It is Official...

Que Widespread Panic: (or Vic Chesnutt) It is official, I went to make a burrito and saw, out our kitchen window, the freak of nature that lives in our neighborhood. This is a skunk that appears albino. It is not albino but is all white except for black on his feet and a black stripe on his head. I had seen him before but it was at night. Yes, like Doraville, Ga., at least at one time, Strawberry Plains is a little country in the city. (Do I need another Southern Rock reference here?)

It's only seems appropriate that I provide you all with this video of Vic Chesnutt preforming "Sleeping Man," as I had suspected, Mr. Chesnutt wrote Sleeping Man. I found this on You Tube and it had only 6 "likes" and no comments. All the videos of Panic preforming Sleeping Man were of terrible quality. The significance of this particular tune to this topic, as you should notice, the first line of the song is "your a freak of nature."

Things that I have observed this week.

1. No, Mr. My-daughter-has-a-Hawaiian-flower-tattoo, you can not find a Hibiscus bush with a purple flower in East Tennessee. Notice how a majority of the Hibiscus flower colors are red, pink and yellow? This guy goes in my "cultural decline" file.

2. The Screaming Trees are the bastard love child of Ian Astbury (The Cult) and the Meat Puppets.

Hard to believe that, as a young lad, I saw the Trees and the Meat Puppets play at the same tiny club in Birmingham, Al. That club would be the notorious Nick, notorious if you're from Birmingham because; A. it is so small!, B: notorious for booking punk and alt rock shows or generally alternative music of any kind. I also saw Henry Rollins preform there with Rollins Band and, years later, saw Vic Chesnutt preform there.

Didn't mean for my observation to become a trip down memory lane, music's good, on any day, at any age.

Now, for your musical entertainment;

I feel I owe it to you all to play this Who video after using these lyrics as the title to my last post. Perhaps I owe it to myself too act as a fanatical Who fan? Maybe this could be the official theme song of Fanatical Recycling Inc? I'll have to think it over, in the mean time, enjoy...!

Oh yes, this is from the film The Kids are Alright. Nothing like seeing Pete bounce the Les Paul off the stage at the end of the song and then bounce the cymbal off the guitar. How much is a Les Paul, about $1000?

Here's to the new boss...

She's not the same as the old boss, but she's much like him. I picked her up from the side of Asheville Hwy about a month ago. Sally says she's not sure why she is here and I said, "to avoid being road kill and, or procreation." We have named her Iris. She is almost exactly the same size and age that Pal was when I got him.

I took these photos a few weeks ago, when Sally was visiting North Alabama. In the second photo, I imagine Iris is saying, "where is the nice lady?" She was probably saying, "Why's this glass (window) between us?"

Que the Who, Here's to the new boss...!

Yazoo Brewing, Hefeweizen

Here's another brew from one of the many craft breweries of the South Eastern U.S. Yazoo Brewery is just down the road, in Nashville, Tn. Recently, I was delighted to spot Yazoo Hefeweizen in the cooler at my favorite pub and have since purchased a few to enjoy at home.

 Right out of the bottle this smells of flowers and Bananas. I have often heard of banana used in descriptions of Hefeweizen but have never experienced this level of detail in the style until now. After the pour the banana smell tapers off a bit, but the bananas are certainly apparent in the first sip.

Yazoo Hefe pours with very little carbonation, creating a thin, short lived head. The color is, very clear for the style, golden orange. The body of the beer flavor is, appropriately, reminiscent of fresh bread. Perhaps banana bread as banana flavors play hide and seek with my taste buds.

Yazoo Hefeweizen is one of my new favorites, I have to give it a 4.75 out of 5 pints, at least. 

Magic Hat Howl, Black Lager

So I've been writing about Magic Hat beers for nearly two years and still haven't written about #9, Vinyl, Wacko or their winter seasonal offering, Howl, Black Lager. Lemme get with the program!

With Howl and Ravell, Magic Hat is really leaning in the direction of dark beers and this is great too. Howl shares many of the flavor characteristics of Ravell but is a bit heavier on the tongue. My first impression of Howl leads me to believe that I'm drinking a Stout, this is no simple Black Lager.

The beer pours with plenty of foamy carbonated goodness. The first sip is a heavy coffee and dark chocolate flavor with just a bit of sweetness. Howl stays thick and malty through out and remains tart and stout as well. I'm tellin' ya, this one is a Stout! By comparison, Ravell has a  lighter mouth-feel and is more similar to other black lagers I have had.

Howl's not a beer that I'd hunt for in a six-pack but I'll  continue enjoying them when  Winterfest 12 Pack season returns. I'll give Howl a 3 out of 5 pints, while it was a great representative of it's style, perhaps I just drank it out of season? (Or, perhaps I should have enjoyed it with some chocolate chip cookies?)

Magic Hat, Encore IPA

I have been trying to write about this beer all year. It is very difficult for me to come to terms with a beer that mostly tastes like citrus juice. IPA is not one of my favorite styles but I  still enjoy it occasionally.

Magic Hat Encore pours with a good to great foamy head. I even over flowed the glass, and I haven't done that in ages. (I borrowed the photo from the entree-net, thus the lack of head in the photo.) The smell is yeast and citrus. The first sip is, what I associate with IPAs, grapefruit. The fruity and hoppy flavors dominate until the last sip. Encore's as good an IPA as I require and I give it a 4.5 of 5 possible pints and a Hats Off to Magic Hat.