World Cup Post #6: Free Booze & Your Player of the Day

Before I went to Plum Market in the morning, I finished watching my DVD of the France v Brasil match from 1986 w/ Isaiah... he loved it, but then again, who wouldn't? I then went to Plum for a few hours which meant I had to miss the opening match. I was able to hear the pre-game stuff on BBC News Hour, but only caught the highlights of the match later (Aiden watched it all & gave me a good overview though).

I went to Conor O'Neil's (Dan B showed up too) to watch the France v Uruguay match. I met a dude named George & hung w/ him until Dan showed up. He's been following thee french team since the 1960s so we had a good time talking about the old days. In fact, I have to make him a copy of the France v Brasil 1986 match & bring it up there for the next game. As it turned out, my fears about Raymond Domeneche were made manifest in the starting line-up. Maluoda on the bench w/ both Toulalan & Diaby was ridiculous. Then, subbing Anelka & Gourcuff out for Malouda & Henry was another major mistake. Of course, waiting as long as he did to make the change was a 3rd problem. The team must feel like the crew of the ship in The Caine Mutiny. I'm sure rather than taking responsibility for the draw, he was looking for some missing strawberries. What a stupid fucker!

On the positive side, before the match started, some drunk Tucker max lookin' guy stood up & declared our area of the restaurant his "living room." this meant that all rules were thrown out the window & more importantly, that he was buying everything. I thought he was kidding, but @ the half, the wait staff informed us that they were really buying. I ordered an expensive Scotch. All in all, a cup of soup, a sandwich, fries, 3 pints of Murphy's Stout, & a glass of Glenfiddich.

After the match I went to work @ Nicola's & then out to The Corner w/ Stephanie for another pint. We were stittin' @ a table w/ a bunch of the Children's Lit Conference people when suddenly the bottom of my glass fell out & an entire mug's worth of Stout landed in my lap. Once it was cleaned up, they gave me a couple free rounds... I'll take a lap-full of brew for free beer any day of the week.

What? Wait... you're looking for the Visions of Ypsi Player of the Day? Alright, Without further ado, your Player of the day for Match Day 1 is the Uruguayan footballer through whom all their chances flowed. He's been a workhorse for Atlético Madrid & Uruguay for years, & it's clear that if Uruguay are to get anything out of this tournament, they will need it to come from him:
Diego Forlán A Player of the Day who played on a day of a France game but is not French... mark your calanders because I don't see that happening ever again

Burns' Night Post #1: Aberlour 12 Year & Other Whisky News

While I was waiting for Chinese food @ Chia Shiang a couple weeks ago, I strolled next door to Morgan & York to survey the Scotch selection. The last time I'd been there, I picked up a bottle of Glenmorangie Lasanta which was good but it had a bit of a sherryesque finish with which I wasn't completely down. It was aged in sherry casks so it's supposed to be sherry-y, but not that sherry-y. I don't mean to complain though. It was good (Glenmorangie always is), & @ 92 proof, it did its job, but I needed to try something different this time.I wasn't familiar w/ Aberlour, but I'm glad I got to know it. The 12 Year is in the same price range as Glenfiddich & The Glenlivet. It doesn't have the sweet, honey finish of the Glenfiddich; there are some caramel & cherry highlights instead. It's miles beyond the Glenlivet in flavors & complexities. It's probably been 4 or 5 years since I last bought a bottle of Glenlivet though so maybe I should give it another go... but then again, I had a glass last year & was I under impressed then too. In other Whisky (or whiskey) news, I read Kate Hopkins' 99 Drams of Whiskey a couple weeks ago. It's a fun book about her travels around the globe exploring distilleries & tasting whiskeys. She writes a great food site, The Accidental Hedonist, & the book was a really fun look into the process of making & enjoying the Water of Life.

Big Guns... & other assorted weaponry

Friday Night:
After a brief outing to the Rugby matches on Thursday, the saline Celtic festival really got going Friday night. We met up w/ Wendy & Pete in Fest Beer Tent for an evening of Murphy's Irish Stout, bagpipe music, & all around debauchery. Stephanie got to be a judge in this year's Mr. Pretty Legs contest & my 1st place finish in 2007 seems to be a free pass into the festival indefinitely. They treat me like a minor celebrity out there. I'm kind of like Timothy Stack on My Name is Earl. We also got to see Tartanic again; they're a fun pipe & drum group we saw last summer in Livonia. Stephanie worked hard to ensure anyone kilt wearers w/ obvious undergarments were quickly disqualified. The tool w/ his kilt on backwards didn't fare too well either... it was clear that he had no idea how to wear it, but I preferred thinking that maybe it was a tribute to Kris Kross (he looked more like he'd be paying tribute to Christopher Cross though).

Saturday:
We were invited to walk in the pre-festival Parade, but it was canceled due to lightening which actually ended & totally cleared up about a 1/2 hour before the parade was scheduled to start. Which was fine w/ me. Getting there that early though, we were able to check stuff out before it got crowded which was nice. I scored a new sgian dubh & sporran on the cheap so I gave my old ones to Aiden... he fancied himself quite the bad-ass walking around w/ a knife. Solstice also enjoyed the vendor area... she scored a new dress & a book. Isaiah loved the animals... sheep dogs, horses, & most of all the birds of prey... & he got a little soccer ball about which he then started saying the word "ball" (or @ least "ba").

