http://www.myspace.com/bandofhorses

you can download one of their best tunes, The Funeral here. Or just stream it. It doesn't kick in for 90 seconds, but hold on.

Similarities to Shins:
-both bands came about from an earlier group with the same guys
-both bands have a song named after a saint on their latest long player.

Similarities to Modest Mouse:
-Pacific Northwesterners
-Loud/Soft sounds

Similarities to My Morning Jacket:
-Treble tone voice (see track 8 from Everything All The Time and anything from MMJs At Dawn release).

Grade: 88. This one'll be on my top ten list, you just watch. Looking forward to catching them at the Parish June 25th. For it I'm delaying my move out of Austin a couple days.

FLICKR

Got some pics up for your pleasure.

Fantasy Baseball update
I'm up this week, but at oh what a cost. Drafted Ben Sheets knowing he was going to miss the first 2 weeks of the year. No problem. Immediately after drafting AJ Burnett, news that he left the spring training outing vs the sox after throwing 1 pitch in the second inning. So I've got 2 on the DL before the season starts. Not good. Then THE opening game for all of MLB is Cleveland vs the ChiSox, CC Sabathia leaves the game with an injury. DL. Oh hell, why stop here. Noah Lowry (potential breakout candidate) leaves his first outing and is on the DL by the end of the day. To cap it off, Kelvim Escobar pitched very well against the yankees. But he pitched the last 4 innings with a bad finger. Probably not going to get him on the DL, but he will probably miss a start. I am now going to say the rosary before every Roy Oswalt start. Oh wait, he pitched like crap last night. At least he walked off the mound on his own power.

Music Update
Missed all of SXSW with work in St. Louis. If you can't be in Austin, St Loowey is where its at!
In other news, missed the Low show Friday night on account of my own stupidity. Thought it was a midweek show and I'll be gone then so I just assumed there was no way to catch it. Oh well, Centro-Matic and Great Lake Swimmers next weekend are on board. The new Centro-Matic cd is pretty solid. I think I might like it more than all their others, save Redo The Stacks, and this one from a production standpoint is 180 degrees different. Other recent cd purchases: Children of Nuggets, Cat Power, Destroyer, Voxtrot, Iron and Wine (The Sea and Rhythm).

Move Update
All systems go for July 1 return to Mass. Excited to be living with my honey in Boston. Not excited to leave Austin. I'd have a hard time coming up with any better town/city any better from a culture, quality of life and economic standpoint. And the winters are awefully nice. Nice enough to put up with the triple digit heat for 100 days a year. But it will be nice being near all my friends and family, the red sox, celtics, etc. Best be ready for some wiffle ball!

Looks like the class action suit brought on by the malware that shipped on some Sony artists has been settled. I didn't buy any affected CD, but Sony does have me on some emailing list so I got the notice below. Looks pretty fair to me:

***IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE/SOFTWARE UPDATE NOTICE***PLEASE READ***
(Please do not respond to this email.  Responses will not be read.)

If You Bought, Received or Used a SONY BMG Music Entertainment CD
Containing Either XCP or Media Max Content Protection Software, Your Rights
May Be Affected By a Class Action Settlement, And You Should Download
Updates For That Software.

What is this about?

A settlement has been proposed in a lawsuit brought against SONY BMG
Music Entertainment, Inc., SunnComm International Inc., and First 4
Internet, Ltd. ("Defendants").  The lawsuit, In re SONY BMG CD Technologies
Litigation, Case No. 1:05-cv-09575-NRB, is pending in the United States
District Court for the Southern District of New York and relates to XCP
and MediaMax content protection software installed on certain SONY BMG
music CDs.

The Settlement resolves claims that the Defendants manufactured and
sold CDs containing XCP and MediaMax software without adequately
disclosing the limitations the software imposes on the use of the CDs and the
security vulnerabilities it creates.  The Defendants have denied that
they did anything wrong.

Who Is Included, And What Does The Settlement Provide?

The settlement provides relief for persons who bought, received or used
SONY BMG CDs with either XCP or MediaMax software.  Under the
settlement, any person in possession of an XCP CD can exchange it for a
replacement CD, an MP3 download of the same album, and either (a) cash payment
of $7.50 and one (1) free album download from a list of 200 albums, or
(b) three (3) free album downloads from that list.
Purchasers of CDs containing MediaMax 5.0 software will receive a free
MP3 download of the same album and one (1) additional free album
download.  Purchasers of CDs containing MediaMax 3.0 software will receive a
free MP3 download of the same album.

