Reunited Sebadoh @ The North Star April 2

One of my all time favorite bands, with all three original members. Last time I saw them was probaby in ‘97? at the Trocadero with the Apples in Stereo. Might have to dig up my ticket stub to verify.

The show’s on Monday (bummer) but I live on the same street and just up the block from the North Star so I have no excuse.

If your not yet hip to the band, first do yourself a favor: Forget what the critics say about their “classic” albums- The Freed Weed and III. Don’t bother. Mostly low fi noise. Pick up their later stuff: Bakesale (above), Bubble and Scrape, and Harmacy.

More info:

From this week’s Philadelphia Weekly:

A reunited Sebadoh played the Khyber three years back, but that was just Lou Barlow, Jason Loewenstein and a drum machine. This time there’s Eric Gaffney too, who co-founded the band with Barlow two decades ago. Gaffney’s yen for noisy psych used to offset Barlow’s gooey earnestness, a task left to Loewenstein when Gaffney exited after the messily brilliant Bubble & Scrape. Now that Barlow has made peace with J. Mascis in a reunited Dinosaur Jr., it’s only natural that he’d try the same trick with Gaffney and his other iconic ’90s band. Hey, it beats making mediocre solo records and lugging around that drum machine. (D.W.)

Sebadoh’s own website has some live mp3s available.

Pitchfork has photos of the San Diego show. looks like Lou has put on some pounds.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists live on NPR

So I’m trying to get my boy Cory to commit to being a regular contributor to this site. The guy lives in Raleigh NC, Wash. DC, and Philly practically AT THE SAME TIME. He honestly goes out to shows on average, 4 nights a week. His taste in music is a bit odd (kidding) and he can name drop any indie rock/ska/punk/classic rocker as fast as you can listen.

So whaddayousay Cory? You gonna join us? Think of all the free stuff, and groupies you’d get!

Here’s one of his latest emails:

Just got back from a fantastic Ted Leo gig at the Cat’s Cradle. He was great and they sound awesome as a four piece. Below is a link to a free downloadable gig that NPR broadcast on Thursday. Check it out.

THIS, is hunting!

Eat your hearts out all ya’ll bigshot hunters back home, with your fancy camo and your compound bows; your hoity toidy wild turkeys, whitetail deer and pheasant, your hunting cabins, your heated deer blinds and your acres and acres of woods. Welcome to city hunting, bitches!

This mamma rat been living in my backyard for 6 months. Finally put a live trap out there and caught a small rat earlier this week, but this one was too large (and too smart) for that. So at dusk, I gave the trusty airgun 10 pumps plus one for good luck, and waited at the second floor window. Once he came out, it was too dark to see my sights, so I channeled my Dad the superhunter/buckslayer, and patienly squeezed the trigger: One shot to the head, dead instantly.

One of the reasons I moved away from Michigan (I tell people I was kicked out) is because I don’t enjoy hunting, and that’s what EVERY male Michigander does for fun. I refuse to kill things (other than rats, mice and starlings) and I don’t particularly like guns. But I gotta say, some of that kill instinct is still in me. It’s waay down in there, but it’s there.

Dad would be proud- his eldest isn’t a sissy city boy after all!

IPA faceoff: Troegs vs. Magic Hat vs. Iron Hill

Me=hophead. I drink IPAs and double IPAs almost exclusivly. I’m sure my taste will taper off and I’ll get the thirst for a wheat beer when the heat hits, but right now I can’t get enough hops.

Magic Hat H.I.P.A.: Their beers have invaded every corner of Philly, and while they’re all quality beers, most of them lack characteristics that make them stand out from the crowd… they’re just “safe” beers. So before even trying the HIPA it had some marks against it. I also don’t appreciate it when brewers try to be so witty with beer labels so one can’t figure out what STYLE of beer is in the damn bottle. Magic Hat is the worst for this. “Roxy Rolls“? WTF? Apparently they like to keep their styles a mystery. I was pleasantly surprised after opening a few. Nothing really outstanding, but it has a really nice, flowery hop aroma (warrior hops)- different than any brew I’ve had.

Troegs Nugget Nectar: A seasonal brew from H’burg. @ 7.5% ABV. $39/case in Philly. I couldn’t figure out why they brew this seasonal when they already have an IPA (Hopback), then a friend informed me that this actually isn’t an IPA but either a pilsener or an amber ale. It’s basically Hopback with a bunch of Nugget, Warrior and Tomahawk hops thrown in. Very comparable to the Magic hat: both had just a bit of maltiness, a very powerful but nice hop nose, and both masked the alcohol well. Not so for the…

Iron Hill Hopilicious. I’ve had three jugs (I refuse to use the word “growler”. It’s a friggin jug. OK?) of this seasonal from the Media, PA location and was surprised that it’s “only” 7.2%, because it has a very strong alcohol taste. Lot’s of malt like a double IPA and not as much hop aroma as the name suggests.

the great american dream vote

I often forget how bad american television is… and I watch it. I usually notice it when I am sick at home during the day. But the recent prime time game shows have smacked me in the face with insults to our collective intellegence. That game with the numbered suitcase… that penn minus teller one… shatner… I think the almighty Bergeron has yet to fall, but not sure what that dance show is all about.

