Direct Me- Mitch Ryder MP3

5/31/12

beeradvocate.com rating- N/A

Bear Republic- Das Coma- California- Brouweji Lane, Brooklyn- 32oz. Growler into Pub Glass

Head- 1 1/2 finger, pillowy head

Color- Pale orange

Mouthfeel- Light bodied and active carbonation, a little oily

Aroma- Hoppy, not much wheat

Taste/ Overall- This is described as a hoppy imperial wheat beer. Not sure what made me choose this beere but it basically tastes like a double IPA to me. Super bitter and hoppy. No real wheat beer qualites jump out at me. It also has a bitter and boozy finish which I am not really enjoying. Wouldn't get this again. It needs to have more balance and something to bring out the wheat beer profiles.

Here we go again…another loss of an influential electric bass player from a seminal group. It was reported on May 15, 2012 that Donald “Duck” Dunne bassist for Booker T and The MG’s and all around session dynamo from the 60’s through the 2000’s passed away. It is an unfortunate reality but most of the music featured on this blog is being dictated by obituaries. The funny thing is the music of Booker T and the MG’S is music I probably would have not have sought out had it not been for the Beastie Boys. I don’t think I know of any direct samples in their music but the Beastie Boys did expose me to instrumental funk/soul and the MG’s were one of the leading purveyors of that style. In the late 90’s I started seeking instrumental music out for myself. After reading an article about them in a magazine I realized this is what I may have been searching for and I bought my first Booker T and the MG’s compilation at the now defunct Kim’s Video on St. Marks Place. Probably about 7 or 8 years later I saw Booker T and the remaining MG’s perform at park in Battery Park City for free on an overcast night in August. I am not gonna lie the weather seemed to dampen both the festivities and the energy in their set. I would have liked a more engaging performance but it was nice to just be in their presence and hear Green Onion’s, Groovin and Hang Em High. The venue and whole set was pretty informal and when we were walking back to the train I remember seeing Donald Duck Dunne hanging out by some trailers talking to some folks.

On the turntable is Mitch Ryder and the Detroit-Memphis Experiment recorded and released in 1969 for DOT Records. My only Booker T on vinyl is my copy of their musical and visual tribute to The Beatles -Mclemore Avenue- whose LP jacket mimics the cover of Abbey Road replacing London and Abbey Road for Memphis and Stax Studios. I chose this record to represent the MG’s because I actually had been both listening to it and thinking about it lately. I bought this LP back in November of 2011. Not really sure why this record was relegated to the dollar bin but I am assuming it was based on the unfortunate decision of “Dick Robertson” to write his name on the front cover in thick, permanent black marker. When I found this record it was not on my radar at all. It was not a record I had read about in Mojo or Waxpoetics. Nor was I hipped to it through one of the countless blogs I frequent which are deep sources of knowledge. I was familiar with the name Mitch Ryder and the added element of “Memphis” in the title was enough to persuade me to pick this up and take a look. I am glad I did because the liner notes indicated that this lp was produced by Mr. Steve Cropper and the backing band was Booker T & The MG’s. I have never been a complete stickler for condition so I decided to overlook the previous owners name in boldface and take this one home with me.

It is hard to anticipate failure when names like Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunne, Booker T and Al Jackson Jr. are attached to a record and this record is no different. This is a compelling LP which blends the backbone of the Memphis sound and a Detroit fortified snarl into a casually recalled slice of rock n’ soul. Included above is a MP3 version of Direct Me which has both a Stax and an gospely, Atlantic Records feel to it.

RIP MCA

Big Sur Suite- Johnny Hammond MP3

5/10/12

beeradvocate.com rating

Victory Headwater's Pale Ale- Pennslyvania, PA Brouweji Lane- Colorado- 32oz. Growler into Pub Glass

Head- 1 1/4 finger head

Color- Operative word: PALE- beautiful, pale orange

Mouthfeel- Light bodied but slightly dense nice active carbonation

Aroma- Hoppy and malty, well balanced

Taste/ Overall- Really nice blend of malts and hops. A little bit of bitterness. I am not an expert on Pale Ale's but this has to be one of the better examples. I could easily drink a few of these and really enjoy them.

In April it was Levon Helm and now on May 4, 2012 it was confirmed that Adam ‘MCA” Yauch from the Beastie Boys passed away from cancer. When my friend texted me with the news it left me speechless. I was upset when Levon Helm passed away... but this was way worse and really hit home for a variety of reasons. First off the mere fact that he was only 47 years old and the father of a young daughter and from all outward appearances a fairly healthy guy (no smoking or major drug habits that I know of) made it really upsetting. Secondly the Beastie Boys are impossible to separate from my own past. The Band and Levon Helm's music was from my parents generation and although its important to me it didn’t have near the impact on my life personally as the Beastie’s did. The music, lifestyle and attitude of that group was fundamental to how I lived my life from my teens up until today. They were one of the main reasons why I wore Pumas, obsessed over the Knicks, moved to NYC, listened to Jazz and bought records.