Around 3:00ish, Solstice & Aiden left w/ my mom & we hung out in the tent, drank some Newcastle & watched Tartanic again. They covered Iron Man" on the pipes which was pretty cool. Once we got home, we continued our Schwarzeneggerian marathon w/ a viewing of The Last Action Hero. It starts strong w/ a nice self-referencial 1st act, but nose-dives by the 3rd. I imagine that the execs who develop the movie let the kernel of a good idea get washed away under the tide of big-budget ridiculousness. Oh well... we still have The 6th Day & True Lies to look forward to.

Sunday:
Isaiah's Big B-Day Bash
He turned 1 on Sunday so we had the family over for some cake & ice cream. He had a great time & even seemed to understand the concept of wrapping paper... something neither Solstice nor Aiden figured had figured out yet. It's pretty amazing what one can say w/ just 5 words (3 names, ball, & a general animal noise). You'd think there'd be some sort of communication break down, but he's usually pretty clear.

Blood Subs & Sin Binnings

The USA Rugby team qualified for the Rugby World Cup yesterday in what was a rather slow, boring match against Canada in S. Carolina. I haven't watched a lot of Rugby, but the matches I've seen before yesterday have been a lot more entertaining. Stupid mistakes coupled w/ a lot of fouls made for tough viewing, but I can only think of 7 or 8 ways to better spend Independence Day than cheering on the US Team. The mediocreness of the game didn't stop me from picking My Eagle though: Chris Wyles is a strong fullback who plays for Saracens FC in Watford... & he was sporting a SWEAT mustache. w/o the stache

In other Rugby news, The Saline Celtic Fest is next weekend which means the Mr. Pretty Legs in a Kilt Contest will be Friday night in the bar tent & on Thursday there wil be an evening of Rugby matches in downtown Saline. Be sure to press your kilt & meet us out there for beer.

A Bachelor, A Baby & An Award

Last night, we celebrated Jules' bachelor Party w/ drinks & billiards @ The Full Moon, formerly The Monkey Bar, formerly The Full Moon. The party was fun & we @ Visions of Ypsi want to congratulate Jules & Stella as they will celebrate their nuptials this weekend. Congrats also go out to the Josher & the Joshette as they brought their 2nd kid into the world yesterday.

Prior to the party, I journeyed to Livonia to watch the US play Spain in the semi-finals of the Confederations cup. It's back to business as usual for Spain: until last summer's European Championships, Spain was notorious for under-performing in major tournaments. They would be predicted winners & then stumble & it happened over & over & over... until last year when they won Europe & became the #1 ranked team in the world. People claimed they'd overcome some sort of "curse." Until yesterday, of course, when they fell 2-0 to the Americans in the Semi-finals. Spain played well & controlled the match but the US defense was unbreakable. The whole team put in great performances so picking 1 standout has been tough. I even considered Landon Donovan as he was fantastic. However, after much deliberation, I realized 1 person did stand out. Your Visions of Ypsi Confederations Cup Semi-Final Player of the Day: Tim Howard. The Spanish attack peppered his goal w/ 29 shots, but he stayed strong. Nice work!

Another reason to drink a Guinness today

Thanks to a couple of Facebook status updates, I was reminded that today is Bloomsday so put on your eye patch & go for a really really long walk. There had been some talk of a party to celebrate, but that never really got off the ground; however, if anyone wants to stop by tonight, drink a few Guinness, & maybe read a passage from Ulysses, that might be a great idea. I haven't read it in a few years, but I suppose I should give it a quick once over this afternoon.

In other book news, I need to report that since I finished The Time Traveler's Wife, I've knocked off a few other books on the list:
Three Bags Full: it's a great little story about a heard of sheep whose shepherd would read to them every day which made them really smart. When they find him murdered by the barn, they decide to solve the mystery themselves. It's sounds ridiculous, but it's really good but funny references to classic mysteries & animal tales like Animal Farm. This is also a fitting book for today because it takes place in Ireland & 1 of the sheep is hooked on Guinness.
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things: This is a fantastic novel. I think I may teach it this fall. it was nominated for the Booker, but for some reason didn't make the short-list. It's about a young woman in Nottingham (or maybe London... it's not clear) who witnesses a boy get hit by a car & then 3 years later gets knocked up during a 1 night stand. It flashes back and forth between the day of the accident & her pregnancy... & you all need to read it.
The Secret of Morel: A cool novella by Adolfo Bioy Casares from 1941 about a fugitive on an deserted island where all sorts of crazy shit starts happening. It's yet another cool book I learned about via the Lostpedia book list.

After that, I diverged from the list & picked p a copy of The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. He's going to be @ Nicola's next week, & I'd heard so much about the book that I figured I'd take a look... it's sweet! It's like Borges meets Eco w/ a little Paul Auster thrown in for good measure. A kid finds an old book which turns out to be the last copy of anything by the author because some dude has been traveling around Europe setting all of his books on fire. At the moment, the kid has just been approached by the book burning dude. It's cool... read it.

St. Patrick's Day

After I dropped the kids off @ school, we walked down to Sidetrack only to find out they aren't opening this morning until 11:00 (5 minutes from when I type this) so we turner around & went to The Corner for their 4$ all you can eat breakfast buffet (bagels & Lucky Charms). We also tried the Corned Beef Hash. I hadn't eaten any meat since the bite of Haggis on Burns' Night, & it turns out I could have left it that way. It seemed like a towel that had been sitting in a damp tub... I could have rung out the fat w/ my hands. Needless to say, we didn't finish it. Their stout, on the other hand, was great. They've made 3 new ones for today, The Lucky Charms Stout, The Western Imperial Stout & the Roasted Marshmallow Stout.

