Author Archive
Just Being Pure
When I was in college, drinking way too much, and generally under the impression that my life was coming irrevocably unglued, I had a professor assign The Basketball Diaries. This professor divided the class, where we sit, upon our self-perceived ideological lines. We could switch whenever, if our mood changed. Real liberal arts college stuff.
In the course of reading the book, towards the end, after the part where our protagonist and his friends go and get blown by some uptown Boricua trannies for drug money, the professor asked who supported Mr. Carroll’s lifestyle. After some snickering and some wise-ass hands being raised, he asked why the conservative side of the room did not unanimously support Mr. Carroll’s MO.
The right side of the room spat out the usual excuses, ‘Duh, he’s a deviant, junkie, chauvinist, thief, bum, poet etc. etc.’
The professor did not disagree. ‘But,’ he noted ‘he did it himself.’ All-City basketball (which at that time in NYC, would have been regarded as All-World), teenage poetry savant, hustler, drug addict, recovering drug addict, relapsed drug addict, artist. Fuck, read the book.
And read his poetry.
Listen to the ‘Catholic Boy’ record and ‘Pools of Mercury’.
He did it himself. And made it work. Most of it is very good, some of it is great.
Jim Carroll died on 9.11.o9
I get the impression he was more comfortable writing than reading
And the Official Summer Jam of 2009 is……….
Given that I have what is generally regarded as absolutely impeccable taste in absolutely everything, I have taken it upon myself to select the hottest jam for the summer of 2009, which is is nearly upon us. Without further ado, the Official Summer Jam of 2009 is………..the song ZERO! It is the first song on the new Yeah yeah yeahs album which is called ‘It’s Blitz’.
There are many reasons this song is good. Unfortunately, it is not a Smashing Pumpkins cover. If, the 3xYeahs started off their much anticipated new album with a Smashing Pumpkins cover, it would be the most bad ass thing to ever happen ever. But they didn’t. It is a downright kickin’ dance number, however, and no summer dance party will be complete without it.
While I have not been a huge 3xYeahs fan in the past. I like this new album very much. As many people know, the 3xYeahs do not have a bass player. It is a completely unforgivable sin to be in a rock band and not have a bass player. No exceptions.
To circumvent this immutable law of the world, the 3xYeahs have made the wise decision to create more synth-based dance songs. It is A-OK for a synth/dance band to not have a bass player. The new Depeche Mode album is really good, too.
Did you ever go to a coffee shop, maybe when you were 18, 19, or 20. Maybe after drinking fruit flavored St. Ides malt beverage in the alley down the street, and see some folksy singer-songwriter girl and think she was pretty cute, but wish she would drop this whole Goddess/Faerie folksy trip and hang out and drink some fruit flavored St. Ides malt beverage in the alley down the street from the coffee shop and have some fucking fun for once. Well, Karen-O singer of the 3xYeahs is that girl. Yeah, she gets a bit sensitive now and again, and is probably still a vegetarian. But she can hold her own at a party. Or in the alley down the street from the coffee shop.
There are also other songs. Some are good, some really good, some not as good. But, brevity being the soul of wit, I will spare us all.
For those who wouldn’t otherwise. Here is the Official Summer Jam of 2009, in a video which someone made using some 2nd Life type BS.
If you think you’re wasting your life, give this a whirl. You’re doing just fine.
Now is that something, or what? Killer song, though.
Don’t fuck this one up.
Really Good Chicken with Squash and Gnocchi
Okay, so this isn’t an automatic get you laid dinner, but it will impress the family. And really, if you cook this for a date, they should lay you because it’s some really good, somewhat classy comfort food.
You will need:
4 Whole Chicken Legs (or 2 of those game hens they sell at New Seasons, which are WAY BETTER than regular chicken) Cut the thighs and legs apart or halve the game hens.
1-2 Butternut Squash, or whatever kind you’ve got, but butternut works best
1/4 lb of Bacon or Pancetta cut up into 1/2 inch pieces
A large yellow onion, chopped
Handful of Sage
1 Bag Gnocchi (or make your own if you are a true baller)
A small piece of REAL Parmiggiano Reggiano (don’t half-ass this and get the cheap stuff!)
Rinse of your chicken, pat dry, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put it on a pan, cover it and put it in a 325 oven for about 15-20 min, ’til it’s not quite done. Less time if you got the hens.
