Half Beer Half Amazing

By Kodiak in Cambridge

Here's my favorite drink. It's known as the "Bismark" or "Black Velvet." I know it sounds strange, but it's heaven in a glass....

Fill a pint or Martini glass half full with champagne (the dryer the better, but doesn't have to be expensive). Then pour Guinness into a spoon so it slowly fills the glass, same principle as a black and tan. Drink contents then repeat 4-5 times, and enjoy. From my home bar to yours.

Dive of Death not that Deadly

David Blaine

By Kodiak in Cambridge

Mystifying magic man David Blaine disappointed the crowd in Central Park and the live television audience last night with a pathetic "trick." For those of you lucky enough to have not watched the two hour special, I'll recap what happened. First he hung upside down for sixty hours in New York City. Doctors said he could go blind or have permanent organ damage due to disruptions in his circulation. Well, he did it and he did not go blind, but he also got down every fifty minutes to walk around, hydrate and relieve himself. Wow. It's still impressive in a way, but come on. It's not a true stunt unless you end up without your vision and covered in piss.

Footage of his hanging was spliced with him doing card tricks and illusions involving bottle caps that he performed for folks on the streets of Harlem and Coney Island. Most were pretty cool and people rightly freaked out. All of this led up to his "Dive of Death." There was a countdown throughout the broadcast, and the announcer toted it as his most dangerous stunt ever attempted. Hmmm, OK. At the moment of truth, he leaped from a forty foot scaffold and was caught by wires attached to a harness he was wearing which then raised him into the air as the camera panned away, the announcer proclaiming that Blaine "disappeared into the atmosphere." If disappearing into the atmosphere means being hoisted off camera then that was the best illusion I've ever seen. Thanks for wasting my time, you sir, are no Amazing Randy.

Ryan Adams Cardinology

By Kodiak in Cambridge

Hot off the presses, from across the pond, word has come in that Ryan Adams and the Cardinals' new album Cardinology will drop (that's insider speak for release date) on October 28th, 2008. Just in time for Halloween! Hopefully we can trust this source, otherwise my seasonal depression will be arriving early this year. However, it has to be true because it's from England and scientific studies have shown that they are smarter than us.

Chili is for Lovers

By Kodiak in Cambridge

I thought I'd add to the delicious cornacopia of food related posts here on the 360. This recipe comes from my kitchen to yours with much love. Super easy, super good, feeds 6-10 people.

1 lb ground beef (or turkey)

2 Red Bell Peppers

1 yellow onion

2 garlic cloves

1 Tlbs garlic powder

2 12oz cans of dark red kidney beans

1 16oz can of diced tomato's

1 8-10oz can of tomato paste*

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 packet of Ortega chili powder

*For thicker chili use two cans of tomato paste

Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium heat until no longer pink and drain, add chili powder and simmer for 10 minutes. Chop onion, garlic and peppers. Combine with canned ingredients, brown sugar and garlic powder in a large pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Add beef to the pot and let it all simmer for an hour or so. Throw some shredded cheese on it and serve over french bread....

Great for a football game with your buddies or a special dinner with your lady friend!

Enjoy

Ryan Adams Rocks Boston

By Kodiak in Cambridge, Original Halloween Head and Cardinal Wanna-be

On Sunday September 7th I was lucky enough to attend the Ryan Adams and the Cardinals concert at the Bank of America Pavilion, formerly Harbor Lights, with Mrs. Kodiak, my pops and my buddy Uncle Randy. I was also a stone's throw away from Mr and Mrs. Pax Arcana.

Please be forewarned that I am not a critic because I can't really criticize Ryan and company. I am an unabashed supporter. That said I thought the show was unbelievable and the critics seem to agree. The Cards played for two and half hours ended by the venue's 11pm curfew. They rocked a mix of old jams along with five new songs, Fix it, Cobwebs, Sinking Ship, Magick and The Color of Pain, two that were played for the first time (Sinking Ship, The Color of Pain).

Ryan sounded great vocally, and was in good spirits (he has gained a reputation for being moody from time to time during live performances, but I think that's been overblown). If you missed the show or were there and want to relive it here's a link to the entire concert for free. Enjoy!!!

