There's a ska band on my street

Ok, so this is the second time I'm writing this post, since my computer crashed and blogger apparently didn't do any of it's automatic saving that it usually does. I'm a little peeved right now, but the show must go on, I guess.

Anyways, a few weeks ago, I had said something about writing another post about ska music (ok, so it was almost two months ago, and I promised it in the next week, but those have been a busy two months). This is that post.

In the halcyon days of 2000-2002, I was in my first go-round at college, but heading home almost every other weekend to practice with my band. A ska band known as hyrule (we got the name from a video game - "The Legend of Zelda").



I played the saxophone in the group, which usually consisted of 6 members. Though occasionally there were as many as 7 or 8 people, and once as few as 4. I thought we were pretty okay for what we were, I mean, we played with a lot of national groups, like Against All Authority, MU330, The Honor System, The Wunder Years, and N.I.L.8 (who even had a sticker visible in the movie High Fidelity!). We usually had a good number of kids at our shows, whether they were at the Old YMCA in Muscatine or Gabe's Oasis in Iowa City. But most of all, we had fun.

Our trombone player set state high school records for passing yards and touchdowns in a season, our trumpet player wore an old school Nintendo controller as a belt in his homecoming court speech (in which he won and became king), our bassist who tried coke at least once, our drummer who was about 3 years younger than most everyone else in the band, I was 2-3 years older than the others, and our guitar player who had a huge Pez dispenser collection, which he hid around his room during practices. I wish I had more pictures to share, but I've been through 2 motherboards and 3 or 4 hard drives since those days, so most of what I had on my computer is gone. I have a ton of pictures in hard copy, but I don't have the patience, or a scanner to put them on my computer again.

Something that has survived, however is our "CD," cleverly called (demo). (It was never really meant as a demo, we didn't send it to any labels or anything, as we finished it about a week or two before our last show.) So for the first time in 5 years, here is the hyrule CD, available online! (Thanks to Jad for giving me a space to upload the songs!)

1. anthropogenic tradition is no excuse for obstinate folly
2. the hold up
3. well well well
4. keep walking
5. try
6. winter months
7. maple

My personal favorites are 1, 3, and 4 (sorry KP, no slowfuse, we should have recorded that one just for you).

The band broke up in the summer of '02, since most of the members were going off to school in different places (or, in our bassist's case, the Navy for about 2 weeks before being kicked out). Andy, our guitarist/singer, still has a band; he's a member of Raccoo-oo-oon (although they're on a temporary hiatus while he's out in LA for a few months, they're going to Spain sometime soon to play some huge festival, and I am incredibly jealous.). I'll never forget the band, though, because of the fun that was had, and the songs that we did record. And also, because of the tattoo that I got that tied in with my love for the Zelda video game series (I'm a dork, so what?) as well as the time spent in the band.



Just a quick story about another band I was in, this one during high school. KP and I, along with our friend Grant, joined up with some other guys in a band called Tredd-Safe (or maybe it was Tread-Safe, I don't remember. . .). At first it was to do a cover of Less Than Jake's "My Own Flag," but then we kept playing with them and added horn parts to some of their older songs. As far as we know, we were the first ska band in Muscatine to have a horn section. Not that it's that impressive of a thing, I'm pretty sure hyrule was the last ska band in Muscatine to have a horn section, but still kind of neat, I guess. I think the "scene" was thriving at that point, and I think it's all but dead now. It's too bad, it was really fun while it lasted.

Milwaukee's Best

Well I made it back from Wisconsin all in one piece, in spite of my best efforts. Actually, there were only a few shenanigans, my only injury came from laying awkwardly on my arm while sleeping on a hotel room floor, causing my wrist and arm to feel just a little off.

KP and I left the rainy weather of Iowa and trekked north to the warm, sunny skies of Milwaukee, our directions ready to lead us. At least, they were supposed to lead us, but a combination of me being confused and hell of construction on a major interstate interchange led to a slight detour and missed turns. Luckily, we were able to find our way and made it to Miller Park. Little did we know that this would just be a microcosm of the whole trip. More on this later.

The game was fun, it was a night honoring the Negro Leagues, so hats from the Milwaukee Bears (not to be confused with the Milwaukee Beers of Baseketball fame) were given away, about 4 or 5 former Negro League players were in attendance, which was pretty awesome, and a traveling exhibit from the Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame was at the park. Unfortunately the line was too long, so we didn't check it out.

