L.A. was so fun!!! Liv and I stayed in Echo Park. Cute neighborhood and walkable stuff, including a walk to the Echo on Saturday night to see Sonny and the Sunsets. I was so psyched they were playing there, it was totally out of the blue. I just saw it in the LA Weekly and tripped. I wish they would play Sac.
There was a place in the neighborhood that was like a Mexican Dennys, but good.
We went to the "Art in the Streets" show the MOCA. That was kind of the reason for the trip. It's a show that everyone is talking about and probably will be for years to come. It's is mind-bogglingingly huge. It encompasses everything from graffiti, to surf, skate, lowrider and punk culture. It's very entertaining but I didn't find any of it very moving. I guess it kind of felt empty to me.
Part of the exhibit was a full-sized customized ice cream truck that was blasting The Doors.
I thought one of the more thrilling things to see in person was the original Sex Pistols art.
This show runs until August and it's worth a trip.
The gallery is right near Little Tokyo, so we went to a shop afterwards that sells mochi ice cream, and in this case, mochi gelato.
This is like a very dry peep stuffed with "baby lima beans". Not very good.
Then we ate at Philippe's French Dip, which rules. It's been open since 1908. They have a rivalry with Cole's over who invented the French Dip.
This is the pork dip.
and pickled eggs!
We also went to Watts Towers. Very inspiring! I am now going to start making art in my backyard every day after work and all weekend. Perhaps I will start mosaicing the toilet that is sitting back there.
Tour guide in a pith helmet.
After that, to Compton for Bludsoe's Texas-style bbq. We just sort of randomly picked it and we were STOKED. Fuck, I just remembered I didn't eat my leftover mac and cheese. Goddamnit. The brisket was soooo tender.
We also went to Cole's, which has an awesome bar, but we were all too full to even taste a french dip, which seems ridiculous to me now. This is a Moscow Mule.
This is an elegant mint julep.
Here was our cute bartender, laboring away. We kept goading him about how Phillipe's french dips are older.
Next, back to Little Tokyo for some ramen at a 24 hour ramen spot. That's the REAL test of a world-class city. 24 hour ramen.
See, my camera is still making everything look all misty! Did I get olive oil inside it or something? These are the devils on horseback from Bows Collective, paired with a delicious riesling. They are dates, stuffed with an almond, wrapped in bacon, steeped in mystery.
Here is the cleverly named 104 degree salad from Masullo. He's done it again. It's a salad of delicately cubed jicama and watermelon, tossed in a chili lime dressing. So refreshing and it has a really fun texture.
I forget which pizza this is but it's one of the ones with ham and fontina. The bomb.
If you have too many zucchini may I suggest quick zucchini pickles? Salt some thinly sliced zucchini and onions, then cover in ice water for a half hour or so. Rinse, heat up some vinegar, sugar, and spices, let that cool and...
Voila! Miller doesn't really like them, but I do.
How much do you guys tip? I was just listening to an economics podcast about tipping and when you think about it, it's really weird. I started reflexively tipping 20 percent years ago when my server friends all did so but sometimes that even creeps up to 25.
I fucked up and did a lotta shit but didn't take any pictures. Just mental pictures, but those are already fading fast. One mental picture I will always cherish is seeing Calvin Johnson doing his Calvin dance for Dreamdate. That made me SO PSYCHED. He loved Dreamdate. Then I missed his set cuz I was yakking but I heard it was really good.
The MidMo Reader's Choice issue is gonna be fun. At first I was skeptical about the whole concept but now I'm into it because good stuff won. Stay tuned....
Speaking of MidMo, did you read Tony King's Zach Hill interview yet? So rad! Broken testicles!?!?!?
Has anyone else noticed that everything is going on this weekend is on the same day? July 4th? I can only be in so many places at once, namely: one. The other day at work I was wishing I could clone myself to get more work done and then I realized how much I would irritate myself if I had to work with me.
