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Summer’in It Up a Notch

May 24th, 2008
by Tom.
2 comments

Good holiday weekend to all.

Finally, a three day weekend.  Seems like it’s been a year since the new year.  We have a laundry list of things to accomplish this weekend.  Yard work.  School work.  House work.  Mix work.  We won’t make it to Tuesday without remembering those who sacrificed to keep our nation free.  A bottle of Chimay is cooling in the fridge to toast those guys and girls, maybe a cigar or two too.

We are now officially two weeks from DMB at Busch Stadium.  An itinerary is coming together although we haven’t put it in order.  The AB tour is on the map.  So is a visit to Senor Pique.  The weber will be used but specifically for what is unknown.  We’ve stocked the fridge although I don’t know if a full fridge will survive two weeks.

Pork Butt with a SmileWe found a meat market that may be real -  Kenricks – and picked up a Boston butt this morning for a date with the smoke tomorrow.  The old gal was much happier once we rubbed her down real good.  You can see here she is in absolute nirvana.  Just imagine how she’ll be after 8 hours in the smoke?!

Artley gave us a good tip he tried from the TV – dry aging.  We picked up a Tupperware container big enough to hold the pig and we have poked holes in the lid.  The butt will only get an overnight age with the rub but worth a try.

The kids are officially out for summer.  They spent today wondering what in the heck they’ll do for the next 90 or so days.  Hale is already made a list of movies to see.  She also dug through the activities closet and uncovered an art set.  She’s at it right now creating away.  Taylor, who is just days away from turning 13, is contemplating how many shades of finger nail polish she can apply in one sitting.  Something tells me it will be a long summer for that one.

The Summer Mix is being finalized this weekend too.  I must admit that I listened to it thoroughly this morning and have decided it is too self indulgent.  So we will be making some subtle changes before having to ship it out at the end of the week.  If you’re not familiar with the Summer Mix contest, just check out our previous posts.  You can run a search for “Summer Mix”.  Make sure you do the advanced search to search all posts, titles, and content.

Also new this year to the Summer Mix is a blog.  It’s called Summer Mixin.  Check it out and check back in to see how we do.  Don’t hesitate to post comments, your favorite summer tunes, or best summertime happenings.

On tap tonight is Samuel Adams Summer Ale.  It’s the first weekend of Summer.  Why not?  Along with the butt, I decided to try some monster center loin steaks from Kenricks.  I only got two of them but we should have leftovers.  They are that big.  I rubbed them down with first press EVOO, coarse fresh ground pepper, kosher salt, a light pinch of garlic powder, thyme, and a little kick of red pepper flakes.  Fresh asparagus, field greens, and baked potatoes will round out the meal.

Hey everyone… it’s Memorial Day weekend.  All of us Feary’s here at LAN wish everyone a safe weekend.  May your glasses be full, your grills over run with fresh carcass, and your families close.

Salut!

Ah... almost forgot.  The roses are going crazy.  I took some photos.  Enjoy.

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Ross It Up

May 18th, 2008
by Tom.
No comments yet

If you want a true appreciation for Rashawn Ross just listen to Crush on DMB Live Trax Vol. 9. We first heard Rashawn in person in 2006 in Charlottesville. Shortly thereafter our Live Trax Vol. 6 arrived in the mail and we built a tremendous fascination for what he adds to the stage. His horn has had us in hypnosis ever since.

Welcome to the Lou Rashawn! June 7, 2008.

Yes the DMB is at high volumes this evening. We started off with a little Bob Marley while the grill warmed up. Tracey suggested earlier we finish off some leftovers which would have been just fine except the temp creeped up to 80 degrees with plenty of sunshine. There was no way leftovers were gonna hit my plate this evening.

I hit Straub’s on the way home from class to pick up several center cut rib porkchops. Oh baby. We have to get the cob webs dusted off for our visitor and the big weekend on the horizon. Plus the heirloom tomatoes are in season at the Straub’s. So what else goes with those? Well, about everything but pig was on the tongue.

I finished it off with roasted corn, a fresh baquette, and some broccoli. Yea, yea, yea… I’m 37. I need the dark greens and didn’t have the time for real greens.

Beer. Beer? We’re cleaning out the New Belgium. The last of the Skinny Dip is gone. Springboard? No more. Sunshine Wheat? See ya. A new round of brews is ready to enter the fridge to cool down for the first of June. We have a little of St. Louis’ own combined with som’thin som’thin… One thing’s for sure, there is plenty of hops and barley under the roof.

We also worked on the June 6 weekend itinerary, if you want to call it that. No secrets exposed here. For that, you’ll have to pay $3.99 per view. But we’re on the way to counting down.

Gonna run for the night… Family is calling and there may be some gettin’ jiggy involved.

Salut!

