PJ20: eighteen

06.01.06 - Continental Arena - East Rutherford, NJ

It was a nice early summer night in North Jersey for this one. My 10C tickets weren't that great, but I was able to upgrade to a floor seat. This was one of those shows that started off strong with a lot of the faster Avocado songs. The main set ended up being pretty standard for this tour with the exception of Alone. Due to guitar problems the song is pretty much aborted, which definitely had me bummed since it would have been my first.

But all was not lost! What really won me over was the first encore. It began with three slower numbers: Wasted Reprise, Man of the Hour and Come Back. This set the stage for the climatic ending of the set with a reverse Mamasan Trilogy. Mamasan is Pearl Jam's own mini rock opera. The trio of songs (Alive, Once, Footsteps) played in this order tells the story of a person who is wronged, does wrong, becomes a criminal, and ends up in jail. More info about these three songs, some of the earliest Pearl Jam history, can be found HERE. Typically, the band plays them in reverse order because I guess it makes sense to end a set with Alive instead of Footsteps. As great as it is to hear each song separately, it's even better to hear them together. This was the only time I've experienced the trilogy and one of the reasons this show is special.

Enjoy the mp3 download and some pics from this show!

Pearl Jam 06.01.06 mp3 Download

PJ20: nineteen

02.20.98 - Alexander M. Baldwin Amphitheater - Maui, HI

This "best of" list isn't meant to go in chronological order. I'll be saving my most memorable moments for the end. This one would have been up there, but I feel obligated to at least start at the beginning. I was a junior in high school and up to this point Pearl Jam was "that popular grunge band". Like most people, I was introduced to them from what I saw on MTV and heard on local radio stations. You'd have to be living under a rock if you didn't know Jeremy, Evenflow, Daughter, Elderly Woman, Betterman or Spin The Black Circle as a child of the nineties.

It wasn't till Yield that I really started paying attention. The tide was receded for grunge, but Pearl Jam delivered an album that immediately grabbed me. As fate would have it my first concert would be the Yield tour opener in Maui, Hawaii. Let's just say one of my good friends was even crazier about Pearl Jam than I was and secured tickets. I convinced my parents it was a once in lifetime experience and they eventually granted me permission to go. So my friend's Dad made the accommodations and we were off to paradise.

The long trip to arrive at our destination was only the beginning of the wait. I remember arriving at the amphitheater early enough to catch the end of soundcheck. Of the 5,000 lucky ones who made the show, we were one of the first few in line and sprinted to the stage when the gates finally opened. Was this really happening?!?! Hear we were in paradise with the North Shore just beyond the stage about to get our faces ripped off by Mudhoney and Pearl Jam.

After Mudhoney, the crush of the crowd got bad in anticipation for Pearl Jam. I'll never forget that drawn out greeting from Ed when they took the stage. "Alohaaaaaa......," and with that we were off. By the time Corduroy and Hail Hail finished we had to retreat a bit from the rail as the crush got a little tighter. On the way back I got acclimated with my first couple mosh pits. The flying elbows didn't bother me, but it was hard to pay attention to the show with the ever present threat of getting decked.

We finally found our comfort zone as the band began Faithfull. The Yield era was just beginning, but most songs played from the album sounded like they've been performed live for years. It would end up being the shortest Pearl Jam show I ever attended due to the early curfew, but it still packed a good punch. This would also be the only show I would see without Matt Cameron behind the drum kit.

By the time we left the venue drenched in sweat and beat up from holding our ground, I was hooked. Yield will forever be one of my alltime favorite albums. To be a part of the warm-up shows to this monumental tour is something I'll always cherish. Hearing the radio hits live was like discovering them for the first time. THIS was Pearl Jam. Luckily, there was a taper in attendance to preserve the moment. The links below are for the tagged mp3s. The sound check is also included. Enjoy!

