Maximum Consumption

Maximum Consumption: Overlap at Public Works pairs the audio with the edible

Tony Robles
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So at Public Works this Thursday you can: watch veteran SF DJ Mophono and beat-driven gothsters Water Borders* live, learn about innovative advancements in music-making, peep some short films and new local art, and nibble tasty vegan treats. All in one event, from the safety of your own neighborhood club.

We all know there are overlapping circles between the arts – even the edible arts – and this is the belief that drives Overlap.org, a hyphen organization (music-arts-technology) that also has been hosting parties since 2006. In prep for the next installment of Overlap – which goes down Thursday – I spoke with Ghostly International’s Christopher Willits (Overlap.org’s founder, experimental SF-based musician) about music, food, and fostering local creativity:

SFBG: What will you be doing during the designing process workshop?

Christopher Willits: I’ll be covering a popular music-making and production tool called Ableton Live. I’ll be talking about the basics of this software system and how you can make expressive creative art with this digital tool.

SFBG: What are some other activities that will take place during this installment of Overlap?

CW: We have some great live music and a diverse lineup with Mophono, Water Borders, and Danny Paul Grody. Local films will be shown, we’ll have local vegan food from Freedom Kitchen, food by Rocky’s Fry Bread, and more local vendors announced the day of. We’ll have an info booth for our friends at Mission Creek Festival, and this time we also have very cool art vendors – Dave Marcoullier, The Heated, and more.

SFBG: Can you describe the vibe? What has been most surprising about previous Overlaps?

CW: I connected with Public Works after a SF Forage event I performed at, and we found that we shared a common vision of where the Overlap event could go. Our first event with [them] was last October, it proved the concept and set the tone – a relaxed evening of diverse art and some really awesome people hanging out and meeting. It’s cool to see people coming out of their usual scene and connecting with this idea of greater creative community overlapping, a community made from unique but interrelated groups.

SFBG: Why incorporate local food into a music event?

CW: We support the localization of food. Our last events have featured permaculture discussions about decentralizing our food sources. We can do this in SF.  Plus we just want people to be comfortable with some delicious clean food and feature these hard-working culinary artists. They are so much a part of the creativity of this city.

SFBG: Do you see any connections in the art of cuisine and the art of music? If so, what?

CW: Absolutely, the process, texture, flavor, color, history. Music, just like food, is woven in the very fabric of our culture. I don’t know of two other things that bring people together better than food and music.

SFBG: What are your personal favorite local places to eat?

CW: I’m really into Gracias Madre right now. Ask for the hot sauce, it’s this paste-like mixure of a couple different chiles. Yum. I think you need to ask for it.

SFBG: Future goals for Overlap.org and Overlap parties?

CW: Our goal is simple – to grow creative community in San Francisco. The rest will fall into place. We want to provide that place and time for people to come together and strengthen new bonds.

I have this feeling that we’re within a new creative wave in SF. We’re living in an amazing place and time, we’re all redefining how art and community interact and grow together. We have so much imagination and creativity. Together we are redesigning how our local communities can connect, come together and ultimately incite creative change.

Overlap
With Christopher Willits, Danny Grody, Mophono, Water Borders
Thurs/1, 7 p.m., $5-$10
Public Works
161 Eerie, SF
(415) 932-0955
www.publicsf.com

 

*An absolute aside: Water Borders’ Amitai Heller once casually told me he’d want to do a TED talk on the intersection of goth and baseball, and I think about this often, joke or not.

Maximum Consumption: Bay Area bands choose their favorite eateries

Tony Robles
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0

I know, it’s so close to the weekend that you can taste it. But before you sign off for the day, your peepers sore and fingers trembling, here’s a comprehensive list – sure to get your tummy rumbling – of Bay Area bands’ favorite local restaurants, food trucks, and eateries. I compiled these answers from our On the Rise questionnaire (results of which are in this week’s issue) and my ongoing Localized Appreesh column. Enjoy.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: So local Bay Area musicians, what’s your favorite local eatery and dish?

DJ Theory: Cubano sandwich and sangria from Parada 22 in Upper Haight.

Dirty Ghosts: I don’t wanna be boring and say the super burrito at Cancún which is my real answer, so the margarita pizza at Una Pizza Napoletana

Metal Mother: Tacubaya in Berkeley, all the vegetarian dishes are amazing. My favorite is probably the ‘seasonal vegetable’ tamales.

Main Attrakionz: Buffet Fortuna in Downtown Oakland; chow fun noodles

Seventeen Evergreen: So many options here but let’s nominate the Chilaquiles at the farmer’s market in the Ferry Building or a number of places in the Mission for the same.

Jhameel: Cheeseboard Pizza in Berkeley. Perfect vegetarian pizzas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPLYLsVDG8w

Future Twin: Secret Spot has delicious bagels, fresh squeezed juice, and homegrown greens.

