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Archive for the ‘neat-O gang’ Category

Living in the City >> Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Posted in Dave Babych, life or something like it, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , , on April 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »


Today is National Grilled Cheese Day!  Wow.  Actually is Grilled Cheese Month… I am so thankful as a society we have our priorities set.

The grilled cheese sandwich is pretty much a basic staple of our North American culture… but did you know?  people have been eating bread and cheese since the olden tymes?

Its true! Like most things delicious (olives, Russel Crowe, sandals), the grilled cheese sandwich originated in ancient Rome.

The Grilled Cheese we enjoy came about in the good ole USA in the 1920 when two great innovations took place.

Cheap American cheese
and Sliced Bread

The grilled cheese is awesome and something I always play with at home.  I don’t normally hit a restaurant for it… but after watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, I have started to appreciate what can be done.  I remember one episode form a season or two ago when Guy hit Portland, Oregon and went to the Blueplate Lunch Counter.  They do up a fine grilled cheese and tomato soup!

Today, I went down to The Black Hat Bistro in downtown Victoria to talk to chef Sam Chalmers.  I asked him how to make the BEST grilled cheese sandwich. Please have a listen.

Soundcloud: Living in the City >> Grilled Cheese Sandwich

and if you like it, maybe you’ll share the link on your blog or facebook/twiiter thing…or like Pinterest?  sure. and thank you.

***


This is from yesterday… but maybe it’ll give you a smile.

NHL Hockey Playoffs started yesterday and to talk all things Canucks… The Playoff Round table.

Host: Jeremy Baker

Panel:

Nick Kypreos, ’94 Stanley Cup Champion
Hakan Loob, ’89 Stanley Cup Champion
Tyrannosaurus Rex, dinosaur

Soundcloud: Playoff Round Table

Go with yourself.

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NEW Soundgarden and NEW Shadowrun

Posted in music, neat-O gang, tagged , on April 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »


Lets just get right to it shall we…

Soundgarden – “Live to Rise”

Huge beefy riff-rock.  Chris Cornell activates his Chris Cornell growl.  Plods along with this boogy swagger. Its melodic.  For 90s rehash… quality track.  I dig it.

Dylan Willows came to me and said “this is what modern rock needs!  more heavy riffs!” But he said it to me in a way that suggested I could do something about it.  Don’t look to me man, I just fuzz out to Japandroids in the corner.

Its not really anything you can say… what modern rock needs.  The people say.  If you like riff rock, jam it loud.  If Gotye’s your bag, jam it quieter.

I will say, as a fan of album cover art… his one is more an advertisement than any statement or  pleasant bit of graphic work.

***

I got a tweet from my homegirl @klancashire alerting me to a new Kickstarter from a Seattle based video game designer.

Jordan Weisman founded the FASA gaming company in the 80s and they developed the role-playing game Shadowrun.

Shadowrun is an urban, futuristic fantasy game that pits technology and magic against the evil Mega Corporations that dominate future society.

Lots of machine guns, fast cars, seedy bars and Harry Potter all-growed up and with a Meth problem.  Good times.  There are also Orcs.  Neat.

There were a few Shadowrun games, but nothing great.  Jordan is going to try and fix that… but first he needs to raise $400,000 to get started.  Cue: Kickstarter.

Already, Jordan and Harebrained Schemes (the video game deign firm partnering with Jordan) are at over $100,000!

I am so broke Jordan, or I’d give too… but all I got is there here blog, and maintaining costs me money, does not generate any! Zoinks.  So you get a link and some time from me.

Read more about the project here… then wait till he actually makes it!  I will try and buy the game.

Go with yourself.

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Living in the City >> Make the BEST Margarita

Posted in food, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , on April 2, 2012| 1 Comment »

LMFAO sing about Patrón on ice…. but there has got to me more to Tequila than party rock and neon orange man-capris. I went down to the Veneto Lounge in Victoria to learn how to make the best Margarita. This delicious and classic tequila cocktail will impress your friends and destroy your enemies!

Soundcloud: Living in the City >> Margarita

Veneto Lounge Agave Margarita
bartender: Simon Ogden

2 ounces el jimador tequila – blanco
1 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce orange juice
3/4 ounce lime juice
good squeeze of agave nectar
1/2 ounce egg whites

ice in a Boston glass/tumbler

shake shake shake

strain

drunk.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

Go with yourself.

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M83 – Reunion Remix and Plants and Animals LIVE

Posted in music, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 21, 2012| 1 Comment »


I don’t know who Annie Mac is, but I love her.  She has an accent and sounds like a sexy Replicant!

