a friday night in denton

a friday night in denton means trying to do it all and still be in bed with enough time to get five or six hours of sleep before work the next morning. a friday night means hitting the town with some of your best friends, a few cans of beer, and a vague plan to have a good time. a friday night in denton means seeing a hundred people you know. it means long walks and hitched rides. it means house shows and live music. it means bad beer mixed with good beer mixed with liquor mixed with endless cigarettes. it means making new pals and seeing old ones and going home much later than you ever intended, completely exhausted. that's just how it works and i kind of dig it.

so here's a small mess of denton things from Friday [1/18/13] for you to relive with me, internet.

808 Elm - New experience for me. A small house turned DIY music venue. People arrived slowly and hesitantly and it took us a minute to grasp our bearings when we arrived- the house had no number outside and no designation that it was indeed the correct house. Only a handful of folks were there when we showed up so we awkwardly shook hands with some nice folks who seemed at ease and waited for something to happen. The show started nearly 45 minutes after advertised, but we can't be mad because, after all,  here in denton we are not known for our punctuality. Our main purpose for this venture was to see Tiger Tooth and Paw, the solo project of an old friend of mine. Utilizing a cleverly arranged pedalboard stacked on a oversized text book I'm pretty sure was entitled The United States Constitution, he played five songs, looping guitar tracks of varying intensities. I quite enjoyed the newest songs and I would recommend checking out some of his stuff especially if you have inclinations toward the wistful yet rollicking sounds of The Walkmen or Arab Strap.


Greenhouse - After five years this place is still one of my favorite restaurants in town. Sure, it's a little pricey but it makes it all the more special when I do scrounge up enough tips to take a trip. After the show at 808 we were starving and luckily this place was right around the corner. The half-hour wait ended up only being about ten minutes, which was nice. We met up with a few more friends, ordered some drinks and a bunch of their signature jalapeno "bottlecaps,"and goofed around with the very pleasant waitress. One of the specials this month was calling my name: a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with corn, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. It ruled. Dear Greenhouse, if you're reading this, would you please put this entree on the menu forever? Thank you.

Macaroni Island - A venue that is yet to disappoint me. This particular night they were showcasing a number of acoustic acts that really suited the space. It was intimate and charming, a lot of folks felt comfortable enough to sit on the floor and gather around whoever was performing. Like story-time. Unfortunately, bouncing around town all night did not allow me to be in two places at once so naturally I didn't arrive on time for the first few performances, though I'm sure they were lovely. As I arrived, George Neal of Hares on the Mountain was stirring the room with his unmistakable hollar-time folk songs. I particularity enjoyed the song about Laika [Лайка], a Russian dog who was shot into space in 1957. I've always been a fan of George's musical projects, and seeing him perform solo holds no exception for me!
Next up was Dale Jones of the rowdy local group New Science Projects whipping up his unique take on twenty-something angst. Several musicians joined him throughout the set, including a clarinet solo by Scarlett Wright, also of NSP, and a beautiful cello accompaniment by Daniel Folmer. I enjoyed the harmonious compliment that the crowd would offer up in choruses throughout the set. After this, I had enough time to stick around for one more set, kind-of, sort-of, technically speaking. Ryan Becker of RTB2 was up next, playing a collection of songs [mostly] familiar to my ears. A beautiful and peaceful end to my evening, as the barista lifestyle beckoned me once more to get enough rest to serve the hungover citizens of denton come morning.

i hope you enjoyed this edition of a friday night in denton. see you later. probably.

what? a food blog?

Yup, I started a vegetarian food blog. I have a lot of friends who are either already excellent cooks or want to learn more about cooing vegetarian, and this blog is dedicated to them. I'm excited to continue to add recipes (many are original) and become better at handling my new camera and photographing food and people in the kitchen. I think it'll be a fun project! Check it out HERE.

the night is a disco

This is a piece I wrote covering Shiny Around the Edges' new album, film, and release show at Macaroni Island last month. It was an awesome show. The original article is posted on Austere Magazine's blog HERE.

Sempiternal Denton Band Shiny Around the Edges Rocks the House Releasing The Night is a Disco

 Shiny Around the Edges, still one of Denton’s favorite experimental bands, continues to evolve and define themselves after over a decade of music making. The band played to an enthusiastic crowd in the packed garage of Macaroni Island last Friday, excited to release their newest and most vibrant album to date, The Night Is a Disco. If there’s one thing Shiny knows how to do best, it’s rock a house show. 

The electronic duo Forever Home kicked off the evening with some experimental grooves. Shiny performed a slightly longer set, showcasing a good deal of their diversely musical new album. Featuring, as always, a delightful mashup of both Jenny and Mike’s dynamic vocals, guitar, sax, and heavy drum beats, over the course of the evening the band also introduced keyboard solos, a clarinet, and even a trombone. Local noise-rock group, Eccotone, finished up the night with a rowdy set. Macraroni Island was a new experience for me, a great venue overall, but the acoustics are probably less ideal for very loud acts.

The album itself kicks off with several melodic pieces featuring Jenny Seman’s hauntingly beautiful vocals accompanied by sparse piano and bass. As the album progresses, new elements are added, instruments and vocals alike. Eerie chanting, explosive guitar riffs, jazzy saxophone solos, auxiliary percussion, room sounds, innovative beats, and bird calls all make this album sensationally unique. True to their experimental and atmospheric background, the dynamics of these songs rise and fall expertly, but no one could argue that intensity of this album ever falters.