When I graduated college in 1997 I remember distinctly listening to the Beastie Boys at one of the last college parties I went to and thought of how I couldn’t imagine my life without the Beastie Boys music. The irony is when I finally moved to NYC in 1999 my musical horizons opened up in such a way that I began to neglect the Beastie Boys. Not only did I neglect them I went some time without listening to them at all (at least in my own apartment). In the last week I have listened to more Beastie Boys than I have in a long time other than when I saw them in concert at MSG in 2005 and when they reissued Licensed To Ill, Paul’s Boutique and Check Your Head in 2008. It has been sad, inspiring and made me happy to hear their music again with fresh ears. It has reminded me of why I fell in love with their music in the first place and made me think of people I haven’t thought about in a long time. Their music makes me think of my own friends and our collective experiences and I feel blessed to have had the Beastie Boys provide the soundtrack for a significant part of my life.

Since I have already visited Paul's Boutique on this blog and it is my only current piece of Beastie Boys vinyl I chose a Beastie Boys inspired LP for this session. The mighty John Hammond is on the turntable not my favorite Hammond record but probably the first record I bought where I recognized a Beastie Boys sample. Posted above is an MP3 for Big Sur Suite the source for one of the samples in the Check Your Head track Pass The Mic.

IPA Cage Match!!!

A Little Weight- CSC Funk Band MP3 5/3/12

beeradvocate.com rating Brooklyn East India Pale Ale- Brooklyn, NY

Head- Dense 2 finger head

Color- Hazy dark orange

Mouthfeel- Medium

Aroma- Citrus hops, light malts

Taste/ Overall- The first IPA I ever tried about 10 yrs ago and my personal benchmark for the style. A solid IPA with what I feel is a maltier backbone than alot of other IPA's I have tried. Will always enjoy this beer and probbaly my favorite Brooklyn Brewery product with there summer seasonal coming in a close second and the lager in third.

beeradvocate.com rating Goose Island IPA- Chicago, IL

Head- 1 1/2 finger of head, dissipated quickly

Color- Hazy orange but lighter and cloudier than the Brooklyn

Mouthfeel- Medium

Aroma- Grapefruit, Grapefruit and more Grapefruit

Taste/ Overall- Since I have started trying new beers about 3 or 4 years ago this has become my new go to beer when I want something accessible yet complex. If I am watching the Jets and I don't want Budweiser I 4 out of 5 times will reach for this. Although the Brooklyn IPA will always be my first love this is the beer I have come to reach for more often which is a little disappointing because it is from Chicago but I will ignore that for now. Has probably the characteristics of a modern IPA where I believe the Brooklyn IPA probably has more traditional IPA characteristics.

My oh My, its been a while!!! On the turntable is a variety of LP's I won't discuss here but records I am reviewing for a flea market. I will have a table this weekend with the goal of selling some of my records I no longer want or need. Some explanation is required for my prolonged absence. For one I was serving on Grand Jury for the last month and it screwed with the rhythm of my ways for a while. Second I had another set of unfortunate computer issues which seized up my computer on me once again. Luckily over the years I have developed a thorough set of autodidactic MIS skills and got this frankenstein-beast of a PC running again.

I chose to return to the blog with a more ambitious post based on my recent reading of Peter Brown's Hops and Glory. It was a really good book and gave me a real education in the development of the IPA style of beer. In the process it also made me want to revisit my favorite examples of the style in a side by side taste test.

As for music I have got some interesting records as of late but the focus of this post is the records I bought when I attended my first Record Store Day. Well, to be exact, I went to J&R Music the day following Record Store Day in the hopes of picking up some of the leftovers. I never payed much attention to Record Store Day in the past. First off I tend to by used records and don't like the idea of paying a premium for exclusive releases. Secondly, basically every week is record store day in my life. But this year for some reason I looked at the list of "exclusive" releases and saw one or two I was interested in and decided to go down the following day because there was no chance of me going down there the day off. Luckily for me J&R, which is the largest independent record store in Manhattan, still had almost everything available. I ended up buying the reissue of the Genesis Spot The Pigeon EP from 1977 with material slated for the Wind and Wuthering LP but was not included. A Dillard and Clark 45 reissued on Sundazed Records. However it was the CSC Funk Band 45 which I came across that I had been unaware of which was the real great find. Released on Electric Cowbell Records based in Brooklyn this 45 includes two instrumental tracks inspired by the hip hop artist Gangstarr. Wow, I was bl;own away when I listened to this. These musicians executed this premise with a sophisticated minimalism to great effect. This is a fantastic 45 and I will definitely be seeking out more releases by this label. Enjoy the A-Side posted above A Little Weight.