* The LCS came equipped w/ a few LC marshmallows on top. Stephanie liked it a lot, claiming it was very "stouty," but after I had the WIS, the LCS seemed to lack body & depth. I enjoyed it though once I could taste it.
* The WIS is fantastic!!! Get there today & have a few. It doesn't seem as though they'll keep it long term, but maybe w/ enough begging, we can change their minds. Do yourself a favor & drink 1 or 6.
* The RMS was interesting & a nice novelty, but I wouldn't drink it all the time. It was made by suspending roasted marshmallows over the mash as it was fermenting which then oozed down into the goop. It has a sweet nose & a nice roasted marshmallow finish just as he claimed it would.

The whole time we were there, Isaiah sat in his stroller & ate bagels. He had a good time & even sparked the interest of the younger kids, 1 of which went so far as to snap a few pics of him. He was decked out in his St. Patrick's day attire & I'm sure Stephanie will post a pic of him today... super awesome!

In other St. Patrick's Day news, Arsenal faces Hull City this afternoon @ The Emirates in the FA Cup Quarter Finals. A win will put them through to the Semis against Chelsea @ Wembley. It's been a great week for them, making it through to the Quarter Finals in Europe & hammering Blackburn 4-0, here's to hoping they can keep it up.

Here are some fun Holiday links:

St. Patrick's Day Home Page

The History of St. Patrick's Day from The History Channel

The Guinness Home Page

Murphy's Home Page

The Jameson Homepage

A chick w/ Shamrocks on her titties

A good article about green beer... I like point 2

St. Pat's Season Post #1: Widgets and Nazis

Last night while watching Lost, I attempted to enjoy a bottle of Young's Double Chocolate Stout. Boy was I disappointed. I found the bottle @ Hiller's yesterday & having never had it out of a bottle, decided to go for it. It'd even been a while since I last had it out of a can, but I used to love it. Out of a bottle, the experience was completely different though: all because of the floating widget. I paid tribute to the floating widget a few years ago, but maybe it's time to do so again. What a great invention. Those folks @ Guinness should be commended for their little innovation. W/ the St. Patrick's Day Season coming up quickly, I need to say that Guinness isn't my favorite Irish Stout, in fact I would always rather a Beamish or a Murphy's (& I know I said this last year too), but when it comes to the canning process, they can't be beat. Young's uses the widget in their cans, & Guinness have come up w/ a bottle widget, but for some reason, Young's hasn't incorporated it into their pint bottles. The head is so much creamier & the finish is much smoother. (I know a beer post after all the Beerfest posts from everyone last week is pushing it, but just bear w/ me here.) In the bottle, it is too sweet & fizzy. The carbonation makes the bubbles bigger like Vernor's. I ended up pouring it out and having a Coke which was fine & went nicely w/ last night's episode.Before Lost was on, we watched Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom. Aiden decided a few days ago that Indiana Jones is now really cool. He went from hating Indy to loving him in a day. Aiden was a little grossed out by the monkey brains & snakes dinner & the pulling of the dude's heart out, but all in all, I am now the proud parent of a kid who is loving Indy as much as me. Of course, this now means that he's going around talking about Nazis & as it turns out, that's a tough issue to broach w/ a 6 year old. Lucky for him, those of us in my household don't believe in the Holocaust so we won't have to deal w/ it.

What we do have to deal w/, however, is the fact that Hogan was also fighting Nazis. Aiden didn't buy it when I told him that Indy and Colonel Hogan were friends so he should watch the show w/ me. I've only got 5 episodes to go, by the way. I've been watching them in order & I'm almost done w/ the 6th & final season. My parents were over the other day & wanted to watch a couple episodes, but my dad wanted to choose which ones to watch. Imagine, watching almost 6 seasons and then suddenly viewing a couple out of order. Believe me, that didn't happen. We stuck to my system & had a great time. Maybe I'll be able to remind Aiden that Pele & Stallone are fighting Nazis in Victory & he'll watch that w/ me again too. I'll keep you posted on how that one goes.

The Run Up to Burns Night

My parents came over for dinner this evening so my dad & I went to Chia Shiang to pick up dinner. I know I've written about this place before, but it's been a while & I just want to take this moment to urge you all to check it out. It's by far the best Chinese place around. The menu is huge & they have a great vegetarian selection. Of course, I broke w/ my age old veggie diet & sampled a bite of my father's "Special Crispy Duck." I decided that since I'd never tried duck before it would be alright to have a small bite in order to sample something new. Well, as it turns out, duck tastes like turkey. In hind sight, I don't know if trying the duck was really worth it, but @ least I can now say I've had duck. While we were in a "try it" mood, Solstice tasted my General Tso's Sue Rou & really liked it. She also liked the "pan fried vegetable dumplings" too... I'd never tried them before either but they were really good. of course, Aiden only ate rice, but considering the chicken pox in is mouth, I wasn't going to push it. Check out their menu here... you won't be sorry.I didn't really just log in to plug a Chinese place though; I'm actually happy to inform y'all that I picked up a few things for Burns Night. While we were waiting for the food I ran next door to Morgan and York and picked up a fancy bottle of Scotch. It's a 12 year Glendronach & it's spectacular. After the kids went to bed, we watched a Rockford & sampled a small glass... not much though because I want to save it for the party. You'll all be loving this stuff. For those of you who plan to bring a bottle of Scotch ( & I strongly suggest it), you might want to check out this site. It has a great overview of hundreds of distilleries & their different malts. Speaking of links, here's another link for some great recipes: Rampant Scotland's Recipe Page.