Along with the new album, Shiny has also taken on a film project, shot just last month in an abandoned house owned by local Council member, Kevin Roden. What started as a photo-shoot in the old house this summer turned into a concept for a music video that evolved into the short film “Seven Knots.” The film was made possible with the help of many Denton locals, from the production assistance of Amandus Studios to costuming by Lisa Townsend of Time Bandits Vintage Clothing- not to mention the many friends and fans of the band appearing in the film itself. Seven Knots was directed by Chad Withers. Shiny is excited to finish up post-production and start submitting the film to festivals before its wide release digitally or on DVD. Shiny’s own Mike Seman also mentioned the possible release of a “Seven Knots” soundtrack.

After all these years, Shiny Around the Edges is still going strong- they plan to take on new projects while continuing to write music and rock the local scene. They express a desire to incorporate more local music talent, much like they have with their current saxophonist, Mike Forbes, who often plays with the group live and has started collaborating with Mike and Jenny write music “from scratch.” To quote Mike directly when asked where he sees the band going in the future:

“We will most likely continue playing shows in the DFW region with occasional jaunts outside of the state here and there…we’ll support a bigger act on tour again as our schedules are fairly flexible. We’re always writing songs, so more recordings will undoubtedly happen. We really enjoyed the entire process of shooting a film and will most likely do so again in the future.”

cream of jalapeño soup

THIS IS THE BEST cream of jalapeno soup on the internet. ASK GOOGLE. Ask Yahoo. Ask your mom. This is it. No one else was brave enough to try this. But two of my best friends and I took on this challenge tonight and it turned out FANTASTIC. This is an ORIGINAL recipe we're going to share with you. It's WORTH IT. Everything we found online wanted to call "cream of jalapeno soup" some weak nonsense with 2-6 jalapenos. PLEASE. We used THIRTY, and I'm tempted to use more next time. What started as a simple experiment turned out to be an incredible flavor experience. This recipe is huge- it'll easily feed eight hungry people or you can eat some of it and freeze the rest for a quick, delicious, spicy meal. Try it and enjoy**!

Here's what you need:

30 jalapeno peppers

2 green bell peppers

1 yellow onion

1 head of garlic

6 red potatoes

8 oz. cream cheese

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 c. vegetable broth

1 c. fresh spinach

3/4 c. heavy whipping cream

      1 tbsp. parsley

1/2 tbsp. sweet paprika

salt & black pepper to taste

for garnish:

2 pieces of toast per person

olive oil, garlic salt, paprika, parsley

pomegranate seeds (very optional)

PREP:
For the peppers, cut the tops off and de-seed (keep some seeds for extra heat, if you so desire!), place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping them over halfway through cooking. Meanwhile, dice your onion, mince the garlic, shred the potatoes, chop the fresh spinach.

COOK:
Saute the onion in the olive oil in a large pot. Once the onion is soft, add the garlic and saute until everything is golden brown and deliciously aromatic. Add the broth and potatoes and cover for about fifteen minutes on a medium heat. Let the peppers cool enough to handle and chop them roughly, setting about 7-8 chopped jalapenos to the side. Add the rest to the pot, along with the spices and fresh spinach, and cook about five to ten minutes more.

BLEND:
Using a blender or food processor, process the all of the soup in batches until smooth and creamy. Put the creamy soup back into the pot and add the remaining chopped jalapenos. Add the whipping cream and all of the cream cheese in 1 oz. chunks and stir until melted smooth. Add salt and pepper as needed.

GARNISH:
We garnished our soup with simple garlic toast. Using a hearty whole-wheat bread, we cut the bread into inch-wide strips, placed it on a baking sheet, drizzled it with olive oil and sprinkled it with garlic salt, paprika, and parsley. We discovered on accident that a small garnish of pomegranate seeds added on top of the soup contributed this PERFECT sweet, cooling effect. SO GOOD. Don't hate it until you try it!

**THIS SOUP IS NOT FOR THE DELICATE PALATE. You should know that.

writing buddy

this is my writing buddy. 

sitting in front of the computer is what we did for a whole month. 

good thing it's nice outside right now.

Achievement Unlocked: 50,000 words

HEY! I JUST FINISHED WRITING 50,000 WORDS FOR MY NOVEL. Cool! Not that every word is a keeper, and I'm by no means close to being finished, but holy shit, you guys, this is the most I've ever written for a single project. I'm scrolling through the 174 pages of text I wrote over the last 30 days and I'm pretty amazed at what I've accomplished here. It feels pretty awesome, but I can't get ahead of myself. There's still a LOT to do before this is a finished work, the first thing being, to finish it. I would be willing to bet I can wrap up the story in another 10,000 words or so, which seems fair, and probably won't take me too long... with how busy I am going to be in the next month I'm going to go ahead and say the rough draft should be done by the end of the year. Then, let the editing begin! I edit with a butcher's knife, don't worry.

So this concludes my mad dash to get this out of my brain and on to paper. The bulk of it is over with and I feel confident I can finish this work. Most of the difficult stuff has been fleshed out. Damn. I'm kind of in a daze of disbelief right now... More later, I need to take a victory nap.

30,000 words.

Today I'm going to write-sprint. As much as I can. It's early, and I have plenty of coffee. I'm still surprisingly unaware of what the end-game here is, but, uh, I'm sure it'll come to me in the next week or so? This month has blown by. I'm amazed. If I leave the house today, it'll be because I wrote four or five thousand words and my fingertips are bleeding. Quick thoughts. Just letting you know I'm still at it. Can't stop, won't stop. Not now. More later. Love.