


Humanity is in ruins. Zombies now run rampant feasting on the living (or the recently deceased) for their sustenance. A few hearty humans have survived the traumatic turn of events and band together for survival and, well, the fun of zombie killing. Names mean nothing in this post-apocalyptic world, so to not to get too close, our heroes are known by their destinations: Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, etc. Just trying to make their way through and survive, they battle trust issues along their travels.

Frankly, a fun movie. Woody Harrelson is terrific. Jesse Eisenberg is great with his "how to" list of survival guide tips. A special guest star gives a jolt of comedic flair giving the cameo of all cameos. A solid Matinee.

Now limber up, perform some cardio, and find yourself a Twinkie.

Pretty Hate Machine

Twenty years ago today: October 20, 1989. NIN releases "Pretty Hate Machine". I am mesmerized. Life and concert-going as I know it changes drastically. From the old Cleveland Agora to my final show in Charlotte this year, NIN has been a mainstay. Trent Reznor may have gone off in a different direction after the "Wave Goodbye" tour, but the creation he spawned will live forever for me.

1. Head Like a Hole


2. Terrible Lie


3. Down In It


4. Sanctified


5. Something I Can Never Have


6. Kinda I Want To


7. Sin


8. That's What I Get


9. The Only Time


10. Ringfinger

I love Sarah Silverman.

Silversun Pickups in Charlotte

Saturday night and yet another concert. This time around it was to see the Silversun Pickups. The setting was the GORGEOUS Fillmore down in Charlotte. Photos of the venue are on Facebook here. Just beautiful. Chandeliers, tiered platforms to maximize your view of the stage, bars all around the perimeter. Just beautiful.

Local Charlotte band Sugar Glyder took the stage at 9:00pm. Nice. The lead singer sounded like a meld of Geddy Lee of Rush and Tommy Shaw of Styx. I liked 'em.

Next? Australian duo An Horse on stage at 10:00pm. A woman singer on guitar and a man on drums. Pounding rhythms from just two performers. She reminded me of Tanya Donelly of Belly. Again, I liked 'em.

Then, at 11:00pm, the main event: Silversun Pickups. Loud, grungey, reverb, noise, melodic, quiet, screaming, pulsing bass, violent drumming. WOW. Just such an invigorating show. At 1:00am I was in the Jeep, and at 2:20am I was home to let the dogs outside. This morning I awoke quite sluggish and with a hefty case of tinnitus. An incredible evening. Great show!!!

And to follow along with the lines of my many crushes, in the mold of the girl bass player, I go from (still) adoring Kim of the Pixies to adoring Nikki of SSPU. Ahhhh....

And I already have the glasses and beard like the SSPU keyboardist, so now I just need to get me a hat to complete the enemble.

An Evening with David Sedaris...in Greensboro

Row F, orchestra center, on the aisle...sweet seats for yet another of my groupie-esque arrivals at a David Sedaris reading. Yes. It's true. I am willing to spend gobs of money to listen, as he says, "to a middle-aged man read out loud."

David was in a particularly good mood tonight. Not sure if it was because he was back home to native North Carolina with family in the audience or what. But I've seen him in Raleigh, in Winston-Salem, in Charlotte, and those time he wasn't nearly as giggly and jovial as he was tonight. It was a treat to see him so happy.

A few short stories, a few diary entries, a bit of Q&A, it was your usual Sedaris evening. The first story was a new one concerning health care and demanding to "take my country back" with the wit of a right-leaning teabagger who is blindly convinced by her left-leaning son to wear not a sombrero with teabags dangling (that would be a tacit acceptance of illegals) but rather a conical hat with the term A.S.S.H.O.L.E. upon it. You know, A.S.S.H.O.L.E. "A Savvy Senior Hoping Obama Loses Everything". Started off the evening juuuuust right. And this time all the stories and essays and commentary stretched out to about two hours. I LOVED IT.

Here's a classic essay "Jesus Shaves" just to give you a taste of what I heard for two hours tonight, smiling every minute:

Garry Trudeau

Doonesbury in a Time of War.

Wednesday night was the first lecture in the 2009-10 Guilford College Bryan Series The American Experience. Doonesbury cartoonist and satirist Garry B. Trudeau was the speaker. The topic was his coverage of various wars from Vietnam to the present with main character D.B. and his multiple stints and tours in the military. For background and context of his strips, Trudeau makes it a point to go behind the scenes and immerse himself in the story. Trips to Kuwait, Walter Reed Army Hospital, etc. help give the story relevance. If memory doesn't fail me, it was a longer talk than previous ones. Full of historical Doonesbury strips on the screen to augment his talk and give a timeline. Vietnam, Grenada, the Cold War, Iraq I, September 11, Iraq II: all were topics of social commentary in 4 panels in the newspaper. An interesting lecture from an otherwise quiet and publicly mysterious satirist.

