Author: King Tom

Rivers Cuomo Solo in Boston

With the impending release of the third volume in Rivers Cuomo’s Alone series, I’ve been listening to a lot of his solo stuff lately.

Rivers has written hundreds of songs, many of which have been released on Weezer’s nine-plus albums. Others have been released on solo CDs, or given directly to fans through the magic of filesharing. But there’s also a handful of songs that we don’t have official versions of, having been bootlegged from a small number of solo shows during late 1997 and early 1998.

In the fall of 1997, Rivers lived in Boston, intending to resume his studies at Harvard. However, he didn’t go back to school and returned to Los Angeles in early 1998, to focus on Weezer. While in Boston, he played five shows with a group of local musicians under the name of Homie. The setlists were made up of potential Weezer songs (Rosemary, Baby, The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World, Little Sister, 1,000 Years, American Girls) and older material he would label as “goofy” and “country.”

Of the second group, the material ranged from songs written right after the release of the Blue Album (I’ll Think About You) to songs written in the midst of Pinkerton (Sheila Can Do It). The songs were received well, both by the audience during the shows (despite the one drunken woman crowing “I wanna hear the sweater song”) and by fans who heard the songs via tapes (remember those?) and later MP3s.

I actually heard these early on, as the fan who bootlegged them sent me a copy in January ’98 after the final Boston show. Even though the recording quality wasn’t great, I listened to the tape enough to wear it down. Other Weezer fans also hold these songs in high regard. Two members of the allthingsweezer fan community recorded a killer cover version of ten of the songs (despite not having access to the official lyrics or music), if you want to check it out, they (still) have a MySpace page.

Anyway, as I mentioned in the intro, I was listening to some of these songs today, and realized the MP3 tag said the show was held on November 21, 1997. Fourteen years later, and we still don’t have official versions of most of these songs. But at least we have the bootlegged versions. If you want to give it a listen, download the show on Mediafire at http://www.mediafire.com/?tnb6o35652vx365.

Here’s the show info, according to Weezerpedia:

Homie show #2, 11/21/97 at TT & the Bear’s, Boston, MA

The following is the second “Homie Tryout” show, which took place on November 21, 1997. In addition to Rivers, Kevin Stevenson of the Shods plays guitar. A bootleg tape exists.

  1. Autumn Jane
  2. Hey M’Darlin’
  3. Sheila Can Do (It)
  4. Think About (AKA’ sesame street’)
  5. The Good Life
  6. Stay There
  7. Wanda
  8. Sunshine O
  9. Fun Time
  10. American Girls
  11. Hot Tub — Encore
  12. No One Else

King Tom

The Failed Artichoke Farm

Earlier this year, I planted some artichoke saplings that I had started from seeds in the backyard, hoping that I could grow artichokes in the garden.

Well, growing season is over and my dreams of growing artichokes didn’t work out.  Of the five saplings I planted, only one made it through to November. A few weekends ago (before the first frost), I dug it up and brought it inside. It’s still alive, but I wouldn’t quite say it’s thriving.

I think there are a few reasons the artichokes didn’t work out. Actually, between the artichokes, beets and peppers I planted back in April, I only got one small pepper. The soil in the garden was really dry this summer. Also, when the contractors put in the fence I have a feeling they trampled everything, which didn’t help out the growing plants.

So I’ll try and get this little artichoke plant to grow throughout the winter. And if it lives or dies, I’ll be trying artichokes again next year.

King Tom2 Comments

What Wakes Me Up in the Morning

For the past year and a half, since The Civee and I moved into our house, I’ve been taking the same way in to work every morning. I drive down a one-way street and most mornings, I have to stop at a light. The light is located near a washer-dryer repair shop, with some equipment in the window.

A few weeks ago (back when I was driving in the dark), I stopped at the light and saw something new in the window.

There was a dude with really big hair behind the machines, probably fixing them or something. I go in around 7:10 in the morning, and while it was kind of early, I guess it’s never too early to repair a washer/dryer combo. That was the last morning that my commute was normal.

