michael david

“Crown on the Ground” - Sleigh Bells

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:39:40 -0600

“Crown on the Ground” - Sleigh Bells

"Individual and group interests are almost always in conflict when rewards to individuals depend on..."

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:58:00 -0500

“Individual and group interests are almost always in conflict when rewards to individuals depend on relative performance, as in the antlers arms race. In the marketplace, such reward structures are the rule, not the exception.”

- Economic View - The Invisible Hand, Trumped by Darwin? - NYTimes.com

This article in Sunday’s NYT reminds me of the lack of work-life balance I see today. As long as there is a relative advantage to working more than your co-worker, people will continue to work longer hours, work at all times (thanks to Blackberrys, etc.), and let their work consume their entire life. That is no way to live and it’s certainly no way I want to live. But unless there is a collective decision to limit the amount people work, I don’t see an end to it. People I know today, including myself, typically work 12 hours a day, plus weekends. How are you expected to raise a family with hours like that? It’s depressing and makes me envious of Western European countries where it seems there is a lot more collective respect for the “life” side of the work-life balance (holidays in August, emphasis on eating with friends and family, etc.).

Can’t we all just make a collective decision to limit our work time to something reasonable? Society will still progress…innovation will continue. Just at a more reasonable pace that will enable us to enjoin the ride a bit more.

such a cool photo. thetapeleader: joelaz: Thelonious Monk From...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:34:40 -0500

such a cool photo.

thetapeleader:

joelaz:

Thelonious Monk

From a blog post at The Selvedge Yard (via Dunstan).

old school drink recipes

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:35:00 -0500

from Zagat

Morning Glory Fizz
from Modern Bartenders Guide, O.H. Byron, 1884
Ingredients:
mixing glass 3/4 full with fine ice
3 to 4 dashes absinthe mixed in a little water
3 dashes lime juice
1 tbsp. sugar
egg white
1 wine glass of Scotch
Shake well in a shaker and strain. Balance off glass with seltzer.
Drink immediately, or the effect will be lost. It’s a morning beverage, a tonic and a nerve
quieter.

Italian Wine Lemonade
From Modern Bartender’s Guide, O.H. Byron, 1884, adapted slightly to make it easier for
the home bartender.
In a large goblet mix:
1 tbsp. sugar
1 oz. lemon juice
2 oz. filtered or spring water
Stir to dissolve
Fill the glass halfway with crushed ice
Pour 2 oz. of port or your favorite wine over the top
Dress the glass with seasonal fruit
Serve with a teaspoon

USS Richmond Punch
3 liters Myers’s dark rum
3 l. Martell VSOP cognac
3 l. green tea
3 l. medium oloroso sherry
36 lemons, juiced
3 lbs. white sugar
1 750-ml bottle of Grand Marnier
Prepare by peeling 12 lemons, muddling the peels in 2 pounds of the sugar and
letting them sit for 45 minutes. Then muddle again (the wait will have drawn out a
lot of the lemon oil), add strained juice and other ingredients, and mix well. Adjust
for sweetness. To serve, pour into bowl full of ice and add a liter of seltzer for each
liter of punch base.

Improved Holland Gin Cocktail
Shake well with plenty of ice:
2 oz. Bols Genever
1 tsp. rich simple syrup (made with 2 parts sugar to 1 part water)
½ teaspoon Luxardo maraschino
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 dash absinthe
Strain into small, chilled cocktail glass and twist a swatch of thin-cut lemon peel
over the top.

Blue Blazer
Put a half-teaspoon of sugar and a sliver of lemon peel in an Irish coffee glass or
other small, heavy, stemmed glass (a punch cup will also work).
Pour 2 ounces of boiling water and 2 ½ ounces of cask-strength single malt Scotch
whisky into a flare-rimmed mug. Light it with a match and carefully pour it back
and forth between the mug and another just like it, making sure to hold them
pointing away from you (not toward each other). With each pour, make sure a little
is left in the other mug. After five or six pours, extinguish each mug with the base
of the other and pour the liquid into the glass. Stir to dissolve the sugar and serve.

This is a really cool song. hussalonia: Swan Lake: The Cats...

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:28:13 -0500

This is a really cool song.

hussalonia:

Swan Lake: The Cats (1969)

The Awfulness of Having to Clear Your Throat:

It is the biological equivalent of a doorbell, or worse, the bell that sits on an unattended counter to summons service from the back room. One cannot clear one’s throat in a public space without everyone in earshot peeking through and around their mind’s figurative curtains and doorjambs as they anxiously ask themselves, Now who could that be, and what do they want? It elicits paranoia, especially in the emotionally disturbed and some teenagers. An innocuous clearing of the throat may be interpreted as a way of saying, “I know what you’re up to, and you’d better stop,” or “I’m right behind you, and I’m about to strangle you with some piano wire.” Macho men, on the other hand, will understand throat clearing to be an instigative gesture, an animal-like grunt that initiates an altercation between two alpha-males. Clear your throat in the wrong place, and you will soon be in battle!