Here's a clip posted on the Bryan Series Facebook page (yes, even a lecture series has a Facebook page):

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1125525619636&ref=mf

Garry Trudeau—Wed., Oct. 7, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Garry Trudeau created the cartoon Doonesbury (in 1970), now syndicated to almost 1,400 newspapers worldwide. In 1975, he became the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer at the time, since it is traditionally awarded to editorial-page cartoonists. He was also a Pulitzer finalist in 1990. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1977 in the category of Animated Short Film. Trudeau has been called “far and away the most influential editorial cartoonist of our time.” He is married to the former broadcaster Jane Pauley and maintains a low personal profile.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Last Wednesday's movie extravaganza ended with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Three movies (tried to make it four) in one day. A wonderfully satisfying day.

The trailer:


I didn't see the 3-D version, just the regular. Sometimes those 3-D glasses give me a headache, so the regular version it was. A fantastical film of a young inventor whose concoctions didn't quiiiiite turn out well. Until,.....

Living on an island in the Atlantic, the Swallow Falls community lives off the sardine trade. A sardine cannery, fishing tackle, everything related to sardines keeps the island vibrant. Until the sardine demand plummets, leaving the town to subsist on their wares that won't sell. And suddenly the gray skies seem grayer, and the sardines become a drudgery to consume.

The savior is our young inventor, whose first successful invention turns water into food. And once the first cheeseburger rainstorm occurs, the island turns itself around. And of course, once a good thing happens, people want more. The mayor sees a cash cow and demands more and more. Can the invention handle the demand? What happens when people get all that they ask for? Can the proverbial day be saved?

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Really. Full Price for me.

9

This past Wednesday was mega-movie day. After Extract and lunch at Natty Greene's, the 2nd film of the day was 9.

The trailer:


An animated film concerning a post-apocolyptic world where machines have overtaken humans and nine little patchwork creations scurry about with their attempt to survive. A seemingly mix of The Terminator, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings.

Fascinating animation and a heavy story. What more would you expect when the name Tim Burton is involved? It had a dark story, but the similarities to Frodo (along with his voice) and the whole "I'm going to stay uber-positive during these dark times and we're gonna DO IT!" was a bit out of place for me. The visuals were stunning, the other parts not so much. Entertaining, yet I felt it could have been heavier and would have more to tell.

Matinee.

Extract

Had a day off Wednesday. I have been having a shitty work schedule lately, carving into my free time and my more enjoyable activities. So, to compensate, Wednesday saw a whopping three films viewed. THREE! It was to be four, but my dinner plans were skewed and it ran into the final 9:35pm showing of Movie #4. So three it was.

The trailer, including the final few seconds of it that just makes me laugh so hard I physically choke:


Mike Judge goes from Office Space to Extract. The boss as fool in 1999 to the boss as empathetic character in 2009. A potpourri of everyman (and woman) in the workplace environment, with Jason Bateman the approachable owner of a food flavoring extract company. Storylines not about the fantastically obtuse, but "regular" people. For example: the small business built from the ground up. Not a huge auto manufacturer, not an enormous plant, but a small town company where the CEO knows the names of everyone on the floor while they make and package a passion....food flavoring. The wife whose sweatpants equate to a chastity belt. The dreadfully dull chatterbox of a neighbor. The town's big name personal injury lawyer who's a big name because he advertises on bus benches.

Your everyday small town life, until a beautiful drifter rolls into town and turns everything on its head. The hardest part for me was to separate the voice. Mila Kunis does the voice of homely Meg on Family Guy, and it was difficult to see beauty with THAT VOICE come out.

This being said, it was struggling to make a Matinee score. HBO would probably suffice, but I'm feeling generous and will go for Matinee.

Spiced Winter Ale

In order to have this ready for the winter holidays, I went ahead and brewed this one up Saturday. Instead of my usual yeast starter in a growler and a vigorous shake whenever I walked by it, I got myself a new toy for the job: a magnetic stir plate. A constant stirring to introduce oxygen and get the highest cell count possible for brewday. And I have to say, after brewing was complete, it was an astounding 30 MINUTES before bubbling occurred in the blow-off tube. Wow. A good investment.

