Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Talking Sweet About Nothing

I had the fortunate opportunity to see the Pixies play the Fillmore here in Denver on Tuesday.
I'd been pretty psyched about it. The Pixies are my gateway band. They opened musical doors to me as a young person that developed my taste in music today.
I'm so fond of them.

They opened the show with a Salvador Dali film...the one of a person slicing open an eyelid.
Some sort of Debaser connection.

This was the only posse pic I got really.
Brandy Lou was just one of the rad people I had the opportunity to hang with that night!
The incomparable Jen Wood, her fine gentleman friend Chris, and Co-worker Adam were there too!

They played the whole 'Doolittle' album and various b-sides.



Gosh. They are amazing.

I had numerous goosebump moments.

This pic was one of those moments.
These people have been a part of my life for so long...and they don't even know me!


I saw the Pixies for the first time in 2003 or 2004 in Spokane.
It was at a transitional time in my life...difficult relationship, troubles with friends, and internal struggles galore.

But when the show started, I had a moment of clarity.
I was with my best friend, we were singing our hearts out, and everything was right.
I felt young and old all at the same time.


God damn! Is Kim Deal not the most fantastic fucking person!?
Her voice!

Frank Black, Black Francis - whatever you want to call him...he's the boss, man.
His voice sounds as crisp and sharp as it did the first time I listened to 'Come On Pilgrim' in my boyfriend's Buick on the dusty back roads of Wyoming!

This monkey's gone to heaven.


David Lovering!
Drumming, singing...killing it!

La La Love You...




Joey Santiago!
Seriously, he's the best guitar player. I'm awe struck.







And then...it was over...

For a minute.


They waved goodbye and even before they left the stage...people were screaming and stomping for the encore.



Doing the wave.


The encore was amazing.
And it wasn't just one, but two encores that we ended up getting.

It was phenomenal...and I'm so grateful to have seen them again in my life.


I posted a video below. I'm sure the sound is terrible, but the imagery they had in their stage presentation was really wonderful and it's worth watching for at least that.




Q: What Kind Of Wine Goes Best With Velveeta? A: Boones Farm.

What up, Colorado Cheese Festival?!

I was lucky enough to attend this awesome cheese extravaganza!

Val, Christine, and Diamond were there!
Val's all about the cheese...he used to be a cheese maker!
Believe you me, I've already put a word in with Val to have him teach the Denver Craft Ninjas how to make cheese!

Mozzarella, Paneer...BLESS!

So, this is how you roll at the Colorado Cheese Festival:
Grab plate, tong up a couple squares, eat while moving to next table, sip a little water (or wine), REPEAT!

Some of my favorite cheesers...
Doug and Steph!

TJ tagged along too! I love TJ! She makes me laugh so much!

We started tasting - that's the reason we were there, right?!

This table had some sheep's milk cheese.
Sheep's milk isn't for me! The flavor is crazy strong and it caught me off guard.
Good to know for next time!

Val knows his stuff...we let him lead the way!

Seriously, every cheese you could imagine...
Blue, gouda, cheddar, chevre!

This variety had jerk seasoned cheese, cajun cheese, and cheese rolled in coffee grounds.
And the coffee grounds cheese was friggin' amazing!

Diamond is a cheese kid!

We worked out a cooperative system where the person with a free hand served up cheese to the rest of us.

Artisan cheese makers!
Thank you!

Son of a...
Humboldt Fog!
The best of the best in my book.
They had a truffle cheese that I told Steph I wanted to spend some time alone with.
Yeah, romantically!

And this table was just a cheese blow out!

Doug can hang!

The cheese crowd...is also the Bill Cosby sweater crowd!

Mmmm, GRUEYERE!

Edible rind...okay, why not?!

Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy is a Colorado based cheese maker!
And their cheese is dreamy!

Haystack Mountain Buttercup, Haystack Mountain Chevre en Marinade, Applewood Smoked Chevre...
I mean, you can't go wrong.

Yeah, it started to become overwhelming.

Cutting boards galore!
Flavors, varieties, subtleties, families...

This guy was serving up a cheese with cumin seeds.
It was ridic good.

Douglet and Steph waiting their turn!


And just when I thought we were done...
I was pleasantly surprised to know that we would be attending a pairing class that Val was teaching!

Want some wine with that cheese? Yes, yes, I do.


The pairing class gave us the opportunity to eat MORE cheese.

And hang out with weird cheese types.

The spread was wicked good...
Bread, olives, nuts, fruit, cured meats, jams, and honey!

And cheese...
But they had a WHEEL of Humboldt fog!
I took an unhealthy wedge.


I insisted that I get a pic of Steph's plate.
She looks perturbed, but I can't tell if it's because she's cheesed out or because she can't wait to attack the plate!

I cleaned my plate...
I'm not so much for the rind, although, I did learn from Val that you can eat the rind of the Humboldt Fog.
I'll try it next time.

I took lots of notes in my Colorado Cheese Festival Cheese Journal.

And I did actually learn a lot from Val and his cheese compadre!

By the time it was all over, I sort of had a headache.
A cheese hangover...but god damn, that's pretty awesome.

Also, I ate some food cooked up by Hosea of Top Chef.
I would have gotten a picture of him, but I felt bad for him because everyone was asking him for a pic and he seemed sort of tired of it.