doodledee

They're back. They're older now. I'm older now. They're taking it seriously. Maybe? I'm maybe not. Or maybe I am? Whatever, the long drive is still the long drive, the sunshine is still the sunshine, and the music is still outside and 40,000 people are still singing and dancing on a grassy slope in southern Wisconsin and yeah, there's no way I'm missing out on that.

The Drive - Hoffmaldo picked me up on Saturday morning and we hit the road. Stopped at Culver's off some random exit for a late lunch. Making excellent time. Maldo guessing every exit arrival time. "We will be at exit 144 at 2:26" or whatever, I didn't really pay attention but then like 45 minutes later it'd be 2:26 and he'd be fist-pumping while yelling "HELL YEAH DID I SAY 2:26??!!" and I'd look up and we'd be at exit 144 so he clearly was on his game. We checked into our hotel in some other random town before going to the show. It was a Holiday Inn Express. That means free cinnamon rolls. There was also a Taco Bell in the parking lot. I pinched myself repeatedly. Then we left for the show.

Preshow - Parking Lot - Traffic into Alpine not that bad at all. We settle into the blue lot, unpack our chairs and beers and grill and kick back in the sunshine and start to make friends. I start cranking out grilled cheese (w/garlic, to attract the crowds, obvs) and Molly comes over from wherever she was parked and people stop by and talk and give us $1 and sometimes they don't and that's ok, our sign said "suggested donation" anyway. One girl came by and asked why we were vending "like is it because you used to or something?". That's right, folks, we're like a nostalgia act. Superbest. Seriously, it was. You sit and talk and clown with the people walking by and you cook some food and you have no idea how giving someone a grilled cheese can just blow their mind. "I can have this?!" Yes, dude, you can. Now let's go in and dance.

Preshow - Walkup - Awesome thick crowds pouring in around 7:30 or so when we made our approach. Festive and energetic but totally mellow and under control. Nothing crazy at all. GA Lawn tickets were everywhere. Going super cheap. $5, $10, I'm sure free in a lot of cases. Security was light. Hoffman didn't get touched, presumably because he looks like a narc and they assume he's one of them. And we're in. And we're down to our seats. "These don't suck," says Maldo. No sir, they do not. And now some waiting and talking with people around us and the heat of the day is leaving and there's a cool breeze and it's just so perfect and the preshow music goes down and here they come and the place goes crazy and oh man they're smiling and then, just as they settle in and pick up their instruments, Trey's daughters scamper across the stage to the far side to have a seat and watch daddy shred. That's how we roll now. Bring it.

Set 1 - Opens with a 'Punch You In The Eye'. Call and response crowd pumping greatness. I'm in orbit. Then a 'Runaway Jim' and we're only two songs in but you know that part where Gordon is just riding that bassline and Trey comes blasting in and the lights are flashing and you realize you get to do this for 3 more hours? Yeah, that part was pretty great. Then a 'Stash' and a 'Ya Mar' and huge 'Gin' and things are just so working. And here's the thing: it's totally not the Dead in '76 or whatever, because the Dead weren't a mess in '74 when they hung it up. And Phish was kind of a mess in '04. But 5 years later they've got it figured back out. At least for now. Because everything was working. And then the sun starts to fade and the stars start to come out and the set closes with a 'Sparkle' and a fantastic 'Antelope' and the glowsticks came out heavy and yeah, that part was pretty great, too. I'm still smiling 4 days later.

Here's a vid, it doesn't do it justice.

Set 2 - Long setbreak. Avoided the $10 beers. $10! Ha! Tons of kids crashing into the pavilion, it's way more crowded down there. But that's cool, the vibe is friendly enough. Opens back up with a 'Waves', easing back into it. Then a 'Sample' and then into a monster 'Maze' and the 'Ghost' I predicted and then check out this run: Lizards, YEM, NICU, Caspian. I mean honestly. Lizards with all it's fun? A YEM with all it's orchestrated and spacey goodness? And I haven't even listened to a Prince Caspian in probably 5 years, but this one started and I was almost surprised by how much I was loving it. And then what? How about a Waste, to calm everyone down. Because sure, it's 40,000 people, but look how we can make that feel intimate, too. Did I say working? Everything. Then a 'Fire' and a 'Character Zero' encore and I'm SO exhausted I can barely climb the hill. I also forgot my visor. DAMMIT.

