I attended the Philly Craft Beer Festival (my first beer festival) on Saturday and it was, I have to say, pretty remarkable. What's also remarkable is that I kept myself intact. Here's what went down (literally):
Afterwards we ventured out for some additional food and drinks so while I'm "link-happy" I'd like to shout out the Lucky 13 Pub for their awesome juke box, delicious food, and hospitable owner, Clark.
Cantina Los Caballitos was quite amazing as well, although by that point my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I'll be enjoying my pork and chicken taco leftovers tonight.
Surfer Blood at the Barbary was awesome! For such a hyped band it was cool to see they were having fun on stage and not worried about playing perfectly. Here are 2 videos I shot last night:
Absurdly, I haven't updated my 101 in 1001 since July 13th. Here's the rundown:
2] Run 3 Marathons - I completed the Philly Marathon on 11.02.09. It was my second marathon overall, and my first towards completing three for my 101. I bettered my time from the previous year by almost 30 minutes, and my knee held up the entire time. 25] Paint a Room for Someone - In August we went over Brian & Dawn's new house for their Painting Party. Barb and I tackled the bedroom. 31 / 32] Do something charitable every Thanksgiving / Christmas - I totally dropped the ball on this and didn't do anything significantly charitable for the holidays. However, I allowed myself to make up for it by donating money to Haiti via the Red Cross.
41] Donate 100,000 Grains of Rice on freerice.com - Currently up to 30,200 grains of rice.
43] Donate a garbage bag filled w/ old clothes - Check. I can't believe some of the clothes I at one time liked and/or fit in.
49] Figure out my credit score - Check. Satisfied.
50] Save up for and buy an Apple computer - This one is tricky. I did save up enough to buy one, but then we were dumb-struck when we received one as a gift. I'm counting it as done.
54] Cook 50 Different Recipes - Done! - Lime Basil Cous-Cous - Moroccan Chicken Kebabs - Grilled Pork Tenderloin à la Rodriguez with Apricot Glaze and Orange Jalapeno - Burger with Red Bell Pepper and Feta Spread - Chicken with Grilled Onions and Plums - Greek Roast Chicken - Southwestern Salmon - Beet, Goat Cheese, & Arugula Salad - Emeril's Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin - Corbi-Fein Brussel Sprouts - Bacon Herb Wrapped Pork Tenderloin - Broccoli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Parmesan - Lemon Glazed Sweet Potatoes - Maple Glazed Spiced Carrots - Weight Watchers Cheeseburger with Grilled Onions - Beef and Vegetable Cheese Casserole - Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms - Lemon Grass Chicken and Noodles - Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs - Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms - Open-Faced Tuna and Artichoke Melt
55] Drink at 5 Different Breweries - 2 new ones, 4 out 5 done total. - Dogfish Head. Amazing. The vintage 120 Minute IPA was memorable for sure. - Pocono Brewing Company. It was OK. The brews helped nurse my newly fractured distal radius.
57] Maintain an herb garden for an entire summer - Done. It helped that I was pretty much laid off for the entire summer. It was nice to have so many herbs at my disposal. It definitely helped out grilling meat and amping up my omlettes.
58] Enjoy a glass of real spiked egg-nog (bonus: next to a fire!) - Done and bonus achieved with some local Pennsylvania Dutch egg-nog.
63] Learn the basics of a popular editing program - In September I was responsible for cutting together some casting videos and had a crash course using the Avid. I am no maestro, but I no virgin either.
65] Learn 5 "popular" (read: recognizable) songs on the guitar - 2 new ones, 4 out 5 done total. - R.E.M. - "Man On the Moon" - The Wallflowers - "Three Marlenas"
69] Attend 25 concerts / shows - I've missed out on a lot of good shows that have come through town but I did see a few. The count is now at 11 out of 25. - Sunny Day Real Estate at the Trocadero - Brand New at the Electric Factory - Sainthood Reps at the North Star Bar - Brian Fallon, lead singer of the Gaslight Anthem (acoustic show) - First Unitarian Church
72] Geek-out on iTunes #2: Give star-ratings to all of my unrated songs in iTunes - I have a few unrated right now, but at one point everything was rated. All 20,000+ songs, aka approximately 55 days worth of music. Booyah.
