Shotgun Knowledge

Tiltwheel "Do They Make Tin Foil Beer Helmets? Cuz I Want One"

2012-01-11T09:01:00.003-06:00

Last night I came home to a package from ADD Records in the mail and I listened to the new LP from Tiltwheel for the first time. Had I been paying attention I would have gotten this a year ago when it came out (Dec 2010) but there's no use in worrying about lost time. Tiltwheel has been one of my favorite bands ever since Kevin introduced Eric to them. They don't tour and this is their first release in 10 years but whatever, shit's tight. Here's a video for one of the songs.

Land Of Vandals "Roar Shark"

2011-06-22T08:59:00.004-05:00

I've been following the Madison band Land Of Vandals for a while now, through several name changes and shifts in personnel. Their album Flying Days was my second favorite of 2009. Tonight I believe I'll trek out to the Union Terrace to see them play in the latest installment of AV Club's excellent Local Band Series.

Maritime "Paraphernalia"

2011-03-24T10:52:00.003-05:00

Maritime is coming out with a new album next month and I'm quite happy to hear it. I'm hoping they make the trip west on I-94 sometime soon.

TL/RX "Bottled In Cork"

2011-01-10T09:16:00.003-06:00

In making my year end list of Top 25 albums of 2010 I've tried to find a link to YouTube videos of each stand-out track. This video for Ted Leo & the Pharmacists' "Bottled In Cork" from the excellent The Brutalist Bricks is simply too good to just leave as a link. The message is an important one: if you stop believing in the power of punk, you will die. Words to live by.

Justin Townes Earle on Letterman

2011-01-06T19:15:00.004-06:00

I really meant to stay up to watch this last night but I fell asleep during a commercial break. This is easily one of the better musical appearances I've seen on any late night show, with Jason Isbell (another favorite of mine) backing Justin up on guitar and even Paul Shaffer on keyboards. I'm extra excited to see JTE next month at the High Noon Saloon. Harlem River Blues figures to make my end of year top 25 - I'll get that up sometime soon.

Top 25 of 2010

2010-12-17T08:47:00.007-06:00

I started this and never finished it, but I have the overall ranking on a post-it on my desk at work. Might as well post it...

December is again upon us, and for the past several weeks one thought has dominated my waking hours: what are my favorite albums of 2010. As with 2008 and 2009 I've selected 25 worthy candidates and ranked them from top to bottom in an order with which I'll once again certainly find fault. I consider 2010 to be one of the best years for new music in quite some time. The majority of my favorite bands released new albums this year, including two that reformed from previous breakups. I believe in 2010 I purchased more new records and CDs than any year since 1998, my first year at UW. That semester I was burdened with a surfeit of cash, few friends on campus and a legal prohibition from purchasing alcohol, so I did what came naturally and spent hour after hour in the record stores on State Street. This year was slightly different, if only in that I don't live on campus and I can imbibe legally. A combination of great deals, good luck on my part and a new-found interest in vinyl had led me to increase my already formidable collection significantly. I'm still processing through everything I've gotten this year and in the interest of making this list I've focused on 2010 releases for the past month. Unlike the past two years I have really concentrated on my rankings, as subjective as they may be. For the past six months I've kept a list of new releases at my desk at work and in the last month I started the draft rankings. My list is now cluttered with notes, covered in Post-it notes and is generally indecipherable; still I'll give it a shot. There were no clear-cut winners this year - in fact I consider the top four almost interchangeable. So without any further preconditions or excuses here is my Top 25 of 2010:

#25: Alejandro Escovedo - Street Songs of Love
I really do love Alejandro Escovedo. I've been buying his new records since 2001's A Man Under The Influence, and 2008's Real Animal was my #11 on the year. But I have this theory that every other Escovedo album is great and unfortunately this album almost serves as confirmation. When I first bought this I honestly thought it would be my biggest disappointment of the year. There is one reason and one reason only - the female backing vocal tracks on most all of the songs. There's few things in life I find more off-putting than the addition of prominent female backing vocals on otherwise great rock songs. It's not like these are duets either, more like "woo woo's" in the choruses and refrains. I'm not trying to be a misogynistic dick or anything, I just don't care for the higher pitch of the vocals and I find it really, really distracting. So why is this on the list? My mother really loves this album. After repeated listenings on the drive down to Illinois on Thanksgiving I had a chance to hear beyond what I found grating and truly appreciate the uplifting yet tortured romanticism in the songs Al has written. It's a good album, and minus one little piece it would be one of my favorites of the year. Stand-out Track: "This Bed is Getting Crowded" [link]

#24: Look Mexico - To Bed To Battle
I hadn't really heard much of Look Mexico before this year, making this band one of a better finds of 2010. I heard an interview Sound Scene Revolution a year or so ago and placed the band on my mental list to revisit at a later date. I never got around to doing so until the band went and put out their sophomore album on my favorite label Suburban Home and I picked up a copy of the vinyl. Look Mexico has a tight, dark aggression hidden behind their pleasant sunny sound. I especially enjoy the almost orchestral range of their songs, which expertly skirt the line between haunting and overly melancholy. Stand-out Track: "You Stay. I Go. No Following." [link]

#23: Spraynard - Cut and Paste
I make it a regular habit of checking If You Can Make It as it's been a wellspring of excellent music legally available for free. Spraynard, certainly the best named band on this list, released Cut and Paste

#22: The State Lottery - When The Night Comes

#21: Tim Barry - 28th & Stonewall

#20: The Whigs - In The Dark

#19: Defiance, Ohio - Midwestern Minutes

#18: Dan Padilla - As The Ox Plows

#17: Alkaline Trio - This Addiction

#16: Glossary - Feral Fire

#15: Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away

#14: I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House - The Sounds Of Dying

#13: The Thermals - Personal Life

#12: Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

#11: The Gamits - Parts

#10: Backyard Tire Fire - Good To Be

#9: Drive-by Truckers - The Big To-Do

#8: The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever
When I think of the backing vocals I want to drop this to #24. Otherwise I really love this album.

#7: Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks

#6: Iron Chic - Not Like This

#5: Off With Their Heads - In Desolation

#4: Against Me! - White Crosses

#3: The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

#2: Two Cow Garage - Sweet Saint Me

#1: Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Last Kiss on a Sinking Ship

2010-11-30T19:24:00.003-06:00

Sleeping in the Aviary is one of my favorite Madison bands, and I'll continue to refer to them as a Madison band despite the fact that they're predominantly based out of the Twin Cities these days. They just released their third album, Great Vacation! on Science of Sound. I was unfortunately unable to make it to the CD Release show last Saturday night, but I've got this sweet video for "Last Kiss on a Sinking Ship" to tide me over until I get this in the mail.

Last Kiss on a Sinking Ship from Christopher Heubach on Vimeo.

An alternative way to pour your hefeweizen

2010-10-15T10:41:00.002-05:00

That's some nice engineering there. Prost!

The Thermals "I Don't Believe You"

2010-09-30T17:03:00.003-05:00

Where will I'll be this Saturday night? Seeing the Thermals at the Annex, of course. 2010 is easily going to break all standing records for awesome shows in Madison.

Wisconsin Distillers

2010-08-30T12:20:00.000-05:00

An admission: for quite some time I've had a taste for the hard drink. While it is certainly true that the wide wonderful world of Wisconsin beers has been my playground for the last 10 years, I've been gradually incorporating more spirits into the repertoire. This started in back in the college years when my tastes for bourbon were developed beyond the standard whiskey-coke mixer consumed for the sole purposes of getting faced. Jim Beam Black 8-year bourbon was my first infatuation, followed by a year or two of Crown Royal devotion. After college I started drinking martinis at Smokey's once CWS introduced us to Martini Bob's Martini Club. It was on a Caribbean cruise in 2005 that I first developed a taste for Scotch whisky, Johnnie Walker Red to be exact. Upon returning to the States I first tried Chivas Regal, which is to this day my favorite blended Scotch. After my European vacation in late 2008 I returned with a serious appreciation of Irish whiskey, especially Bushmill's Black Bush.

As with beer, I've recently started looking within the borders of the state for locally distilled spirits. The micro-distillery movement is still quite small but seems to be growing quickly. To my knowledge Wisconsin has never had a distilling tradition, so when i first heard of local distilleries I was a bit surprised. I was even more surprised after trying my first bottle of Death's Door vodka, an excellent vodka made from Washington Island wheat that is completely smooth and just a touch sweet. I don't even really care for vodka or at least what I'd had prior to DD, but my experience with this vodka made me re-evaluate my prior opinions of the drink. My appreciation of the vodka was soon compounded once I learned that the distillery would be creating a "white whiskey" - basically an unaged young whiskey also made with Washington Island wheat. I had originally planned on hanging on to the bottle due to its rarity. In fact, I loved the taste of the white whiskey, which was brash yet mellow with a delicious sweet overtone, and that first bottle did not last me too long. I've been fortunate, however, as Death's Door has maintained their production of the whiskey and I've never found myself unable to procure another bottle. I've even introduced my father to the white whiskey and he now counts himself as a fan. We brought a good-sized flask with us on our winter vacation to the Gulf Coast. It was the perfect accompaniment to the marathon cribbage games in our sleeper on the City of New Orleans.

After Death's Door opened my eyes to the burgeoning Wisconsin distilling scene I quickly came upon Yahara Bay Distillers, a Madison-based company that produces a range of products. I first received a bottle of their Extra Dry Gin as a present this past winter. I've never been much of a gin devotee, but I enjoy the occasional martini from time to time. This is mainly because the taste of gin can be too much for my palate. However, the martini I made with the Yahara Bay gin was exceptionally smooth. Whereas I used to consider Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray as my preferred brands, I now believe that Yahara Bay is the best gin for my tastes. I love the first two-thirds of a martini but the last sips as the drink warmed and the harshness of the gin became exposed were always slightly gag-inducing. I didn't have this concern with Yahara Bay and as such it's now my gin of choice. Following this experience I started to read up on this home-grown distiller and I was heartened to hear that they would be introducing an aged whiskey. I tracked down a bottle shortly thereafter and enjoyed it immensely. It has many of the same characteristics as the Death's Door White, with sweet overtones and a smooth finish but with the added oak smokiness from two years of aging. Yahara Bay is a small distillery and doesn't produce large quantities so I'm sure extensive aging would not be feasible. However, I'd love to try this whiskey after six, eight or even ten years in the cask.

Rounding out my experience with Wisconsin-based distilleries is the Old Sugar Distillery, right here in Madison. I read about this small operation and made it a point to seek out a bottle of Old Sugar Factory Honey Liqueur just to complete the trifecta. To tell the truth I wasn't expecting much as I've never been a big fan of liqueurs or overly sweet drinks. My sweet tooth disappeared around the age of 18 and with it my appreciation for rum, schnapps and the like. However the urge to be a completist overcame this hesitance and I'm quite happy it did. The Old Sugar Factory Honey Liqueur is excellent. The sweetness is restrained and it is miles away from being cloyingly sugary. The liqueur is aged in oak, giving it a beautiful color and a smoothness that balances the flavor. This is not made from distilled honey as the name would suggest. It is in fact distilled from Midwestern beet sugar, with Wisconsin honey added later. I'm definitely a fan, and as with the Death's Door I gave a bottle to my father, who appreciates this as much as I do.

I don't believe I'll ever love anything as much as I do the many excellent breweries in Wisconsin, but the presence of these three local distilleries has certainly made the decision a bit harder. It's a nice problem to have.

Hungover Owls

2010-08-24T19:01:00.002-05:00

Hungover Owls - definitely the funniest thing I've read today.

The Gaslight Anthem with Tim Barry Cover Lucero's "The War"

2010-07-26T15:47:00.003-05:00

Two of my favorites covering a favorite song by another favorite. That's almost too much favorite...

Off With Their Heads

2010-05-10T10:49:00.002-05:00

Off With Their Heads is one of my new favorite bands. Redbeard introduced me to them a year or two ago, and although my ignorance caused me to miss at least two shows in Madison I've since rectified that, seeing them play an excellent show this past February. I'm definitely going to pick up their new full length when it comes out next month.

Titus Andronicus

2010-03-29T17:36:00.002-05:00

A More Perfect Union

Titus Andronicus | MySpace Music Videos
I am really looking forward to seeing Titus Andronicus play the Project Lodge on April 6th (with His and Her Vanities, a band I've been meaning to see again for some time). Their new album, The Monitor, is on the inside track to being a favorite of 2010, and the show they played at the Rathskellar last year was simply amazing. There must be something about New Jersey right now, since a good number of my favorite bands are coming from here.

Hawk for the Hall

2010-01-06T14:51:00.003-06:00

Today Andre Dawson, my favorite baseball player of all time, got his due and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Long overdue, in my humble opinion, but no matter because the Hawk is in the Hall. Congratulations!

Split Rock Lighthouse

2009-12-22T14:36:00.012-06:00

I had a two and a half day trip up to northern Minnesota last week, and despite the subzero temperatures I really enjoyed the views up on the North Shore. I've been up this way before but never during winter. I made my way up Highway 61 early on a Tuesday morning for the express purposes of taking pictures for use in a "Visual Assessment" in relation to the proposed tower. As part of this I ended up getting a good number of pictures of the Split Rock Lighthouse, a National Register historic site located on a cliff above Lake Superior. The lighthouse was constructed in 1910, well before there was even a road in the area. It's a beautiful old building, and fortunately the actual tower location coordinates I'd been given were a couple of miles off, and the project will have no real impacts on the historic site (unfortunate for my time spent driving around). It wasn't a complete wash though - I did get quite a few nice shots of the lighthouse and surrounding frozen landscape. The photo at the top of the page is taken with the sun behind the lighthouse.
Here is the lighthouse from behind, coming up from the Visitor's Center.
The Split Rock Lighthouse, in profile.
Here is the building that housed the foghorns. They were run by two gasoline engines.
Here are the keepers' houses. It would have been lonely, back before 61 was built.
The view of the lakeshore from the lighthouse. It was very cold that morning, about four below zero. The wind coming off Lake Superior wasn't too strong, but the occasional gusts cut to the bone.
The view of Lake Superior. Since it was so cold but the lake is still open, great banks of fog were coming off of the water.
After taking pictures at the Lighthouse I drove down to a campground in the surrounding State Park. A trail from the parking lot led to the lake and Pebble Beach. This is a few of Little Two Harbors toward a small island in the lake.
Pebble Beach, as it was called, consisted of smooth gray stones, all covered in a rime of ice. It was exceedingly slick, and given the cold temperatures and the fact that I still had a site walk to finish it was likely foolish of me to walk down to the water. One slip and I would have been in for an inadvertent Polar Bear Swim.
AS I was wrapping up the Assessment photos, I grabbed this shot of the salt-encrusted Civic at the scenic overlook, with the Split Rock Lighthouse in the background.

Top 25 of 2009

2009-12-18T10:56:00.026-06:00

In keeping with a "tradition" I began last year, I have again decided to compile a list of my top 25 albums of 2009. At first I was a bit disconcerted as I didn't think I could even come up with 25 total candidates, because for a number of reasons it seems that a lot of my purchases this year were from 2008 and 2007 - this was apparently the year for me to catch up on all of the great music I'd missed earlier. To me 2009 felt a little light in terms of new music, and on initial examination I felt that older albums from the past couple of years still overshadowed everything from this year. There weren't that many new releases for which I waited in anticipation or pre-ordered as compared to last year, and looking around at other top-ten lists I do believe my tastes were more divergent this year. However, once I started getting into the business of putting this list together, I really started thinking differently about it all. Many of the great albums I bought this year just haven't really made it into my daily rotation, for reasons ranging from a packed iPod to my new predilection of listening to Sound Scene Revolution, Planet Money and This American Life podcasts while on my long drives through northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Over the last couple of weeks I've made it a point to listen to nothing but new music, and consequently I've sharpened my focus and come to the realization that 2009 was far from a disappointment in terms of new music.

As with last year, I picked 25 albums and subjectively ranked them in the course of about a minute, then re-ranked several times before settling on the following. I'll never really be happy with this order, as for the most part every time I listen to one of these I feel it ought to be higher. I should have stuck with my 30-second rule from last year, but whatever... I've also listed what I feel to be the "stand-out track" on each album, which is not to say it is the best or even my favorite, but the song that maybe pops into my head when I'm in the shower or scrolling through my iPod. So, without further ado:

#25: Fanfarlo - Reservoir
This one was close to the biggest surprise of the year, in part because I had never heard of the band or their music before. I ended up winning this album, in a beautiful limited edition box with hand-lettered liner notes, from a post-Forward Music Fest contest on I'm Just Sayin' Is All.... The Arcade Fire comparisons are apt, but there is more to this album than just the similarity of sound. I like that this band has added more rather than strip down their sound, with the lush instrumentation from horns and accordions really balancing out the driving drums. This one's going to keep growing on me. Stand-out track: "Luna"

#24: Stereotyperider - Songs In The Keys Of F And U
A long-time Suburban Home band, I was first introduced to Stereotyperider when I ordered a hundred mixed CDs from SH in a warehouse-clearing deal. Two Stereotyperider albums were included in the mix, and Prolonging The Inevitable stuck out as one of my favorites of the bunch. Earlier this year I read on the Org that they were coming out with a new album. Unfortunately the band called it quits shortly afterwards, but it did not deter me from including this album in one of my several orders from SH. While the band and album names don't exactly roll off the tongue, the music makes up for any shortcomings. This is an example of well-crafted post-hardcore and is definitely a high point for the band to go out on. Stand-out track: "Useless Point"

#23: Say Hi - Oohs & Aahs
Say Hi is a Barsuk Records band, the home of many great bands (Nada Surf, Ra Ra Riot, What Made Milwaukee Famous). Say Hi has much in common with the aforementioned bands, and Oohs & Aahs is loaded with hooky indie rock songs that come together perfectly. The drums and guitars are precise, with the keyboards and vocals layered on top of the staccato beats like frosting. This style of indie rock isn't something that I'm always in the mood for, but when I do have the craving Say Hi completely hits the spot. Stand-out Track: "November Was White, December Was Grey"

#22: Austin Lucas - Somebody Loves You
To really appreciate Austin Lucas you have to see him live. It's shocking to hear his beautiful voice given his burly tattooed appearance. Fortunately I was able to see him on the Suburban Home Tour earlier this year. Lucas has a haunting quality to his voice, but the true strength of his songs is in his lyrics. Musically he tends to favor stripped-down acoustic guitar with the occasional percussion accompaniment. The experience is unlike any other. Stand-out Track: "Go West"

#21: Ben Nichols - The Last Pale Light in the West
Earlier this year Ben Nichols, the lead singer of Lucero, came out with a solo album of songs he'd written based on the novel Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. I've not read the book, but after listening to Nichols' EP I've decided that I really ought to. I pre-ordered this immediately upon learning about it, and received a digital download that I listened to repeatedly every morning upon coming into work. The music is mainly acoustic with accompaniment from accordion, electric and steel guitars, combined with Nichols' rough voice. The mood of the songs is both dark and portentous while at the same time catchy and joyous. It feels almost like these songs are hundreds of years old, passed down over the years and just now seeing the light of day. Stand-out Track: "The Kid"

#20: Drive-by Truckers - The Fine Print (A Collection Of Oddities And Rarities 2003-2008)
It's shocking almost, but this DBT collection of B-sides, alternate versions and unreleased tracks comes together almost as well as their past few albums. It's not that the songs are thematically consistent or even tangentially related, but the mix of songs from Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell just feels so right. In some ways this is a fan's collection, but I'd offer The Fine Print as a jumping off point for the uninitiated more so than the past two albums. Hearing this has really primed the pump, so to speak, for their new album The Big To-Do, coming out next March. I can't wait. Stand-out Track: "Play It All Night Long"

#19: Felice Brothers - Yonder Is The Clock
The second album from this amazing band from the Catskills in NY didn't strike me quite as hard as their debut last year. Yonder Is The Clock doesn't seem to have the same flow to it, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer the faster songs on this. However, after listening more closely I've really come to appreciate the slower, deeper songs on this album. This album may lack the frenetic energy that made the debut so enticing, but there's an underlying maturity that takes longer to seep in. Stand-out Track: "Katie Dear"

#18: Jon Snodgrass - Visitor's Band
Both principles of Drag the River put out solo albums on Suburban Home this year, and while I enjoy both only Jon's made the list. This is mainly due to the fact that Chad Price's solo album is a stripped-down acoustic affair, while Snodgrass has a full sound with a backing band. It's almost as if these songs are closer to the complete Drag the River sound, and this is comforting to me. Snodgrass has a rougher voice and what sounds to me like a penchant for writing more rock songs, while still including several slower ones. On Visitor's Band the guitars dominate the show, with a driving beat from the bass and the drums keeping it all moving. Stand-out Track: "Remember My Name"

