So I know that a picture of a dumb tattoo is not exactly a revelatory blog post, but this one is making me LOL. I love the roll call of importance. While googling "stupid tattoos" I also found one of the Tom of Finland image of the guy humping the globe, which is not a stupid tattoo at all! There's also ones of Eames furniture, which is OK.

Also, did you know that Freeblood had a video?

press conference

Like many others I missed Touchez last night because I got stuck in an unmoving line outside Harlow's and they played on time. I guess it's my bad for assuming they would play late, but that's gotta be the first time that's ever happened to me. Harlow's was a waaaaayyyyyy better venue for !!! than the late, not lamented Library and the crowd was stoked.

You've probably heard, but I'm very curious about this gathering of local chefs and press conference to show support for Corti Bros. I'm not sure why this is needed. It makes me worry it's because they haven't found a location. It happens today at three.

Newsflash!

OK, there's an amazing event tonight that kinda came together at the last minute. Tonight at the Press my favorite DJ, Mike C. has put together a night in which Tyler and Mario from !!! are dj'ing and Touchez is playing. Don't miss this! Tomorrow, !!! and Touchez are playing at Harlow's. If you are the type who has myspace, and you have friends who might be in to dancing at the Press, send out an alert or whatever those things are called.

where is dave smith?

Holy crap, this picture is fucking huge. It's on the message board post of a dude named Ashwar that is on the motorcycle ride with Dave Smith. Dave posted on his blog today, Liv's blog reminded me to check it. I have tomorrow off. So this is all you got.

la noche espanola

Thumbs up on Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I just checked imdb and confirmed that it was my favorite Woody Allen movie since Sweet and Lowdown in 1999 (wow, was I really working at the Tower that long ago?) Holy shit, it might just be my favorite since Crimes and Misdemeanors, although I can't remember Husbands and Wives. But Juliette Lewis is in it, how good could it be? It's a sure-footed trifle, not a masterpiece.

The tapas and constant wine drinking spurred us to Spanish food after the movie. In times past I would have gone to Aioli, but you just can't count on Aioli for a fun meal. They have two servers I hate getting, and at least one of them is there at all times. So we opted for Tapa The World and had a surprisingly pleasant meal. I had never noticed that Tapa serves three different types of dry sherry by the glass for 4 bucks! Nobody else does that and I have been really into sherry lately so I was stoked. We got a fino and an amontillado with a plate of spanish meats and cheeses and olives. Delicious and the wine went so well, especially the fino, which was light, cold, and salty. The amontillado was dark, served a bit warmer, and very lightly sweet and nutty. We also had the tortilla espanola, the boquerones, and the lamb croquetas with a couple of glasses of red wine that were fairly light for Spanish wines. The server nicely helped us pick them, unlike at Aioli, where they are often out of their listed wines and try to quickly steer you towards something that is completely different all the while assuring you it is the same. The croquetas were the only misfire, mostly because I didn't realize that they were deep-fried and served with mayo, which made them seem like TGI Fridays fare.

H.P.O. on sale

I am still blogging at both locations to try to generate some traffic for MM, so if you wanna see pictures of my lunch on sunday (exciting) go over there. Speaking of pictures, baby Rina on Bananas myspace!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The big news is that H.P.O. is on sale for $9.99 at Corti Bros. If you have not tasted this sweet nectar of the Gods, it is now cheap enough to serve as a water substitute. EC, don't worry, I picked you up a bottle. I assume he's doing this cuz this wine is not meant to age, and it's 2004 vintage. I pray that this isn't the last vintage ever, especially if it's true you can't age it.

Morant's mania

I'm posting because I'm tired of seeing that post at the top. There's a No Bunny show at the Fun Garden on sunday. I'm going to Morant's today to load up on sausage and maybe that kraut he makes with the pork in it. Stoked!

inbred hipster coverage

The Midtown Monthly meeting had a looooowww turnout (c'mon peeps, they give out free cans of Modelo Especial) but it got me stoked on the mag. We have so much good content coming out and at least 65% more coverage of inbred hipster bands. I'm gonna try to do a street fashion thing, and some of it will be posted on the website, which for real is getting some content. Here's an example.

