trie and chanj thiss, mofos

When he turns 50...

World reknown musician plays own show at local bar...crows in repose upon his bedspread with a cake...two balloons are mistaken for children...

4rikk.com

I has a posse

It looks like we might get a second chance once we've ground this place to dust...

Welcome to Gliese 581c, only 20 light years away--featuring water, sand, rocks and hospitable temperatures. The first extra-solar planet like Earth that we've come across.

We do need to work on the name though. I propose we call it Little Durham.

Erie Eats...

Erie Choir, consisting of Bob Wall, James Hepler, John Booker and myself, took a quick tour of the mid-west that would have made Bob Seeger proud. I certainly didn't expect to see so much snow in April, but besides from the treacherous drive home the last day, the tour was drama free. This is mostly about what we ate. .

Asheville
After playing we went to a diner Josh told us would be open late. It was in an Exxon. I had the "breakfast sandwich". I don't believe the cheese was melted. At 2am though, it tasted pretty good. Some dyed-blonde brahs came in who had earlier made fun of our mini-van. Don't hate on the stow and go brahs. **1/2

St. Louis
We arrived at the bar we were playing in time to get a few "Happy Hour" drinks, which is sadly illegal in NC. The bar also served pizza, "Chicago Style". They gave us a free pizza, which was stuffed with cheese and pepperoni, while the top was half pepperoni, half sausage. Two slices was enough to satiate each of us. . ***1/2

Columbia, MO (On the way to Omaha)
Stopped at an IHOP that was difficult to find amidst an overdeveloped nightmare that made New Hope Commons seem quaint. I had the whole grain pancakes. ***
















Omaha, NE
Steve P. totally took care of us, letting us crash at his lovely home as well as recommending two places to eat that were both on point. Saturday night he took us to Bangkok, a reasonably priced Thai restaurant that was very tasty. I can never remember the name of any Thai dishes beside Paad Thai, so I'm at a loss to recall what I ate, though it had noodles and a brown sauce I think. ****

The next morning he recommended a hippie brunch place that again was the right call. I had some Huevos Rancheros. I had to specify that I wanted real cheese and not soy. Service was good, but I'm sure Finn's order would have gotten fucked up here somehow, since he is cursed.
****

Des Moines, IA
There wasn't a lot happening in downtown Des Moines on Easter Sunday, so we opted for the nearby and economical Spaghetti Works which gives you access to the salad bar and never ending pasta for a reasonable price. I guess great minds think alike, as our friend Dan McCarthy wandered in and joined us. Dan played with us in Omaha and Des Moines under the moniker, McCarthy Trenching. He's a super nice guy and very talented. I kept things simple with a marina sauce and sweet sausage, while Hep was a little more daring, going for the Beer and Cheese sauce. Dan got a meatball. ***

Greater Minneapolis Area, MN
With a day off we headed north towards Minneapolis. We drove around Clearlake, IA looking for Buddy Holly's crash site. We then went to the Mall of America, which honestly wasn't as impressive as we'd hope it would be. At the time it was built it must of have been considered really big, but now, it seems just kind of big. It does have a roller coaster. We saw "Blades of Glory" which we all agreed was pretty funny.

That night Judd took us to some swank joint in Uptown, to take advantage of the $5 specials, which no one beside myself did. I had a quesadilla, which like pizza, is pretty hard to screw up.***

Julie and Nathan had suggested a couple of places to eat while in Minneapolis. We took the Skyway to a place called "Hell's Kitchen" which was a little pricier than we wanted. I ordered the porridge, which was really good and not too expensive. The waitress asked if we were a band. We reluctantly admitted we were.***1/2

That night we hit up another Julie and Nathan suggestion, Everest on Grand, a Nepali restaurant. It was part of Hep's never ending quest to eat every possible type of animal. The Yak dumplings he got were delicious though. I got a noodle dish that was damn good too. ****

















Chicago
After we drove through a snow blanketed Wisconsin, Adam joined us for a quick meal at a taqueria near the bar we were playing. Mexican in Chicago is always a good choice and I had tacos asada, carnitas and adobado which helped the taco truck withdrawal I was well into by that point. ****