Return - Drove exactly the speed limit all the way back to the hotel. Of course. Hello, Wisconsin! Made it back about 2. I walk thru the Taco Bell drive thru and the kid doesn't even make me go back and get the car. This day has now reached some absurd level of greatness. Or has it? Because then we go into the lobby and what's this? 5 large pizzas just sitting here for the taking?! YES PLEASE PINCH ME. Then like a 45 minute shower.

I could break down the drive home, but I won't. It was a lot of XM coverage of the US Open. It's better than you'd think.

Good stuff. I know it maybe wasn't the best show of the tour. Or even of the run at Alpine depending on who you ask. I don't care. It was fantastic. Easily one of the best shows I've ever seen. Deal with it.

6/20/2009 Alpine Vallye [livephish]

Oh look, it's Floyd Landis, racing up Chilkoot Hill in the sixth and final stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix last Sunday in Stillwater. This was early in the race and Floyd had broken away from the pack and developed what must have been a 30-40 second lead in support of his OUCH teammate Rory Sutherland who was chasing the yellow. It was pretty impressive. He was flying up the hill, looking strong, oozing testosterone. Literally oozing. I think I got some on my shoe. Then later he got caught and thrown out the back of the pack. I didn't expect that from a TDF champion, asterisk or not. (Still cool to see him in person, obvs.)

Anyway, it was a big sunny beautiful day over by the St. Croix. The race was great. Junior and I stood about halfway up Chilkoot and rang a cowbell and pounded a tambourine and yelled and screamed for all 20 laps. It was a crazy exiting finish - Rory managed to pull it out by 10 seconds. People were going crazy. The announcer was calling it "historic". That was maybe just a bit of an overstatement, but it was for sure a fun race.

After we all went back to Teddy Bear Park, which as we all know, is where Teddy Bears go to die from heat stroke because there is no shade. Seriously that is a fun park, but it is just BRUTAL hot. We held on for maybe 30 minutes and then headed back to the car. I used the heat as an excuse to stop at DQ on the way home, though, so I suppose it was worth it.

Totally you should have been there. Top 5 favorite events of the summer for sure.

2009 results [mnbikefestival]
2008 reset [doodledee]

Why is this farmer smiling? Ok, well, maybe he's not really smiling, but he's certainly half-smiling in that way that farmers holding enormous glasses of sparkling white wine are oft to do. So maybe the better question is why is this farmer half-smiling while holding a huge glass of the bubbly? Duh, because he's Eric Klein of Hidden Stream Farm and like 80 foodie and/or yuppies had just invaded his farm to feast on the products of his labor! It's a Tour de Farm! Let's eat some pigs!

I'm gonna cover this in the usual breakdown style. I took a lot of pictures, so this may require some scrolling. Hope your little mouse wheel thing is up for it.

Arrival and Mingling and Apps - Go figure, it LOOKS LIKE A FARM. It's not too far from Elgin. My dad let us borrow his GPS and spent a good 15 minutes on google maps and mapquest choosing the exact location he should program it to tell us to drive. It ended up being wrong, but whatever, it was easy enough to find after spending 15 minutes studying maps. We roll in - minivan style - a little after 4 and are waved into a parking place and greeted and directed to a white party tent where appetizers and drinks and an ACTUAL FARMER awaits. I got a beer. It was called "Fatty Boombalatty " from Furthermore Beer out of Wisconsin. It was a Belgian and it kicked my ass pretty hard. The appetizer platter was set up in the middle of the tent and consisted of a CRAZY HUGE plate of Patede Campagne and I rocked like 9 pieces. And that's when I started calling myself Fatty Boombalatty. I didn't stop for like 4 hours.