Resting from wii tennis, I sat on the couch and turned on the telly.

2 mothers competing to win a lifetime of beauty queen supplies and coaching for their daughters. one is the classic stage mom with the dream of her daughter becoming miss america (maybe usa)… the other wants to be a rodeo queen…

The classic beauty queen girl volunteers in cancer wards.

She.

Said.

“Several little girls were buried with my crowns on their heads.” OMFG. What have we become? Is it big business that feeds us this? Are we really calling for this? Is the greatest american dream (vote) handed to us? or do we really need to work more that 15 seconds for it?

PUT ON GOOD TV ABC. Why must you suck so badly? NBC… well all of you (networks) too.

Nintendo. Just flood the market place already!!! We need you to kill our tv’s. We ain’t on the couch and don’t wanna take it anymore. STOP SUCKING AMERICAN TV. Other than bullets… you’re what the rest of the world sees.

#6 On Kimmel’s site today. Link. Will change when it’s on YouTube.

classic joggers blue and gold

The proprietor of Bad Luck City Blog wishes me to use CAPS… at the very least at the beginnings of my the titles. Not sure how I feel about loss of creative control. Sentence structure sure is pretty when it’s all MLA and proper. but so is lowercase font type. i dunno… is it really that awful to break conventions? Surely… we can all agree on the ellipses.

Besides… how will we differentiate between authors if it’s not signed, or slapped with our portraits in the corners?

To the post.

Sneakers are the most wonderful product ever manufactured. I sure do love the way you Brits refer to them as trainers and you southern folks call them tennis shoes. Whatever you call them, get a couple pair that you really like and beat the hell out of them.
Put them on your feet. Here are photos of three pairs of my kicks. They’re all blue and yellow. True… they were my school’s colors… and that’s lame… but you have admit… they go together well. Enjoy. (click to see the galleries).

pony vs puma – pony vs saucony

SAVE IRON CITY BEER

For me and for other breweriana enthusiasts, the name Iron City Beer beer brings back memories of a gazillion different beer brands and cool beercans, everything from Olde Frothingslosh to Pittsburgh Steelers cans. You mention the name to any Pennsylvanian, and you get a snicker. OK, so it’s not the best beer in the world, er, STATE, and it’s only sold in a small market, but the Pittsburgh Brewing Company is close to closing up shop and going away, and we can’t let that happen. It seems they owe the city water and sewer dept. [plus other creditors, including, strangely enough, the son of convicted Chicago mob boss John "Jackie the Lackey" Cerone] a chunk of money. A group of investors are trying to turn the company around.

Pittsburgh Brewing Co. (lets call it PBS for short) is still one of the top 15 brewers in the U.S., and one of the last original, large scale regional brewers in the country. They were (arguabley) one of the first to use a pull tab on a can, use the first twist-off cap, make the first light beer, print commemorative scenes on cans, and the first with aluminum bottles.

PBS is still housed in a beautiful old brewery. Part of their problem is that its antiquated and badly in need of updating. Oddly, the company is considering building a new plant near Pittsburgh. Cmon guys. Stay where you are!

Facilities like theirs are needed for contract brewing. That’s where micro brews hire larger breweries to brew and bottle their brands. PBS was once the largest contract brewer for Boston B.C., maker of Sam Adams.
It’s what has really saved a lot of old regional breweries, including F.X. Matt in NY.

The same thing happened to Pabst Brewing Company. It wasn’t selling, so it was sold to Miller and the breweries were closed. Hundreds of workers lost their jobs. Then a funny thing happened. Pabst Blue Ribbon became popular again, thanks to the hipsters! Now it’s too late for the breweries and it’s workers, and PBR is now found in almost every tavern in the city. If someone would’ve told me that 10 years ago I’d have laughed till Yards came out my nose.

Here’s the deal: It happened to Pabst; it’s starting to happen (in Philly at least) with Lions Head; it happened to Yuengling; so it can happen to Iron City as well. With our help. Here’s what you can do:

If you know any hipsters, tell them that Iron City is cheap but doesn’t taste too bad. Hipsters love cheap, but they care about taste.

