4B

AL 

Sorry, I have not paid as much attention to this blog... I don't really plan on not posting, but I'm sure there will be some gaps in the regularity of posts on this blog... there has been some talks to some variety shows involving music and cooking, among lots of other things, but little has come to pass recently. I haven't been to a lot of concerts, but I did play a fairly large party (more than one storey style) with my electronic music project, Sitari, only the second show for the project.

This time around, I experienced a couple of different equipment malfunctions... first my digita hi-8 player went kaput, and then at the show, my computer's soundcard started to crap out.............. but fortunately, I lucked out.

The live dj'ing program I wanted to use, Traktor, would not play sound out of my computer, despite my checking of the output settings, etc. Luckily, I tried the free VLC Player to make an impromptu electronic DJ set, where I altered EQ and spatial settings, messing with one's sense of space and perception of a sound. I opened up the night of this party, and had some good reactions. It is time for a new computer asap though; unfortunately I have made a bargain with myself to go on vacation before I make any expensive electronics purchases, since being a musician is by no means an inexpensive hobby.

So anyway, there might be a lapse in posting for a bit longer... I will be moving soon and taking care of some business, i.e. practicing for a show coming up downtown on the 24th. If anyone ever wants to check out a punk rock show in downtown Chicago, see what Cal's Liquors has on the bill (or if it is even open). I'm also practicing bass with my new band, Shifting Totem, which has a song called "Spicoli". just need to do more artwork

Next post will probably be a summary of the Cards vs. Cubs series, which will include a summary of Saturday's afternoon game, which I will be attending. Tonight I saw the Cards defend their first place berth during the first week of baseball in 2009... they won 2-1 so that is very comforting,  their bullpen last year being among the worst. I am expecting a very exciting baseball season ahead.

Well, things have gotten decidedly more metal in my world lately. I tried the Red Fang burger, which was delicious. Kumas was packed as usual, but I still tried yet another burger from their menu, and drank Woodford Reserve and Lagunitas Censored. I think I have tried most of the burgers there now... maybe sometime I'll move on to the choose your own ingredients mac and cheese dinner. After eating there with some friends, I made my way to the Double Door to see one of my favorite bands, Brutal Truth.

After drinking a few beers and some bourbon at Kuma's, I was already feeling pretty buzzed.... at the show I slowed it down a bit and drank some Busch tallboys, after buying a t-shirt. Gotta support the legends! After Chicago metal mainstay Yakuza opened, saxophonist and singer of the band Bruce Lamont did a sound/noise experiment that utilized his saxophone and vocals as well as a delay pedal... a bald guy in a suit with some sort of device that looked like a giant calculator or some sort of sci-fi/futuristic device also contributed to the sounds, or at least, appeared to... and Brutal Truth singer Kevin Sharp joined in for the last half of the noisy-but-really-cool-sounding soundscape.

I must say, I was a little surprised that there were some really cute girls at a grindcore show, which I found to be very cool. But I think that heavy metal is officially getting big in Chicago again, and I am excited to live here.... I was kind of getting sick of all the indie hipsters pretend-to-know-it-all types, and boring post-rock wannabes. Chicago has room for all types of music. It is good to see metal regaining a name for itself and not getting poo-poo'ed by pitiful lames.

So anyway, Brutal Truth pretty much destroyed... first off, they played their upcoming new album, 'Evolution Through Revolution', in its entirety. It does not disappoint! It sounds like an amalgam of their early stuff and 'Sounds of the Animal Kingdom', which is a very cool combination. I can't wait to hear the cd... it wasn't for sale yet at the show though. The second set consisted of picks from their 90s grind-defining works, which inspired me to crush my last beer can onto my head while rocking out in the small and spirited pit, which was much more laidback then it would have been in the heyday of mosh pits. But this was one of the most fun shows I've been at in a while. Brutal Truth is back. The new guitarist is really good too, although on one song from 'Need To Control' he didn't quite get the rhythm down... it's hard to replace a grinding bastard.