#17: Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
I've always liked the British band the Manic Street Preachers despite their relative obscurity in the US, but I hadn't really expected to enjoy Journal For Plague Lovers as much as I do. The story behind this album is that all the songs were written by the former guitarist Richey Edwards before he disappeared and presumably committed suicide in 1995. The sound is pure Manics - guitar rock anthems coupled with acoustic guitar ballads. It's also pure brilliance. Stand-out Track: "This Joke Sport Severed"

#16: The Only Sons - Steel Hearts
This was by far the best find on the Internet this year. This band from Tennessee put up their album for download on their website - for free! It's definitely worth checking them out if you have any interest whatsoever in alt-country: http://theonlysons.net/home/. The band hits all the right notes, with gruff vocals, red-hot guitars and biting lyrics. I really hope they come through Wisconsin sometime soon, because I just know that this would be a kick-ass show. Stand-out Track: "Drew Blood"

#15: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
Although I may never have been a Green Day superfan growing up, I always thought they were much better than non-fans gave them credit. Starting with Warning and through American Idiot, Green Day proved there's plenty of room for growth in the punk scene. 21st Century Breakdown continues in this vein, with overarching themes and a continually maturing sound. I don't see them slowing down anytime soon. Stand-out Track: "Peacemaker"

#14: The Takers - Taker Easy
This is straight-up alt-country twang, more country than alt in some ways. The Takes come right out Gainesville and represent yet another excellent Suburban Home release this year. They combine the best aspects of the genre and put out an album that's front-to-back solid. With a sound similar to Drag the River and the Waco Brothers, it didn't take me long to snap this up. But aside from sounding amazing, the lyrics that back it all up, especially the slower songs, are what really makes this a memorable album. Stand-out Track: "Social Smoker"

#13: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - S/T
Isbell's first solo album, Sirens of the Ditch, was one of my favorites of 2007, and I was excited about this new one from the minute I heard "Good" on 89.3 The Current while driving north on I-35. The album itself is a much more soulful exercise than the first, and I feel that Isbell's writing definitely benefits from this new musical direction. While the album doesn't have the the straight-up rocking feel that Sirens of the Ditch did, there's more of an emotional core underlying these songs. It took longer for them to sink in, but overall I find myself enjoying this album even more because of it. And as always, the live show is unmatched in energy (though I shamefully missed the last one). Stand-out Track: "The Last Song I Will Write"

#12: Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons - Death Won't Write A Letter
This singer from Appleton, WI is primed for mainstream success; everyone's saying so. I received this album along with Fanfarlo from I'm Just Sayin' Is All... and immediately loved it. Chisel's combination of indie rock with an almost gospel-sounding fervor is exhilarating. The musical backdrop ranges from hard-charging indie rock to softer acoustic songs, but everything is tied together with Chisel's expertly crafted lyrics. Stand-out Track: "Born Again"

#11: Son Volt - American Central Dust
The new album for Son Volt continues the creative resurgence Jay Farrar has brought forth in the last few years. I've always been on the Farrar side of the Uncle Tupelo split, and the slower pace of this album really brings his lyrical skills forward. The overall feel of this album strikes me as more thoughtful and introspective than past albums, and it is easy to let the power of the songs pass you by at first. It took a while for me to appreciate American Central Dust, but its impact is indelible. It was on a long drive on US 53 toward Superior that I first realized this, and I'd hazard a guess that this is the best road music of 2009. Stand-out Track: "No Turning Back"

#10: Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
OK, I might be cheating a little since the band originally released this last year. No matter, I make the rules around here and I'll allow it since the re-release I've got is from January. This band consists of extremely well-read indie/punk/shoegaze (per their MySpace page) kids from the Garden State. They've made an album of cacophonous rousing songs that really show how well the best aspects of these different genres can come together. The sound is fuzzy and washes over you with waves of guitar distortion, all driven by the relentless rhythm section. The vocals are shouted with all the emotion of the best punk band, but the lyrics reflect much more depth than would be initially expected on first listen. The songs come off as upbeat but a closer listen reveals so much doubt and existential self-loathing. It's refreshing, really. Stand-out Track: "Upon Viewing Brueghel's 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'"

#9: The Von Ehrics - Loaded
These Texas cow-punks signed with local label Crustacean Records and put out their best album yet. Loaded combines the best aspects of Ramones-style punk with country-fried Texas rock. The band is as tight as ever, and the songs reflect the trials and tribulations of life in a rock and roll band, but still make me want to learn a few chords on bass and hit the road. Stand-out Track: "A Week Of Living Dangerously"

#8: Blueheels - The Only Dance You Know
My favorite Madison band went back to their collective hometown of Neenah and recorded an extraordinary live album over the course of two nights at a local pizza place and bar. I really wish I could have been there. Had it not been for the fact that I was just back from my vacation, I would have done what I could to be there for at least one show. The live show these guys put on is second to none, and what is refreshing about The Only Dance You Know is that the band has enough confidence in their new material to really showcase it. I'm not usually a fan of live albums; as a general rule I feel they don't capture the intensity and excitement of the live music experience. I'm happy to say this is definitely not the case here. As an added bonus, the six-second intro is perfect - funny, informative and segues seamlessly into the opening track. Stand-out Track: "Twist & Toil"

#7: Nakatomi Plaza - Ghosts
I first heard of this band through a sampler associated with the Fest 6, and my initial interest was piqued by Red Leader Records' online comp. I always liked the band and what songs I'd heard, and I told myself that I'd one day either see them live or buy one of their albums. Then I read the band was going to call it quits, but before breaking up they intended to record one last album. This is that album, and while I can't compare it to any of their previous work I can state definitively that Nakatomi Plaza went out on an incredibly high note. Their sound is heavily influenced by punk and hardcore but has a distinctive quality that separates this from everything else I've heard. The dual male/female vocals are one aspect of this, but what is really striking is the inventive and expert musicianship that provide the foundation of this album. I'm sorry to see them go. Stand-out Track: "The Finish Line"

#6: Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies
Justin Townes Earle is quite probably my favorite new songwriter of the moment. I was first attracted by the pedigree, but it is his talent that is the real source of amazement. I bought The Good Life last year, and in retrospect it probably should have made my Year End list. No oversight this time around - Midnight At The Movies takes up where the previous album left off and expands on the retro-country sound that JTE has mined to such success, combining uptempo numbers with emotional ballads and a Replacements cover thrown in for good measure. I'd seen him open for Jason Isbell earlier in the year, and while he was touring with just one accompanist he still managed to capture the full-band feeling. I'm very excited to see him again, as he'll be playing the High Noon in a couple of months. Stand-out Tracks: "Mama's Eyes"

#5: The Thermals - Now We Can See
I was somewhat late to the party when it comes to this band, but after picking up The Body, The Blood, The Machine last year I was a quick convert. To say my anticipation for this album was high would be an understatement, and while I don't believe anything could live up to their previous album I was never in any way disappointed with Now We Can See. The Thermals' signature sound is relatively unchanged, dare I say cleaner, with the raw punk energy of their past releases seemingly better focused and directed. The songs are eminently catchy, of course, and the album theme is, well, I'm still figuring it that out. That's the biggest surprise from this album for me - that I would have to really ponder the lyrics. This was a very good surprise to have, and one that keeps me coming back over and over for repeated listening. Stand-out Track: "When I Died"

#4: Bomb the Music Industry! - Scrambles
Jeff Rosenstock's Bomb the Music Industry! is a band that I stumbled across several years back mainly due to the fact that they release all of their music for donation or for free via Quote Unquote Records, and I was in the market for free music. This worked out better than I could have possibly imagined, as BtMI! has steadily become one of my favorite bands of the last few years. Diligently exploring the musical boundaries of what it means to be a punk or ska band, as well as documenting the experience of growing up (not always voluntarily) in the 00's, Rosenstock and gang have gotten progressively better on each successive release. Scrambles is the most coherent combination of Rosenstock's often intensely personal lyrics and the band's musical experimentation. While I liked all of the previous BtMI! albums, this was the first I loved. Stand-out Track: "Saddr Weirdr"

#3: Yesterday's Ring - Diamonds in the Ditch
This album ended up as my favorite Suburban Home release of 2009, which is saying something as this label is on a red-hot streak. But considering that I'd not ever heard of this band until midway through the summer, the fact that Diamonds in the Ditch ranks so high is a bit surprising. After all, this band is a side project of a Montreal punk band (the Sainte Catherines). I ended up getting this from Suburban Home as I was looking to round our my order to get reduced shipping so I figured "Why Not" and added it to the order based on a single song I'd hear earlier this year on a SH comp. This paid off in spades, to be sure. The gritty combination of punk and alt-country musical themes combined with melancholy lyrics detailing life on the road make this album resoundingly impressive. Stand-out Track: "Punx Not Dead It's Just Sleeping"

#2: Flatbear - Flying Days
I like to think I'm fairly well-versed in the local music scene, and I enjoy supporting local music as much as the next guy. That said, I was blown away by the incredible debut album from Flatbear (now called Flight) despite having seen them play live on several occasions. Blame it on the crowd noise or the fact that I was there to see another band, but for whatever reason the skill and craft of Jentri Colello and her band went ungrasped by me. This all changed during a Friday night show as part of the Forward Music Festival, in which Flatbear played an opening slot for Ra Ra Riot. I was transfixed during their set, watching Josh Harty and Tony Messinger on guitar and bass respectively, flanking Colello and cranking out a mesmerizing set. Something just clicked with me that night, and I made it a point to pick up Flying Days (a steal at $5) at the merch table right after their set. Even more surprisingly, this CD stayed in my car for the better part of the next two months. Whereas I would normally burn the songs on to my computer and then transfer to my iPod, this album stayed in my CD player and received multiple spins. The musicianship of the band is unquestionable, showing both restraint and power, while Colello's voice becomes an instrument unto itself. Simply amazing, start to finish. Stand-out Track: "Sea of Monsters"

#1: Lucero - 1372 Overton Park
This was the album I most anticipated receiving in 2009, and instead of my high hopes leading to disappointment they were in fact surpassed. The musical progression that has been fairly obvious on Lucero's last few albums reaches a plateau here, with the full incorporation of the Memphis soul sound to Lucero's already-perfected mix of punk and alt-country. The results are nothing short of stunning. As evidenced by his solo album from earlier in the year, Ben Nichols' songwriting skills have gone into overdrive. The band seems to be as tight as they've ever been, even with the addition of new members and a horn section. I am in awe of how good 1372 Overton Park is. To put it all in perspective: as great as the previous 24 albums are, there was never for one doubt in my mind what #1 would be. Stand-out Track: "The Devil and Maggie Chascarrillo"

More Minnesota Pictures

2009-11-10T08:17:00.008-06:00

Last week I spent the better part of the week in Minnesota again. It didn't rain and it didn't snow, really the weather was OK for MN in November. Here's a few shots I took over the course of four days.
I had a site walk first thing Monday morning, and although it was quite sunny that morning the wind definitely had a bite to it. This is a picture I took of a pine-lined road to the east of the tower site as part of the visual assessment I often do. The trees blocked the wind and there was a very nice pine scent in the air.
At the next site I encountered a few wooded wetlands, which are always a concern as we need to avoid any impacts to these areas. I'm not familiar with this specific plant, but it was growing all over the place.
As fall progresses toward winter the days get shorter and the effective time for a site walk gets compressed. My last site on Monday was a race against the sun, as I rushed to take photos while I still had light. Normally I'm one to appreciate a sunset, but not so much when I'm still in the woods staking out a site.
It was a sunny but frosty morning on Tuesday, where I got to jump a barbed wire fence and avoid the cow flop while photographing this site.
I then had a long drive north to the next site, and on the way I passed a tower I'd designed last year that was constructed earlier this year.
The second to last site that day was on a big wooded parcel way out in the sticks. The owners had put in a few trails and had this sweet deer, I mean "beer" stand out there. Following this site I made my way back toward Duluth. We had one last site to try to fit in, but we lost our race against the sun and it was pitch black by the time we arrived. We still staked out the rough location for the surveyors, but I didn't even attempt to take any photos. Though I'd planned on heading home that night, it was way too late to make the full seven hour drive, so I split the difference and stayed in Rice Lake, finishing the drive Wednesday morning. I was pretty wiped out and suffering from a strange affliction with my jaw, but all in all it wasn't a bad trip. This week I'm heading up for a short one or two-day jaunt to northern WI and possibly Rochester.

2009 Is Nearly Gone, So I Might As Well Update This Thing

2009-10-26T11:32:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned earlier this year, I've been crazy busy with all of the work and whatnot. I've been up to Minnesota and northern WI more times this year than probably any other. After posting the previous photos, I realized that I haven't done a damn thing here for the better part of the summer and fall. Here's what I've been up to:

1. Work - things slowed down a bit in the last month to an extent, but throughout the summer I was going gangbusters trying to keep up. Most of my projects have since wrapped up, but it seems like the respite I've been expecting never seems to come. I'll admit to being a little burnt out on the whole deal, and I'm certainly prone to distraction much more than before. Still, I'd not have it any other way.

2. House - I've got to get me one of these. Seriously, I've been putting this off for the last couple years. Prices just aren't going to get any lower, same with rates, so I've been trying to kick myself in the ass and get looking. So far, I've spent maybe an hour checking listings. I'm an idiot.

3. Shows - I've seen quite a few good ones the past few months, and missed a lot more that I'd have loved to see. Highlights include the whole Forward Music Festival, Lucero last week in Milwaukee, the Weakerthans (a new favorite band), Two Cow Garage with the Suburban Home Records tour, and of course the Hold Steady in July.

4. Great Taste of the Midwest - this coincided with my birthday this year. It was awesome despite the rain.

5. Games - I managed to see the Cubs four times this year, twice at Wrigley and twice at Miller Park. I went 2-2 on the year, undefeated in Wisconsin but winless in the Friendly Confines. I also went to Miller Park on a bus trip for a Brewers-Dodgers game and caught a Mallards game for work. I've only been to one football game this fall, the Fresno State game in September. The Badgers won, barely, and it was very warm that day. Hockey season has started up, and I've got my Friday night season tickets again. We switched seats to avoid this asshole behind us, and so far are 0-1-0 on the season with a disappointing loss to CC two weeks ago. E Eugene, Redbeard and I are also planning on catching an Ice Muskies game or two, as apparently our old ticketmate from last year is going to be the mascot!

6. Vacation (kind of) - I took a day off to play golf with my dad two weeks ago. I didn't actually end up using any vacation time since I worked on the weekend getting caught up, but we had a great time. Otherwise I haven't taken off other than the aforementioned baseball games in Chicago. I'm planning on heading down to the Windy City to visit some friends next month, and I'm thinking of taking a week off to go down to Mississippi and New Orleans in December.

Autumn in Minnesota

2009-10-26T11:11:00.006-05:00

Last week I had a long trip through northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. For the most part the weather was gray and rainy, with temperatures hovering in the 30's and 40's. It wasn't exactly pleasant. There were a few instances with halfway decent weather - here's a photo of the colorful woods near Longville, MN:

I also saw this:

For over five years now I've been walking sites in the North Woods, and I've never seen a bear. Granted, these two are caged and "pets" of the landowner.

On Wednesday afternoon the temperature dropped even further, and the rain gave way to snow. It actually may have been preferable to the rain as I didn't get quite as wet, but it was miserable nonetheless. This is how it looked after about an hour and a half:

From here I drove on to the Twin Ports, with the heater on full bore. I had four more sites the following morning, then a five hour drive back to Madison followed by a Lucero show in Milwaukee. I'm still tired from last week, and I think I'll be headed back up later this week. Here's to hoping for no snow.

Suburban Home Records Is The Best

2009-09-09T15:57:00.003-05:00

It goes without saying the Suburban Home Records is my favorite record label. Just about every release they have I've either purchased and loved or have seriously considered buying. Just the fact that a band signs to SH is usually good enough for me to give them a chance. And right now, in relation to their 14th Anniversary, Suburban Home is giving away a free download of any album. Check it out here, and do yourself a favor and listen to all of the great stuff they put out.

Cribshitter

2009-06-25T10:45:00.003-05:00

I missed a good show last night, by all accounts. I ended up working late trying to catch up from a site trip earlier this week. Too bad for me, but I have small consolation in watching the Cribshitter Behind the Music:

Sunrise in Grand Marais

2009-05-15T09:44:00.005-05:00

I found myself in Minnesota again this week, this time back up Highway 61 all the way to Grand Marais. Here's a picture from my hotel room, looking out over Lake Superior just after sunrise (about 5:45 AM).
Afterwards I drove up to the tower. It was frickin' freezing that morning, and it actually snowed a little! Here's the illustrious Civic perched high above Lake Superior on a cold and blustery morning.

The evening before, while driving up from Duluth, I stuck my camera out the sunroof to capture this picture of an oreboat out on the lake, with the setting sun reflecting off the coal cars on the railroad.

Another week in MN

2009-04-13T13:26:00.004-05:00

I had myself a time in MN last week - ten sites and dinner with Missy in St. Paul. Above is the first site I hit up on Thursday, which ended up being the nicest of the three days weather-wise. It was a long trip - I was so exhausted on Friday that I actually managed to sleep for twelve hours! Yesterday I woke up early to head down to IL for Ham Day. It was delicious, and I got to listen to Pat & Ron on WGN for most of the drive back. The only strange aspect of it all was that my mother was asleep, so when Suppan & the Brewers walked in four straight runs in the fourth I had to celebrate quietly, with golf claps and silent fistpumps.

Here's a pretty awesome picture that I took at a tower outside of Mora, MN. I actually broke my camera at the first site on Tuesday night, accidentally dropping my tape measure on it and cracking the LCD screen. Luckily I have a viewfiender to I was able to at least somewhat line up my photos. This one turned out better than expected.

Pancake Time in Belleville

2009-04-06T19:55:00.003-05:00

Two weekends ago I journeyed back to the ol' hometown for a delicious breakfast of pancakes. It was the annual Belleville Boy Scout Pancake Breakfast, an event I used to work every year from Webelos up to Eagle. I came down with Missy, who was back from the Twin Cities for the weekend. Here's a couple of pictures of us in front of the BHS Class of 1998 tree, which Missy and I helped plant ten years ago (with help from E Eugene and Ryan Fahey).

Spooner & Northern MN

2009-03-25T15:04:00.003-05:00

I just made it back from a three-day trip up to MN. Sunday was a pleasant day for a drive, while I unfortunately had to deal with rain and cold for the rest of the trip. I was lucky enough to meet up with my friend Missy in the Twin Cities on Monday night. Here's a picture I took of a 500' guyed tower in Spooner.

The next morning it was very cold and nasty - about 30 degrees in Superior, with freezing rain. Here's how it looked at the tower site that morning. Everything was coated in ice.

Dig Yourself

2009-03-10T22:08:00.002-05:00

Maybe it's the Bushmills talking, but Nick Cave has been an inspiration. His latest meets my first attempt to indulge my deep desire to just give in to what he's got to say.

Five Years

2009-02-15T10:51:00.003-06:00

Earlier this month, Groundhog's Day to be exact, I hit my five-year anniversary at work. The day itself went without much fanfare - to be perfectly honest I didn't even remember until I was reminded of the fact in the afternoon. The main reason for this lapse is that I'm as busy as I've ever been. Even the craziness that was the 2Q "Fast-Track" build-out in 2007 pales in comparison to this. And I'm about as happy as I've ever been, because there is nothing I like better than to have a big challenging project to deal with. It isn't without downside, but there is little I hate more than to be slow at work.

I've gotten so busy that I've had to delegate most of the site visits. I did take one trip back in January, which ended up setting personal records for length (Sunday to Friday, back just in time for the hockey game) and frigidity (the temperature didn't get above 0 from Tuesday morning on!). But being out of the office for a week straight was nearly incapacitating, even with access to email via the Crackberry and the laptop. It was after this week, staring down at the mountain of work yet to be done, that we decided that I would need to remain in the office to coordinate everything. So far I've sent five different people out to walk the sites that normally I would handle.

That is not to say I've been in the office continuously since that last trip. In fact I've been back to Minnesota twice in the last two weeks. I went up to the Twin Cities the day after my anniversary for the inaugural meeting of the Minnesota State Wireless Association with my boss. It was a pretty decent time and I did enjoy meeting a lot of the people I have worked with for years without actually ever meeting face to face - one of the downsides of an email-oriented workplace. Last week my boss and I trekked up to Brainerd early (4 AM!) on Tuesday morning to discuss design standards with our client. Unfortunately, I believe that I picked up a cold from this trip, because Thursday night I developed a sore throat and fever and I've been kind of out of the game since. I did try to make up some ground yesterday at work but I found that my productivity was pretty low.