The settlement also requires the Defendants to stop manufacturing SONY
BMG CDs with XCP or MediaMax 3.0 and 5.0 software and, until 2008: (1)
make available updates to fix all known security vulnerabilities caused
by XCP and MediaMax software; (2) provide software programs to
uninstall XCP and MediaMax software safely; (3) fix any future security
vulnerabilities discovered in MediaMax and any other content protection
software placed on SONY BMG CDs; (4) provide independent verification that
personal information about users of SONY BMG CDs has not and will not be
collected through XCP or MediaMax; (5) waive certain provisions of the
end user license agreements for XCP and MediaMax software; and
(6) ensure that any other content protection software will be clearly
disclosed, independently tested and readily uninstalled.

At 9:15a.m. on May 22, 2006, the Court will hold a hearing at the
United States District Court, Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States
Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, Courtroom 21A, New York, New York 10007-1312, to
decide whether to approve the settlement and the class attorneys' fees
and costs.

How Do I Participate In The Settlement?
If you bought or received a SONY BMG Music CD containing XCP or
MediaMax software and want to receive the relief you may be eligible for under
the settlement, you must submit an online claim form at
www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com, or mail a claim form to:

SONY BMG CD Technologies Settlement
P.O. Box 1804, Faribault, MN 55021-1804

All claim forms must be submitted by December 31, 2006.

What Are My Other Options?

If you bought, received or used a SONY BMG Music CD containing XCP or
MediaMax software, and you do not want to be legally bound by the
settlement or receive a replacement CD, cash, free downloads or other relief,
you must exclude yourself by May 1, 2006.  If you do not exclude
yourself, certain of your claims against the Defendants that were or could
have been asserted in the lawsuit will be released, meaning you may not
be able to sue the Defendants for those claims.
To view the detailed legal Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement,
Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Settlement Fairness Hearing and to
download the software updates, visit www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com.
You may obtain further information by contacting the claims
administrator at the address above or by calling toll free 1-800-242-7610.

Lots of things to update, so little time. But first, some rants

I was perusing myspace for the first time yesterday; okay last night. I stayed in on saturday and pretty much geeked it out. I got to thinking theres this whole world of cool people out there who are in on this whole make out club/friendster/orkut/my space thing - and this just must be approaching a majority the cool kids out there - and I'm fairly oblivious to this. And I got to think, how did this happen? Then the feeling that I'm not the master of my domain crept in. Could I be missing out a large cultural phenomenon? Well, perhaps I am. Then I swing on over to stereogum, and notice a post about the upcoming re-issue of NMHs In The Aeroplane Over The Sea in the UK. In the comments section (mind you, the 33 posts paled in comparison to the Kayne West-centered 190+ comments) I saw the other side to this coin. SO many people whinging about instant indie cred. Either you like something or you don't. I happen to think that was a great album. If the indie kids agree en masse, great. Thats something I have in common with them. I guess in my - ehem - old age, I'm less concerned with liking something that is outside the mainstream. I think this whole mentality of living ahead of the curve, liking things that haven't yet caught on, then eschewing them once they meet some well deserved popularity is uniquely American in nature. Perhaps spurred on by the mass media machine - lets face it we get fed an exorbitant amount of crap on a daily basis - we end up tossing aside some great works just because we associate market appeal with crap. I mean, what if the wine industry was the same way? Would we say that 'yeah, Chateau Rothschild made some good wines, but their last Bordeaux release was just totally mailing it in'? Of course not!
So much american indie rock is great. I honestly believe (quite strongly) that theres never been a more fertile period for rock n' roll than today, and indie rockers are the primary carriers of the torch here. But jeez, lets put aside the holier than thou attitude and enjoy the show.

That rant probably should have been flushed out in several pages - probably makes no sense being condensed into 5 or so sentences, but I'm not a full time blogger, just can't get my ass on blogger long enough.

Deeper Into Movies
What GREAT movies are out now!!! In the past couple weeks I saw Broken Flowers, 40 year old virgin, and Grizzly Man. In the next week or so, I hope to check out Junebug, The Aristocrats, and yes theres a strong chance you'll find me at 9 Songs sometime as well. The Constant Gardner is probably a Oscar winner that I'll miss out on solely due to the fact that the pool of decent flicks is currently deeper than its been in ages.

Adios, Frankie.

Southwestern chicken medallions with vegetable stuffed peppers and chipolte roasted tomatillo salsa.

