*since I don't drink, I've found that ginger beer is a nice change from having a Coke when you're out with your drinking friends. There's a bunch of different varieties, and I'm going to start reviewing them here!
This really should have been the first review, since Bundaberg is by far my gold standard for ginger beer. Aaron Nagel brought some to a BBQ at my place, and I've been hooked on it ever since. It's balanced, refreshing and good to the last drop. Not only does it have the best flavor of all of the other ginger beers I've tried, but i find it to be more aesthetically pleasing. Sure, there's a kangaroo on the label, but the whole thing doesn't look like it was cobbled together by someone using MS paint and word. It's capped with a pull tab top, making it incredibly easy to open, and hey, something different than a twist off cap! The bottle is similar to the ones they use for Red Stripe, and it seems to stay cold longer in my hand than a regular bottle would.
The only downside is, that of all the ginger beers, this is the hardest one to find. Usually bars stock it, but grocery stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods haven't picked it up.
Tera Melos originally were a four-piece instrumental musical assault. They were hands down my favorite live band, melding improvisation, reckless abandon, musical prowess and a healthy serving of chaos into a terrifying, exhilarating 30 minutes. Just hanging out with those guys was totally ridiculous. (I rode along with them to a show they played in some lazer tag place where we stole cake and pizza from some kids party. They annihilated the place and then we played a few games of lazer tag, harassing the balding referee. He wanted us to call him game master and we kept yelling "gaybasher!")
Anyhow... time passed. They got sick of having to have their guitars put together every few shows. Jeff quit the band to work on his beard full time, and to ride giant motorcycles. They bought a bunch of weird samplers and keyboards that didn't like being knocked over or unplugged. They started setting up on stage rather than in the middle of the audience. All of their songs got really long, and then Vince quit to go be awesome at something besides drums. I still thought they were a good band, but I was having a hard time following the songs, and it wasn't because I was trying not to get stabbed in the face with a guitar headstock.
So, here we are, 2010, and Tera Melos has a new album coming out soon. I honestly wasn't super jazzed on the news... until I heard this song! Frozen Zoo, the new track, has CHORUSES!! Holy crap. It's three minutes long!! WOW! It's catchy!!! While I'm told this track doesn't represent the album as a whole, I hear that the songs have quite a bit of structure. I'll for sure be picking this up the day it comes out now.
While Tera Melos may no longer be the wall-climbing, gear-destroying, energetic, mean kids from Roseville anymore, there's a good chance that their new direction will find me listening to them again a lot more.
(This video will give you an idea of what their shows used to be like)
Click on the Fierce Face to download the whole album for FREE!
Aaron Davidson (Brilliant Red Lights, Compassion In Action, The Soft Comas, Huge Black Man) put together an interesting take on the traditional mix tape. He reconstructed a batch of his favorite songs, sang new vocals over them, and then let it loose onto the internet for free. The whole project fits together very smoothly, although the standout track for me is Leave The Jetpack (Hot Chip Remixed by Fred Falke). I'm hoping that he's working on a second Fierce Face recording, and that I'll get to draw the cover of the next one.
I'm going to borrow the idea from my wife's blog and start posting either free music that I'm really into, or music that I had some hand in helping to create.
*since I don't drink, I've found that ginger beer is a nice change from having a Coke when you're out with your drinking friends. There's a bunch of different varieties, and I'm going to start reviewing them here!
The "authentic australian" marketing that proliferates much of the ginger beer I've drank makes no sense to me. Honestly, I don't think anyone is out there, scratching their head going, "Man! I sure am thirsty, I could really go for something australian!" I don't really give a crap where it originated from, I just want to drink it without getting the stink-eye from a bartender. This label is ridiculous. G'day Mate! Limited Edition!
Also, people who don't drink usually don't carry a bottle opener. All ginger beer should be able to be opened with your bare hands. No fun trying to pry one of these open, especially if I had been out on a walkabout looking at koalas, right!?
So... how's it taste? It wasn't the worst tasting ginger beer I've had, but it also wasn't the best. I thought it was a little syrupy. I did like how gingery it was, but I could see that being kinda gross to most people.
I definitely won't buy one of these again, but I'd drink one if it was free.
UPDATE: Classics of Love had to cancel, so now Gnarboots are opening the San Jose show! Yes!!
I really like the idea of doing two flyers that look similar to each other for a similar show happening on two different dates. I've never met Jeff Rosenstock, but I'm a fan of what he's been doing with his record label, and I hope he digs these flyers. All of the dudes in the other bands are all long-time homies, especially Mr. Potthast, who I have probably seen play over 100 shows. Hey, fun story: MU330, Link 80 and the Chinkees were all in a bus on tour, and we stopped at this weird truck stop in Germany that was built out of all these abstract shapes (bonus points to anyone who tracks down this place online). We didn't have anywhere to sleep in the van after we got out to use the bathroom, so we climbed up on top of all the bags that were stacked on top of all the equipment in the back of the van. We were up about 20 feet in the air. We were moving around and giggling so much that we woke up everyone in the van.
PS: Am I misspelling "flyers"? Would it be more correct to put "fliers"? Please let me know in the comments.
GNARBOOTS at Bottom of the Hill! Hopefully it being a Wednesday night won't deter people from coming out to this show. I'll definitely have some prints of this available at the show. I'm really happy with how this turned out, especially considering my initial sketch.
Haven't seen Gnarboots yet? Check out this video to get a taste of what we do:
I kept track of my 100 ROBOTS using a piece of paper at my desk at work. Not the most exact means, and I wound up double selling a robot. So, I had to do an extra robot:
Name: 0000kurt
Serial #: X320204AD77-00101
Function: CUDDLING, LAUGHING AT JOKES, EATING ENGLISH MUFFINS
You may notice that this robot bears a striking resemblance to 0000karl, which is part of why I held off on posting it. However, I just looked at it again and thought it would be fun for people to look at. The nice folks who bought 0000karl bought a few other robots, so when I told them about the double-sell, they just asked for another similar to him. It's interesting to look at the difference between the two, since I did 0000karl in the at the beginning of the project, and this one at the very, very end. You can really see the difference.
I made the black and white version of this a while ago, but I just colored it. This definitely pops a lot more. Ben from the Trophy Fire (who I've known for years and years and years... and through multiple bands he's been in) was looking for someone to make a flyer for this show and I jumped on it. My friend Lauren plays drums in Minipop. All in all, should be a pretty killer show.
Hey, what are you doing this weekend? No, not Friday... No, not Saturday... Sunday, in the afternoon. Nothing? Awesome. Come hang out with me while I make art!
I have a booth at this event, which I'll be sharing with my friend Renee (http://briskknits.blogspot.com). I'll have a bunch of new paintings to sell, along with zines, buttons, music, and whatever other odds and ends I can pull together to expel out into the world. I'll post up a few things you can snag at this event this week to hopefully interest some of you into coming to visit me.
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