Beermaking update

A bit off topic, but thanks to a fantastic wedding gift, I've gotten heavy into homebrewing. I could go on and on about the different beers and equipment, but the piece de resistance is a kegerator that some friends and I converted. Here's the story:

I picked up all the goodies (from Rebel Brewer, an awesome homebrewing store in Goodlettsville) as well as an old fridge on cragislist ($175 delivered):

Then my buddies (to whom I am now eternally indebted and grateful) Aaron and Dan came over and got all handy on it. First, we built a level base for the kegs to sit (that's the CO2 in there):

Then we put in 4 taps one by one, with this being the first:

After all 4 taps were in, we drilled a hole in the side for the CO2 to run in (it's not yet attached to the CO2 canister at this point):

Finally, and some may argue most importantly, I hooked up a 1/6 commercial keg of local favorite Yazoo's hefeweizen and gave it its first foamy pour:

Here are the insides with a commercial keg in there:

And here are the taps from the inside of the door, waiting for homebrew kegs to be attached (you can see where the Yazoo is attached on the far left):

I finally got the homebrews kegged and hooked up and ready and the commercial keg out, so it's all homebrews all the time:

I also slapped some chalkboard paint on the freezer door so that everything could be labelled:

Finally, I picked up a gorgeous half-sized keg so that I can put 4 in at one time (the compressor controller gets in the way height-wise in the back, so I needed something shorter):

Happy brewing indeed ...

Yonder Mountain String Band w/ the Infamous Stringdusters, Marathon Music Works, Nashville, TN - 2/10/2012

Here's a quick, no frills recap of this one. A couple of buddies and I made this show on a last minute decision. First off, this was my first visit to this venue, and it is quite awesome - great sight lines, nice bar area, $5 draft Yazoos, clear sound. Parking is an issue, which I figured.

We walked in midway through the Stringdusters' set, and just as I heard, they were pretty great - extremely good players with a more traditional mode of newgrass.

YMSB came out a good deal later and played a very long couple of sets with an encore. I used to be something of a fan, but I don't think that they are particularly great bluegrass players and find the very long, very repetitive (3 chords stretched out for 10 minutes) tunes to get a bit old at times. I enjoyed that they had a revolving cast of Nashville bluegrass stars playing with them.

Had a great time but would have enjoyed a more economical set from the headliners ...

The Walkmen, The Metro, Chicago, IL - 01/14/2012

My buddy Aaron and I ended up heading up to Chicago for a 36-hour trip centered around the mighty Walkmen doing a 10th anniversary show in honor of their debut album. I was going with my wife, but she could not extricate herself from work, sadly.

After arriving late Friday night, we started with deep dish at Lou Maltani's, which I'd heard was amazing. It was. Super heavy with a buttery crust of neverending goodness. We ordered a medium and could not finish it. You'd think we'd be ready to rock it out at that point, but no, the pizza defeated us straight into our respective beds.

Saturday started with "brunch" at Hot Doug's, the venerable hot dog institution about which I've written before. We only had to wait 40 minutes or so, with only 20 of those in the 15 degree weather. When we saw a table order one of everything on the menu, we knew it was going to be alright.

I had the Palomar (pinto beans, bacon, etc.), the Foie Gras (duck dog with foie gras) and a Chicago style. We split the fries cooked in rendered duck fat. We felt happy.

We followed this up with a trip to Revolution Brewing (quite awesome), a stroll through Reckless Records (I passed on an original pressing of OCEAN RAIN and am now kind of kicking myself), and finally beers at the Map Room (recommended). After a quick respite back at the hotel, we grabbed burgers and beers at the Grafton Pub (quite on the money) and then made the trudge down to the Metro.

I'd seen one show here before (Black Keys in 2008) and was so so on the venue. I'll say that I'm glad we got there fairly early (and talked to Paul, the guitarist, on our way in), as it got pretty dang crowded fast. About 20 after 9, they took the stage (no opener) and proceed to play a very long, very career-spanning set that never let up. In fact, I was simply exhausted at the 3-hour point. We started to make our way out right after "Thinking of a Dream I Had" and caught the last number from the coat check line. There was no encore, and they didn't need one.

There's a nice bootleg floating around of this show. The version of "In the New Year" was insane. This one will be tough to beat for 2012, similar to their jaw-dropping 2011 show.

Line by Line, We Scrape By (New Song)
They're Winning
Wake Up
Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me is Gone
Revenge Wears No Wristwatch
Hang On, Siobhan
The Blizzard of '96
We've Been Had
Love U Love (new song)
Dreamboat (new song)
Love is Love (new song)
Donde Esta La Playa
On the Water
In the New Year
Red Moon (Ham - solo acoustic guitar w/ horns)
Stranded (w/horns)
Canadian Girl (w/horns)
Louisiana (w/horns)

SET BREAK

Bottled Sand (new song)
Blue as Your Blood
All Hands and the Cook
Woe is Me
French Vacation
The Rat
No Christmas While I'm Talking
I Lost You (by request)
138th Street (by request)
Postcards From Tiny Islands (by request)
Thinking of a Dream I Had (by request)
Heartbreaker (new song)

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 12/01/2011

We had a blast at this show, the tour ender for Gillian and David. I think the biggest issue was that we saw a crazy, insanely good show from them (for 2011, second only to the Walkmen) back in August, and while they were quite great tonight (with some truly outstanding moments), the vibe at the Ryman kind of sucked the life out of this one for me a bit.