The Impending Party

I know most of you have received your invites already anyway, but I thought I'd write a little about the coming Burns' Night Celebration. I'm really looking forward to the festivities. After last year's immense success, I imagine this one will be smaller & a bit less intimidating. I remember counting upwards of about 55 people, many of whom I had never met. Furthermore, there were shoes covering the entire front 1/2 of my living room floor. It was suggested today by someone @ work that I put the shoes in a big box, but then we realized that 1 big box would cause us to ignorantly overlook a great opportunity. Maybe we'll split the shoes into 2 boxes @ play a sort of '70s fishbowl key-chain game. We'll see how well that goes over. Other, less problematic plans for the night include the Burns Supper. While the supper will be sans piper, there will certainly be haggis (vegetarian) & a wide array of food & drink. Plus, of course, the reading of Rabbie Burns poetry & maybe some puking in my driveway if a certain friend from the other side of Washtenaw Ave. is up for it. I , on the other hand, will be refraining from such excesses. I plan to have a good time but also be able to get out of bed the following day. We are talking about the FA Cup 4th round after all. I can't simply miss the game because I was too hung over to turn on the tv. It's possible though that the Arsenal v Newcastle game will be on the 26th which means I'll be able to watch it before the party & not have to worry about getting up the next day. Even so, I don't plan to make it another one of those days. I think those hung-over days might be behind me. I watched the Arsenal v Everton game in rather rough shape last year after St. Patrick's Day. I suffered through a rough breakfast & putt-putt outing after my b-day, & after the Bob Dylan show last fall I watched France drub the Faeroe Islands 6-0 while I was in rather sorry shape. That said, I don't want y'all to assume this will be some sort of teetotaler's affair, so in order to get everyone in the right frame of mind, here are the 1st 2 stanzas from Rabbie Burns' poem "Scotch Drink":
LET other poets raise a fracas
'Bout vines, an’ wines, an’ drucken Bacchus,
An’ crabbit names an’stories wrack us,
An’ grate our lug:
I sing the juice Scotch bear can mak us,
In glass or jug.

O thou, my muse! guid auld Scotch drink!
Whether thro’ wimplin worms thou jink,
Or, richly brown, ream owre the brink,
In glorious faem,
Inspire me, till I lisp an’ wink,
To sing thy name!
And now that you're all in the mood, here are a few links to get you started as you think about what to bring to the feast.
The World Burns Club
Burns Country
The Bard
The BBC Burns Page
Burns Supper on Wikipedia

Holiday Post #5: Martinis & Pickles

Friday night, a group of people from work went to Goodnight Gracie's for Emily's b-day. We had a great time & Emily got completely shithoused on some froo-froo fancy-ass martinis like the Chocolate Covered Strawberry & something that tasted like a White Russian. She was so drunk that @ the end of the night, I had to help Jenny get her back to Jenny's car 5 blocks away... "keep walking... there's a curb here, don't trip... I said, there's was a curb there...." I, on the other hand, was a responsible adult & just had a couple Rob Roys which were pretty good, but that bar is way too expensive. It's trying to be something out of Sex and the City, but it doesn't quite cut it. Also, it's really small, but the band felt they needed to be amplified for a large ballroom. The other problem w/ the band is that they were one trick ponies. Their improvisation was cool, but needed some more texture to really fill it out. The other problem I had w/ them is more personal... blues just doesn't really do it for me; it all kinda sounds the same. I recognized the bass player though; I think I worked w/ him at Borders a few years ago. Theoretically, Kristen will be posting some pictures of the night on her facebook profile some time soon.

Last night, I went to Nik & Jim's for a tree-trimming/hide the pickle/naked cookie party... here are the top 5 things I learned:
5) When one is on a road in Farmington called "Metroview," that person shouldn't be surprised when there is neither a metropolis nor a view. Similarly, when in Farmington & on a road called "Green Hills," there are no hills & nothing is green.
4) Ryan knows way way way too much about television.
3) When people have tree-trimming parties, it's really just a way to get out of decorating their own trees. It's like when Tom Sawyer tricks the other kids into white-washing the fence. W/ this in mind, I'd like to invite you all over for a bathroom cleaning party. It'll be sweet.
2) Germans are fucking weird. There is this tradition, "Weihnachtsgurke," of hiding a glass pickle ornament in the tree & then having everyone look for it: the winner gets a present. Only the culture that produced Schumacher and Hitler could have come up w/ this. Of course, Hitler wasn't actually German, & according to Wikipedia neither is the X-mas pickle. My wiki-info suggests that it's really an American tradition which has been wrongly associated w/ German culture. Then again, the Wikipedia entry for Nathaniel Hawthorne used to begin "Nathaniel Hawthorne, who liked to stay up late having hot gay butt sex,..." so I'm not sure what to believe.
1) Naked cookie decorating means that the cookies are naked, not the decoraters. This was a bit of a let down. Maybe if we'd opened up the bottle of tequila it would have been different. I guess there's always next year.
Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Shannon, Nicole, Kristen & Nik decorating naked cookies

