B L T / I D M ?

Photo: Babycastles Hax0r Day + CNB Chip Music Matinee

2010-03-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

It was a beautiful day to bike out to Ridgewood last week for the Babycastles Indie Arcade open hours. Syed Salahuddin chopped onions for his curry for attendees: AdamGetsAwesome, Zen Albatross and Goatslacker provided a chip soundtrack to the hackday. People were lounging around, eating lunch, playing the games or ripping apart computer mice to make one button game controllers!

This young gentleman managed to make a game controller out of a clamp! He and Kunal (from Loud Objects) tried it out on Canabalt.

Videos of the games and performances are coming soon !

Restaurants: General Greene

2010-03-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

After a successful trip to the DMV, this DLV had a bloody mary and a cuban sandwich at the General Greene.

Video: Natty Adams is one of the hosts for Destination: Bollywood

2010-03-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

One of our beloved local chip musicians, Natty Adams, is a host on the show Destination: Bollywood ! I have such a soft spot for Bollywood because one of my high school friends, Chandi, used to make me watch Hrithik Roshan movies.

Here's the video of my favorite dance sequence from Mission Kashmir:

Snacks I've Been Eating

2010-03-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Mmm, breakfast of bacon, mango, watermelon radishes and hard boiled eggs:

Fried culatello:
Bagna cauda broccolini and a fried egg for breakfast:
What are you snacking on?

Music Muster: SxSw 2010 Edition!

2010-03-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

You oughta follow @bltidm and @mushpotrecords for my antics in Austin next week. If you see a twitpic of a gutter or blood, send help.

Things I will definitely attend:

3/15 Reformat the Planet screening at Alamo Draft House (S. Lamar) 10pm, free
3/16 DATAPOP feat. The Mysterious H, Sievert, Nullsleep, IAYD, Hally, Random, Bit Shifter, & nordloef with viz by Jean Y. Kim & Omeros at The Highball Ballroom 8pm, free
3/17 DATAPOP feat. Talk to Animals, Starscream, Henry Homesweet, 8BK-ok, Sabrepulse, Je Deviens DJ En 3 Jours, Anamanaguchi & Trash 80 with viz by Paris & Outpt at the Highball Ballroom 8pm, free
3/18 Anodyne, The Records Machine & Mushpot day party feat. Olympic Size, Capybara, Cowboy Indian Bear, Little Brazil, Roman Numerals & Open Hand at The Jackalope 2pm, free

Bands I really want to see, but who knows if I'll see them:
Reading Rainbow, Fenech Soler, Fungi Girls, Classixx, Tobacco, Inlets, Surfer Blood, The Hood Internet, Uffie, Fool's Gold, This Will Destroy You, Memory Tapes, Best Coast, The Golden Filter, Toche, Boy 8 Bit, Fake Blood, The Antlers, CFCF & Baby Monster

Who are you excited to see?

Cooking: Pancit with Tofu, Chinese Sausage, Arugula and Fennel

2010-03-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

More treasures from my Sunset Park grocery haul ! I had a crock pot of broth simmering for the whole week with fennel greens, onions, garlic, beet greens, and mushrooms. I clarified it and gave a batch to a friend. The rest was used in my pancit ! I shredded 1/4 f a fennel bulb, 1/2 block of spiced firm tofu, garlic and chinese sausage.
After I sauteed the mire poix, I turned the heat up high and added the broth and rice stick noodles. The noodles absorb all of the broth like a sponge:
After I turned off the heat, I piled on a little arugula to wilt with the steam:

More Filipino cooking !
Pancit Palabok //Turkey Paksiw // Filipino Food Chart

Bars: M. Wells Spinning Every Friday at Revival

2010-03-09T12:00:00.001-05:00

My homie, Mendeley Wells, knows a thing or two about djing. Check him out every Friday at Revival, it's free to hang out! I'm a fan of their upstairs lounge, but the magic happens downstairs. Learn something!Anything else we should check out?

Cooking: Spicy Thai Fried Rice

2010-03-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

More wok practice ! I sauteed spiced firm tofu and chinese sausage with Tom Yum paste, garlic and chives before I threw in the rice.

More rice !
Sardine rice ball

Video: Sea Otter Plays the Piano

2010-03-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Dude, I want snacks every time I play the piano!

