6.30.2006

Is it a grain, or pasta?

Have you ever really thought about orzo? You know, that stuff that looks like gigantor rice. It's about five times the size of typical rice, comes in multiple colors, and has the consistency of pasta. Here, take a look at some raw orzo in this pic:

Last weekend I had a conversation with a chef from Union Street, a hip restaurant in Midtown Detroit. The place has been there forever, there's no theme or a certain cuisine, no fusion, and you can't get hummous. The gimmick is good food and big portions. So I was talking to this chef and complaining about how the specials never seem to change, and how I missed a few things that disappeared from the menu years ago. He couldn't really give an explanation on those things.

However, I was in there last night, and I checked the specials menu hoping to see something I haven't seen on there every week for what seems like forever. I admit it's entirely possible that I've never noticed this special before. It was Southwest orzo (meaning multi-colored like in the pic above) with smoked chicken, garlic, red onion, shiitake mushroom, and tri-color peppers in an asiago-chablis creme sauce. Ho-ly crap.

I don't think my conversation had anything to do with it, chances are its an item that's appeared on the specials menu before.

The point is, that was a really good dish. I like Union Street a lot. And I think you should go there for dinner tonight. Ask for a chilled shot of Pama, it's a new pomegranate liqueur. Get a pint of Stella Artois or Woodpecker Pear Cider to go with it.

For almost ten years, the Majestic Cafe felt like the de rigeur place to go for a decent dinner in Midtown Detroit, but I haven't had a good meal there in way too long. Union Street has always been there across the street. I don't know why I didn't go there more often. Now I do.


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6.26.2006

Sounds of the City

Earlier this month I was in a serious pop-punk mood. I went out and re-bought a couple of Blink 182 CDs that I misplaced sometime in the oft hazy life of a DJ. I got "Dude Ranch" (my favorite) and "Enema of the State." I remember back when each of those came out, I listened to them obsessively. And, just like before, once I re-bought them, I obsessed for a couple days. But now I'm over it. Not completely, just for now. So two weeks ago I was at a Best Buy picking up a Lil' Kim CD, and I decided I wanted some newer pop-punk stuff.

Recently I read about a new Bouncing Souls album called "The Gold Record." That one review that I read referred to it as their 'rock-opera' album like Green Day did with "American Idiot." I think that reviewer may have been hitting the pipe too much that day. "The Gold Record" is not a concept album. Or at least it doesn't sound like it. Simply, it is more of the well-written and well-performed punk/pop/rock that Bouncing Souls fans have come to know and love.

Listening to it opened up some good doors for me. I swear, every time a punk band covers a Kinks song, I (a) yet again realize how big of an influence the Kinks were on modern punk and (b) discover another Kinks album I hadn't heard before. On this record, the Souls cover Ray Davies' "Better Things" from the Kinks record "Give the People What They Want" (1981). And that's just the first door that opened. It's an excellent cover, by the way.

They also cover a song called "Lean On Sheena." I was reading the liner notes, and saw that it was written by J. Gittleman. Being a Mighty Mighty Bosstones fan from way back, I recognized he name right away. Joe Gittleman played bass in the Bosstones. But I didn't recognize the song. I know I haven't heard the past couple albums, but this didn't even sound like a Bosstones song. So I looked it up and found that when Gittleman left the Bosstones, he started up a band called Avoid One Thing along with members of other Boston bands like Darkbuster and Spring Heeled Jack. Their sound has been described as The Replacements meets Green Day. I can agree with that. But not completely.

See, this Bouncing Souls record fits in nicely with the poppier later non-ska stuff from the Bosstones and the later non-Irish stuff from the Dropkick Murphys. There's a common thread in all of that. I'm sure there are people who will disagree with me on this one, but I think that common thread is oi. Oi as in that 70s punkish rock n roll stuff like Cocksparrer and the Angelic Upstarts. Not the white-power soccer hooligan bullshit, but the feeling from the songs. The anthemic vocals and songs, and the lyrics that mean something.

By the way, Avoid One Thing recently broke up, but they have two excellent records out and I recommend picking up either one. You can find both real cheap on Amazon (used). The first one is the record with "Lean On Sheena." Click here to check out a couple of their songs.

"The Gold Record" is full of songs about growing up: "I heard someone say that nothing gold can stay, but there's love in our all our souls and it shines like gold." There are the songs about their roots in New Jersey, songs about old friends, songs about ex-girlfriends, songs about how much music means to them, and a song with lyrics written by a soldier stationed in Iraq.