Tour - After snacks, Farmer Eric took us on a tour of the farm. "These are cows... those are red angus, those are british whites... I don't want to get to technical here." [big yucks]. Then some dude asked if they call them "red angus" because the meat is more red or pink or something. The farmer says no, and points out how the cows themselves are kind of reddish. [more yucks]. Then we go see the pigs - "they like to run" - more cows - "they're so friendly" - chickens - "they eat bugs!" - and it's totally fascinating and amusingly condescending at the same time. And then there's this lunatic that keeps yelling "looks delicious!" after he introduces the animal. And here's where I apologize yet again for my behavior. But really, it was kind of a weird vibe. A little self righteous, a little uncomfortable, but not overly congratulatory or hero-worshipy or anything. Maybe that's just my midwest showing. Let's eat!!

Dinner - We all move into some giant pole barn. It was cold and kinda rainy out, otherwise we would have been out in some fantastically pastoral magazine photoshoot style setting. But the barn was fun enough. There were long tables and chickens walking around and the farm kids were playing pokemon up on these tall stacks of hay bales and it had a very "keeping it real" kinda vibe going on. Nothing too fussy. Nice. The Michael Phillips (Craftsman) driven menu opens with a bit of dramatic flair in the form of a long charcuterie plate delivered down the middle of each table on a board. Ta-da! And I'm face down in 3 year old ham and soprasetta and all sorts of goodies and there's bread and this is like a warm up but I'm already running like it's mid-race and I promised myself I would negative split the whole frickin' way to the finish.

Then wave after wave of food shows up. Let's just do this:

• Salad - with fried pigs ears (!!) and cherries and it was lovely
• Sausages with a pile of coarse grits so melty and warm and delicious on a cold day
• Enormous loin chop, stuffed with morels and bacon and topped with spinach which was really nice. The meat wasn't as mind blowing as you wanted it to be.
• Braised bellies and shank. MORE PORK?!? Ok, sure thing. Meltingly tender. Loved it.
• Chocolate something or other seriously I think I blacked out here I don't really remember but it had more bacon on it. Meh.

So that's the high level overview. You'll notice that there were like 3 ENTRES. I mean honestly, that's just silly. But super fun. But silly. Oh man I ate so much. De-wishous!

Post Dinner - The dude from Corner Table gave like a 30 minute rambling drunken speech thanking like everyone who ever clicked on his website or told him they liked his smile. It was fun for like 10 minutes, then it got indulgent, then it got tragic (in an embarrassing way?), then it got funny again. But really it was neat to see how excited the organizers were for putting on such a fun event. And it really was fun. And I'd do it again for sure. And you should too. Except maybe they're all sold out now, so maybe next year, snoozelosers.

Then we all kind of said our goodbyes to the people we had shared the table with and it was like 8:30 by now and people just got in their cars and left. I didn't know what to expect, really, but that seemed totally fine by me.

That's probably good enough for now. Oh, DeRusha was there. Loaded. I'm pretty sure his kids were waiting in the car. Just sayin'.

I'm off pork for a few days.

Tour de Farm [tourdefarmmn]
Hidden Stream Farm [hiddenstreamfarm]
Furthermore Beer [furthermorebeer]

Remember when Holyland stuff started showing up in the end cap coolers at Lund's? I do. It was a few months back and when I saw it I said "uh oh" because that could only mean changes were afoot at Holyland Brands. They were making inroads. They were busting down doors. Establishing a footprint, whatever, the point is that they were growing and growing means change and change means change and if there's one thing I don't want changed it's basically anything about Holyland. Ok, not anything, but rather than argue it, howsabout you pick us up a 4+ person Sheiks dinner (feeds 12) and bring it over and we'll sit on my patio and throw back a few beers and eat a bunch of those grape leaf things and make ourselves the biggest craziest gyroallafel you've ever seen and just generally live like ACTUAL SHEIKS probably did while we debate what tiny nitpicky nuance of the whole Holyland thing we'd actually like to see change. Or we could just sit back and listen to some tunes and breakdown whatever else comes to mind* it doesn't matter it's mostly about the huge plate of food, right? Right. See you soon.

Anyway, fast forward a few months and here's me over at the co-op browsing for some dinner options on a Sunday evening and I'm walking by the cooler and wait what's this?? New crazy packaging on Holyland stuff? Cardboard and graphics and SEE I TOLD YOU CHANGE WAS BAD SERIOUSLY WTF IS GOING ON HERE?? Ugh. And I pick up the containers and I'm shaking my head and then I notice the little sign hanging below the stuff and I start reading. Here's a zoom in, in case you can't read it.