The next day, I was stopped at the light and looking over, noticed the dude was still there. Only, it wasn’t a dude- it was a mannequin. And I was stopped right where he was looking at me with his ominous mannequin eyes. Ever since, I’ve been majorly creeped out by the mannequin and the big hair. It’s not great, but here’s a closer look:

In the past, there have been mornings when I was still a little bit asleep when arriving at work. But since noticing the mannequin, I haven’t had to deal with that. This mannequin is better than ten cups of coffee.

King Tom

Tony La Russa Finally Has Time To Make a New Baseball Game

Earlier this week, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa stole one of George Costanza’s plays. After winning the World’s Series, he’s leaving on a high note and retiring. As much as I hated La Russa’s A’s teams in the late 80s and early 90s, he had a real good run as a manager.

While I wish him a good, happy retirement, I selfishly hope he goes back to doing something he was even better at than managing a baseball team: making baseball video games (or more accurately, getting paid to pitch baseball video games).

Two decades ago, the Tony La Russa Baseball series led a strong pack of baseball-themed games. The series pinnacle was Tony La Russa Baseball 3 and its spinoff, Old Time Baseball. Sadly, the days of good (or even decent) well-rounded baseball video games could be categorized under “Old Time.”

While there are a few game franchises (Baseball Mogul, Out of the Park) that excel at the team-building area of the game, and others feature state-of-the-art gameplay, there is no modern game that combines both.

To be fair, today’s front office simulators are much better than the La Russa series of games in terms of building and managing a team. But the drawback is you can’t play the actual games.

Today’s popular games (such as the MLB 2K series) are based around gameplay, using modern video and audio capabilities. While the games look great, often, the gameplay is horrible and the front-office area leaves much to be desired. I’d rather play the games from the 90s (lackluster graphics and all) than the games of today, but sadly, they won’t work on modern computers.

Which is why Tony La Russa needs to go back to making (or lending his name to) video games. The La Russa series combined front office and gameplay in a way that in the mid-90s, was very entertaining. You could draft a whole league in under 20 minutes and then start playing games. Gameplay went by pretty quickly. The only thing missing (and this goes for most games from that era) was a free agency/salary component.

Back in high school (and college) I spent a lot of time playing baseball games, the La Russa series included. Another series that excelled at the time was Sierra’s Front Page Sports Baseball. The gameplay graphics were odd (all the players looked the same in an effort to play in a quasi 3D environment). Still, you could customize every facet of your team. What other game would give you the option of letting your team wear alternate jerseys on Bastille Day?

While the graphics is great, the gameplay and team management of today’s baseball video games fall far short of the standards set by their predecessors. I wish Tony La Russa the best in his retirement. But Tony, if you ever find yourself bored, why not take up making video games again?

King Tom2 Comments

You Won’t Find Ribs in the McRib

Recently, McDonalds re-introduced their McRib sandwich (available for a limited time only!). I can’t remember the last time I had one, although if I had to guess, I would say it was somewhere around six years ago.

I always wondered why the McRib would disappear and then come back a random number of years later. ChicagoMag.com recently published an article solving many of the mysteries surrounding the McRib. Turns out, it disappears because the sandwich’s availability eats up the supply of the nation’s pork trimmings.

In what should be a surprise to no one, there are no ribs in the McRib.  Rather, the McRib is more like a frankensandwich:

Restructured meat products are commonly manufactured by using lower-valued meat trimmings reduced in size by comminution (flaking, chunking, grinding, chopping or slicing). The comminuted meat mixture is mixed with salt and water to extract salt-soluble proteins. These extracted proteins are critical to produce a “glue” which binds muscle pieces together. These muscle pieces may then be reformed to produce a “meat log” of specific form or shape. The log is then cut into steaks or chops which, when cooked, are similar in appearance and texture to their intact muscle counterparts.

And those lower-valued meat trimmings aren’t always what one would think of as meat. Rather, they’re comprised of things like the heart, tounge and other internal trimming. This is also pretty much how McDonalds makes their Chicken McNuggets.