Though I’ve never been caught in quicksand, I understand that the more you struggle to get out, the stronger the vacuum pulls you in. This is also the case with clearing your throat. The more you clear your throat, the more you have to clear your throat. But of course not clearing your throat is the equivalent to not scratching a mosquito bite. Or worse, waiting to get to the prize at the bottom of a cereal box by eating only one serving a day until it naturally falls into your bowl. It’s just not going to happen without going mad first.

Finally, it is a dreadful sound that defies written transcription. The traditional “ahem” dresses the sound up in a way that is simply unfair. A realistic translation of the rather grating, guttural, stuttering sound would require letters – consonants, probably – to overlap. Some might even need to be cut in half. I find this highly unfortunate and unmusical sound a profound betrayal of the vocal folds. Down with throat clearing!

Download song

How to make a morning glory fizz. I really like drinks with egg...

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:24:16 -0500

How to make a morning glory fizz. I really like drinks with egg whites.

Cocktail College With Dale DeGroff - Best of Buzz - Zagat Survey

My brother-in-law Pat got Kate and I some old-school cocktail...

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:23:22 -0500

My brother-in-law Pat got Kate and I some old-school cocktail manuals for our bdays last year. They are really cool and I’ve slowly tried to learn how to make some of these drinks.

I am surprised how hard it is to make a good drink. Part of it is practice, another part is not having all the requisite materials and ingredients but my biggest challenge is just lack of knowledge. These videos are helpful.

Cocktail College With David Wondrich - Best of Buzz - Zagat Survey

Apparently, Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys put out a solo...

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:02:10 -0500

Apparently, Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys put out a solo album. I’m a bit confused…why does he need a solo album when there are just two members of the band? Coudn’t he just have been credited with writing songs on their next album. There are drums in these songs too…who is playing them if not Patrick Carney? I like them…because I like the Black Keys and it sounds like a Black Keys song. I don’t quite understand it but I’m happy to have more songs to listen to by these guys (or, by one of these guys).

headunderwater:

Dan Auerbach - I Want Some More

More from Dan Auerbach

iBand

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:21:18 -0500

iBand:

This is relevant to the discussion that Paul, Paul, Lauren, Kate and I were having last weekend.

"The greedy idiots may be greedy idiots, but they are our countrymen. And at some level, we’re all in..."

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:53:58 -0600

“The greedy idiots may be greedy idiots, but they are our countrymen. And at some level, we’re all in this together. If their lives don’t stabilize, then our lives don’t stabilize.”

- Op-Ed Columnist - Money for Idiots - NYTimes.com

It’s a sad truth, eloquently written by David Brooks.

"Overdosing on this culture can be fatal. Because Republicans are isolated in that parallel universe..."

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:22:40 -0600

“Overdosing on this culture can be fatal. Because Republicans are isolated in that parallel universe and believe all the noise in its echo chamber, they are now as out of touch with reality as the “inevitable” Clinton campaign was before it got clobbered in Iowa. The G.O.P. doesn’t recognize that it emerged from the stimulus battle even worse off than when it started. That obliviousness gives the president the opening to win more ambitious policy victories than last week’s. Having checked the box on attempted bipartisanship, Obama can now move in for the kill.”

- Op-Ed Columnist - They Sure Showed That Obama - NYTimes.com

I hope Frank Rich is correct and Obama is more aggressive now that he (seemingly) has passed the first big hurdle of getting some sort of stimulus to the economy as quickly as possible.

DSC_0214 (via / KATE /) Hiking in the rain forest in Puerto...

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:27:37 -0600

DSC_0214 (via / KATE /)

Hiking in the rain forest in Puerto Rico. There wasn’t too much wildlife seen, but it was a beautiful hike.

DSC_0253 (via / KATE /) We stayed at a cool hotel in San Juan,...

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:25:16 -0600

DSC_0253 (via / KATE /)

We stayed at a cool hotel in San Juan, the Gallery Inn. It was in a building that was over 300 years old, with a view of the ocean.

“Librarian” - My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges Today is...

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:06:00 -0600

“Librarian” - My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges

Today is my friend Paul’s birthday. He’s a huge MMJ fan. This is my second favorite track on the album, behind “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2”. I wouldn’t consider myself a full-fledged MMJ fan, probably because I haven’t seen them live yet, but I can appreciate what people love about them. Very talented group.

“Gila” - Beach House, Devotion Another group I...

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:58:34 -0600

“Gila” - Beach House, Devotion

Another group I discovered from this year’s “top” lists, Beach House. Very chill, a bit dark. It’s good stuff.

“Courtship Dating” - Crystal Castles, Crystal...

