Full Disclaimer,  We love ourselves some Muppets & The Flight of the Conchords was a favorite HBO show.  Are you wondering why we are telling you this?  Well, Bret McKenzie won the Oscar last night for the song, “Man or Muppet”.  Still perplexed? Who is Bret McKenzie?

McKenzie is best known as one half of  of Flight of the Conchords.  McKenzie became affiliated with the film, The Muppets, when he was selected to be the music supervisor.  The soundtrack consists of five songs including “Man or Muppet” winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song.  Only two songs were nominated in the best original song category; the other being Real in Rio from the animated film Rio.

“I grew up in New Zealand watching The Muppets on TV; I never dreamed I’d get to work with them and I was genuinely star-struck when I finally met Kermit the Frog,” he said when accepting his award at the former Kodak Theatre.  ”But once you get to know him, he’s just a normal frog. And, like many stars here tonight, he’s a look shorter in real life.”  McKenzie thanked his colleagues, family and the creator of The Muppets, the late Jim Henson, saying it was a true honour to work in the shadow of such a legend.

Ludovic Bource‘s music for the silent film “The Artist” won Academy Award for Best Original Score.  In other musical highlights and lowlights respectively; Esperanza Splading sang “What a Wonderful World” with the Southern California Children’s Choir  and Billy Crystal opened the show is his trademark campy-ness.

Thankfully the awards season is over and we can get back to creating art.

It is blissfully snowing here in Woodstock and a terrific excuse to make some comforting Shepherd’s Pie.  This easy recipe serves 4. Takes 15 mins of prep and 25 min of cooking time.

Woodstock is a special place on many levels and should be on your bucket list to visit.  If your lucky enough to be within a day trip  distance (or plannng to be in the NYC area, only 1hr 30 min away) check out this fun website,  Come To Woodstock.

This is your go-to-guide to all the happenings in this hip hamlet.  It can be overwhelming the options afforded to you, its like a little city in the country when it comes to cultural goings on.

Ten Reasons to visit this week:

1. Thursday, Feb 23rd Miss Angie’s Karaoke with a Roaring Speakeasy theme. SirLady tip: this is not lame karaoke, area artists/musicians show up and it quite the show.
2. Marc Black plays Friday night, Feb 24th, at a former church that is now a private residence.  The owners hand pick musicians to play on the original stage and all proceeds go to their son’s school, Hudson Valley Sudbury School.
3. Local Brewery, Keegan Ales, hosts Blue Coyote Friday night Feb 24 8PM.  SirLady tip: get a pint of our fav, Mother’s Milk.
4. Saturday, Feb 25, John Beaulieu – Sound Healing. Photosensualis, 15 Rock City Road, Woodstock 7PM  SirLady tip: click on link to watch You Tube video; use your ears to feel.
5. Bowling Fundraiser for “Movies Under the Stars”, all you can bowl Saturday Feb 25 2-5PM
6. Sat Feb 25 6PM; Golden Notebook Bookstore presents Paul Russel author “The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov” at Oriole 9 Restaurant.  SirLady Tip: We always support local and buy our books here, you can/should too! You can purchase books off their website and you don’t have to be a Woodstock resident.
7. Sat Feb 25 Doors open 8PM  Kane Bros. Blues Band at the Bearsville Theatre.
8. Sat Feb 25 Doors open 10PM Grand Opening Celebration of Club Light. House & Club music.
9. Sun Feb 26 Noon – 8PM Grand Opening Celebration, Woodstock Laundry (holla!).
10. Tue Feb 28th 8PM – Musical Salute to James Taylor by Doug Yoel, Harmony Cafe.

 Finally, we celebrate the life and legacy of Whitney Houston.  A voice of an angel has gone home to find her place among them.

Rest In Peace.

This recipe is slightly time consuming on the prep, but worth every minute!

Barbecued Beef with Pickle Slaw on Toasted Soft Rolls
Here’s another way to make good use of the Shredded Beef Short Ribs. This is a great summery sandwich, although I eat it all year long, and the pickle slaw is incredibly refreshing. When you eat this, you’ll need a lot of napkins.
Serves 4 to 6

21/2 pounds boneless beef short ribs
2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper, plus more as needed
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, smashed
1 cup ketchup
3/4 cup beef broth
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
4 to 6 soft rolls, split
Pickle Slaw (see directions below)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Season the short ribs generously with salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven or similar pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When hot, sear the short ribs on all sides until the meat is crusty and nicely browned, 5 to 6 minutes total. Lift the short ribs from the pot and set aside on a platter.

Add the onion and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring, until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ketchup, broth, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, and paprika and bring to a simmer. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Return the ribs to the pot, cover, and roast in the oven until the beef is fork-tender, about 2 hours. Remove the pot from the oven and set aside to allow the meat to cool.