I agree with the author of the ChicagoMag article- knowing this doesn’t gross me out. In fact, I wish I weren’t so squeamish about eating the non-traditional (to us Americans, but traditional to everywhere else in the world) animal parts. But I think it’s the whole process involved in making the McRib that puts me off.

A few summers ago, inspired by a visit to the Ohio State Fair, I started making porkburgers. I use ground pork (and the guy at the store told me it was freshly ground from pork butt (which is actually the shoulder)), and grill it. And I have to say my version is better than the ones they sell at the fair. And if I ever get the hankering for a McRib, all I have to do is make one of my porkburgers and add some onions and pickles.

King Tom

Hope’s Scary Halloween Costume

Hope’s Halloween costume didn’t quite work out as planned.

A while back, The Civee and I decided that Hope should be something she’s interested in. With that in mind, and thanks to an article I read on Wired about why parents should make their own costumes (not that there’s anything wrong with store-bought costumes), I was inspired. For a while, Hope has been really into helicopters (and anything else that makes noise). With a little imagination, a cardboard box and some other accessories, I figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to make Hope into the cutest and coolest chopper since Airwolf.

We knew this was a gamble- there was the possibility she would not like the idea of walking around in a box. But at the same time, we thought this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

So I made a cardboard box into a helicopter using some scissors, tape and aluminum foil.  We also got a little propeller beanie to make the costume more realistic.

But when it came time to get Hope into the costume, things fell apart.  She didn’t mind the hat. But trying to put the box over her head was problematic. She’d cry, try to wiggle out of it and run away. We took her trick-or-treating, with her wearing the cap and The Civee or I carrying the helicopter. We hit a few houses, explaining that she was a helicopter (and I think once people heard that, saw the cap and the box, they got the idea), and by the end, she rather enjoyed going up to houses in the neighborhood and getting candy.

By the time we got back to the house, she wasn’t so leery of the helicopter. She wouldn’t put it on. But she could at least sit next to it (the fact that we let her sample some of her candy probably helped).

It’s a good thing we had the cap as a backup. For next year, she’ll be more used to the idea of dressing up and will be able to give us some input as to what she wants to be. And now The Civee and I know to have a pre-made costume (or idea) on standby in case the original costume doesn’t work out.

King Tom3 Comments

My Sixth-Generation Star Wars Set

Throughout my life, I haven’t made it any secret that I’m a fan of Star Wars. I’ve even written about it on the blog once in a while.

However, for various reasons, I didn’t write about what I got for my birthday last month- the Star Wars complete saga Blu-Ray set.  Between getting it and now, I’ve watched the movies and the bonus features.  The bonus features are great to finally have (although it would have been nice to have some of them cleaned up a bit) and the movies look incredible. Others have written about changes made to the movies, and while I don’t begrudge George Lucas the opportunity to change his movies, most of these changes are just unnecessary. Darth Vader’s new NOOOOOO at the end of Jedi is more bizarre than offensive. But the change that affects me the most is the blinking Ewoks.  That’s just creepy.

By my count, this is the sixth ‘complete set’ of Star Wars I’ve gotten (or made) over the past twenty five years (four versions on VHS, and two on DVD), and I would bet that none of those versions are the same.

I’ve done the whole watch the saga over a few days thing before and can’t say I’ve noticed anything new this latest go-around. It’s still an enjoyable watch, especially seeing how the Prequel Trilogy improves with each installment and how the scope of the Original Trilogy grows each movie. Before getting the set, I read J.W. Rinzler’s Making of Star Wars and Making of Empire Strikes Back, which provided excellent background to the movies. It’s clear after reading them (and reviewing the different drafts of each movie) that while George had some ideas and themes he wanted to explore, at no point did he have the whole saga (whether it was a six-, nine- or 12-movie saga) planned out beforehand.