The Saps- Coup De Grace

2009-01-09T14:26:00.001-06:00

The Saps are one of my favorites, and although it took some waiting for me to receive C'Mon Already - Start A Fire it is one of the best things I've heard in a while. Here is an awesomely neat video for "Coup De Grace."

Look What Happened

2008-12-30T17:22:00.005-06:00

I've been exceedingly busy at work lately, that's no secret. Today while dashing off various emails and answering way too many phone calls I had a moment of shocking deja vu. I heard the same song twice while my iPod was on shuffle! (and one of my favorite songs to boot!) Now this may not be a shock for most people or even all that interesting, but I have a 60 GB iPod stuffed to the gills (14,279 songs) and I listen to it all day long. When I have it on shuffle I never hear the same song twice (though once I remember hearing two songs off the same album play in succession, in order). So I took a momentary break to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Here's how it happened: around 1:50 PM the song "Look What Happened" off of Anthem by Less Than Jake came up. This is one of my favorite LTJ songs and although I'm not a big fan of Anthem I do really like this song. But here's the thing - LTJ had recorded this very song on their previous album, Borders & Boundaries. So when this very track came up almost one hour later at around 2:50 PM I immediately took notice.

Sometimes a very minor thing comes along and gives you a break from all the hassle and headache of a busy day. This is what made my day OK. (Also, dig that shuffle mix - eclectic indeed, but it could have been much, much more so had the German techno come up)

Top 25 of 2008

2008-12-22T13:22:00.028-06:00

I've been inspired by a group of the year-end best of lists (Muzzle of Bees, the CDP, Fuel/Friends, etc.) and I've put together 25 of my favorite albums from this year. Why 25? I went through my iPod and wrote down the ones that caught my eye, and this just so happened to be 25. I've kind of ranked them by completely subjective means - I gave myself 30 seconds to write down the ranks, so a lot of it has to do with page placement. I'm also going to list a stand-out track, which is pretty much one that I'm currently into (not necessarily a favorite, but whatever). Anyway, here it is:

#25: Vietnam Werewolf - Ohio's City
This independent release by this Cleveland-based punk band with an awesomely-terrifying name was the first (and to date only) release I purchased based on a Punknews.org review. Excellent high-energy punk is something that I never get tired of and something that takes a bit of digging to find. I'm lucky I took a chance (albeit small) with Vietnam Werewolf. Stand-out track: "I Used To Be A Kid, I'm A Notary Public Now"

#24: Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
This follow-up to The Stage Names didn't immediately become a favorite like its predecessor, but after listening to the album a few times the same Okkervil River charm was too much for me to not like. Plus there's a somewhat funny story involved. My parents were downtown and called me to ask if I needed anything. Jokingly I told my father to pick up the new Okkervil River at B-Side. Thirty minutes later he called again to ask the name again - he was at the counter asking for a copy, probably the first time they were at a State Street record store since waning days of the Ford Administration. Stand-out track: "Singer Songwriter"

#23: No Use For A Name - The Feel Good Record Of The Year
NUFAN had been one of my favorites back in the late 90's and this record was like meeting up with an old friend and finding out that some things never change. I enjoyed their 2005 release Keep Them Confused but this album is their best since Making Friends. Consistent quality is sometimes overlooked and I sometimes forget how much I enjoy this album. Stand-out track: "The Trumpet Player"

#22: Black 47 - Iraq
I've always had an ear for the Celtic-tinged punk and I'd come across Black 47 a few times prior. But after reading in the New Yorker about their new concept album on the Iraq War I picked this up. The band incorporates a variety of musical styles, but it's really the lyrics that make this a great album. This would have ranked much higher had this not included "Ballad of Cindy Sheehan" which was an absolutely atrocious song - the first time I've deleted a song from my iPod. Stand-out track: "Stars and Stripes"

#21: Sleeping in the Aviary - Expensive Vomit In A Cheap Hotel
One of my favorite Madison bands, Sleeping in the Aviary's second album is a bit of a change from their garage punky Oh, Thing Old Thing? but the band has definitely not lost any of the energy that made their debut great. I was lucky enough to get my copy from Science of Sound a week early since I pre-ordered it together with the new Pale Young Gentlemen. Thanks Terrin! Stand-out track: "Girl In The Ground"

#20: Why? - Alopecia
After seeing Why? open for the Silver Jews a couple of years ago I was a fan. When I saw that the band was touring in support of a new album and would be playing Madison, I didn't delay. Alopecia is a little darker than Elephant Eyelash but is great nonetheless. Why? plays on the fringes of my favorite genres but I find that it fits my mood more often that not. Stand-out track: "Good Friday"

#19: James McMurtry - Just Us Kids
My favorite singing Texan since Townes Van Zandt, James McMurtry's newest is close to his best yet. He sharpened his wit and hits hard, but the songs that really stick with you are the narratives about people getting older and looking back on the years of regrets. Stand-out track: "Just Us Kids"

#18: Off With Their Heads - From The Bottom
My favorite depressing Minneapolis punk band follows up on last year's collection All Things Move Toward Their End with a full album of awesomely sad yet catchy songs. Who would have thought that the general shittiness of life in these United States could sound so good? Stand-out track: "Fuck This, I'm Out"

#17: Flogging Molly - Float
Flogging Molly is a consistently great band, and all of their releases have been solid. Float took a little while to sink in, and while it isn't necessarily a departure in style, it has a bit more depth to the songs. There's still a massive amount of energy in the songs and it's hard not to feel the urge to get moving to the music. Stand-out track: "The Story So Far"

#16: Nada Surf - Lucky
I rediscovered Nada Surf on 2005's The Weight Is A Gift and saw them play an exceptional show at the Annex (exceptionally hot as well). I was excited to get their new album and was certainly not disappointed. It's a very mature and uplifting collection of songs that I never tire of listening to. Stand-out track: "Beautiful Beat"

#15: Less Than Jake - GNV FLA
Less Than Jake will always be my favorite band spanning 1996-2003 - the high school and college years. I've grown up a bit and LTJ had put out two albums (Anthem which I bought but didn't really like & In With The Out Crowd which I didn't even buy it was said to be so bad) that I thought marked the end of their relevance. Well, it was a mistake for me to count them out. GNV FLA is an excellent return to form. I may never be as enthralled by ska-punk as I was when I was 18 but I'll always have a place for LTJ when they make music as good as this. Stand-out track: "Does The Lion City Still Roar?"

#14: Backyard Tire Fire - The Places We Lived
I picked up Backyard's newest after their show at the Annex earlier this fall. Ever since E Eugene introduced me to them I've been a fan of Bloomington's finest. This is a band that transcends musical genres and whose members are exceedingly talented. Stand-out track: "Rainy Day (don't go away)"

#13: Madison Bloodbath - Gittin' Loose With Madison Bloodbath
When I read on Punknews.org that two-thirds of tiltWheel had formed another band and released an album I didn't hesitate to buy it. The songs are beautifully rough and catchy, with smokey vocals and shout-along choruses. This is exactly the kind of punk that I can't get enough of these days. Stand-out track: "Oh, The Places You'll Stay"

#12: The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers
After seeing the Felice Brothers open for DBT and completely rock the Pabst Theater I was an immediate fan. I bought their eponymous debut album the day it came out from B-Side. The Felice Brothers are often described as a Hudson Valley Dylan-sounding outfit and there's definite truth to that, but the songs these brothers sing have a unique provenance, old-fashioned and folky yet somehow current. Easily one of the best discoveries of the year. Stand-out track: "Radio Song"

#11: Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
I'd fallen in love with Alejandro Escovedo the first time I heard 2001's A Man Under The Influence and I was happy to hear he had recovered from his health issues when he released 2006's The Boxing Mirror. Unfortunately John Cale's production marred the album, and I'll admit I was a bit hesitant to pick Real Animal up. This was completely unfounded, because Al is back. There are few artists out there that can combine the Rock and the Beauty quite as well as Escovedo. Stand-out track: "Chelsea Hotel '78"

#10: Marah - Angels Of Destruction!
Marah is the band that my sister and I share an affinity for, and this year was supposed to be the year that the two of us would finally see this legendary live act. Unfortunately for us there were issues with the rhythm section and the US tour in support of this album was cancelled. That doesn't take away from the excellence of Angels Of Destruction! which is top to bottom solid. I've been a fan of Marah since Kids In Philly and I'll follow them whichever musical direction they follow. Stand-out track: "Angels Of Destruction!"

#9: The Whipsaws - 60 Watt Avenue
My favorite Alaskans come back with a scorching album of alt.country bar rock. I wish the situation with Miles of Music would have turned out better (and I hate to think that my money didn't make it their way), but such real-world distractions don't get in the way of enjoying this album. The Whipsaws have played Madison at least once but E Eugene and I were unable to make it. I hope that we don't have to go to Anchorage to make up for it. Stand-out track: "The War"

#8: Constantines - Kensington Heights
Speaking of northern latitudes, one of my favorite Canadian bands put out an incredible album. Kensington Heights is everything you'd want in a Constantines record. With catchy riffs and superb lyrics, a Constantines song may not blow you away on first listen, but once it sinks in it is exceptional. Stand-out track: "Credit River"

#7: Blueheels - Lessons In Sunday Driving
The second release by my favorite Madison band takes a decided turn toward the rock side of the equation, but there is still Robby Schiller's country twang to balance out Justin Bricco's blazing guitar. Their live show is the best in town and the level of energy they bring to the stage is astounding. I regret missing so many of their local shows this year but I managed to make it to a few. I'm certainly planning on making it to quite a few more in 2009. Stand-out track: "Stupid Little Smile"

#6: Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Like most all DBT fans I was shocked and saddened to hear about Jason Isbell's departure from the band. I had counted many of Isbell's songs as my favorites and I didn't know if the great songwriting that forms the foundation of the band would be compromised. Fortunately this proved to not be the case, as Isbell's departure was filled by increased contributions from Patterson Hood & Mike Cooley and the new songs by Shonna Tucker. After purchasing this album at B-Side it did not leave my auditory halo for days. I usually listen to this long player (and it certainly plays long) straight through. Just about every song could be placed on my list of favorites. Stand-out track: "The Man I Shot"

#5: Pale Young Gentlemen - Black Forest (tra la la)
I would not have thought I would enjoy the chamber pop of Pale Young Gentlemen as much as I do. The uptempo songs that usually pique my interest aren't the centerpiece of the album. But instead of finding the slower songs boring I find them to be emotionally gripping. Something in how everything comes together so well makes it completely fascinating to me. When I first received this album I gave it a cursory listen and it fell to the bottom of the pile. However I found myself coming back after a couple of weeks and this album has gradually become one of my most played over the fall and winter. Stand-out track: "Kettle Drum (I Left a Note)"

#4: Drag the River - You Can't Live This Way
I came late to the Drag the River party. I had heard repeatedly of the "side project" of ALL and Armchair Martian but had never managed to really listen to them until taking a chance on a singular copy of Hobo's Demos at B-Side a year ago. I was forever changed, and thought I had terrible timing because the band had a falling out that year. Here I had discovered a new favorite just to see them break up. But it was not necessarily to be, and I learned that a new album would be released in 2008. I always kept an eye out for it at B-Side but after a few months I impulsively ordered it (along with seven other records) from Suburban Home Records (also a new favorite). I had four DTR albums to listen to once my order arrived, but I noticed You Can't Live This Way rapidly became my favorite. I truly hope that this band remains in existence, and I absolutely regret not finding a way to see them in Chicago this past September. But until then I'll pour myself another drink and spin this one again. Stand-out track: "Br00tal"

#3: The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
I adore the Hold Steady. I have since I first heard snippets of their songs on NPR. Separation Sunday took a few listens to engrain in my mind, but once it set in I became a full-blown convert. I was so excited to get this album that I scoured the various blogs and downloaded live bootlegs of new songs. When I finally got my hands on this my expectations were exceeded on the first track alone. Stay Positive has everything I love about the Hold Steady and then a little bit more this go-around. Guest appearances by Patterson Hood of DBT and Ben Nichols of Lucero caused me to geek out a bit. The capper came at the Majestic Theater in July, where I got to sing along to all of my favorite new songs. Stand-out track: "Sequestered in Memphis"

#2: Two Cow Garage - Speaking In Cursive
Two Cow Garage was once just a alt.country band with a funny name that I heard from time to time on certain Internet radio stations. I liked those particular songs and made it a point to pick up their second self-released album The Wall Against Our Backs prior to seeing them open for Slobberbone in Chicago. That show was the greatest I've ever seen. Since that night at the Abbey Pub I've kept a close eye on this hard-working band from Ohio. I was especially excited when their third album, Three, came out as a self-released record, Suburban Home "adopted" the band giving them a label. When I heard that Suburban Home would be releasing a new album this year I knew it had to be great. I signed up for the first pre-order I could and patiently waited, sustaining myself on the couple of mp3 downloads from SH. I was literally blown away when I received Speaking In Cursive and I am still somehow surprised every time I listen to this album. I liked the past three albums very much, but with this one Two Cow Garage has stepped up their game to an unbelievable level. Stand-out track: "Not Your Friends"

#1: The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
I think I suspected this album would be my favorite before I listened to it. There are very few times I would consider myself on the cutting edge of anything, but I can honestly say that I have watched the Gaslight Anthem go from a couple of demo tracks posted on Punknews.org to seeing them on Conan when I turned on my television at a Minnesota hotel. Their debut album, Sink or Swim was an instant favorite, and I can't begin to say how high my expectations were for their first release on SideOneDummy. I jumped on the pre-order and was happy in that my order came a day before the actual release date. I'm even happier to say that The '59 Sound is everything it was made out to be and more. While not as raw as some of the tracks off of Sink or Swim (which in turn seemed polished compared to the demos) the songs on The '59 Sound are top to bottom exceptional. Every time I listen I have a new favorite. My only regret is that I was not around to see the Gaslight Anthem play the High Noon last month. Stand-out track: "The Backseat"

The Gaslight Anthem on Conan

2008-12-12T12:42:00.002-06:00

Hey - I've got a lot to write about but not so much time. I just got back from a long trip to MN, but I did manage to catch one of my favorite bands on Conan one night in a hotel room in Baxter. Here's the video:

Fall in Minnesota...

2008-11-06T08:50:00.002-06:00

It was rainy and generally unpleasant yesterday in Minnesota. This photo was actually taken at the same time I slipped on a birch log and went down to my knee. I think it turned out alright myself, though at the time I was in no mood to contemplate the possible artistic merits. I just wanted to get back in my car and dry off.

A Historic Night... spent in a MN hotel room

2008-11-04T23:38:00.003-06:00

I'm very, very excited about tonight's election result. This marks the third Presidential election I've voted in, and the first I've come away happy about. I would have liked to watch the returns come in with friends, but I find myself in Eveleth, MN at the moment on a site trip. My surroundings may not be memorable, but I'll remember this night for a long time.

Fall in Wisconsin

2008-10-23T07:59:00.003-05:00

On the tail end of my trip last week I had one last site in northern Wisconsin. I was worn ragged by three days on the road but I was looking forward to getting the trip over with. I was pretty tired too, but the discovery of a new coffee shop off of 53 near Chippewa Falls (The Coffee Grounds is now a must-stop) fueled my journey both north and south. The weather was mostly cloudy and a little brisk. The sun would pop out of the clouds for brief intervals but for the most part it was a gray October day. Some people I know aren't what you'd call fond of this weather but this has always been my favorite time of year. I love the chill in the air and the smell of the leaves in the ground. After spending my entire life here I suppose I take the color of the season for granted but every so often the reality of the beauty shocks me into recognition. Even past the peak, the colors in the forest at this site were a site to behold.No matter how long the trip, I usually come away at least somewhat refreshed. Yes, I'm always physically tired after logging so many miles, but getting out and experiencing fall like this mentally recharges me for the upcoming office-bound weeks of work.

Nearly Canada

2008-10-16T15:45:00.003-05:00

I returned from a long set of trips yesterday, four days all told. I made it back up to International Falls again, but I didn't cross over as time was short. Here's as close as I got, crossing the Little Fork River about a half mile from the border:
I also got to listen to CBC Radio 1 and even Radio Premiere Chaine. It rained a good deal the day before and it was about 36 degrees when I took this photo, but it still was a productive trip.

Forward Music Fest - Recap Part 1

2008-10-04T10:24:00.006-05:00

As I previously mentioned, I attended the inaugural Forward Music Fest in Madison two weekends ago. It was a great time and a great setup, and I only wish that I would have had more time to catch all of the great shows that weekend. As it worked out I ended up seeing a couple of good shows Friday night and a big punk matinee on Saturday, after which I left to attend a friend's wedding reception. It was a busy weekend and I pretty much wore myself out. I didn't fully recover from the sleep deprivation until later on into the next week, because Sunday night ended up a little late as well due to the Packer game.
Friday afternoon I met my father for a delicious lunch at Picasso's and helped out at the shop. Afterwards I went to dinner with him and my mother, prior to heading downtown to pick up my wristband. The Fest was arranged in a format much like South by Southwest in Austin, TX where you purchase a wristband that allows for access to any of the venues associated with the Fest at a first-come first-serve basis. For an extra $10 you could get a guaranteed access pass to one show only - I chose to get one for the punk matinee even though I was relatively sure access would not be an issue. I picked up my wristband and pass at the Overture Center lobby and checked out the schedule. I made my way over to Cafe Montmartre to see Crane Your Swan Neck open up the night. I staked out a spot at the bar and got a pint of Lake Louie while the band started up. I hadn't really heard anything from this relatively new local band, but I was quickly won over by the music. Crane Your Swan Neck plays an intriguing mix of indie, folk, and rock with a Euro-tinged gypsy feel. The band seemed crowded on the small stage, consisting of a lead singer/guitarist, accordian/keyboards, violin, guitarist/clarinet, bass and drum kit. I listened to their set and had another beer, definitely enjoying the start to the Fest.
I walked out of the Momo excited for the next stop on my itinerary: the High Noon Saloon and my favorite local band, the Blueheels. E Eugene and I had seen them in action the weekend before, opening for Backyard Tire Fire at the Annex on a rainy Friday night. I was rolling solo to this show but I didn't worry, because once the music started I would be among friends. The band opened with a song off their new album Lessons in Sunday Driving and the show was off and running. I got right up front (in fact I'm the guy in the center of the picture above) and sang along. I love the shows that the Blueheels put on, full of energy and excitement. The set flew past, over before I was ready for it to be. I picked up a shirt for E Eugene at the merch table and called up Capt. Ramm. He was downtown with a few friends, and though I would have liked to catch a few more acts that night I left to go meet up with them. It was an excellent opening night for the Forward Music Fest, and I was looking "forward" to the next day.

So Many Great Memories

2008-10-03T12:43:00.002-05:00

I know I haven't kept this site up lately but I just haven't had the time. I think I'll be finally caught up if I get my act together and come in this weekend. The workload coupled with the Cubs' travails has pushed me to the brink. I've kept my sanity by taking the occasional break and seeking out something to lighten the mood. Today's special: one of my all-time favorite shows ever.

Forward Music Fest

2008-09-19T10:47:00.003-05:00

I'm pretty excited about heading out this weekend to see a myriad of different acts at the inaugural Forward Music Fest. Unfortunately a friend of mine is getting married on Saturday, so I'll have to skip a lot of the Saturday night shows so I can attend his reception. But I'm definitely going to be at that Saturday afternoon Punk Matinee!

Say you have 12 beer...

2008-09-05T12:54:00.001-05:00

I'm done with the YouTube posts now. I just had to put this one up for E Eugene. All time favorite right here...

The Walkmen - The Rat

2008-09-05T11:11:00.002-05:00

This reminds me of the old high school days, when I'd spend my weekend nights in a basement slightly more spacious than this, listening to my friends' band practice. I'm hoping to catch the Walkmen when they play with Okkervil River later on this month at the Barrymore.

Blueheels!

2008-08-31T19:08:00.002-05:00

Best Band in Madison! E Eugene and I are heading there in a couple of hours.

Dogs Days of Summer

2008-08-19T17:46:00.002-05:00

August has really flown past. I've got at least two posts that I've started and are sitting in the draft pile on Blogger. Excuses range from excessive work to, well just the work part. However, as of this evening I will have completed the first set of projects for a new client - 15 sites total. I did most of the walks two weeks ago and have been working with a variety of drafters to get everything done. It feels good when you clear up a big job, even though in the back of my mind I remember all of the projects I've let slide over the last two weeks to get it all done. I suppose it's a reason to get out of bed tomorrow morning.