(Via Zooillogix)

Cooking: LOST Dinners and Jeff's Salad Spinner

2010-03-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

My friends Angela, Jeff and Madeline have been hosting LOST dinners at their house on Tuesday nights. If you know me, I'm obsessively posting LOST memes on my apartment blog. I'm going to be better at documenting the food we make. On the past couple of Tuesdays we've sampled tacos, grilled cheese with pineapple and ham; pineapple pizzas, and salads. For now, I give you my pear palm tree with cheddar bark: Jeff gets this twinkle in his eye when he has an idea. Here he is trying out his homemade salad spinner made of plastic bags:
Do you watch LOST?

Bars: Pegu Club

2010-03-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

Chris W. and I checked out the Pegu Club on West Houston. I wish I wrote down the names of the cocktails, but I had the Earl Grey (with controversial egg white shaken into it) on the right.
Chris got the Pegu Club cocktail and I got something with apple brandy in it. The apple garnish was extremely dreamy and perfumy. All of my drinks were very clear and clean tasting. Definitely didn't have the cash to try the snacks.

Have you been?

Tweets This Week

2010-03-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

#CNBFTW RT @parisgraphics: For the slackers who missed it: adam got awesome, albatross got zen, and goat cut no slack!
Babycastles changed their layout and all the games are ridiculously fun! Especially QWOP! http://ow.ly/1f5J0
Proud to say that I introduced @Jukeboxtheghost to episodes of @bytejacker yesterday. Yay for gaming on tour!
Just talked to a neighbor that had the same robbery on Wednesday! Jerks came back to the same building!
Discovered the Paleo diet, where you eat like a caveman: http://ow.ly/1eHGf
JDDJ3J loves me: "So, i'm leaving my [life] for 7 days and i'm traveling 7 hours to see you 7 minutes ?" #cnbftw
People from @TheTankNYC @marleymagaziner @russmarshalek @kevinlaibson @mikearosenthal @justinkrebs @rafaelgallegos @SuzanEraslan #ff
OF COURSE ! Octopus Project will blow all other #sxsw shows out of the water: http://ow.ly/1eDFv
GAH look at the little @BitTrip Runner sliding around! Lookin' good guys! http://bit.ly/b4IHFr (via @acarboni )
Amen. RT @grayblue: who are these people offering "tips" to "enjoy" #sxsw? here's three tips: 1. GO 2. PARTY 3. DON'T DIE
Someone left the best musical voicemail, but I think my phone was off when I got it, so my phone didn't catch who it was ! Was it you?
Someone just buzzed the apartment. Promptly after I said "Hello?" the guy said "Go away!" #everydayslumberparty
KE$SHA + Star Wars + Star Trek Ya'll. <3>
LOL, Kate's on #teamlocke
Best email sig ever: "Sent from my Game Boy Color"

News: So very upsetting, y'all ! I can't find my copy of the That Horse Yonder compilation to pay tribute to Sparklehorse!

(From Brooklyn Vegan)

Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse has committed suicide, according to a report from Rolling Stone. His family has released a statement reading, "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you." [Pitchfork] "Linkous' publicist confirms he was nearly finished with a new album that was due on Anti- Records."
R.I.P.

Bands: Chromix at Niagara and Damian from Ok Go Debuts Video at the Tank

2010-03-06T12:00:00.001-05:00

Chromix destroyed Niagara last week during I/O. People were outside taking pictures of him through the window ! He played songs from Roll Trick and dedicated songs to many of the artists that came out to support. Zen Albatross played a set, too, and it was pretty enjoyable.
Earlier that night, I was helping out at the Ok Go video premiere at the Tank. Damian Kulash stayed after the video screening to answer questions from the audience and the internet, via video stream. So high tech, you bands in 2010 ! The video took roughly 4 months to make with a full crew of engineers.
If you haven't seen the highly publicized, single shot rube goldberg video for "This Too Shall Pass", peep it below:

Restaurants: Brunch at Lovin' Cup

2010-03-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

Dude. All you can drink bloody marys served in pint glasses at Lovin' Cup. It's $15 with a coffee and any brunch entree. I got the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and tots. It was too big, I only ate half of it.
Bethany and I could only get through two drinks each.

WFMU Marathon is on NOW !

2010-03-05T12:00:00.002-05:00

WFMU was known as the KDVS mothership while I was in college and we were so inspired by their antics to create videos and aim high for worthwhile non-commercial radio. My one question is, did y'all build a parade float ?