Unfortunately, the amount of background information for the Prequel Trilogy isn’t as abundant. For Episodes II and III, George wrote the movies as the art department developed characters and places. However, I recently found (or rediscovered) something that gives an idea about George’s original plan for The Phantom Menace. The Episode I Insider’s Guide CD that came out back in ’99 (which I still have somewhere) had bits from the original script sprinkled throughout. Michael Kaminski, who wrote the Secret History of Star Wars did a great job of compiling all the script information.

The original story for The Phantom Menace was much better than what we got (and I say this as someone who enjoyed TPM). The movie isn’t as childish; Jar Jar isn’t a bumbling fool, Anakin is more mature and there’s more depth to the interactions between the characters (for instance, there’s actual racial tension between the Naboo and the Gungans). The only drawbacks I can think of is that Qui-Gon doesn’t enter the story until the last third of the movie (Obi Wan is on his own) and Palpatine’s maneuvers to become Chancellor aren’t shown. But overall, the story just feels better.  Give it a read sometime.

Who knows, maybe one day, George will have the technology to go back and make that movie (or any other draft he wants). But I’m betting that won’t happen until seven or eight editions of the Star Wars Complete Saga from now.

King Tom1 Comment

Hope and No-Neck: Reunited (and It Feels So Good)

Well, No-Neck’s eye job didn’t last that long.

Despite The Civee’s best efforts, Hope’s continued gnawing at No-Neck’s eye sockets (and the surrounding fabric) meant her favorite stuffed animal was in danger of being put out of commission permanently.

Thankfully, we have someone who can sew in the family: Grandma. Only problem is, she lives on the West Coast.

So earlier this week, I mailed No-Neck and another of Hope’s favorite stuffed animals, Ga-Ga the Cat (something she actually named herself, unlike most of the rest of her stuffed animals) out to Grandma. Hope quickly discovered they were missing. At first, she’d look at us and touch her neck (her sign for No-Neck) and we would pretend we couldn’t find him. But she quickly learned something was afoot. She grew tired of our lame excuses and got pretty clever by doing things such as pointing to pictures of giraffes to highlight the absence of a particular giraffe in her life. Over the past day or so, most of her giraffe-related communication would result in crying.

Thankfully, Grandma worked pretty quickly and this afternoon, we got a box in the mail with two of Hope’s missing friends and a bunch of other Halloween-related goodies (and some candy for The Civee and I).

Here’s Hope going through the box:

Thanks again, Grandma!

 

King Tom4 Comments

The Secret to a Great Indian Buffet

There used to be this Indian place called Bayleaf  The Civee and I would go to that had an amazing lunch buffet. The buffet was great because there was a big selection and the food was always fresh. In fact, when you ordered the buffet, they would bring out a just-cooked plate of tandoori chicken for your table.

The Civee and I would frequently comment that Bayleaf put too much money into their buffet for it to last. Sadly, we were right. Bayleaf closed their Columbus location and moved an hour away. The Columbus restarant was replaced by a similar (but not similar enough) Indian place, the name of which escapes me. We took Hope to the new place and while it was okay (if not on the unnecessarily spicy side), it wasn’t worth the drive.  We thought the days of having a great Indian buffet in town were over.

But yesterday, we checked out this place that opened up in our old neighborhood called Aab. We got there at noon, just as they opened for lunch. They had a big selection, and even though there was no plate of tandoori chicken for each table, the food was fresh. And good.  Even Hope liked a number of the dishes (and the mango lassi we had for her to drink), probably helped by the fact that because it was for a buffet, the food wasn’t that spicy.

I wasn’t the only one who thought the buffet was great.  As I was loading up my plate, I overheard a couple sitting near the buffet discussing how much they liked the food.  The guy said (and I couldn’t make up a line like this): “that tandoori chicken is so fresh, I could spank it.”

I hope he was talking about the chicken.

Despite the odd commentary, he was right, the freshness of the food made it good (which was also probably helped by the fact that we got there just as they opened) and there was also a variety of dishes.

I can’t say we’ll go to the Aab lunch buffet all the time. But it’s nice to know we have a new place to replace an old favorite. And I hope that guy resolved his issues over the chicken.

King Tom1 Comment