Terry Malts: The #6 at Turtle Tower, best for hangovers.

Tycho: Thai Time — Red Chicken Curry (or anything else there).

Black Cobra: 1. Cathead’s Barbecue. Cornmeal crusted tofu is killer!
2. The Submarine Shop on West Portal. Italiano center sub with a Coke.

Silver Swans: El Metate Mexican Veggie burrito, the vegetables are roasted and always fresh. Everything there is delicious and on the cheap, right down to their alfajore cookies, I fully endorse the entire menu.

Le Vice: Broken Record — fresh organic soul food in a grimy-ass dive bar. Tasty as fuck. Hipster bling.

Ash Reiter: House of Curries – chicken tikka masala with potato nan.

Magic Touch: Ken Ken Ramen – Japanese ramen + veggie up.

The Fucking Buckaroos: Mission’s Kitchen – Breakfast Burrito.

Prize: Millenium for overall vegetarian dining experience, and the garlic spread from Stinking Rose for the best actual thing to put in my mouth.

Swiftumz: Fresh Dungeness crabs!

Buffalo Tooth: Morty’s in the TL, Chicken BLT.

Cosmo  Alleycats: Steve: Le Colonial’s brussels sprouts; Mike: Cordon Blue, California @ Hyde, menu #5; Emily: Where to begin? The food trucks at Off the Grid are ridiculous. I’m addicted to Curry Up Now’s chicken tikka masala burrito. Also, the veggie burger at the Plant Organic is to die for. And I love my Thursday night ‘liquid dinners’ with the band at Blondie’s Bar & No Grill.

Mental 99: Joe: Iwashi (sardine) at Tataki South (Church and 29th). Dawn: It’s hard to go wrong in SF – so many good places to eat. But the veggie burrito at Taqueria Cancún is pretty tasty – and close by, especially if you just played El Rio.

Uni & Her Ukelele: Green Chili Kitchen.

Symbolick Jews: The Philly cheese steak at Mission Kitchen is forged in the fires of gastro-intestinal hell, and I stand by its superiority over any other cheese steak in the city.

G-Eazy: Gordo’s on College Ave in Berkeley, without a doubt.

The Spyrals: That’s a tough one. Probably Los Compadres. It’s a family owned Taqueria in South City, near where we rehearse. Damn good carnitas.

TurbonegrA: Esperpento. It’s cheap and fast – like us!

The Sandwitches: Chevys and fried chicken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1871NoR6IMQ

Debbie Neigher: Plantain black bean burrito at Little Chihuahua.

Violet Hour: Sausages at Rosamunde’s on Haight

Waterstrider: We frequent Taqueria La Familia. It is the best Mexican food in Berkeley. Their veggie burritos or chile rellenos do the trick for me.

Dreams: Shakin’ Jesse at Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe. Guinness, espresso, and ice cream – can’t go wrong with that.

The 21st Century: Al Pastor at El Metate–dynamite.And the Cold House Noodles at Yamo.

Rank/Xerox: Golden Gate Indian Cuisine and Pizza on Judah. Best restaurant in the city, eat everything but the Italian dishes.

The Jauntying Martyrs: Lucca Foods on Irving and 20th.  Best deli in SF, baby. Get the Billy Filly. (You can only get it when Billy’s working).

Religious Girls: Bake Sale Betty’s fried chicken sandwich

Maximum Consumption: Vegan cookbook release party with live jazz at MOAD

Tony Robles
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1
Maximum Consumption: Vegan cookbook release party with live jazz at MOAD

In a rather appetizing blend of vegan culinary skill and music, The Museum of the African Diaspora will soon play host to cookbook author Bryant Terry and a smattering of local musicians.

The event goes down Jan. 24 at the museum. It’s to commemorate and celebrate the release of Terry’s newest book, The Inspired Vegan: Seasonal Ingredients, Creative Recipes, Mouthwatering Menus, and, it’s Terry’s birthday party. He’s an Oakland-based eco-chef and food justice activist who was a Food and Society Policy Fellow with the W.K. Kellogg and Fair Food Foundations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAH1dawfw70&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL61B876749C0F605E

I know from first-hand experience the joy of Terry’s teaching, having devoured his 2009 book, Vegan Soul Kitchen. That book came with a soundtrack to each dish, a feature I dig in any cookbook but especially Vegan Soul Kitchen. My favorite meal was the open-faced barbecue tempeh sandwich with cayenne-carrot coleslaw. The crunchy-spice of the coleslaw on that rich barbecue protein is heavenly. It’s making me hungry just thinking about it.

And yes, I know what you’re thinking; there will indeed be seasonal, creative, and mouthwatering food at the party itself. The event features food by Roger Feely and Soul Cucina food truck with recipes from The Inspired Vegan and drink from Slow Down Wines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OM2rmOdZzQ

Also worth the price of admission ($15-$30 by the way): an appearance by the finger-snapping jazz group the Marcus Shelby Trio, lead by award-winning composer and bassist Marcus Shelby, along with performances by Renee Wilson, and DJs Max Champ and Ellen Choy. 

