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Book Review: Keith Richards Life

( #KeithRichards )

I finished Keith Richard’s autobiography a few days ago. Called “Life“, Richards starts from his early childhood and makes his way through to modern day (last year). His childhood stories are a high point because he grew up in post WWII England. The sugar rations, old pillboxes, and devastated streets that were a part of “Keef’s” early life set background of his gypsy lifestyle that his grandparents encouraged.

Once Richards meets the other Rolling Stones and starts to get into music, the book slows down for a while. In this section Richards establishes his blue collar credo. As he becomes more wealthy, famous, and drugged, “Keef” cannot maintain his blue collar view point no matter how hard he tries. This is where the book falls apart for me. Be a rock star or be a normal dude. He can’t make up his mind. One chapter he talks about these old slum mansions with no electricity that he has his kid living in and then another he credits the “purest quality pharmaceuticals” to keeping him alive (versus normal street junk). He tries so hard to establish being just a normal working class musician by telling stories of his love of jamming with Jamaicans, you can almost forget it is happening at his fancy estate on the island.

I am being overly critical of the book. Richards weaves a perfectly entertaining narrative. His personal non-musical stories are actually much better than the Rolling Stones tales. I think the fundamental problem is that “Keef” doesn’t want to come off as Mick Jagger. Richards’ issues with Mick come from Jagger leaving behind his working man roots and becoming a control freak. If “Keef” demonstrated any enjoyment from fame and money, he would have to admit that some of Mick’s behavior was in their best interest, which is not going to happen.

What else can I say? Keith Richards has done the finest drugs, the finest women, traveled the world, and knows some very crazy people. He has set fire to more buildings than a pyromaniac and has lived to tell the tale. How can I not recommend the book?

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Tumbling

I have been trying out a few new social media tools this week.  Tumblr has been on my mind for a while.  At first I thought it could be a replacement for my main JoeyLombardi.com domain, but I am not there yet.  

I would like to push my other blogs and feeds into this and make it a one stop shop.  If it can’t do that, it will go away.  Not sure if this is another tool to distract from producing or something that will help get my ideas out into the ether so they can spark conversation.  

Either way, it will be another learning experience.  

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GooglePlus Review

( #GooglePlus, #SocialMedia )


Image Credit: Paul Vedar

Last night the good people over at Lifehacker offered invites to the new Google+ service. I jumped at the chance to get one because I have been looking at a way to do multiple people video chats for months. Skype offers it for a few bucks a month, which I was considering, but I don’t like that I have to install software to video chat when Google does it in the browser.

Google calls the feature “hangouts” and even in beta, it works pretty damn well. Actually checkout the Lifehacker crew’s video:

Google seems to have built this service around security and privacy. This sounds like an odd thing for Google, but it comes from the public scorn they got from rolling out Buzz (which automatically shared private info like email addresses) and also as a response to Facebook. Even though Facebook has privacy features, I feel that they always trying to get you to share more public data (and their updates always change settings to make that happen). In order to compete, Google is focusing security groups (called Circles) so you can share certain things with certain people much easier.

I am sure Big G isn’t completely saintly in this service, but since they have the Government breathing down their necks and face fierce competition with Facebook, I think the Google+ service is as legit as it can be. Since I am a google guy to start, I am hoping the service takes off because it will be much easier for me to manage my social circle with the plus service than with Facebook since I already have a hands off attitude towards it.

I was going to offer invites to readers, but it looks like Google shut down invitations already. But drop me a note, and if they turn it back on, I will try to get you in.

UPDATE: A blogger buddy (and current Keypulp founder) Joss Ross already found a security issue. Even if you choose a select group to see your post, someone could share it with everyone. Google has a fix, there is a drop down in the right corner that disables sharing. I think it should be defaulted that way, but for now, be aware and don’t share!

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A Trip to Acadia National Park (Maine) – 2011

( #Maine, #Acadia )

For the last 7 months I have been keeping a secret from my wife. A vacation. Logistically I had to tell her when we were going so she could ask for the week off, but no other details. As for the location, my cousin and I planned the trip after I complained about two failed attempts to visit Maine over the last five years. Over the months, we figured out the details and played out the surprise last Friday for hilarious effect (right before we left I told my wife we were going to the Jersey shore much to her disappointment).