Then there's another door. Every time I listen to the Souls, I remember this other related band, the World/Inferno Friendship Society. I guess back in the '90s there was a house down the street from the Souls, and the kids there had a band called Sticks & Stones. I still haven't heard anything from them, but they seem to be legendary in the New Brunswick, NJ music scene. Anyway, a man going by the name of Jack Terricloth left Sticks & Stones to form the World/Inferno Friendship Society. He is seemingly insane. But I could be wrong. His band's sound is much like Gogol Bordello, who have been getting more popular lately. It's a very Brooklyn/film noir/Eastern European/ska-ish/punk sorta thing. And that doesn't even begin to explain it. There's also a vaudevillian/theatre aspect to it as well. Your best bet is to check out the band by clicking on the link up there. They have a new album coming out soon. There was an older version of the website that had a crazy story on it involving talking cats and a man named Nosliw Pilf. Note that the name is Flip Wilson spelled backwards. The band's first album cover was a take-off of an old Flip Wilson record. It's strange shit, but somewhat captivating...

Back to the task at hand, the new Bouncing Souls record "The Gold Record" is a rock record. It's post-punk, but not in that Fugazi kinda way, more like that 'we're 35, been doing this for fifteen years, and we've evolved' kinda way. Check it out.


click to check out the Bouncing Souls' site



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6.24.2006

Thanks to the Music In Our Lives

This is happening tonight. Believe it.


(photo by Re-Bake-A)

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You Can't Turn Back

I am a bruxist. Do not be alarmed.


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6.21.2006

Checkerboard Slip-Ons

Last week I got the new Bouncing Souls record "The Gold Record." There's something about the summer that makes me want to hear lots of pop-punk. It's probably memories and nostalgia and all that. I had read something about their new one and decided to check it out. But...more about that later.

I was reading the liner notes to the album and saw that one of the songs was written by Joe Gittleman of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Then I looked into it further and found that the song is from Joe's more recent band, Avoid One Thing. So I had ska and pop and punk on the brain. And then I ran into Royce Nunley somewhere recently. Royce was a founding member and bass player from the Suicide Machines.

The gods spoke, and I listened. I pulled out my copy of "Destruction By Definition" from the Suicide Machines. The band's first record, a split with the Rudiments from back when they still went by the name Jack Kevorkian & the Suicide Machines was probably my first experience with modern local music. It was also my first exposure to ska-core (punk/hardcore). Soon after that I heard Operation Ivy and Skankin' Pickle and Against All Authority, and many others. This was probably all around '94 or '95.

Destruction by Definition was different. The production was rock-solid, everything was tight and well recorded. I listened to it constantly that summer.

But in time I got tired of ska. Okay, I didn't get tired of ska, I just got more interested in the origins of it and went more towards roots ska and dub and rocksteady. And my interests in more rock n' roll type things was steadily growing. Ska and pop-punk and all that stuff was temporarily left behind.

So I pulled DbD out again this morning. I've listened to it here and there in the past few years. It really is a good record. They re-recorded some of their earlier hits like "New Girl" and "Vans Song." They also did a cover of "I Don't Wanna Hear It" from Minor Threat.

Okay, that reminds me of why I was so suddenly put off from this band. They put out DbD in 1996, and at the time I was dating this girl who claimed that she was their original bass-player back when they were all going to Eastern Michigan University. I never believed it, but I told her did just to make her feel better.

We went down to St. Andrew's Hall that summer to see the Machines with The Vandals and Assorted Jellybeans. At some point, we were waiting outside in line to get in, and Jay Navarro (singer) walked by and she called out to him like she knew him and he ignored her - blatantly. So...I don't know about all that. Assorted Jellybeans only had one really good song, but they played it and that made me happy. I had never seen the Vandals before, but they put on one helluva show. Tops. The Machines came on, went through about five songs at triple-speed, and then came their cover of "I Don't Wanna Hear It." Before the song started, Jay told the crowd that if people started moshing, they weren't going to play. He just didn't want people to get hurt. I get it. We got it. Apparently the skinheads up front did NOT get it. Or care. They were barely halfway through the song before Jay stopped the band. He said something brief about how he warned us. Then they all walked off stage. We thought maybe it was a joke, and that they would come back. But they didn't come back. We drove an hour to get there, and they play six songs? That's it? Fuck 'em.

That's why I stopped listening to them. But then I picked up their later self-titled album. I can't find it right now, but it was pretty good power-pop. Any traces of ska were gone, and replaced by a Bob Mould/Replacements/Fags kinda sound. I wish I knew where it was...

