So, I have my doubts as to whether or not I can be a teacher. Reading books like these makes quake in the knees, wondering: do I have what it takes? Will I be able to make more than a paycheck? Will I be able to make a difference? For good or ill, I find out 18 months hence.
Got up at oh dark thirty this morning to do good deeds and commit scholarly actions. As I stand here drinking coffee, it occurs to me: I have not had my breakfast satisfactions. Need scrapple on a long roll to satisfy, so tell me now: Who gonna stand up and testify?
Mr. Coffee called me up for a cease and desist. Said I wasn’t allowed to use him this way, cookin ramen in the decanter. I said I’d do as I pleased, that no Christmas present was telling me how to live. Besides, you wanna go back into the trunk of my car, Mr. Coffee? Yeah, I didn’t think so… punk!
Sometimes true, life reminds you that the only way out is through. Keeping that in mind while surrounded by brick steel and lime, there’s a sun always shining through. Don’t believe the blindside, swords at the ready, never say die!
#fb I’m always a little slow on these things, but if any of my readers out there are free tonight, come see night 2 of the Philly Improv Fest! I’m playing at 930, but there plenty of awesome acts from 630 on. Check Phif.org for more info!
- [The sound of brakes whining. Boxes lurch and fall with a thud. A moan in the darkness.]
- What? Feels like we’ve stopped. And cripes, it’s COLD! And dark. Where the hell am I?
- Oh, right. I’m in the back of a tractor trailer. At least that steel drum music’s stopped. Wonder what these boxes have in them?
- Uh oh. There’s movement outside. and nowhere for me to really hide in here. Rock and a hard place, Tweet, rock and a hard place.
- "What do you think the boss wants with him?" "Tweet? I don’t know. Said something about used to know him way back when." "Ok. Open it up"
- [The door opens, and the cab is empty, except for several stacked boxes.]
- "The boss is gonna be pissed!" "Wait a minute, stupid! Check behind the boxes!" "No, YOU check behind the boxes." "Okm, we’ll BOTH check!"
- Just a few steps closer… come on, fellas, I can almost feel you breathing on me…
- - Tweet jumps from behind the boxes, only to slip and fall. The heavy bruiser Okm punches Tweet in the face. Lights out, again, for Tweet. -
- - Okm and Manny carry the unconscious Tweet out of the trailer, and up a dirt path, girded by a rock wall. Manny knocks on the rock and…-
- -… a door slides up in the rock’s face, revealing a corridor.-
- "Hurry up, Manny. I think he’s waking up!" "Okm, man, relax! You can just punch him again." "But won’t the boss be made I hurt his face?"
- "You’re just like the boss that way, Okm. A hopeless romantic. Come on, let’s load him into the elevator."
- - The henchmen carry Tweet to the elevator, and secure his hands and feet with zip-ties. Then, Manny presses HQ on the panel and steps out.-
- "We done good, Manny?" "I hope so, Okm, but the Boss can be fickle." "What’s fickle mean, Manny?" "Changes her mind, Okm." "Ok. Lunchtime?"
Written by Matt Lydon, shipped by LoudTwitter
Lost in a fog, created by these antibiotics, I’ve blundered into the forest. Is my leg out of the woods, or is the rest of me merely stepping further into the clearing. One pill at a time.
The older I get, the more I wonder why record reviews are made so early on albums. I’m sure it has something to do with trying to push sales for the artists, and something to do with getting more bylines for the reviewers, but I don’t think you can sit with an album just for a night, or two, and really kick the tires. You can’t make a good cheese in an afternoon, why do you think you can write a holistic album review in one?
That being said, I’ve been living with Matisyahu’s LIGHT since the end of August. Say what you want about his “gimmick” of being a Hasidic reggae artist, dude has some fierce singing and beatbox skills. His rapping isn’t bad, but his lyrics, I’m sorry to say, are fairly repetitive. I think that’s what comes of doing songs that are so grounded in a faith tradition. Christian rock/rap/what-have-you suffers from the same thing, which is why THAT stuff gets boring really quickly. I never bought a Stryper or Petra record, though I do have quite a few MxPx discs. I think because it’s not quite so loud or readily apparent those guys are Christian punk rockers. It’s a personal thing, in the end, and if you were a proselytizer, maybe rock and roll isn’t your best medium? I think the guys from MxPx know that, and keep it low key.
