virgin free fest ...

so my head is just now officially wrapping itself around the activities of last saturday, also known as virgin free fest. i want to share a quick recounting of the music, the atmosphere, the wackiness, and the fun times had on what normally would of been a disheartening weekend.

so saturday stared with arsenal fc losing what would of been a crucial early season home game to a much lesser mid/low table contender in the epl. normally my saturday would of taken a slight turn to the south, but the sun was shining, and i had to race out of the pub to get home, pack the coolers, and head to merriweather post pavilion. 2 car caravan (boy car and girl car), a 15 mintue tailgate ruined by paratrooper-esque howard county police officers, and my group finds themselves frantically stuffing beers in pockets, wolfing down sandwiches, and making the walk to the festival that doesnt cost anything .... to get in.

dance forest dusting it up

like any other festival there are acts that you want to see, acts that you are curious to see, and acts that you could care two bits less about seeing. this festival was no different, and in fact had some potential line up conflicts.

our first stop was the dance forest. ummm amazing. we all walked into this dust filled, tree lined, bass pulsating, dance area dubbed 'the dance forest' right when we got into the venue. wolfgang gartner was just beginning his set and we were eager to hear music and break the festival dancing ice. wolfgang hit the spot. bass, bass, dance beats, and remixes of the bloddy beetroots, yeah yeah yeahs, and mstrkrft all set the tone for our afternoon.

yeasayer on the west stage

after a quick stop at the main stage for some edward sharpe we headed out to the sun backed west stage for a little local flavor provided by yeasayer. these baltimore/brooklyn neaveau indie demi gods came out swinging for the home crowd. their set was high energy, but it was an energy that built with earlier tunes and culminated with the set closers being the 2 singles off of their most recent album, one and ambling alp. my favorites of the set were mondegreen and i remember

looking for something to do next (joan jett was not what i wanted to do next) some of us fell into the default of  heading back into the 'ball pit' also known as the dance forest. and in the ball pit/dance forest is where we wound up spending most of the next 3.5 hours.

it was during those 3.5 hours that we were able to listen and boogie to some high and low acts of the day. unfortunately the low act of the day award goes to maximum ballon. they brought some jazz focused/dirty bass/plenty of air horn to the table, but just fell short of dance forest expectations set by wolfgang. the next act, chromeo was one that i really set high expectations for only to have them supersede said expectations.

chrome .... oooo

chromeo has a limited catalog (2 albums) which can be a blessing and a curse, and in this case it was a huge blessing because what ensued was a dance forest inspired dance off/sing along for an hour while the sun set, people rejoiced, and the mood was getting set for the night time finale of the festival. if youre not familiar with chromeo check out a couple of tracks (mommas boy and bonafied lovin) from their album 'fancy footwork'. But without a doubt it was pretty freaking cool getting to see tunes like hot mess and night by night off of their september 2010 release, business casual, played live.

the final act to play the dance forest wasnt exactly a dance act per say, but rather another brooklyn based genre defying duo called sleigh bells. for those who havent heard this summers boy/girl phenomenon they are a mix of karen o like vocals with the ear piercing guitars of someone like dave navvaro latered over top of a dance based drum machine. try out a track or two. these guys with their wall of amps, bright lights, and fist pumping tunes got the dance forest rocking, and that might be an understatement. but alas i left their set a tad early because i wanted to prepare myself and try to get the best spot possible for the festival closer (and the act i have been wanting to see for the longest), lcd soundsystem.

you can get much closer

rather than go into basic lcd info ill just point you to some of my previous posts about the dance/punk.indie rock super group. seeing how their album 'sound of silver' is one of my all time favorites and their summer release, 'this is happening',  has been on proverbial repeat for the past 3 months i was bursting with excitement for this set. lucky for us we walked into the pavilion section right when they opened the floor to the general audience. this allowed us to grab amazing floor space to the stage right area (see photo).

from the moment they took the stage for dance yourself clean (best opener ever in my mind) to the last note of home, the band put on a professional high energy fist pumping dance/rock show. to try and describe this show tune by tune would be a futile exercise. all i know is that i was singing along the whole time, dancing with friends, high fiving strangers, and incessantly jumping up and down ... oh and i was sweating as well. im still grinning thinking out that show.

all in all the sun, the dust, the $8 beers, the militant cops, the sweat soaked tee shirts, and the ringing ears were well worth the price of admission to the virgin free fest.