Joe, Rachel, Jim, Nik, Kristen & Emily trimming the tree

In the X-mas fucking spirit Again, Emily is offended by something I said

Dance Parties

Friday night Geo hosted Stacey's b-day party. Good times, good friends, good food, good booze, & odd music were all par for the course. It was supposed to be a sort of dance party, but no one really danced... which was OK because I would always prefer to sit around drinking & talking. The music, which was mainly dancable, but not so great, featured the occassional Prince tune & "Paid in Full" by Eric B & Rakim. I freakin' love that song. A big belated Visions of Ypsi "Happy B-day" goes out to Stacey.Saturday night, after watching the Arsenal v Man U game on Live Footy & then switching to the Fox Soccer Channel for the rest of the day, I met some friends from work at The Tap Room. We enjoyed a couple drinks (I ran into folks from the kickballers & learned we have a game this week... kinda weird after 4 weeks off). While at the bar, I also learned that there was a dance party taking place Saturday night too. I didn't feel comfortable going to a second dance party in as many days, but since the party was in Livonia & Nic whose idea it was to go, lives in Farmington, I decided to make the trek to Middlebelt & Schoolcraft so Emily (another work person) could go w/o driving drunk... I'm so fucking responsible. Well, we get out there & Nic can't find the party. We drove around the neighborhood for 45 minutes w/ no luck. I was heartbroken. Emily & I made the trek back Ypsi-way & decided since we already bought beer, we should watch a movie & drink it.I hadn't seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show in years, & since she'd never seen it, we decided on that. I forgot how much I love it. I'm now dying to see it in a theater again soon. Tim Curry in a teddy always makes me happy. Not to mention Richard O'Brien in anything. Not only did he write it & play Riff Raff, he was also in Flash Gordon! Last week, while channel surfing, I found another film featuring his under-appreciated talents, but as it turns out, Elvira's Haunted Hills kinda sucked... go figure. Casandra Peterson is no longer what she once was either. For those of you who are unaware of how this part of the post relates to dance parties, watch the clip!

Dylan, Costello, and a few Mexican Slayrides

I'd been excited about the Bob Dyaln/Elvis Costello show at the EMU Convocation Center since I read about it last summer. The fact that they were coming to Ypsi was just so cool. Of course, half of my studens had never heard of either one of them, but that never stopped EMU from booking quality acts in the past. Over the years, I've seen Bela Fleck, P-Funk & Arlo Guthrie on campus, but Dylan is in a league of his own. Georgina met me at my house & w/ a bottle of Auchentoshan in my pocket, we biked to Jim & Rachel's where we had a few drinks before walking down the bike path to the show. As we got to the pparking lot, Annette supposedly saw a naked guy running around, but that couldn't be verified. As we entered the, Elvis Costllo was playing "The Angels Want to Wear my Red Shoes." He ethen went into "Veronica" which was fun & had everyone singing along. From there, he weent into a couple songs I didn't know and then a really cool version of "From Sulfur to Sugar Cane" into which he slipped a funny little line about Ypsi: "Here in Ypsilanti / Wear the women don't wear panties." He then played a newer song about the War in Iraq. It was really cool and definitely unafraid to tell the truth about the Bush Administration before segueing into a nice version Van Morrison tune. He then ended his set w/ "Radio Sweetheart" > "What's so Funny (About Peace, Love & Understanding)?" As he left the stage, the crowd was shouting for "Alison," "Radio, Radio' & "Watchin' the Detectives," but an encore was not to be as Dylan & the Cowboy Band were ready to hit the stage after a very short break. I really enjoyed Elvis Costello. He played a solo set w/ just an acoustic guitar, but he sound was full and complex. Many people (including many w/ whom I went to the show) were really there for him, but for me the main event was always going to be Dylan.

My first Dylan show was 11 years ago, the spring after Jerry Garcia died & Dylan played 2 Dead songs ("Friend of the Devil" & "Alabama Getaway"). My 2nd Dylan show, Valentine's Day in 1998 in Toledo saw him cover "Cocaine Blues." In July of 1999, I saw him cover "The Roving Gambler," "That'll Be the Day," & (w/ Paul Simon) "The Sound of Silence." Last night, however, he stuck to his more recent system of playing only originals like @ the shows I saw in 2000 & 2003. For complete set lists of those shows, follow these links:

16 May, 1996 (Pine Knob)
15 February, 1998 (Univ. of Toledo)
7 July, 1999 (Pine Knob)
16 July, 2000 (Pine Knob)
6 August, 2003 (Columbus, OH)
Last night, Bob opened w/ a pretty rocking version of "Rainy Day Women" which was funny because I'd just been joking about that song earlier in the day w/ the ex-wife. I'd never seen him open w/ it before, but it seemed like a good choice as it got people into the set right away... "Everybody must get stoned!!!"

Next up was "Don't Think Twice" for which the cowboy band switched to acoustic stuff & for which Rachel was happy about & about which you may remember my sweet cover version of that song w/ Brendan at 10K Lakes in MN a couple summer ago. It's always a fun song & people seemed to be digging it... "There ain't no use in turning on your light, babe, / The light I never knowed"

From there he went into "Watching the River Flow," a song I've never been able to remember. Every time I've seen him do it, it's been the end before I could figure out what it was. It was cool though as Tony Garnier switched back to the electric bass for a couple songs... "If I had wings and I could fly, / I know where I would go. / But right now I'll just sit here so contentedly / And watch the river flow."