Annie Mac hosts a dance music show in England on the BBC.  Turns out I have a Annie Mac megamix on my iTunes of a Vampire Weekend/Lykki Li mash-up song she did.  Solid.

I was reading on Pitchfork about M83 doing a remix of the song “Reunion.”  They also are performing in Vancouver on April 27th at the Vogue.  Not sure if I’ll be able to make that show, but damn, I sure wish I could.  The sample of the Reunion (Mylo Remix) that Pitchfork links to is a rip from Annie Mac’s show Friday night and posted to Youtube.  Gosh dang, Annie Mac has a smooth voice, I’ll forgive the M-8-3 when she introduces the song (unless of course they pronounce their band name that way…in which case, please forgive me).

M83 – “Reunion (Mylo Remix)”

Download MP3 >> M83 – Reunion (Mylo Remix)

***


Plants and Animals were in town yesterday to perform at a packed Lucky Bar.  Being an old man, I only stayed for part of the set then had to retire.  Just HAD to… so tuckered out.  I am so thankful they were able to stop by my radio show to perform my current favourite “Light Show” just for me (and you).  Its not our best mix job here at the radio factory… but still, sounds pretty good.

Soundcloud >> Plants and Animals on the ZAS

***

Read THIS ARTICLE in the New York Times about the Old Fashioned cocktail.

Now I want to see if Ryan at Sauce will let me make a Don Draper Old Fashioned.

Surely, Don Draper, the essence of the Esquire Man, would have been acquainted with this compendium. Mr. Draper has been shown making his preferred drink, step by step, only once, in Season 3. His execution wasn’t the daintiest, but it was probably period-correct. He used rye, diluted the drink with club soda and muddled the cherry.

***

Lastly… do I have any angel investors reading my blog?  I have two price points for you to show your love.

01) $20 million dollars.

Recently it was announced that Canadian mega corporation Bell wants to buy Canadian mega  corporation Astral.  Neat.  However… both companies already own a Clear Channel-esqueian amount of radio stations as is… and the Government will likely force Bell to divest itself of a few frequencies.

I propose that YOU give me something like $20 million… I buy the Shore (for way less than the $20 milli, don’t worry, I need the rest to buy a house with a waterfall)… turn it into the radio version of this here blog… and like, I’ll totally pay you back.

02) $4,230 (plus tax and shipping!)

To buy THIS!  First release?  THIS! (on coral coloured marbled 7-inch)

Go with yourself.

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We’ve Only Just Begun

Posted in history 101, music, neat-O gang, tagged , , on January 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »


I’ve often said that pretty much every endeavor undertaken by man is for the direct (or occasionally indirect) purpose of impressing a woman.  Why women create?  I am unsure, I am not a scientist, but I am a man… and men do strange, weird and wonderful shit to get laid.

In 1929, two bros named William Lear and Elmer Wavering took their young lovelies to the lookout in their car.  What a magical night over looking the majestic Mississippi River.  But it wasn’t exactly perfect.  One of the women complained.

There was no music.  Ergo, no vaginal entry.

And so William and Elmer invented the car radio… (and William would go on to invent the Lear Jet… and they’d help found Motorola with the Galvin Brothers)… but the point is… they invented the car radio (and I have my job in the year 2012) because they wanted to impress a girl.

***
Last night I watched the most excellent of documentaries.  The film is called Art & Copy and is basically about advertising.  If you have the Shaw or Telus on-demand its in the Movie Central.

They told lots of great stories behind the iconic brands and advertising campaigns of our capitalist world.  One story that was new to me and interesting was the story of Crocker National Bank.

Crocker was a fairly big bank based out of San Francisco.  By many accounts (err wikipedia) it was a good bank, people liked it, they did good… for a bank. Spooky logo though?  whoa.

In 1970 they felt that the average age of the customers was too high that in order to continue success, they needed to recruit new younger customers.  They went to some San Fran advertising firm and asked what they could do to change the perception of their bank to make it appeal to young families.

The Art Director thought… how about a jingle, not just a silly jingle, but more of a song.  And instead of talking about the boring wah wah wah of banking, we’ll just play the song with a video of a young couple getting married.

Tag line: “You’ve got a long way to go. We’d like to help you get there.  Crocker National Bank.”

Boom.  Looked like this.

Wait a minute… I know that song!  That is the iconic 1970 Carpenters hit! And you’re right, because its both.  The song was comissioned for the advertising campaign.  Richard Carpenter heard the song and knew the song writer.  He asked if there was more to the song than just the minute jingle.  Turns out there was!

The Carpenters recorded the song and it showed up on their album Close to You. As the third single off the record it would shoot to number 2 in Canada and  on Billboard’s Hot 100.  It would show up on Rolling Stones’ top 500 songs of all time and became an immensely popular wedding song.  They’d win two Grammys for this record.