Once we got in and settled, we headed to the food stands to accomplish one of our goals: to eat a chorizo sausage. Of course, this couldn't be a simply task. We went to one of the main concession stands and noticed chorizo wasn't listed on their menu, so we asked a lady at the counter where this elusive meat could be found. After a little runaround (at one point someone told us that it was not sold at the park), we found the stand, about 30 feet from where we were standing. We ate a chorizo. I thought it was delicious.

A few innings and a few beers later, we decide to walk around a little, to hit the john and check out the park (the Royals were not playing well, and were on their way to a 7-1 defeat). On our walk, we noticed an intoxicated girl who was in the middle of saying something to her friends, but was looking right at KP and me, and all we heard was "Oh fuck me." We didn't know what that meant, or how it was intended, but we both heard the same thing. Later, while we were walking, we saw the same girl, KP mentioned something to me, the girl heard, and then started following us around, asking me what KP said. I was not sure how to respond at all, but I'm pretty sure I made something up, and then walked away from her. We headed back to our seats, a little confused, and upset that we missed Bill Hall hitting a home run. I was not going to miss the sausage race, though. I was sticking with chorizo, since his cousins had tasted so delicious. Bratwurst had other plans, though, and my chorizo came in a distant 4th, only beating Italian sausage. Pretty soon after that, we decided to hit the road to beat traffic and to head to the wedding reception. But let me tell you one thing: if you ever get the opportunity, go to a baseball game at Miller Park in Milwaukee. The park is beautiful, almost as nice as Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. More importantly, you can watch the sausage race. It's just something you have to witness first-hand.



Our next misadventure was going to the reception. KP had planned ahead and printed out directions from the ballpark to the hotel. Yet again, the construction foiled our plans. We were looking for exit 1H, but there was not a 1H to be found. We took some random exit, and then started driving towards downtown. After driving for a while, we parked in a ramp and asked the attendant for directions to the Hilton. Miraculously, we were only about 2 blocks away.

The reception was a usual reception, but was still a good time. Any time that I can get free beer is a good time. Especially if it leads to me doing a feet-first baseball "pop-up" slide across the dance floor. Twice. And playing a piano in the lobby a little bit. I was able to talk to some friends, and got me and KP a place to sleep, on the floor of one of the rooms that my friends were renting. It was a little uncomfortable, but the price was right.

Today we got up and about, went to the local casino for a few minutes (I ended up winning $5) and decided that we were both too wiped out to go to the game. It wouldn't have been worth it, we were both a little hungover, and just exhausted. So we headed back for Muscatine, listening to the Royals/Brewers game and flipping to the Cubs/White Sox game on occasion.

And then I found $20.

I'm leaving a ton out right now, but really, I need to get to bed. It was a long few days, and I'm feeling like I may pass out on the computer. I'll tell more of the story in a day or two. but for now, I'll leave you with what I have. And, tomorrow is a special day here, it will bring my 200th post, and a week-long celebration. What could I possibly have in mind??? Just wait and see.

A look at the weekend

Since there may not be much posting here over the next few days, I thought I'd outline my weekend now while I can. Because everyone is dying to know what my plans are at all times.

Tomorrow starts with some tennis in the morning, then work in the afternoon/evening. After that, who knows. It should be laundry and packing and sleeping, but we'll see if that happens.

The packing is for my trip to Milwaukee this weekend! KP and I are heading up to Miller Park to see the Brewers/Royals game. Saturday is Negro League Hat Giveaway day, so I'm pretty stoked. I'll have to decide if I want to wear my Royals hat or my Kansas City Monarchs hat. Tough decision. I think I'll go with the Monarchs. And I'll wear my Royals shirt.

After the game, I'll be crashing a co-worker's wedding reception. These friends of mine just happened to be getting married in Milwaukee the same day that KP and I were planning on going up there, so I figured we may as well stop by for some free food and beer. Miller Lite, of course. Although, I don't know if it's technically considered "crashing", since the bride-to-be found out and was extremely excited about us showing up, and the groom invited me after he found out I'll be there. But the girl keeps asking me if we're going to be "crashing their reception still," so who am I to disappoint? She was so excited, she showed me all of the extra food they had ordered and everything like that. I think it's more of a wedding excitement, but sometimes I like to tell myself it's all for me. People should be excited to see me. (I'm excited to see me in the mirror everyday. Or nearly everyday. Any day that I look in the mirror.) It works out well for us, they're going to have all sorts of finger-food, and lots of beer, all for free. What more could I ask for?

