Keegan Ales

I was up at Bard a few weekends ago playing some
Mahler, Britten, and Perle
so I went to Keegan Ales in Kingston
on my way to rehearsal
and picked up a couple growlers.

This is what a growler looks like, for those of you who were wondering.
It can carry a half gallon of fresh beer straight from the tap to your home,
or the park, or rehearsal, or wheresoever-you-choose-to-go.

So, convinced of growler greatness, lets get back to Keegan Ales:

I Wish I could have hung around for awhile;
the pub looks like a great hang.
Tons of space, local art hanging on the walls,
old timey furniture, and stage space for live music.
Also, for this EXCELLENT weather,
a patio area outside.

LOVE IT

After rehearsal we had a little tasting session
with Charles, Mike, Matt, Alana, and Sydney:

Growler the first: Mother's Milk

Mother's Mile is a creamy stout with a little bit of milk and chocolate.
The bartender told me that it's made with coffee (!)
DELICIOUS (though I couldn't really taste the coffee)

Growler the second: Hurricane Kitty

Hurricane Kitty is a very hoppy IPA that is something of a local favorite
though I couldn't really say it was mine.
The problem is that I've been spoiled by Captain Lawrence's Double IPA
which is richly flavored enough that the
hoppyness is present but not overpowering.
(I'm all for some hoppyness!)
Regardless, this Hurricane was certainly GOOD.

Keegan Ales is a place I would enjoy hanging at more,
If only it weren't in Kingston (aka OZ) (aka FAR FAR AWAY from ME).
In a totally stereotypically informed kind of way
(having been to neither place)
Kingston is kind of a mix between Mobile and Detroit.

It's a good thing it has this Brewery.

Cheers,
LR

Columbus Avenue's delicious newbies

On Friday, while I was taking a break from building my wine glass instrument, I went to Lansky's with friend Molly.

Can I just say, right off that bat, that I love this place?

First of all, all beer is $3 after 4pm. That's right: ALL. Including Stella, Hoegaarden, Leffe, Becks, Magic Hat, and Goose Island IPA. I had a Goose Island Nut Brown Ale. It had a complex richness and a lot of depth, with no hard edges. Delicious. I'm a big fan of the "subtle notes of chocolate, honey and fine tobacco".

This time around I had some chopped liver smothered in mustard, a couple sliders, and some spinach soup. All of the above were excellent though I would point out, especially to the college-budget/artist-budget crowd, that these sliders are cheap AND delicious, and they are not at all small either.

The fact that the best coleslaw I've ever had and juicy juicy pickles come complimentary should be just icing on the cake, but I've literally chosen to go to Lansky's because I was jonsing for that slaw. MMM. (Columbus@71st)

Then:

Bomboloni.

We went a few blocks south to Bomboloni (another restaurant from David Ruggiero) which specializes in bomboloni's:

freshly baked, filled italian donuts, hot from the oven.

Did you just picture heaven? You might be right.

Also:

$1 each

(hold on just a sec while my wallet rejoices)

ok.

I now have two options for ridiculously decadent desserts within ten blocks of Lincoln Center, and no, I'm not including Magnolia. (Not a cupcake fan, sorry.)

Anybody know the other? They make oversized cookies: crispy on the outside, doughy on the inside, delicious all the way through. Anyone? Bueller?

Cheers,

LR

Glass Vibrating

I've spent the last few days working on a wine glass instrument. (My recording session today required some melodies on wine glasses.)

So...

First Step: buy some wine glasses. Cheap, thin walled ones.

Step two: buy a board of wood, some screws, and some nylon tabs (these ones were made for keeping the screen in your screen door.)

C: Tighten nylon tabs around base of stemware. Fill glasses with water to achieve correct pitch. Moisten fingers and play.

The pitches on the left of the above picture, the ones with a lot of water in them, do not speak very well. If the water level gets past two thirds full the sound becomes muted. I did not experiment with whiskey instead of water, mostly because that would have been incredibly expensive.

All in all it worked well, though the kind of lines one can actually play is extremely limited. (One could almost say non-existent.)

Mission Accomplished! (I feel safe saying that since this phrase is actually devoid of meaning these days.)

Then, after all that, we (the composer and I) decided that bowed crotales would be better sounding anyway. (That's right, I did not end up using this contraption at all.)

So, the moral of the story is: I have many wine glasses and a mount for them. If anyone ever needs such a thing, holla at me.

Cheers,

LR

Extremely

Last night I survived a performance of Gerald Barry's Sextet
{Can I get a t-shirt please?}

A few unique things about this piece:

1. Extremely fast tempos
   
2. Extremely close canons
3. Extremely circusey atmosphere

Brandon, Alicia, Evan, Gregory, James,
and conductor (etc.) Thomas Ades

were extremely excellent performance partners

and the process was totally pleasurable

in a lets-conquer-this-piece-of-ridiculousness way.

{one wishes one could string words together to make new words}

{lets just pretend we can}


I just wish I didn't have a minor
aneurysm
while trying to navigate the
multiple-lines-at-once + tiny-intervals-on-marimba + extremely-fast-tempos
sections
{read: difficult}

This is totally a piece I love listening to:
get lost in it's echoes,
visualize the merry-go-round
spinning out of control.

But I'm not sure my blood pressure could stand repeat performances -

not that I'd say no to doing it again;

I'd just have a medical professional on hand.

Afterwards, I had a shot of Jack.

Thanks Jack.

In the beginning

Alright interworld: here begins my contribution to the general knowledge, or at least the general feelledge, of the great hordes of humanity.

It may not be that epic, though I do hope to accomplish a couple things:

1. Have Fun
2. Taste a wide variety of Distilled Beverages and describe the Sensations Produced
3. Take part in a number of other pleasures: concerts, coffee, conversations...
4. Pursue happiness - one drop at a time

I hope this will end up being an adventure, or, at the very least, delicious.