The popularity of both the commercial and the hit single would prove to be distressing for Crocker National Bank and they had to cancel the campaign.  Too many new young customers!  People weren’t aware Crocker did mortgages and this being the 70s and not the 00s… Crocker didn’t want to hand out mortgages to young couples that maybe couldn’t afford them.

Crocker would franchise the campaign to other regional banks across the United States.

neat.

Go with yourself.

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ZAS >> Eating Vegemite

Posted in neat-O gang, radio, tagged , on January 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »


Yesterday was Australia Day.  A day to celebrate the First Fleet’s arrival to New Holland back in the olden days…

In order to connect with my Australian friends and family in Brisbane… I tried Vegemite.  hmmm…. yeah.

Soundcloud:  ZAS >> Eating Vegemite 

Happy Friday!

Go with yourself.

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Long walk, snow covered dock

Posted in neat-O gang, tagged on December 23, 2011| 1 Comment »

OK… two more wall papers for two more computers that I had to customize today.  Both with a wintery vibe as we get no snow in British Columbia for Christmas.

First up… Snowy Alberta.


Coral saw my post the other day where I talked about Kermode Bears and Greenland and and she was like… “of course you picked those pictures you nerd.”

Whatever, one day I am going to see with my own two eyes a Kermode bear and go to Greenland!

and now… this is Switzerland, but it sure evokes memories of Canada doesn’t it.


I think that’s all I got… for now.  If I don’t blog again before Christmas, then Merry Christmas.  Thank you for reading.

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we didn’t need a story

Posted in ...this is your father speaking, Dave Babych, life or something like it, music, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , , on October 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »


New M83 record is out tomorrow… I hope the iTunes download goes hot tonight, I am going to buy it for sure.  Actually… if Ditch has the vinyl tomorrow… I’d really like that.  I wonder?

Initial reviews have been promising.  I adore the first single “Midnight City.”

Today I have been jamming out track one/side one, “Intro”  Easy right… first song should be called intro.

Pitchfork loves this cut… I’m a little more meh on it… I am sure, in the context of the whole double album, this song serves well.  As a stand alone single or song, it doesn’t have the payoff that I enjoy in a 5 minute ditty.

This is an epic, building, bright cut that you can imagine really crushes down for the next song…  have a listen.  It features vocals from Nika Roza Danilova of Zola Jesus.

M83 – “Intro 9feat. Zola Jesus)”

Download MP3 >> M83 – Intro

Its alright, but not changing my world.  What I did enjoy… M83 remixes!

If I ever get my shit sorted and learn to make beats and samples… I’ll glitch out all night.

***


Finally made it to a Victoria Royals hockey game.

I brought Mads so I couldn’t stay the whole time… but I will say that Madelyn is finally getting to an age where she can enjoy the process.  She sits in her chair.  Loves to clap.  Pays attention enough to know that Victoria is the “Purple” team (the jersey is more blue-ish but shhhh). Yells “Go ‘Toria!” And loves her treats.

The Royals played the Kelowna Rockets (Grandpa Rob’s team) and gutted out an overtime win!

We also got to see super-stud #9 Kevin Sundher assist a Soudek goal.  He is tied for the top scorer in the WHL right now.  Nice.

I hope that I am fortunate enough to get another pair of tickets to take Madelyn again this season.

In other hockey news… Coral and I will be heading to Van for a game verse CBJ in November.  Fun attack!

***

It was an eventful weekend.  I kinda like not working my weekends away.  I get that whole mantra that to be successful you gotta be working and creating all.the.time… but I’ll save that Radio Stars of the world.  I’ll take some pleasure in a glorious Fall hike.

My brother CJ is turning into a true weekend warrior on the trail.  I had to miss out so much on the hikes because of work, but this weekend was about living Island Time and having fun.  CJ and Caitlin and I hit Gowlland Tod Park for an “easy” assent up to a lookout that offered an amazing picnic spot.  We spied the Saanich Inlet and Malahat Mountain.

I kinda want to do it again next weekend… but I think CJ already has designs on East Sooke.  Though, my bro will need a rain coat as we won’t always be so lucky to hike in the glorious sun in our temperate rain forest.

Do you have any favourite hiking spots that are an easy drive from the city?

Go with yourself.

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woods

Posted in neat-O gang, tagged on October 12, 2011| 2 Comments »

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The ghost of you lingers… Rifflandia Video

Posted in neat-O gang, tagged , , on October 10, 2011| 1 Comment »

Local hidalgo Dave Wallace captured some pretty great moments of 2011’s Rifflandia.  Check out his video (may or may not contain me and Mads… super briefly).

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