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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.


It is a week of the returns…. Anchorman 2 (Will It Be Musical?), it better be!  and earlier this week… new D!

How much do I need to write?  I guess I could link to THIS…. then…

Tenacious D – “Rize of Fenix”

Neat.

***
A new character that I am working on… Hipsterman!  I had the idea for a little sketch… then felt it needed a cartoon representation so I asked Casey Snow to draw something and this is what she came up with! And when she sent me the pic she said, “Hipsterman… Hipsterman, does whatever a Hipster can…” and the theme song was born.

Have a listen to episode one.

Soundcloud: Hipsterman 01 – Nickelback

Go with yourself.


And here we are. New Wintersleep as promised.

Wintersleep – “In Came The Flood”
(durrrrr…. please take down the stream says band manager)

Exciting!  Here is the news from the  record label press release… as the band ain’t too keen on updating their own website… but hey, Dave Sawchuk needs to earn his keep at EMI right?

Late in the summer of 2011, the group fleshed out these new ideas with Scottish producer/friend Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai) and Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, MGMT) at the legendary Tarbox Road Studios in upstate New York. Secluded in the same woods that had already seen the creation of so much amazing work, the group committed themselves to long, focused recording sessions…and the occasional badminton match. Doogan can crush a bird. Who knew?

 “Hello hum. I am the dying lung of the town you left. I was beginning to fear, beginning to fear that you would never come back.”

 These words open the album’s first track, “Hum.” The song sits like a layer of mist that the speeding car of “In Came the Flood” comes bursting through. It’s a two-part introduction to the diverse layers of Hello Hum. As the record progresses, glowing melodies are backed by rhythms that can stand as the skeletons of songs or be studied for their subtle complexities. Guitars and keyboards weave together in fits of sonic weirdness that somehow shine with pop charm.
Hello Hum is the new record out on June 12th.

***

We know and love Aussie indie-rockers the Temper Trap from their songs “Sweet Disposition” and “Fader.”

Time for some new music.  Here we go.

The Temper Trap – “Need Your Love”

Pretty easy, repetitive pop song.  Not really changing my world like maybe “Sweet Disposition” or… you know I really liked “Fader” too.  That whole first record was pretty strong actually.

New album is self-titled and will be out on May 18th.

Their record label hypes it thusly:

“The Temper Trap return with “Need Your Love” from their self-titled follow up to their commercially and critically successful debut album “Conditions” which spawned the hit singles “Sweet Disposition” & “Fader.”  With “Need Your Love,” they’ve ditched the slow burn anthems for something more immediate, and it suits them wonderfully. Over big squelchy synths and pounding drums, “Need Your Love” is a festival-ready anthem that seems joyful on the surface but is about the painful disintegration of singer Dougy Mandagi’s relationship, it’s sky high chorus sure to be fairly ubiquitous come the summer.”

Even they admit in their corp-speak… uh, pretty basic punchy pop song.  Not really too similar to their earlier hits.

If you got some thoughts, leave a comment and if you don’t… then, don’t?

Go with yourself.


Mark it zero Dude… on May 15th I’ll be making my way to Ditch Records for the new Japandroids 7-inch… “The House That Heaven Built.”  Record, Celebration Rock, is out on June five.

The first single is blowing my mind… and its not even 2PM on a MONDAY! (and I got a few more songs to tell you about…)

The boys said their next record would be an uplifting party MoFo.

Brian King to Pitchfork: “But when you play for a group of people, and they’re singing the words that you wrote back to you, it just makes you feel a little bit less embarrassed of what you were trying to do. It’s something to celebrate. So, going into this album, we had a bit more confidence in ourselves and what we were doing.”

Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built”

Kowabunga, its so good.  Kind of reminds me a bit of The Gaslight Anthem a bit?  But more rocking.  Can.Not.Wait for the new record.


A few days before I buy the Japandroids single… May 8th, new Silversun Pickups album called Neck of the Woods.
The new single is a pleasant listen… its not “Lazy Eye” or “Panic Switch” … heck I prefer “Broken Bottles” over a lot of SSPU songs, but this first single “Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)” is an airy fuzzed out jammer.

You’re getting that classic SSPU sound but I am pulling threads of modern indie rock out of this song for sure.  I don’t think, when you lay this song down beside the great body of Silversun music, you are getting a timeless career single.  But you are getting a fairly accessible light guitar rocker.  I’ll take it and give a guarded optimism rating for the record in may.

Silversun Pickups – “Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)


Lastly… I made a mixtape of the new music I put on my home playlist over the past week-ish.

Mixcloud: Mixtape >> Do Not Disassemble

So much new music today! I actually have  afew more for you, but alas, I’m outta time right now so tomorrow we’ll have a listen to new Wintersleep and Temper Trap.

Go with yourself.


The Dudes are cool.  Listen to this!

Soundcloud >> Danny from The Dudes

Easy peasy…. go with yourself.


Yesterday, I was broadcasting my radio show from Sauce Restaurant.  My man Ryan was jocking the bar… so I hopped back there with him and had him explain how to make an Old Fashioned.