Joy Ride

May 16th, 2008
by Tom.
2 comments
New Belgium Sunshine Wheat Label

Feeling awful?  Have some falafel.

Nah… Try some sunshine.

We’re so tired of rain around here we decided that we would bring a little sunshine home.  Straight from New Belgium.  Made from wheat.

Actually we saw Goose Island’s Summertime in a market close to the office this afternoon but didn’t purchase because it would sit in the car.  We hit the neighborhood market at the end of the day and discovered that the neighborhood isn’t up to speed.

Sunshine was a natural choice.  However, after reading the story behind the brew we will pass the next time around.  We don’t like to mix sap with brew.

DMB Live Trax Vol. 2 was blaring today in the new hotness.  I like the Rapunzel/Joy Ride/#41 mix on disc 1.  I like it so much that I started shopping for a bobblehead Jesus tonight on eBay.  Not that I need one… well us sinners all need one… but I would like to have one on hand just in case.

That reminds me… With Panovec taking that big ole jet airliner to the Lou in a couple of weeks there is still no decision on a “Kill A Keg For Christ” blast in honor of the 64th anniversary of D-Day and DMB at the new Busch Stadium.  No agenda is set but something tells me that we’ll be so hyped up on the show that any pig that hits the smoke may go unnoticed.  Although it would be hard not to notice a plumb piece of tender moist succulent Ms. Piggy rubbed down to perfection with… That reminds me I need to renew my subscription to Play Boar.

We have DMB’s Piedmont Park on the TV this evening.  No Survivor anymore so we’re devoting Thursday to DMB.  When American Idol is decided we’ll be devoting Tuesday and Wednesday to DMB too.  …”cause you know it looks good on you.”

3 weeks to go!

Guess what… the summer mix is coming together too.  I shan’t provide a hint.  This may be the year of the LAN.

Salut ya’ll!

DMB Days Away

May 4th, 2008
by Tom.
2 comments

Yea Yea Yea, not quite a month away but what’s a few days…

We’re one month from DMB at Busch Stadium!

We can hardly contain our excitement.

First, this will be our first big show since becoming big Dave fans.  We saw the band in 2006 and in ’04 or ’05 (can’t recall which other year).  The first show was at Nissan Pavilion outside of DC.  The Nissan show was good but somewhat mellow.  Tracey and I left early.  The drive home was more memorable but not for reasons you may feel I am implying.

We did a little tailgate with Panovec for that one and also at the second show we saw in 2006.  The show in Charlottesville was much better.  Our fan curve was starting to climb at that point and we knew more songs, more of the inside.

We absolutely loved Robert Randolph coming on stage for a couple of tunes with the band.  Also local jazz legend John D’earth played with the band the entire night.  I wrote several comments about the show that looking back on it were a little unfair but not entirely off the mark.

Now we know all the music which brings us to the second reason we can’t wait: We are desperately playing catch-up.  I recall as a DJ in Columbia I loathed seeing DMB in the playlist.  Those were the early years in the band’s national history and as a night time DJ I didn’t feel as though DMB fit into the harder alternative playlist of the time.  I don’t think I got it.

Now we do, thanks in large part to Panovec gifting some live CDs.  That spawned our hunger for the live performances and we starting buying the Live Trax series.  For those who are not aware, each DMB show is unique.  The set lists are never the same as the previous show.  In addition, the band frequently has guests sit in.  In the Live Trax series you’ll hear artists such as Carlos Santana, Bela Fleck, Warren Haynes, and others.

That brings us to the third reason we’re excited: The Black Crowes.  We have never seen the Black Crowes live.  We missed them last year.  We understand that their live performances are fairly unique as well.  These guys like to play their deep cuts and those are the ones we appreciate from their albums.  We’ve started listening to their live performances (available online for download) in anticipation and wonder what the two bands will play together.  We hope it has southern roots.

And that brings me to the next reason: Dixie.  We’re starved for anything from Dixie.  Let me tell ya, the Mid-West has nothing on Dixie.  As a matter of fact, St. Louisians can learn allot from good warm natured southern folk.  We appreciate the good Dixie references and influences in DMB’s music.  Although the Black Crowes don’t claim to be southern rock, we certainly hear the attitudes of deep Georgia and can’t wait to hear more in June.

And speaking of Dixie, that brings us to the final reason we can’t contain our excitement: Seeing our good friend from Charlotte and the person responsible for bringing the DMB love to Lazy Acres North.  Travel safely our friend.  The fridge and liquor cabinet are already stocked.  We’ll have some prime cuts of meat ready to eat.  And transportation to and from Busch stadium awaits on June 7.

Good times!

Draft Thoughts

Apr 29th, 2008
by Tom.
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There’s one major reason why it’s hard for me to pick a favorite NFL team: the NFL Draft.  Actually the Draft’s influence on my interests would be the reason.  We always want to know where the Auburn players land.

