November 26, 2012

Musical Stuff: Bands and Songs to Check Out

Here's some music I've been listening to lately

For those of you who like Pop-Punk like Paramore and VersaEmerge, Check out this Chicago band called Farraday.

Here's the video for "Put Me on the Next Plane"


Another song that I heard recently that is now stuck in my head is "True Affection" by The Blow
It's been around for a while, but I never knew who made it until recently 


One of my favorite rappers out right now is Kendrick Lamar, He murders this beat on his new album.


I saw a new commercial for these new awful flavored vodkas created to get hot chicks drunk and I recognized the awesome voice in the song. It's the wonderfully talented, highly underrated Angela McClusky, the song is called "Sometimes" and it's not released yet, but, her new EP, "Lambeth Palace" is out. Here's a track from it called "Take Me Out Tonight": 

November 20, 2012

A Rant: Thanksgiving in Black & White


So, Thursday is Thanksgiving, and for the 1st time, I will be cooking for the holiday as a result of staying in town and not flying home. I am grilling turkey breasts (because it's not blizzard like conditions yet) and I'm doing sweet potatoes and a corn dish that is a newer family tradition of mine.

Since Thanksgiving is a family holiday, many folks cook traditional fare related to their heritage of sorts. For example, I grew up with traditional southern black foods like Chit'lins (Chitterlings for you non-coloreds) and Collard greens as part of dinner. Lots of folks find that really weird (I do too. There's no real reason to choose to eat pig intestines, it made sense 200 years during slavery).

Upon looking up ideas for side dishes online, I noticed a lot of cranberry everything. I just find it funny no one gives a shit about cranberries outside of juice with vodka until this weekend, and then everyone and they mama wants to buy that damn can of cranberry sauce or make a cranberry chutney topping something. Then there's the, as I call them, "one-off" Vegetables. Shit like parsnips and brussel sprouts and cauliflower. Basically vegetables that you hear kids feeding to their dogs off the plate. Growing up, None of my friends ate any of this stuff for Thanksgiving. Mashed potatoes is a regular every day staple in most homes. (I grew up with baked potatoes) Macaroni and Cheese is a big thing in my family,  Sweet Potatoes are a yearly staple as well. Most of my (white) friends say they don't care for sweet potato pies or whipped sweet potatoes. And I realised, once I looked up other recipes, that some jackass back in the day thought adding marshmallows to them would be a great idea. Wrong. All you need is butter, sugar, nutmeg and some vanilla extract. That's it. No cinnamon, No whipped cream and No Fuckin Marshmallows!

And what is the obsession with Stuffing and Casserole? Nothing sounds worse than dry ass cornbread mixed with veggies shoved in a turkey's hole. And it's not much better shoved in a baking pan either. Green beans were ment to be either boiled or fried and salted, not thrown in an oven with cheese and canned onion peels (don't even get me started with those flavorless pieces of nothing)

Whatever you and your family chow down on this Thanksgiving, I wish you all a safe, fun, and tastey holiday weekend. Watch some football and for fuck's sake, No Marshmallows!


November 7, 2012

Grab Bag #15: Give Up Your Clothes, Drink in Lakeview and Recapping The Election

Hello, sorry for being gone so long. Been with family in Chicago.

* As you all know, Hurricane Sandy kicked the shit out of the northeast corridor a couple weeks ago (thoughts and prayers with all affected, especially any of my readers out there)
Of course the Red Cross is asking for your financial contributions, but these people have lost EVERYTHING. So one thing I have plenty to donate and I'm sure a lot of you do as well is Clothing.

I am donating clothes from here in Chicago, as well as when I get back to Minnesota. So I'm asking everyone to take the time and look in your closets and dressers and get out some of those shirts and pants and stuff you haven't worn in awhile and help some people out. I'm looking to see which organizations are taking donations straight to the Northeast area. I'm guessing either Red Cross or Salvation Army (Call your local location and ask)


* Being up here in Chicago for way too long For the last week+ I went to some bars over in the Lakeview area. One great spot located on the corner of Sheffield & Wellington called DMK Burger Bar, a Nebraska Cornhusker bar called Kirkwood Bar and an All-Ohio bar called Vaughan's Pub. I recommend visting all 3 of these spots if you are around the North Side of town.

* So, we have our President back in office. Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney to retain the title last night. Here are some key points from the election coverage I noticed:

- If you watched WGN in the Chicago area or WGN America last night after the victory was announced, Melanie Griffith was being interviewed and she dropped the F-bomb last night on live TV (she said she was Fucking Excited) few people caught it, @bakeanddestroy mentioned it on her Twitter and there doesn't seem to be any video of it online, but it happened.

- I don't watch a ton of financial television networks and especially haven't watched Bloomberg TV since it was a DirecTV only channel and I had a shitty H.S project involving Overseas Stocks (long story) but I watched most of the election coverage on here and I enjoyed hearing the financial aspect of  how the election would affect the nation.

...Did you really buy that above? hahahah, I watched and found my new television crush Trish Regan. With those green eyes and that whiskey-cigarette voice. I actually paid attention to most of whatever they were talking about.

- Wolf Blitzer didn't seem as racist as usual last night. Still not a fan. Asshole.

Ok, enough election talk. Have a good day. And don't forget, Barack still runs the military, if you want that beef