Peel your squash and chop it up into shapes resembling large french fries, like the kind you get at Red Robin. Line them up next to each other so they fit snugly into a pan. Toss the onion over that and the pork product. Drizzle of olive oil, salt pepper, cover with alumium foil and bake it at 325 for 45 min.
Get some water on the stove, make it boil, add some salt.
Crank the oven up to 425.
Take the foil off your squash pan, add your sage, put it in the hotter oven. Cook for 10-15min ’til the edges of the squash start turning brown.
Put the chicken in for 10 more minutes, ’til it gets nice and done looking. (I lay the chicken on top of the squash for this last part, so the juices drip all over your squash, but this is totally optional.)
Most importantly, don’t overcook your chicken, but don’t be afraid to cook the hell out of your squash. Just don’t burn the onions.
Boil your gnocchi. They only take like 1 minute. Drain them. Mix them into the squash pan, don’t stir it too hard and mush up your squash, just enough to get the gnocchi mixed in. Top with some grated parmesan.
Serve with some bitter greens (sauteed kale or brussel sprouts go well, really well) and a decent bottle of fruit forward red wine, (think Cotes du Rhone, Grenache based Spanish red or something from the south of Italy).
Essential Reading
Apparently we can’t write html links into this
Joe doesn’t know how to write html links. But this article is totally rad. Battier is a bad ass.
My Bitchin Short Ribs Recipe
The first of an occasional series:
Short ribs – about 2″ in length, just like in the New Seasons butcher case, I cooked 8 pieces
Red Wine – Something not very tannic (tannins get a little sour when you cook them for a long time so save your high falutin bottles of Nebbiolo and Burgundy for when yer grillin a big fat steak) I usually stick to Italian wines, Barbera is a good go to for this, a decent Cotes du Rhone would be nice too. You’re gonna dump about 1/3rd of the bottle into this one.
2 Yellow Onions – roughly chopped
2 Carrots – peeled, rough chop
4-5 peeled Garlic Cloves (yes you have to use fresh garlic, none of this pre peeled BS)
Beef Stock
Some oil (preferably olive)
Seasdon your meat on all sides with salt and pepper and leave it out for 10-15min so it gets closer to room temp.
Put a big pan on the stove on med heat and let it get hot. Add some oil, add some short ribs (don’t crowd ‘em) and brown on all sides, do this in batches until all your ribs are browned (i like to get ‘em pretty dark). Set the ribs aside. Throw away the rendered fat.
Lower heat to med-low (maybe just low depending on your stove), add some fresh oil make sure the pan has cooled down and add the onions garlic and carrot. Cook these real slowly until the onions are nice and brown and the garlic and carrots are nice and soft. For god sakes whatever you do do not burn the garlic or onions.
Once all the veg is soft add a big glass worth of red wine and the same amount (maybe a little more) of beef broth. Let this come to a GENTLE boil and reduce for about 15 min.
Once this has all cooked together, you’re gonna need to blend it. If you have one of those hand held salad dressing makers that looks like an immersion blender that will do nicely. Otherwise just use a regular blender, but be sure to leave the plug off the top and hold a rag over it cuz that bitch will be ready to blow.
Once the mixture is blended strain it back into the original pan. (Straining could be considered optional, but if you’re gonna be impressing anyone you’re gonna strain the shit out of it.) Add all the meat to the pan, cover it with foil, put the lid on and bake in the oven at 325. Leave it for like 2 hours.
After the slow and low, crank that oven up to 400 and uncover the meat. Cook for another 30-40 min turning every 10.
Once that’s pull it out and take the meat out of the pan. Pour the broth into a bowl and let it sit for 5 min, skim off the excess fat. Now you’re ready to fucking eat. You can just dish up the meat and use the sauce like gravy, or just pour the sauce over the meat and then serve.
This shit is delicious and should be served with roasted potatoes and other roasted vegetables and the rest of the bottle of wine.
Short ribs are bad ass and kind of expensive (they also have the bone still in which is always a bonus) you could substitute stew meat or a big ass chunked up roast if you wanna slide by on the cheap (and spend more on wine).
The Last 2 Albums I Listened To
Hello,
I like to ride my bike, often times at night, after work. I usually like to try and ride with other people, but usually I’m alone so I listen to my ipod*. Which is nice because it keeps me up to date on the latest tunes.
Tonight I listened to two albums:
First I listened to Morrissey’s new record ‘Years of Refusal’. It is bad-ass and bitchin’. Mr. Moz is basically at the same point in his career as Bob Dylan, his new songs will not be the best songs he’s ever written, but they can still be really really good and his band kicks major ass and fuck everyone else ‘cuz he’s making plenty of change, and his tour is gonna sell out every night and he’s doing just great.