I've got a lot of stories to tell, including one involving my sister and a certain cathedral down at Addison & Clark. Right now I'm going to call it a night. I'm thinking of swinging by Neil's and picking up a nice bottle of Speyside. I feel like I've earned it.

It's Been Nuts, or I Was Involved At The Northtown Mall...

2008-07-22T18:51:00.005-05:00

I don't have any time right now, because I need to get a few sites up on TCNS tonight, but I've been busier than I think I've ever been. I'm currently taking a week-long training course on tower construction in Monroe, but I ran up to the office tonight to get a few things done. Last night I saw the Hold Steady with E Eugene and Kevin. It was frickin' epic. Here's a review from MoB until I get around to writing one (I still haven't done up the Turner Hall show!). Also, for no real reason, here's a picture of the Civic at the Northtown Mall in the suburban Twin Cities area - that lightpole is slated for replacement:It made for the perfect listening conditions for the Hold Steady's newest, Stay Positive.

Greetings from Cloquet, MN

2008-07-01T21:31:00.003-05:00

I find myself on the road again, this time for five sites through Minnesota. I don't have the lakeshore view this time, but I also am really hoping that the insects (namely wood ticks) won't be so bad. Today I hit up two sites in the Twin Cities area, and tomorrow I'll be up at the Babbitt site to do an as-built on the newly constructed tower there. Truth be told, I'm getting a little tired of all the travel. I like getting out of the office from time to time, but this trip will make it 8 days on the road in three weeks. It makes getting caught up at the office a chore, though being able to check my email from the hotel and using the Blackberry makes it a lot easier. If I end up with any decent pictures (I'm thinking I could manage a few at the mine tomorrow) I'll post them when I get back.

UPDATE: Oh, I've got some pictures alright!On the way up to Babbitt I stopped quickly in Embarrass, where this old sauna building serves as a visitor's center. Inside there is even an old sauna display:The best part - the dummies inside of the sauna:It was kind of dark in the visitor's center and I didn't bother to get a good look, so I actually had no idea how hilarious this was until I downloaded these pictures this morning.

On to the mine. Here's a picture of the Civic on a mine road overlooking the end of the pit:I actually wanted to take a picture with my car parked in front of a huge bulldozer that was off to the side of the road, but I didn't think the operator of the dozer would find it as funny as I did.

Lastly, I managed to snap another picture as I drove over the Blatnik Bridge. This time there was a significant traffic back-up since one lane of the bridge is closed for construction. As I came past the closure I was accelerating while attempting to secure this shot from my sunroof of an ore boat sailing underneath me:Admittedly, this was not the safest driving maneuver, but I think it was worth it.

The Weather and the Results

2008-06-28T10:29:00.004-05:00

Toward the beginning of June there was a long series of severe thunderstorms and just an unending amount of rain. The biggest casualty was Lake Delton up in the Dells. I personally was caught coming down on I-90/94 as the Baraboo River came up on the road near Portage, and after waiting for an hour and a half I slowly drove through the high water, the passenger-side wheels of the Civic several inches in the river. Fortunately for my family most of the flooding and damage was in other parts of the state. There were quite a few trees that came down at my parents' property, however. Throughout Spring and into Summer it seemed as if ever weekend brought down another tree, and always across the path requiring my father and I to clear it. For several consecutive weekends I was down there hauling logs out of the woods and over to the woodpile for future splitting. Here are a few pictures that I took of the last blow-downs, back on June 7th. The picture above is of a tree just off the trail that already had another limb caught up in it. We'd never been able to pull it out before, and now the situation is even more complicated.

There was one bright spot to the day involving a small maple sapling that has a special place in my heart. It's commonly referred to as the "Survivor Maple" by my family. Originally it sprouted up in a clogged gutter above the garage about 12 years ago. My mother removed it and I planted it in the yard near the woods. It grew quickly for a year or two, but then one spring I noticed that it had been broken off at about 6 inches, likely by an animal coming out of the brush. However, it sprouted out again and soon was about 18 inches tall. At this point my father accidentally mowed over the tree while backing up. I was a freshman in college that year and happened to be back that weekend, and I took the shattered pieces of the tree and planted them, and happily the tree came back. My father indicated that he didn't like the location, so after it had gotten back up to 18 inches we moved it to another location on the property, and it's thrived at this location. Then during the storms this month, a large limb came off a nearby locust tree and fell directly on top of the Survivor Maple. True to its name, this tree made it through just fine. As you can see, the branches somehow fell all around the tree without so much as taking off a leaf.

A Great Round At Argue-Ment

2008-06-28T10:06:00.005-05:00

Last month my father and I cut out early on a beautiful Friday afternoon to get in a round of golf at our regular course. We both played pretty well, and I was hitting exceptionally well off the tee. I managed to clock a drive on #3 that we estimated to be around 330 yards! It was the kind of day that even the bad shots didn't go too badly, though I can't claim the same about my putting. Above is a picture that I took from the tee at Hole #4, a scenic par three that starts in a horseshoe-shaped hollow and looks out to the farm and clubhouse over the pond. I've always been fairly inconsistent on this hole. I used to always tend to the left, which mostly always resulted in a lost ball. Lately I've been hitting right, where I'm lucky to hit the cart path and more likely to lose the ball altogether. That's what happened on this day, but I did manage to find a couple of other lost balls to offset it. Here's a picture from the tee on Hole #6, which is one of my favorites on the course. The safe play on this hole is to lay up short of the trees and hit a long iron on the second shot. I know this, but regardless of so many past mistakes I always drive away and try to shoot the gap. For four years I've consistently missed, but this year I've been relatively consistent in actually doing this. In fact, put one right down the left tree line on this shot that left me perfectly set up for a short iron shot to the green. Unfortunately I flubbed that iron shot, but that's the game of golf for you. As we came around toward the end of the course we both hit safely on Hole #8, a par three over a pond that has claimed at least 20 golf balls from me over the years. On the backside of the green, close to where I ended up having put a little too much on the swing (a common mental mistake I make when I've looking at this pond), I found that I had a spectator.

A Night At The Ballpark

2008-06-26T15:35:00.006-05:00

Last Saturday night I went out to see the Madison Mallards ballgame out at Warner Park with Randy, his girlfriend Emily and her friend Carrie. Initially I was pretty tired from the long trips last week and the means by which I blew off the stress the night before (it involved a few pints of Spotted at Monday's). Randy had procured tickets for the Great Dane Duck Blind, which is an enclosed area in the right field corner where the drinks and food are all-inclusive. It's a real party atmosphere, with 18 different beers on tap. The food isn't too bad either. It was quite crowded on Saturday night, but the weather was just right for a ballgame and I can't blame people for coming out. There was even a band set to play in the Duck Blind after the show.

The Mallards organization has really transformed Warner Park into a place that's both family-friendly and a destination for adults - no easy feat. The baseball game is supplemented with plenty of mascots and sideshows to keep the kids entertained, and plenty of beer for everyone else. Right before the game starts the main mascot rides down a zipline from right field all the way into home plate. This is a picture of Maynard Mallard going past me.The game was pretty exciting, though the Mallards were quite error-prone. The lead went back and forth, but at the end of nine it was all tied up. At this point Emily and Carrie were ready to leave, and we made our way out of the Duck Blind. As we came around the grandstands Emily recognized a friend working a beer stand and this worked into another brew for me. At this point I was feeling no pain, and I took this photo of the ballpark that I find strangely compelling. I think it's the condiment station in the foreground.I suppose that I shouldn't even be allowed possession of a camera after drinking, because I always become a nutbag shutterbug and take all sorts of pictures. Here's an example of the kind of shit I find on there the next morning:I don't even remember this, or the 10 other pictures that accompany it. I also apparently forgot a conversation with Emily in which I promised she could borrow my air mattress pump (?), which I later learned about Monday morning when she emailed me. I do remember that Randy and I were wearing the girls' sunglasses on our hats once the sun went down, and I kept dropping the set on my head since I kept forgetting they were there. All in all it was a helluva good time, but the next morning I could have done without the last few beers. Oh, and the Mallards pulled it out and won in 10 innings. We actually saw the winning run get walked in as we were standing behind the grandstands. Hurray!

Greetings from Ontonagon, MI

2008-06-19T08:32:00.003-05:00

This week has been a busy one so far. I currently find myself in a hotel on the shore of Lake Superior (sound familiar?), enjoying a pleasant morning before I head off toward L'Anse, Ishpeming and Escanaba. Yesterday I covered four sites ranging from west of Eau Claire to here in Ontonagon. Quite a haul. There really was no doubt once I saw how the itinerary worked out - I came up to Ontonagon as a teenager for a family vacation and as a Boy Scout for a late fall hike in the Porcupine Mountains. It is a beautiful region of Midwest and there are few things I enjoy as much as being on Lake Superior.

I've got a few pictures from the beach last night and this morning, and I'll post these once I get back.

UPDATE: Here are a few images from Ontonagon.

After dinner and a few delicious South Shore Nut Browns, I sat on the beach and watched the sun set. Here's the view:

Yet Another Annual Tradition

2008-06-05T16:01:00.005-05:00

I'm starting to rack up annual traditions at the Capital Brewery Bier Garten. On top of Bockfest I've now got Great Taste Ticket Day. Here's the deal: the Great Taste of the Midwest is one of the pre-eminent beer tasting in the United States. Over a hundred breweries and brew-pubs set up booths under outdoor tents in Olin-Turville Park, overlooking Lake Monona. The taster, in this case me, goes from booth to booth requesting free samples of the respective beers. It is one of the greatest days of the year. Here's the catch - only 5,000 tickets are sold, and once they're gone there's no way to get into the Great Taste. Two years ago I was lucky enough to be invited by Paul and Amy, friends from Wed. night poker. They had one extra ticket and I was the lucky beneficiary. I offered to repay the favor by waiting in line for tickets the next year. So on a chilly May morning last year I met Paul and Amy at the Capital Brewery loading docks at 8:00 on a Sunday morning. Tickets went on sale at noon. This year I arrived an hour earlier, and still found myself about halfway back in line. Here's the line at 8:00 this year:
Paul and Amy and their friends Adam and Katie had been out the night before at the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club concert at the High Noon, and although we had agreed to meet at 7:00, there was no sign of them by 7:20 and I called to let them know that the line was rapidly filling up. Only 400 tickets are sold at the Capital Brewery, and each person in line is limited to 4 tickets to purchase. Just about everyone buys 4, so the hundredth person is the last one. By 8:15 the line was at 100. Thankfully once a place in line was secured you could move around, even send someone back to the car to get coffee and McDonalds breakfast. I brought my own coffee so I was perfect. Since the line was already full before 9:00, the volunteer staff that run the operation came around and told us that at 10:00 they would be moving everyone in line into the Bier Garten itself. The year before we were in the loading docks due to a wedding scheduled for that afternoon. This time we got to go inside the Bier Garten and sit at the tables. As you came in the gate you received a numbered ticket signifying your place in line. Here's a picture of us lining in:
Once seated, the friendly staff at the Capital Brewery opened the taps. It was the best thing that can happen to a guy at 10:15 on a Sunday morning. Paul had brought along a set of poker chips and we got a round of drinks and played a few cards. I got a couple of Baltic Porters, a new limited series that is quite delicious. At noon the line re-formed and people got their tickets. Here's Amy with her four:
Now I'm just waiting until what will certainly be the best week of August. I'll be going to Chicago for a Cubs game for my sister's birthday on Wednesday, celebrating my own on Friday, and to top everything off I'll be at the Great Taste on Saturday. I can hardly wait.

Bomb the Music Industry!

2008-06-03T10:44:00.002-05:00

I don't make it a habit of watching fan videos on YouTube, but somehow I came across this one set to the tune of BTMI!'s "Side Projects Are Never Successful" which just so happens to be one of my favorite songs. It also just so happens that I like Yoo-Hoo.

The past few weeks

2008-05-22T09:14:00.002-05:00

Surprisingly (or not) I haven't been able to post any pictures from home lately. Coupled with an increasing workload, it's been a while since I've updated this thing. I've got a lot to say, including Great Taste tickets, baseball games, golf, the Junkers and last night, Th' Legendary Shack Shakers & Those Poor Bastards - here's a preview: CRAZY! I've also learned that combining a camera, alcohol and myself results in 40+ pictures, so I've got a few of those to put up. Instead, here's a random photo of E Eugene & McCay on New Years Day that I found on my computer for some unknown reason:

Chicago's South Side Irish Parade

2008-05-01T08:53:00.008-05:00

I've been meaning to post about this for some time, but I have never gotten around to it because my pictures were on the Mac and I don't get online at home on a regular basis. Regardless of my constant excuses, here's the write-up and I'll add pictures later. It all came about during the lead-up to Bockfest. I called down to Alex to remind him earlier in February, and he sadly informed me that Lauren and he would not be able to make it. He did say, however, that the South Side Irish Parade would be happening a couple of weekends later and that I should make it a point to come on down. At Bockfest I told Randy about this and he was up for it - last year he had gone down and met up with Alex and Lauren and had a great time. The South Side Parade is always the weekend before the St. Patrick's day weekend, which is when the more well-known downtown Chicago St. Patrick's Day parade occurs. We made plans to head down Saturday afternoon and meet at Alex's condo on the north side. On Saturday, March 8th I met Randy and Emily at Randy's apartment and I drove down to Chicago. We were listening to the Badgers capture the Big 10 season championship with a win over Northwestern for the first part of the trip, and after the victory I offered Emily the choice of what to listen to on my well-stocked iPod. She couldn't find much that she knew, which I took as a compliment of course.

We met up with Alex and his co-worker Kien, who also had been on the Las Vegas trip last November (I never did post on that one, did I?). Alex and Kien had gone to the Adler Planetarium that afternoon and were a bit late coming back on the Red Line so Randy, Emily and I stopped off at a nearby bar, the Driftwood, and grabbed a drink. About 30 minutes passed before Alex and Kien stopped by, and we decided to go out and get Italian Beef sandwichs at Al's Beef. Now I've got to say, I had the Al's Combo with the homemade giardinera and it was incredibly good, but nothing on the face of this planet can touch my mother's Italian beef sandwiches, end of discussion. Anyhow, Alex and Kien had gone out Friday night to Delilah's, my absolute favorite bar in Chicago if not the world, so those two weren't exactly up for a full-blown night of debauchery. Plus we needed to get up relatively early to catch the train to the parade the next day, so we headed over to the Ole St. Andrew's Inn for a few drinks and then called it an early night.

The next morning we were a bit slow to get ready and we didn't quite have time to grab breakfast like planned. Alex loaded up his great flask with Crown Royal, since it was going to be a cold blustery day. We drove downtown and followed the green-clad crowd to the Metra trains at Union Station. There were hundreds and hundreds of younger-looking people waiting to board the trains, with various CPD officers stopping people carrying open containers. We climbed onto a train and took a row of seats on the upper level. The train was filled with revelers laughing, talking, and passing cans of cheap beer between themselves. Alex pulled out the flask and we all had a taste, including a couple of people across the aisle. It was good communal fun.
We got off mid-way down the parade route and made our way up to Western Avenue. The crowds were already large and it was not even noon. We found a way across since we didn't want to end up on east side of Western. The way the parade work is: the east side of Western Avenue is "dry" and is where the families and the older paradegoers congregate to watch the parade. The west side of Western is where all of the pubs are located, and this is where the younger folks such as myself gather to drink and generally ignore the parade. We made our way across and found a stand selling hot dogs - not the breakfast we had planned but tasty nonetheless. At this time we met up with the rest of Chicago contingent, including most of the Las Vegas tripgoers, consisting of Luke and Fran, Kelly and Chris, and Ashley and Scott. The only person that was not in attendance was Lauren, who had gone to a bachelorette party the night before with Ashley (who did manage to make it).
We made our way over to a pub (I'll remember the name once I upload the pictures - McNally's) and paid a fairly hefty cover to get in. The place was as packed as I've ever seen a bar. I was not enjoying myself at first, because of the crowds and the beer selection. Randy and Emily had bought these large "buckets" (like small ice cream pails with a lid and a small opening cut out!) of Bud Light from a stand on the side of the bar. I know I'm a beer snob, and I'm damn proud of it too, but the simple fact of the matter is that I can't stomach light beer, especially warm. Thankfully I found that I could get Budweiser and I arranged to split the bucket with Kien. After a few more nips on the Crown I was starting to feel better about the mosh pit atmosphere and the sloshed beer on my shoes. Around this time I looked out the singular window in the bar and what do you know, there's a parade going on! With my wristband I could leave the bar (thanks to IL's statewide smoking ban - hopefully we're next) so I managed to see a good deal of the floats and the ubiquitous kilt-wearing pipers and firemen.
After a couple of hours it was starting to wind down. Alex and several others had gone outside and found they could no longer get in. They kept telling us to stay inside and they would join us shortly, but after an hour we gave up and left the bar. We had missed the earlier train back downtown so we had to wait for the later one. By this time most of the crowd had dispersed and most of the bars were "closed," meaning only firemen and other parade marchers could get in. I had no desire to pay another cover since I had stopped drinking a couple hours beforehand - I had to drive back to Madison that night. We settled for a slice of pizza and made our way to the train. After about a 45 minute wait the train arrived, much less crowded this time. As we made our way back to Union Station the conversations around me started to drop off, as did many of the passengers. By the time we reached Union Station half the people were asleep. I had an excellent picture of Randy sleeping on the train, but he sneakily deleted it later on.
Before heading back to Madison, we all went out to dinner with Alex, Lauren and Kien at The Spot, just up Broadway from Alex's place. Alex highly recommended the place since one of the owners had Madison connections and We had a good meal and it made for a great ending to the weekend. There were a few singers playing solo on a small stage near the door, and as it turns out there was a half-price special on entrees on Sundays. The only "problem" I had was when I ordered the chicken sandwich everyone else at the table ordered the same thing. As I've mentioned before, I don't like to order the same thing as anyone else, but since I had gone first I just kept my mouth shut and dealt with it. Randy knew of my condition and in the car on the way back commended me on "conquering that demon." At the end of the meal I apparently filled out a comment card and provided my email address, something I normally don't do and that I didn't recall doing in this instance. However, about two weeks later I received an email announcing a comedy show at The Spot containing this picture, which just made my day. Randy, Emily and I left right after dinner and made our way back to Madison. Randy slept in the backseat of the Civic for most of the way, and Emily refused to listen to "those weird songs" on my iPod on the way back. Instead, we had to listed to the radio, namely country (mainstream country radio is anathema to me). Sufficed to say, I tried to drive out of the signal range of that particular station as quickly as possible, and by Rockford I had succeeded only to have Emily quickly find another one. It was a good weekend, notwithstanding the beer and country music situation, and I'm happy I went.

Monona Sails

2008-05-01T08:32:00.004-05:00

Last night I ran over to Monona to take a few measurements of the municipal sculptures off the Beltline. A client of mine had driven by these and wanted to know if something similar could be used as a screening mechanism for equipment platforms and the like. Here's a few pictures.

I don't think that these will prove economical for screening compared to a regular old brick wall, but I think they look pretty damn cool regardless.

Dear Penthouse...

2008-04-30T12:46:00.006-05:00

I spent most of yesterday in the penthouse equipment room atop the UW-Green Bay Labratory Sciences building, attempting to determine cable routing amidst the pipes and HVAC equipment. Normally this wouldn't be that hard of a task, but this penthouse was crammed with equipment. See for yourself:

The worst of it dealt with trying to get behind the massive AC condenser. That was a tight squeeze. There was also good fun to be had hanging off a ladder on the side of the penthouse to get this shot:

All told it was a good way to spend a day, and I didn't have to worry about ticks or getting lost in the woods.

Drive-by Truckers @ The Pabst Theater

2008-04-25T09:30:00.007-05:00

Or: Drinking Pabst at the Pabst with DBT Part II.It's hard to believe, but it has been nearly two months since E Eugene and I ventured forth on a Thursday night to see quite possibly the greatest Rock Show on earth - the Drive-by Truckers in full rock mode. Two years prior I had gone to Milwaukee to see DBT at the venerable Pabst Theater with Natan & Joe. This time Natan found himself in Vegas at the time of the show, and it should be taken as a testament to the power of the Truckers that he seriously considered cancelling the trip to Sin City. I called Joe, who immediately agreed that this would be a must-see. The stage was set for an extremely fun night.

