Archive for September, 2012

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Jimi Hendrix – Band of Gypsys

Posted in Music with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2012 by David McInerny

Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland – that’s it; the sum total of Hendrix’s output before the untimely shrugging off of his mortal coil. Nonetheless, it was more than enough to place him firmly in the pantheon of guitar gods. Neil Young, who often wears a Jimi Hendrix button on his guitar strap when playing live, has commented that even now, distinguished artists like himself with the benefit of far more gadgets and technology than Jimi could ever have imagined, have no idea how Hendrix created the sounds that he conjured from his Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Flying V.

Electric Ladyland, Hendrix’s magnum opus of a double album, showed that the guitarist was ready to expand beyond the three-minute AM format and jam in alternate blues and psychedelic styles, while at the same time showing a maturity in his lyrics that provided a deeper texture to his songs. Noel Redding, the bassist for the Experience, argued against the change in direction and left the band in 1969. Billy Cox was then recruited to replace Redding for the studio sessions of the upcoming album that never was (though the Hendrix estate has since released extremely well done discs of those studio dates as well as live recordings). Pursuing further experimentation into new styles bordering on soul and jazz, Hendrix hit the road with Cox and drummer Buddy Miles under the name Band of Gypsys.

The album Band of Gypsys was released after Jimi’s death, and includes songs from a Fillmore East concert on New Year’s Eve, 1969. This is possibly the best view we have into the musical world Hendrix was exploring before his passing, and it is a gem of an album. Hendrix is loose yet skilled, and this is a band playing off each other, with Jimi not having to prove his lead man chops. There are chops galore, though, but they fit within the context of the other members’ playing, and Hendrix even allows Buddy Miles to include songs of his own into the set list. “Machine Gun” is sprawling and intense, running over twelve minutes, and “Who Knows” pushes almost to ten minutes. Yet other moods are included as well, exemplified by “Message of Love” and “Power to Love.” It’s a brilliant statement to Jimi Hendrix’s willingness to call on other players to further his musical growth, and Band of Gypsys provides a glimpse of the genius that was to come, but never did.

 

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Chinese Pork Noodles

Posted in Food with tags , , , on September 17, 2012 by David McInerny

There are only two tips to making this Chinese delight truly authentic – using real Chinese noodles, and cooking the pork sauce properly. Chinese noodles are widely available now, even in the oriental section of major supermarket chains. Most are packaged in plastic jars or bags in individually portioned bundles, but the the important thing to look for is on the ingredient deck – it should state that they are made with soy protein as well as wheat. It’s the soy protein that gives Chinese noodles the meaty bite that is lacking in regular durum pasta, and it’s an excellent source of fat-free protein.

Slice two center cut pork chops into thin strips (this is easier to do when the meat is not quite thawed). Heat some peanut oil in a pan and then sear the pork strips on high heat, cooking off the moisture from the meat and browning them. Turn the heat down to low, and heat the water for the noodles in a pot. Splash soy over the pork and allow it to cook into the meat. Add some chopped vegetables to the pan – red peppers, baby bok choy, celery or onions – anything to add color and crunch. Once the vegetables have begun to soften, add two rounded tablespoons of hoisin sauce or brown sauce (both available at supermarkets), and cook slowly until the sauce just begins to caramelize and stick thickly to the meat and your stirring implement. Cook the noodles during this process, two bundles per person. Put in a few drops of your favorite hot sauce (Chinese “rooster” sauce is excellent), and spoon the pork mixture over the noodles. It’s the real thing, and delicious.

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Quick and Classic – Sauteed Spinach

Posted in Food with tags , , on September 17, 2012 by David McInerny

Deceptively simple, this recipe will become a staple to go with meat or fish, especially if you only have ten minutes to come up with something swanky and really good.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet, and sautee a quarter cup of red peppers and an equal amount of red onions on medium heat until soft. Drop in a large handful of spinach per diner (a full bag will serve 4-5). As the leaves begin to shrivel, sprinkle on a bit more olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Great color, and healthy too.

Add a bit of flash: save two or three slices of cooked bacon from breakfast (hide them from the kids for the day under the asparagus in the crisper), and crumble them into the spinach. Another option is to substitute the last dash of olive oil with sesame oil and large splash of soy sauce for an Oriental touch.

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Sojourner

Posted in Travel with tags on September 15, 2012 by David McInerny

A day like any other day, and yet brand new in its anxiety … and promise. A desire to turn down a path that presented itself on any other day, but especially today. Why that path today, when it was always, always tomorrow, is a question for the future. Simply choosing the path is sufficient for today, watching each tentative step in fearful wonder, contemplating a first night under a new canopy of trees with a clearer view of an ebony sky exploding in stars.

It is a first understanding. In a desire to loosen the ties that bind the ancient weight to the shoulders, that weight of ego, of thoughtless, aimless routine, one must drop his own hands and search for those of another to reach behind and loosen the cords, and provide a first, weightless push down the obscure path toward a destination that is anything but obscure. Paradoxically, it is in this weakness that one ceases being a sojourner in the world, and becomes a liver of life as we were meant to become.