You know what was good about this coleslaw? Warm bacon dressing. And lots of fresh oregano and flat leaf parsley.
This juicy bird was kind of a mix between the James Beard method (butter!) and the Alice Waters method. I think James Beard would offend Alice Waters if they hung out, but I'm pretty sure he did go to Chez Panisse at some point. Maybe wearing a kimono. And maybe his kimono slipped open and his junk peeped out. Oops!
All I have to say about this picture is - That's racist!
Tried a new Korean place in South Sac called 88 Tofu. It's the only Korean place in that neck of the woods. The vibe is a little weird but I liked the food. Part of the banchan is that everone gets their own dainty fried fish.
My camera seems to be on some misty "Captain Kirk when he looks at a lady" setting. Hope water didn't get inside or something. Their pickles are good. I bought a bunch of them to take home.
Their thing is tofu, and they have a lot of tofu-based soups. This was a mushroom one. Very shroomy.
Their japchae is excellent.
Spareribs: pretty good. A little gamey. Not as good as Pine Tree House.
You only have today and tomorrow to submit your votes for the MidMo's first ever reader's choice survey. Go here to do it.
Also, Joshua Ploeg, the traveling vegan chef, is going to be in Sac in July and wants to cook some dinners. If you don't know, when you engage Joshua, he will come to your house and cook a vegan feast. Here's the email he sent out, reach him at thetravelingchef@gmail.com
Hey Folks
Well, I'm on a trip at the moment yet again (in Pittsburgh, getting ready to cook up a storm).
When that ends, I'm looking at July as California month
feel free plz. to book a delightful vegan dinner, tea party, brunch or other event (something artistic mayhaps?)
in Sacramento or the Bay Area July 3rd-10th or July 24th-31st
lots of options in there. I have already booked the 28th, the rest remains free
let me know if you have an idea
I might do a pickup day somewhere in there, but not sure yet
Hope the summer is treating you all well and see you soon
Yipes and criminy. Does anyone say these words out loud anymore? What does criminy mean or originate from? Did you know G. Green is playing tonight with Animals and Men at the Press Club, which is a band that everyone thinks smiller will know about but that he doesn't. And English Singles are playing with them tomorrow in Oakland. Where is that show?
Do you have too many beans? I now officially do. I have a bag of them in my fridge right now, making me feel guilty, as if I need anything else to feel guilty about! Fuck you, beans. If you have too many, here's a tip: boil for 2-3 minutes then plunge in cold water. Make a dressing with canola oil, dijon mustard, champagne vinegar, lots of tarragon and a clove of garlic. Use a blender or a rough chop of herbs, doesn't really matter. Serve cold. Great the next day.
Here's the new MOM tape out on Burger, Moms Greatest Shits. I picked it up at Phono Select. It's really good sunny day driving around music, believe it or not.
Here's Charles' album face
Here's Scott's DJ face. I asked him to make this, BTW. He really saved the day because some of us thought there were like three bands playing. He kept it tight until the end, when he played Stray Cats.
Gaba's album face
I saw this sight at a Thrift Store, on probably 8 tvs at once. This is some peoples worst nightmare.
Jed's band (San Kazagaskar) is playing tonight at Lugi's with Art Lessing. Should be a good time. It's going to include a 9 man psychedlic jam. Here's one of those crazy video flyers that all the kids are making.
Also, here's a rad post on the Phono Select blog about the special they're running on Charles Albright releases. If you buy both 7 inches you get a free Bud Light. I heard that if you buy every Sacramento Records release at the Sacramento Records showcase on Saturday, Charles will personally visit your house with a corgi.
I need some advice. My sister has been cutting my hair for 10 years, but she moved to L.A. Who can I go to just to cut my bangs? Do fancy salons charge less for a bang trim? Last time Great Clips butchered it worse than when I cut them myself. I need help now. I can barely see this screen.