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This is another of the Alive beers from Shmaltz Brewing Co., for lager freaks and beer geeks everywhere. This was just a solid brew. One of my favorite things in life, malt, is in abundance in this malty masterpiece. This is a well-liked lager, and I suspect that it is Shmaltz's best seller. This beer has little to no aftertaste, and every drop pleases the taste buds. Perhaps this is due to my love of the 8 different malts, the slightly underlying 6 types of hops, and Czech Pilsner yeast. On the label it says "conjoined with beguiling new world flavor".

This is a very full lager, so if you like your lagers very lager-y, then this might be a little bit misleading. This stuff tastes very robust for a lager, as you might guess.
Beer Advocate has this listed as 5.5% ABV, but I didn't notice this listed on the label.

The label is actually quite terrifying, everyone that sees the face on the label is at least a little disturbed I think. A totally freaky carnie type of character stares out at the unknowing world with some sort of possessed grin. I think this put me off on trying this stuff for a while, but I think it's well worth your time, as it is a very tasty, yet smooth and mellow brew with no aftertaste (other than goodness). This is nearly as good as Albino Python, but not quite as unique. It's more of a any day of the week pour, perhaps to take the edge off a busy Monday. I know I will be drinking this more in the future, although it's been only a few times I've tried this over the last few months, there's just so many different good craft beers. Right now, I'd have to say that Shmaltz Coney Island beers and of course, Lagunitas, are my two favorite breweries.

A month ago or so, I posted something about my baseball stat, which I like to call OAR (or Offensive Ability Rating). I developed a formula that has a few different components to it, primarily one that measures how many bases a player generates as well as how many bases they steal (and the success rate they steal them at). So one component measures power, speed, and how successful they are (batting average is also included). The next nearly equal part of the component, which I call ELF (or Eye Luck Factor) measures how often a batter gets on base after hitting the ball into play (BABIP), how often a player walks or gets on base without getting a hit, while also counting against the hitter with how many times they strike out or ground into a double play. Another small component to the formula is pitches per plate appearance, but this is just added in as a tie-breaker more than anything else (also measures how "Gritty" a player is... could wear the starting pitcher down).

This is the third version of my stat, so it has become a bit refined over the past few months of working on the formula, and then tweaking it to get it as correct as possible, since we're rating a player's overall offensive value and want to be as accurate as possible. So, here's a top 50 hitters list (from 2008, I think I'm going to use this as a guide for my fantasy draft, heh):

1. Albert Pujols 130.68
2. Adam Dunn 127.59
3. Chipper Jones 123.27
4. Milton Bradley 121.98
5. Lance Berkman 118.33
6. Manny Ramirez 118.31
7. J.D. Drew 116.84
8. Alex Rodriguez 115.74
9. Chris Ianetta 114.34
10. Hanley Ramirez 113.76
11. Mark Texeira 113.27
12. Jason Giambi 113.11
13. Carlos Pena 112.26
14. Matt Holliday 112.12
15. Shin-soo Choo 110.3
16. Jack Cust 110.27
17. Carlos Quentin 110.02
18. Grady Sizemore 109.77
19. Ryan Ludwick 109.13
20. David Wright 108.95
21. Kevin Youkilis 108.82
22. Chase Utley 108.63
23. Pat Burrell 108.46
24. Jason Werth 107.99
25. Jason Bay 107.76
26. Carlos Beltran 105.71
27. Nick Markakis 105.56
28. Prince Fielder 105.12
29. Brad Hawpe 104.81
30. Aramis Ramirez 104.7
31. Jim Thome 104.25
32. David Ortiz 104.2
33. Mark Derosa 103.71
34. Dan Uggla 103.4
35. Elijah Dukes 103.35
36. Andre Ethier 102.57
37. Josh Hamilton 102.44
38. Nate McLouth 102.38
39. Evan Longoria 101.77
40. Ryan Howard 101.73
41. Brian Roberts 101.39
42. Troy Glaus 100.88
43. Curtis Granderson 100.7
44. Kelly Shoppach 100.55
45. Aubrey Huff 99.84
46. Carlos Lee 99.8
47. Geovany Soto 99.4
48. Ian Kinsler 99.17
49. Jim Edmonds 99
50. Carlos Delgado 98.76