Book Release and Birthday Party with Bryant Terry
Jan. 24, 7:30 p.m., $15-$30  (with signed book)
Museum of the African Diaspora
685 Mission, SF
(415) 358-7200
www.moadsf.org

Maximum Consumption: Justin Bua finds the vegan in hip-hop

Andrew Lam
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Hip-hop and jazz visual artist Justin Bua is reeling off the pillars of vegan hip-hop.

“Mr. Wiggles, DJ Qbert, Russell Simmons, Dead Prez, KRS-One, Mear One – I think GZA from Wu Tang? But I’d doublecheck that.” (It turns out he’s at least vegetarian, as are four members of the Wu) “I think being vegan is the ultimate expression of hip-hop,” says the B-boy cum bestselling poster artist. 

It was a novel twist to our conversation, which took place over a table at Gracias Madre, Cafe Gratitude’s vegan Mexican restaurant in the Mission. Bua’s new coffeetable portrait book, The Legends of Hip-Hop (Harper Collins, 160 pp, $34.99) came out earlier this month, and he had just performed at the Independent the night before in a show that he hopes to take around the country in 2012. The Bay’s DJ Qbert – one of Bua’s subject for Legends, who was just finishing up his plate of food at the table when I walked into the restaurant – and others had spun while Bua hosted and supplied visuals. The show had sold out, the painter told me. He said tickets were going for “$60, $70” from scalpers. 

But back to veganism. 

“It’s irreverant, subversive, truth,” Bua mused over a creamy, vegan coconut pie when I asked him about the connection between hip-hop and eschewing dairy. “It’s about having a clean head and mind.”

C’mon, even Tupac was on this level. “Let’s change the way we eat, change the way we live, change the way we treat each other,” Bua quotes. “Let’s change the way we eat? He was talking about going vegan.” 

This is Bua’s jam – changing the world through personal actions. He sees his own work to document hip-hop’s legendary emcees, DJs, graffiti artists, producers, and B-boys as a entry in the historical record. Of his swirling, regally distorted works he says “they’re really in the tradition of the Grecos, the Raphaels, the Rubins” – artists which once documented the elite and created some of the few lasting visuals of the times in which we live. 

“I’d like people to take away from The Legends of Hip-Hop that these people are as historically revelant as the kings and the queens, those are the important people of the time.”

He says that given the hip-hop generation’s spending power, that the music has the capacity to change the world. And that it could do it through veganism, the rejection of industrial farming and that invasive act of consuming a fellow earth-dweller. “The ultimate form of respect is to not eat each other. That’s fucking weird.” 

To that end, Bua is considering launching a hip-hop-oriented eco-festival, featuring presentations by the food scientists whose findings have helped change his own lifestyle. So taken is he, in fact, by the power of food, that he and girlfriend Ruby Roth started a cooking blog called We Be Vegan, and he has an affordable super food drink in the works with nutritionist David Wolfe. He calls Wolfe “the most knowledgable person I’ve ever met in my life – and I’ve met Cornell West and Bill Clinton.” He hopes to drop the product in the next few months, insisting “you have an experience when you drink it.”

Ultimately, he’d like to see the people that take strength like he does in hip-hop’s powerful figures translate their message into taking control over their diets. Corporations, he said, can be toppled by what’s in your kitchen cabinet and lower intestine. Big companies should never be trusted to care for the health of the people.

“They know that they’re putting garbage on your plate, but they don’t care because the want that money. We gotta eat simple. Seven billion people on this planet is unstable. You can’t feed the world meat.”

 

Maximum Consumption: the Turntable Kitchen interview

Tony Robles
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0

I’d venture a guess that no one in this town knows the frosting tipped appeal of hand-mixing music and food more than the couple behind Turntable Kitchen. What started one year ago as a simple (yet highly aesthetically pleasing) website mashing up recipes and records, has grown into a celebrated multi-headed creative output machine, with food+music news, event sponsoring, giveaways, and the newly added physical pairings boxes – on top of the drool-inducing/stunning posts.

Last week I caught up with the duo to find out, among other queries, what ingredient you simply must have on hand – and the records every collection should include:

San Francisco Bay Guardian: For people who have never heard of Turntable Kitchen, can you give a brief rundown on how the concept came together?
Matthew Hickey: Turntable Kitchen is a website combining food and music. We do that by pairing recipes Kasey creates in the kitchen with some of my favorite albums. I try to find albums that share the same characteristics as her recipes, pairing them together the way a sommelier would pair wine with food. The idea to start the site was Kasey’s, but we were pairing food and music in our own foggy Inner Sunset apartment long before we launched the site. I’ve always been obsessive about music and Kasey loves to cook. Part of our evening ritual involved her explaining the recipe we were going to make and me then hitting my record collection to find an album to compliment our meal.
SFBG: What is it about food and music that goes so well together?
MH: For us, a good meal is about more than just consuming food. It is about creating an experience that pleases all of your senses. We believe that the soundtrack to that meal is a hugely important element of that experience. In fact, a recent study published in the British Journal of Psychology demonstrated that when people consume wine while listening to music they perceived the wine to share the same characteristics as the music. The result is something that Kasey and I instinctively felt to be true whether drinking wine or enjoying a good meal.
SFBG: How did you come up with the Pairings Box idea?
MH: We liked the idea of sending goodies to our readers in the mail, but we weren’t sure what form that would take. Whatever we did, we wanted it to stay true to the theme of our site. Speaking to the music specific elements: they just made sense for me. I love vinyl records and have an ever-growing record collection. With the ease of digital distribution, though, some of my favorite new music isn’t yet available on vinyl. So the singles we release feature music that I wanted for my collection, but which didn’t already exist on vinyl. I’ve been making mixtapes for my friends for as long as I can remember, so the digital mixtape we include gives me yet another opportunity to share music I love with our supporters.
Kasey Fleisher: I have always thought that a big barrier to cooking for many people is having a pantry. A lot of times, a recipe calls for a lot of expensive and/or hard to find ingredients and when you don’t cook often, it’s hard to think, “why not give this a try?” The concept of giving people three recipes and one to two premium dried ingredients gives them that nudge to experiment (and a reason to invite a few friends over to share the experience.). As for the sustainability of the Pairings Box, we think there’s still room to expand, but no matter what, we want to keep it limited. So far, we’ve sold out of every month’s box.
SFBG: What’s in the November pairings box and when does it go out? Is it sold out yet?
MH: The November Pairings Box had a harvest theme. We featured three new, original recipes; a hand-numbered, limited-edition (250 copies) 7″ vinyl single featuring Evenings (a.k.a. Virginia-based Nathan Broaddus); an exclusive digital mixtape; and our premium ingredient for the month was a French Grey Sea Salt and French Lavender blend.And, yes, we’re all sold out.
SFBG: December pairings box orders can start coming in Nov. 15, correct?
MH: Yes, we’ll start accepting new subscriptions for the December Pairings Box on November 15. We have a sign-up form on the site where you can enter your email and we’ll drop you an email to notify you of when we’re ready to start taking payments.
KF: We’ll have additional boxes available for the holidays.
SFBG: On the site, what have been the most popular pairing(s) so far?
KF: Some of the most (recent) popular pairings have been our Multi-Grain Pumpkin Donuts, paired with St. Vincent and Creamy White Grits with Chanterelle Mushrooms paired with Iron & Wine.
SFBG: What are your own personal favorite pairing(s)?
MH: One of my recent favorite pairings has been Kasey’s Fig, Mint and Honey Galette, paired with Brazilian artist Jorge Ben.
KF: One of my favorite pairings was our Wild Mushroom and Crescenza Pizza, paired with Revolving Birds. Matt loves mushrooms and pizza, and we’re both really into good
cheese…I could totally see myself cozied up on rainy day making this pizza and listening to Revolving Birds…what could be better?
SFBG: What’s the most important ingredient to keep in your cupboard?
KF: That is a tough question! But I’d probably have to say salt.
SFBG: What’s the most important album to keep in your record collection?
MH: That is a tough one. If you are going to listen to it by yourself then you’d want your favorite album – whatever that may be. If you want versatile music that sounds great and
can be played on any occasion, I highly recommend owning a few Motown records. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone – young or old – who hates The Four Tops, The Jackson 5, The Supremes, Al Green, etc.
SFBG: You both have day jobs, correct? How feasible is it for you to cook together every night?
MH: Yes, we both have day jobs that can be relatively time consuming. Nonetheless, I’d say we normally find time to cook together at least five days a week or more. No matter how tough my day was at work, when I come home and start a record, open a bottle of wine and start cooking in the kitchen with Kasey, I feel great.
KF: I agree…Even though I like my day job, there’s nothing more that I love than making something with my hands after sitting in front of a computer. It’s a nice break until I
have to get back on the computer to work and/or blog/edit pictures, etc.
SFBG: On an off cooking night, what’s your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area?
MH: I have many favorite restaurants, but a few favorites are: Koo, NOPA, and Aziza.
KF: I would add Outerlands, Delfina Pizzeria, Lavash, and Contigo to this list.
SFBG: What are your future goals for Turntable Kitchen?
KF: Our goal is to continue producing great content, expand the food and music experiences that we’re offering offline, and grow our audience organically. In our opinion, food and music are some of the best things in life, and we think we’re making the two more fun and accessible to a broader range of people.
 