Pearl Jam 02.20.98 mp3 Download Part 1

Pearl Jam 02.20.98 mp3 Download Part 2

PJ20: twenty

This Labor Day weekend Pearl Jam will celebrate their 20th anniversary with a multi band festival, PJ20. It pains me to say I won't be able to attend since there's only one place I can be that weekend. After the announcement I made it a point to collect all the live recordings of the shows I attended. I've been fortunate enough to catch some legendary ones and wanted to relive all the moments that made them special.

Pearl Jam understands what it means to be a touring band. They can play for over two hours every night and still mix up setlists by taking chances. The real moments of greatness occur when the collective energy of the band and crowd lock together. Pearl Jam's ability to decipher what the crowd wants and deliver is what truly makes them one of the best live bands ever... yeah I said it.

Leading up to Labor Day I'll be writing a couple posts a week discussing the best things I've witnessed this band do. Twenty posts total. It'll serve as therapy for not being able to make the big party. Feel free to post responses if you have anything to add about my "best of" list or anything PJ related! I want to hear what you think. Without further adieu, here's #20

06.08.92 - Pinkpop Festival Landgraaf - Netherlands

Obviously I wasn't there (since I was eleven years old), but the video footage was some of my first exposure to live Pearl Jam. Here's this young band gaining momentum by destroying little theater's, now playing to their biggest crowd. It's a performance that will ultimately define their careers. Here's some of the clips for you to see what I'm talking about:

What's Brewing

I wanted to write a quick post about my recent brew. Before vacation I picked up an informative book by Ray Daniels called Designing Great Beers. One main point Daniels brings up early on is the importance of charting a course for the recipe by characterizing the beer you want to make. He lists six steps that I find myself and other brewers doing already, but goes into some great detail. The second part of the book breaks down each style of beer and how to achieve their characteristics. Check it out if you haven't already. Anyway... back to the recipe.

The purpose of this recipe was to clone Maui Brewing Co's Pueo Pale Ale. Since it's only available at the brewpub you'll have to catch a flight to try some. Even more of a reason to clone it... but I can only rely on my memory, taste buds and some useful info from MBC's website:

ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 35

Centennial and Simcoe Hops

This pale ale consists of two row malted barley and a dash of Munich and crystal malts. Centennial and Simcoe hops are used to give a crisp hop bitterness to balance the maly notes.

I remember the beer being lighter in color and sessionable, but still had a great malt backbone. The hops were much more on the nose and flavorful without being overly bitter. It reminded me alot of Stone Levitation. Here's what I came up with:

Style: 10A American Pale Ale
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1056 (American Ale)
Yeast Starter: 1L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Target Original Gravity: 1.058 (assuming 75% efficiency)
IBU: 43
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 minutes
Color: 8.5 SRM
Mash: Single Infusion 154F - Batch Sparge

Grain Bill:
8.5 lb Two Row
1 lb Munich Malt
1 lb Crystal 40L

Hop and Other Addition Schedule:
0.25 oz Centennial (60 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (30 min)
0.5 oz Centennial (20 min)
2 tsp Irish Moss (20 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (5 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (Dry hop 10 days)
0.5 oz Centennial (Dry hop 10 days)

As you can see I went a little hoppier and a tid higher in achohol, but that's more what I was looking for! Here's some crappy iphone pics:

Aloha!

Jen and I have returned to the east coast after a wonderful honeymoon in Hawaii. We visited both Kauai and Maui on our journey. The islands were beautiful, the food incredible, and the craft beer delicious. Hawaii isn't exactly a likely spot to find quality craft beer since it's more of a Mai Tai town, but we found it at the Maui Brewing Co.

MBC was founded in 2005 and currently has two locations in west Maui: The brewery and the brewpub only miles apart in Lahaina. Like many other successful breweries, MBC embraces their location and has adapted a mission within the same line. They distribute using cans instead of bottles, an uncommon choice for a brewery who only produces craft beer. An explanation for this decision can be found on their website:

...cans don't break like glass bottles do and it is particularly important for us to do whatever we can to keep our 120 miles of coastline, 30 miles of beaches, and other public areas free of broken glass! Cans can be recycled, are virtually unbreakable, and are lighter to carry and easier to chill than bottles. Also, key to the purity of our beers: cans eliminate light damage and the risk of oxidation. This will ensure that our canned microbrews will be flavorful, brisk, and satisfying.