For a fantasy baseball tip, it's not a bad idea to choose your hitters from the NL, since the NL has weaker pitching overall. Also, don't forget that a player shouldn't just be evaluated using solely offensive statistics... other factors are important too such as how healthy the player is, and if they are a defensive liability (Adam Dunn may be one of the best hitters in the game, but he is one of the worst at defense as well), and finally remember that there are not as many good hitters at positions like middle infield or catcher as there are in the outfield, etc.

Well, to be honest, I haven't been going to as many concerts these days. It's been like that for the last few years, bad economy and being really picky about what I see live. Most of the time I go to see friend's bands, or the occasional summer fest or new band playing at a smaller venue. I guess I'm just a little burnt out on going to see concerts... I've seen probably approaching 1000 different bands since 1992 or so. Whew! Luckily my ears are still pretty dang limber.

So on the last Friday the 13th, which also saw the debut of a remake of the original Friday the 13th movie, I saw one of the greatest bands in the history of Chicago, Cheer Accident, live at The Hideout. The show was sold out and quite crowded, the venue not being that large. The band featured a huge variety of instrumentation and singers. The main songwriter/ringleader Thymme Jones, the only original member of the band, alternated between playing drums and keys/vocals. He even played trumpet during a weird improvised dance number. Guitarist Jeff Libersher has been in the band almost as long as Jones, who also alternated instruments, standing near a keyboard that he played pretty often in between guitar parts. The rest of the band was rounded out by an electric bass player, a trombonist that doubled as a sound effects guy, and two females vocalists, one of which also played brass. To complete the band, a second guitarist played through a laptop and computer effects while standing near a table. The ease with which the band alternated instruments, segued between songs, and seamlessly enthralled me for over 2 hours was nothing less than astonishing.

I've been known lately to sometimes get bored at a concert, depending on the band and what was happening at the show of course. But I have to say that I never lost interest in this concert, despite the fact when the show was over, over half the crowd had left. I guess the average concertgoer is not ready for over 2 hours straight of math rock, prog, improvisation, ambient passages, weird electronic beat oriented experiments, odd noises and dissonant arrangements. I enjoyed it immensely. To add to that, there was a few weird vaudevillian passages breaking up the musical set. The band not only drew upon most of the albums during its 27+ year long career... it actually played more than a few new tunes, as far as I could tell. I haven't heard every one of their albums, but the music seemed to be similar to the band's newest release, 'Fear Draws Misfortune', on Cuneiform Records. Cheer Accident quite simply are one of the best live bands I have ever seen, both musically and entertainment-wise. The lineups I've experienced have been slightly different each time over the last few years, which goes right in line with the amorphous career of the band. Of the 3 times I've watched them live, this last one was the best. They seem to just keep getting better each time.

Towards the bottom of my blog page, and to the left, is a music player playing my latest electronic music cd by Sitari, called 'The Last Few Years...'. Sequenced and brainstormed over the years 2006 - 2008, the cd has some of Sitari's most mellow and downtempo as well as most experimental music to date. Inspired by the wealth of Chicago's culture both in music and artwork coming from the different neighborhoods of the city, it also even has a song started on a Greyhound bus while traveling near St. Louis that turned out to be one of the strongest tracks on the album. I actually think this is by far my most consistent work to date however, and I think each track stands on its own (that's why I plan on putting it on iTunes and a bunch of other mp3 stores for sale). One of the main differences between this and my other albums is that there's a lot of organ and keyboard sounds, perhaps making it both more atmospheric and accessible... as it has a lot of melody compared to some of the noisier stuff I've done in the past. Which isn't to say this is not noisy; it still has a lot of dissonance and experimentation, I just think that it's a little bit more of a good vibe. Have a listen and let me know what you think.