But this is about Matisyahu. LIGHT is a step forward in terms of song production. Lots of layered vocals/parts, so it sounds like an army of Matis singing together. There are also more electronic touches on this record than there were on the previous records. This is probably a result of MCing in front of a few electronica artists in the last year or so, and certainly from spending a little time with the Chemical Brothers Crystal Method, whose song “Drown in the Now” features Matisyahu on vocals. The reggae and dancehall feels even deeper in the dub end of the pool on this record, especially with the last track, “Silence”, which I’ve found I need to turn up on the car stereo to even hear properly. Could be because I have zero cab noise protection in Aunt Loretta (my 2001 Mitsubishi Mirage). Matis and crew even get close to dub-metal, with the track “Darkness into Light”, which authentically rocks as hard, or harder, than tracks like “Youth”. Other standouts include the anthemic ballad “One Day” which is probably my favorite track on the record. I push down the windows on Aunt Loretta, and I sing along, hoping that pedestrians will hear the song and be converted. Not to Judaism, per se, but to the idea that we do all really need to give up on violence, and work harder for peace.
What I think is missing on this record is a band feeling, like was present on Live at Stubb’s and Youth. Possibly because the only remnant of the original backing band, Roots Tonic, that is still in the band is Philadelphia-born and bred guitarist Aaron Dugan. Josh and Jonah are long gone, and oddly, on the current tour Matisyahu is doing, Aaron isn’t even in the band. Dub Trio is Matisyahu’s backing band for this fall jaunt. Is Matisyahu transcending the need for a constant raft of solid backing musicians? Has he gotten big enough/good enough to eschew loyalty in favor of his songs? I wouldn’t think so. I mean, come on, dudes like Billy Joel and Elton John keep musicians in their backing and recording bands for DECADES, and brotha, you’re a year younger than me. Slow your role, Matisyahu.
Ultimately, my feelings are mixed with this record. Some great tracks, some totally skippable tracks, and the lyrics… well, I want to rewrite the lyrics so they’re not all based on Talmudic discussion. “One Day” and “On Nature” seem to break through this barrier, but the rest are solidly grounded in scripture. I don’t want the guy to lose or abandon his faith. I think it’s great that someone has the courage and conviction to hew so closely to their faith, especially in these times. But man, Matis, maybe you need to make your music a bit more universal?
I’m just a listener, though. If the next record is like this one, though, I might be less interested in picking it up, if the lyrics are the same as the rest of the output.
Guess what I saw today? It came over the wire that a mailtruck would be delivering delicious to 11th and Locust between 11 and 2. This teletype proved to be accurate, in the key of chocolate peanut butter major, with counterpoint in peach vanilla minor. How such gastronomic joy comes in such small packages, individually wrapped and truck-borne, the world may never know.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to see Julie & Julia. I’m not really a fan of Amy Adams, or even of Glenn Close Meryl Streep, but I loved that movie. It combines a number of things I dig: blogging, cooking, eating, and the generalized comedy of errors that is life. Though I can’t quite equate myself to Julie Powell, or Julia Child, watching two foodies/cooks struggle through the different challenges of their lives was uplifting, especially since we all have that reset button in common: cooking.
Making food is a touchstone which helps regenerate me when everything else in my life seems out of control. Even when the food doesn’t turn out right, I know I get to try again, adjusting here, tweaking there, cutting the salt here, adding more garlic there, til I reach that place where everything works, everything pops, and the end result is delicious.
I wanted to go out and get the book, Julie & Julia, to do a similar thing to the action of the movie. Remembering that I had a full courseload at school, as well as one (and now probably two) part-time jobs AND a performing troupe to maintain a connection with, cooking through “Irma” was going to be impossible. Then, I remember something else I bought recently.
A while ago, I’d gotten a Barnes & Noble gift card from my in-laws, and though I’d recently decided to pare down the cookbook collection, after reading Tom Colicchio’s Think Like a Chef, I decided I wanted to explore Jacques Pepin’s Complete Techniques. Paging through it in a bookstore in Denver CO back in July, I decided I did indeed need to get it, and sometime after my birthday, I used that gift card to get it.
I finally used it for the first time this morning, and the result was perfect.
Page 66, followed the instructions for poaching an egg, which wasn’t quite the same as the other cookbooks I have, yielded the best poached egg I’ve ever made, and also, fortunately, the best poached egg I’ve ever tasted! Previously, I would over-poach, and have entirely solid yolks, or it wouldn’t be poached enough, and the whites would be as runny as the yolk. Not this morning, bucko.
Made a quick sauce with spicy mustard, milk, and a dash of tabasco, and served it over a toasted whole wheat English muffin. So, so good.
Based on just this experiment, I would say Tom Colicchio’s right. The only cookbook/technique book you probably ever need is Jacques Pepin’s Complete Technique. My wife would add Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer. I would also add It’s All American Food, Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen, and The White Trash Treasury of Cooking.
Oh, and for survival in a kitchen, and life, Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. Not a cookbook, or a technique manual, but a ripping good piece of non-fiction, told through the snotty, sarcastic wit of an aging punk/cook, who is more awesome than the chefs on FoodNetwork COMBINED.
See… this is why I still have more than four dozen cookbooks.
Bon appetit!