I just checked a Wikipedia article for more recent info and found that the band officially broke up May 13th of this year. I know that Ryan (drummer) and Jay (singer) are continuing with their rock/metal band Left In Ruin, Danny will be touring with Against All Authority this summer, and it didn't say what Dan would be doing. And that article had a large quote from Ryan, and attributed it to their website, but that post is no longer there. No idea what's up with that.


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6.18.2006

Not Enough Saturday Nights

One Wednesday night, about eight years ago, I was at Detroit's now-defunct Gold Dollar to see Bantam Rooster and the New Bomb Turks. After Bantam Rooster was done, a lot of people started leaving. The New Bomb Turks were setting up their gear, and Eric the singer started berating them for leaving, calling them pussies and that just because they have class in the morning, it doesn't mean they have to leave. Once the band got started, he stood up there and said "I'd like to thank you for staying...I'm lookin' out there, and I can tell that for each and every one of you, EVERY night is Saturday night." Fuckin' a right. Back then was a time when I could go to the Magic Stick in Midtown and see the Hellacopters or the Supersuckers or the Dragons rock the fuck out. Since then, the Hellacopters have mellowed, the Supersuckers are barely still around, mostly playing country, and who knows what happened to the Dragons. Bantam Rooster is gone, and I lost track of the New Bomb Turks.


Don't get me wrong, the rock is still out there, it's just getting harder to find and more diverse. Now you have Wolfmother with their Deep Purple meets Blue Cheer goodness and the Backyard Babies are still glammin' it up. It's still there, it's just not like it was in that golden late '90s era.

Then a band like River City High comes around outta Richmond, VA. When I think of Richmond, I think of politically-charged hardcore punk bands like Avail and Strike Anywhere. It sounds like there's some rock 'n' roll goin' on there, too.

Full disclosure: River City High were first brought to my attention by my friend Deanna who happens to have just started managing them. But I get nothing out of this, it's good music, and I want you to hear it.

If you long for those days when the Hellacopters still wore their MC5 appreciation on their sleeve, when Tom Potter (Bantam Rooster) was the devil onstage, and the Supersuckers played "Born With a Tail" like they really fucking meant it, you're going to like River City High. In fact, if you ever liked the Dragons, this is totally your bag.

It's that slightly punk anthem, gravel-voiced, rockin' out sound. Infectious.

Click here to check out their website, and click here to check out their MySpace page where you can also listen to their music.

New record out on Takeover Records September 19th.
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6.17.2006

UPDATE

It's now good and propah. If you type in www.rocknrollscientist.net, it will take you to this page. Also, if you still have http://rocknrollscientist.blogspot.com bookmarked, that will still work, too.

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6.16.2006

Believe the Hype

I am a lazy sonuvabitch. It's true. I let the registration on rocknrollscientist.com lapse. I lost it. So for now you have to use rocknrollscientist.blogspot.com to get here. Soon I'll have it changed to a .net, but not quite yet. The domain registration process isn't always fast.

Enjoy.


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6.14.2006

Room On Fire

Coming at us with the Talking Heads/Television sound that we expected out of the Strokes' second album (but never got), here's "In the Morning" from Razorlight. Click here to stream the single, and then click here to check out the band's site. I like this one.


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6.13.2006

America Off Line

About 16 years ago, my dad sent my sister and I a Christmas present. It was a Tandy computer. I admit, I was less than happy. It's not like I was a spoiled kid or anything, but even then I knew that Tandys were complete crap.

Anyway, I couldn't do anything about it. This thing had 256k of storage on it or something ridiculous like that. It wasn't good for much, but my mom went and got a modem and AOL for it. I never really understood what AOL was for. Back then it was actually a way to get online, a service provider. But they made it practically impossible to get to the actual internet. Instead you were given their content. I didn't give a shit about that, I wanted the internet, dammit!

So everytime I read something these days about AOL, I just remember how pointless it was in 1990 as a service provider and how they are now re-branding the company as a content provider. BECAUSE THAT'S ALL IT EVER WAS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Most days, there are a handful of blogs I try to always read. One of them linked to something different recently, so I checked it out.

The Consumerist seems to be a part of the Gawker Media empire created by Englishman Nick Denton (Wonkette, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Fleshbot, Gawker, The Defamer, et al). Even if it's not, there's still the high quality of information presented in an easy to read format. The focus is the consumer 'biting back'.

I just took a look at the latest update, and it inluded an article about an AOL subscriber trying to cancel their account. There's an MP3 you can listen to of a five-minute phone call. It's ridiculous. He keeps trying and trying to cancel his account, but the customer service rep (CSR) kept trying to figure out why he wanted to cancel. He would not let up. It's pretty funny. Check this link for the full story.