The next morning, Adam took us to a place called Flo's near his place. Meal of the tour by my estimation. It was sort of Mexican brunch, but that doesn't really explain what it was or how good it was. I had eggs, frittata style, with a green chile sauce, black beans, pico de gallo. Really doesn't sound that special, but it was awesome, as was everything everyone else got.
Bob got some Huevos Racheros. The eggs were fried. Adam got some chorizo omelet.
*****

Hamtramck, MI
The bartender suggested the Lebanese joint down the street. At first I thought it was overpriced, but realized I was looking at meals intended for more than one person. I got two sandwiches, Shish Kabob and Shish something else, both were really good, though the sandwich seemed more like an egg roll. No complaints though. The other dudes got some pizza. ***1/2

Somewhere South of Detroit, MI
Stopped at a Bob's Big Boy for breakfast. I played it safe with some eggs and toast. Hep ordered the Big Boy Burger. The waitress, noting the Ohio plates on our rental van, informed us that they did not serve said burger with tartar sauce, as was the custom in Ohio apparently. A gentleman sitting behind us apparently witnessed a bug crawl out of his food, proclaiming "Awww, hell no!" in a voice reminiscent of Cedric the Entertainer. I think we established that the Big Boy's chain is in fact a rung below IHOP, Denny's, etc. **

Pittsburgh, PA
Okay, this is an easy town to get overwhelmed in, food wise. Upon getting into town, we were near Pitt and checkedout the Original Hot Dog Shop. Bob got a hot dog with bacon on it. I got some ridiculous chicken sandwich. I didn't even see all the burgers I could have ordered. Came with a ton of fries. Washed it down with some beer. It was Friday afternoon and finally sunny and I was happy I wasn't at work.***1/2

That night, we played at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern and had some awesome pierogis. Will was trying to goad Bob into ordering the Polish Sampler, but Bob wisely stuck to the pierogis. ****

The next morning, Will(aka The Red Caped Rocker, Basil Pipperton) had us stop by the Strip in Pittsburgh, which was a happening place on a Saturday morning. De Luca's offered a quintessential breakfast and all were pleased. I got sweet sausage with my eggs. ****

Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
Our last stop of the tour was at Kenyon College and Andrew took us to their dining hall, which was temporarily located in a gym. Hep and John had played Kenyon before and claimed the real dinning hall resembled something out of Harry Potter. We could eat as much as we'd like, and it was pretty upscale for a cafeteria, but having just come from Pittsburgh, I ate a normal amount of food, pasta and salad, rather than stuff myself. I got some good dessert that wasn't labeled. Like custard with oreo crumbs or something. ***

Thanks to Josh, Steve, Patrick, Jacob, Judd, Adam, Will and Andrew and everyone else who came out to the shows.

By the way, the Choir plays this Thursday at the Reservoir and Philly and NYC on Friday and Saturday.

This band could make you breakfast....

Just wanted to give a shout out to Hep for getting his recipe for chicken on a stick in the recently published I Like Food, Food Tastes Good: In the Kitchen with Your Favorite Bands. If you ever wanted to make the same sandwich as Belle & Sebastian or Chicken ala The Walkmen, check it out. Birds of Avalon, Portastatic, Superchunk, Crooked Fingers, Kudzu Wish and the Rosebuds also contribute. Be warned, Hep does threaten physical violence to anyone who makes this recipe in Chapel Hill city limits. I guess Durham's fair game then.

My Old Scool

Happy Birthday David Nahm!

Le Weekend presents: Music not to pay for

(above = "day")

This Saturday there is an excellent and free show at the Local 506. Free means you don't have to pay a cent to get all the goodness about which I'm about to tell you...about!
Saturday April 21 - Local 506 - in reverse order of appearance*:

• Le Weekend - featuring members of Le Weekend!**


• Fan-Tan - We're talking Kuki, man!


• Alina Simone


• Josh Nowlen (of Cities)

*Means we (Le Weekend) will play last, and we will play backwards.
**Many bands will promise you a new song, but I bet we are the only ones who will promise you a new keyboard intro.

Per super-secret emails we have heard that Josh Nowlen should kick things off around 9:30, so be prompt or be have missed something that be happened earlier.

(below = "night")


P.S. If you received Robert Bigger's announcement for this show and you were able to read it, I'm afraid there's bad news: you are colorblind. Vive le hype unreadable!