And in case you still can't read it, it's mostly talking about how all this fancy 38% recycled cardboard is necessary "for them to compete". And that it's printed using soy ink. So I guess you can eat the cardboard if you want to. I bet it's actually not too bad if you dip it in awesome Holyland hummus.

But now here's the part where I say no offense to cardboard-hating co-op crowd who threw a fit at the sight of a bit more flair on their tubs of hummus, but seriously, if Shawn the refrigerated grocery buyer is going to post a FAQ on hummus changes, where's the answer to the bigger question: WHY DID THE TUBS GET SMALLER? THAT'S RIGHT, RUBES, YOUR 8oz TUB IS NOW 7, AND YOUR 16oz MONSTER TUB IS NOW TWO 7oz TUBS PACKAGED TOGETHER IN ATTRACTIVE NEW CARDBOARD PACKAGING. AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PRICE? HINT: IT DID NOT GO DOWN. DAMMIT.

So here's the recipe I use when I make hummus at home. You should, too. It's super easy and it's really reliable. I base it on the Cooks Illustrated technique of making an emulsion. Super smooth and fluffy that way, yo.

Doodlehummus

1 can of chickpeas
A clove or two of garlic thru the press
6 Tablespoons well stirred tahini
A couple tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
water - about 1/4 cup
lemon juice
salt
tiny bit of cumin

1. Mix the tahini and oil together in a bowl. Mix it a lot, you're making an emulsion.
2. Squeeze some lemon juice into the water. Probably a couple tablespoons.
3. Put everything else (beans, garlic, salt, cumin, water) in the food processor and start it running for just a bit. Like 10 seconds, maybe.
4. Open it up, scrape it down, close it up, start it up, then add the lemon juice while it's running. Let it run for a bit, another 30 seconds or so.
5. Now slowly add the oil/tahini mixture while it's running.
6. Stuff your face

I still love you, Holyland, but that type of shenanigans is just silly.

For those of you wondering when the best time to go see the tulip gardens at Lake Harriet - you know, the ones just north of the rose garden, with the big turtle fountain? - yeah, that time is right now. And it won't last, so go go go.

Arguably the most personalized captcha I've ever been presented with. Roads and roads not taken and whatnot. Though to be fair I'm totally not management material, nor do I really manage, but yeah, thanks for the reality check, captcha gods.

Oh hey, remember last year when I said future Cloud Cult club shows should be considered a must see? Well omg I was so right, because last Saturday's show was off the chain. Do I say off the chain? Seriously I don't think I ever have before. Nope, never have. I honestly have no idea what it even means. It sounds good, though, so I'm keeping it. Because holy balls was that a great show. And it didn't let up and the crowd was raging and like every song was a fist-pump "hell yeah" moment from like the first note.

I mean maybe I dreamt the part where they played a 'Shape of 8' and that it was messy and noisy and amazingly tight and that I jumped up and down the whole time in some crazy glow neckalce induced fit of eurphoria, but yeah, I'm pretty sure that actually happened and that when it was over I said "wow" in that stupid concert way that people say "wow" when something insane just happened right in front of them only I think I said it a little more softly than people sometimes do? Maybe? Ok I doubt it. But yeah, wow.

Seriously I need a better camera. These blurry iPhone concert pics are a joke.

Also: where's the arty show poster for an event like this? Nowhere to be seen and color me confused.

Check out these kids rocking a tire swing! I have no idea who they are, but that's not the point, the point is that tire swing is REALLY HIGH off the ground. Like there's no way either of those kids could have climbed onto it without assistance. And maybe my picture doesn't really show it all that well - gimmie a break, I was worried the one in the adorable pink Elmo shirt was gonna fall and I rushed the picture - but seriously it's high off the ground.

I'm debating what the term is for the height. Options:

• Whimsically high
• Unreasonably high
• Seriously wtf that's too high for kids high
• Unclimbably high
• It's not so much that the swing is high, it's that the ground is low
• Wicked high (east coast calhoun style)
• Just plain goofy

All I know is it seems way higher than it has been in the past. I'm not calling city hall and demanding answers or anything, but I am saying that if RT has to choose between fixing the bridge in the peace garden that apparently will never get rebuilt and lowering this tire swing, I'm gonna say go with the low hanging fruit (ha!) and add a few links to the chain, yo.