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6.12.2006

Rollin' With Saget

NSFW. Cuz he's the 'illest motherfucker in a cardigan sweater'. Jaime Kennedy, Stu Stone, and the man himself, Bob Saget.



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6.09.2006

New Attributes

A year ago at this time, we were in the midst of a glut of (sometimes over) hyped newer British bands. Bloc Party, The Libertines, The Others, Arctic Monkeys, and the Futureheads. The latter seemed to get overlooked in the marketing orgasm that the others seemed to enjoy.


I don't claim to know why they didn't get the attention they deserved. Although, I can say that once upon a time, I put on some headphones in a Borders to check out their first album. I didn't like what I heard. It sounded generic and lacking in substance. But I thought the same of the first Interpol, and now I have everything from them. So what do I know?

This is what I know, the Futureheads have a new album comin' out June 13th. It's called "News and Attributes" and the first single is a killer. You can check out "Skip To the End" by clicking here. Its a blast of early Elvis Costello meets Billy Bragg meets everything good about British pop music in the '80s.

Click the pic to check out the Futureheads website.


click to check out the Futureheads website

The Futureheads are on tour soon and will be in Detroit at the Magic Stick on July 27th with Tapes 'n' Tapes.

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Gene Pool Style

Tuesday night, Grand Rapids' (MI) very own Whirlwind Heat took the stage at the Magic Stick in Detroit. In the midst of a nationwide tour, mostly with Be Your Own Pet, the band made a stop in the town that helped propel them to where they are now.

It was only a few years ago that Jack White signed them as the first band on his Third Man Records. Considering their neo-new-wave-whatever sound, it seemed an odd choice. Back then, WH would say that they started out trying to sound like Devo. Now they claim no bands as influences. I'm not trying to call them out, I'm just stating the facts. Considering where their sound has gone, I get it. Now they say that feelings are their biggest influences.

For this show, they didn't play anything from the first album or from the Flamingo Honey EP, it was entirely from "Types of Wood." I think they played the whole album in it's entirety, but they didn't play it in order. There were about thirty kids up in front of the stage, and maybe just as many further out sitting at tables watching. A few of those kids up front knew all the words and were singing along. Some were even dancing! For some reason, Detroiters usually find it difficult to dance at a rock show. I'll never understand.

Early on in the set, David Swanson's Moog cut out. I don't know if it was the keyboard or the connection or what, but it was out for the night. A couple times he tried to figure it out while the drums and bass went on, but it didn't work out. So he sang the Moog parts! And he did it well, sounded just like a synth. But he couldn't sing all of it, so the parts where he would normally be singing and playing, he just sang. The band worked suprisingly well with just drums and bass. Much like Death From Above 1979 or Japanther or Tentacle Lizardo, Steve Damstra II plays the bass like he's playing the lead guitar. Okay, better example, it's like in Joy Division, where the bass was always up front. Sometimes in Joy Division's songs, Peter Hook's parts were taking the place of the lead guitar, and other times he was providing rhythm along with the drums. So in Whirlwind Heat, Steve plays the bass and alternates between lead parts and rhythm parts.

It seems like a newer trend lately. All of these bands who do it have a slight new wave bent, but are also quite rockin'. Whirlwind Heat, Death From Above 1979, Japanther, and Tentacle Lizardo are all bands that feature at the very least bass guitar and drums. And on some, or in some cases, many songs, they use keyboards and samples and drum machines. I know there are more examples, but I can't think right now. I could say Morphine or the Inbreds, but those had a sound more rooted in jazz.

The point is, watch out. The drums/bass/synth people are coming to take you away. Whirlwind Heat may not be at the head of the pack, but they're creepin' up fast.


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6.04.2006

Ummaguma

The new Secret Machines album "Ten Silver Drops." I got it a couple weeks ago, and I've given it some time to sink in. I'm not sure why I bought it other than appreciating the cover art. I acquired their previous album and wasn't all that into it. This one is good. It's like...Pink Floyd kind of. Like the early space-jam freakout Pink Floyd right after Syd left or was kicked out or whatever. But it's not all like that, all the songs are actually songs, not just lengthy jam things.

Also, listening to it, it would be very easy to assume these guys are from England, but they're actually from Texas. I never woulda guessed.

click to check out the Secret Machines' site

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6.03.2006

Tamaki or Maki?