He then played "Love Sick," a slow weird tune from his 1997 Grammy winning album Time Out of Mind. My copy has a nasty scratch & hasn't worked for a while, but after last night, I realized that I'm going to have to get another copy of it. It's a fantastic tune from a fantastic CD... "I'm sick of love / I wish I'd never met you!"

A couple of the new songs were next, "The Levee's Gonna Break" & "When the Deal Goes Down." At this point, people seemed to be getting restless as we had 3 in a row that few people knew. I was lovin' it though, as they're both great songs. Jim seemed to be digging the new stuff too, w/ such cool lyrics, how could he not? Dylan is a bad mother fucker... "We all wear the same thorny crown."

I was lovin' that he hen played "Stuck inside of Mobile," but I have a hard time w/ that song since I always think of Bob Weir's version. It's cool though, even if it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

"Well, Shakespeare, he's in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells,
Speaking to some French girl,
Who says she knows me well.
And I would send a message
To find out if she's talked,
But the post office has been stolen
And the mailbox is locked.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again."

From 60's LSD weirdness to a commentary on the current economic issues, he played "Workingman's Blues #2." I don't know if I can plug & push this new album any more than I already have, but it's just so damn good. "The buying power of the proletariat's gone down" Who but Dylan can get away w/ lyrics like that? Just soooo cool.

"Honest With Me" from his last album was up next. It took me a while to recognize it, but it too was well played. I don't have much to say about this song, but I was thinking the set would be over soon... wrong... 5 more songs before he left the stage.

"Spirit On The Water," a slow jazzy crooner tune from the new album was played nicely, but again, he seemed to be losing people since no one knew most of the setlist. I think this again shows his bad-assness. He plays to 5,000 people while knowing all along that only about 25 of us knew the songs 7 the other 4,975 just want to hear "Blowin' In the Wind" which, of course, he didn't play. He didn't play "Tangled Up in Blue" either. "Oh, you would like to hear 'Like a Rolling Stone?' Well, fuck off! You'll get the new stuff & like it!" Oh, & Tony was on he stand-up bass again.

OK, he did play a song from the same album as "Like a Rolling Stone," "Highway 61." It's not quite as good, but it always rocks. I was really hoping to hear it, & it made me happy, happy, happy.

Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."
Then another new one, "Nettie Moore." "Gonna leave a greasy trail"... one of the strangest lyrics he's ever written. Of course, I love it none-the less.

"Summer Days" from the previous album, Love and Theft, was next. Of his 3 newer albums, people seem to jock that one the most, but it's definitely not my favorite. it's still cool though, & I was happy to hear another song from it. And Tony was back on stand up bass!

He closed the set w/ "Masters Of War." This is the song that got him banned from Ed Sullivan, so it's got that going for it. Whenever I hear it, I like to think it's in honor of Dick Cheney.

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
I've never noticed this before, but before the encore, people were holding up their phones rather than holding up lighters. I suppose it's because fewer people smoke, but there were a few people there w/ pot as the Convocation Center had that nice hippie smell all night long. As upstanding members of our community, we, of course, did none of that though. Anyway, the phones yielded a nice post-modern blue glow to the atmosphere of the crowd before he came back to the stage to play "Thunder On The Mountain." It's yet another good song from the new album. "Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bitches / I'll recruit my army from the orphanages." What an awesome rhyme.

After introducing the Cowboy Band, he closed the night w/ "All Along The Watchtower." I remember an interview from 10 or so years ago where he claimed that even though he wrote it, he always feels he's paying tribute to Hendrix when he plays it. Last night's version didn't have a lot in common w/ Jimi Hendrix though (for my money, the Grateful Dead versions are a lot better than Hendrix's anyway), but it was really cool. He stood at his keyboard w/ his hilarious wide-brim white hat & rarely made contact w/ the audience. They just rocked for a couple hours. I can't wait for him to come around again.

Afterwards, a bunch of us went back to my place & had a few drinks, but the Slayrides may have been a bit too much as we were also doing tequila shots. It was the first time I've ever had that much tequila but not gotten naked, so all in all, I'll take it as an accomplishment. Getting up this morning to coach the kids soccer game was pretty rough though. I felt like Walter Matthau in The Bad News Bears. Hung over & hanging out w/ kids. Maybe I'm an ass, but at least I made it to the game & they won 5-3. And that's the important part of youth sports... winning and making the other team cry.