From their site:

WFMU's 2010 Marathon is ON, running from now until March 14th. Make a pledge here or call us at 800-989-9368 to keep WFMU humming for another 12 months. We've got a fab new batch of Swag and DJ Premiums for the taking! Help us spread the word about the marathon by putting a badge or banner on your website or by tweeting about it - more info here. You can see the full schedule of upcoming DJ tag-teams on our marathon schedule page.

Yo La Tengo return live to the fundraiser Friday, March 5th from 8-11PM! Fresh from their Australia/New Zealand tour, Ira, James, Georgia and pal Bruce visit the WFMU Marathon once again for your cover song requests! It's simple, tune in and pledge, hosts Pseu Braun and Gaylord Fields throw them your pitch and they'll hit it out of the park. It's your only chance to program YLT's set list, don't miss out (while helping your favorite freeform station operate another year!)

Cooking: Grilled Cheese Sunday #3, Buffalo Mozzarella

2010-03-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

In 2007, my friend Matt Kiser planted the idea of Sunday family dinners in my head. I took it a step further and made them about gourmet grilled cheese. I found an archive of my accounts:

9/30/07- Week 3: Buffalo Mozzarella
Sunday morning, I had $5 brunch with Steven at Mugs. I dragged him to the Bedford Cheese shop and picked up some expensive buffalo mozzarella. It was still early , so We headed off to meet Brian S. at the Transit Museum to explore The Atlantic Antic. We took pictures in vintage train cars and looked disapprovingly at all the children screaming and running around. Atlantic Antic was a street fair with lot's of local crafts and carnival food. We were overwhelmed by all the people and their children. One kid kicked me! We found cheap Singha beers and drank them in the street.

We took the train back and I took a short nap before I started cooking for Grilled Cheese Sunday. It was probably the quickest cooking Sunday that I've had in a long time. I kinda cheated and made the Honey Almond pesto in the blender instead of hand crushing it with a jar like I usually do.

Ciel, Matt and his friend Greg joined us for a quiet dinner. We finished eating around 8:30 and I took a plate of the dinner to the bartender at our local spot, The Diamond. I told him last week that I'd bring him a plate and didn't believe me. He was pleasantly surprised. He said my cooking was excellent. We all had a round of drinks and then ordered this TRAY with eleven 7 ounce beers. It was good. At 9pm, Eric (the bartender) poured me and Yawen half beers to toast to Michael Jackson (the beer brewer) who died on September 30th. Apparently, bartenders across Brooklyn were toasting at 9pm. We threw out ideas for a blog and more ideas for grilled cheese. Yawen and I wobbled home, tired. Matt and I exchanged texted ideas for domain names all night and all morning.

Menu for Week 3:
Buffalo Mozzarella with Almond pesto,
Balsamic Roasted Garlic Tomatoes,
Spumante / Bellinis

Lesson: While this particular grilled cheese was tasty, I don't think fresh buffalo mozzarella is meant to be heated.

Bands: Greenleaf debut album drops soon!

2010-03-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

Can't wait for this! Greenleaf was so good when they played their first show at Death by Audio back in December. Greenberry Hill , their debut release, is coming out this weekend on Hemlock Records.

Greenberry Hill Teaser from Hemlock Records on Vimeo.

Cooking: My Thoughts on Catering and Cheese

2010-03-04T09:00:00.005-05:00

Catering is tough. I would say that it's the arena where I've learned the most as a cook. Experimenting at home doesn't provide the pressure to succeed against strict deadlines. If you drop that pan of asparagus, you could very well ruin someone's wedding dinner, graduation party or fundraiser. Speed, accuracy and alacrity when things go awry take a lot of time (and patience) to develop.
My absolute favorite task at weddings was arranging the cheese plates. It's a science, really. I combined my boss' vision for style and incorporated all I knew about cheese. At first, she'd make one and I would copy three more. As time went on, she would let me shop for the cheese and arrange my own plates without supervision. The cheese plate is the first thing that wedding guests descend upon after sitting through a long ceremony. The wow factor also gives them a sneak peak of what's to come out of the kitchen for dinner.
Personally, my style has evolved from "crazy amounts of snack bounty" to a scaled down 1:1 ratio pairing as well as regional theme; it also helps to taste good with whatever we're drinking.
What can I say? I'm cheesey or whatever.