I’ve been watching the Draft for years.  Thank God for ESPN.  In college we would tune in each Spring to see where the Auburn players went.  Back in those days as the Dye era was closing and the Buster Brown era was starting there weren’t too many Tigers being called on Draft Day.  So when there were a few who were expected or predicted to go, we watched and cheered right from our living room.  It kind of stuck.

Although as the years have gone by we don’t watch as intently as we used to.  At least one TV runs 24/7 on Draft weekend and now with the Internet, a browser runs with a Draft tracker.  This weekend wasn’t any different.  Even as I did homework yesterday, the Draft was up in HD in the family room and my eyes would gander every so often to follow the rounds.

Auburn has had some great NFL players.  There’s no doubt over the next 10 or so years some of those will end up in the Hall of Fame.  Steve Wallace the great O’ Lineman of the 49ers.  Fred Beasley (I saw him play in high school). Tony Richardson, the longtime FB of the Chiefs.  Current players Chris Gray in Seattle.  Kendall Simmons in Pittsburgh.  Wayne Gandy.  Willie Anderson. Takeo Spikes.  On and on…

There’s many a great offensive lineman to come out of Auburn as you note from the above list.  That’s why we start our notes with King Dunlap.  Salut to Panovec that Dunlap is an Eagle.  I read the team brief on Dunlap at the team’s site and can tell you they didn’t pull any punches.  It almost sounded like a Jets fan wrote the story.  Yes King Dunlap didn’t have the season we all would have liked him to have.  Injuries, young studs comin’ up, you name it.  But King is a monster and I’m sure now that he’s out of the little boys sandbox he’ll enjoy eating Giants and Redskins for lunch.

Staying on the line we turn our attentions to Pat Sims who remains a Tiger, a Bengal that is.  The Bengals continue to draft Auburn players.  Sims will join Rudi Johnson and Kenny Irons.  Sims played every game in 2006 and was a starter for his senior year as his bio indicates.  You have to consider this is the norm at AU where the Tigers usually have great depth and are loaded with talent.  You want to know Sims?  Just as Daryl McFadden and Felix Jones.

Staying with defense I was excited to see both Patrick Lee and Jonathon Wilhite get drafted, and by winning franchises at that.  Lee went to Green Bay in the second round.  Patrick Lee is a physical corner and the Packers like it.  He’s not bad in coverage either and he learns fast.  I wish I had a dime for every time Wilhite’s name was called over the last two years.  He’s got a ton of game time experience and like Lee he learns fast.  I like Wilhite’s comments after being drafted – an appreciative young man.

Lastly there’s Quentin Groves.  “Q” was definitely the vocal leader of the Tigers last year.  He entered the year on the cusp of becoming the Tigers’ all time sack leader but ended up playing a little outside linebacker.  Again the Tigers are so loaded on defense that the coaches felt they needed the best players on the field.  That meant Groves played, but not as much DE as he did in 2006.  I like the story from the Jaguars web site introducing the two DE’s in Jacksonville.  The Jags take the flamboyant Florida Gator in round 1 but the article clearly indicates Groves is the fighter, and worker.

And… just checking the wires we note there were four other Tigers taken on free-agency.  And we have a Tiger now becoming a Ram.  The Rams should be happy to have Josh Thompson who is a run-stop specialist.  I think they need that.  Carl Stewart gets reunited with Carnell Williams in Tampa?  Oh my.

We look forward to seeing these and all the newest Tiger Alum/NFL rookies in 2008 and beyond.  We wish them continued success and a big War DAMN Eagle!

Beauty

Apr 26th, 2008
by Tom.
No comments yet

Have I complained enough about digital rights management, Bill Gates, and Napster?  Ok we won’t go further.

As I have been attempting to rebuild my Napster library into iTunes… If you’re coming in late, after losing many hours trying to recover hundreds of tracks purchased from Napster (they don’t work anymore because Bill Gates made it so) I’ve decided to give up and import the tracks I have on CD into iTunes.  For one I want to build my workout mix for the fitness quest.  For two I’ve got to get ready for Summer Mix 2008.

Any who, when I first started building mixes on the PC years ago I started with what I phrased the “Beauty Disc”.  I couldn’t come up with another name for what I was doing so that one stuck.  The only reasoning behind the mix is that I was attempting to build a track list with new music from alternative, rock, and pop with some older classics.  Finding the perfect mix from these genres was the goal.  Thus beauty was born.  I will share that I never perfected it.  So here you go, out of the vault, I present Beauty Disc Vol. I minus Kelly Clarkson’s Since You’ve Been Gone (for some reason iTunes doesn’t want to include that one):

Update 10/16/2010: I’ve removed most of my mixes from iTunes.  The mix list will be posted here soon.
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