Maximum Consumption: The Treasure Island Festival musical tasting menu

Tony Robles
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0

So excited for Treasure Island Music Festival, you can taste it? Yes, you can. Thanks to graffEats and Noise Pop, you can literally taste it with a gourmet menu inspired by the upcoming festival. It’s a feast for all senses tomorrow night at the Treasure Island Pop Up Shop; everything can be shot, sucked, or eaten with fingers. Each item on the six-course tasting menu takes after a different artist from the 2011 festival lineup, and will be paired with wine.

Try the Death Cab For Cutie-matched tomato and peach Caprese with sweet balsamic and aged cheddar. There’s a gourmet spin on chicken and waffles in honor of Malkmus and the Jicks. For dessert, enjoy an extravagant all-gold Empire Of The Sun peach push-pop. Of course, this magical evening will be accompanied by an awesome soundtrack.

Partial Menu:
Death Cab for Cutie:Tomato and peach “Caprese,” sweet balsamic, aged cheddar, smokey almond pesto

Flying Lotus:Angel-spiced halibut, caramelized onion and fennel, black olive oil

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks:Beer-fried game hen and yeast-risen waffle, mustard, radish

Death From Above 1979: Berber spiced lamb, grilled paneer, baby eggplant and minted yogurt

Empire of the Sun:“Head On A Stick”– Golden peaches-and-cream push pop, star anise salt and gold

Aloe Blacc:Foie gras bon bon, dark chocolate, plum, sea salt

Indulge your senses with fellow music enthusiasts and food lovers. It’s the perfect way to prepare for the fast-approaching festival weekend.

Treasure Island SoundBite: A Musical Tasting Menu
Brought to you by graffEats and Treasure Island
Thurs/6, 7:30 p.m., $45 (includes wine pairings)
Treasure Island Pop Up Shop @ San Franpsycho Store
1314 Grant, SF
www.graffeats.com
Tickets

Peter, Bjorn and John want to stuff you with treats

Andrew Lam
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0
Peter, Bjorn and John want to stuff you with treats

arts@sfbg.com

MAXIMUM CONSUMPTION Looking to gorge on super-sweet, Swedish-made indie pop? Peter, Bjorn, and John, the nearly-twee trio who made whistling cool again for a minute in 2006 with indie hit “Young Folks,” is returning to the States for a thematic “All You Can Eat” tour. The band’s food-friendly jaunt includes multiple nights in each city, and specialty food truck tie-ins. I spoke with John Eriksson via phone while he hovered near a grilled cheese truck:

San Francisco Bay Guardian: Where did the idea for “All You Can Eat” originate?

  John Eriksson: We wanted to make a tour for the fans, like when you were a kid and you came to your grandmother’s house and you could eat as much candy and cake as you wanted — that feeling. We wanted the fans to get as much as possible. In some cities like New York, we’re playing as much as six shows. So it’s more venues and they see it over and over again until they throw up almost.

Also, we have connected it with some food trucks. We have one here [in Miami] — it’s a grilled cheese food truck. The fans can go to the truck, say the right password, and they get something free. That came after the idea of the tour. We wanted to fill the fans with as much PB & J music and as much calories as possible. It’s not really connected with the music but it’s a fun thing to do — something different. And we love food. One of the most fun things when you’re out touring is trying to find good places to eat.

SFBG: What are the comfort meals of your childhood in Sweden?

JE: A lot of rustic Viking food. Food you’re supposed to eat after working 12 hours shoveling snow [laughs]. I come from a small town in the north of Sweden and we have a signature dish there called palt. It’s like a potato bun filled with the fat of the a pig. It’s very good actually. You put butter inside the ball of fat, which make it even better. That’s the only time I eat meat.

SFBG: Your most recent album ‘Gimme Some’ (Startime) had an interesting back story.

JE: We had an idea to make our 2.0 version of the history of pop and rock’n’roll. So we stole shit from all over the place, from all the music history, and put it together like some kind of Swedish version of American English pop. It’s our version of the history of pop rock and the future of pop rock.

SFBG: What songs are you playing on this tour?

JE: Keeping with this “All You Can Eat” thing, the idea was to play all the songs. When you have the opportunity to play in a city several nights in a row, you can play different songs every night. We’ve done six records so far, so it’s a cool mix of new and old songs. Of course we play “Young Folks,” some people like that, we play “Second Chance” from this record, which features a cowbell, which seems to drive people wild. 

 

With Hanni El Khatib

Thurs/6, 9 p.m., $20

Great American Music Hall

859 O’Farrell, SF

www.gamh.com

 

With Mister Loveless, DJ Nako

Fri/7, 9 p.m., $20–$25

New Parish

579 18th St., Oakl.

www.thenewparish.com

 

With Release the Bird

Sat/8, 9 p.m., $20

Slim’s

333 11th St., SF

www.slims-sf.com

 

Maximum Consumption is an unseasoned look at the increasingly overlapping fields of music and culinary arts. For more, visit the Noise blog on SFBG.com.