I'm a little disappd that the Calvin Johnson debate didn't keep raging on in the comments below. Or descriptions of my smell. Even the fact that Calvin Johnson is such a polarizing figure is pretty interesting. Isn't there some anecdote about him enraging Rollins sometime? Oh yeah, the internet has an answer for that, written by Lois Maffeo no less (fuck! I forgot about her. Butterfly Kiss was one of my favorite albums of the riot grrl era, and I am getting goosebumps listening to the song above). Here's what she wrote in The Stranger in 1999. Read the rest of the take down here, it's pretty crazy
About a million years ago, Black Flag played at the Tropicana in Olympia. Beat Happening opened. As Calvin Johnson pranced and tummy-hopped around, you could see Rollins behind the stage looking increasingly incredulous. Was Johnson mocking Rollins' macho stage presence by offering the exact opposite? Was Rollins being upstaged? His gall visibly rising, Rollins planted himself in the front row, directly in front of Calvin, and began taunting the singer. Johnson, who never backed down from a heckler in his life, ignored the braying of insults and soldiered on. Finally, in exasperation, Rollins reached up and placed his hand over Johnson's crotch. Johnson merely took a step back, looked Rollins in the eye, and said, "Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Apparently not.
Spent some quality time on the Bows patio yesterday. I don't usually like fruit salsa but I should have known that Jaymes would make a good version of it. I forced the server to let me take a picture.
Then we quaffed this golden beauty. Delicious. A strange guy made me autograph a MidMo (he did not know who I was, he just eavesdropped on us talking about MidMo) and I fell for it and now I think it was some kind of identity theft scam or something. What do I do?
More refreshing beverages. This is the blueberry ginger kombucha from Sugar Plum Vegan. This might be my summer jam.
This cute sight can mean only one thing: Bunchy was at my house. Babs really put in some time in the ol magazine rack, including taking a very tense nap.
In the quest to always write about the new, the hip, and the obscure, it can be easy to forget the restaurants that just carry on quietly turning out excellent food. Kru is one of those places, and I'm lucky that it's one of the restaurants closest to my house. For four bucks they give you a pretty enormous serving of sunomono, and could there be a cooler, more refreshing snack when it's like 103 degrees outside? The paper thin texture was so pleasing because somehow the slices retained their crunch. It was just lightly vinegared, with a slick of sesame oil.
Billy Ngo sent out an amuse bouche of, I believe, hamachi in a poke marinade, with a half cherry tomato, slivered red onion, and micro cilantro on top. A single bite of summer.
This is my usual at Kru: the chef's choice nigiri. Always something new and tasty.
We definitely kicked off the Best Summer Ever with a nuclear explosion. In fact, I was apparently so jazzed that I only needed to sleep from about midnight to 3 in the morning last night and now I am insane. Well, I feel insane, maybe that's different from being insane.
Thanks to everyone at Bows, from what I could tell the staff handled the crush with aplomb. I split the roast pork sandwich with my mom and it was delish. I also had, I think, 3 glasses of wine and 3 beers. Yes, I can admit that, it's part of why I feel top notch right now. And I had the MidMo pop, which is incredibly good. DJ Mike C. played excellent jamz, and the Best Summer Ever band and Buk Buk were great too.
Do you know about the Sacramento Records showcase at Phono Select on Saturday? It might be crammed with industry and A & R types, but don't let that deter you because Scott is DJing!!! If I know that dude I know he will put a lot of thought into what he plays.
Yeah! This is happening. Tonight! Sandwich! Wine! Brew! Popsicle! Jams! Buk! Buk! Bigups!
Do you know about the Paul Collins show on July 4th at Sol Collective? I'm about to blow your mind: Calvin Johnson and Dreamdate are also on the bill. That's a pretty random grab bag of all interesting stuff. I interviewed Paul C. yesterday for the SNR and he is such a rad dude. I knew he would be but he was even better than I thought.
Speaking of interviews, MidMo has a doozy coming up. Tony King interviewed a local music celebrity and let me just give you a teaser: broken testicles.