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:59:46 -0600

“Courtship Dating” - Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles

This is one of my favorite times of the year because I love “tops” lists of the year, particularly top music lists. It’s my way of discovering TONS of new music that I didn’t catch during the year. I wish I was able to say I discovered it all by hanging out at small clubs all week but I work and don’t have that much time, so this is the best way for me. While I’m not usually a huge electronic/dance/whatever-you-want-to-call-it fan, this album has a hard enough edge that it works for me.

My Top 10 Albums of 2008

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:20:00 -0600

I’m a little late to the party this year with a top albums of the year list, but, whatever…I can still remember what I did on New Year’s Eve so it hasn’t been THAT long.

10. Santogold, Santogold

Santogold is a softer-around-the-edges version of M.I.A. There are 5 or 6 songs on this album that are incredibly catchy and memorable. There are a few others that don’t do it for me, but the good songs are good enough to put this album in my top 10.

9. The Whigs, Mission Control

Okay, so technically Mission Control is from 2007 but I didn’t really get into the album until this past year, so I’m keeping it in there. The Whigs sound is still a bit young sounding and rough around the edges. Part of that youth and energy is what makes them so great to see live. I suspect they will continue to get better as song writers and will put out better and better records.

I stand corrected. After more careful searching, it appears that Mission Control was released in January, 2008. So it rightfully belongs on this list.

8. m83, Saturdays = Youth

The opening song is killer and sets the tone for the whole record. I wasn’t familiar with m83 prior to this record but I plan to go back and listen to some of their earlier albums. It’s a great album to listen to on a Sunday afternoon hanging about the house.

7. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III

A lot of people aren’t into Lil Wayne’s sound, but they can’t deny he’s talented. His name appears everywhere these days as a collaborator on seemingly every hit song. It’s hard to describe Lil Wayne’s sound as he’s got some songs that are pure R&B (I typically don’t like those as much), and others that are straight Rap. Lil Wayne is intriguing (check out this article in GQ), and his music is equally worthy of attention.

6. Kings of Leon, Only By The Night

To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with KOL’s latest album. After three successive amazing albums in a row, Only By The Night ranks well below their first three. It didn’t get too many listens by me until I saw them in concert on Halloween. After hearing many of the songs live, I went back and was able to enjoy the record. It still ranks below their others in my mind, but KOL is one of my favorite bands today (only behind Arcade Fire and Radiohead).

5. Jason Collett, Here’s To Being Here

Collett’s first album, Idols of Exile, had a few good tracks but the sound was to folksy and happy for me. On Here’s To Being Here, the songs have a lot more depth to them. But the real reason this is my number 5 album of the year is that it was the perfect companion on Kate and my Pacific Coast Highway trip last fall. Some of my best memories of last year are driving down the highway with ocean on the left, mountains on the right, the top down and “Through The Night These Days” playing.

4. Beck, Modern Guilt

I wouldn’t say Beck makes a great leap with this album but practically every song is enjoyable, with a few great ones. The Danger Mouse influence is evident too, and a nice twist on Beck’s past albums.

3. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular

This album is probably the most like-able of the top 10. Everyone I played MGMT for ended up loving it. It’s a great party album. MGMT was VERY disappointing live, when we saw them open for Beck. Hopefully they can improve in that area as they mature as a band.

2. The Black Keys, Attack & Release

The Black Keys are the best not-so-unknown-anymore-band playing. The sound that they can produce with just a drum set and a guitar is amazing. I hope they are able to keep their garage-sound as they continue to gain popularity. A great tribute to old school, bluesy-rock.

1. TV on the Radio, Dear Science

Great album from front to back. I liked it from the first listen since. TVOTR is one of the most original bands out today but are able to make their original sound appealing to many. A great follow-up album to Return from Cookie Mountain and proof that TVOTR is a talented band that will be around for a while.

There are a few albums that didn’t make the list but were close: Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs; Wolf Parade, At Mount Zoomer; Girl Talk, Feed the Animals; No Age, Nouns; The Walkmen, You & Me; Okkervil River, The Stand Ins (The Stand Ins would likely have made the top 10 had I listened to it earlier. I just started listening to it a few weeks ago. Okkervil River is another of the great new bands…amazing live, with two great records in a row).

“Starstruck” - Santogold, Santogold I’m really...

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:16:00 -0600

“Starstruck” - Santogold, Santogold

I’m really into this song right now. I like the bad ass slow beat. This album for me is half hit, half miss. The songs that hit are amazing. She would be fun to see live.

Metacritic: Best Albums of 2008

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:19:52 -0600

Metacritic: Best Albums of 2008:

Metacritics list based on scores from the year. Wider range of artists included in this list. Also included is a host of other “top 10” albums of the year from music critics.

The 50 Best Albums of 2008 | Pitchfork

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:16:59 -0600

The 50 Best Albums of 2008 | Pitchfork:

Another good source for some great music you may have missed during the year.

By the way, Fleet Foxes got the #1 spot on both Pitchfork and The Hype Machine lists. While I agree that it’s a good album, I am a bit surprised it claimed the number one spot. It didn’t make my top ten.