**if you want any of the music mentioned here please post a comment or send me an email.**

hold the pickle vol. 3 .... aka hold the lap dance

when one sets out on a quest he knows that inevitably there will be trials, trip ups, and snags along the way, and this weeks sickness (aka the flu that has plagued 90% of baltimore) has been the 1st trial in my sandwich quest. but fear not my friends your hero (with thanks to dayquil and gatorade) has stuck to his mission, over come the challenges, and has proceeded on his baltimore sandwich quest. 


this week i treated myself with a trip down route 40 to the outer limits of baltimore city to a little slice of heaven that is called chaps charcoal restaurant. chaps is the stuff of baltimore legend. its legendary bbq meats have attracted some of televisions top celeb food-o-philes including anthony bourdain, adam richman, and guy fieri. all of these shows focus on the gritty beauty that is chaps, and that beauty lies in their grilled to perfection meats that are shaved to paper thin slices and then stacked artfully in a heap which we call a sandwich. but there is one legend surrounding chaps (literally) that people dont really like to point out all to often, and thats the fact that chaps is located in the parking lot of the gentlemens gold club, one of the citys biggest strip joints. i have been to both, but never together in the same trip ... that would be an entirely different blog all together. i think i have an idea.


so for this stop on my quest i successfully avoided the lure of expensive drinks, cheap perfume, brass poles, and 60 second clips of eminem and headed into chaps with a carnivorous itch that needed to be scratched. i was not flying solo that afternoon. on this part of my quest i was joined by the brothers gee (aka gee prompt ... :air horn noise) and the local celeb chef, chef bill. when eating a chaps you begin your eating experience immediately with all of your senses. when you walk in the first thing that hits you is the smell of the sweet smokey meat slowly simmering on a massive grill. second you cant help but look at the scene that is unfolding behind the counter. there are enormous chunks and hunks of meat on a large charcoal grill that when teased with the fatty juices of said meat burps the occasional flame. hovering over top of this meat littered grate of fire is a massive dude who is armed only with a bbq mop and a welders glove. this behemoth individual is constantly turning meat, basting meat, and slicing meat with ballerina grace and elegance, but with the sweat factor of an nfl offensive linemen during august 2 a days. time to place an order.


'ill have a pit beef sandwich'


'what temp'


'rare'


'onions?'


'no thanks. the sandwich is all.'


'ok hon. you know where the tiger sauce is? its round the corner in the white bottle.'


i mean that interaction kind of tickled my inner baltimore kids heart. and my inner carnivores heart started thumping when my number was called and i was handed almost of pound of pit beef wedged between a sliced soft kaiser bun with a corm meal dusted top that was wrapped in aluminium foil. im not going to lie, but when you step up to the fixing bar and unwrap your sandwich its kind of like a mini christmas.

get to chaps and get down on the pit beef

after my fixin bar yule tide celebration i proceeded to the table to join my companions. pit beef. check. side of hand cut grease bomb fries. check. tiger sauce (aka horsie sauce). check. alabama style sweet bbq sauce. check. deliciousness. check.... 


sandwich quest continues. check.



**always looking for suggestions for places. i have an awesome list of suggestions and have been keeping track of who has made said suggestions. i also am always looking for worthy companions to eat these delicious sandwiches with. so please let me know if you have the stomach to join in my quest**

best track of the year ....

i know i come out and talk about the best film, book, or album of a particular year only to then go and contradict myself when i see, read, or hear something else thats pretty special or unique. well this time i can say it with confidence; mark ronson and the business international with q tip have made the best single of the year. the song is called 'bang bang bang' and its off the soon to be released album record collection.

press play, turn it up, and get down!


Mark Ronson & The Business INTL "Bang Bang Bang" from Warren Fu on Vimeo.

a golden musical nugget; from me to you ...

so lately i think we are becoming pretty good friends. i like this new relationship, and as a token of my affection i wanted to share something close to me ... im kidding. this isnt a relationship. this is a total one way street, and i just wanted to share a cool website for all you musically inclined folks that stop by here.

in case you havent stumbled upon this before, la blogotheque is a parisian based music blog that is choc full of amazing videos of amazing act making amazing music. the first thing you will notice is that the site is in french (i did say it was a parisian based site ... google chrome will do a somewhat kind of not really all that accurate of a translation for you), so let me steer you safely away from their socialism and towards the music. there are 2 places in particular on this site where the choice music videos reside; concert a emporter (take away shows) and soirees de poche (nights in the pouch ... is that right greg???). i love the content on this site because in my eyes its a perfect demonstration and representation of the modern form of artistic expression. check it out.

The take away section is here. if you are too lazy to go to the site, or mistrusting of of french compatriots then i suggest the wilco, phoenix (kicks beaucoup ass), sigur ros (amazing), seasick steve (if you like the blues/troubadour thing), and my personal favorite beruit.

The soirees section is here. soirees are longer, more in depth, and typically more stripped down. for an example of these i have their latest release below.

la blogotheque presente: 'soirees de poche' avec the walkmen

hold the pickle vol. 2 ....

i am happy to report that the sandwich quest is well underway and has been a tremendous success. i mean how can going around town eating delicious concoctions that are cradled between two peices of bread not be successful? but seriously i have had lots of folks give me recommendations of places to try, so i should have enough material to make this quest a winner.

atwaters soup & sandwich bar

so the next outpost on 'el questo de bocadillo' was atwaters at belvedere market. for those who arent familiar with this market, its on the corner of york rd and northern parkway in the very northern stretches of baltimore ccity proper. if you are hungry and looking for a place to eat in the area, you need to go no further. the belvedere market hosts some amazing places that offer a wide variety of palate tickling culinary efforts even beyond the sandwich.

the market boast a peanut shop, a sushi bar, neopol smokery for every thing smoked (ummm ... freaking delicious!), a small farmers market, italian deli offerings, and even a small cheese sampling. but there are in my opinion two anchors to this pseudo well kept indoor market secret, and thats atwaters and the grand cru wine bar. want a bottle to go with those groceries, cheese, or sushi you just bought? grand crus got it. want a glass of wine outside on a fall afternoon like this? they got it. want a sixer of brewers arts famous resurrection ale in a can? yep, they got that as well. but i digress. staying focused to the quest at hand i want to talk all about my sandwich experience at the other market anchor, atwaters.

quest guide

atwaters is hard to explain, but before i attempt i want you all to know it kicks ass. they specialize in fresh, simple, flavorful, and hearty food that almost lends itself to a new type of cuisine that i might dub 'refined rustic'. pretty much the menu is constantly changing with the seasons and with whats available, but the menu is almost always broken down into three separate sections; salad, soup, and sandwich.

the beauty of this three tiered approach is that there is something on this menu for everyone. some of the offerings in the salad section included a bib lettuce a watermelon salad, heirloom and burrata salad, and an asian chopped salad. the soup section could of made anyone drool with selections that included a seafood squash and tomato curry, a turkey veggie chowder, and a vegetarian offering of broccoli, ginger, and mushroom (note: they will give you a shot of soup if you want to taste, and well taste away friends). damn it again im getting side tracked...

time to focus the attention on the third and most important tier of atwaters refined rustic menu, the sandwich section. i had 6, maybe 7 choices which made this a very difficult stop. it is nearly impossible to pick just 1 sandwich from the scripturesque menu,but these guy have already thought it through ... they offer half sandwiches all of the sandwiches! so the two i chose were the greek veggie and the turkey avocado. this is a good thing because all the sandwiches on the menu looked like they had been conceptualized by someone whos soul purpose in life is to give you amazing flavor profiles found in many contemporary dishes, but adapted for the sandwich form. for a prime example of what i mean by this, lets look at my first half sandwich ... the greek veggie.

greek veggie & raspberry ice tea

as read on the atwaters menu, a greek veggie sandwich comprises of feta cheese, artichocke hearts, kalamata olives, marinaded cucumber, red onion, lettuce, and local tomato on olive bread. cant go wrong with those ingredients. i took my first bite and intstantly my taste buds fired a message to my brain to confirm that indeed i had just taken a big bite of a fresh greek salad. the feta cheese, artichoke, and olives had all been blended into a texture laden spread. the tomato and the marinaded cucumber provided at lot of moisture that would have drowned most breads in a pool of tasty oily flavor, but not this olive loaf. the fresh bread was thick enough to absorb most of the liquid and the crust was baked so perfectly that it has a crunch texture to it, but it also had a toughness to it that contrasted so well with the soft moisture laden inside of the bread that i found myself in the perfect greek veggie zen like balance. the one draw back, and this is a personal thing, is that there were too many red onions on the sandwich. i feel that red onions place is to provide a back board for flavors. red onions are strong and in the role of a backboard, they allow the person eating the sandwich to have a flavor to compare all the other flavors whipping around their mouth to, but with too many red onions i feel like some of those flavors that are whipping about wind up being muted.

red onions aside i enjoyed my visit to atwaters. i always do. the turkey avocado was intriguing because it took one in a different direction than one might think a turkey avocado should go. this sandwich was served on raisin pumpernickel bread with cole slaw and had a light and zesty basil mayo on it. delicious, but i was still side tracked from my greek veggie experience to fully appreciate this guy.

so if youre looking for a taste bud centered out of downtown adventure i fully suggest you hop in the car, head to york and northern, stroll around the belvedere market, and pig out on some soup, salad, and definitely some sandwiches from atwaters ..... oh and dont sleep on the raspberry ice tea either.

**this is the best quest ever. please send me any and all recommendations in the greater baltimore area**

just finished it ....

so in keeping with my current trend of letting anyone who accidentally stops by here know all my thoughts and feelings about my current consumption of movies, music, and sandwiches,  i want to talk about the book i just finished; michael lewis' 'the big short'.

most here would know that i was abroad from august 2006 to december 2008. lots happened that i missed out on, but nothing more impactful than the american economy, and as a result the global economy, slipping on its proverbial mortgage backed banana peel. it was fascinating watching the deterioration of wall street from my computer screen so far removed, so keenly aware of the significance, but so confused as to what the hell caused all this system to go from record profits to bankruptcy so quickly. looking for answers i turned to the new york times, the economist, and the financial times. these sources contained all the info that i needed, but it was not accessible to the laymen. then one of my favorite things in life, 'this american life' podcasts, presented a tutorial about the crisis featuring the folks from npr's 'planet money'. all of a sudden i was on top of the cdo market, credit default swaps, instantly i knew what deriviatives were, and tranches .... please, thats easy. (note: this is an over exaggeration. planet money just made it easier to understand what had happened and what people were talking about) having this explained to me by the best folks on radio started my desire to read more and more about this man made financial disaster........and thats what lead me to 'the big short'.

i have read lewis before, and if you havent you should. ive read 'liars poker' and 'moneyball', and i know most of you have heard of one of his football based books called 'the blind side'. having been exposed to lewis previously i knew i was in for a great story. he has away of weaving very vivid depictions and personal stories together to form a an elaborate pattern that the reader becomes enamored with and eventually addicted to. 'the big short' is no different.

in this book lewis, like a successful pediatrician, softly greats the child/reader, places him on a stool, asks a couple of questions, rolls up the childs/readers sleeve, cracks a joke, and bam plunges the needle into the unsuspecting arm of his patient/reader. lewis obviously isnt a pediatrician and he isnt giving injections of medicine, but his ability to deliver complicated information, timelines, and market fluctuation to the reader with out them being aware of this occurring is much like the savvy doctor who can successfully stick a needle into a kid without them knowing.

he achieves this by boiling the crisis into little personal vingettes about the people who were involved in the crisis, but were in the unique position of 'chicken little', only they are right. these stories allow lewis to show the reader how obscure, esoteric, and out of touch with reality the financial system had traveled. all of his stories were about guys outside of the wall street sphere (except the deutsche bank trader gregg lippman), which allowed lewis to stand extremely tall on his soap box and point out that everyone on wall street was either a.) the devil on earth who only feed on his/her own greed or b.) a retard. now surely some involved in the system fit those characteristics (and sometimes the same person fit both!), but lewis' attacks really get old after a while.

besides that one little draw back, i did enjoy the book. i learned a lot from it, and i would consider myself to be more informed that the average person on the subject matter, but if you have taken classes from jagdish bhagwati you probably know everything in this book minus the personal stories stitched together by lewis. but if you have read lewis before, you know what youre getting with 'the big short'; an informative and enjoyable read. if you havent read lewis before; read 'the big short', because it will be both informative and enjoyable....


**if you are in baltimore i will lend you this book if you want to read it ... email me**

hold the pickle ... sandwich adventure? ...

like a lot of my saturdays that wind up a little dusty from my fridays, i awoke around 8am knowing that i would need to dedicate today to eating awesome food. i started with an everything bagel, scallion cream cheese, and smoked salmon from thb south, and knew i was going to have to really come through in the clutch for lunch. not only did my lunch deliver in the clutch, but it gave me a clutch idea; im going to eat sandwiches (maybe like 3 a week) all over town and post here about the bread, dressings, cheeses, meats, and everything else sandwich-ie ... except the pickles (my achilles heel)

so here is my 1st installment ...

the bar is going to be set pretty high pretty early with this sandwich experience. todays installment comes from di pasquales italian market in highlandtown in east baltimore. most of you living in baltimore should have heard of this market before, and if youve heard of it before you might of stopped by this gough st mecca, and if youve stopped by then youve eaten there, and if youve eaten there youre in love with the place. seriously its that simple. mathematics.

 the market has plenty of quirky italian things all over the place from pink 'the godmother' tee shirts, to espresso soda, to fresh fennel, imported sardines, oils, and pastas of every shape/size/name.

the deli/prepared food sections is where you want to be though. in the glass cases you will find a variety of salads; potato salads, pasta salads, roasted veggie salads, and salad salads. there is also a wood oven for their pizzas in this section, but lets talk about the sandwiches.

these sandwiches are served on house made fresh bread with the simple ingredients that pack a flavorful punch in a typical italian style. understated but freaking delicious. i went with the old stand by today: the porcchetta sammy. this is a serious sandwich (see photo below) served hot with tomato, paper thin red onions that remind me of the scene in 'goodfellas' when paulie is slicing garlic with a razor blade, and grated cheese that melts when the sandwich is toasted. the pork is shaved and the rosemary and thmye scented hog is piled high on that fresh baked bread that when toasted provides the best crunchy textural contrast to the pillowy soft pork. the only down side to this sandwich is that it is kinda pricey, $8.95, and it is heavy (i wouldnt recommend eating this and then returning to an office to stare at a computer screen ... you will fall asleep!) but luckily i had a $10 spot and i dont have anything else to do today except watch notre dame football. cheer cheer brian kelly

127 degrees of bliss in charles village ...

so last night i got to go to the explosions in the sky concert at the 2640 space in charles village, a small neighborhood in north baltimore, and was treated to a stunning live performance by the fellows from austin, tx.

i am not a self proclaimed explosions fan, my primary exposure to the bad came from a group of underclassmen at the university of sydney that i lived with. they forced it down my throat, and to my surprise the esoteric sounds of these post rock juggernauts tasted pretty good. so duh i was going to check em out in baltimore, and im awfully glad i did.

rather than write a detailed review (i am not intimately familiar with their music and think some one who was at the show probably could do a much more thorough job) im just going to give some pop corn thoughts on the show ...

• 2640 is beautiful. old church space, hardwood floors, exposed bricks, arches, stained glass, and very good acoustics. on the other side of the coin there is no air circulation which lead to sauna like conditions at the show (hence the title of the post). i think this venue would be ideal for one of those crisp mid november nights here in baltimore.

• this band is really good at playing their music. before you blast me, hear me out. not a lot of acts transfer from recorded album to live show with extreme ease (passion pit comes to mind right away), and especially an act that relies so heavily on subtle sound changes, reverb, dissonance, and coordinated chaotic sounds coming together in harmony. these guys pulled it off to a tee. i mean the entire 1st tune, 'first breath after a coma' was exactly like the album version, which allowed you as an audience member to stand (sweating) with mouth open, staring in an almost stage of disbelief at what is involved to create such a beautiful piece of music.

• these guys know how to push the guitar to places i have never really seen the instrument go. there was lots of times where the 3 guitarists would be kneeling, fidgiting with effects, standing, playing, kneeling, repeating ... which again made for a heightened appreciation of the overall composition of some of there larger pieces like 'your hand in mine' 

• the track below was my favorite song of the evening, and i think the clip from austin city limits gives a pretty accurate representation of what these guys are all about 

• if some one asks you what exactly post rock is .... point them towards explosions in the sky

explosions in the sky - 'catastrophe and the cure'

**on a completely different note: ive started a musical email list. if you want in just comment below with your email and ill sort it out**