Costa Rican Brew and a Band's Band

Howard Johnston's Got His Mojo Working- NRBQ

3/22/12

beeradvocate.com rating

Imperial Beer- Smuggled in from Costa Rica in 12 oz. bottle poured into Pub Glass 4.6% ABV

Head- 1 1/2 finger, foamy head. White

Color- Yellow

Mouthfeel- Light bodied heavy carbonation

Aroma- Beer

Taste/ Overall- This is my first Costa Rican beer which was generously brought to me by my friend who just went there on vacation. There is not a whole lot say about this beer but I imagine if I was sitting on a beach in Costa Rica I would probably love drinking these one after another. Good, simple lager.

On the turntable is Scraps and Workshop- NRBQ- This is a Two'fer LP set consisting of two LP's issued in 1972 and 1973. NRBQ is one of those groups from the 60's and 70's still around today. Today I was casually reviewing upcoming shows in the Village Voice and noticed that NRBQ is booked to play Brooklyn Bowl fairly soon. Pretty impressive considering Brooklyn is both fairly new and hip and tends to cater to bands a bit younger than NRBQ. I found this LP at a garage sale for a dollar and was pretty excited not just because it cost a dollar but this is a band I had heard good things about and never ever listened to. A band that is mentioned in the same way that Los Lobos is mentioned, a band's band. NRBQ which stands for New Rhythm Blues Quartet has a long history and you can see it here via wikipedia.

I am happy I found this LP in the way I did in a dusty old garage in Queens. It has a history separate than mine but I was instantly connected to it. The music, from the first needle drop, drew me in. Kind of a funky mish mash of The Band, Little Feat and Doug Sahm. Included her is the lead off track of LP #1 Howard Johnston's Got His Mojo Workin which immediately made me realize I made a good pick-up.

Have Guitar Will Travel

3/1/12

beeradvocate.com rating- http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/262/78791

He'Brew Hop Manna IPA- Whole Foods Houston St., NYC- 22 oz. Bottle into Pub Glass6.8% ABV

Head- 1 1/2 finger head. Light bone color.

Color- Amber, transparent

Mouthfeel- Medium to heavy bodied and carbonation

Aroma- Piney, resiny hops

Taste/ Overall- This is my first He'Brew Beer and its quite good. Its brewed by the Schmaltz Brewing Company in San Francisco and they also brew Coney Island Brews which is funny because I always felt like they had similar packaging but I didn't know they were brewed by the same company until today. This is my first IPA in a few weeks and is a nice change of pace from the dark brews I have been trying lately. I think I am an IPA and Pilsner man at heart.

On the turntable is Mr. Guitar- Billy Strange- released on Sunset Records, no date available probably mid-60's- I was informed this week via some internet posting that Billy Strange, guitarist and all around musical jobber, passed away at the age of 81. Ironically I just happen to be reading the recently published book The Wrecking Crew- The Inside The Best Kept Secret In Rock N’ Roll . The book is a good and is offering some new insights on what I have already read about these musicians. I am about halfway through the book and my one criticism would be that it was definitely written for an audience who probably had little knowledge of the “wrecking crew” outside of the music and takes more of a “novelistic” approach to telling the story. I would have preferred an oral history or at least a book focused more on detailed, oriented accounts of day to day session work.



Prior to the book I was familiar with Strange’s role in popular music courtesy of the Beach Boys Pet Sounds Box Set and the accompanying booklets. It is kind of sad that a guy like this is virtually unknown. He is certainly not the first musician to pass away to relatively little fanfare but his music is probably far more recognizable than most. It is actually hard to feature one of his songs because there are so many to choose from. Just take a look at his wikipedia page.

I got this record in a thrift shop a couple of years ago and at the time I did not know who Billy Strange was but the cover looked cool and I have always been of these 60’s style instrumental albums especially ones which featured guitar. That is actually how I discovered other guitar instrumental music of the same era by the likes of Chet Atkins and Duane Eddy. This is not a groundbreaking album in comparison to some of his more notable studio work performed by Strange but it does have a vibe that would probably warrant some type of Sundazed Records reissue or a Twofer cd package with one of his other solo LP’s. This LP is also a reminder of simpler times when guitar guys could go POP. Included here as an MP3 is the Henry Mancini-Johnny Mercer penned song Charade.

Back Again...Some Consistency?