Buy a t shirt here and wear it out to your local watering hole. Order an Iron City, even though you know they don’t carry it. Tell the barkeep that all the cool bars stock it.
That’s one of the mysteries of Iron City: It’s brewed right here in PA, but damn it’s actually hard to find in Philly. I’ve always found it strange that I have to search for it and I’m in the SAME STATE. So you also need to say something to your distributor. They can get it, and WILL stock it if YOU buy it.

And if you’re ever in Pittsburgh, take a tour of the brewery…. before it’s gone.

UPDATE: 8/2/07:

A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article says that the new group still plans to take over the brewery, but is still running into snags and missing deadlines. It says Iron City can’t even keep up with the small demand from customers and is still neck-high in debt.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Internet sharing with the Wii on a Mac

problem solved. this link told me everything. Very good instructions. no puzzles.
for me it’s slow…
but I am running my home network off of my bluetooth phone… a Sony Ericsson w810. It’s fast enough to surf, buy stuff, im, email… pretty much anything but download large files quickly or stream (good) video in real time. I’m happy with it… or happy to schedule my large downloads when i am on a honor-based (free) network. My system is greater than 56k… it seems.
i pay $20 a month for unlimited data and I have only one portable device. it powers via usb and i can go anywhere inside or outside with my phone and not lose connection on my network.
I’m both cheap and wanting to stick it to Comcast. I am happy to be living a Comcast and Verizon free life. My HDTV is free too… as it is to all of you as well, via over the air/antenna. the most awesome benefit of the internet cell phone is having Septa’s trip planner on me at all times. I really want to ask Septa about a dedicated app.
no idea how long the wii update is, but it’ll be done in the morning.

keith from up da block

Not sure who else watches WYBE all hours of the day, but if you haven’t stumbled across Urban Xpressions… you may have missed Philly’s finest comic hip hop artist. From what I’ve seen… he really likes the cheese steak motif… but my fav is Get Your Hair Done.
Be sure to check out the cheese steak vids on the account.

constipation in the wake of menu foods fund scare

Harley’s been lethargic. He’s an obese cat and he’s cost me hundreds of dollars in medical bills. The passing of his stone was the most costly. He had been constipated last week and as usual I self prescribed him a good amount of canned pumpkin. A vet friend had suggested it years ago, and it has worked pretty well. Slides right out. As a treat… and to kind of get things moving (like those stacking point pencils… where you place a broken tip in the top and it forces all the others down)… I also got him some wet food. Although I had suspected that Iams had gone bad years ago when I saw bottles of Iams Gravy on the shelves… I still trusted Iams and figured I’d be buying the best for my obese cat and his scrawny brother.

Over the past weekend Harley was more grumpy and oafish than usual. I check the serial numbers (dates) and my Iams variety pack and it was indeed tainted with the bad gluten (bad monopoly).

I called Tuesday and made an appointment for Wednesday. I borrowed my pops car to haul gigantic cat to my suburban vet.

After work I played a few sets of Wii tennis. Harley was all curious about me swinging my wii-mote, but quickly retired to my bed. I went to check on him and he was purry, but would plop pretty quickly and just chill on his side. I tried to judge his mood and health by getting him purring and letting him do his flemming (tooth and gum rubbing thing). He flemmed for a bit and plopped. I opened my window and chilled with my elbows on the sill. It grabbed his interest and he was all about seeing what was going on on the street. But he again plopped.

I swallowed my $75 emergency room pride and made the call to my vet. I gathered the dog sized carrier from the basement and threw in one of my favorite hoodies as a blanket. It’s one of Harley’s favorite hoodies too.

He was more meowy than usual on the 35 minute ride and rather standoffish at on the stainless steel table. We were 6th in line. He looked around, but mostly stayed still in his carrier. I could get him to purr, but when he stopped… it was abrupt. I was a little worried both about his health (ie that he could die) and the bill.

The doc came in. Friendly from the start. He had read Harley’s medical history ahead of time. He didn’t grow frustrated with Harley’s unwillingness or inability to come out of the carrier. I told him about his constipation and the tainted Iams food.

He felt around his belly for a while. Checking the bladder? I asked. It’s kind of tough to find it. He replied. ‘Cause he’s so big. I says. Yup. He replies and chuckles.

He lets me know that bladder is normal and that he is (still) constipated. I am relieved. He wants to take some xrays to be sure and I am willing to irradiate my cat for a hundred bucks or so.

He comes back and pulls the xrays up on the computer. There’s a whole lotta duke. I’m mostly amazed by his bones (spine). I ask about the imaging and ask for a copy. He gives Harley an enema and sends us home with a quart of laxative.

I had also asked about the crazy menu foods monopoly and how Iams has slipped. He told me about how Science Diet gave a lecture years ago how their grains would always be from the same farm… to ensure quality control. He laughed together how everything has seemed to have into gone to shit. Reminds me of Breyers defunct pledge of purity. F u pet food and ice cream industry!