Maximum Consumption: Rhubarb Whiskey pairings

Tony Robles
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0

Booze-soaked bluegrass, could there be anything more befitting for this time of year, on this plot of land? San Francisco is finally warm, if only for the week, so enjoy it while it lasts. Sit on your front porch (read: stairwell or fire escape), whip up a naturally-infused whiskey cocktail, then listen to the rough and tough Americana songs of Oakland’s own, Rhubarb Whiskey. Or you can check out the band live this Friday, Sept. 23 at the Plough and the Stars.

With harder-edged takes on folk, it’s got the auditory sensation of dragged chains through fiddle, railroad spike on accordion, ominous train horns a-coming through the fog, perked up with plucked mandolin. A jug in hand seems almost mandatory at this point. For Maximum Consumption, I asked Rhubarb Whiskey – which includes Boylamayka Sazerac, Emchy, and Sizzle La Fey – to pair their songs (all of which you can hear on their Bandcamp page) with the appropriate whiskey. They did me one better and gave helpful explanations, and a recipe for their specially concocted namesake recipe at the end.

Track: “We All Come to the Same Place” paired with  Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey
Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey – sweet smooth with some hints of caramel and smoke on the finish – it sounds like roughing it, but really it’s all about the most sweet and comfortable moments.

Track: “Whiskey Neat” paired with Jim Beam Rye
While this song about trying to get with a girl at a show but getting into a fight instead even mentions 18-year-old scotch, it’s really more of a rough and tumble Jim Beam Rye sort of feel. Spicy, pissed off, and feeling like you’re gonna have a good time raising hell with your broke-ass friends.

Track: “Bears in the Lot” paired with Wild Turkey
This song also name checks a booze but this time it hits the nail on the head – if you’re stranded and heartbroken in an Alaskan bar with rogue bears, it has to be a Wild Turkey night.

Track: “Night Jasmine” paired with Sazerac Rye with Fee Brother’s Rhubarb Bitters
This murder ballad set in a Louisiana swamp has to have the dark liquid vice of Sazerac Rye Whiskey with the sour seedy and slightly sweet undertones from Rhubarb Bitters. While the whiskey is upfront, smooth, and mysteriously seductive, the rhubarb undertones will pull you into the bitey lusty flavor – and you know that while the drink is tasty it’s going to be a dangerous night.

Track: “Whiskey in the Afternoon” paired with Bulleit Rye
This song is all about what happens when the drinking gets away from you. When the heart of the song is about having your whiskey all day long, we have to speak from the experience of the recording itself and go with Bulleit Rye.

Track: “Go Away” paired with Jameson
A sweet and true love song about drinking on the beach, hopping trains, and stowing away on ships. It’s gotta be Jameson for this one. The booze had to travel to get to the wayfaring lovers but it keeps ’em warm and cozy while they’re barreling forward on those windy boxcars.

Track: “Sorrows Drowned” paired with Maker’s Mark
This was the first song the band ever wrote. Dark, drunken and pissed off it’s the song you stomp and slur along to at last call while you’re finishing that last Maker’s of the night and still just wanting one more.

Final note from the band:
“Lastly of course we have to get to the name Rhubarb Whiskey itself. We love to play music, make food together, and we hella love our rye whiskey, so as soon as the band was formed we knew that we needed to channel our inner boozahol super powers and come up with somethin’ special.”

Adding, “Since Emchy is a big fan of cooking rhubarb pie she went ahead and tried making some rhubarb simple syrup. Add that to some rye whiskey with an ice cube or three and you’ve got yourself a Rhubarb Whiskey.”

Official Recipe
Rhubarb Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup peeled and chopped rhubarb
Boil 1 cup of water, add 1 cup sugar, stir until sugar is completely dissolved, add 1 cup coarsely chopped and peeled rhubarb, lower water to a simmer, let simmer covered for one hour. Put into glass mason jar to cool and then refrigerate. Let sit at least one hour (a full day is better for flavor).

Once your rhubarb simple syrup is cool, add one part syrup to two parts rye whiskey (brand of your choice but don’t go too high end, that insults the whiskey and brings bad luck — we suggest Beam Rye or Makers if you need to get a little fancy). 1-3 ice cubes recommended. Now put on your favorite murder ballads album, drink up, and be careful — it goes down a little too easy.

Record Release Party
With Rhubarb Whiskey, 5 Cent Coffee, and Plasterkatz
Fri/23, 8 p.m., $10
The Plough and the Stars
116 Clement, SF
www.theploughandthestars.com

 

Maximum Consumption: A culinary tribute to Serge Gainsbourg

Tony Robles
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When Noise Pop and chef Blair Warsham’s graffEats come together, you know it’s for something special. They’ve collectively hosted a handful of well-attended (read: totally sold out) “Covers” dinners over the past year, and are about to debut another: A Culinary Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg.
As in events past, this one – which takes place in a secret location Sept. 8 – quickly sold out of its 50 dining spots. And again, the organizers made the decision to add another date, the same dinner will also be served Sept. 7. The basic gist: Warsham creates a meal based on “covers” of famous dishes around the world from the global collective of celebrated chefs. Noise Pop matches interesting covers songs to each course.