We'll be staying the night, and then heading to the Sunday game, which happens to be Bill Hall Bobblehead day at Miller Park. AWESOME! Two ballgames in one weekend, both with freakin sweet giveaways, and a free party in-between? I'm excited.

Fight Night

Yesterday was a long, but rather uneventful day for me. I worked 7-3, which is always nice, it goes by so quickly. After work, I went to Muscatine to take care of my mom's dog for a few hours. While in Mtine, I hung out with KP for a while, switching back and forth between baseball, the Bulls' game (ugh) and the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Good times.

I got back up to Iowa City around 9, and had enough time to fix myself a Tom Collins or two before heading out to watch the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight. The fight went pretty much as I expected, a split decision for Mayweather, neither fighter got hurt or knocked down. But it was a good fight, one of the bigger fights of my lifetime, definitely the biggest for close to a decade. Part of me wants this fight to spring boxing back into the mainstream, but another part of me feels like this is kind of a swan song- unless there's a rematch, there probably won't be a fight that gets people this excited again. Unless the Klitschko brothers fight each other, which won't happen. This fight didn't play out like one that would get the casual fan into boxing, though. It was too defensive, there were few big punches that landed, and no knock downs or knockouts. There were some really excellent rounds. But the first round was a slow start, the fighters just feeling each other out, and I think it was the ninth round was a pretty dull one, as well. I didn't really think it was as close as the scoring made it out to be, but I was cheering for Mayweather, so I could've been a little biased. The fight was thoroughly enjoyed by me, though, I had a good time, and was glad I was able to watch. It helped that it was a friend's birthday so the beers were free, but I think I would've liked it better just getting together at someone's house with a large TV and had a bunch of food and what not, making it to be a Super Bowl-like event. Kinda hard to get other people to agree to that at 10:30 on a Saturday night in a college town, though.

After the fight, I met up with another friend for a little bit, only a couple of minutes, and then went home for bed. It was a pretty non-social weekend for me so far, I was in bed around 10:30 on Friday and 12:30 last night, went to a movie (Hot Fuzz was hilarious, more to come later) by myself, and played some video games and hung out with a dog. And it was pretty excellent, I'm not going to lie.

(PS - A few people have said they're interested in the Great Blogger Mix CD Exchange but haven't sent me their info yet. . . Hint hint Minty and Adam! Anyone else that wants in should let me know ASAP, so I can get the others the info before they start sending their mixes!)

Everything tastes better cooked outside

KP is in town for the What Made Milwaukee Famous show, so we're going to be hanging out in a little bit. In the meantime, I thought I'd tell everyone about my dinner tonight.

Since it's another beautiful day in Iowa City, I got my grill out and cleaned up, and prepared to do some cooking. I had gotten an onion and portobello mushroom cap earlier in the day, and a two liter of Diet Dr Pepper. Unfortunately, I didn't think to check the charcoal situation before the store; when I got my bag out, there were probably 5 or 6 coals. And since they had been outside, they had gotten a little waterlogged. Luckily, the grill I was using is a small one, so I piled up my meager coals and doused them with lighter fluid. After 3 or 4 more dousings, they were ready to cook. First up was the portobello cap with a little olive oil and salt for seasoning. I was sauteing the onion to go with the left-over kielbasa, so I had to keep an eye on two fronts. Of course, I didn't plan the timing very well, so the onions were done well before I had even put the sausage on the grill. Since it was taking so long, I pulled the mushroom off the grill, and finished it off in the toaster oven, with some Norwegian Ridder cheese (pictured). I also toasted the heels of a loaf of Pepperidge Farms Soft Oatmeal bread, then put the portobello on with some of the onions. It was delightful. The cheese has a smooth, mellow flavor, similar to many white French cheeses, something that I just kind of picked up on a whim. I'm glad I did, it has turned into one of my favorite cheeses. (I feel like I'm kind of a cheese buff, but there are so many kinds out there I haven't had.) It went with the smokiness that the portobello had picked up very well, and although a Swiss cheese may have been a little better fit, I was pleased with the outcome.

Next was the main event, the whole reason I wanted to grill tonight. Polish kielbasa. With the grill now picking up heat, I tossed it on and sat outside, eating the sandwich and enjoying the day. I didn't have any fancy buns, just a regular-ass coney, but I toasted it and put some onions and ketchup and horseradish mustard on to sort of spice it up a little. Once the sausage was done, I put it all together in what can only be described as a work of art. With the weather as nice as it is, and the grill being kind to me, it was a great evening experience, one of the better meals I've made in quite some time. And I can't wait to grill again. I just need coals.