San Diego Serenade

After the great CD Cleanout of a few months ago, I was left with a bunch of actual CDs. Not CD-r’s. Shocking! I didn’t want to just throw them away when the possibility of raking in several dollars of cold, hard cash remained. So I’m listing them, complete with out of focus photo, on ebay. There’s a lot of good CDs in there, and even though they might not play, they’re kind of neat to look at. Even though iTunes makes it easy to keep track of album artwork, the days of flipping through a case logic case and knowing what Stone Temple Pilots “Purple” or Smashing Pumpkins “Pisces Iscariot” cd look like even though it doesn’t say the name on the CD are long gone. So if that era is one you want to revisit for some sick reason, please bid on my CDs!

Ebay Auction is here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140151639508

What is it about the new beer from Karl Strauss, the “Hot Karl Double IPA” that offends my sensibilities more? The fact that they’re trying to capitalize on all the national attention being given lately to the San Diego IPA style of beer, or the fact that they decided to name the beer after a sex act that wikipedia defines as: “a sexual act in which one partner defecates directly onto the face of their partner, sometimes with the mouth open.”

You know what? I’ve decided what offends my sensibilities more: Karl Strauss naming their beer after a sex act where people shit on each others faces. Just imagining the mental giants that have snickered about that joke for the past five years and finally got corporate approval to slap it on kegs of beer.

“Get it Gary? People will say ‘I’d like a Hot Karl!”
“I don’t get it.”
“I hate you Gary.”

The best part of the whole story is is that they waited until Karl Strauss died, (back in December), and then trotted out the Shit-on-face beer with his name on it! They didn’t even have the balls to go through with the joke while the man was alive!

I saw Karl Strauss once during my time in San Diego. He took the stage before the Sex Pistols played at Street Scene in 2003. He was a bent over, frail old man, who I’m quite sure wasn’t aware of the reputation of the band he was introducing. It sort of put in perspective the entire organization: get a respected guy, slap his name on your product, serve the beer at the Street Scene, Del Mar and the airport and through sheer force of marketing and will, gain the reputation as a local San Diego “tradition.” If you have to trot the guy out in front of the Sex Pistols, or use his name for a frat boy joke every now and then, whatever. He’s old and dead. Cut his estate another check.

I can fortunately think of dozen of other IPAs, Double IPAs and other San Diego beers from breweries that are smaller, tastier and more deserving of our business than Karl “Think of people shitting into each others mouth when you drink our beer” Strauss.

Source: Liars Club Newsletter, 8/9/7 - “Draft beers coming soon: Racer 5, and unbeknownst to Speed – his brother Racer X, something really cool from Jeff Bagby, Unibroue Maudite Strong Red Ale, Karl Strauss Hot Karl Double IPA, Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale, Coronado Hoppy Friar Belgian-style IPA, Toronado 20th Anniversary Ale, Avery Piglet Purgatory, Cucapa Pale Ale, He’brew Origin Pomegranate Ale, TJ Bufadora Bock (soon), and (eventually) Russian River Procrastination.

I got an email the other day that read:

Hi Conor,
My name is Lily and I read your blog from time to time through hype machine. I live in LA but I am going to be in San Diego this weekend for a friends graduation. I was wondering if you knew of any cool shows happening either Friday or Saturday night, or maybe some good bars to go to.

So I was writing her back, and decided to post it on the blog for all the other people who were in the same situation but were too shy to write and ask:

Yo Lily,

Thanks for asking. I’m not sure what your schedule is as far as graduation and parties go for that, but there are a couple of interesting things going on Saturday night, both of which I am considering checking out. First off you have a show at the Epicentre. This is sort of regarded as…how to put this…the worst venue in town. It’s in the middle of a strip mall, and it’s obvious that the name “Epicentre” was decided on because “Teen Center” or community center just wasn’t drawing in the crowds. The interior of the place is bizarre, and there’s an unfortunately placed set of scaffolding that leads you to believe that the place just wasn’t intended to have a stage.