I seriously like 'whimsically high' the best.

Here's your obligatory "I'm a blogger so I have to take a fuzzy picture with my iPhone" shot of the Bad Plus at the Cedar on Saturday night. They were up on stage showcasing their newish album "For All I Care". I'm gonna break this thing down into thirds: first half of set, second half of set, after show stuff. Bang bang bullets.

• Preshow - Ok, 4 bullets for a 'thirds' list is one too many, but you paid for quality, not quantity, so it's your lucky day. The place was pretty full and was skewing slightly older and classier than usual, which I suppose makes sense given the genre and pricepoint of this particular show. I drank wine to try and fit in. Seating was the typical folding chairs out front of the stage, which was cool, except for the 100+ people who didn't get there in time to get one. Whoops. But whatever, The Cedar proves how much they rule by having some dude stand at the mic and say "does anyone want a chair?" and people yell "yeah!" and he says "ok, cool, we're gonna set some up, just let us do it, don't try and help, we'll take care of you" and in like 15 minutes there are a ton more seats and it's all just a great family vibe. Like jazz meets hippies or something. Kinda like when Mickey went on hiatus in '73 and Kreutzman turned 'Eyes of the World' - along with so many others - into jazz fantasticness. Yeah, ok, I've lost where I was going with this. Let's move on.

• First Third - Out they come. Right into it. And it's like it always is: spellbinding stop and go weirdfun with all the intensity and odd disaffection that you've come to expect with these guys. 'World Champion' and 'Hickman at Home' and so on and so forth and the pseudo-hometown crowd is loving it. Especially the freak next to me, who was fist-pumping and "f*(k yeahing" at every opportunity. He was also eating pistachios. I'll just pretend that part didn't happen. But yeah, they were flying and it was great. Especially from King-side 8th row seats. Jackpot.
• Second Third - Now here's Wendy Lewis up to provide vocal support just like she does on the new album. And they move right into the 'Lithium' cover. Yes, the Nirvana one. And remember when I said that stuff seems kinda silly to me? Uh huh. And then a pause and Wendy leans in and "Cheer up... Honey I hope you can" and omg the 'Radio Cure' I've been anxious - literally, that's the proper use of anxious - about hearing and yeah, within like 10 seconds it wasn't working for me at all. But then it moved into a really nice Reid driven jammy section in the middle and I'm back in the "hey, this might work" camp. But then yeah, back to the vocals and no, it's definitely not working. Ugh. And they keep coming. And don't get me wrong, it was for sure fun to see once, but it's nothing I'd rush back to see. Especially in this kind of quantity. One or two a show is 'fun', seven in a show (in a row!) is 'dumb'. But that's just me. Maybe other people like hearing 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Barracuda' covers. Anyone? Didn't think so. And seriously don't mess with Wilco.
• Third Third - We head out to the patio after the show because it's some party for the Cedar and there are fire dancers and cheap wine and they're lighting the newly refurbished marquee out front and it's all festive and stuff and I'm totally down with that. And oh, what's this - there's some fire at the Cedar Riverside apartments and there are firetrucks and cop cars EVERYWHERE and TONS of people and Cedar Ave is basically closed and did I mention the fire dancers and the wine because this thing just got crazy crazy surreal all of a sudden. And now the countdown 10-9-8-7... and the marquee is on and people cheer and I think it's maybe time to sit back and reflect on the show and then go get something to eat.

There you go.

OMG check out this picture of me and junior that was in the variety section of today's Sunday Strib! Nice! That's us hunkered down next to a giant plastic dog at the LM&TVL show a month or two back.

I'd link to the online version but this article doesn't seem to even be findable on the Strib website. I'm taking it personally. Big media not wanting to respect the local blogga and his bully pulpit. (It's why I didn't credit Poplife for the previous Wilco movie info even tho that's totally where I read it. Score another huge victory for me and my 5 readers!! Oh man that's sweet.)