Four beers (Bikini Blonde, Big Swell IPA, CoCoNut Porter, and Mana Wheat) are available in cans. You're unlikely to find any around here since distribution is limited to the west coast, but I highly recommend both the Big Swell and CoCoNut along any trip out there. While out in west Maui we only made it to the brewpub since the rest of our day was spent on the beach. The pub offers a larger selection of small batched brews so we headed there for lunch and snapped a few pics:

Outside the brewery

The brewery inside the pub

Fermenters

The owner with homebrew ambassador himself, Charlie Papazian. The website says they sell homebrew equipment at the brewery too.

Awards

More awards

Keg Lighting

The lineup at the brewery. We tried nine of the fourteen :)

Wild Hog Stout on nitro and the Smoked Hemp Ale

Bread made with spent grain. They incorporated a lot of beer ingredients into food.

The honeymooners enjoying a Pueo Pale Ale and Bourbon Barrel aged KGB

The taps complete with Hula Girl

A growler of Pueo Pale Ale to end the day.

As you can probably tell from the pics, the Pueo (Hawaiian Owl) Pale Ale was a favorite of mine. A very sessionable pale ale with great aroma and flavor from the centennial and simcoe hops. The website offers some insight to the recipe and it just so happens I have all the ingredients in house. This will probably be the basis for my next recipe. The rest of the honeymoon was incredible, but way too long to discuss here. I will leave you with some of my favorite restaurants we found that I highly recommend if you're enough to visit either island.

The Tavern (Princeville, Kauai)
Koiso Sushi Bar (Kihei Maui)
Capische (Wailea Maui)

Mahalo!

Wood Brothers - World Cafe Live - 03.26.11

It feels like an eternity since I've offered some live music for you to download. Luckily, I have a surplus of great recordings from the past couple months that I've been dying to get out there. My hope is I'll be able to finish processing them all before I leave for Hawaii on June 1st. The first is from a memorable night at the World Cafe Live with the Wood Brothers.

I've been a fan of the Wood Brothers ever since I first saw them in 2006 when they opened for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at this very venue. To say they blew me away during that first encounter would be an understatement. I'm sure there's a lot to be said about the comfort level you have writing and performing music with your brother. Ironically though, these two developed musically miles apart: Chris with MMW in the northeast and Oliver in the south with King Johnson.

Every time I've seen the brothers perform at the World Cafe Live it's been setup in the "dinner theater" configuration meaning less dancing room. The upside is it gives you a chance to really sit back and take in the performance. The "holy shit" moments really engulf you without the distractions of a standing room audience. This night was no different. As an added surprise the brothers brought along Jano Rix who added another layer and allowed old favorites like One More Day, Twisted and Glad to take on a new life.

It's hard for me to describe these "holy shit" moments without experiencing it live. I think it has something to do with the juxtaposition of their styles, but people who've witnessed can attest: It's downright beautiful music. Examples can be found scattered across this recording with Losing Streak, Shoofly Pie, Pay Attention and Smoke Ring Halo being a couple of my favorite from the night.