Event: Weekend Plans at Babycastles - RUNNN!!! Arcade Opening Party & Hackday/Music Matinee

2010-03-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

Two really awesome events at Babycastles Indie Arcade this weekend !
March 5th - Babycastles RUNNN!!! Arcade Opening @ Silent Barn, 8pm, FREE

Games: QWOP, Canabalt, WinnerVsLoser, Bitworld & KILLJET

Music by minusbaby / current_working_directory / Your Boyfriend's Band Sux! / Tamagotchi Hawk

March 6th - Babycastles Game Controller Hack Day @ Silent Barn, 3pm, FREE

CREATEDIGITALMOTION + KOKOROMI GAME OBJECT HACKFEST
BABYCASTLES HANDMADE GAME CONTROLLERS WORKSHOP
CHEESE'N'BEER CHIP MUSIC MATINÉE W/ GOATSLACKER, ZEN ALBATROSS & ADAMGETSAWESOME

Restaurants: The Mother of All Tortas

2010-03-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Jeff saw this torta on Serious Eats' Hot Dog of the Week. It was Valentine's day, why not venture down to Sunset Park for brunch? Puebla Mini Mart is an innocent looking and unassuming arsenal of the biggest and most outlandish tortas I've seen.Angela and I split the Espanola Doble with hot dogs, ham, 2 kinds of cheese, tomato, lettuce, egg, bacon, avocado, and refried beans.
Jeff got the Torta de Salchicha:
Angela was worried about eating half of it. So was I !

And then we had to walk it off in the park...oy.

Grocery Shopping in Sunset Park

2010-03-02T12:00:00.001-05:00

This is how I spent my Valentine's day! Angela, Jeff and I went on a torta adventure for brunch (more on that later) and trekked across the snow covered Sunset Park to the chinatown area of Brooklyn. I spent a total of $15 dollars and walked away with various buns filled with pastes and bacon, a big bag of tapioca, sauces, a bag of MSG (lol), a valentine's box of dried mushrooms, noodles shaped like flowers and tons of things I don't remember.

Cooking: Tapioca and Almond Paste

2010-03-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

I tried to make tapioca and the insides were still chalky. After I tweeted about my failure, I tasted them again and they were fine ! All they needed was more time! Sweet !

Tweets This Week

2010-02-28T12:00:00.003-05:00

I've been in Portland for 48 hours and haven't broken the 5 block radius around the @2PProductions house.
Attempting to make white pepper and grapefruit zabaglione with @2PProductions
@SuzanEraslan MAJOR LAZER ON THE OFFICE DEX Y'ALL
Hey goog, you're ruining my workflow. Get your shizzle together! http://ow.ly/1aorp
@chilitakedown So mad I'm missing the Bacon Takedown in Austin! Semper porcine! http://ow.ly/1aiEq
Overstuffng myself at La Superior. I need a nap. Someone roll me into bed!
Oh boy, spent the last two hours playing Level Up! http://ow.ly/19BLp
Tore it up on the dance floor with @acarboni and @zenalbatross
is going to SxSw, let's get some BBQ!
Wow, that was fast. http://ow.ly/19ue8 Now i'm eating fresh ricotta with white truffle oil, pepper and chives.

Video: They Shoot railcars, Don't They?

2010-02-28T12:00:00.002-05:00

Aria got a haircut and finally finished his European tour! They Shoot Music Don't They made this video of railcars performing “There is ice; it is blue.” The quiet comparison to Aria's clipped out, fuzzy tape recordings is even more dreamy in a Viennese courtyard.

(Via the bros at The FMLY)

Sidenote: They Shoot Horses Don't They? is a novel by Horace McCoy, a band on Kill Rock Stars and a 1969 Jane Fonda movie where she enters a Depression era dance marathon and convinces a dude to shoot her. Wildly appropriate, no?

More railcars on BLT/IDM
railcars // railcars at Market Hotel

Bands: Machinedrum's Birthday w/Yo! Majesty (2007)

2010-02-27T12:00:00.001-05:00

I wrote this a long time ago and now give it to you as a flashback to 2007. It's an interesting look at how I used to process the live music experience. Since then, Yo! Majesty dropped the exclamation point and two members. Not really sure what's up with that these days. I'm happy to say that Machinedrum and Cassette are still around and going strong!

Everyone had to fill out name tags upon entrance. I was "Fanny" and my roommate was "Sugartits." We danced around with beers in hand for an hour or so. Yo! Majesty was going to perform. I shimmied my way up to the front. It was a fucking madhouse! They were three durrrtty womyn MCs (Shon B., Shunda K., Jwl B.) from Tampa, FL. One of them stripped and so most of the girls in front took off their clothes and were grinding up all over me. One started to grab at my shirt and at that instant, my friend, Andy, came bounding in out of nowhere screaming and dancing along; unknowingly saved my shirt. It was so rad! It was a SXSW warm-up, for sure.