The focus on the adored yet boozy troubled, larger-than-life French icon (and lover to Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin) came naturally. “We were discussing the idea of playing with a more focused dinner and musical theme and Serge Gainsbourg came up immediately,” says Noise Pop’s Dawson Ludwig. “He’s French, which is an obvious culinary dream, he’s sensual, he’s a revered musical figure, he’s prolific, plenty of artists have covered him. He embodies so much of that sensory indulgence that we’re going for. And we are all big fans of his.”

An example of the pairings at next week’s dinners: Cappuccino de Foie Gras et Truffes de l’Ete from José de Anacleto (L’Hotel Million Albertville, Savoie), paired with Arcade Fire’s cover of “Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son.” Says Ludwig: “We chose this song because of how lush it sounds, this dish is very rich and decadent so we wanted to pair it with a song that has big over-the-top arrangements.”

And another: Tarte Au Citron by Gerorge Perrier of Le Bec-Fin paired with the song “Je T’aime (moi non plus),” covered by Cat Power and Karen Elson – “This dish is ridiculously sexy. ‘Nuf said.” C’st vrai.

If you miss out this time around, there are two more Covers dinners lined up this year: Oct. 6 at the Treasure Island Music Festival Pop-Up Shop in North Beach and then on a winery in St. Helena in November. “Beyond that we are tackling them one at a time,” says Ludwig. “We hope to do at least five or six a year.”

Here’s the sexy singer, doing his thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nr0dUcrAU0&feature=related

Maximum Consumption: John Vanderslice’s tea time

Tony Robles
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Maximum Consumption: John Vanderslice’s tea time

Making a record takes a lot out of person. It’s actually grueling work; it requires obsessive attention to detail and long, ungodly hours. No one knows this more than revered local rocker-storyteller-recording studio owner John Vanderslice. He the creator of his own music (MK Ultra, a vast solo career) and the recorder of a great many others (Deerhoof, Death Cab for Cutie, Thao) at his Mission-based studio, Tiny Telephone. Perhaps this understanding of the stresses is why Vanderslice is quick to offer incoming bands a warm cup of calm.

Turns out, Vanderslice developed a taste for fragrant loose-leaf teas a while back, and has seen to it that his studio offerings come stocked with said caffeinated beverage. Naturally, I went to the source to discuss this obsession for Maximum Consumption. Enjoy the resulting interview with two lumps of sugar (or however you take it):

San Francisco Bay Guardian: When did you develop an interest in tea?
John Vanderslice: I lived in London for a year, that changed it for me. Bad coffee [plus] good tea [ equals] tea drinker.

SFBG: Where do you purchase your loose leaf teas?
JV: Rainbow Grocery, Five Mountains, and Red Blossom.

SFBG: What are the 11 loose leaf teas offered at Tiny Telephone?
JV: Right now there’s 12! They are: Gunpowder, Genmaicha, Keemun, China Black, Green Jasmine, Throat Coat (the real, strong organic blend from Rainbow), Chamomile, Assam Black, English Breakfast, Camellia Blossoms, Emperor Pu-erh, and JV’s Herbal Organic.

SFBG: When did you come up your own personal JV’s herbal organic tea blend?
JV: I initially wrote it on a piece of masking tape affixed to a mason jar with my mix. I thought it would be kind of funny, but people just asked me what the ingredients were. Then I started to take it seriously, tweaking and improving it. It has Rainbow’s Love Tea blend (which is really good), dandelion, peppermint, blackberry bush, red clover blossoms, rose hips, and sage. Some things are there for taste, and others for medicinal reasons.

SFBG: Do you see any connection between the ways you approach creating music/writing songs/recording bands and mixing teas?
JV: I’m a tweaker through and through, I imagine I could have worked on cars or hydroelectric dams. I love the intersection of the technical and the creative.

SFBG:Would you ever be interesting in putting out your own brand?
JV: I can barely function as it is, I think adding more pursuit/business and I might crack. I love giving it away for free.

SFBG: Do you also drink coffee?
JV:I love coffee but I find myself drinking a lot more tea. Usually very strong black in the morning and green in the afternoon.

 

A video of our interviewee for your viewing pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VKpMDxhGQY

Maximum Consumption: il gato eats SF

Tony Robles
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Maximum Consumption: il gato eats SF

When I sat down with il gato for this week’s cover story, I also grilled the band about their favorite local eateries. And they had some pretty serious opinions on the matter. Below is a transcript of our food-loving conversation:

San Francisco Bay Guardian: So where do you like to eat in San Francisco?