To drive this previous point home, Moz has been using his current residence as a foil for his last few albums. ‘You are the Quarry’ revolved around LA where he hung out on verandas and in foyers and played at the Hollywood Bowl for like ten days straight and was tan and was surrounded by Latinos, who love Morrissey (there should be a book written on how that happened, I think it’s very cool, but for the life of me I cannot connect the dots as to why Latinos love Morrissey).
‘Ringleader of the Tormenters’ was basically about Rome. Everyone went nuts cuz Moz basically copped to bangin’ (with a dude) which there was some question if he was into that since like the Smiths days, where he would just say random shit in interviews and watch everyone freak the fuck out. In Rome he also hung out with Ennio Morricone who makes scores for really dramatic Italian movies and the album sounded like being in Rome and being really dramatic.
Fast forward to YoR. He’s now hanging in Paris. Yes, PARIS. LA then Rome then Paris, fuck you he’s doing just fine. The album starts off with a REALLY good rockin’ song. The whole album is good and rockin’, there’s a couple slower songs, but they aren’t quite his best ballads. The relationship he sang about in ringleaders has apparently ended (and he’s fine with that cuz FUCK YOU HE HANGS OUT IN PARIS!). The lyrics are still great, the band sounds great. Good album.
Oh and guess what? You know Johnny Marr? Well Morrissey does still hate his fuckin’ guts. Or someone else who crossed him 19 years ago, which would be 1988 or so, which means it’s Marr. “Sorry’s not good enough” is the gist of the song. And you kind of feel bad for old Johnny because Morrissey is kickin’ back in gay Paris while Mr. Marr tags along with a bunch of meth heads who live in Creswell or something.
I listened to this album twice.
Then I listened to Andrew WK’s album ‘The Wolf’, which I know, Andrew WK isn’t really even ironically cool anymore, but the guy kills it. He’s a great producer, he writes really good songs and gives spoken word tours about how reaching your maximum potential as an individual is the best way to party.
As far as production of rock and roll albums go, the Sun Studio recordings of Elvis and Perkins and Cash and Orbison are like the Plymouth Rock, the beginning the foundation etc. ‘Exile on Main’ St. is the White House, the one everyone sees and knows and sees on TV and kids learn about in grade school. Andrew WK’s are like the Washington Monument. They’re fucking huge, right in the middle of everything, nobody quite knows what to make of it, but you’d be a sucker not to go to the top. His million tracks of guitars, ten vocal tracks and plinking piano ripped straight out of ‘Funhouse’ are basically the best rock and roll songs of the past ten years.
The best thing about AWK though is the sense of joy that permeates his records. He believes in his stuff, and that it’s his way of maximizing his potential and having the greatest party. The WK brings it like a fuckin brick to the head with the kind of sincerity that has you riding along on your bike having one of those rare moments of clarity where a guy’s song kind of transcends entertainment or distraction and becomes fuel. Fuel to get to the NEXT FUCKING PARTY!!!!!!!Oooooooooowww!
*Long story short: Even though it was under warranty, it cost $45 bucks to send it back to the repair facility. I called a man in India to verify that the Mac store by Lloyd wasn’t taking me for a ride. The guy at the mac store was kind of a db and kept saying he had programs that would let him “talk” to my ipod to find out what was wrong. I had to show him how shit inside was rattling around when I shook it, I thought he might have checked for that when it wasn’t working and wouldn’t respond to his stupid computer program. Then I told him my headphones were blown and he said that it was probably the jack in the ipod, which is total bullhsit, and that it would be fixed when I got it back. So they sent me a brand new ipod, same as the last one and my headphones are still fucked.
How modern technology made my life much better, and then MUCH WORSE
So, I was riding my bike the other night and dropped my ipod. It worked fine when I picked it up. Then after using it for a few minutes it froze up. I did the restart thing and……FROWNY FACE. AAAAAAAAHHH NO NO Why? WHY ME GOD??
It is still under warranty, but I haven’t been able to make it to the Mac store yet. And don’t tell anyone I dropped it. I’m just gonna tell the Mac store that it stopped working.
Now that I have had the opportunity to compare life with/without ipod, I can duly attest that life is much less rich and much less vivid sans pod. I often find myself cold, lonely and distracted by worldly concerns.
Tonight will be the true test of the Mac store’s vaunted customer service. I’m coming in guns blazing.