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Eyes Wide Open

Posted in Travel with tags , , , , on September 14, 2012 by David McInerny

– “You see, but you do not observe.” – Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson in A Scandal in Bohemia

–  “I’m aware of my tongue!” – Linus to Lucy in Peanuts

 

I used to travel on business and take pride in the fact that I would fly in and out of a place I’d never been and say I had worked the entire time and made no time to enjoy anything that city had to offer, other than possibly a good steak and too many martinis. When once, in my hubris, I was explaining my spartan methods to a new boss and soon-to-be life mentor, Bob, he simply responded that he had decided long ago that no company would mind if one carved out an hour on the way to the airport to see Times Square, a Civil War battle site, the Gibson guitar factory, or drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Chastened, I’ve followed that advise ever since.

My favorite method to enjoy another U.S. city is to go out to dinner with a colleague … at the ball park if the local team is home. I’ve never been turned down when I suggested that, instead of brooding over contract details in a dark restaurant, we watch fly balls from the cheap seats over a foot-long tube steak. Funny how much smoother the negotiations seem to go. In the winter I’ll take a quick spin through a museum, or simply drive through an historic area. A few trips ago I had a half day in Philadelphia, but still made time to walk to lunch near the Liberty Bell and spent five minutes looking at that symbol of our nation’s freedom. Anything to get a flavor of a new town.

Whenever I travel out of the country, I try to remain aware that it could very well be the last time I visit that country I’m working in. I always resolve to, at least once a day, slow my mind down and remind myself where I am, and how the culture is so much different than my own, and how fortunate I am to experience these things on someone else’s dime, regardless of how hard I’m working. Invariably, these are the moments that provide the strongest memories upon my return, particularly if I can make time to include a picture or two with those moments. Years later I may look at a picture and have to think before I remember that it’s a photo of Hong Kong harbor, or the river Rhone in Arles. If the photo is connected with one of those moments of reverie, however, it becomes a catalyst for a flood of detail and memory that is the undying by-product of staying aware of the great fortune that is travel.

 

 

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Food Trucks Come to KC

Posted in Food with tags , , , on September 13, 2012 by David McInerny

Food trucks have been part of the San Joaquin Valley in central California for decades. How else to get a hot, decent Mexican lunch to the workers tending the nation’s bread basket during the harvest? You don’t know how good a couple of tacos and a tumbler of horchata tastes until you’ve spent a dusty morning tending an almond orchard or harvesting tomatoes. Recently though, the trucks made their way onto the streets of Modesto, then San Francisco, and now it’s trendy for the suits to walk past the New York delis in search of the food truck serving made-to-order pastrami sandwiches and sun tea.

Now it’s Kansas City’s turn, and my favorite food truck is CoffeeCakeKC. The big red truck offers the artisan coffee roasted by Shawnee’s E.F. Hobbs, owned by Brian Jurgens, and fresh baked goods by Overland Park’s 3 Women and an Oven. They are still tweaking their routes for maximum coverage, but they keep an updated schedule on their website, coffeecakekc.com, so it behooves you to keep an eye on their whereabouts each week. It’s worth the effort if you want to support excellent local coffee with a generous slab of local pumpkin bread. And nothing is more convenient than eschewing the drive-thru of a national chain in lieu of having your fast broken at the front door of your place of business. Keep a look out for them.

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Steely Dan – Aja

Posted in Music with tags , , , , , , , , on September 12, 2012 by David McInerny

In 1977, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen came out of the musical closet and fully embraced the jazz yearnings that had begun to infuse their tunes since Katy Lied was released two years before. Gone were Skunk Baxter and Denny Dias, the brilliant but bluesy guitarists of the earlier albums, replaced by a large handful of jazz session greats for the band’s Aja effort. For consummate perfectionists like Becker and Fagen (who eschewed touring because, among other things, it was counter-productive to go through several takes of a song during a live performance until that bass line was just right), working with professional studio giants allowed for the kind of precision and complexity for which the songwriting duo were ready to tackle.

Raucous hits like “Peg” and “Josie” were custom made for FM radio play, and would be the highlight of any of Steely Dan’s previous albums, but these songs are mere appetizers for large plate offering of  “Black Cow,” “Deacon Blues” and “Aja” itself. The music is precise but soulful, respectful of its jazz roots but unafraid to stretch themes into alternate routes. How else could the story of Ulysses, a torch song to an Asian lover, or a reference to Alabama’s Crimson Tide make their way onto a jazz disc?

There’s vinegar, and then there’s Modena vinegar aged in oak casks for 30 years. One adds a complimentary bite to the smoothness of good olive oil; the other is a rich foodstuff that transforms everything to which it is added. Such are the background vocals of Michael McDonald on Aja. No other voice would do to merge with Donald Fagen’s narrative rasp and carry the songs into an ethereal realm. In all, the album is the perfect storm of songwriting experience, a willingness to allow studio professionals to contribute their expertise to a new direction for the band, and a strong willingness to pay homage to the jazz influences of their youth. Aja still is as fresh and important as it was when it was released thirty-five years ago.