Oktoberfest: Redford Style

A good Oktoberfest is more than just Men wearing Lederhosen & eating sausage. Unfortunately, this one was less. Of course, there was a bratwurst counter, but no one was dancing in lederhosen and the beer sucked, not to mention the cotton candy & Phantom Menace nachos. I went to this shit-ass festival because my parents wanted to go & I figured it'd be nice to hang w/ them for an evening. After about 20 minutes, my mom asked me if I knew what was right down the road. "Hell?" Apparently not, but I have a feeling it's in the vicinity. The other thing in the vicinity is the location of my high school, so I suppose I should have known what I was getting into. M parents ordered, rather than the standard sausage in a bun, the pork tenderloin dinner. As the woman took the top off of the vat of this so-called tenderloin, I thought, "You're not seriously considering eating that, are you?" I need not tell you that the answer was a resounding "YES!" And they both regretted it the way I knew they would. It was this small piece of spam-esque meat w/ a side of potato salad & sauerkraut. The sides looked alright, but I just went for the nachos...a little-known German delicacy. I also had a cup of Spaten which wasn't bad; of course, 98% of the people there were just drinking Labatt's Light... a little known German dark ale. A little tid-bit of info about Spaten: the brewery can be traced back to 1363... that's kind of impressive. Anyway, as we ate we enjoyed some live music by a group of douchebags w/ a sax & an accordion. One expects accordion music at an Oktoberfest, & I've never been shy about the fact that I love me some polka, but one wouldn't expect said band to be playing a stupid "Achy Breaky Heart" parody that goes "Don't play that song, that 'Achy Breaky' song / I might flip out & kill someone." A logical sentiment regarding Billy Ray Cyrus, except that in order to play the parody, one is basically playing the song. After we finished the beer & nachos we headed outside to check out the vendors. I was hoping for lederhosen or signed photos of Karl Heinz Rummenigge or maybe some Hasslehoff memorabilia, even some Nazi stuff would have been kinda neat, but I guess that's a touchy subject for some people. Instead, there was a booth selling pink cowboy hats w/ light-up bunny ears. I don't mean the ears were next to the hats on the counter, I mean the ears were somehow (& for some unknown reason) attached to the hats. I say all of this knowing you may think I didn't have a good time, but it was fun & for some odd reason, I'm glad we went. I guess if nothing else, it gave me a blogable weekend activity.

The Celtic Festival

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Happy 5th of July

Yesterday started out as average as most days. I put rearranged my CDs so as to make more room for my books & then I saw the end of the parade. Jimmy John's & a viewing of The Man Who Would Be King lead into the evening party where things went a bit awry. It was a theme party where we were supposed to eat & drink foods that represented Amaricana from the mid-20th century... jello, casseroles, mac & cheese, etc. We enjoyed some Old Fashioneds, some Schlitz, & a few (6 or 7) rounds of shots. We stared w/ Moon Shots, Kaluha, Rumplemintz & Bourbon, but we quickly moved on to the Jagermeister which in turn lead to the new hair style. At about midnight, after Matt & Andy shot off an ass load of Roman candles, it seemed a though my hair needed changing. We adjurned to Stacey's kitchen where Kate had her way w/ me. Enjoy the pics.

Schlitz: the beer that made Milwaukee famous

Cut my hair & you too will have access to my nipples!

Artist & Model

The People's Party

For the last month & a half, people have been on me to host another party, so I finally caved & had everyone over last night. Technically, it was supposed to be my birthday party, but it was also Dawn's b-day. Mine was actually last week, & when that fact is coupled w/ Dawn's b-day & the public outcry for the gathering, it only seems fair to call it the People's Party rather than trying to associate it solely w/ my b-day. I cleaned all day & my sister & her husband showed up early to take the kids to the pool so I could finish up & shower which was fantastic. As they were getting back, I was already working on my 1st of 3 Mexican Slayrides: a glass of Negra Modelo w/ a shot or 2 of rum... fantastic! Most of you are well aware of the origin of the Slayride, but for the few of you who aren't in the know, I'll explain. Last fall, Jean & I were watching the pilot episode of The A-Team which is called "Mexican Slayride." Until that point, we'd been living under the ridiculous misconception that "Slayride" was spelled "sleigh ride." We were a couple of simple, simple fools. Of course, the first thing that we both thought was that it sounded like a sexual position, so we proceeded to figure out what it would be: missionary anal while doing a line off of the woman's tits (down one & up the other). Then, last week at Deep Space, I brought in a pint of Captain Morgan's & needed a place to dispense it. I bought a Negra Modelo into which the rum was poured, & it was like the first time a dude eating peanut butter walked into a dude eating chocolate. I'd had rum in Corona before, but I'm not a big Corona fan. This, on the other hand, is straight from the Gods. Try a slayride, you won't be sorry. Annette's interest in Jagermeister also meant that we had to polish off a pint of that along w/ a pint of Petron. I also had my 1st (but certainly not last) Mint Julep. Along w/ the healthy dose of booze, we had tons & tons of great food. People brought instruments and jammed on the deck until 3:00 AM. Warren even brought a full size keyboard & his accordion. I got some great presents including a couple bottles of Scotch & a couple of books, & all of the ladies pitched in & got me a gift certificate for a fucking utilikilt! Brook, Laura, & Andy all brought cake & they were all fantastic. Andy's even had a fountain in it so it looked like it was pissing. Pretty cool. In a couple months, once this hangover is gone, we'll have to come up w/ a reason to have another People's Party.

I took lots of pictures, but I'm still getting used to the settings on my new camera so many didn't turn out too well. I took a bunch of what seemed like good shots, but they were pretty blurrly. I need to spend a bit of time playing w/ the different settings so I can get them less blurry. Here's a sampling of the best of the lot:

Everybody was kung fu fighting

My 3 lovely ladies

Rock & Roll!