I cut out of work a bit early and met up with E Eugene at the Chalet around 4. It was at this time that Joe called with a bit of bad news - he was stuck in Elgin working at a house that was taking much longer than he'd planned. I told him that I would leave a ticket at will-call for him, but I figured that he wasn't going to be able to make the show. Too bad for him. E Eugene and I made our way to Milwaukee and I paid too much for parking near the Pabst. Last time I was able to find street parking for free, but no such luck this time and I think I payed something on the order of $15 for the night. Fucking Milwaukee. Anyway, E Eugene and I grabbed dinner at the down the street from the Pabst. It was crazy busy when we walked in, and we actually were seated at a table for four with another group of two (a pair of middle-aged out-of-town salesmen, by the snippets of conversation I eavesdropped in on: "Ooh, bratwurst, sauerkraut and red cabbage - that's so German! Have you met Tony with Allied? I sold him a lot of product at the convention last year."). Strangely enough, the place emptied out after around 30 minutes, until finally it was just us and the salesmen in our dining room. After dinner we still had a bit of time to kill so we hit up the Newsroom Pub for a quick drink. I didn't realize at first, but while we were sitting at a side table I noticed a black and white television showing what appeared to be closed-circuit security footage of people doing strange things with hula hoops and various other props. As it turns out, the Newsroom Pub is owned by the Safe House, the spy-themed "secret" restaurant & bar. I went there with Missy last year, but I hadn't realized it was that close. Sure enough, I saw the International Exports, Ltd. sign down the alley as we walked out. The Felice Brothers opened the show, and I was looking forward to seeing them once I had listened to a few of their songs on MySpace. However, I was blown away by their live set and the songs became instant sing-alongs with the crowd up front. The band is composed of actual brothers, and their sound is something of a rustic Americana-twinged folk-rock based upon lyrical stories. The lead singer had a raspy twang that reminds me a bit of early Dylan. The instruments included acoustic and bass guitars combined with accordion and violin, with organ and washboard thrown in for good measure. The entire band was highly engaged with the crowd and brought a real energy to the venue. They were the perfect opening act, and I made it a point to pick up their self-titled debut album the week it came out. E Eugene and I had also planned to catch their free show later in March at the Rathskellar, but unfortunately his wife rudely scheduled her birthday dinner for that night. It was a tough call. The only downside was this: during the Felice Brothers set E Eugene and I were first introduced to several drunken fans in the crowd. Foremost was a bald middle-aged man that was a DBT super-fan. He also was highly intoxicated and proceeded to get more so during the show, drinking PBR tallboys he had stashed in his overalls. I'm not one to claim the high road when it comes to being on best behavior at concerts, but I usually try not to be "that guy" that keeps shouting and bumping into everyone. Maybe I'm taking it personally, but I was relieved when he was kicked out of the theater after getting caught smoking twice. The Drive-by Truckers came on stage after a moderate intermission, long enough for E Eugene to procure a couple of Lakefront Riverwest Stein beers (there was actually no drinking Pabst at the Pabst this night). Patterson Hood started off the show with two acoustic-based numbers before Mike Cooley blasted in with "3 Dimes Down", all off the new Brighter Than Creation's Dark. Three more new songs followed, all of which I sang along to every word. I really enjoy Brighter Than Creation's Dark and I had been listening to it non-stop since getting it the day it came out. However, I felt that the crowd wasn't as receptive to the new songs since it appeared that not many knew the songs. When Hood started playing "That Man I Shot" I was ecstatic - this song is the most kick-ass rock song I've heard in quite some time. In a few years, when the rest of the DBT fans catch up, this will bring the house down. Instead, it was the older (and still great) songs off of The Dirty South and Decoration Day that got the crowd really going. The previous time I had seen the Truckers they played an acoustic set sitting down at the Barrymore in Madison. Great show, but E Eugene had correctly maintained that the true glory of DBT is in their Rock Show. No debate here - even with high expectations coming into the show I was blown away. DBT played 19 songs during the main set, eleven off the new album, and for once I actually remembered the set list in order. We actually left before the encore, because snow was in the forecast and E Eugene had to get back to plow. It turned out to be a hellacious drive back to Madison on an unplowed and potholed I-94. I think it took about two and a half hours to get back home. Even with that headache, and the requisite fatigue the next day, I wouldn't have even considered not attending this show. It was exceptional, and it takes an exceptional band like the Drive-by Truckers to make the exceptional seem routine.

Muzzle of Bees has an excellent review of the show as well. Here's the set list from the show, for those that are interested:
- Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife (Brighter Than Creation’s Dark)
- Daddy Needs a Drink (BTCD)
- 3 Dimes Down (BTCD)
- That Man I Shot (BTCD)
- The Home Front (BTCD)
- A Ghost To Most (BTCD)
- Sinkhole (Decoration Day)
- Marry Me (DD)
- Dead, Drunk & Naked (Southern Rock Opera)
- Guitar Man Upstairs (SRO)
- I’m Sorry Huston (BTCD)
- The Opening Act (BTCD)
- Gravity’s Gone (A Blessing And A Curse)
- Puttin’ People On The Moon (The Dirty South)
- Checkout Time In Vegas (BTCD)
- You and Your Crystal Meth (BTCD)
- Goode’s Field Road (BTCD)
- Shut Up And Get On The Plane (SRO)
- Lookout Mountain (DD)
-- Encore --

Another Civic Picture

2008-04-25T08:29:00.005-05:00

Man, I'm starting to fall a bit behind. I've still got a couple more posts to wrap up the Israel trip, and I've been to four concerts that I'd like to write up, but for now I'm just going to settle for a picture of the Civic from yesterday's site trip to Michigan & Indiana.

That right there is a ski hill, or at least the Indiana equivalent of one. No black diamonds there, to be sure, but it still is a decent if short slope. The cell tower is going on the back of the hill, and I drove along the access drive until I came across a rope tow. So I just turned it uphill and parked on the slope - I didn't think anyone would mind.

I actually was at this site back in November, but the site moved on the property so I had to come back. Interestingly enough, my visit in November was a bit of a wash because I spent too long in Michigan and the sun was rapidly setting as I got to the site, as you can see below. Here's how you can tell it is definitely spring (DST plays a role too) - these photos were taken at about the same time (4:30 PM).

Car Photos

2008-04-17T17:20:00.005-05:00

As I've previously demonstrated, I always take a photo of my automobile at the various tower sites I travel to, which I duly save to my computer and use as my screensaver. A couple of weeks ago I stopped by a now-constructed monopole in Mt. Horeb. I had previously visited the site in August of 2006 and taken this picture:At the end of last month I found myself in Blue Mounds, and as Tracy and I made our way back to Mt. Horeb to meet my father for lunch at the Grumpy Troll I stopped to take a few pictures of the tower and the retention ponds. As I drove away I suddenly pulled over, jumped out of the car, and took this picture:It's not an exact match, but pretty damn close considering it was close to two years between shots.

From Yesterday's Trip

2008-04-16T10:32:00.002-05:00

Here's an interesting picture from my trip to Milwaukee yesterday:

Sometimes there just isn't much more that I can add, other than I have seen some strange things over the last few years.

Family Fun at the Wollersheim Winery

2008-04-08T15:49:00.007-05:00

Three weeks ago some family from my mother's side in Illinois came up for the weekend. Normally it works the other way around - we're always driving down there but it isn't too often that they come north. Part of this is due to the nature of farming, and part of it is due to the fact that there's many, many relatives in central IL while there's just four of us in Wisconsin. Regardless of the reason, it was nice to have them up. The group consisted of my Uncle Chuck, Aunt Linda, cousins Jake & Jeff, and Jake's fiance Mary. They came up Saturday morning and I made my way down. Best of all, my sister managed to come down from Shawano, so it made for a full house.After a delicious lunch consisting of barbecued pork sandwiches from Hoesly's in New Glarus and fresh cheese from the Paoli Cheese Cottage (ELK used to work there!) the ladies drove over to New Glarus to check out the bridal shop while the menfolk drove up to Paoli to look at the industrial juggernaut of Paoli, Kelsch Machine Corporation. After these gender-defined excursions we regrouped and made our way up State Highways 92 and 78 to Prairie du Sac and the Wollersheim Winery. I happen to work in Prairie and I have driven past the winery hundreds of times. I've purchased quite a few bottles of Prairie Fume over the years. I even know a decent bit of the history of the winery from some of the assessments I've done in town. But I've never actually been to the winery itself. I'm happy to say that error has been rectified, since the winery tour offered at Wollersheim is not to be missed. The winery itself is steeped in history and is located picturesquely on a bluff overlooking the Wisconsin River. It's even listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Above is a view from the main winery buildings toward an old cave dating to the initial development in the 1870's. We made it just in time to catch the last tour of the day. We briefly walked outside to view the grounds. The winery is currently in the midst of an expansion so there was a bit of fencing up. We walked through the facility and saw the wine-making tanks. We also got to see two of the aging caves.Following the tour was the tasting. I particularly enjoyed the Domaine du Sac. We ended up buying about 15 bottles of different wines, three of which were promptly enjoyed once we had returned from dinner at the Dorf Haus in Roxbury. Here's a picture of Erika hauling away the spoils as we were leaving.

Bockfest 2008

2008-03-21T10:13:00.007-05:00

One month ago Randy and I went to Bockfest at the Capital Brewery, my favorite holiday of all. Last year the Chicago contingent had come up for the weekend, but this year a scheduling conflict precluded their presence. How do you schedule against Bockfest? Undeterred, Randy and I decided that even if it was just the two of us, we'd still be going to Bockfest come hell or high water. As it turns out, the weather was splendid, possibly too nice given the crowds. The above picture was taken from the stairs leading inside. You can imagine how long the line for beer was. In keeping with last year's limit in Blonde Dopplebock one was allotted, an individual was entitled to buy just one 16 oz. cup. You could buy as much of the other beers, so we stuck with Maibock. Here's Randy, enjoying the first taste of Blonde (inside the warehouse, where we gambled the line would be shorter). We had started off the morning at the always-busy Hubbard Avenue Diner, just down the road from the Brewery. We got there at the perfect time, just before a mad rush of similar-minded people. You could tell who was planning on heading for Bockfest by how many layers a person was wearing. Following a fortifying breakfast quesadilla we drove down to the Brewery and went in. The crowd was massive, by far the largest I have seen at any time at the Bier Garten. The procedure had changed from the year before, and the taps didn't open until noon. It wasn't until about quarter after that we made our way up to the counter. Randy made the best decision of the day and we got a mug of Maibock with our pint of Blonde. As everyone has mentioned about this year's Bockfest, it was difficult to make your way back to get a refill. However, Randy managed to stake out a spot near the corner of the main tap area and it only took us about 20 minutes to get a second. We stayed until the traditional fish fly, and although I didn't catch a smoked chub (thankfully) I did snag a string of beads. I had to get going shortly after this, since I had somewhat foolishly agreed to go to a charity dinner with E & C - I always manage to double-book myself for Bockfest. I'm really looking forward to next year, since the crowds will hopefully be reduced since it will no longer be a "free" event. I certainly won't mind paying for a ticket for my favorite holiday of the year!

What We Need

2008-03-18T08:06:00.003-05:00

From the new office refrigerator:

We really do need that microwave.

Haifa

2008-03-11T11:25:00.013-05:00

Natan and I awoke early in Jerusalem to another bright sunny morning. We checked out of the hotel and headed back to the Central Bus Station. The city was just beginning to wake up, with delivery vans unloading produce and baked goods all along Jaffa Street. We made our way to the bus station, which was already teeming with people. We would be taking a bus to Tel Aviv, where we would meet up with Natan's brother Daniel and then proceed to Haifa. We grabbed a cup of coffee and watched as Israelis tucked into their breakfasts. I was struck by the difference from the standard American breakfast fare. Instead of bacon, eggs, toast and the like, the Israelis went for large salads with a lot of vegetables.

The bus to Tel Aviv did not take very long. Getting off the bus at the station was where I encoutered my one and only unpleasant experience with the Israeli Security Apparatus. Natan and I had both stowed our bags underneath, and after grabbing these I followed him toward the station entrance. There a baggage screener was checking bags, which surprised me slightly since I had already gone through security at the Jerusalem station. The baggage screener, a middle-aged blonde woman, briefly glanced through Natan's bag. When I placed my backpack on the table she said something in Hebrew and made a gesture toward the door. I didn't know what she said so I took my bag back, which made her start to berate me in Hebrew. I shook my head and apologized, saying I didn't understand what she was saying. She repeated, in Hebrew and louder (I think I can now commiserate with foreign tourists in the States). Natan finally came to my aid and translated that she wanted me to open the bag. OK, but she had been opening everyone else's, but whatever. I opened my backpack and she pulled out the plate from the Old City, which was wrapped in a black plastic bag, then pulled out my "ditty bag" and said something else in Hebrew. I was getting flustered so I start rambling on about my toothbrush and toothpaste and Armenian ceramics, until she rolled her eyes and yelled "OPEN!" Now, I like to think that I made a genuine effort to try to fit in as best I could during my time in Israel, but I'm pretty sure I came across as an American that obviously didn't know what was going on. Once I did open m ditty bag, she didn't bother to look and just waved me away. I don't know why it made me so angry, maybe just the embarrassment of it all, but I stewed about that for the remainder of the day.

The Tel Aviv Central Bus Station is a huge structure that contains a variety of shops and restaurants. It is basically the combination of a bus station and a shopping mall. However it is starting to really show its age. Natan told me that it was a major destination when it opened in the 1990's, but now is in decline. The layout of the station was very confusing. There seemed to be multiple floors with almost randomly-placed escalators throughout the structure. It was really confusing to get around between the different floors, and I was never quite sure of where I was at any given time. Natan's brother Daniel met us at the station after about an hour. It really goes to show how difficult living without a cell phone becomes once you're used to them, since neither Natan nor my phone worked in Israel. Just like in olden days we had to figure out where to meet the night before.The bus to Haifa was also quick. We arrived and started walking, to where I was not entirely sure. This would be the theme of my time in Haifa, walking to some unknown destination. We originally tried walking from the Haifa bus station toward Mount Carmel but the sidewalk soon ended, dispelling that plan. We doubled back around the bus station, stopping at a nearby mall to grab a quick falafel. Natan and Daniel decided that walking up the side of Mount Carmel would not be the most feasible of plans, so we caught a cab and took a ride up to the top of the Bahai World Centre gardens. The views were astounding. We entered the gardens at the Upper Terrace. The port of Haifa was bustling, with a line of ships coming and going on the impossibly blue waters of the Mediterranean.The Shrine of the Bab was closed by the time we arrived, but several of the terraced gardens were open for touring. The landscaping was meticulous, as you can see. The gardens include 18 circular terraces that extend all the way up the slope of Mount Carmel on both sides of the Shrine. We started at the top and walked down toward the Shrine. It was growing late into the afternoon and the gardens were set to close at 5. We decided to head down toward the port and waterfront and find a hotel for the night. We kept looking but came across nothing. After a good hour of walking through downtown Haifa we stopped for a quick coffee. I went to use the restroom and came upon a problem. Up until this point I had been lucky to have either English translations or pictograms delineating the men's and women's. My luck ended here, as the two signs were Hebrew only. Luckily for me there weren't proper doors to the restrooms, just beaded curtains, so I could look into both and see through to the stalls. In the second restroom I saw the international sign of a men's room: the seat was up. Crisis averted. We resumed our search for a hotel and we were hopeful as we came up upon the building pictured to the left. If anything looks like a hotel, that would be it. Unfortunately it turned out to be the Sail Tower, a government building. So we kept walking. After another mile or so we found ourselves in a decidedly industrial area. It was time to give up and hail a cab. The cabbie laughed when Daniel explained our predicament and told us that there were absolutely no hotels anywhere near where we had been. He drove us halfway back up Mount Carmel to the Tower Hotel Haifa. The price wasn't terrible but the amenities weren't exactly modern. We were on the 14th floor, which did make for a nice view.We left our bags in the hotel room and walked down the commercial street where our hotel was located. About half of the shops closed around sundown, but we perused the remainder for about 45 minutes. Daniel had been stationed in northern Israel during part of his stint in the IDF, so he knew of a large mall called the Grand Canyon. The walk to the mall must have been at least three miles. I'm not really complaining, but I started off with Natan and Daniel with no real idea of where we were going since Natan and Daniel spoke to each other in Hebrew. After an hour of walking I was starting to have doubts. We found ourselves walking along a ridge overlooking the city. The view of the port at night was pretty impressive. In the distance the mall was visible, adjacent to what appeared to be a tunnel under construction. It took another 30 minutes to make it to the mall, and it became apparent that pedestrian access from the direction we had come probably had not been considered by the mall's designers. We actually followed the road down into the parking garage and took the elevators up. The mall was, well, very mall-like. There wasn't much to distinguish this with any new shopping mall in the States. Normally I'm not a big mall aficionado, but it was interesting to see the similarities of the respective Israeli and American consumer cultures. I attempted to order a falafel in the food court in Hebrew, which was a partial success. I nearly received shawarma, and after deploying my newest vocabulary addition (Water = Mayim) I got a Coca-Cola. Daniel also pointed out the Maccabi Haifa F.C. club shop, where I bought myself the one souvenir I had really been coveting: a knit cap with a soccer logo. When I was last abroad (read: Fort Frances, Ottawa) I bought myself an Ottawa Senators hat, so I felt I needed something comparable from Israel. This actually proved more difficult than I had anticipated. In searching the shops in Jerusalem and earlier this evening, I had found nothing except the occasional Yankees hat. Natan suggested I could just switch over to the Evil Empire and be done with it, but that simply will never happen.

It was sufficiently late enough to catch a cab and head to a pub. It was here that I enjoyed several Leffe Browns and spoke with Daniel about his job as a pub manager on a different kibbutz near Urim. It was a day that felt as if I could have easily have been back in Madison. It really drove home the point that the similarities between Israel and the U.S. are not insignificant. This night I also snapped the strangest picture of the trip. It occurred after I had gone to the restroom and for the second time that day realized there were no signs in English, just Hebrew. I stuck my head around the corner and saw a urinal, solving the riddle, but later as I related my troubles to Natan and Daniel they claimed that there were no signs in any language. So the next time I went to the restroom I snapped this picture of what I took to be the sign for the men's room.It's probably a good thing I didn't memorize these symbols, because Daniel informed me with a smirk that this sign read "Fire Extinguisher".

Jerusalem, Day Two

2008-03-05T10:47:00.012-06:00

I awoke in Jerusalem to a bright clear morning. The clouds of the previous day were gone, as was my slightly gloomy disposition. The night before Natan and I had gone to a shawarma stand a few blocks from the hotel, an experience that unfortunately ended my shawarma consumption for the duration of the trip. A brief aside into the cuisine: There were two things I was instructed to try by Natan, falafel and shawarma. The shawarma had similarities to a gyro in that the meat was cooked on a giant cone and shaved off. I tried shawarma twice, the last time leading to gastrointestinal distress. However I will not denigrate the shawarma since I believe it all has to do with the purveyor, just the same as a gyro. The falafel is delicious (though apparently of disputed provenance - they fight over everything). The only Hebrew that I really "learned" (read: repeatedly said incorrectly) was how to order falafel. I could really go for one right now. Natan has assured me that I cannot get a decent falafel in the States but I do believe I'll test that theory.

Back to the trip. Natan and I spent the first night in Jerusalem at the hotel playing cribbage using a cheap deck of cards. Natan did not know how to play the game at first, so I gave him a quick tutorial. Unfortunately for me Natan is a quick study and was soon besting me, leading me to feign fatigue to cover my irritation. It was late Monday night in Israel but we were watching the Bears/Vikings Sunday football game on ESPN. Natan went to sleep and I stayed up to watch a bit of the snooker on Eurosport. Here comes another brief aside. Every night at the kibbutz David watched the UK Championship on TV, and Natan and I both watched with him. I'd never heard of the game before this, but after David explained the rules I started to really enjoy watching the matches. Ronnie O'Sullivan was David's favorite player and also became mine as the tournament progressed. O'Sullivan ended up winning the tournament to everyone's delight. If I could eat a falafel right now while watching a snooker match right now, I would be a very happy individual.

