The Two Loves of My Life

Happy 2010!! I don't believe that it's already here, I'm supposed to graduate college this year! It has been a year so far off my whole life, I never thought it would come. Two thousand ten, almost as dramatic as year two thousand itself. And if I'm going to graduate college this year, it better seem like I've just completed a four year course of study in writing. In those efforts, I've begun this blog. If any one but me ever reads it, great, but if not, it's for me to write, react, commit, and work on something. So what do I write about? Well, I can only think of the two loves of my life- music and food. More specifically, Phish and fish, but we'll get to details later.

I love music of all kinds and, like many people, I can't and don't want to imagine a world without it. I love to listen to live music, you sense the energy and feel the emotion and the music is transformed into something entirely different. But I go to all types of shows, from acoustic sets to electronic DJ's to jam bands to punk rock to singer/songwriter types to local bands doing their first gig in an empty bar. Here, I plan to write any reactions to shows I go to, as I'm lucky enough to witness a decent amount of live music.

For example, on New Years Eve, I saw Lotus and MSTRKRFT at the Electric Factory in Philly. The venue was decent, I hate the PA law that separates 21 year old from underage kids, I went to the show with my 20 year old sister and couldn't stand with her? Lame. But I guess the show was a little rushed (MSTRKRFT did have to to get to NYC by 3 am) because Lotus went on at 930 exactly. They opened with Grayrigg, which was a nice way to ease into the night, followed by a Dane Jeer Us into Da Funk, a Daft Punk cover, back into DJU and into a great jam, quick, high energy, right into Jump Off. Halfway through the first set, the crowd finally filled up and the first floor was really bumpin'. They closed first set with Simian, Wax with a DAY TRIPPER tease in there, which could have been better but was still pretty tight. Then they pulled out Blacklight Sunflair and Tip of the Tongue, which had a 7 Nation Army tease. Pretty good first set, but you could tell kids were waiting for something better. It was almost like Lotus was waiting for something better too, and they brought it, but only after MSTRKRFT rang in the New Year for us. They played a fairly heavy set, but I knew they were itching to get out of there. A three hour drive up to New York is no simple task and they had only three hours. So in between Lotus and MSTRKRFT each time were the Playloop and Plex DJ's which were not that impressive, but when Lotus got back on they brought it hard for the rest of the night, which went something like this: Spiritualize with a Kids (MGMT) cover squeezed in, Tarasque with The Ocean (Zepplin) cover, Bellweather with an Enter Sandman (Metallica) cover. So so good, they really brought the house down with these three. Then Dowrn, 128 with a hot jam, Hammerstrike, Sunrain into Flower Sermon which had a Crazy Train (Ozzy) cover, ending with Sunrain. The set was really incredible, really high energy, and really on point. Way to go, Lotus, thank you for a great New Years rager.

If you're still with me, or rather if I'm still with me, let's move on to the second love of my life- food! This blog will help me explore new recipes and start cooking more often. If I want to live on my own and stay healthy, I have to start cooking- that's the end of it, there is no other way. Thankfully, I got a starter cookbook for Christmas. It's got all the essential cookware I need, like different sized pots and pans (nonstick, of course) and mixing bowls and yaddah yaddah. They give me basic directions about cooking, like when to sautee or fry, or when to use oil over butter, or basic temperature things. A very helpful cookbook overall, I look forward to using it back at school. As for now, I brought in the new year with chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and eggs. I ate that before the hangover hit, so that was basically all for the day. Dinner was some raviolis, which I always recommend be eaten with tomato sauce. Tonight, I made salmon with carrots and onions, broiled (I believe) at 400 for 20ish minutes. And mashers with the peel and carrots. Nom Nom Nom Nom!!! Very yummy.

I didn't even proclaim my endless love for Phish in this post. There will be plenty of time for that I guess, after all, we've got all of 2010! More next week.