Medley: Family Circle, None But The Righteous and I'll Go- The Mighty Clouds MP3

2/23/12

beeradvocate.com rating

Lauging Dog The Dogfather Russian Imperial Stout- Received as part of a gift basket- Belgian Beer Glass - 11% ABV

Head- Huge 3 finger head. Foamy yet thick and stuck around for a few minutes.

Color- Black with tints of reddish brown in the light. You can also see faint carbonation near the top.

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied and carbonation

Aroma- Very bready. I don't know how else to describe the smell. A bit of funk, not what I was expecting, roasted malts

Taste/ Overall- This is a big big stout. Suprisingly smooth and the alcohol is well masked at 11%. I am actually drinking this a bit to fast for that ABV. Nice mouthfeel. The only thing turning me off this beer is the bready, funk in the aroma. I don't know what it is but I don't really care for it. I am wondering if this is a bad bottle. I don't think so because the beer doesn't taste like it went bad. Not sure really, just an odd aroma. Good imperial stout and I am generally not a fan off stouts like this.

On the turntable is Live At The Music Hall- The Mighty Clouds - Recorded for Peacock Records- No other info available- So this record comes from approximately a crate and a half of records I have which I am really not sure what to do with. I have slowly been reviewing these records. Genre wise its a mixed bag but largely composed of classical, spoken word, contemporary classical (avant-garde) and easy listening. In addition to the many musical phases I have gone through I have always picked up these genres for cheap when I can but a lot of them don’t get more than a listen or two. So I am currently in the process of thinning the herd (my overall LP collection) largely due to space limitations. In the process I want to strengthen and refine my collection. This means:

Adding some staples and completing specific band catalogs.
Sell or give away records I no longer listen to and don’t foresee listening to in the future
Purging records which no longer meet my condition standards. I used to grade my records fairly easily but I want to get stricter on what I accept condition wise moving forward.

This record is from the aforementioned crate and will remain in my collection after I pulled it out earlier this week and gave it a good spin. The Might Clouds are a gospel group circa what many describe as the golden age of gospel groups from the mid Twentieth Century. This record is a bit of an anomaly in my collection. In all honesty I wish I had more than the handful of gospel records I have because I actually really like the few that I do have. I just don’t come across them very often and when I do the price is too much for me. I am not an overly religious person and my Catholic roots are often betrayed by my emotional restraint but religious music of this caliber is hard to deny. It engages the listener in a way which could make the most ardent disbeliever enthusiastic about both worship and God.

The Mighty Clouds are actually kind of special to me in that I saw them perform around 2004 or 2005 at the Grassroots Music Festival in Trumansburg, NY. Of all the bands I saw when I frequented this particular festival over the course of 3 or 4 summers these guys really standout and that is saying something because I saw a couple of dozen bands. They had an electrifying early afternoon set but we were out there boogying and drinking Heineken Keg Cans despite the extreme heat and the lack of secular themes found in their music. This album has similarities to another live gospel album I love from that era, Sam Cooke Live at The Harlem Square and both albums share an exuberance and grit lacking in alot of live recordings. The arrangements, instrumentation and delivery of the songs here have more in common with a soul/ r&b LP than with a":religous" record. I included the closing medley here as an MP3. It is made up of the songs Family Circle, None But The Righteous and I'll Go. The tune "Family Circle" bares more than a little resemblance to the song Will The Circle Be Unbroken by The Carter Family

Beer On A Tuesday With The Afternoon Off

Web- Hampton Hawes MP3

2/21/12

beeradvocate.com rating

Full Sail Black Lager- Received as part of a gift basket- Belgian Beer Glass - 5.4% ABV

Head- 2 finger foamy head

Color- Not pitch black, but more of a dark dark brown

Mouthfeel- Light bodied with depth, prickly carbonation

Aroma- I expected a real stout aroma but it only had light hints of those rich, roasted malts

Taste/ Overall- This is a real easy drinking beer and definitely has the mouth feel of a lager but with hints of a stout that the dark appearance would imply. I am enjoying this beer and is an interesting twist on the lager style.

On the turntable is Northern Windows- Hampton Hawes- recorded and released in 1974 for Fantasy Records.- I am not gonna say a whole lot about this record. I have the afternoon off and was hoping to do a quick post while having a beer and working on another record related project since the last few weeks have been spotty. This a nice record and Hampton Hawes is a criminally under appreciated jazz piano player in my opinion. I think I have 4 of his albums and this one is of note because of the inclusion of Wrecking Crew bassist Carol Kaye and the producing, arranging and conducting duties are filled by David Axelrod. This record ran me $15 which is towards the higher end of what I like to spend but its a great, warm record with rich bass lines and mix of electric keys and acoustic pianos runs. Hope you enjoy the above track Web.