When the ribs are cool enough to handle, lift them from the pot, shred the meat using your fingers or a fork, and put it in a bowl. You will have about 3 cups of shredded short ribs. Set aside until ready to use.

Strain the cooking juices through a sieve into another bowl. Refrigerate the juices until you can skim and discard the fat that rises to the top, 20 to 30 minutes.

Spoon as much of the defatted cooking juices into the rib meat as needed to moisten it. You will need at least 1/4 cup and perhaps more.

Reheat the meat on high power in the microwave until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Preheat the broiler and toast the rolls, cut sides up, for 1 to 2 minutes, until nicely browned. Pile equal amounts of meat on the bottom half of each roll and top with pickle slaw. Put the top half of the roll on each sandwich, press gently, and serve.

Pickle Slaw
Makes 31/2 to 4 cups

Ingredients
1 cup thinly shredded green cabbage
1 cup thinly shredded red cabbage
1 cup julienned baby dill pickles
1/2 cup julienned carrots
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 jalapeño chile peppers, very thinly sliced
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon smoked or kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Directions

In a large bowl, stir together the cabbages, pickles, carrots, onion, and jalapeños. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate the slaw for at least 30 minutes to marinate.

Two out of five ain’t bad.  That is the number of wins locally for the Grammy Awards Monday night.   Woodstock residents, Pat Metheny and Levon Helm brought home the hardware for Best New Age and Best Americana album respectively.

For Helm it was just what the doctored order as he just returned home after a successful medical treatment.  Helm won the Grammy for a live recording of his famous Ramble, although this album was not recorded at his Plochmann Lane residence but at the Ryman Theatre in Nashville, aptly named “Ramble at the Ryman”.   Performing along with Levon on this album are Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow and hometown folk icon, Steve Earle.  Third straight win for Levon.

Winning never gets old, just ask Metheny, who won number 19 for ”What’s It All About.”  Hudson Valley resident, Jimmy Sturr, just fell short of his 19th win in the Regional Root Album Category.   Also falling short Monday night was local jazz musician, Joe Lovano and Folk Singer Steve Earle in Best Jazz and Folk categories.  But as the old cliche goes, It is a honor just to be nominated.  Indeed.

We will just keep drinking this mountain water.

We have not expected much from awards shows; usually bad production, cheesy jokes and hosts that love to hear themselves talk.  We are happy to report that last night, the Grammy Awards was none of that!

Maybe we are biased because one of our favorite artists, Bruce Springsteen, kicked off the show with the world premier of his new single, “We Take Care Of Our Own”.  Bruce Rocked it and reminded everyone out there why he is the “Boss”.  The song was perfect given the state of our country, economy and loss.  It was last June, when Clarence Clemons, sax player for the E Street Band passed away and twenty four hours prior to Whitney Houston’s passing.

LL Cool J seemed to be the perfect host.  He took control of the crowd immediately, thanked Bruce for that performance and with respect to the passing of ,Whitney, by saying “We had a death in the family” let’s pray and celebrate our loss.

The first Grammy handed out was for best Rock Performance, nominees were: Coldplay, The Decembrists, Foo Fighters, Mumford & Sons and Radiohead.  Foo Fighters took home the award (a big night as they got 4 of them).  Dave Grohl did a bang up job with his speech, “This is a great honor because rather than go the best studio in the world down the street with fancy computers, we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine” (sounds like they took a que from Big Pink).  This award means a lot  because it shows the human element making music is what is most important.  Singing into a microphone and learning to play a instrument and learning to do your craft is the  most important thing for people to do”.

Foo Fighters had a big night, but the night belonged to Adele.  Tying the record with 6 wins (Record,Album, & Song of the year. Best Pop Solo Performance & Vocal and Songwriting) her anticipated performance after vocal cord surgery had everyone standing on their feet as she sang “Rolling in the Deep”.  Another surprising standing “O” was for Taylor Swift‘s performance of “Mean”.  It was indeed the best live performance we have seen from Swift, but we are so over her bubble gum lyrics I hope she can take it to the next level, like Katie Perry (surprisingly)did with her performance of “Part of Me”.

While we are on the topic of surprises (pleasantly so) when Bon Iver Nabbed 2 Grammy’s for: Best Alternative  Album beating out Death Cab for Cutie, Foster the People, My Morning Jacket, and Radiohead  and  Best New Artist beating out Nikki Minaj, J.Cole, Skrillex and The Band Perry.  For a complete list of winners click here.

Memorable performances abound from Bruno Mars, Nikki Minaj, Rhinna & Coldplay and tributes to The Beach Boys and Glenn Campbell, The Rhinestone Cowboy, suffering from alzheimer’s disease and still performing.