I made a really good pizza last night from summer produce. The dough recipe is here, it turned out well. I cooked it on really high heat on the stone on the lowest rack. The toppings were tomatoes, red onion, summer squash and zucchini sliced paper thin, gypsy peppers (I love those things), salami, fresh soft mozzarella and a little grated parm.
The finishing touch when it came out was fresh chopped basil. That put it over the top.
Then, some puzzling. I would rate this puzzle a 7 on challenge level. It pulled the trick of side parts that aren't pictured on the box and colors not really matching.
I made dinner the other night for vegetarian friends and I grilled peaches. I had chalked grilled fruit up as a dumb culinary trend but it's like pie without the fat! I drizzled balsamic on the top. Fried green tomatoes are also seriously worth the minor effort it takes to make them. Make sure your oil is hot and you use enough of it. Also, more fresh black-eyed peas which I think I am finally sick of. I love that about seasonal produce, when it first comes in I get sad thinking about how it's fleeting, but then I gorge myself and get sick of it. Like I'm already totally over corn!

What? I can read.

If anyone is wondering what I think is funny, it's this. Dream show? The pizzas and personal and the pizzas at the fungarden!

Is it just me, or is the fungarden myspace not very useful at all? There's a show there tonight, including a John Dwyer band called The Drums. Sounds like, uh drums.

various miscellaneous

First things first, Chloe Sevigney came into Bows and Arrows this weekend. Anyone have details? Did she buy anything? What the hell was she doing in Sac?

Oh wait, first things first should be that baby Rina was born and will be coming home today!

The Japanese Bazaar was so crowded around sunday at 2 that I didn't get to have any of the food that I planned. Well, I could have gotten udon but I was too hot. The best thing I had was a chicken, ginger, cabbage, crispy bits salad that was delicious. And korokke with tonkatsu. And beer. It was fun people watching but next year I am going to time it so as not to go at peak times. It seems fun to go in the evening. Did anyone go later and was it less crowded?

I had a sandwich at Uptown last week that I was really stoked on. I love Uptown. They are so friendly. The sandwich was grilled American cheese, bacon, and turkey. Not exactly healthy. They roast their own turkeys, remember, which is very important to me.

Speaking of Del Paso Heights, I entered the News and Review building for the first time on saturday (for Jane Hemmerling's art reception, you should check her paintings out sometime this month. They're beautiful.) and the News and Reviewers must be bummin' on leaving that prime location.

Speaking of second saturday it is genuinely off the chain. Second saturday seems to mean flesh on display to lots of women, and I even saw a trio of bros with thinly concealed beers and a pitbull who were sitting and hooting at women as they walked by. Charming. The mayor was chilling on a corner and I told her that I was stoked she was concerned with the Corti Bros situation (I know, here anonymous commenter, I'll save you time, "you people all make me laugh, he is a bad businessman and you just can't admit it"). There were Hari Krishnas. I watched the end of the Art Lessing set, which made me feel more stoned than I have ever felt when I was not stoned at all. Smiller saw a Dead jam band that featured a dude live airbrushing a picture of Jerry with the Golden Gate Bridge.

Speaking of flesh on display, do jean cutoffs look great on dudes or what? Last night 3/4ths of the English Singles were wearing them and their knees were looking toned and tan. Maxwell sported a pair too and they are really a timeless fashion. I always feel really slobby when I wear them but on men it seems like they are summer camp counselers. I have never seen a show at Javalounge before and it seems like a great venue.

Stuff coming up: The new Capital Stage play the Typographer's Dream only has one week to go, ends August 17th. I hope to find time to go. The state fair is starting already on friday. This summer is flying by.

tgif

no time to post. mayyors show tonight. japanese bazaar this weekend. don't miss it. try the udon!

basil question

Does anybody know how to keep basil fresh? I tried putting the stems in water in the fridge and it wilted overnight. I tried just sticking it in and it wilted overnight. I'm buying more today and I want to try again. Should it not be in the refrigerator?

There's a nice piece on Cortis in the Bee today, with some ridic comments.

Midtown Monthly kinda got harshed on in our new yelp review. That's a reviewer I really like, I even friended her although I don't know her, so it's flattering she singled me out for praise, but perhaps we should take her criticism to heart? Nobody wants to write about music, it seems, so it's not that easy to branch out. I know I don't want to write about it.

The farmer's market is providing me with mucho inspiration lately. Last night I made a golden tomato gazpacho.
It looks like baby food. I made it from a recipe in Gourmet that I think was kinda weird. It probably would have been better if I winged it. Three big golden tomatoes from Watanabe cost 7 bucks! I also made MORE fresh black-eyed peas, which I simply cannot get enough of. For dessert, a nectaring blackberry cobbler. Also a weird recipe (the dough balls parts were just OK), but the fruit was perfect! The blackberries are insanely sweet right now. It would be fun to organize a picking part. Well, fun if you like scratches and bleeding, and rubbing fruit juice into your scratches.
Tomorrow is the Ganglians/Crocodiles/Pets show at Fungarden.