This holiday brew is spiced with a potpourri-esque concoction right at flame-out. Smelled delicious with all sorts of cinnamon and mace and nutmeg....your basic Christmas potpourri aromas.

As far as brewing environment, I was desperate for some fun and levity and brighter moods, so even though it was drizzling and at some points a steady rain, I set up my brewery regardless in the backyard by the patio and went to work. Well, "work".

The recipe:

1 lb. Simpsons Dark Crystal malt

6.3 lb. Gold Malt Syrup

1 lb. Light Dry Malt Extract

1 oz. East Kent Goldings hops, 5.3% AA, at 60 minutes

1 Whirlfloc tablet at 15 minutes to clarify

1/2 oz. mulling spices at 0 minutes

Safale S-04 yeast

Smelled delicious. The mulling spices came in a 1 oz. bag, so I am debating using the second 1/2 oz in secondary. This kit was from Northern Brewer, and after customer reviews, it was determined that a full ounce of spices at flame-out resulted in drinking perfume. I'm wavering on adding just a smidge more into secondary, but we'll see how it smells upon transfer next week.

The National Parks: America's Best Idea

Way back when on these very pages (specifically on July 12, 2008) I mentioned the news of Ken Burns's next documentary about the National Parks. Well, on Sunday September 27, 2009 it will finally arrive. The 6-day, 12-hour feature concerning these beautiful glorious places is upon us on PBS.

Everything Burns touches is mesmerizing to me. And this newest project will surely not disappoint. What a great week it will be next week to sit down for two hours a night and be cast under a spell.

"The parks represent our best selves."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

2009 Great American Beer Festival winners

Two North Carolina brewers bring home some medals. Woo-HOO!!!!!!

The entire list of winners can be found here. But more importantly, here are the winners from NC:

Category: 18 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer, 110 Entries
Bronze: Duck-Rabbit Barrel Aged Baltic Porter, The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, Inc., Farmville, NC

Category: 39 Baltic-Style Porter, 16 Entries
Gold: Duck-Rabbit Baltic Porter, The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, Inc., Farmville, NC

Category: 75 Imperial Stout, 56 Entries
Bronze: Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout, Foothills Brewing, Winston-Salem, NC

Congratulations to Paul and Jamie! You've done NC quite proud.

Red Oak brewery tour

To help shake out the cobwebs of a rather nauseating week, and to help get my mind back on track, I decided to do something fun and head over to Red Oak Brewery in Whitsett for their weekly Friday 3:00pm tour. It didn't really completely reset the brainwaves, but it kept my mind free from otherwise shitty thoughts and moodiness for an hour.

Your basic brewery tour, complete with shiny stainless steel and a re-hash of the brewing process for my umpteenth time. But for as many tours as I go on, as many stainless tanks I see, as many speeches about the brewing process I hear, they're all enjoyable regardless.

The different aspect from this tour however is that Red Oak is strictly a LAGER brewery. No ales. So the brewmaster tainted his speech to the wondrous beer that is a lager and frankly poo-poo'd many aspects of the ale.

- They abide by the German Purity Law of 1516 (the Reinheitsgebot) and only use malted barley, water, hops, and yeast. There are over FOUR HUNDRED possible additives and preservatives in those ale bastards! Oh the horror! What poisons! What crap! Quick, someone inform the Belgians!!!!

- Lagers ferment at a cooler temperature, resulting in less characteristics like the warm-temperature ale's fusels and esters. And hangovers and that "blah" feeling are a result of the ale by-products. Really? Seriously? Ale fusels and esters? Not from dehydration? Really?

- Never mind that in 1516 not ALL beers were lagers. There were certainly some ales brewed at warmer temps back then, but you would think that the cold-fermented lager has been around for 500 years.

Aside from the "yay lager / boo ale" rubbish, it was a neat tour. I always marvel at the brewery when driving past at night with those tanks lit up behind the enormous glass wall. Their beers are "meh" to me, but the process and their commitment to all-lager brewing is commendable. And the new bottling line was neat to see. Red Oak had up to now been strictly keg/draft sales only. Now they are reaching out to the bottled market in only 12-packs to cut down on paper use. Also, the bottles will be UV-inked so that you won't have to become ill from seeing a crooked paper label on the beer you buy.

Even with the frankly anti-ale propaganda spewed forth making it a bit much to choke down, it was a nice hour to get away from the muddled mess that is my current psyche.