Johnny Major: Little Chihuahua, have you ever been there? I’m an absolute addict. It’s the perfect food. Garlic shrimp burritos! And they have amazing carnitas burritos. I go there all the time. And Lower Haight has got some great spots like Memphis Minnies. It’s great Southern barbecue. Where do you go and get some real Southern barbecue here? Those are my two favorite restaurants.
Daimian Holiday Scott: I was raised vegetarian so initially coming out here and, which I’m still super into, I’ve never had the experience of eating lots of different types of meat, so getting like, veggie chili cheese fries or there’s [Golden Era] that has fake fried chicken sticks that have a bamboo dowel.

SFBG: Are you still vegetarian?
DHS: Still vegetarian. Yeah.
JM: From birth! Never had a piece of meat.
DHS: [Laughs] That’s John’s favorite line! It’s not true.
JM: I mean a real piece of meat. You ever had a steak?
DHS: No, I don’t know if I have really.
JM: There you go.

DHS: I lived in Berkeley a couple of years, and Berkeley is still one of the top food spots. And I love Little Star and that rosemary cornmeal crust. I [also] like pickled things so I pickle a lot – cured olives and sauerkraut.

Andrew Thomas: I grew up in Texas, so I’ve had plenty of steak [laughs]. I’ve dabbled in all types. I’ve been a pescetarian, I’ve been a vegan, I’ve tried it all and I’m pretty much back to eating meat. I live in Oakland so I’ve got lots of favorites in Oakland. But I lived in San Francisco for a year and one of my favorites is House on Nanking in Chinatown. And in general, moving up here –  and my girlfriend is part of it too, she’s a big cook and into farmers’ markets – I’ve learned infinitely more about cooking and vegetables in general. And I have to say, my token place was Kennedy’s [Irish Pub and Curry House]. It’s pretty much an Irish bar meets and Indian place.

DHS: Indian pizza is one of my favorite things about living in San Francisco. Zantes is better but there used to be Raja in Lower Haight. I actually went to a [different] place that said they had Indian pizza – [it was] a cheese slice with garlic, spinach, and then some like, jarred Indian sauce on it. I was like, “what are you doing? How dare you?!” [laughs].

I walked home last night after Johnny’s [solo] show, and I got homemade apple pie with fresh whipped cream off a vender on Valencia. That’s tied into the city being one of the top two or three food cities in the world, which is so true and we’re so spoiled.

Maximum Consumption: Singing and slinging with One Ring Zero

Tony Robles
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This is the first installment of our new series, Maximum Consumption, an unseasoned look at the increasingly overlapping fields of music and culinary arts. So if you’re in a band and looking to talk chop, or a chef that moonlights as an acoustic guitar-playing busker, we’d like to talk to you.

An enticing little book landed on my desk last week. It’s part cookbook, part music journalism, part rock opus, and hell, part coffee table book. The Recipe Project (subhead “A Delectable Extravaganza of Food and Music) is a concept spearheaded by New York-based gypsy-klezmer act One Ring Zero. The band’s co-founders, Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp, created songs using the recipes of well-known chefs (Mario Batali, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Chris Cosentino) as the word-for-word lyrics. The meals themselves served as musical influence; each recipe inspired a different sound.

While the songs are not likely ones you’d listen to say, on a long lonesome drive, they do have a certain childlike glint of glee. It’s conceptual. The true genius of this project is its overall cohesiveness. It’s an all-in-one package. Follow the recipe, listen to the song, get some interesting background factoids. There’s also the starpower — and that goes for both rockers and chefs.

Celebrated vegan author Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a.k.a one-half of Post Punk Kitchen, offers her recipe for peanut butter brunettes, and to match it One Ring Zero brought in singer Tanya Donelly (of Belly, the Breeders, and Throwing Muses) to add dreamy pop vocals. Donelly also makes another appearance later in the book as the author of a recipe called the ugly muffin.

San Francisco’s Cosentino, of Incanto, includes a recipe for brains and eggs and One Ring Zero matched it with a hyper Beastie Boys-esque rap song, as Cosentino suggested. In the preface, the reader learns that Cosentino’s brains and eggs recipe was the original impetus for the project, given its lyrical instructions. I, however, am particularly fond of the song matching Mark Kurlansky’s recipe for a raw peach. With the whisk-whisk-whisk of an old record scratch kicking off the song, it naturally leads to a sweet vintage Parisian-style ditty, you might as well be wandering the Champs-Élysées munching some ripe fruit.

But it’s not all just matchy-match recipes with songs, The Recipe Project also includes full recipe playlists, articles rock journalists, and some pretty interesting interviews with chefs, along with “A Wine Lover’s Guide to Mexican Music.” Those in-between articles start off with headlines such as “Raspberries, Moussaka, and Metallica” in which we learn that chef Michael Symon is “America’s MVP of pork” — and that Stevie Ray Vaughan is the musical equivalent.

It’s a cookbook that’s worth a spin. The Recipe Project is out Oct. 15, 2011 on Black Balloon Publishing.

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