4/5/06
Ben,

Damn, good timing on my part it seems. Anyway, thanks for responding. Even if we can bounce ideas off each other once or twice before the summer I think it will be interesting and fun. When are your finals (and Erin's*, if she is also interested) and when you are supposed to head out to Asheville? Are there any dates/times that are particularly good? I'll try to coordinate what you've got with Robert's schedule. Mine is fairly flexible at the moment, unusually so.

I'll give you a buzz if something comes up in the interim.



Thanks,

Matt

*I'm terrible with names. Erin is right, right??

Is Rikk bakk yett?

Whatt the fuckk? I thoughtt there wouldd be ann update or somethingg like thatt, you knoww, fromm the roadd.

(photo slightly relatedd, but still humourouss)

more on buckets

So are we practicing this Thursday?

...just looking out for my boys' inbaskets.

On Buckets...

What Pop Matters is Saying About Teenage Horses

From Pop Matters:

You have to imagine that David Nahm has a pretty big record collection. The debut record by the UNC law student’s band, Audubon Park, is hard to pin down it’s so musically diverse. The first song, “Winter Gala (Jesus Wasn’t a Doctor Either)” is a pretty acoustic ditty that will make your noise-fearing girlfriend perk up her ears and say, “This is nice.” By song number four, “Ghost City”, with the band spiraling into a noisy guitar freakout, she’ll be begging you to turn it off. (Based on a true story.) Nahm and his bandmates—Matt Kalb (LA Weekend, Hotel Motel, V Sirin), Ben Spiker (Weavexx, EC), and one-half of the Nein in Finn Cohen, and Robert Biggers—have absorbed all sorts of the indie rock canon and have written their own fine opus to be added to it. You can hear Pavement, the Violent Femmes, Archers of Loaf, and a zillion other ghosts from college rock past and present all mixed up with a sense of fun. (Nahm is also a sometime comedian.) But despite all of the goofing you imagine these guys doing, Nahm obviously takes music seriously and he’s a first-rate lyricist, capturing the confusion and joy of youth. Good stuff.

6/10

Computer Games Under the Spin.com?

AP family friend HARLAN not only have a video, which I think we linked to months ago, but said video and nice write up are now on the front page of SPIN.COM. Here is a direct link to the article also.

Go See.

Remember, their debut LP is out on ODD THUD records--if you don't have one, buy one. Recommended for people like RIKK.

What are People Saying about Teenage Horses?

From EXCLAIM (A Canadian Music Magazine):

The best way to explain Audubon Park might be to imagine an acoustic guitar that has gum, tar and maybe even some cheesy ’90s stickers on it. The gum is like the trebly sounds of high and low frequencies (think aliens) that are the undertones to the sometimes-erratic guitar playing and insecure-sounding vocals. The tar is the dark current of much of the songs, combining the awkward twists of love and hate, explained through ballads that are accompanied by instruments such as keys, saxophone, violin and other sounds that are muddled into upbeat rhythms. The cheesy ’90s stickers are just meant to throw you off! But, the adhesive behind the stickers is kind of like the fluidity that runs throughout the album, as one can definitely find variety, but it is complemented with what might best be imagined as the helium used to fill a balloon. Together they create a strange sound, much like when people inhale that gas, and yet one can listen to the sound over and over again and still find it intriguing and wonder how the strangeness was discovered. (Pox World Empire)

Just in time for spring!*

*Erie Choir does have t-shirts, but they look nothing like this. Those dates are real though, and there are more in c-boro, philly and and nyc. check 'em out Erie Choir does have t-shirts, but they look nothing like this. Those dates are real though, and there are more in c-boro, philly and and nyc. check 'em out Erie Choir does have t-shirts, but they look nothing like this. Those dates are real though, and there are more in c-boro, philly and and nyc. check 'em out Erie Choir does have t-shirts, but they look nothing like this. Those dates are real though, and there are more in c-boro, philly and and nyc. check 'em out.*Erie Choir does have t-shirts, but they look nothing like this. Those dates are real though, and there are more in c-boro, philly and and nyc. check 'em out.*Erie Choir does have t-shirts, but they look nothing like this. Those dates are real though, and there are more in c-boro, philly and and nyc. check 'em out

*Erie Choir does have t-shirts, but they look nothing like this. Those dates are real though, and there are more in c-boro, philly and and nyc. check 'em out here.