Definitely a punky feeling and some 70s nostalgia.
Diane & I saw the Dead Weather at Rams Head Live on Monday, August 2nd in Baltimore. What an incredible, sold-out show! They are best as a live band. The raw emotion and aggressiveness of their music just rocked.
There were songs that I don’t really like off their records such as ‘60 Feet Tall’ (Horehound) and ‘I’m Mad’ (Sea of Cowards) that were superb live. Conversely, Die by the Drop is one of my favorite songs off their new album, but I didn’t care for the live version.
Harlem, from Austin, Texas, opened. They did 10 songs and I really liked three of them. A few sucked and the rest were ok. They’re a three person band, and the lead guitarist and drummer swapped about ½ through the set. To be honest, the first guitarist wasn’t that great but the drummer-cum-guitarist rocked out on both instruments.
The Dead Weather played 13 songs and then came back out for a three song encore. Here’s the setlist they played:
Encore:
I had a quick thought about this last night before bed. Which writers made me want to write, both back when I was young and now that I’m actually a writer? Through their books, they’ve energized my passion for writing. They’ve shown me that books can have such an impact on a person, and I want to be in that fellowship. This list is, by definition, incomplete, but they represent some of the works that most touched me.
After seeing Let There Be Love at Center Stage on Saturday, we decided to try out The Brewer’s Art for drinks. I’d gone there back when I was working for/at STScI and had told Diane about it for ages. Now that Diane drinks some beer (Belgian-style only), it seemed like a nice way to finish off the night. Brewer’s Art is a great Belgian microbrew bar and an eclectic restaurant.
We decided to walk through the treacherous snow and ice to go from 700 N. Calvert to the 1100 block of N. Charles. Funnily enough, it was just a few blocks up the street from where we had dinner. Nothing like going back and forth, but that was a way to burn off the calories from Kumari. Normally, this would be a quick walk. But with ice, snow piles and a few vehicles on the road, it took us a bit longer. Luckily, it wasn’t too windy or cold out. We did learn that it would have been better to cut over to Charles as quickly as possible as Calvert didn’t have as much clear sidewalk or street surface area.
We arrived around 10:30 and the place was jammed. The restaurant was closed, but a few diners were still finishing food and drink. Diane got a beer menu from the bar and we figured out our respective drinks. My first ever beer here was Resurrection Ale, but I’m more fond of dark beers. They have one called Proletary Ale and that’s what I ordered. I had had it before, so it wasn’t a surprise. It was just as good as I remembered it. Diane chose the Resurrection Ale, as it’s one of their finest examples of an Abbey-style ale.
Taking our drinks, we stood in the front bar area, surrounded by 20-somethings, and the odd 30-something couple. It seemed that everyone in their 30s or higher travelled in couples, i.e. 2 people, or 2 sets of 2 people, etc. The younger crowd travelled in gaggles and crowds. We felt a little old in the place, but we weren’t posers (i.e. trying to look younger). I did do an old person faux pas when I first saw the beer menu. I got out my reading glasses to check out the menu. Diane told me to put them away. Point well taken.
We worked our way to the mid-chamber, where the couches, fireplace and some tables were set up. It was crowded in here too, but we took up residence at the maitre’d desk, which was abandoned since dinner service was over. We hung out, talked, watched the crowd and enjoyed our drinks. After, we set off back into the street, heading down Charles as far as we could go to get back to our car. A fun evening.
We were seeing a play at Center Stage and wanted to grab some food first. I knew the neighborhood somewhat, especially Mughal Garden and the Helmand. But, we wanted to try someplace new. A few googles away, and we found Kumari, an Indian, Nepalese, Tibetan restaurant. We arrived just before 6 and the place was mostly empty. We attributed it to the hour and the snowpocalypse of the past week.
We started with pompadons and three chutney. The ‘brown’ was a tad too sweet, but the other two were nice
Then we split an appetizer of chicken mu-mu, very similar to steamed chicken dumplings. It was large, about 7 large pieces These were served with a type of spicy tiki masala sauce. Very yummy but filling.
For dinner, I ordered the chicken vindaloo, Indian-level spice. Diane got the lamb saag, regular spice. The saag was great. The vindaloo was nice. It was hot (I sweated profusely) but I didn’t taste much burn or spice. Sad. But, I’d like to try the curry or jalfreezi next time. We had plain naan and rice as sides. Very fresh and good.
Primarily drawing from the 1970s and 90s, but with the late 2000s coming up strong. One local band, Wye Oak, made the list. Another might join soon. The Violet Hour’s eponymous album does indeed join the list.
An article in the Washington Post today (Feb 2, 2010) talks about the slow process to repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law/policy. I think this policy should never have been put in place, and it’s even worse that it was codified as law. It should be repealed as soon as possible.
One thing that caught my eye was a group that the top civilian and military leaders say they want to create. This group would oversea plans for changing the policy, and,
Among the issues to be addressed by the group: whether gay soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will face any restrictions on exhibiting their sexual orientation on the job; whether the Pentagon will be obligated to provide for their domestic partners; and whether straight military personnel could be compelled to share quarters with gays.
Wow, to me, this reeks of moving second class citizens out of a closet but keeping them as second class citizens. If you’re in a marriage, be it gay, straight or whatever, you’re in a marriage and the Pentagon should be taking care of your spouse. Also, if homophobic service members will be allowed to oppose being quartered with gays and lesbians, will gays and lesbians be allowed to refuse to be quartered with other groups? And what’s a group? These are all culturally constructed.
Further, what the hell does “exhibiting their sexual orientation on the job” mean? Are hetero-soldiers required to hide their orientation “on the job”? A bunch of old white men are being forced to confront the 21st Century and move away from hate-based paradigms. Let’s make it happen quicker rather than slower.
One of my new favorite bands, and their local, from Baltimore. For a mellow band that I use to help facilitate my writing, they can rock out. Can’t wait to see them live sometime:
