Friday Music Forecast: So much music!

[Charles] This weekend has lots of good musical options for you. The best deal has to be WMNF's birthday bash for an awesome array of bands at the Ritz Ybor. Read on to hear the whole forecast:

Friday night: If you just want to walk in Seminole Heights then you have a few choices...

My top pic tonight is a band of young musicians called The Sun Society - a four piece band led by a pair of sisters with one on keys and the other on bass. They sound to me a little like Florence and the Machine with a really strong Regina Spektorish vocal. They start at 9 pm so forecast is... 90% that this show will be the best show you've seen by people young enough to be your kids that doesn't suck in some Jonas Brothers/Miley Cyrus kind of way.

Also, check out Ted Lukas and the Misled over at Ella's tonight if you want something rockin with your award-winning Best New Restaurant dinner!

If you're up for a drive then you couldn't do much better than heading to Skipper's to see Paul Thorn tonight in a solo acoustic show. I've heard his live stuff on the radio and he is hilarious and quite a rocker. Also, Rebekah Pulley and Ronnie Elliott are opening so ya know it's good.

Saturday night: 85% chance of your head exploding by the diverse group of musicians that WMNF has amassed at the Ritz. Paul Thorn with his full band. Suenalo jamming out and the Hip Abduction which packed the Orpheum at Heatwave will be great. The band you should be watching for is Sleepy Vikings. They sprung from the break up of one of my previous favorite rockers Giddy Up Helicopter. Check em out before they hit it big and you can't see em here any more. Hit the link below to check em out on Paste.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2010/08/live-at-paste-sleepy-vikings.html

Also, if you're in Ybor, sneak over to New World Brewery and check out a really cool florida band that reminds a little of the Avett Brothers - Greenland is Melting - this is definitely the "Nicole's Pic" of the weekend so don't miss out!

Sunday's forecast includes a 50% chance of sleeping in late and needing something a little light to keep you going through the day like the Independent's bluegrass Sunday School for Sinners from 4:30 to 7:30. If you didn't overdo it on Saturday then you should probably grab some barbecue or chicken and waffles at Ella's and check out blues rocker Kaleigh Baker.

How's that? Pretty awesome right?! No excuses folks so have some fun out there and congratulate all those Best of the Bay winners!

Here's your homework to get you going for the weekend...

Inspiration Thursday: Austin, Africa, and The New Imperialism

[Charles] Owning your own business is not for the faint of heart. It sounds great, work your own hours and do what you like, but somedays it just means staring at the door hoping somebody, anybody is going to walk in and buy something while all the while trying not to let your 1 1/2 year old screaming for attention drive you crazy. Somedays you really need some inspiration. You need some reason to go back in and face the ridiculous odds that seem desperate to crush you and your finances.

Thank goodness for the internet where you can connect with other businesses that are doing the same thing and joining the fight and making amazing things all over the world.

Our first stop would be the awesome Re-Nest blog on Apartment Therapy which comes through all day with a steady stream of great ideas and stories.

That lead me to Ref-Use, a company outside of Austin that makes something that I've thought about but yet to make - a stack of small scraps of plywood built into a beautiful chair. Trust me, in the shop there are so many small scraps of wood that are just dying for me to try and put in the saw and chop off some of my fingers in the process.

Last stop, for some true inspiration is a blog called Afrigadget where you can read about the ingenuity of people in Africa as they work to solve problems like building a radio from trash to trapping sewage waste and building your own personal biogas plant for sustainable cooking.

I was led there by the blog discussions I've been reading about the debate over "Humanitarian Design: The New Imperialism". Interesting stuff if you find yourself wanting to help the world but torn on whether helping in some far off place is really the sort of help you should be doing.

Happy reading! Hope some of these inspired you as well!

Foursquare or how we got "Crunked" on Sat. Night

[Charles] I keep hearing about this Foursquare thing and thought I should see what the chatter is all about. We have an Iphone and it does all sorts of things. It doesn't do my laundry or feed the dog, but it comes in handy when doing a quick search for a place to eat or to update our business Facebook page. We even have a nice App for taking credit cards now that is really helpful at the outdoor markets.

Anyhow, I decided to check out this game/app Foursquare after all the talk about it from the music blogs I read and the hype it got at SXSW. You can learn a lot at their website, but if you want to really get it, then you should just download the app and get started trying to get "Crunked" or become a "Mayor".

Basically this is an App that allows the GPS on your phone to locate what is close to you and you can read user loaded "tips" or "to-do's" to give you some quick info about the place. You need to rack up points to play the game and compete with your friends. Your friends can be invited from Facebook or Twitter and can play as long as they have a phone with a GPS. To play, you "check in" when you get to a business, especially a hangout like a bar or restaurant (although most businesses are listed). The first time you check in at a business you get a bonus for it being your first time. If you check in to Cafe Hey every morning then you get points each time you do. If you check in to the business more than any other person, then you become the "mayor" of that business. Yes ma'am, there is a mayor of Party Liquors - I checked.

There are lots of awards that are meant to encourage exploration and loyalty to local businesses. Mayor of Target? - okay... Mayor of the Independent Pub? that's an achievement to be proud of. We decided to try to win an award called "Crunked" which means that you have to hit 4 bars in the same night. We upped the ante by saying we could do it in our neighborhood and on foot.

We started out with the hard stuff at the Front Porch which is a close walk and admired the new lights that they had in the bar. From there we hoofed it a good ways down to Ella's Restaurant. We ran into some friends there and had a little bite to eat with our second round of drinks. We even gave a little tour of our custom work there to a few curious patrons. We had a great time chatting with Joe, Shawn, Ernie, and Melissa as always. We tried to spot the mayor while there, but she must have had the night off. The next stop was the Refinery and this was the only cheat because they were closing, we skipped the drink. We did stick our heads in and admire the progress of the decor and their really cool sign "Eat. Drink. Confabulate." Love it.

It was a short walk down to the Independent to close our night. We got to chat with Greg and Michelle from the Refinery as they cooled down from their evening. I showed the bartender, Mike I think, that we had gotten "Crunked" but he wasn't quite as excited as I was. I was at my fourth bar, though, so maybe I was over-enthusiastic... We did it though, and we were nearly an hour late when we dragged in to relieve our babysitter - my eternally patient mom asleep on the couch. We did have a great time and saw some pieces of our sidewalk that we had never studied. We hustled by some roadkill and got a better look at a few buildings we had only driven by. All in all, it was a success. I'm not sure if I'm addicted to Foursquare yet, but I did meet the Mayor of the Independent and she seemed to be enjoying her role just fine.

-Charles

"Beer Summit" leaves out a green beer

Photo by Matthew Levine


It seems like everyone is chiming in with what they would like to see served at the "Beer Summit," as they are calling the upcoming informal meeting at the White House. Apparently the choices of those appearing have left out our local small brews and they have everyone second-guessing Pres. Obama'a choice of a Bud Light. Now that Bud is owned by a non-American company, apparently it is a big deal. Don't get me wrong - I got through college on cheap beer, and Barack is free to keep on drinking that stuff if he likes. A cold light beer on a hot day sure hits the spot. However, I have recently learned some info about one of my favorite "grown-up" beers that I feel makes it a much better choice.

Growing up in Texas has its perks and bordering Louisiana has them as well. Heading down to New Orleans to get some culture, me and my brother discovered a little Louisiana brewery called Abita Beer. They make such brews as the popular Amber, Purple Haze, but my absolute favorite (which just happens to be on tap at New World Brewery) is Turbo Dog. I don't know how they named it, but I like to picture some little cajun kid with a super fast three-legged dog hollerin' "Come on Turbo Dog, less git goin!" as they walk down a railroad track.

Anyway, the point of all this back story... Abita has been quietly working to make beer as green as possible and not just on St. Paddy's day! They have a beer brewing system that captures the steam and reduces the energy used by something like 70%. They also use recycled and reduced packaging sizes and supply the local farmers with leftovers from some of the grains and hops used for feed. They even built their own wastewater treatment plant where they can convert a lot of the waste to bio-gas for their own boilers and reduce the water sent to the local sewer plant by 85%. On top of all that, they added auxilliary power units to their delivery trucks which cut down on idling when the trucks are sitting still!

I'm not sure why I would drink anything else, but just try it for yourself. Maybe you'll even feel a little better about that brew in your glass. You'll not only be supporting an independent brewer, but also a rare green leader in the not-so-eco-friendly world of beer.

By the way, if you see Pres. Obama, why don't you offer him a beer, and maybe something with some flavor?