Back to the trip. We woke up early as it would be a full day of sightseeing. I insisted that we stop at Holy Bagel so that I could experience an "authentic" Israeli bagel, mostly so that I could make Natan repeatedly state that there was nothing Israeli about bagels. Regardless, it was pretty damn good. Suitably fortified, we went back to the Old City. We intended to tour the museum at the Tower of David but we arrived around 45 minutes before it opened. Therefore we walked down a nearby street to peruse the souvenir shops. Natan was looking for Armenian ceramics for his mother, and he went in the first shop he saw and got a great deal on two plates from the elderly shopkeeper. I, on the other hand, went in to a nearby shop and was subjected to the hardest hard sell I've ever experienced. I'm not much good at haggling over prices, and once the shopkeeper figured out I couldn't speak Hebrew he could probably tell I was an easy mark. I ended up with a small Armenian ceramic plate depicting the Loaves & Fishes scene. I pretty much got taken for a ride, but all in all I paid about $15 for a $5 plate. Natan put it in perspective, saying that it was something that I couldn't get in the States, and also that shopkeeper probably needed the money more than I did. My mother pointed out later that the story alone was easily worth the price I paid. We entered the museum right after it opened and virtually had the place to ourselves. The weather was perfect. The Tower of David has been used as a fortess and redoubt on the southern city walls for centuries, and the interior consists of archaeological dig sites festooned with colorful sculptures. The museum detailed the history of Jerusalem, from the first beginnings 3,000 years ago to the annexation following the Six-Day War. From the top of the Tower of Phasael the views were astounding. Here is the view east, including the King David Hotel.Here is the view west, of the Dome of the Rock and the Mount of Olives.Just to the northwest of the Dome and Western Wall is the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built at Golgotha where the New Testament states Jesus Christ was crucified. Here's the view toward the church domes.Following our tour of the Tower, we made our way east. Our intention was to walk over to the Israel Museum, a trip that looked quite short on our map. This didn't prove to be the case, but several miles later we did arrive at our destination. We walked past the King David Hotel and took a quick look around the lobby. No $96 nights in that place. We walked across the street to the Jerusalem YMCA, pictured to the right. Not your average Y. We kept going, past the Prime Minister's residence and the King Solomon Hotel (not as impressive as the King David). We walked south of the museum and around, coming up the back of the hill the museum sits on. When we finally reached the musuem we learned that half of the exhibits were currently closed for renovations. Undeterred, we paid our admission and got a light lunch in the cafeteria. We hadn't walked all that way to turn back. We first went to the Shrine of the Book, the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept. The exhibit was located underneath this white dome in a tubular passageway that lead into the dome itself. Following this we went through two modern exhibits, one detailing water resources in Israel and another focusing on modern Asian art. After the Israel Museum we tried to walk over to the Knesset, but we couldn't seem to figure out the way. On our walk through a city park at the base of the hill we saw a group of Orthodox men playing softball, a slightly incongruous sight. We made it up to a dog run before having to turn around. As we came up another way we settled for walking up to the Israeli Supreme Court building, which was closed by this time. Evening was starting to come on, so we made our way back to the hotel to prepare for the next day in Haifa and more cribbage and snooker, stopping to devour some falafel on the way. But before we left the Supreme Court I took what turns out to be my favorite picture of the entire trip.

Jerusalem, Day One

2008-03-04T11:28:00.011-06:00

Back to the trip. After the journey with Natan's parents to Masada, Natan and I prepared to strike out on our own for a couple of days in Jerusalem. We planned to spend two days in Jerusalem, then meet up with Natan's brother Daniel and spend a day in Haifa. Following this we would make our way back through Tel Aviv and end up back at the kibbutz. While the previous excursions were day trips, this would be more or less backpacking. Prior to leaving Natan found a hotel in downtown Jerusalem, the Lev Yerushalayim. We ended up with a great deal on the room - $96 a night, as it was the off-season and my American passport exempted us from the value-added tax. Seriously, I've paid the same for hotels in Mountain Iron, MN! Above is a view from the hotel room.

We also planned to take the bus from Ofakim, which David referred to as the "Religious Bus." Neither of us understood the implication until the next morning. Julia dropped Natan and I off in Ofakim early in the morning so that we could catch the bus for Jerusalem. We stood at the bus stop for what seemed an eternity. I've never been well-suited for waiting, and with each passing minute and each passing bus I felt my anxiety rising. I was certain we had missed the 402, and we were s.o.l. if we ended up stranded in Ofakim. Just before I gave up all hope the 402 appeared, about fifteen minutes late. Natan and I boarded the bus, and Natan paid for us both while I started making my way through the bus to find a seat. I saw a group of open seats in the back and went toward them, at which point an Israeli woman wearing a shawl and long dress started forcefully speaking at me in Hebrew. I shook my head that I didn't understand and received more Hebrew in response. Not knowing what the hell was going on I turned to Natan in a panic, who listened to the woman and informed me that I was not allowed to sit in the back and that I must find a seat in the front. It was at this point that I realized that the bus was segregated: men in front, women in back. I also came to the realization that everyone was Orthodox except for Natan and me. Thus I learned the meaning of "The Religious Bus" - the men and women are separated because apparently the tenets of Orthodox Judaism bans contact between the sexes and mandates "modesty" in female appearance. Natan later spoke with the bus driver and learned that these buses were very controversial since these are in fact public buses, and it led to a long conversation about the influence the religious have in Israel. I personally found myself surprisingly angry. I've never reacted well to any form of orthodoxy, regardless of the persuasion, and I fumed over this situation for the rest of the two hour bus trip.The unpleasant taste from the bus quickly dissipated as we walked the streets of Jerusalem. It was slightly brisk, meaning I put on a hooded sweatshirt and the residents wore heavy winter jackets. I'll admit that I had no idea of what to expect. I'd heard of the Old City and I knew that it was the location of the Knesset but I was clueless beyond this. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised to see all the signs of a "modern" city as we walked to our hotel. The above picture is of a municipal building near our hotel. If you look closely, you can see two Orthodox men in front of the building. Jerusalem had a high concentration of Orthodox residents, much greater than anywhere else I had been in Israel. We did become slightly disoriented due to a quirk of our map. The street signs in Jerusalem were printed in Hebrew and English and our map was also in English. However, the English translations on the map were phoenetical translations, not literal. For example, Jaffa Street (which we were walking on) was written as "Yafo" on our map. This would be helpful if I were asking directions, but not for trying to match up a street sign to the map. Once the map situation was resolved we found our hotel and dropped off our packs. It was getting late in the afternoon but we had time to quickly visit the Old City before the sun set. I was surprised to discover that our hotel was about a half mile from the Old City - I'm still amazed at the deal we got. This is a photograph of the Jaffa Gate as we approach the Old City Walls. To the right is the minaret of the Tower of David which we would visit the next day. It was growing late in the afternoon, and most shops were closing for the day. Natan and I made our way through the narrow streets, dodging the occasional car. How narrow, you might ask. Pretty narrow. Here's a picture from the Armenian Quarter. As it turns out, this was one of the wider streets. Here's a picture of a street in the Jewish Quarter.The truly amazing part of the Old City is that it is a living museum in every sense. People still are living there. While the streets are crammed with tourists during the day, in the evening families return to their apartments and houses. We had timed it perfectly to witness this transition. We wandered the streets for about an hour, thoroughly lost. Our map, which had been of some use outside the Old City Walls, was virtually indecipherable in its depiction of the cramped winding streets. We inadvertently wandered into the Muslim Quarter trying to make our way to the Western Wall. I determined this when I noticed the street signs were written in Arabic instead of Hebrew - a whole new set of squiggles for me to not understand. Fortunately the signs retained the English translations, so it was not too difficult to make our way back. After turning around we came upon a military security checkpoint, a common sight in Israel. I stupidly thought for a moment that we had accidentally crossed into Jordan until my brain kicked in. The soldier at the security gate started to check my backpack he asked me where I was from. Upon hearing that I was an American he promptly handed my bag back, and when I went to hand him my passport he actually said "It's OK, you're American. Go on through." I truly do believe that nowhere else in the world are Americans treated as well as Israel. They frickin' love us there. And here I was all prepared to act like a Canadian.
We came through the checkpoint and suddenly everything opened up. I was momentarily uncertain as to where I was. It took a second for it all to come together. I looked to my right and there were throngs of people standing at the base of the Western Wall. Natan and I didn't stay very long, and I didn't come any closer to the Wall than from where this picture was taken. The area in front of the Wall is also segregated, men having the left three-quarters and women to the right. It was unsettling. Perhaps it had something to do with my previous experience on the bus, but I found myself very uncomfortable standing here. I could see the minarets of the Al-Aqsa Mosque as well as glimpses of the Dome of the Rock. While it was undoubtedly an inspiring sight, it also left me with a real sadness. As an American my mind returned to that bright sunny day six and a half years ago. I've always found it difficult to appreciate the good that can come from religion when compared to the seemingly unending violence that stems from the disagreements of the various faiths. And here I was, standing at perhaps the best example of intractable differences in the world.

My introspection quickly faded as we walked out the Dung Gate and tried to make our way back to the hotel. The skies had turned quite gray and it felt like it might rain at any minute. As we walked down a steep street that quickly turned out to be impassible to foot traffic, I took this picture of the city of Jerusalem outside the walls. Tomorrow would be another day.

Politics in the Snow

2008-02-29T11:29:00.004-06:00

Fridays are usually a day of low productivity for me. My workplace usually closes up shop around noon, and I generally head down to Paoli to put in a few hours at my dad's shop. Today I'm positively dragging ass, mainly since I was in Milwaukee last night to catch the Drive-by Truckers at the Pabst. More to come on that later. But I do have a lot to post about. Over the last couple weeks I've been fairly busy. Here's one of the interesting things I've done lately:Two weeks ago the political spotlight was on Wisconsin, as our primary elections came around. As a result, there were suddenly candidates criss-crossing the state. I ventured out one cold Tuesday night to see Barack Obama at the Kohl Center in Madison. I met up with M. Haak, who still apparently has my Tragically Hip CD. We hit up the west-side Tex Tubb's and made our way downtown. It was packed, and the Kohl Center was standing room only. We stood around waiting for about an hour and a half, with music playing on the PA and a few warm-up speeches from campaign staffers. After seeing the Will.I.Am video on the scoreboard screens, Governor Jim Doyle came out and introduced Obama. The place went nuts. Cameras flashes were ubiquitous, and I added my own contribution, resulting in these pictures. Obama gave a fairly typical (from what I've seen on the news) stump speech, coupled with a defacto victory speech for the Potomac Primaries (VA, MD & D.C.). His speech clocked in around thirty or forty minutes, but he is an unbelievably gifted speaker so the time seemed to really fly by. I had come with the intentions of passively listening to his positions with the pretense of being undecided, but toward the end I was enraptured and cheering along with the crowd. I was highly impressed. I try to keep knowledgable on current events and politics, so I like to think my BS detector is well-tuned. In that setting, however, I was swept along with the emotion and enthusiasm of the crowd. Regardless, I've come back down to Earth and can look back on the experience (somewhat) rationally: I was able to see a Presidential candidate speak in a live setting, and it's something that everyone should take an opportunity to do at least once.

Greetings from Grand Rapids, MI

2008-02-20T21:39:00.003-06:00

It's been a strange 2008 so far: I haven't had a site trip since November. I almost didn't know what to do with myself. Thankfully this has been resolved, as I'm sitting in a hotel room in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm splitting my time between looking out my hotel window at the lunar eclipse and watching Bill Maher on HBO (and posting, of course), neither of which I get to do on a regular basis. Tomorrow it's on to Oakland County, outside of Detroit and then Ypsilanti. Then I can get back to doing not so much at the office, and maybe post a bit more on Israel.

At the Ramon Crater

2008-02-11T16:58:00.000-06:00

I was asked if I had any pictures of myself in Israel. The answer is: Yes, but not too many. I was the only person with a camera so I was generally doing all the picture-taking. A couple of times I handed the camera off to Natan. I do not really take "good pictures" and a lot of these are not an exception. The bright sun generally had me squinting to the point that my eyes appear to be closed. But I went through all of the pictures, and this one's respectable. Here I am at the Ramon Crater overlook:

D4 @ Club 770

2008-02-09T15:58:00.001-06:00

I'm going to take a brief detour from the book I'm writing on my vacation to Israel to tell the story of a Friday night on campus. As I previously posted I was frickin' stoked to see this band. I might have been a bit off on the math - it was more like five and a half years since I'd last seen D4. Regardless, once I'd read on Punknews.Org that they were playing a one-off in Madison there was simply no way I would miss this. Twice before I had gone over to Club 770 in Union South to see them, in 2002 and 2003 I believe. At the time I was still in college, resisting the inexorable pull to graduate. Both times I more or less attended the show solo. The first time I had convinced my friend Missy to come, since no one else could be persuaded. She brought along a date whose name I doubt I ever bothered to learn. What I do recall was his predilection for country music, most definitely not in line with the straight-up punk slated for that Sunday night. I don't think they stayed past the first of the opening (and admittedly shitty) local punk bands. I recall Missy coming up to me and saying they were leaving, and if I wanted a ride back to my apartment I'd have to go with 'em. I declined, of course, and was treated to one of the better shows I can recall. Yeah, I had to walk back by my lonesome the mile and a half to my off-campus apartment, and I think it was late winter, but it was worth it.

The second time the Dillinger Four came to Madison, I was living a bit closer to campus. I had convinced my roommate Joe to come with, since he wasn't doing anything else that night. Well, I waited for a couple of hours for him but he didn't come home from work that night. I finally got him on the phone and he informed me that he was going to hang out with his girlfriend instead. His choice, but a little heads-up would have been nice. Anyway, the show was killer, and I got to talk with the band afterwards. It topped the previous year's show by far, and cemented D4's status as my favorite punk band. There was a bit of lingering controversy, however. Joe and his girlfriend Erin accused me of pouring wine on Joe's bed after I got back from the show. I'll admit I was pissed at the dude before the show, but afterwards I was blissed out - I went back to my room and played Midwestern Songs of the Americas, Versus God and "Situationist Comedy" until the wee hours.Now you've got the backstory, here's the newest chapter. I made my way up to Madison Friday evening after having dinner with my parents. This time I knew that I was going by myself. I parked and made my way over to the Union. Even though I graduated long ago, I still don't feel too old to go to the Union. Part of it is that I received a lifetime membership upon graduation as a gift from my parents - one that just keeps on giving. This was going to be a night of reliving the past. Much like the time I saw the Lawrence Arms, I got to look back from 27 to 18. The memories have dulled with age (and adult beverages) but in the right situations they come back, clear as day.

The first band is a local punk act called The Gusto. I missed the first part of their set, but what I heard I enjoyed. As it turns out this band is made up of several members of a band called Koji, who played the Madison all-ages scene way back when I was in high school. I remember seeing them play multiple times along with Introversion, the band my high school friends were in. I'm happy to see they're still around, doing what it is they love to do. Believe me, there's not a whole lot of money in being a punk band. The second band was called Garrison Killer, and while it wasn't exactly my thing they got a decent response from the crowd. The crowd, by the way, was young! You would expect as much from an all-ages show on the UW campus, but some of these damn kids just amaze me. I realize that I wasn't around in '77 with the Clash and the Pistols, but these ones were even born when Op Ivy was around! (Yeah, I didn't exactly get into Op Ivy until I was 17 either - it wasn't like my nine-year old self was jumping around at 924 Gilman)

The next two bands were hardcore bands, a genre that doesn't hold any appeal for me. It was interesting to see some of the hardcore fans, however. The lead singer of the first band, In Defence had a bit of a temper flare-up about five songs into the set and stormed off for a bit. There were about 30 people up front that made up a little pit, and they managed to get a few people up - I've never been one to crowd-surf, but with that few of people there weren't as many people crashing to the floor as I would have imagined. The last opening band was Get Rad!, out of Milwaukee. Again, not really my thing. What was nice was I ran into a couple of guys that I knew - Kevin, who works for E Eugene during the landscaping season, and Dave, the younger brother of one of my high-school friends. I spoke with them while we waited for D4 to come on stage. Both Kevin and Dave decided they wanted to get right up front. I kept a bit off to the side - I'm getting a bit too old for the pit!D4 hit hard and heavy. The crowd went nuts. Even from my position off to side I was still knocked around a good deal. I even got a shoe to the neck as someone came tumbling down after crowd-surfing. The band flew through songs I've been singing along to for years. It was magic. There were so many things I remember, funny banter, little explanations of songs, and a faux smack-down of In Defence - Paddy indicated that the lead singer was doing cocaine and telling racist jokes backstage, not a very straight edge thing to do. He also asked who had been to their last show and I got to raise my hand with pride - take that you damn kids! I absolutely loved it. I knew every song and sang along with every line. The hour or so they played just flew by, and at the end of the show I was ten years younger in spirit, if not in body. It's why I still listen to punk. No matter how old I get, and no matter where my wandering musical tastes take me, I don't believe anything will ever be able to replace that feeling.

Masada

2008-02-07T11:15:00.000-06:00

Following a packed day of touring the Negev, including Mitzpe Ramon, we west east on Saturday to the Judean Desert. The drive from Kibbutz Urim took about two hours, which was about the longest to date I had experienced in Israel. I still have a hard time comprehending how so much fits into a place that small. As we drove Julia explained the Bedouin towns constructed by the Israeli government and the unrecognized villages throughout the Negev. We drove past several of these along the way. As we approached the Judean Desert the landscape became steeper and the popping of my ears indicated we were dropping in elevation. Soon we had descended nearly 1,000 feet below sea level. At this point David pulled over at a scenic overlook - even at this distance below sea level there was quite a view.We drove down along the southern part of the Dead Sea, a shimmering light blue lake cut into sections by man-made salt evaporation pans. The mountains of Jordan were barely visible through the haze. We came up to the visitor center at Masada and decided to tour the newly constructed museum. I had a passing knowledge of the site from before. I knew it was a fortress that the Romans had sieged, but beyond that I was relatively clueless. I think I'd heard of it in conjunction with the band O.A.R. The museum quickly remedied my ignorance. Masada was first constructed as a palace and redoubt for King Herod, the Roman ruler of Judea back in Biblical times. During the Jewish-Roman War a group of Jewish zealots took over the palace from the Romans in 66 CE and were the last bastion of the rebellion by 72 CE. The Roman Army laid siege to the fortess, building a wall around the mountain and a rampart up to the fortress wall. The legend of Masada is that once the Romans breached the walls, the Jewish defenders chose suicide over surrender. The ruins were excavated in the early 1960's and the site is now a significant tourist attractions. For me it was my second UNESCO World Heritage site in as many days. We took a cable car up to the top, which was an easy decision. Here's the view up toward Masada as we waited for the cable car.The ruins of the fortress and palace sprawled across the plateau. The palaces of Herod were located on the northern face, followed by extensive storerooms and houses. In contrast to Avdat, there were significant numbers of tourists present. We followed the guideposts around the site, and I occasionally eavesdropped in on a passing tour guide, most of which conducted their tours in English. Here is a view looking across the storerooms from the uppermost palace.The overlook at the upper palace looked out upon a unbroken expanse of mountainous terrain and salt flats. A gentle breeze came off the cliff face, the reason why Herod chose this location for his quarters. We walked along a narrow walkway along the western cliffside to the lower palace. Several frescoes had been excavated throughout the site, and at the lower palace several had been restored. Here is a picture of the three palaces on the north face of Masada.The Romans built a rampart along the western side of the plateau, and after a siege of several months the outer walls were breached. The story as it's told at Masada (which is disputed, like any historical legend) is that the Jewish rebels had placed a wooden wall behind the stone wall breached by the Roman battering ram. The Romans set this wall on fire as the sun set, and over the next night the Jewish rebels had killed themselves rather than surrender. According to the legend, the men killed their wives and children then drew lots. The ones that were selected killed the others since suicide was discouraged, then came another lottery until there was one man left, who committed suicide. I guess the don't call 'em Zealots for nothing. Later, I saw a good number of souvenirs emblazoned with "Masada shall never fall again." which is apparently an IDF slogan. I was a bit discomforted with the reverence shown for the suicidal Jewish rebels. It brought to my mind the Japanese civilians at Saipan in World War II. Granted, the Roman Army wasn't likely as humane as the American Army, but it's still something I found pretty despicable. Here's a picture of the Roman rampart as viewed from above.Natan and I had decided that we would walk down from Masada rather than take the cable car. We followed one of the original routes, known as the Snake Path. It took us about half an hour to traverse our way down. I don't know how long going up would have taken. There were railings interspersed almost randomly along the route, and Natan and I had a running commentary on just how steep of a slope necessitated a railing. Once we reached the bottom there were several previously unknown muscles in the shin region that made their presence known. Walking downhill is most certainly not as easy as I'd anticipated, especially when there just wasn't a lot of room for error. Once we reached the bottom I turned around and took this picture:
I think of the unfortunate Roman soldier - "You want me to do WHAT now?"

The Negev

2008-02-05T10:51:00.000-06:00

A day after seeing the sites at Latroun, we took a trip south into the Negev, the southern desert region of Israel where Natan's parents live. Kibbutz Urim is located on the northern edge of the Negev, and as previous pictures attest it does not at all remind one of the desert. David and Julia warned me that this day we would be heading into the desert and it would likely be "cold" - I tried not to laugh. I had emailed my parents the night before and learned that Wisconsin had received five inches of snow, while I had awoke to sunshine and birds singing.

We first went to Sde Boker, another kibbutz in the Negev that was the home of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, following his retirement. When I first heard the name, I mistook it for "Stable Care" - which sounds like a clinic or something. Knowing how ridiculous I likely sounded, I refered to it as Ben-Gurion's House for the rest of the trip. Here is a picture of "the Israeli Mt. Vernon", the house that Ben-Gurion and his wife lived in, which basically consists of two of the standard kibbutz huts combined. The rooms inside have been left as they were when Ben-Gurion died in 1973. This kibbutz was also quite green, a testament to the irrigation systems developed in Israel.I'll admit, it was a slightly chilly day. The wind in the desert was constant, and I'd estimate the temperature was in the mid-60's. But there just was no damn way I was wearing a jacket. I was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. I must have been a bit of an anomaly, since all of the other people at Sde Boker (mainly young Israeli Army recruits) were wearing their winter jackets. The docent in Ben-Gurion's house remarked to Julia in Hebrew about my lack of winter attire, and Julia responded that I was from a freezing part of the U.S. Once I heard about this I beamed with Wisconsin pride. We drove just down from the kibbutz to Ben-Gurion's gravesite at Midreshet Ben-Gurion, pictured above. It is a beautiful setting, overlooking a large valley. There is a branch of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev located here, as well as several other institutions. The overlook was starkly beautiful, and was my first experience of the Negev landscape. It was a very peaceful setting. In fact, the only real disruption came from the occasional fighter plane cutting through the cloudless blue sky, another reminder of the duality of the Israeli Thing. Here is a picture from the overlook of the valley, with Natan's father David.Following the tour of Sde Boker we drove further south toward the Nabatean ruins of Avdat. For a UNESCO World Heritage site, there weren't many signs leading to the place. You drive down the road, and there it is, with a small visitor center and an adjacent Yellow gas station, which David assured me were the best gas stations in all of Israel. We stopped at the Yellow station first, where I had my first (of many) Turkish coffee and my first (also of many) Krembo. Suitably fortified, we went up the hill to see these fascinating ruins.The ruins at Avdat were originally a Nabatean waystation along the old Incense Road. The Arab caravans brought incenses like frankincence and myrrh across the desert, utilizing secret oases and cisterns along the way. The city later came under the Roman empire, and a large Roman Army camp was constructed outside the city walls. The city was destroyed in an earthquake in 623 AD. We first saw the ruins of several houses outside of the main city. This also amounts to the most people I could fit into the frame, because I never saw more than eight tourists at this site at any one time. Here's a picture taken from atop the city walls looking over the ruins. If you look closely, you can see Julia's Chevy in the parking lot - the only car in the parking lot. You can also see several of the metal sculptures, which I found to be incongruous with the historic nature of site.See what I mean:Here is the view of the main courtyard, looking west toward the Byzantine churches that were built after the Roman Empire converted to Christianity. The fenced-off section in the middle of the courtyard is a water cistern. The inhabitants of Avdat collected all of the rainwater that fell on the city, which is how they could survive in the desert.The northern church had the best view, and the southern church still had a marble baptismal font and burial markers. The ruins commanded the entire area - it was almost unbelievable that people had even decided to live there, let alone build a city. Avdat itself was remarkable in that here was a archaeological site older than anything found in North America, an Israeli National Park, yet it seemed that it was "routine" judging by the few people there and the lack of commercial development. This was the first ruin I had seen in Israel and I was completely astounded. I hadn't come to realize the extent of the history in this country. Yet my memories of Avdat rank about the highest of all the sites I saw in Israel. Part of it has to do with this being the first of the several ruins sites. Part of it undoubtedly relates to the intimate way we were able to see the site, free of the crowds of tourists one would expect. It wasn't even the last place we saw that day. Following this we drove south to Mitzpe Ramon. My experience at Avdat can be taken as an analogy of my entire trip: I was privvy to experience both the places you've heard of (Masada & the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, etc.) and the places that are off the beaten path. I'm sure my time at the more well-known attractions is comparable to anyone else's, but there is something satisfying to me about having seen parts of Israel not necessarily listed in the tour guides.

Rally Round A Cage!

2008-02-01T11:52:00.000-06:00

It's been approximately six years since I've seen D4, also @ 770. So I guess you could say I'm due. I could not be more excited!

Latroun

2008-01-29T16:31:00.000-06:00

Back to the vacation:After spending a day getting acclimated to the time change and the exceedingly pleasant weather, Natan's mother Julia took us north to the French Trappist abbey at Latroun (warning - this site plays hymns!). Perhaps it is indicative of the history of Israel that it was also the site of a major battle during the 1948 war. The abbey itself was astoundingly peaceful and serene. The monks grow olives and grapes and sell olive oil and wine to support the monastery. The different wines that are produced at this single location in Israel is extensive. I bought a bottle of 2003 Sept Monts Reserve, which I enjoyed with my family during our Christmas Eve dinner.The church at the abbey was closed when we first arrived, so we came back in a couple of hours. It looked very old, but when we asked the age of the abbey we were told, "Oh, it's not old at all. It was built in 1890." In a place like Israel, age is relative. Here's the view of the surrounding landscape from the abbey steps.In keeping with the duality of the Israeli Thing, to paraphrase one of my favorite bands, we also visited the Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum across the street from the monastery. They've got a whole lot of tanks on display there. Julia wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of the place, but I told her that all boys like tanks so she'd just have to indulge us. Here's a picture of Julia standing atop a tank at the museum.One thing that really resonated with me at the museum was the vastly different provenance of the tanks utilized by the IDF. There were obviously American and British tanks that were likely supplied directly to the IDF, but there were also many French, British, Soviet and even Nazi German tanks that had been captured during the 1948 and 1967 wars that had been brought into service by the IDF. It was a bit sobering to see how the wars may end, but the weapons seem to move on to another fight. However, I've got a pretty good hunch that some of these tanks won't be going anywhere:

I Can't Say That I've Been Too Busy...

2008-01-24T17:16:00.000-06:00

But I sure as hell haven't found the time to update, mainly due to my neighbors' collective miserliness. I've got a whole screed to vent on the events surrounding the Marah show that I was to be attending this weekend with my sister. However, I did close down the King Club last weekend, where E Eugene and I experience the terror-ific spectacle of Those Poor Bastards. E Eugene's new favorite shirt:

Against Me! at the Majestic Theater

2008-01-11T11:45:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to post about the Big Trip, but lately I haven't been sticking around after-hours at work and the neighbor's WiFi hasn't been cooperating. Same old excuses. Some might say that I'll need to re-title to something along the lines of "Things That Happened To Me LAST YEAR." But the memories are still fresh, so I'll get to it.
I did manage to come across a nice review in the Badger Herald of a show that I went to see a couple of weeks before I left for vacation: Against Me! at the Majestic Theater

Dane101 also has a review with a nice group of pictures: Against Me! and Sage Francis at the Majestic

I really enjoyed the show. Against Me! has been dominating my listening habits for the last few years, and I was more excited to see this show than anything since the Hold Steady back in June. I even got up front and got knocked around in the crowd. I'd love to put together a better review, but I've got to get moving.

The Backstory & the Trip Over

2008-01-02T20:31:00.000-06:00

I kind of jumped right in with a few pictures of Mitzpe Ramon, but I do want to go back and explain exactly how I ended up in Israel for two weeks. It all goes back to several months ago, when my friend Natan told me that he was planning on heading to Israel to visit his family and extended an invite to me. My initial reaction was that I couldn't possibly manage something like that, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed like a perfect opportunity. I'm glad I came to this conclusion, because it was exactly that.This is a picture I took of the kibbutz. As you can tell, the December climate in Israel was much nicer than that of Wisconsin. Natan and I booked flights together from Chicago to Tel Aviv via Frankfurt. I decided to come back a couple days earlier so that I could spend the holidays with the family. Early on December 10th my father came up to Madison to give Natan and I a ride down to the Memorial Union to catch the bus down to O'Hare. It was the start of a very long day. We needed to catch the early bus so that we would have plenty of time to get through security and check in for our flight. As with most situations where you show up early, we made it through fine and had a good couple of hours to kill in O'Hare. Natan and I both brought our laptops, and Natan kept trying to get me to watch scenes from Transformers. I did run into one small hang-up: my suitcase ended up being a couple of pounds overweight, and I had to quickly remove my shoes and a sweatshirt into my carry-on to make weight. This didn't leave me with a good feeling as to the return trip, and all the while in Israel I tried to avoid buying any heavy souvenirs.

The flight to Frankfurt wasn't anything special, and we arrived in Germany about 8 hours later. We had five hours to kill, and even though it was early morning in Germany the terminal was packed. I got to experience first-hand the weakness of the dollar versus the euro when I changed in a twenty for coffee - there wasn't much left other than a few coins after we had our coffee. There is even a small casino in the airport, and Natan lost a bit at the blackjack tables. Once the gate we were flying out of opened up we started our way through security. I was confused as to the process: everyone went through the standard metal detector, but then a burly Teutonic screener gave everyone a thorough check with the wand and a pat-down. What was the point of the first detector? The flight down to Tel Aviv wasn't bad, but at this point we had both been traveling for some time and sleep had not been on the schedule. Thankfully getting through passport control in Israel was not a concern for me. Natan ran into a few snags, since his Israeli passport had just recently expired. He had tried to go through on his American passport but he was told that he would have to renew the Israeli passport before he left.

Once we retrieved our baggage we made our way out of the airport. Natan's sister was picking us up. After an hour and a half drive south to the Kibbutz I was at the point of exhaustion. But the night wasn't over yet. For we all sat down to a nice dinner followed by a Hanukkah celebration, where Natan gave everyone presents. Here's a picture of their menorah:After all of this we got to sleep. I managed about nine hours while Natan did thirteen. But I was pretty much over the jet-lag the next day. Next time I'll go over some scenes in the Negev.

Mitzpe Ramon, and a big hole in the ground

2007-12-27T11:27:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty well up to my eyeballs here at work, which is to be expected after taking two weeks off. Regardless, I'm going to try to put up additional pictures and tell a few stories in multiple posts. I know that some people aren't too fond of the thousand word diatribes that I've been known to produce.

I'll come back to the initial trip over and the backstory. For now I'll skip to the fourth day in Israel, when I was given a tour through the Negev Desert of the south. Earlier in the day we visited the gravesite of David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, and the ancient Nabatean city of Avdat. We ended the day at the Ramon Crater. It is the world's largest erosion cirque and an unparalleled sight. Here is a picture of the Crater from the overlook at Mitzpe Ramon:We first drove down into the Crater and hiked a brief trail called the Carpentry along the Crater floor up a small hill. Here's a view looking back toward Mitze Ramon and the visitors center:As we were driving down the road to the Crater floor, a group of wild Nubian Ibex came down the slope and up to the car in front of us. They are apparently quite tame, because they came right up to this car and the man inside rolled down his window and fed one!As we made our way back from the overlook at Mitzpe Ramon I saw a couple of hikers sitting on ledges of the cliff face below the visitors center - both braver souls than I can claim to be.

Sunshine and Warm Weather

2007-12-26T17:03:00.000-06:00

I know it has been a whole month, but I actually do have a valid excuse. I took a two-week vacation! For someone whose idea of time off is an extended weekend, this was a huge step. The best part about this was the destination: Israel. Here's a picture of Kibbutz Urim where I stayed with my friend Natan and his parents.

I've got plenty of stories to tell and pictures to share. But right now I'm jet-lagged and I've got to pick up two weeks of mail at the post office.

Lucero at Turner Hall

2007-11-28T15:52:00.000-06:00

Two and one-half weeks ago E Eugene and I made a rare Sunday trip to Cream City to see Lucero for the first time. I've always wanted to see this band in concert, ever since I bought That Much Further West right after college. Unfortunately for me, the band has never had a Madison show (to my knowledge) in this time. When I saw that Lucero would be playing the Turner Hall Ballroom, across from the Bradley Center, I had no doubts. I've been to the restaurant at Turner Hall quite a few times, usually before catching a big-name concert at the Bradley Center with my parents. I recall once we went up to the Ballroom, which was serving as an overflow bar prior to some show (maybe Clapton?). I was excited to see the place again. It's a cavernous old room, burnt out and echoing with history. Here's a picture:I'm out of time at the moment, so here is another (likely better) review by Ryan over at Muzzle of Bees. In addition, here's the link to the gallery of photos that the folks at the Pabst Theater (the operators of the Turner Hall Ballroom) put together for the show. I can only say good things about what these people have done with the Pabst, and I'm hoping they can do the same for the Turner.

Much to say, but no time to say it...

2007-11-20T18:05:00.000-06:00

To no one's surprise but mine I've been very busy. November is absolutely flying past. I've been on at least one site trip a week for the six weeks. I've also been in six separate states in the last four weeks. I've got a lot of stories to tell, but for now I'll let this print-out of my calendar do the talking:

The Showdown

2007-11-08T13:04:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago there was a schism in the family. The reason: Badgers vs. Hoosiers. The UW football team was set to take on the IU team at Camp Randall. Being the good son that I am, I secured four tickets to game. The last time the Hoosiers were in town I had also gotten tickets for my parents and myself. This time around my sister wanted to come, so it was a full family affair. In addition to this, my friends Alex and Lauren were coming up from Chicago for the game. It made for a busy weekend.

My parents had a wedding reception immediately after the football game, so they drove up separately from my sister. We all went out to breakfast at the Hubbard Avenue Diner in Middleton. Following this we convoyed down to Monroe Street. Tempers flared as I was attempting to guide my sister and my mother over to a parking place where I knew my parents could leave right after the game. While I was trying to figure out how to get over to Monroe Street, my father kept calling me to ask about just parking in someone's lawn - no guarantees on getting out of those spots early. Despite this, we eventually arrived and made our way to the game. Alex and Lauren had gotten student tickets, so they sat on the other side of the stadium from us. We missed the first part of the first quarter. UW was already up on IU 7-0. From this point the Badgers kept on dominating. During the Michigan State game I had really hoped to get a picture of the Badgers scoring a touchdown when driving toward my end of the field. However the Spartans conspired otherwise and made a goal-line stand. This time I managed to get not one, but two pictures:This was the last play of the third quarter - perfect timing.My parents left shortly after "Jump Around." My mother wasn't in the best of spirits; it had been a less-than exciting game, especially for a Hoosier. The Badgers scored one last time after my parents left, making the final score 33-3. My sister and I stayed for the Fifth Quarter, when the UW Marching Band comes out and does a 20 minute post-game show, win or lose. The crowd had thinned out a good deal by this time, but it was still fun to watch. The band pulled off two "Fake Varsities" - where they play the opening of the alma mater, then break into the Bud Song. From my years as a student I'm fairly adept at sniffing out the first Fake Varsity, but they got me on the second. I should have known: they hadn't played "Swingtown" yet and the student section was calling for it. After the Fifth Quarter the band marched off the field and my sister and I met up with Alex and Lauren for a few post-game drinks and then dinner. Here's a picture of my sister in the stands as the band marches off.

The Drive-by Truckers at the Barrymore

2007-11-08T09:48:00.000-06:00

Three weeks ago I went out with E Eugene and Natan to see one of my favorites, the Drive-by Truckers. This marked the third time I've been lucky enough to catch them, and the second in Madison. This was also a bit of a different show, as DBT was playing a stripped-down acoustic set, named the Dirt Underneath Tour. Check out the tour notes for the story behind the tour. This also was the first time I would see them at the Barrymore Theater, a venue larger than the last place in Madison they played, the High Noon Saloon.Before the show we headed to Tex Tubb's Taco Palace on Atwood, the now-customary place for a pre-show fish taco or three. We were running just a bit late, and we didn't get over to the Barrymore until mid-way through the set of the opening act, Ryan Bingham. I enjoyed what I heard of Bingham and his backing band. He played a rough and dirty style of alt country. We all agreed that musically the band was top-notch. We met up with one of E Eugene's landscapers, Kevin. He was there with his father, as both are big DBT fans. I'm always a proponent of enjoying kick-ass music with one's parents. I had also purchased a ticket for one of Kevin's friends, who cancelled at the last minute. That's why you shouldn't ever buy tickets from someone you don't know - dude still owes me for that unused ticket!

DBT came to the stage after a good thirty minute break between sets. Of course, I had just left to grab another beer, and coffee for Natan. As I tried to squeeze through the crowd back to the group, I thought for sure the scalding hot coffee would end up on the front of my shirt, but fortunately I managed to hold on. DBT recently parted ways with guitarist Jason Isbell, who has come out with his own excellent solo album, Sirens of the Ditch. E Eugene, Kevin and I saw him play the Memorial Union Terrace back in July, and it was one of the highlights of the year. One of the things that makes DBT so great is the collaboration between the guitarists on the songwriting. Some of my absolute favorite songs were Isbell created and sung. At the show there weren't any of these songs on the setlist. No matter, though. With seven albums under their belt, and one on the way in January, DBT has plenty of material to draw from. In fact, a good amount of the songs were from their earlier albums, Ganstabilly, Pizza Deliverance, and Alabama Ass Whuppin', none of which I have. I recognized several of these earlier songs from the other shows I've seen, but for the others it was a bit of a mystery. The band all played sitting, a fact that didn't seem to go over well with Patterson Hood. Between songs, as he got up to pass the communal bottle of whiskey the band shares on stage, he indicated that this would be the last time he would sit down during a show. In response to some asshole in the crowd shouting for the Rock Show (DBT's normal three-guitar ass-kick-a-thon), Hood replied, "Motherfucker, we'll bring your motherfuckin' Rock Show next spring." Mike Cooley also asked the crowd, "Did Alabama win today? Just kidding, I don't give a shit!" Everyone was in good spirits, and the crowd just kept cheering for more. The Drive-by Truckers played for a good two hours. Now, E Eugene maintains that his only qualm with DBT is that they play too long. I can understand his point - after a while I sometimes find myself a bit stupefied by the spectacle of it all, especially at loud shows late at night. However, I would have gladly liked to see another hour this night. As with any great show, I was left wanting more.

Interestingly enough, I did get just a bit more music this night. Since the show wrapped up around 12:30, E Eugene, Kevin, his father and I (Natan left during the encore to meet up with a friend celebrating his birthday) went down the street to Mickey's Tavern, a Willy Street classic. We walked into the place to see a punk band playing right near the door. Mickey's is a fairly small place, and it was almost like the band was playing in the midst of the crowd. Kevin's father was not a fan of the genre, and when we decamped for the Crystal Corner about 30 minutes later he attempted to fight one of the bandmembers. His theory was, "That's what they really want, for you to pop 'em one. That's why they're in the band..." I don't know about that, but the next week I was screwing around at work and I discovered that the punk band playing that night was the Bottles, a band that had once played a basement show at my shit-hole house back in 1999-2000. Even better, the Show Diary for the night mentions the incident. Too much...

I came away from the DBT Dirt Underneath show really enjoying the change in format. I love seeing the Rock Show, probably more than that asshole calling for it. But one of the greatest things about seeing a live show are the differences between the recorded studio and live versions of a song. If you really like a group enough to see them multiple times, it's a pretty good bet that you are going to like the material enough to really appreciate the different takes a band comes up with. I know I did.

Photos from Minnesota

2007-11-01T15:27:00.000-05:00

It was a cold and windy day in Minnesota yesterday. This isn't the start of a scary Halloween story though. It's just the way it was. However, it was very pleasant Tuesday afternoon as I drove up from Madison. I stopped at a site I've been working on north of Duluth to take pictures for photosimulations. Being fall, the sun sets early. I tried to get up to the site by two in the afternoon but I ended up being an hour late, and found myself looking into the sun for all of my westerly photographs.

Here's a photograph looking southwest over Eagle Lake. I tried adjusting the settings on the camera to take some of the glare out of the picture.The next morning was not so pleasant. It was overcast, cold and windy. I made my way over to Babbitt, a mining town on the eastern end of the Mesabi Range. The tower site I'm working on is located on a ridge above the Northshore Iron Mine. Here's a picture I took from the backseat of an extended-cab pickup as we drove across the mine itself.Following my mine experience, I drove west along US 169 to another site that needed photosimulation pictures. The site is near Buhl. The landscape in the area is dotted with old pit mines, now filled with water. The wind was especially nasty, though from time to time the sun would break between the clouds. Here is a picture I took of the Civic parked in from of an old pit mine, now called Lake Buhl.After all my pictures had been completed, I made my way back toward Wisconsin. By the time I reached Duluth the clouds had started to clear. As I drove over the Blatnik Bridge between Duluth and Superior, I snapped a quick picture from the sunroof of the Civic. Here is St. Louis Bay, as viewed from (roughly) the state line at 60 mph.

Minnesota, Again

2007-10-31T08:07:00.000-05:00

I find myself in the North Country yet again. I'm currently in Virginia, MN for another two day trip. I did a similar one last week as well.