73] Compile a playlist of my favorite song each week for a year (each selected song must be new to me that week) - This was completed, and has since been dubbed "A Year In the Ear". If anyone's interested I'll send you a copy. Let me know. Additions since the last update: - Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill - Dinosaur Jr. - See You - The Exploding Hearts - Modern Kicks - The Rural Alberta Advantage - Edmonton - The Big Pink - Dominos - The Knife - Heartbeats - Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - More News From Nowhere - Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor - Julian Plenti - Only If You Run - Brand New - At the Bottom - Girls - Lust For Life - The Drums - Let's Go Surfing - Comet Gain - Brothers Off the Block - The Feelies - The High Road - The xx - VCR - Woods - Rain On - Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension - The Raveonettes - Gone Forever - Best Coast - When I'm With You
78] Read 30 books by 30 different authors - I've had a major slow down with this one, but a few updates. Currently at 18 of 30.
- About.com Guide to Web Design - Jennifer Kyrnin - Learning Web Design - Jennifer Niederst Robbins - 33 1/3: Gentlemen - Bob Gendron - 33 1/3: Murmur - J. Niimi - Open - Andre Agassi <-- highly entertaining
86] Visit the West Coast - Unexpectedly done. It was a very last-minute thing, but I was sent to LA for work. Luckily it wasn't all business. I got to see my good friend and old college roommate, AJ, as well as experiencing a culinary tour de force thanks to Gerry and Carla. Check out the LA run down in this older post.
94] Photograph 5 sunrises in 5 different places - 2 of 5. An early call time on set out in LA generated this shot: 95] Photograph 5 sunsets in 5 different places - 3 of 5. AJ took me down to Venice Beach and I happened to catch this shot: 99] Visit 10 new places in our Philly guide book - 5 and 6 out of 10. I'd really like to concentrate on this more. F'real. - The Ritz-Calton / 10 Arts by Eric Ripert. We ate at the restaurant, we didn't stay at the hotel. We went because we're huge fans of Top Chef and this is where Jennifer from the latest season works. We went while the show was towards the end of the season, before Jennifer was kicked off, and we didn't know if she'd be there or not. Barb can tell you she was, because as soon as I left to use the bathroom she walked out of the kitchen with her trademarked scowl.
- North Star - We got to see our friends Derrick and Cesco's new band, Sainthood Reps, here over the holidays. Check out their music! This is long. I bet you didn't read all of this. Did you?
The last 2 weekends have be absolutely killer (pun intended). Not only were they random and fun, but they helped chip away at the 101.
The last 2 weekends combined: The Killers at Susquehanna Bank Center Brian & Dawn's Bridal Party party Gaslight Anthem at the Stone Pony Long Beach Island Carla & Craig's Wedding Andrea & Dan's Italian Market Festival Party The Shins at the Electric Factory Planting of our herb & flower garden That being said... 54. This Gingered Honey Salmon recipe puts me over the halfway mark of my 50 recipe goal (26 of 50): 57. Now that the garden is planted I must maintain it until the end of the summer for it to count. The garden includes: red bell pepper, rosemary, cilantro, dill, thyme, chives, Thai basil, basil, parsley, and strawberries. 69. My show tally is now up to 7 out of 25. 73. 2 more songs of the week (24 of 52): Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band - "Nikorette" Japandroids - "Young Hearts Spark Fire" 99. New place from our Philly guide book: Italian Market.
54. 2 more recipes: Rice, Black Bean, & Corn Salad
Apple Thyme Chicken
69. Saw The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at the Barbary with Andrea & Dan. I don't have any pictures, but I've provided a lil' video for y'all. A buzz band that's buzz worthy... nice.
73. Song for the week ending on 05.03.2009: Keane - "The Lovers Are Losing"
7. Went to the dentist. Twice. 14. I was able to access my college computer without having to enter my password. Turns out there's an easy way around it and I was able to get access to all of my files. The computer is still at my parents, so I'll have to bring a drive next time, but I did gain access so I'm counting it. 29 & 42. I planted 10 trees via plantabillion.org (it's only $1 a tree so do it!). The first 5 trees cover #29 and the second 5 trees cover "Do something worthwhile on Earth Day." I wanted to do something out in the world on Earth Day, but it sort of snuck up on me. I couldn't find any last minute clean-ups or anything like that in the area, so I'm counting the tree planting. 47. I sold 5 things on eBay. They all happened to be DVDs I'd never watch again in a hundred years. They're out of the house and I made money. 54. 3 more recipes down: Fish Ragout with Limes
Chicken Breasts with Rosemary & Lemon
Chinese Pork & Vegetable Stir-Fry
65. I learned to play along to Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'". So what if it's only 3 chords in the same pattern over and over for the entire song? It's recognizable. It counts. 69. Attended 3 shows: Gaslight Anthem / Heartless Bastards at the Trocadero Death Cab for Cutie / Cold War Kids at the Tower Theater Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at the Spectrum ... which brings me to 70. I photographed the Gaslight Anthem gig (pics here & here) and the Death Cab show (pics to come) so that's 2 out of 3. Now, the Death Cab show is kind of tricky but I'm counting it. I received the photo pass from Ra Ra Riot's management, but they went on earlier than they were supposed to and we missed them. The Cold War Kids started basically as soon as we arrived so I didn't have my bearings about me. I was only allowed in this corner with a terrible view of the stage, so I got photos but they kind of suck. Then I found out that Death Cab had a separate photo pass and I wouldn't be allowed to shoot them. However, we had pretty close seats and I was able to snap a few before getting busted by security. 71. I took a really long freakin' time but this one (Geek-out on iTunes #1: [assign Year, Genre, and Album Art to all songs]) is done. You try doing that without going crazy during the process. Unemployment definitely helped this one get done... 73. Some new songs to the ongoing playlist: ... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - "Bells of Creation" Love - "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale" Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero" Silversun Pickups - "Panic Switch" Superchunk - "Learned to Surf (Acoustic Demo)" 74. I recyced my old iPod through Apple when the hard drive crashed. In doing so I was given a discount off of my totally awesome new 120gbiPod. Screw iPhones. 76. 2 Best Picture Winners out of 15: saw Slumdog Millionaire. 78. More books are done: "Obama: A Promise of Change" by David Mendell... I should tell you that this is a children's adaptation of an adult book, but it was a gift, so I read it. It was close to 200 pages and I did learn stuff about Obama that I didn't know before so it counts. "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs 99. We've gone to a few places in the guide book I had never gone before: The Wachovia Spectrum Buddakan The Trocadero
I saw the Gaslight Anthem last night at the Troc and they were freakin' amazing. Get on the bandwagon now because they're going to be huge by tomorrow.
On Monday April 28th I attended the Tokyo Police Club show at the First Unitarian Church in Philly. I brought my camera. In other words, I endured sweaty elbows, drunk girls trying to crowd surf, and a speaker literally less than a foot away from my right ear (Luckily, I think I'm OK... although I didn't think so when my ear rang for over 4 days). This is what I have to show for it.
(I've been meaning to post these photos for awhile, but I never got around to narrowing down some of the better ones. I finally did)
Tokyo Police Club has a new album out called "Elephant Shell". Clocking in under 30 minutes, the album is a quick shot of goodness. Check out "In A Cave" on their MySpace page.
After reading up on shooting live music, I realize I need a better lens to handle low-light situations. If that freakin' stimulus check ever arrived...
I attended the Philly Craft Beer Festival (my first beer festival) on Saturday and it was, I have to say, pretty remarkable. What's also remarkable is that I kept myself intact. Here's what went down (literally):
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