 

 

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Closing the Loop

Posted in Travel with tags , , on September 11, 2012 by David McInerny

I had a moment of panic this week when I realized, a) I haven’t been fly fishing in Colorado for four years and, b) I committed myself to getting out there this Fall, and my calendar is filling up with non-fishing activities. My panic was exascerbated by the joy I’m having reading John Gierach’s latest book on fly fishing in – you guessed it – Colorado. With trembling hands, I frantically opened my Colorado map and pulled up the Colorado Department of Wildlife website.

My goal is the area around Vail. I found a few sites where I can camp, because camping for me is part of the gig, but there are a few challenges. First, the only weekend I have open between now and Thanksgiving is a bit later than I originally wanted. Looking at average low temperatures for that week, 25 degrees F, I made a note to get a new sleeping bag that will allow me to truly sleep in the chill. Second, in an effort to avoid crowds, I’m looking at skinny water which will require me to cast accurately if I’m earnest about actually catching trout. It’s time to get into the back yard and work on tightening my casting loop. Oh, and the truck needs a tune-up. I really want to make the trip happen this year. The excitement is palpable.

There’s nothing like the bite of even a small trout on a dry fly. Or morning coffee in the dark amid the aspens, 5,000 feet above sea level. And eating the sandwich you made after breakfast while sitting on the bank at noon, planning strategy for the afternoon. And zipping up the tent at the end of the day, having made a spartan dinner by the fire, knowing you get to pull on the waders again in the morning. It makes climbing into the sleeping bag, opening a book, and giving up after ten minutes in bone-deep fatigue, worth hauling my aging butt out to Colorado with hopes for a single fish on the fire.

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My Top 10 All-Time Favorite Concerts (so far)

Posted in Music, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , on September 10, 2012 by David McInerny

No preamble necessary:

1. BOSTON, March 28, 1979, Notre Dame, IN – My second concert. Boston played their first two albums straight through – without a flaw.

2. PETER GABRIEL, November 20, 1982, Ann Arbor, MI – Peter sang his encore, “Biko,” on his back being passed hand over hand by the audience.

3. R.E.M., September 29, 1989, Notre Dame, IN – Michael Stipe was able to face the audience and sing, unlike when I saw them in 1982.

4. TODD RUNDGREN, April 16, 1992, Chicago, IL – Todd played with his new “band,” a Mac computer – pretty revolutionary for the time.

5. RADIOHEAD, August 1, 2001, Chicago, IL – The first of many shows for me, this one on the shore of Lake Michigan.

6. DAVID BOWIE, August 8, 2002, Chicago, IL – Bowie played most of Low on this tour, as well as the new and excellent Heathen album.

7. ROBERT PLANT, November 25, 2005, Munich, Germany – Told the kids they would grow up proud that they saw this show. They are.

8. MORRISSEY, May 23, 2007, Kansas City, MO – Front row thanks to my neighbor, Jenn. He’s one talented kook.

9. ROLLING STONES, August 26, 2007, London, England – Flew to see the show, then flew home. Their final concert? Hope not.

10. THE DEAD, May 10, 2009, San Jose, CA – Last show of a run I followed that summer. Three and a-half hours of ecstasy.

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Sunday Simplicity

Posted in Books, Food with tags , , , on September 9, 2012 by David McInerny

Some of the best times can’t be planned as we all know, and since planning requires by definition that something actually transpires, my afternoon wouldn’t have qualified in any case. I had a great time doing almost nothing at all, and yet was still keenly aware of the glory that is leisure time.

A few days ago I walked the 4-mile round trip to the public library, and was delighted to find a new book by John Gierach, the phenomenal guru of the philosophy of fly-fishing, or possibly the guru of a philosophy of life contemplated while fly-fishing. He’s an extremely gifted writer, and I walked home holding the fresh volume, No Shortage of Good Days, with an anticipatory grin.

Today was a complete and utter break from a summer of heat and drought, and there was a cool breeze even while in the sun. The deck was inviting, and I opened the big, red umbrella with the intent of putting my feet up and reading. I clipped and lit an Oliva G-series cameroon cigar, a brand that my neighbor Dave introduced me to last year as a birthday gift, and if he’s reading, I’ll make clear that a few of those would be welcome this year as well.

Another treat to get me through the afternoon was a six-pack of San Pellegrino limonata, a favorite lunchtime beverage from my elementary school days in Rome. I’m certain I hadn’t enjoyed one since those halcyon days in the old country,  a day much like the one I was embedded in this afternoon. I read, puffed and sipped in peace without even the sound of a mower on the street, and before I knew it I had moved through the book so quickly that I forced myself to close it and save some for my business trip this week. After all, the first Sunday of pro football was waiting for me inside. I really enjoy having a day with no plans.

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