Trust me - it wasn't a bad show by any stretch, but it just didn't have that magical quality that we saw them bring to the Orange Peel a few months earlier. I did not take photos or a setlist, sadly, but the set was fairly similar to the Orange Peel show without any huge surprises, though they did end the whole thing with a rousing cover of "Jackson."

Natalie Merchant with the Nashville Symphony, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville, TN - 11/13/2011

This was a bit off the usual path for us, but it seemed like it would be a cool thing to do as part of celebrating my wife's birthday. We started out at Virago, which was exceptionally good. We got into the venue, which was pretty darn crowded, and right on time Natalie Merchant took the stage, looking quite a bit older than I expected, though that's probably due to the fact that she is forever frozen in her 1987, In My Tribe-era persona.

That being said (and being a bit harsh, I know), she sounded fantastic and much better than I could've anticipated. The setlist drew heavily on her recent output, which features classic poems set to orchestral arrangements, but she whipped out some deep cuts, including a jaw-dropping "Verdi Cries" during the first set and a fun "Kind and Wonderful" encore to the end the show.

Most of all, it's hard to overstate how impressive her voice was in a live context, especially a concert hall that sounds as good as the Schermerhorn.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN - 10/16/2011

Not a whole lot to say about this show. I ended up going with some friends more or less on a whim. I have their first record and think that it's fine as far as poppy/ear candy type stuff goes. The opener, Twin Sister, has been getting a lot of press, but we mainly hung out on the deck catching up pre-show.

So the Pains of Being Pure at Heart came out and did their thing, actually playing "This Love Is F---ing Right" second on the setlist, but the whole thing just didn't do a whole lot for me. They were competent but did not bring a whole lot to the table that was so compelling. It's tough when the last band I saw was 2 nights of Wilco, who set a pretty high bar in terms of musicianship and bringing the live goods.

Great time with my friends, just a fairly meh show ...

Wilco, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 10/01-02/2011

I'd had a good, long break from Wilco, and I kind of needed it. They remain one of my favorites, but their shows had become a bit rote for me by the time Wilco (The Album) had come out. I'd seen them get downright magical at the Ryman back in the mid-aughts, so I was feeling pretty excited for 2 straight nights.

Night one, we had friends in town and pre-partied at home with some grilled out goodness and a nice pinot (what typical Wilco yuppie scum fans we are). By the time we got to the venue, the Hatch Show prints were all sold out and Nick Lowe had started his set. We actually kind of hung out and skipped Mr. Lowe, which I know is sacrilege, but we needed a breather.

We were sitting midway up in the balcony for night one, and it was definitely the "angrier" of the 2 nights, with Tweedy not getting into a lot of banter and kind of rocking through and featuring a few of the darker recent numbers ("Poor Places," "Bull Black Nova") before giving way to a lot of uptempo older cuts from AM and Being There to round things out. Some moments off the new album, especially "One Sunday Morning," were absolutely enthralling, while some were a bit flat. "Jesus Etc." hit me particularly hard for some reason. It was good stuff, great at times, but did not seem to hit those crazy highs that they were reaching circa A Ghost Is Born.

NIGHT ONE:

One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)
Poor Places
Art Of Almost
I Might
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
One Wing
Bull Black Nova
Rising Red Lung
Impossible Germany
Shouldn't Be Ashamed
Handshake Drugs
Standing O
Jesus, Etc.
Born Alone
War On War
Dawned On Me
A Shot in the Arm

Encore:
Whole Love
36 Inches High (Nick Lowe cover) (with Nick Lowe)
I Love My Label (Nick Lowe cover) (with Nick Lowe)
Box Full Of Letters
Walken
I'm the Man Who Loves You
Monday
Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Night 2 found us in about the seventh row on the main floor (see photo was above), which was pretty killer. The setlist would appear to be much darker, but the mood was much more jovial and light. I'd never heard "Less Than You Think" played live before, and you'd think that "Black Moon," "Ashes of ...," and a mid-set "One Sunday Morning" would be major downers, but it was more of a mellow, laid back vibe. Nels played one of Gregg Allman's old Les Pauls for "Impossible Germany" (and killed it, I thought). "I'll Fight" reminded me of how mediocre that last album was.

I was hoping for a bit more variety between the two nights, but I've seen them so many times over so many years that my expectations are probably a bit off the chart. Similar to their recent recorded output, I'd say that this was a very solid outing though not one that was going to break your heart.

NIGHT TWO:

Less Than You Think
Art Of Almost
I Might
Black Moon
Ashes of American Flags
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Pot Kettle Black
Born Alone
Side With The Seeds
One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)
I'll Fight
Impossible Germany
Open Mind
Handshake Drugs
Dawned On Me
A Shot in the Arm
Hummingbird

Encore:
Whole Love
36 Inches High (with Nick Lowe)
I Love My Label (with Nick Lowe)
California Stars
The Late Greats
Heavy Metal Drummer
Red-Eyed and Blue ->
I Got You (At the End of the Century)