The bands playing there are Man Man and the Fiery Furnaces. The Fiery Furnaces I saw open up for the Strokes a few years ago, before I had heard of them. A month or two after I endured them during the Strokes opening gig, they started to get raved about for their album “Blueberry Boat.” The way I felt must have been how the guys who went to high school with Lil’ Jon felt after he became famous as the king of crunk. Really? Them? You sure?

Homecoming King of Crunk

I wouldn’t even be talking about the show if it weren’t for Man Man, a band that is undoubtedly not for everyone, but that I think is awesome. They’ve inspired raves from everyone who’s seen them live, were recently dubbed the most exciting live act by Pitchfork, and they are probably about as unique a band as you can get while still maintaining their listenability. I’d check that out and make it option one, that is, if you don’t want to instantly turn the music off.

Secondly, you have another more straight ahead punk rockin’ option for those who dig their music not so heavy on the accordian or marimba. Fifty on Their Heels and The Power Chords are both punk bands that even I can tolerate, as in their songs have actual structure, melodies, understandable lyrics. They are also playing at a Moose Lodge. I think I would be able to forgive the Epicentre all its faults if it were just called a Moose Lodge. Both of those bands have myspace pages too, so check them out and decide if you think it’s worth spending five bucks on. Since you are in town for one night, the local flava may be the way to go, but since I am here all the time, Man Man might be my pick. Either way, both shows are all ages and should be over early enough to enjoy yourself later in the night.

I got carried away with the Dylan article, and wrote too much about XM, so I decided to make it a seperate entry.

XM, and satellite radio as a whole, still seems like the kind of thing that has not caught on yet, but it is indisputable that it is better than any radio you could possibly receive through your FM dial. It’s like the difference between comparing a diamond engagement ring to one of those candy ring pops that you get out of a grocery store vending machine. Even with a large library of music at my disposal, sometimes it’s nice to put on the radio and let yourself get truly surprised. If you spend a long time every day in your car, or have stretches where you have the chance to listen to music uninterrupted, XM (or Sirius, I on’t really have a huge preference about either one, I just happen to have XM,) is absolutely the way to go.

When arguing against satellite radio, FM pretty much falls back on a few basic arguments:

1, That you don’t get local DJ tastemaker personalities or concert information.
That’s fine. The internet delivers specific, on demand access to information about local concerts. Getting concert updates three times daily at 12:40, 2:40 and 6:40 is probably the equivilent of checking your stock quotes in the morning paper. If you actually cared about either one, you’d probably go online for more updated info. And if you’re emphasizing the on air blather over the music, that indicates something horrific about your priorities. However, if you’re interested in which Tower Records parking lot “Bernie and The Badger” from the Morning Zoo are giving away t shirts in, perhaps you ought to tune in.

2, They play the “FM is free” card.
Some desperate stations have gone as far as to change their names to “FreeFM.” The monthly fee for XM is undoubtedly the one thing that prevents people from signing up, but it seems like its value should be apparent to any music fan. For the cost of less than a CD a month, you get inventive programming, no commercials, dozens of listenable stations and cool stuff like the Dylan radio show. You could even look it as supporting XM as the way you’d buy a cd from an unknown band, or buy organic produce, or opt for the local mom and pop store instead of a chain. It may cost a bit extra, but if you consider your purchase as casting a vote for the way you think the world should be, or at least supporting things you like, it helps justify it a bit.

3, “XM is partially owned by Clear Channel.”
The only person who was willing to reach this low was Halloran, the DJ at 94.9. He whipped out this doozy for me a year or two ago when we were debating the merits of his radio station. My response to this bold statement, which he didn’t back up with numbers or specifics, is that people hate Clear Channel because they deliver an inferior product, recognized and loathed across the board for ruining a once proud format. It’s not because of their size, or their profitability. It’s because it blows. If Clear Channel was churning out XM stations, with no commercials and highly varied playlists, people would be naming their kids after them. If they happen to be part of a group of investors supporting a great product, is that enough to make you lower your standards to the point where you think “I can tolerate 94.9’s lack of playlist diversity, commercials and obnoxious dudes on air, but at least Clear Channel tried to move in a good direction by giving them money.”

Just some things to consider. I’d be curious to see if there are any other people out there who have one of the brands of satellite radio and how they finally pulled the trigger and made the switch.