I've got a few things to post. Last weekend was especially busy, but I promise I'll try to keep it under 1,000 words.

The Busiest Week

2007-10-18T13:36:00.000-05:00

The last week of September was quite possibly the busiest week I've ever had. I put well over 1,000 miles on the Civic in the course of visiting three states. It all started off Monday morning, when I received a call from a client wanting to schedule the site walk for a new tower north of Duluth, MN. I left work around noon and ran home to grab a change of clothes. I stopped at an existing tower site on the way up for photos. Here's a shot of the Civic atop a hill overlooking the farm buildings on the property.Following this I made my way up to Superior, where I spent the night. I attempted to email back pictures from the site I visited, but yet again the hotel WiFi was not up to the task. I was up early the next morning to make my way through Duluth to the proposed tower site. Coming over the Blatnik Bridge from Superior to Duluth, I saw three separate boats in the harbor. I've always had a thing for Great Lakes shipping. It took me about 45 minutes to get to the tower site, and I ended up being about 15 minutes early. The property owner happened to be home, and he came out to see what I was doing in his driveway. He had a dog that was the size of a pony. Once we got back in the woods I quickly determined that there would be no tower going in at that location - there were wetlands on the property, and of course the owner wanted the tower there. So this was yet another semi-wasted trip, though not as bad as some.

I raced back home to try and rest up, for I was heading down to Chicago the next day for a two day WiMAX convention. I made the mistake of waiting until Tuesday night to book the hotel, and ended up paying a lot for a Courtyard Marriott by Midway. Not a terrible drive to the McCormick Center, but for what I was paying I would have expected more. The convention itself was slightly boring. WiMAX doesn't really pertain to what I do at the moment. I cruised the expo floor and tried to grab as much free swag as I could. In this regard I failed, since I always feel too ashamed to just grab something without talking to the salesperson at the booth. And since I was in so far over my head (I don't know much about WiMAX, even after this convention) I didn't exactly feel comfortable getting into a conversation and revealing my ignorance. But I did take a few pictures the second day. Here's a shot of the expo floor.The real highlight of the Chicago trip had nothing to do with mobile broadband internet. I met up with two acquaintances for dinner in downtown Chicago. I had called up my friend Alex when I found out that I would be down, but both he and his girlfriend were out of town. However, he suggested that I call up Luke and Fran, two of his friends that I've met around ten times in the last four years. So I called Luke up and he and Fran agreed to meet me at Mike Ditka's on Chestnut. After paying $21 to park the Civic, I met up with them outside the restaurant. I'd never been, but I was impressed. We had a few drinks at the bar while waiting to be seated, and I caught up with the goings-on in their lives. Luke is an electrical engineer who also works for a small company named Callpod. His company is coming out with a new Bluetooth earpiece, which he's done a good deal of work on. Personally I find it a bit more fascinating that towers, but I did go to school for electrical engineering for two years, so I can relate to his excitement on designing a new product.

Thursday I returned to the convention and sat through several more boring presentations. I did take an hour-long break where I did a quick post about the second Lutsen site trip. I left Chicago later in the afternoon, and spent a good hour crawling along the Kennedy while listening to the Cubs game on the radio. I can't stand it when I don't make any one of the three sets of lights along Hwy 12 on my commute (soon to be four, with the lights going in at the Hwy 19 intersection - not too happy about that). I can't imagine going through that every day. I made it back in time to hit up J.T. Whitney's with E Eugene for Big Beers. But the week wasn't over, not for another three days.

Friday I came to the office for the second time all week. I had a pile of mail and a lot of emails that I hadn't answered using my laptop or BlackBerry. But I was only putting in my time, really. I left at noon and headed on down to Dayton. I was meeting up with my father, and we then made our way down to Evansville to get in a round of golf with my old college roommate Nick. My father went in for rotator cuff surgery in October, so this was to be the last round of golf for the year. It was a simply beautiful day, and despite the fact that neither of us played all that well, it was a great time. Here's a picture of Nick crossing the bridge on the ninth hole.The next morning I woke up early so that I could drop off the Civic for an oil change. My father picked me up and we worked for a few hours on various things before heading back up to Madison around noon. I had managed to get two tickets to the Wisconsin-Michigan State football game! My father and I drove up near campus and parked on Monroe Street. We walked down to Lucky's, one of the bars lining Regent Street and stopped in to grab a beer and a brat. As we were making our way though the crowd in the outdoor beer garden (fenced-off parking lot) I ran into Nick's younger brother, who's enrolled at UW. After a few beers there, we made our way up toward Camp Randall. We were in the stands in time to catch the end of the UW Band's pre-game show. Here are a couple of pictures:
The game was close. Looking back on it now (after two Badger losses) we were lucky to pull away with the win. However, at the time I couldn't understand how the Badgers seemed unable to stop the Spartan running game. I get a little worked up watching sports, especially if things aren't going my team's way. The game went down to the wire, but the Badgers pulled it out. Very few things feel as rewarding as having your team win the game after you've been standing and shouting for the last five minutes of the fourth quarter. After the game we stopped off for one more beer while waiting for the traffic to clear up. I suppose we should have waited a bit longer, since it took a good thirty minutes to get off Monroe Street. We went to Picasso's for a delicious Gorgonzola and ribeye steak pizza, and then my father dropped me off to pick up my car. I had to call it a night, because I had a busy day ahead of me.

Sunday morning I woke up around 7:30 and drove over to my friend Logan's house. We were heading over to Milwaukee to play in the Philippine Cultural and Civic Center Foundation (PCCCF) Golf Tournament at Ironwood Golf Course in Sussex, west of Milwaukee. Logan's wife Beverly was sick, and Logan's friend managed to injure his shoulder raking leaves, so it was the two of us. I played somewhat inconsistently: I had three pars and one birdie, but I also had a couple of holes that I scored 8's and even one 10! We finished up at a very fast pace, so we had a bit of a wait for everyone else to finish up and dinner to be served. I didn't win either of the flag prizes I had qualified for - longest putt and longest drive in the fairway. However, there was a Calloway scoring system drawing. I don't know exactly how, but I won first place - a $40 pro shop gift certificate. And Logan won second! Here's a picture of the clubhouse as we were coming in on the 18th hole, I believe:After dinner we made our way back to Madison, stopping for a bit at Logan's injured friend's place to rub in how fun the day had been. I believe I made it back to my apartment by 11:00 PM, which was a bit late - I was heading up to Shawano the next morning. But that's a whole different week...

Hungry Like The Wolf

2007-10-17T20:51:00.001-05:00

Last year I posted about how I saw a Bruce Cambell commercial for Old Spice. Well, last weekend I caught Act II:

Again, it was during a football game. Again, I laughed for a solid minute. Granted, I didn't see the full commercial. I saw the 30 second spot that unfortunately doesn't feature as much Bruce. Not that any of these lovely ladies don't merit attention, but there is only one Bruce Campbell.

UPDATE:
OK, this is even better! I especially like the part where she says, "Bruce is wearing Old Spice, and he's playing good music..." That is my entire life philosophy, not even distilled.

Trips, Many Of Them

2007-10-17T20:17:00.000-05:00

I've been a busy guy. In the absence of work in the office, I've found myself as the "designated site-tripper" of the office. Besides the aforementioned trips to MN and Chicago, I found myself up in northern Wisconsin several weeks ago. The best part about this particular trip: my sister now makes this region of the Dairy State her home.

I signed up for this trip as soon as I found out about it. It was a tower going on the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe's land, near their casino. This happens to be about 15 miles from the little town of Gresham, where my lovely and talented sister is now the first grade teacher. Of course, I stretched the trip into a full day, so that I could meet up with ELK and buy her a reasonably priced dinner. I had to leave early, about 5:00 AM, to make the meeting time. The site was difficult, since it was the third candidate - the last two sites had been shot down for various reasons. I spent a good hour mapping out the particulars of the site, and staked out a layout that would hopefully be approved. By 11:00 AM I was more or less done, and I had a few hours to kill. I drove around the small town of Gresham for a good thirty minutes, getting a feel for the town whose young my sister was now charged with educating. As my sister is fond of pointing out, Gresham maintains a 2:7 church to bar ratio - the true hallmark of a northern Wisconsin town. After lunch at one of the two restaurants in town, I stopped at the village park. Here's a picture, showing the fall colors with the view of the flowage behind the dam.
I still had time to kill, so I made my way over to Shawano, where my sister's apartment is, and found a good little coffee shop. I actually posted the last two posts while waiting for my sister. She showed up right as I was uploading the picture of her any my grandparents. She liked that photo better than the one I took of her drinking straight from the wine bottle during the dinner...

I spent a couple of hours catching up with her world, and then we made our way to a local bar & grill for dinner. Unfortunately I had to call the night premature, since it was a three hour + drive home and I needed to drop off some equipment in my possession to someone for the next day. Regardless, I'll always take any opportunity to visit my back-home-again sister. As I've said to many, a three hour drive is much better than a half-country one...

They grow more than corn and beans in Illinois

2007-10-01T15:41:00.000-05:00

On the way back from my grandparents' 60th we drove past the Camp Grove Wind Farm along Highway 40. The wind turbines are currently being constructed, and I was leaning out the rear window trying to get a good look. Here's a few pictures:Here's one that's under construction:I've noticed more and more of these going up down in Illinois and in southern Wisconsin. Whenever I go down to Illinois I listen in on the conversations that my grandfather, uncle and cousins have about the state of affairs in Illinois. Aside from the usual talk about the price of corn and the crazy things that tractors can do these days, now wind farms are a bit of a hot topic.

60 Years!

2007-10-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

Three weeks ago I went down to my maternal grandparents' farm in Illinois to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. The entire family was there for a family picture. We did the same thing 10 years ago for their 50th. Despite the alarming number of bees present at the outdoor park where the photographs were taken (I have an irrational fear of bees and other stinging insects, which didn't seem so irrational after my sister and my cousin's fiance were stung), everything went well. We went to a nice restaurant in Peoria afterwards and by all accounts the night went splendidly.

My mom's side has a definite Norman Rockwell-esque quality to it. My grandparents live on the family farm in the old farmhouse pictured above, where my grandfather was born. My uncle lives a quarter mile up the road, across from my late great-aunt's farm. I'm related to just about everyone in those parts. In fact, my great-great-great-grandfather, Michael Streitmatter, founded the town in 1848! What's always been disconcerting is that I have never been able to remember most of the extended family - third and fourth cousins and such. There are simply too many of them (my mother had 42 aunts and uncles). But they all know me - we're the only ones from Wisconsin.

Here's a picture of my sister with my grandparents the day after the dinner.

Lutsen, MN Redux

2007-09-27T13:06:00.000-05:00

Last week I headed back on down Highway 61 for another trip to the tower site near Lutsen, MN. This time I was up to take pictures for photosimulations, basically engineered photographs to estimate the viewshed of the tower. This is a county requirement that is used for the zoning approvals. I had to swing past another site southeast of Superior, WI on Monday. I had a leisurely drive up to Lutsen, so I decided to enjoy my drive. Most of the time I'm rushing from one site to another and I barely have time to enjoy the sights. Not so on this trip. On my way up I stopped at Gooseberry Falls State Park and spent an hour seeing the sights. Here's a picture of the falls.
I stayed at the same hotel as last time, right on Lake Superior. It wasn't as pretty as the last time, but I'm not complaining. I did try to email back the photographs that I took in Wisconsin to the office, so that the drafters could start on the photosims. However, the photos were high resolution and came in around 3 MB. The WiFi at the hotel could barely process them, and it took me about four hours to send four photos. I still had three left, which meant I had to get back to the office Tuesday night to ensure we made the Thursday deadline.

The next morning I awoke around 5:45, before dawn broke. I took a shower and got ready for the day, and when I came out of the bathroom I looked outside. Fog, and lots of it. This was very bad. As you can imagine, photosimulations in these conditions were impossible. I hung around the hotel for a couple of hours, hoping the fog would lift. No such luck. Finally, around 10:30 I had to check out. Here's a picture from the hotel balcony. Compare this with my photo from my first visit, and you'll see just how socked in I was.
I kept driving around hoping that I would be able to salvage the trip. I finally resorted to going up to a nearby hiking trail, about a mile from the tower site. Even though the weather wasn't cooperating, I hiked about two miles down the trail, taking pictures to demonstrate that the tower wouldn't be visible due to the topography and the tree cover. This was the Superior Hiking Trail, which is used as part of the North County National Scenic Trail. We try to keep towers at least a mile away from the trail, but in this case it was unavoidable, since the trail in this section is close to Hwy 61 and Lake Superior. I put up a photo from the trail this morning, on the previous post.

Finally, at 12:45 I called it quits. I had an eight hour drive back to Wisconsin, and as I said, I needed to get the rest of the photos from the other site back to the office. I was "wet and defeated" as one of my officemates put it. I was mainly upset about the fact that I would have to come up yet again just to get these pictures. However, this won't be the case. I learned on Tuesday that the site has gone down the tubes. The neighbor won't agree to a setback easement and there's just no way to fit the tower on the property while maintaining a 1,000 foot setback to the neighbor, a 200 foot setback to the property lines, and a 300 foot setback to a nearby creek. Oh, and there's a 1,000 foot setback from Highway 61. Put all that together, and the result is no tower.

So, I will be returning to the area sometime in the future, but this trip will be for a new tower site on a different property. Here's to hoping for better weather.

It's been a busy week

2007-09-27T09:10:00.000-05:00

I've got all these posts that I've meant to do, but it's been a crazy week. I'm currently in Chicago for a conference on broadband wireless internet (WiMAX). On Monday and Tuesday I was up in Minnesota for a trip, and last week I was in MN as well. I've got a few photos, but here's a picture I took from the Superior Hiking Trail near Lutsen. Enjoy...

The Eric Tessmer Band @ the King Club

2007-09-06T11:10:00.000-05:00

Two weekends ago I wrapped up a busy week with a Saturday night show with my parents. We went downtown to the King Club to see the Eric Tessmer Band from Austin, TX. I had stumbled across a listing for the show two days prior, and I immediately emailed my father. He and I had seen them play at the Belleville American Music Festival back in July, and I think they were his favorite of the entire lineup. My mother was on vacation with my sister in Germany at this time, but she had been listening to the CDs my father bought pretty regularly. They both told me they would love to come up to see the show.

The show wasn't supposed to start until 9, so I told my parents to meet me for dinner at the Old Fashioned around 7:30. I arrived a bit early to put my name in for a table, knowing how busy this restaurant gets. My parents ran late, as always, and it has been quite a few years since they navigated the Capital Square. Consequently I received three calls from my father for directions to the parking ramp and the restaurant. No harm done - they were only about fifteen minutes late, and I had time to study the menu extensively! The food at the Old Fashioned is exceptional and I always have a hard time choosing. I have this quirk: I don't ever order the same thing as someone else at the table. My father does this too, and he claims that he always gets something different than my mother in case she doesn't like her selection - then she can have his. When the waiter took the order, my mother was going with my first pick and my father my second. So I quickly scanned the menu and picked another. Crisis averted.

After dinner we strolled over to the King Club. I've always loved the King Club for a smaller show. The place is fairly small - maybe 100 people could fit in there without regard to the fire code. The stage is right in front and tables line the walls. There's a nice bar in the back.
When we arrived about 20 people were already present, and we managed to grab the last table. I also learned that two other bands were on the bill that night, both local. Whitney Mann and the Boys were the opening act and the Skintones were also on the bill. While my father an I were at the bar getting drinks, my father found himself standing next to Eric Tessmer himself, and they chatted for a few minutes about the BAM Fest. Around 10:00 Whitney Mann and the Boys took the stage and started off the night. They played a brand of alt.country that I found to be good. They played all originals except for one cover: Johnny Cash's "25 Minutes To Go," which I absolutely loved. I was impressed. I'll be certainly making it a point to see them again around town.

Shortly after the Eric Tessmer Band took the stage to a nearly full club. The band consists of just Tessmer on guitar, Allen Daniells on bass, and Doug Day on drums, and they really are tight. While they were the listed headliners, they had moved up to play second and let the Skintones close the show.
No knock on the Skintones, but this was an added bonus for my parents. The band got right into it. Tessmer can straight up play. Their blues-rock sound is perfect for a setting such as the King Club. However, it was a bit loud for my mother. Fortunately they sell earplugs at the bar, which allowed my mother to enjoy the show without covering her ears. The band played a headliner set of nearly two hours, mixing originals with a few blues standards. At one point Tessmer played an extended solo while Daniells walked through the crowd to hit the bathroom and pick up a few drinks at the bar. It was also the Doug Day's birthday, which prompted Daniells to lead the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday." They wrapped up about ten minutes before 1:00 AM and my parents decided to call it a night. Not too bad, considering my father is 60 and my mother is not too far behind!

Getting in Nine at Argue-Ment

2007-09-04T13:18:00.000-05:00

For the last few years my father and I have been regular patrons at Argue-Ment Golf Course between Belleville and New Glarus. It is about the closest course to Paoli, and on many Fridays my father and I will cut out early to play a round. Earlier this summer my father injured his shoulder, effectively putting an end to our Friday excursions for a while. Thankfully he's starting to heal up, and he has modified his swing to allow him to play. In fact, he's hitting the ball pretty damn well.

This last Friday was the first time we had been out since early July. I had brought along my camera - these are photos from the course. It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon, and I'm happy to report that I played one of the best rounds I've managed all year. The last three or four times I've been out my performance was atrocious. Friday was a different story. I wasn't setting the world on fire by any means, but I did hit well consistently off the tee and my short game was markedly improved.

Argue-Ment is a course that most golfers wouldn't play regularly, since the tee boxes aren't level, the roughs are thick and the greens are hard, mounded, and virtually impossible to hold. Still, it is a beautiful setting: an old farm in a valley, converted to a nine-hole course. It's the kind of course where you don't berate yourself too badly for a missed shot or a lost ball, because everything is a bit more laid back. And the view from #5 is worth the price alone:

A Wasted Day

2007-08-21T17:27:00.000-05:00

Last week I dashed up to northern Wisconsin for what could be described as a non-traditional site trip. I had worked on a tower site in Woodboro in Oneida County over a year ago. It was memorable in that I placed a notice in the local paper soliciting comments pertaining to historic structures. I received at least four angry letters decrying the "cancer tower" and the "greedy bastards" who were spoiling the pristine views of northern Wisconsin. Now, I've put up some big towers, and I've put up some ugly towers. This site was neither. It was under 200' so it would be not lit, and it was a quarter mile back in the woods. I never understood what the fuss was about.

Well, this tower site kept plodding along, long after my work had been done. I didn't even realize that it was still awaiting approval. I was told that the locals had all rallied together and shouted the cell company rep down at the first several meetings. Finally, the rep agreed to have a actual tower simulation put up at the site so that concerned citizens could see for themselves what was being proposed.
That, my friends, is a crane. 188' to the tip. Bolted to the crane is a wooden mock-up painted neon orange. 193' to the top, exactly the height proposed. We hung a 300' tape from it to verify. I drove over three and a half hours to get to this site at 8:15 A.M. The zoning board and the concerned citizenry showed up around 10. My role was to answer any questions and take pictures. There were no questions. For the most part, the "tower" was completely screened from view. Only at one or two locations was the crane visible. Here's the most prominent I saw:See that little guy? No? Here's a zoomed shot:That's it. Like the sign? There was at least 30 of them throughout the area. The zoning meeting was at 1 that afternoon. I was told that not one of the anti-tower group bothered showing up after seeing what exactly it was they had opposed for a year. Of course, the tower was approved without any problems. Other than the absurdity of spending an entire day on site for the purpose of 15 minutes worth of pictures, the most interesting thing was the actual disappointment I saw on the faces of those people that had gotten so worked up over this tower. Not a single person that came out to the site expressed relief that the tower wouldn't be visible from their vacation cabins and homes. It's almost as if they wanted it to be big and ugly.

Greetings from Lutsen, MN

2007-07-31T06:30:00.000-05:00

Every once in a great while my travels take me somewhere that is simply beautiful. While it is true that I've journeyed all over northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, these trips tend to happen on gray rainy days in the fall or spring. This time however, I've hit the jackpot. Right now I'm sitting on a balcony looking out on the vast expanse of Lake Superior. There is a soft scent of pine in the air, which is a comfortable 65 or so degrees. The waves are gently lapping against the rocks of the cliff, not more than 100 feet from where I sit. Even the hotel coffee doesn't taste all that bad. And the best part is: work's picking up the bill.

I took a few pictures from the balcony when I got in last night. I'll post them when I return to the office. Until then, use your imagination.
Update: Here is the view. Enjoy!