Weird Friday Night

I was watching Fight Club for the first time ever on Friday night when the phone rang. Rang might not really be the right word anymore though, but the ring tone went off none-the-less. My friend Amy (whom you will all remember from my afternoon at Sidetrack during Oberon Day) called and wanted to me to meet her and a few of her old friends for a beer at Pub 13 after the Deja Vu Music Extravaganza in Ypsi. I wasn't really enjoying Fight Club, which I was surprised by since so many people shit their pants over that film, so I turned it off and went for a pint. I couldn't find at first until I realized that by old friends she didn't mean people she'd known a long time, but rather people who were really old, like in their 70s. We sat for a few minutes & then one of the couples invited us back to their house for more drinks. To quote the Mad Hatter, I couldn't very well have less since I hadn't had any yet, so we went down the street to their sweet sweet old historic home. You may think old and historic are redundant, but many home are old w/o the historic cultural capital & many are restored historic home which aren't really that old. This one is pre-Civil War & was awesome. The other thing that was awesome was their desire to let me drink whatever I wanted. I found a bottle of The Glenlivet & was told to drink as much as pleased me. They didn't have to tell me twice... I finished it & moved on to a decanter of something else. Glenlivet is far from my favorite, but it isn't often that someone offers up 2/3 of a bottle. We were all sitting around talking when Betsie Four (that's not actually her name, but it's close, and it does have a number in it: WTF?), one of the owners of the house, the one responsible for all of the restorations, decides it would be a good idea to smoke a little contraband. (I changed her name since it's so rare & I decided to out her illicit activities.) She gets out this old wooden box containing an old pipe, a roach clip, a broken scale and a baggie that had next to no pot in it. In her drunken state, she proceeded to throw it in the garbage can and then spend the next 20 minutes looking for it. This was still pretty early on in the evening so I could tell we were in for an interesting night. I fixed her scale while they elder-folk smoked their dope, but I'm still not certain why she needed a scale in the 1st place. There is no way in hell this woman is dealing or even buying large enough quantities for it to matter, but whatever, it gave me something to do while they got high. She then asked me how old I am & when I told her I'd be 33 on Tuesday (yes, for those of you not keeping score, it's my b-day today & I'm spending it writing this ridiculous little story), she proceeds to tell me that she has lingerie older than me. I didn't know what to say to that so I just claimed I didn't believe it because it doesn't last that long. She then leaned over & whispered in my ear, "It's true, I save it all & if you saw it, it would give you a huge hard on." Again, I didn't know what to say, so I grabbed Amy & told her & we had a good laugh. Betsie Four's friend had already told me she used to be a dominatrix, like 40 years ago, & that she loved tying people up & whipping them. The lingerie comment takes the cake though. It was one of the most disturbing things I'd ever heard. After that we listened to the Allmans for a bit & took the hell off. Those old dudes certainly know how to party, but holy shit, they certainly know how to creep me out too.

Happy Birthday to me, eh?

This Past Weekend

On Father's Day, we had a nice brunch and then proceeded to my game. Although the season ends next week, this was my last game because I'm taking my dad to the Gold Cup Final at Soldier Field in Chicago next Sunday. Being my last game, I decided to make the most of it and score a SWEET SWEET goal while my kids cheered from the sideline. It was awesome. My brother then proceeded to get a shutout in goal and we won 1-0. I know you all love the soccer updates on here, so while this one is basically done, you can rest assured an Arsenal post will follow shortly as the schedule was just released as were Arsenal's new jerseys... not to mention the major transfer news that is supposed to be released soon.

Yesterday, I had to take my kids to Brighton to meet up w/ their mom and we drove through Taco Bell on the way. My daughter wanted a soft taco w/ beans instead of meat, but believe it or not, the Taco Bell taco engineers weren't on their game and gave her a beef taco. I'd gone over the order 3 or 4 times w/ the drive through guy so the fact that I then had to go inside pissed me off. It pissed my daughter off too; she even asked the dude at the register how hard it really is to make a bean taco. After she and I over reacted for a few minutes and were feeling absolutely like the bad mother fuckers we are, the "Theme to Shaft" came on their in-store radio. It was perfect. She didn't quite understand, but it was almost as sweet as my goal. We were both the cats that wouldn't cop out, in fact, we made Shaft look like Shaft in Africa!

On my way home from Brighton, I had to take back-roads due to the construction, and as I passed the Argo Livery in Ann Arbor, I decided, on a whim, to go kayaking. I hadn't been canoeing in years, & I'd never gone kayaking before, but the day was so beautiful and I just happened to have a little cash on me so I threw down the 24 bucks & had a great time. The fact that I'd never been in a kayak was made abundantly clear when I tried to pull over to the side but made a 90 degree turn & got caught in the current & subsequently flipped over & sank. The sat the kayak on the bottom of the Huron River while my flip-flops, my hat, my shirt & my life preserver were floating away. I saved all but the hat & finally pulled the kayak to shore and emptied it out. Not before a few people saw though. Maybe I'm not quite the bad mother fucker I'd been lead to believe I was.

No, I am, as evidenced by happy hour at Haabs. I met Greg for a drink at Sidetrack and then went to Haabs to meet up w/ Stacey. People had been telling me to go there for quite a while, but for some reason I never did. Holy Shit!!! It's awesome. Drinks & appetizers are all 2 bucks each. I had 2 Manhattans, an Old Fashioned, & shrimp cocktail while Stacey had a gin and tonic, an old fashioned & a rusty nail. We both slapped down 10 bucks & were out of there drunk as skunks. I proceeded to my brother's softball game & then to the Tap Room for a couple more beers.