It can be a challenge to tape the Wood Brothers because of the dynamic range of the performance. This one was no different, but the recording is definitely a great representation of the night. You may need to crank the volume to hear the discussion between songs, but it's best to play this one loud anyway! Thanks to Craig T for the pics:

Wood Brothers
March 26, 2011
World Cafe Live (Downstairs)
Philadelphia, PA

Source: Schoeps mk4 > actives > NBox+ > Sound Devices 722(24/48)
Transfer: Sound Devices 722 > Firewire > Wavelab 5.0a(+Gain/Fades/Resampler 192/UV22HR Dither) > CD Wave > flac16 (level 8) > tagged using Foobar2000 and Tag&Rename
Location: Floor/LOC
Configuration: DIN
Taped and Transferred by T.J. Samulis

01. -intro-
02. Up Above My Head
03. One More Day
04. Twisted
05. Walk Away
06. Smoke Ring Halo
07. Mary Anna
08. Chocolate On My Tongue
09. Losing Streak
10. Glad
11. Postcards From Hell
12. Shoofly Pie
13. When I Was Young
14. Pay Attention
15. Chevelotte
16. Blue And Green
17. Stumbled In
18. Atlas
19. -encore break-
20. Luckiest Man
21. Down The Road (1)

NOTES
(1) With Seth Walker on guitar/vocals

DOWNLOAD WOOD BROTHERS FLAC TORRENT HERE

DOWNLOAD WOOD BROTHERS MP3 ZIP FILE HERE

Levon Helm & moe. - Midnight Ramble - 03.12.11

I'm playing a little catchup since my life revolved around the wedding for the past few months. Even though I was busy there was still a little time to squeeze in a couple shows here and there. One show, or should I say experience, trumped them all. On a cold week in March we made the pilgrimage to Woodstock for a Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm's barn. The opening band just happened to be moe.

Levon, drummer of The Band, has called Woodstock home for quite some time. During the late sixties Bob Dylan and the The Band could be found in this quaint town making music history. It's no wonder why they called this town home. You really need to stroll through the heart of town to understand it's charm, where both locals and out of towners enjoyed the sunny, brisk day.

Although the town itself was worth the trip, most visitors made the trek for one reason: Levon's Midnight Ramble with moe. So what is a Midnight Ramble you ask? Well, I'll let Levon explain it:

When the opportunity to see moe. play a ramble presented itself I knew I had to be there. Tickets didn't last long since moe. draws well in the area. Fortunately they were secured and we were on our way to see a living legend entertain us in his home studio (BIG THANKS TO DON!!!!!). The website says not to show up to the property until after 6pm, but we couldn't resist the urge to snap a couple pictures in the daylight:








With a little bit of time to kill before dinner there was one more mission that needed to be accomplished: Find Big Pink. It's very possible you've never heard of Big Pink, but I'm sure you've heard at least one piece of music written there:

A quick google search will get you the address and directions. Since it's a private property and you have to drive down a narrow winding road to reach Big Pink you get the feeling trouble could be waiting at the end. After all, how would you feel to have trespassers? We were respectful and stayed just long enough to snap a couple pics and let our minds wander a bit:






After a great meal a Joshua's, it was finally time to get down. Pulling into the "lot" felt more like a backyard BBQ than anything else. The empty fire pit we saw earlier in the day was going strong. I'll never forget the smell of that fire mixed with the fresh mountain air. It was calling you inside to the party.

I will say the tickets are expensive at $125 to $150, but it is worth every penny for obvious reasons. As an added bonus you can bring beer, wine, whiskey, or your drink of choice and go in and out as you please to fill your cup (I chose a cooler full of homebrews!). The community table is filled with free food from all over the place too. So I think it's safe to say the high ticket price is trivial. GO if you have a chance. Don't even think about it!

What can be said about the music played in the barn other than it represented everything that's right about live music. The line between performer and audience is non existent, which is something that truly makes live music much more special in my eyes. moe. gave us what we came for: A set mixing old and new with enough jamming to satisfy. Rebubla was great, but I think Downward Facing Dog was my highlight.

Levon is amazing. This was the second time I've seen him perform and the man rocks harder at 70 than most have in their entire lives. The night went too fast, but I do remember highlights being Ophelia, Deep Elum Blues, Attics of My Life and obviously The Weight with Chuck and Al. Out of respect for Levon there was no recording on this night. It was meant to be that way... some things are meant to stay inside the barn.