Soundcloud >> Living in the City – Old Fashioned

While at Sauce… Victoria Royals defenseman and Carolina Hurricanes’ draft pick, Tyler Stahl stopped by.  So I thought… I got my recorder machine, might as well jam out another episode of Hockey! with Jeremy.

Soundcloud >> Hockey! with Jeremy 10 – Tyler Stahl

Thank you for listening.

Go with yourself.


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.


I had so much fun getting up to adventures on the weekend.  And I had so much fun writing about adventures from the weekend.  It only stood to reason… I’d enjoy podcasting the adventures.  Introducing the second installment of Living in the City.  Please have a listen and share.

Soundcloud: Living in the City >> Bourbon sours, Red Fish Blue Fish and Roche Cove

Oh wow, the times we’ll share.

You’ll learn:
1) How to make a bourbon sour from Katie McDonald, Veneto Lounge
2) How to make Malt Vinegar Syrup from Kunal Ghose, Red Fish, Blue Fish & Top Chef Canada
3) How to find Roche Cove Regional Park

***neat, here is an article about Kunal Ghose from the Times Colonist.***

We so excited. I love living in the city!

Go with yourself.


The weekend was a gem.  And I watched a ton of Jem.

Got up to all sorts of adventures and like many of you, it probably had a bit to do with St. Patrick’s Day.  However, I did not get up to the green beer festivities.

Pol Plastino‘s lady Elea celebrated her birthday on Saturday night.  I was feeling like making cocktails because I see Simon, Josh and Katie make them all the time at Veneto and it seems fun.

Pol said Elea’s favourite cocktail from the bar was the Jenkins.  That one is too hard for me to make, but her next fave is the Bourbon Sour.  You’ll see the instructions above.

I brought a bottle of Baker’s bourbon… a giant bag of lemons, simple syrup (just dissolve equal parts sugar and water), bitters, egg whites (bought the carton from the grocery store, $3-ish)… a shaker, strainer, and juicer thing… and away we went.

I love the ice globes they serve at the fancy cocktail lounges and really REALLY wanted them to drop in the red solo cups (you know, to class it up).  Shawn from Clives Classic Lounge gave me a bag full of ice globes!

I will say, after jamming out cocktails for folk’s at the party… its a lot of work.  And I was only making Bourbon sours, or Bourbon Old Fashions… if I had to know anymore than two, my brain would have exploded.  AND I had Jess helping me.  Good times and great people at Elea’s birthday!


Sunday was sunny… Coral was in a Sunday movie mode, so Mads and I hit the town.  And I’ve got her into fish and chips.  Its turning into a weekend thing to head downtown, and lately our place to go is Red Fish, Blue Fish right on the water.

With the weather cooperating, the line for a fish taco stretched along the wood planks of the wharf.  But it was pleasant and Mads was in a good mood, so we waited and chowed down on Cod Fish and chips (with three dips!  That is important for Madelyn, so we had ketchup, their tartar sauce and then the Malt vinegar syrup) .  And I had the scallop taco and the Pacific Fish taco.  Mmmmm.  I’ll NEED to try the chowder sometime and the poutine.


After fish, and dropping some deep-fried pickles off to Mom… Mads and I hit the trails.

My brother had taken me to Roche Cove before… and I remember us thinking it would be a good place for a little one.  So I went back on Sunday with Madelyn.

I like Roche Cove because you get a lot going on with a fairly easy walk.  Ocean, rivers, lakes, rain forest, easy trails/or/muddy trails.  I also like the drive out to East Sooke.

Drinking with friends, eating fish tacos and hiking with Maddy was the best weekend EVAR.

Go with yourself.

Oh man, last night was terrible.  I must have been experiencing a bout of anxiety or something, but I had the stresses and could not sleep.  Hard to breathe, hot, tight chest…I couldn’t fall asleep till close to 4AM then Coral was waking me at 6:30 when she got up.  Just a long, miserable, lonely night.

But I did do two things before this panic set in.  I watched the film Young Adult and I downloaded Dinosaur Jr’s “Feel The Pain.”

The movie is about a 30-something writer (Charlize Theron) who comes back to the small Minnesota town where she grew up to try and win back her married high school sweetheart.

Tragic hilarity. I really enjoyed it.

The film is heavy on 90s nostalgia rock.  The de facto theme song is 1991’s Teenage Fanclub single “The Concept.”

Teenage Fanclub – “The Concept”

The song comes from the record Bandwagonesque which in 1991, beat out Nirvana‘s Nevermind in Spin Magazine as “Album of the Year.” Neat.

The movie takes place in Minnesota, so that means a Replacements‘ song.  “Achin To Be.”  Good pick.

AND, Dinosaur Jr‘s “Feel The Pain” dials in as well.

Dinosaur Jr – “Feel The Pain”

“Feel The Pain” was Dinosaur Jr’s biggest modern rock hit…. peaking at #4 in ’94. It is also the only Dinosaur song we have on the playlist at The Zone!

What’s especially neat about these two songs… “The Concept” and “Feel The Pain” is that Teenage Fanclub is/was often compared to Dinosaur Jr… and with these two songs, I think you can really hear some similarities.  Especially, when it comes to the guitar noodling.

OK, that’s all I got.  Its like noon right now, and I am so tired.  And still so much to do today and tonight.

Go with yourself.