I Like The Vodka Sauce.
I have had penne with vodka sauce a few times recently here in the North End. Last night at Assagio’s, for example. It’s gosh darn tasty, and I found myself wondering what the heck it actually is after a few forkfulls. It doesn’t sound especially good. I mean, vodka’s great and everything, but in your red sauce? Here’s what I discovered…
Apparently it’s quite common. I found a ton of recipies – ranging from ham to salmon – and it’s no misnomer. You actually have to fire in a whack of vodka while you’re reducing the sauce. Usually 1-2 ounces. It’s usually creamy, and always ridiculously tasty. Did Russian troops occupy Italy at the end of WWII and run out of chicken stock? I simply don’t know.
Hey Dave, You Haven’t Mentioned Squidoo In 5 Minutes.
The Sopranos DVDs are some of the best selling in history, so it’s only fitting that I build a lens around them and make a play for some affiliate revenue. Actually, it was my coworker Sean who suggested it over a pint at the PushCart last night. I went home and built the Bada Bing, and it’s one of my best yet, if I do say so myself. I might as well – no one else is going to. I’m really running the risk at this point of never sleeping with a woman again, and believe me, friends – I fully realize this.
Again, I’m not so much bragging about the fact that I make websites so much as I’m trying to get new sites indexed by search engines. I have more spiders crawling on this site than William Shatner at the end of that really creepy movie I hope I never accidentally find on TV and watch all the way through again. Is that better than the River Phoenix joke from last week? Or just a little more tasteful?
I’m going for a steak tonight, and I’m excited. Why do you people read this fucking thing?
Wednesday Wadio: The Tragically Hip’s ‘Nautical Disaster’.
“This is a success story that is unique unto itself, its country, and most definitely its band“. – Matt Sheardown.
Yes, I know it’s Friday. Many of you have have read me rant about this band over the years, and I’ve even dragged a few of you to their concerts with me. I wrote a decent piece about Gord Downie a few years ago, which is down for some reason – I’ll have to repost it from my desktop backup at home – but this article that Nate just sent me is truly amazing. It’s a comprehensive history of the band, written with painstaking detail and a lot of love.
“The music, though consistently solid, only tells us half the story of The Tragically Hip. Bands rarely become legends on music alone: The Beatles had LSD and Yoko Ono, The Stones had Keith Richards and Altamont, Nirvana had suicide and MTV Unplugged, and so on and so forth. The Tragically Hip have Gord Downie, and because of Gord Downie, The Tragically Hip have one of the most memorable live performance reputations this side of the 49th parallel. Sure, the sound is spot on, and the instruments rarely miss a step, but you can only hear them. The show isn’t in the instruments.”
The article’s author, Matt Sheardown, goes on to explicate his favorite Hip songs at the end of the article, and chooses 1994’s Nautical Disaster to bestow the following praise: For my money, the single greatest song the band has ever made. The lyrics are sung paragraphs, and the memories they drum up are so vivid in their unsettling nature. Brilliant from start to finish. Since Matt’s article inspired me to feature the Tragically Hip this week, I figured I’d abide by his opinion and use his favorite tune.
The Hip are proponents of all things Canadian, and their lyrics and themes often delve into obscure references that only select senior citizens in Manitoba may ‘get’ – but are important and fascinating all the same. Hip concerts around the world are flocked to by ex-pats, and they could sell out the largest venue in Toronto more nights in a row than any major act going. I’m talking to you, Jagger. Nautical Disaster is a great example of Hip Canadiana:
Few believe that the song is about a single theme, but it seems that one theme may be about the raid on Dieppe during World War II. Dieppe was a daylight, pre-D-day raid of a German held port on the coast of France. In the assault, carried out by Canadian troops, nearly 4000 men were killed out of a force of about 4800. The lyrics to “Nautical Disaster” are extremely close to these facts. Gord Downie himself has alluded to the fact that the song is one long metaphor for a failed relationship, but the literal meaning has ties to Dieppe.”
I normally introduce people to the Hip via Bobcaygeon or The Darkest One, but Nautical Disaster is definitely in the top three somewhere. It is reminiscent of Gordon Lightfoot’s The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in it’s imagery. It also reminds me of the scene in Jaws where Quint is describing what it was like to be on the U.S.S. Indianapolis when it was sunk: “So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, the sharks ttook the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.” Tragedies at sea. For my female readers (unveiled sexism) – picture the end of Titanic.
From the first line of the song, you know you’re in for something quite horrible: “I had this dream where I relished the fray, and the screaming filled my head all day.” It starts slow and builds to the line everyone loves to scream at shows “…off the coast of France, dear!” before it kicks into high gear. Have a listen for yourself by clicking on Radio Pye in the left column, and you can read some great fan explication here.
Spread Thinner Than Depression Era Peanut Butter.
The play rehearsals have increased to twice a week, and I’ll even be at Knights of Columbus Saturday afternoon painting the set with the rest of the cast. It’s being built there and then moved over to the Improv Asylum towards the performance dates. I have been enjoying the experience, even becoming enough of a primadonna to actually try and change my lines to ones I think are better suited to my character (who you’ll remember is a stupid plot-device cop with about 10 of them). Next thing you know, I’ll be asking what my motivation is and blathering away naked in a dark room like Brando. Actually, I guess that’s fairly unlikely. The blathering part.
The horror.
We’ve taken on 4 new clients in the last two weeks at my real job, and although I’m excited by this, I don’t know where I’m going to dredge up the time to handle it all. I have a lot to learn about Exchange servers, skateboards and lobby security software – and precious few waking hours in which to do so. The other actors have told me to learn my cues and try to thread conversations together. Maybe I can do the same here at work, and pretend I’m setting off a building alarm which is powered by a server because I did a Frontside 180 Powerslide through reception.
Again, astronomically unlikely.