The drive to Maine (and specifically Acadia) was long, about 12 hours from Philadelphia. We ended up stopping on the way up, but the next day was smooth sailing. When we got to the house we rented, we were all really happy. It was directly on the bay which gave us daily access to kayaking (which we did). The homeowners had the house perfectly stocked with the things you would need and I would highly recommend staying there (but book early!).

We spent the majority of our time (while not kayaking) in Acadia. So here is a quick rundown of the things we did (in case there is an interest in repeating it).

Ship Harbor Nature Trail:

This was a really easy nice trail that lead to a rocky beach which offered extra challenge because we ditched the trail and just followed the rocks. When playing on wet rocks, you always have to watch your footing. I definitely had concerns about breaking my face open a few times on this trip, but then I would see my cousin’s 10-year-old son sailing over the rocks and I just went with it.

After the trail, we went to Jordon Pond which has a popular restaurant. This place is a bit of an overpriced tourist trap but they offer popovers which are like biscuit muffins that I didn’t see anywhere else. They were worth the trip alone (just order some soup and a bunch of them).

The Bowl/Beehive Trails:

While most of this trip was spend on some kind of trail (and they honestly started to blur together in hindsight), one that will stick out is the Bowl/Beehive. I actually picked the bowl trail out as an activity because it was said to be a little more difficult and had a nice view (I was craving a difficult trail). When we got there, my cousin’s son wanted to do the beehive trail. All I saw was a sign that warned of using mettle rungs and I was out. Somehow my extremely cautious cousin agreed to go on the beehive with his son while we went through the bowl trail. While the bowl was strenuous, the beehive was dangerous:

When we connected with my cousin, he was shaking and really regretted going through it. He said once you hit the tough spots, there is no going back so you have to move forward. Anybody thinking about doing it, take that warning.

Thunder Hole:

Thunder Hole is a rocky section of the park that has a small underground cave system that makes a rumbling noise when the tide comes in. While interesting, the “hole” is one of the most popular spots in the park and there were a ton of people hanging around. The masses ruined it just because the nice part of being at the park is you don’t have to be surrounded by people since there are so many options.

Several people ignored the gates and got close to the water. A few people die each year by rouge waves coming in and sucking people off the rocks. I saw quite a few parents letting their kids go to the edge and it totally bugged me out, I was glad to leave.

After Thunder Hole we went to Hunter’s Beach. It is a small stone beach and nobody was there. The current makes an awesome sound as it sucks in the rocks with each wave pulling back. Easily a favorite find.

Dining:

My cousin and I cooked almost every night. I am not a seafood guy (please don’t start) but everybody else was. My cousin’s wife managed to find a guy (by following signs) named Rat that had fresh lobsters and clams. My cousin said Rat’s clams were the best he ever had in his life and I believed him. Rat didn’t have 2+ lb lobsters on the day everyone wanted to cook them, so he called a lobster-man buddy and got us what we needed.

The cool thing about Rat is that we just found him, nothing was planned. He was the typical Maine accent and lived on this crazy farm. If it was the end of the world, I would have no doubt that good old Rat would be breathing easy in his house in the middle of nowhere.

We found a gem of a place in Southwest Harbor. It is called Quiet Side Cafe. My cousin and I were walking down the street looking for supplies for dinner when we spotted a blueberry pie cooling on a side window. Like a cartoon we were drawn inside and had a great meal and met some really nice people (I ordered Pizza – in Maine – and they knocked it out of the park). Owner Frances Reed was incredibly welcoming and the place had a great vibe. You must go there if you are in the area.

All of the other restaurants were fine. Order fish. My cousins said they never had a bad meal when it came to the fish. I didn’t have any bad meals myself, but nothing to blog about either 😉

Closing Thoughts:

With the weather never breaking 80 degrees (and sometimes getting close to going under 50 at night), Maine it my kind of summer vacation. I did what I wanted, wasn’t on a schedule, and got to romp around in a truly magnificent place for a week. If I had to complain about anything, it would be the mosquitoes – they were merciless, but that still didn’t prevent us from going outside and having a good time.

I would absolutely recommend this trip to friends and any families that don’t want to do the typical Disney boxed vacation – you can be the master of your own destiny.

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DME: Fathers Day and Hendrick’s Gin

( @drinkingmadeeasy, #HendricksGin )

Drinking Made Easy posted an article I wrote about Hendricks Gin and making G&Ts for my dad. Give it a read!

Celebrate Father’s Day with Hendrick’s Gin

Update: It looks like DME’s website upgrade broke the links, so here is the whole article.