My story begins way before my Yo! Majesty adventures. It was at Cake Shop where I was supporting one of my friends, Cezanne. Between sets, this laptop DJ was dropping Legendary Pink Dots and other electro remixes. This girl with a large cup of tea was dancing around with me and was the headliner, Unicornicopia. Her friend, Travis (Machinedrum), was DJing. I gave him a high five. I danced around with him some weeks later at Boogaloo during a Drop the Lime set. Travis was the birthday boy that threw the loft party [Above photo by Claire Morgasen]. My first exposure to Yo! Majesty was through myspace. I was looking at my co-worker's page, about to add him when "Yo poonanny better make that money!" blasted out in a very shrill crescendo. At first, I was offended by this sonic attack on my nether regions. I imagined them holding a megaphone directly aimed at my lower half. I sheepishly closed the browser out of nervousness. Months later, my boss got a cd from Yo! Majesty and put it on the office stereo. They swore so much that the bleeps on the clean edits were in rhythm with the backbeats. We listened to everything they had and it eventually was stuck on repeat in our office; especially "Club Action".

Word on the street was that they were playing twice in NYC. I had to go. Unfortunately, I was busy on the night Yo! Majesty graced Club Europa in m'hood (Greenpoint). Funny thing, my friend Poingly opened up for them. He gets pretty naked for his sets and he was skiddish about the act that followed him.

Me: How was the show?
Poingly: Really good. I set a bar for nudity and Yo Majesty topped it, I think that says something
Me: Oh my god.
Poingly: Yeah, I'm not posting some of these photos in the blog. It was sort of crazy
Poingly: Cripes, looking at these photos....boobies! Haha!

[I'm into the beat, Poingly's into the lyrics. Photo by the Deep Element]

Poingly: I like how everyone else looks so into it, and I just look stupid.
Me: You look like you're thinking about the lyrics.
Poingly: "Fuck That Shit...Fuck...That..Shit." So profound...I think it was.

Back to the party: We hit the dance floor hard while this guy named Frank DJed. He had a pirate mustache; if I knew his DJ moniker, I'd tell you. Praveen was in charge of a hosted bar at the kitchen counter. The entrance donned a large coat rack and pretty standard single bathroom (complete with long line the entire night). It was perfect for a dance party: high ceilings, minimal furniture, large open windows and wood floors. For his birthday (and prelaunch for his regular DJ night Cassette), Travis had asked Yo ! Majesty to perform at his party. Yo! Majesty dresses with big t-shirts, sport bras and baggy pants ( Shon B. sports a plastic gold crown at every performance). Very humble personalities off stage; wild sex bombs on stage. Shunda leads with a majority of the raps, Jwl provides the high pitched howls and hype; and Shon doubles the rap vocals. Jwl is very intense when she performs: head banging, waving her braids all over the place; rolling on the ground convulsing; spitting out whatever drink she has; shaking whatever drink she has; screaming. It is definitely some sort of scare tactic, you feel like she is going to eat you or has the potential to pummel you with sheer strength. Shon is the shortest of the three and is quiet; she knows how to twirl glow sticks like a candy kid. Shunda works the crowd, she will rap in your face and throw her hands up at you. Lyrics are, at first, vulgar and offensive about womens' bodies.

It is a sonic body politic. Reclaiming words like "pussy" to empower the ladies; dominating anyone at mercy to their advances. I'm blown away by the fact that they're commenting on "club action" and meanwhile redefining the process itself; clubbin, picking up guys and girls with your sex appeal; and pumping a crowd up so hard their clothes fall off, melting together in a smelly sexual mess. I managed to keep my clothes on, but two girls in the front of me stripped down to their skivvies. It was so crowded that Yo! Majesty started to feel a little overwhelmed; Jwl actually pushed me by the chest to create a small half moon performance space. She eventually gave up, jumped onto the DJ table and took her shirt off. After the set was over, people were so enraptured they started to chant "Fuck that shit." Travis just started hitting beats on his drum machine and the ladies just continued to rap the fuck out of the party. I had such a great time.

Bow down to Yo! Majesty or be destroyed.
Machinedrum Myspace // Yo! Majesty Myspace //Cassette Blog