I have a lot of friends in Ferndale (MI - Detroit suburb). My favorite local record store is in Ferndale. A couple years ago, I dated a girl who lived in Ferndale. In short, I spend a lot of time there.

One of the things I love about this town is lots of good restaurants. Its not quite like Royal Oak, there are less restaurants and higher quality.

A few weeks ago I started hearing about a new sushi place on Woodward. I drove by last week and saw that it was open. So last night some friends and I checked it out.

Its called Sakana Sushi Lounge and it's on Woodward just north of 9 Mile next to the Magic Bag. There's a public parking lot in back and it looked like they offered valet service.

The space is minimally decorated. There are windows in the front, so it's well lit, but the walls and furnishings are all dark. Towards the back end there are couches and tables like in a lounge section at a night club. There's a slight club atmosphere to it, and I just saw that they have DJs some nights. The music when we were there last night was all satellite radio, but it was a good selection of instrumental downtempo hip hop in the vein of DJ Shadow.

There were nine of us, so they had to seat us back in this lounge section because the rest of the seating is booths along one wall. Then there is a bar that's L-shaped, and the wing of it that faces the front windows is where you can watch the chefs prepare the sushi. There are also some couches and tables up there.

Within our group, we've had sushi all over the Detroit area and the country and it was agreed that the sushi at Sakana was the best we've ever had in Michigan. Rebecca said she thinks it may be better than any she's had in San Francisco, too.

The eda mame was salted - I've noticed that some places don't do this, but I prefer it. Bill had an avocado salad with ginger dressing that looked good and he confirmed it. The rest of us had drinks in place of salad. Lisa and Rebecca had pear sake-tinis that were pale green. Sweet, but not too sweet. Very good. Janna and Amy had green tea, which I wish I would've tried. Someone who did try it complained that it was too bland, but it's not supposed to be an intense flavor. Chris and I had the Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale which I highly recommend. Amy had the Hitachino Nest White Owl Ale. When we asked about their Japanese beer selection, our server (of course) said they have Sapporo, which is expected. But then she asked if we liked Blue Moon. I don't know if she was trained that way or if its something she noticed on her own to relate Blue Moon to the White Owl Ale. It is kind of light like a Belgian blond. Some of you will be glad to know that they have the typical things you would find at a bar. Chris ordered a Jim Beam with three ice cubes and they delivered on it. Often when at a nice restaurant, if you order something like that, they just look at you weird and then fuck it up.

Next up was the sushi. I can't say anything special about the nigiri but it was good. I had the sake nigiri (smoked salmon), which was the typical size and shape. Aaron tried the tamago which I've never had before, but it looked good. It looks like nigiri, or like a black-belt Spongebob Squarepants. There's a rectangle of a sweet egg omelet sitting on top of a lump of rice with some wasabe, tied together with a black band of that seaweed paper they use to wrap hand rolls. Everyone who tried it liked it.

Then there's the rolls. There was everything typical as well as a couple of the usual Americanized items like the Philly Roll. But their specialties were the most interesting things. I admit, I haven't had sushi many other places besides the Detroit area, so I don't know what others do with it. Most of what I've had has been fairly traditional or included lots of cream cheese.

But Sakana takes it to some really interesting places. One roll included strawberries, another had slices of kiwi wrapped around each roll. They had several specialty rolls named after cities like Detroit, Boston, and Philly. Many of the specialty rolls included tempura flakes and theirs is so good - light and crispy.

That takes us to dessert: Japanese fried ice cream. I have no idea what it was called because I was too busy flossing in the bathroom. Yes, the bathrooms at Sakana have a choice of waxed or non-waxed floss in the bathrooms. It's in a dispenser on the wall. I have NEVER seen it before, but I think it's a great idea.

Basically, they take a scoop of vanilla ice cream, coat it in walnuts and then tempura, then they fry it. Then it's cut in half, and laid out on the plate with some stripes of chocolate syrup and caramel. Easily one of the best desserts I've ever had in my life.

The service at Sakana was exceptional...all servers we dealt with were knowledgeable about the menu and very friendly. We ordered two of the ice cream desserts and one of them had a weird small piece of metal in the ice cream. Our server immediately had the owner come over and talk to us. He was very understanding and apologetic. He was also good-natured and easy going. The cost of the ice cream was taken off our bill without a problem.

Altogether for nine of us, our bill came to $230 and that included many drinks, appetizers, lots of sushi, and dessert. Well worth the money.

Sakana is located at 22914 Woodward in Ferndale. Their phone number is 248 336 2555. The hours are 11:30am to 2am Monday through Saturday and 3pm to 12am Sunday.

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