The production value gets a 10; the stage looked amazing and was well thought out, seemless transitions between performance and acceptance speeches.

Finally,  a tribute to Whitney Houston by Jennifer Hudson singing “I will Always Love You”.  Hudson was suppose to receive a Grammy from Houston and instead singing to her in memorandum.  No one had a voice like Whitney, but this is not a time to criticize a performance that is a tribute, a moving tribute that Jennifer delivered in a controlled way under extraordinary circumstances.

Well Done Grammy’s, Well Done.

A BIG Congrats to fellow Woodstocker, Levon Helm, on his win for Best Americana Album!

We Heart Fondue!!!  It is so easy to make and you can get creative with many different variations.  With Valentine’s day on Tuesday, skip the crowded restaurants; light the fire and break out the fondue set.  Here is a classic cheese recipe for chocolate or vegan options click here.

Basic Cheese Fondue Recipe

1. Rub the garlic inside the fondue pot then discard.*You should have a little more wine and cheese on hand to adjust the consistency if needed. Add more cheese if it’s too liquid, add more wine if it’s too thick.

2. Pour the white wine and lemon juice into the pot and turn on the burner.

3. Let the wine and lemon juice warm up without boiling.

4. Reduce heat and add the shredded cheese.

5. With a wooden spoon, mix well and stir regularly.

6. Dilute the cornstarch in the Kirsch, and add remaining ingredients to the pot.

7. Add pepper to taste.

8. If the mixture is too hard, add wine. If the mixture is too soft, add cheese.

9. Dip bite size pieces of bread or vegetables.

10. Let the freshly dipped pieces cool off for a few seconds, then enjoy and repeat but no double-dipping!

Note: Italian or French bread (baguette) makes excellent dippers when cut into small pieces. You can also try mild green or red peppers, zucchini slices, steamed broccoli or cauliflower or whatever else you’re in the mood for.

Tip: If you ask your guests to make a figure 8 while dipping, this will ensure that the cheese mixture gets constantly stirred.

Patrick Metheny is originally from Kansas City, Missouri and calls Woodstock, NY home.  Since 1974, his true home seems to be on the road, touring between 120 – 240 shows a year.  Born into a musical family he started music on the trumpet at eight years of age, but within a few years transferred to the instrument that would define his career, the guitar.

Before Metheny could drive legally, he was playing with the biggest names in Jazz in Kansas City & honing a style that would become his trademark. His debut album, Bright Size Life, in 1975 demonstrated this style and broke through the traditional sound of jazz guitarists. Metheny’s background with the trumpet allowed him to take some of the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players and blend them with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility. A modern take on a traditional genre.

At the age of 18, Metheny became a music educator at the University of Miami and then a year later teaching at the Berklee School of Music. Over the years, Metheny has won countless polls as “Best Jazz Guitarist” and awards, including three gold records and 18 Grammy Awards.

As told to The Woodstock Times, Metheny eloquently states, “One of the great things about jazz and in fact, any kind of instrumental music, is the poetry that it offers.  There are ways of discussing things in the syntax of sound that just cannot be expressed any other way.”

You can watch Pat Metheny express himself through sound tonight and tomorrow at the Falcon, click here for details.

Super Bowl Mania has finally commenced, but the jury is still out on the halftime show.  Since the announcement that Madonna would be performing at half-time there has been mixed emotions some critics (mostly men) thought it was a bad choice and that the NFL viewers prefer rock performances over pop.  Interestingly enough, many women who would never tune in for football, became excited about the game – Thanks to Madge.

And so, as the second quarter whittled down, workers flocked onto the field to construct the stage.  Moments later, in a classic Madonna move, out came the queen of pop on her throne, carried by her army to the sounds of “Vogue”.  A strong start.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t just all Madge all the time as there were cameos by other stars in pop; Nikki Minaj, MIA, LMFAO and Cee-Lo.

The feedback on Twitter and Facebook was mixed;  ”Enough with the lip synching”,  ”Too Safe”,  ”Did MIA just give us the bird?”  Yes, MIA flipped the bird in lieu of her trademark gunshot motion during the song “”Give Me All Your Luvin’.”   

Then came a medley of “Music” with LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” and “Sexy and I Know It” on a bleacher set with a tightrope jumper for slight aerialist effect.  To close, Cee Lo joined Madonna as the pastor and let the “congregation” in a choir-backed “Like a Prayer” as Madonna escaped down a hole leaving the crowd with the message “World Peace”.  Her biggest show ever with over 100 Million viewers.

Madonna is a living legend and her legions of fans are fiercely loyal – in their eyes she can do no wrong.  What did YOU think, come answer our poll online; Did Madonna Sizzle or Fizzle?