More Corti

Last week after the Corti thing went down I fired off a letter to Michael Teel. It was pretty snotty, I'll admit. I told him I'd never, ever set foot in one of his stores and closed it "have a nice day!". I was just blowing off steam. He and his business partner, Michael Ashker, both wrote me back, telling me to wait for the whole story to come out, and that they had not been accurately potrayed. Michale Teel said to wait for the Bee story on the weekend. Well, here it is. It didn't change my mind at all, although Corti's offer is surprising. I think the comments on the story do show that most people who care have been left with a bad taste in their mouth (mouths?). I liked the comment from the Corti's employee because it injected some calm into the thread. I'm glad he's closing in on a new lease, and I'm going to try to get to Corti's as much as possible as I can before he closes.

There's a show tonight, and I think Mike C. is djing? It's at the Press, starts at nine. Agent Ribbons, Art Lessing and the Flower Vato, and Daisy Spot.

cover story

BR scored the cover of the News and Review! And a sexy cover it is.

Man, Democracy Now has been on a roll lately. I was listening to yesterdays show on podcast, and in the middle of a roundtable about publicly financed stadiums (participants included Dennis Kucinich and the guy who wrote "field of schemes), which in itself is awesome, Juan Gonzalez interrupted it to ask Kucinich about his impeachment hearing for Bush. Then he played this long clip from The View in which Joy Behar and Barbara fucking Walters were busting Nancy Pelosi's chops about why she won't call for impeachment! Pelosi tapdanced around it in a ridiculous way. They had a roundtable about the newspaper industry last week that made me really sad. I feel terrible for people who are trying to make their living as journalists.

boycott good eats, obvs

Over dinner at Queen Sheba my dining companions and I were talking about what can be done to help out Corti (besides offering to help him move some vintage port....into my mouth). I'm going to write a letter to the mayor to call her attention to the situation and urge the city to contact him and see if he needs help. Can anybody think of anything else? Where the hell can he move? It's got to be an existing building or he's going to be closed for months. As soon as I get paid I'm going to go blow a bunch of money there. He has my favorite cheap sherry there (La Gitana) among a million other things. Oops, looks like the mayor has already stepped in. I'll send her a letter congratulating her on that, I guess, but now I feel like I can't help at all. There's some good comments on this one. I like the idea of the secret Comptons becoming a Corti Bros. Hell, I love that idea. But I think that Comptons does ok.

I had one of the most enjoyable dinners of my life on friday night at Waterboy. He's got a new menu. Cash in your change at coinstar and go eat there as soon as you can. I've really done that before. I got the skewer of grilled lamb and housemade herbed potato sausage, with polenta and vegetables and the combo of flavors was wonderful. The gulf shrimp salad with chickpeas was also a standout. I want to go back and try the Early Girl tomato gazpacho.

bad news

Well, the big news this morning is the bullshit that was pulled on Corti Bros. It seems like Nancy Cleavinger and Michael Teel pulled a backroom deal to push Corti out. I picked up a free copy of the Bee today that was sitting on a newspaper machine and noted their shitty redesign and this news, and it made me really sad, like Sac is just getting lamer. But that's pessimistic and maybe Corti can come back better than ever. Smiller immediately noted that it would have been pretty awesome if Corti Bros could relocate to where the Albertsons was by our house, but now it's a stupid fucking Rite Aid that always looks totally empty.

dreams really do come true

I ate at Masullo's last night. The pizza is the bomb. The crust is super thin and light with a char on the bottom. The vegetable toppings are seasonal and he has Fra'mani sausage and Niman ranch bacon for the meat toppings. The inside is very cool looking. He even has two communal long tables that are from locally hewn logs. You can't get much more local than that. The prices are reasonable and they are all basically personal sized pizzas although those with small appetites may have a couple of pieces left over. The chef is a local boy made good with a background as a baker and he makes all the desserts. We had a plum galette that was really delicious.

I'm going to Whitey's Jolly Kone for lunch today and the Waterboy for dinner! A dream come true.

15 minutes

Now it seems like Jackson is just messing with me, but I hadn't assumed he had even seen the post so I don't know. What is he even saying about MOM here? That he hasn't heard it but he is going to say-without-saying that he thinks it sucks?

The 15 minutes I did with Larry is in this week, and it's top notch. All credit to Larry. Cute picture.

question for our man in Calcutta

Dave-last night we were discussing the miracle of Indian pizza and wondering if they have it in India-do they?