I have just been too damn busy to post. Come to the MidMo partay tomorrow (Tuesday) and party hearty. You must know the details by now, right? If not you are just not paying attention.
Look at this adorable video that AZ made for the Best Summer Ever Party.
Wow, what a turnout last night. Sacramento you are the best. We soldiered (well, not we, I didn't do anything) through some gnarly technical difficulties which delayed things a bit but it came out ok in the end and led to us selling more beer. The panel was good, Skinner made a crack that he had eaten a pot brownie earlier in the day which was classic. I hadn't talked to Skinner much in years and he is really a force of nature, I don't know how else to put it. He has a crazy new website up if you want to know what he's up to, which is a lot. Such as turning down an offer from Criss Angel and Tim Allen according to his twitter?
So much going on this weekend. French Film Festival, which is on the cover of the Ticket (I'm picking up the Bee for my neighbor on vacation), Scouse Gits show at the Blue Lamp, Movies on a Big Screen on Sunday is showing a movie by the makers of Heavy Metal Parking Lot called Heavy Metal Picnic. Here's the description from the website:
The film focuses on the 1985 Full Moon Jamboree, a weekend field party bacchanal that took place at "The Farm," home to a cast of colorful characters who lived and partied alongside unamused neighbors in the McMansions of Potomac. The Full Moon Jamboree, an affair so raucous that it made the evening news, was the farm party to end all farm parties, and much of it was recorded using a home video camera and a stolen CBS News microphone swiped from the Reagan Inauguration earlier that year. Twenty-five years later, we revisit the scene and meet the people behind the party, as well as the musicians who performed there, including mid-Atlantic doom metal icons Asylum.
Man, and speaking of movies, the new Woody Allen AND the new Terence Malick are playing at Tower and Meek's Cutoff is still playing at the Crest. How will I find the time? Answer: I won't. My tolerance for Malick has actually gone down in recent years. Badlands is a stone classic, but other than that, I'm not sure.
Screening of Marwencol at the Verge tonight. 7:30. Liv and I visited Skinner in his studio last night to talk about the panel discussion. What an amazing guy. He has a lot to say, and I'm sure he will say some of it tonight.
Man, all this stuff going on and the French Film Festival starts this weekend, too. I love the poster that Dane H. designed. I know no one is reading this because you are all nattering on facebook, but does anyone have any recs for must-sees? I've seen Pierrot le fou. What about the Jacques Demy movie? I am not a big fan of French New Wave. I don't get it.
Why is Montel all up in our shit? World class city! He just opened a weed club on 29th and U and now he's going to be at the Comedy Spot doing improv? Sometime in July I guess.
Here's a rather grainy photo of a Fat Face bbq'ed pork sandwich that I had for dinner last night. So good! That reminds me, the last day for submissions to the Fat Face popsicle contest is Friday, so get your submissions in to flavorcontest@midtownmonthly.net Jaymes and I were agreeing that we are getting some really good submissions and she's stoked to try one out. And the winner will get a 25 dollar gift certificate!
We had a meeting last night at Bows Collective to talk about the Midtown Monthly Best Summer Ever party which is at Bows next Tuesday, June 21st, the first day of summer! Kick summer off right with the Best Summer Ever band, DJ Mike C., Buk Buk Bigups, the MidMo popsicle, and a free raffle.
Yipes, and don't forget Marwencol at the Verge on Thursday with a panel discussion led by yours truly. Fuck.
Oh yeah, and if we're looking forward to the weekend (which I kind of am but kind of not because I have to go to Old Sac with my family) a hot new band the Scouse Gits is debuting, wait why is there no information about this on undietacos? What's the deal? It's at the ToHo?
Hey guys-Don't forget to fill out the online survey for the first annual MidMo reader's choice awards. If you don't have answers for all the categories then just fill in the ones you do have answers for and submit. Thank you