I made this dish at my friend Tom and Heather’s house last week. They’ve been awfully accommodating to me while I’ve been back up from Texas, so this meal was my way of thanking them for their hospitality. They both eat healthy most of the time, so I wanted to be sure to prepare something that didn’t involve copious amounts of fat. This meal ended up being both healthy and tasty. The salsa would work over grilled meats instead of the chicken prepared below. The stuffed peppers kinda stole the show. Very tasty, they were.

Chipolte and roasted tomatillo salsa
Dried chipolte peppers
2 tomatillos, husks removed
1 lime
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
¼ cup red onion, diced
Bell pepper (any color)
S & P
2 Tablespoons neutral oil (canola is fine)

Turn oven to Broil, allow it get to temperature. Meanwhile, hydrate the dried chipolte peppers in water, microwave for 60 seconds on high to speed this process. Slice and seed the bell pepper so you have 3 or 4 straight walls. The pepper will tell you if you will get 3 or 4 slices of this. Place the peppers and the tomatillos on a sheet pan, roast until skins are blackened. You may need to remove some items before others to ensure they all cook properly. Discard excess charred skin and place tomatillos and roasted pepper into blender. Squeeze the juice of one lime into blender. Add the onion, hydrated chipoltes, cilantro and puree until smooth. Add oil and some of the water from the chipoltes until you reach the desired consistency. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, sweeten with honey or a teaspoon brown sugar to round out the flavors if desired.

southwestern chicken medallions:
4 breast halves roughly chopped
one egg
salsa
S & P
3 cloves roasted garlic (optional)
Oil for frying
Flour (optional)
Bread crumbs (optional)

Beat egg in a large bowl. Take the chopped chicken and pulse in food processor. Do not completely mince; ideally you will have some mince, some fine chop and some larger pieces of chicken breast. Add chicken to the beaten egg. Add salsa, either homemade or store-bought to the chicken mixture (about 2 tablespoons salsa per breast). Additionally you could add heavy cream or crème fraiche to this mixture for a richer product, but I think they are fine like this (and significantly more healthy).

At this point you can pan fry portions of this mixture in a cast iron skillet. Alternatively, you can bread the patties like you would eggplant parmesan. If doing this be sure to season your flour and bread crumbs (in keeping with the southwestern theme, cumin and chili powder would be a good choice). As this dish is somewhat labor intensive, you may opt to skip the breading step altogether.


Vegetable stuffed Peppers

Rather than the American standard stuffed pepper consisting of ground beef, rice and a tomato sauce I wanted to make something that was going to be lighter than that, with loads of color and a broad palate of flavor. Using Orzo pasta instead of rice, the filling is closer to that of a pasta salad than moms stuffed peppers.

4 Yellow bell peppers, tops removed, seeded, and parboiled for 3 minutes
6 oz dried orzo.
2 oz raisins
2 oz toasted pine nuts
1 can black beans, rinsed
¼ cup + red onion, chopped
¼ cup + carrot, chopped
¼ cup + any other seasonal vegetable, such as asparagus tips, zucchini, or green beans (optional)
¼ cup tomato sauce
1 chopped tomato
4 ears of corn
Grated cheese (optional)

Cook the orzo according to package instructions, being sure to salt the water. If you have chicken or vegetable stock on hand, using this instead of plain water will give you more depth of flavor. Drain the orzo when al dente.

Plump the raisins by placing them in the chipolte water and microwaving for no more than 20 seconds.

Saute the onions, carrot, and additional vegetable. Boil corn on the cob and slice off the kernels once cooked. Using the back of the knife, be sure to scrape the ear of its remaining kernels.

In a bowl, add the toasted pine nuts, raisins, sautéed vegetables, corn, chopped tomato and black beans. Add orzo pasta and mix well. Add oil, water, and tomato sauce to ensure the final product is not too dry. We don’t need everything swimming in tomato sauce or oil so be judicious in what you add. Taste as you go to determine what it could use. After you are satisfied with the stuffing, stuff the peppers and top with grated cheese (pepper jack being a good choice). Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and everything is completely warmed through.

Whaa?

Looking at Amazon for books on wine I came across this review

Oh heck here it is:
God Hates This, July 27, 2005

Dont all of you sinners realize that God Hates wine? It even says in the bible not to drink the s***. Seriously, the "Wine Bible"? This is so f****** sac-religious it makes me want to puke. Please do yourself a favor and go to church for once in your life.

...so I guess that whole water into wine thing was just a parlor trick? Simply amazing how misguided some people can be, particularly under the zeal of scripture.