You too can Rock

June is winding down and I don't plan on seeing any more shows before July, but I must say that this month went out with a bang, or maybe a Rattle and a Hum.

Kathy was asked by a co worker more than 6 months ago if she'd be interested  in going to see U2 this summer and Kathy, although not a music lover, said sure, why not?  Fast forward to June 22, 2011.  The woman who asked Kathy to go ended up with an extra ticket to what is turning out to be one of the hottest concert draws this summer.  Hmmmm, who could she ask to go on short notice?

Not much of a sacrifice for me.  Although according to Kathy, I own every CD in the universe, I only own one U2 CD, Achtung Baby.  I've been aware of U2 for 30 some odd years, and appreciate their music, I don't consider myself a fan but I know a good thing when I see it coming, so I jumped at the chance to see them at the local football stadium along with about 80,000 other people.

The plan was for an early dinner along with some other fans going to the show, some tailgating before the show and the of course, the show itself.  We got to downtown Baltimore by 3:00 pm and it's good thing we did because parking places were going fast.  We ended up on the 6th floor of the Marriott's parking garage and we waited for the rest of our party to arrive.  We all hooked up at a bar/restaurant called The Alewife for drinks and an early dinner before walking to the stadium.  The food was good and they also featured an impressive number of beers on tap and in bottles.  Nice.

Our group, under the expressway

From there it was a short walk to the main event and some more tailgating with more like minded fans.  We waited around until about the time the opening act, Florance and the Machine, was to start and then we went in to claim our seats.  The weather was hot but we were fortunate to have a cool breeze to make it bearable.
The stage setup was impressive and promised a 360 degree show to everyone who attended the show.  The round video screen surrounding the stage came too life before the main event  and was an intricate part of the whole show for the remainder of the evening.

Considering the size of the crowd and the outdoor conditions I have to say that U2 put on a hell of a show.  We didn't know every song they played but there were more than enough old favorites to keep even the outskirts fan like me satisfied.  Kathy was surprised by how many songs she knew and the whole production was first rate.  I may never see U2 again for as long as I live, but I must say that I'm glad I had this chance to see this band, if not at their creative peak, at least at a performance peak.

One hell of a June

This month started out strong, musically, with my trip to New York to see a free concert with my friend Nakie at a club called The Falcon.  It was Ed Palermo's Big Band playing the music of Frank Zappa and this 18 piece band did Frank Proud.  The band has been together for close to 30 years and have been featuring Franks music for well over a decade.

The show was on the first Friday of June in the evening  but Norm and I were so excited (and hungry/thirsty) that we got to the club early.  Early enough to catch the band doing the sound check and running through some new changes like the intro to "Montana".  I asked if they minded if I took some pictures and Ed said sure, no problem and asked if we could sing because they needed someone who knew the words to The Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

He was kidding of course but I was ready to take over in an instant should the vocalist become sick or injured and unable to fulfill his singing duties.  He stopped by our table when they were done rehearsing to sa "hi" and shake hands and he seemed pleased when we let him know how much we'd been looking forward to the show.

Norm and I ate (and drank) while we were waiting for the show to start.  The club was pretty packed by the time the band came on and their selections and the skill in which they preformed were outstanding.  In case you don't know, Frank Zappa's music is complex and ofter difficult to preform, but this fine oiled machine under the guide of Mr. Palermo preformed it beautifully.  Without losing any of Frank's intended melody, the band swung and as Frank would say "put some eyebrows on it".  

One of the many highlights was the young lady who was the violin player.  Not only was she a knock out, she played with a visible passion and skill that could take your breath away.

The break between sets featured a fire dancer/eater out on the lower patio and she was almost as talented as the band.  Nak and I realized the she was the young woman sitting in front of us for the first set of the show but she did not return to her seat for the second set so we couldn't let her know how much we enjoyed her performance.  Maybe she had heart burn.


The second set was as impressive as the first and I picked up the bands latest CD of Franks music and had Ed sign it.  All in all, a magical night spent listening to wonderful music played by a top notch band with a good friend and a lot of other Zappa fans.

Ed's only solo of the night

Almost too easy

With the approaching holiday I'm a little under the gun time wise, but I mixed up my 2 gallon  batch of My Beer tonight with the hope that it'll be ready by the 4th.  From start to finish it took maybe a half hour at the most and some of that time was spent on sanitizing.

It's a no boil kit for some kind of non specific ale so the malt syrup already has the hops in it.  I used some other yeast (and English ale, I think) that I had in stock and even gave it a little head start by adding it to a little dried malt and water before adding it to the wort.  I also threw a few Cascade hop pellets in at the end to see if it will do anything for the aroma.

They say about 7 days to ferment and then it's bottling time.  The two gallons should take less than 12, 22 oz bottles so that works for me (less bottle cleaning).  I hope that with the smaller batches I'll be able to brew more often and if I get the Beer Machine going too I could have a whole slew of different brews to try the next time anyone comes for a visit.

Welcome to the machine

This month has been a busy one (and it's not over yet) so I haven't had all the time I need to keep up with everything on my blog. June started with a trip to NY to see Norm and catch The Ed Palermo Big Band at a club/restaurant called The Falcon.  More on that in the near future.

The day after the show we went to a book sale/flea market  event and in addition to picking up yet more CDs, I bought a Beer Machine home brewing system for $5.00.  The package was opened but it all seemed to be in tact but unused so I figured I go a real good deal.  Once I got it home and went through the contents I determined that indeed, all the parts were in tact but looking at the instructions I noticed that it was from 1995!

I opened the actual brew kit and found that the can of malt was a bit rusted and starting to bloat a bit.  I figured it was best to toss the malt and guessing the the yeast was past its prime as well, I disposed of it too.  Now we all know how businesses come and go so quickly these days but I did a search on the inter-web to see if the machine was still a going concern and somewhat to my surprise, it's still out there.

http://www.beermachine.com/index.html

I'll be ordering some new mixes in the near future and we'll just see what this machine is made of.  at the very least, I'd like to use it's little keg for dispensing home brew since it's got it's own little CO2 cartridges for forced carbonation for those times when you just can't wait for something to self carbonate.

My plan is to brew my Mr Beer kit (that I picked up after Christmas) and hopefully have something on hand for when we have our annual 4th of July shin dig.  If all goes well I could be brewing all kinds of small batches from now on.

It Gets Depressin' 'Round Midnight

I started watching a movie last night called "'Round Midnight".  It's loosely based on the lives of Bud Powell and and Lester Young.  It's set in Paris in the early sixties and directed by some frog director which means it has some subtitles.  I'm only half way through it (it's over 2 hours long) and I can tell you it's depressing.

The real saving grace is the award winning score by Herbie Hancock and the movie features the likes of Herbie as well as Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon, Ron Carter and Tony Williams among others.  So far it's been mostly playing in a small club, drinking and blackouts.

I shut it off last night because it was getting late but I don't know if I can finish watching it tonight.  The music is great but unless the plot takes an unexpected upward swing, I don't know if I can take it. I'm starting to see why so many jazz musicians got into heroin.

eye hop

I noticed today that my hop plant is up to  eye level.  If I can keep them watered and maybe get them a little more daylight, maybe I can finally get some combs this fall.