Vacation Part Two

Right now, I'm lying on bed on what is my final day of vacation, and because the bed I'm in is elvish looking in nature, I was reminded of this scene in Lord of the Rings. Granted, I don't have hobbits jumping dilly dally all over me, but I do have a pretty excited dog that comes in every once in a while to lick my face.
Anyways, this post isn't really about that, but rather what I did last night. It was a "Live Event" called Beer Wars, which was a documentary film about the beer industry, ie. who are the goliaths and who are the Davids. The film was sandwiched inbetween two live satellite feeds, one introducing the film and one with a live panel of the beer brewers featured in the movie. Granted, it was a one-off event featured in 440 theaters, but I still think that $15 dollars was a bit too much. However, my love of homebrew (I've got 1 batch fermenting, 1 conditioning and 1 that is hell-bent on being made before I get back to NYC this weekend) was enough to bring me to the theater. I have to admit, it was a great movie and it brought me up to speed on the current situation with Microbrewers trying to compete in an supersaturated Coors-Miller-Busch Dominated kingdom. And boy do the big boys pull punches. They are absolutely ruthless in their domination. One example was them suing the charismatic head of Dogfishhead Ale for using the word "Chicory" in one beer and "Punkin" in another for being to "vague". As Sam quips, "I guess 'Natural Light' didn't get their attention for being as vague as Chicory"
Beer Wars story is fascinating and well-edited, grabbing laughs and moments of sadness as you follow the story of "Moonshot" the only Caffeine Beer and its creator Rhonda Kallman trying to bring it off the ground (No pun intended). Every brewer is unique, but the standout is definetly Sam Calagione, creator of Dogfish Head Ale. Think Keanu Reeves from Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure, with a wicked sense of humor and a killer business ethos--To actually have fun while doing what you love to do, and treating your employees like extended family.
The after show was equally entertaining, partly because it was live and also because they did a dirty trick in setting Rhonda Kallman next to the brew master of Sam Adams Brewery and played a video clip of him dissing her saying "Moonshot is like craft beer, if you subtract the FT off the end and replace them with P. It's crap."
Then they cut to Rhonda, who handled herself well in the face of a brew snob. "People like to party." was her response. And I felt like drinking a Moonshot.
Truth be told, I've never had a Sam Adams that I was blown away by.
Too hoppy.
So while I wait for my batches to condition, this was a nice little vacation from reality and Beer Wars put a little hop in my step. Pun intended this time. I'll link up the dvd when it comes out.
Have fun out there, kids.
J$

Chillin & Grillin

It's no surprise to those that know me that I love a good vacation. Who doesn't? I got the opportunity to have the full week off to vacation in my reclusive upstate home, affectionately called "Moosehead Manor" (In other words, I've been mooching off my parents for the week.) I've spent much of my Easter vacation collecting ticks on my body in the deep woods behind my parents house, intruding on the local stream goddess' hidden lair. After working out some psychic miscalculations, I was able to get a significant amount of "work" done at my leisure, including sending out some resumes of my own to begin work at different magazines around the city. I also got a case of beer making supplies, gratis of course, from my Uncle, which I plan to begin work on forthwith. As I write this, I am also basking in the cool heat of the gaseous cloud known as solaris on the family sundeck.
Some of the more interesting things I've done this week include:
Getting fattened up, presumably for my own roasting, on Easter Day.
Partying in Albany with my high school friends
Getting a pair of kickass Pumas, courtesy of Chase Manhattan Credit Inc.
Going to the Book Barn in Loudonville, buying an old book on the Rosicruxian Order entitled "Self Mastery and Fate", "the Knack of Using the Subconscious" (1954), Contact and Cosmos by Carl Sagan, and a recent book on the Unified Field.
Bought a Salt-Lamp mined in the Himalayan Mountains that claims to have healing properties, most notably due to the release of Negative Ions(?) Tried it last night and it seemed to work, oddly enough!
Anyways, I figured that since these days my posts have been mainly regarding music and the arts that you culture vultures needed some old fashioned goss to keep your hearts palpitating.
peace love
johnny

ps read the music review below to get informed of a great new artist named ASA!

Asa--The Soul of a Starving Artist

Normally, I don't do reviews. I am a huge fan of just letting the people decide what they think of a new musician/comedian/artist/etc. But sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes you need to push people in the direction of what you think is going to be the birth of a new star. And here I am, about to do that about the new singer-songstress Asa (Prounounced Asha). Her style defies convention. Her voice shakes the walls that you've constructed within your head. Political insight? Sure. Conscientiousness? Yep. All around, feel-good music? That's the one! Once you hear her single "Jailer" once, you'll want to play it again. And then again. Fast forward a week and you still aren't sick of it. And that's just the first song. Get to the second and third and fourth and it's still rockin. On the second track, 360 degrees, her voice rumbles

"So drop the guns and your swords
And let us live all as one
We only need love and understanding
So drop the guns and your swords
And let us live all as one"

And you wonder, "Why the heck aren't the leaders of the world listening to Asa?"
Anyways, for those of you who are ready to move into the fifth dimension--the one that Asa lives in, check out her myspace page here or for those of you who got some allowance this week, buy her album on itunes here.
Enjoy.
New Podcast coming this weekend!

Where the Wild Things Are

It's should come as no surprise to those of you who know my that I am exTREMELY pumped to see the new trailer for Where the Wild Things Are finally make itself out there. For those of you that are still under that rock of yours, check it out above!
I have a song called "Max" on Permutations that was written in homage to the book.