With Father’s Day approaching and the weather heating up, I have been thinking about gin. When I was a kid, my old man used to ask me to make him gin and tonics when he got home from work or after he mowed the lawn. I started adding little dashes of cranberry juice for color which earned me a compliment or two. This encouragement led to a long running tradition of playing bartender at parties, which stands to this day.

I don’t always drink mixed cocktails, but if I do, it is almost always a gin and tonic. Tonic water and gin do nothing for me independently, but by their powers combined, they form pure boozy magic. It is the perfect combination of bitter and sweet flavors. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a well versed friend (the same guy that recommended Zing Zang in my Bloody Mary article) about my love of G&Ts; he recommend Hendrick’s Gin. After telling me about it, he brought a bottle over and it blew my mind.

Hendrick’s gin was established in 1999. The whole origin of the company and its 150-year-old still can be found on their website. The story confirms what my mouth has already told me – this gin is really smooth. It was so good that I felt bad mixing it with tonic water. I loathe martinis, but a spritz of vermouth and slice of cucumber radically changed my position on the drink and gin (independent of tonic water) in general. When I finally did overcome my hesitation about mixing it, I was blown away by the difference in quality and flavor. Simply put, this puts my father’s nasty ass bottle of Beefeater to shame.

If you are looking for a nice gift for your father, you can’t go wrong with Hendricks gin. It’s delicious and the bottle is unique (it looks olde-timey and medicinal), hell, you can even get it with an attractive carrying case. I purchased a bottle for my father because I can’t mock his Beefeater without providing a superior replacement (plus I get bragging rights for finding something better). As we all celebrate our dads this Sunday, just focus on the fact that if they didn’t have a favorite drink, we might not be walking around today.

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Concert Review: Bright Eyes @ The MANN (Philadelphia, Pa)

Opening Act(s): Dawes, M. Ward
Date: Friday, June 10th, 2011
Location: MANN Music Center, Philadelphia, Pa
Website: Bright Eyes

[Venue]

I am always happy to see a concert at the MANN. The acoustics are excellent, the setting is clean and interesting, and it isn’t a hassle to get there. I purchased balcony seats for the concert—I didn’t even know the MANN had a balcony (even as we walked in), the architecture hides it really well, which is pretty cool. Once we got up there, I was in love. The sections were small with only two seat rows—so I did not have to sit next to annoying people. The people in my section were quiet and respectful all night, very good crowd. My only complaint was the heat and there wasn’t much that could be done for that.

[Opening Acts]

Act #1: Dawes

I never heard of Dawes before this show, so as they started their set with a slower song, I was quick to dismiss them and pull out my smart phone. But I started hearing the guitar player (and singer) start to toss in these interesting transitions and that got my attention. As their set continued, they built up the pace and I started to get impressed. The guitarist has a lot of talent and the entire band has a good sound dynamic (and sensibilities). I really liked their set and I want to hear more from them.

Act #2: M. Ward

M. Ward came out a few minutes after Dawes. Ward is a frequent collaborator of Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk) and is probably known for his band “She and Him” with Zooey Deschanel. He immediately started into an instrumental piece which was upbeat and established his talent on the guitar. The next 30 minutes were very slow, sad songs that all built off a similar minor chord base and strum pattern. In a small, air-conditioned club this would be something that I could absorb, but in the heat, it just put me to sleep. At the end of the set, he invited Dawes out to back him and it sounded really good. I wish he brought a band with him for the whole set.

[Bright Eyes]

I did not expect a rock concert from Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes. Perhaps a few rocked out tunes mixed into a largely acoustic set, but the opposite happened. Oberst came out with firsts swinging leaning heavily on material from his new album and it was… awesome. Instead of putting the crowd to sleep like Ward before him, the band was LOUD. There were two drummers, two keyboard players, a guitarist (not Oberst), and a bass player – this group commanded attention.

All of the songs sounded fleshed out. After the first four, the band settled back into a mini-acoustic set where Conor played familiar tunes like “Four Winds” and “Lua” and then brought the band back out to fire up the crowd again. The tempo felt very intentional which alludes a control over the crowd reactions that is impressive.

I really enjoyed the concert: great crowd, great venue, great seats. I am continually impressed by Oberst’s versatility (acoustic, rock, electronica, and country). Oberst has been called the new Dylan too many times to count, but I think might have a new title to content with: Rock Star.