Salad Days

By Kodiak in Cambridge

Blazing through the blogosphere like a pack of wild mustangs saddled by the Jonas Brothers comes this food-related post on the heels of the controversial ginger-root spot. After seeing, firsthand, the unbridled success of all things food related posted on the Ak360, I shall throw my hat into the culinary ring.

And now, my friends, comes the history of chicken salad, America's third most popular (educated guess) mayonnaise-infused combination of ingredients. Obviously, tuna salad is first with potato salad in second, chicken salad, takes the bronze with macaroni salad just off the metal stand in fourth place.

As the legend goes, in 1863, in the throes of the war of Northern Aggression, along the picturesque coastline of Rhode Island, a man by the name of Liam Gray was faced with a conundrum. As the owner of Town Meats in Wakefield, Mr. Gray needed a way to use up his leftover chicken meat. He put the poultry in a bowl and mixed in eggs, oil, tarragon and small grapes. The result was so overwhelmingly popular the business converted to a deli that operates to this day. I know this is true because the Internet told me so. Many historians credit this invention with ending the Civil War and sparking the Industrial Revolution, however that view is still debated at many southern universities.

The first published recipe for chicken salad came from the pages of the 1894 edition of Recipes Tried and True, a cookbook from an Ohio Presbyterian church. It feeds 200 and combines 30 chickens with a lot of celery, gallons of vinegar, an ocean of mustard and dozens of hard boiled eggs. Next time you're having a picnic make sure an allow a couple weeks of prep time.

Poor old Liam never received the kudos he deserved for adding grapes, as it is commonly believed to be a modern addition known to industry insiders as Queen Elizabeth's Chicken Salad. Clearly this is a vast conspiracy perpetrated by the left wing liberal media, most notably NBC's Tom Brokaw.

So the next time you're at the deli and there's a long wait and you know that a steak and cheese will take forever, don't feel bad you settled for chicken salad because, chances are, it will be pretty good. Maybe you like it with some walnuts or crushed potato chips, either way, you're making Liam Gray proud.

Like Eli Whitney, J.P. Morgan, Thomas Edison, and Howard Hughes, Mr. Gray was a true American innovator. Plus what would oil, electrical current, commercial flight and cotton ginning be without chicken salad? Not much if you ask me, not much at all.

Killing Yourself to Live: Canadian Edition

By Kodiak in Cambridge

I have strong disdain for the Barenaked Ladies, or BNL to Canadians, but damn it if I don't respect them. The Canuck uber-band formed in 1988, believe it or not, and have been making goofy pop songs ever since. They hit their wheelhouse in the late 90's and early 2000's with the massively crappy, mega-hits "If I had a Million Dollars!" "Brian Wilson," "Pinch Me," and "Old Apartment." (Fun fact; Jason Priestley aka tv's Brandon Walsh directed the video for "Old Apartment.") I say crappy, but I kind of enjoy "Brian Wilson." I don't really know why, its one of those songs that reminds me of a time and place I enjoy remembering, other than that I have no use for their nonsense.

The last half decade has not been very kind to BNL. Surprisingly, people stopped buying into their lame gallivanting and sugary upbeat attitude. Naturally, they did what any self-respecting Canadian act would do when the money stops rolling in: They made a children's album. It was a natural progression, going from cheering crowds of college kids listening to BNL's plans for doling out their imagined millions, to recording a song about being a popcorn kernel in a frying pan. It was a lucrative plan, they sold a lot of copies and they were signed on to the Disney Music Block Party Tour hosted by Raven Symoné and sponsored by Playskool. Clearly life couldn't have been better.

But that's when BNL hit rock bottom. This July, Steven Page, co-lead vocalist, was arrested in Syracuse for felony possession of cocaine. Judging from the newspaper reports, Page is not a criminal mastermind. Police were on routine patrol in the area and found a vehicle with the door open. They ran the license plate and found it was registered to a women who lived across the street so the officer went to the home of women, and with detective skills on par with a young Andy Sipowitz, observed Mr. Page blowing lines at the kitchen table. How could the officer see the drug use you ask? Because the kitchen table was in front of a large sliding glass door. Good work Steve, you are a boob.

