Goofy Guys

Band, Birthday, and Beer

I have 3 things to share with you all. I thought about putting them in different postings, but it occurred to me that then I’d push every other posting off the top 3, and I wouldn’t want to do that to you guys. So, explanations aside, here goes.

FIRST, In a couple weeks I’m taking the Columbia Wind Ensemble on tour to Yale, for a joint concert with the Yale Concert Band. It’s our first collaboration with another major college ensemble, so I’m very excited about it. It would mean a lot to me if you local boys could make it! It’s on Friday, February 23rd at 8pm in Woolsey Hall and will feature all kinds of great music, including one from our CRHS past: Gavorkna Fanfare!

SECOND: I’ll be traveling to CT again the weekend of March 30 to April 1. Since that’s so close to my birthday, as well as Bryan’s and Jim’s and only a month after Jake’s, I thought it would be nice to plan something with you local boys for that Saturday in honor of us getting old. Who’s going to be around? Lisa has suggested that, for her amusement, we try out a drinking game called Edward 40-hands, but I’m game for regular beering as well.

FINALLY, speaking of beer, I’ve discovered a new favorite brand with a great beers and a whole lot of character. Stone Brewing has a whole selection of IPAs that are excellent, but none as good as their basic, which rivals my favorite Dogfish Head brews in its flavor, intensity, and drunk factor. They also produce Arrogant Bastard Ale, the quintessential condescending beer snob brew for the rest of us – just the text on the bottle (think “you’re not worthy” explained in two soul-crushing paragraphs) is enough to make it worth buying. The beer itself is spectacular as well, despite not being an IPA! The 7.2% alcohol content certainly helps with that…

Anyhoo, there’s 3 things that oughta get you talking.

In the New York Times

There was a great Times article today about porters. They talk about the history and recent revival of the whole porter genre, then they rank a few of them. Strangely enough, I’ve had a few of the ones that they mentioned. We brought Anchor Porter with us to Maine, their #10. I swear I’ve had the Geary’s before – that’s #1! And one of the beers they mention as terrible, the Rogue Porter, was the one I tried at Sunset Grill in Boston on the way up to Maine. And they’re right – it wasn’t very good!

They also ran a bit about the Russian download site that Tyty once mentioned, AllOfMP3 . Looks like someone wants to shut them down!

I hope everyone’s well. Who’s gonna be around for Thanksgiving?

Ni!