When news of the arrest broke, Disney gave BNL the boot. Good bye gravy train. If all this was not tragic enough, more bad luck struck the band last week. Ed Robertson, the other lead singer, crashed his small float plane in eastern Ontario, when it failed to gain airspeed during take off. He and his passengers were unharmed, but they had to kick out a window and hike through deep woods to report the crash. The aircraft was a total loss.

Most folks would chalk up these events to bad luck and coincidence, but I have my suspicions. Allow me to elaborate. BNL had lived the rock star life, lots of money, fame, possibly women, but now they've been relegated to kid music. Its akin David Caruso driving an ice cream truck, we all know that would be cold, "as cold as ice." (On a recent twelve hour flight, I had to sit through three episodes of CSI Miami on a continuous loop, Caruso, as Horatio Cane, used that phrase at least twice a episode.) My point is this, once people have tasted success they don't want to let it go. So BNL came up with a plan.

Steve and Ed said to themselves, "selves, we gots to get back our rep!" How do rock stars get rep? They blow coke and crash planes, obviously, (see: Leonard Skynard; Left Eye Lopez). So we may be witnessing the rebirth of the Barenaked Ladies, rising like a Canadian Phoenix from the ashes of airplane parts and white powder. Look out world BNL may be back to making childish music for adults instead of childish music for children quicker then you can say, "I can't believe how much this Page guy looks like Seth Rogen!"

Indie Hipster Where are you?

By Kodiak in Cambridge

There are few things cooler than an indie hipster, that's a fact few could argue with (not true), however it has become a term that gets thrown around a bit too loosely. The moniker evolved with jazz musicians in the 40's and 50's as an allusion to their heroine use, and later came to encompass middle and upper class whites who sat around in zoot suits, bee bopping and scatting to emulate the jazz guys they thought were cool. In today's culture "hipster" has come to define counter-culture folks who like to wear second hand clothes and have funny haircuts. Of course, there's more than old western shirts and bangs to being defined a "hipster"; liberal ideals, organic vegetable co-ops, vinyl record collections, and jean jackets with ironic pins on them, to name a few.

The true spirit of the indie-hipster doesn't lie in this accoutre-mon, it comes from a special place deep in the soul. Someone who truly believes their individualism makes a difference in society, that is what makes a real hipster and that's why they are so cool (possibly true). Most of us like to think we can change things around us but the vast majority of us go about life day by day trying to get by, pay the rent, buy groceries, impress girls/guys, and we get caught up by the culture, unable to effect change much in grand scheme of life. Now the hipster may not change anything either, but they keep struggling and that is cool (true).

And this brings us to the recent Bigfoot story that has been widely reported on. If you've been out of the country, read at a first grade level, or, more likely, don't tend to keep up on your crypto-zoological related news, here's the jist. Two dolts from the back-woods in Georgia "discovered" a dead Bigfoot while camping, and attempted to become rich promoting it. (Side note: the body was found in the same area that Deliverance was filmed in so it may have been the decomposing body of Bert Reynolds).

Obviously, it turned out to be a hoax, just a gorilla costume stuffed with possum parts, but many people bought into the hype these men created. They had a press conference in California that was attended by many in the main stream media and the story ran on CNN and the other news networks. Anyway, it seems a lot of people were disappointed that it wasn't Bigfoot, I, however, am not one of these people.

You see Bigfoot, along with the Yettie, is the only real hipster left in the world. He lives alone in nature non-conforming to social mores, staying away from consumerism, eating completely organic and most likely not leaving much of a carbon footprint. If he smokes cigarettes, he rolls his own, he wears vintage t-shirts but not by choice, he probably doesn't do much bee bopping but I'm sure he leaves tons of scat. Much like Daniel Day Lewis, he's the last of his kind, a true original. And that's why I'm glad no one has found him. He'd just be used to sell products, like a sequel to Harry and the Henderson's, and none of us, with the exception of John Lithgow, needs that.

You see, the true hipster spirit can only live on if it remains legend, so be free sweet prince I'm glad they haven't found you.