a career, reimagined

tonight, listening to the latest record by a band i really care for quite a bit, the Fruit Bats, and when i say newest i mean their record that came out 2 years ago, i had a bit of an epiphany. this record, Spelled In Bones, was their least publicized, least respected, and most quickly forgotten of their scarce 3 albums. it's filled, absolutely filled, with beautiful melody, pop chord progressions, eric johnson's gigantic voice and a consistent, super-duper strong set of 10 songs that always pick you up and never let you down. awesomely ignored, and here i sit, a fan of a record no one's ever heard. and i thought to myself, what if? ever had that one, the what if? well i did, & here's how mine went. what if the 3 Fruit Bats records were released out of sequence, in a different order...what would their career be like now? what would folks think of if you dropped their name in a music convo now? i think, at least critically, it might go a little something like this...

Debut album: Fruit Bats. Spelled In Bones

EW Review: I believe that one song title spells it out..."born in the 70's." not sounds like the 70's, but firmly entrenched in the 70's, with no eagles or BTO aftertaste. the vocals are huge AND understated, the mood is mellow AND not stoned, and the best song doesn't hit until 9 songs in, the driving and insistently hummable "The Wind that drew my Heart Away." Bet the house on the future of the Fruit Bats.

PitchforkMedia review, cut to mid 7th paragraph: ...and while very subtly referencing it's obvious forebearers, Spelled in Bones both embraces and shuns them, much as I did my last girlfriend. I think of this record in the same sphere, embrace and disdain it like that. fuck you for being perfect, i don't want perfect. i want flaws, i want kinks and juts and weak moments. fuck you for not having that.

Discolletive.com review: N/A

2nd Album: Echolocation

EW Review: Fruit Bats step back into their Americana roots, and Fruit Bats leader Eric Johnson steps back into his musical roots and embraces his main instrument, the banjo. While not banjo or dobro or country heavy, much of this record feels like a psychedelic hoe-down. I shouldn't forget to mention, they also include what will invariably be their signature song as a throwaway to close the album, "Dragon Ships." An awesome avoidance of the sophomore slump for the Fruit Bats, and yeah dude, the "city's got me feelin like a m***er f***er" too.

PitchforkMedia review: She left me. Let's let the facts be the facts, ok? She left ME. And what, really, was I asking for? Attention? Love? An impossible knowledge of obscure and absolutely current musical knowledge, both impressive in it's breadth and depth, that i could ridicule? sure, obviously, but what about the reality, about the serious shit....so, yeah, the new fruit bats record. it's retro futuristic country, and the best song of the year also happens to be on this album, and best lyric. top "i wish i were a viking in 1103, i'd fuck up shit on the high cold sea." i dare you. especially you, you damn leavin me ass bitch. i love you baby. i miss you too.

Discollective.com review: N/A

3rd album: Mouthfulls

Pitchfork Media review: While lingering in somewhat indie obscurity (though not so obscure, holding court with critical darlings Iron and Wine and The Shins on Seattle's Sub Pop label, also former home to Nirvana), Fruit Bats bound out with Mouthfuls. While not their most accessible effort, nor their most obscure, they reach a happy medium that satisfies both the hipster & huckster, & even my bitch ex-girlfriend...

Time Magazine review: A sound that appeals to the hipster and the aging ex-hippie, and everyone in between. Not the most important new record to have in your collection now, but the most important new record to have in your collection for the next 20 years. File in between Wilco and Neil Young, but you'll pull Mouthfuls off the shelf more often than anything, so maybe don't file it at all.

Discollective.com review: N/A

so, what have we learned from this revisionist musical history? numero uno, save your best for first. check Wilco, Arcade Fire, Spoon, etc. for evidence. the weirder, and somewhat crappier, you get in your "career," well the more respect and notoriety you get for being an artist. and numero dos, Discollective.com reviewers, get fucking reviewing! come on, kids!

how to neglect a blog

one might ask himself, why would you neglect your own blog? especially one, much like this one, that is really only meant for one person (that person being me) and one that, thanks to blogspot, is so criminally easy to maintain. well, that's a pretty hard question. lots of excuses come to mind. too much reading (i've been reading a lot of books)...too much movie-going (ditto on that one. i've seen everything AND highly recommend Once)...too much going out/staying in and drinking (which, shamefully & regrettably, goes without saying). yeah, lots of excuses. so, sorry, me. i'll try to be better. which leads me to:

boy, won't it be a real shame if & when the red hook ballfields (or, as i overheard a girl charmingly call it/them when i was leaving the pool on saturday, "soccer tacos") close forever? i just don't know how to process that. the vendors seem to have more business than ever. on saturday, i walked right up & got a pupusa. 15 minutes later, there were 45 minute long lines for every vendor, including the confusing Guatemala booth. Sunday, the lines were like that all day. the quality of the food is top notch, and most of the vendors have suddenly provided helpful signs as to how to structure a line and what they sell. it seems like the whole thing is really coming together, becoming not so much a service for displaced & hungry latinos & soccer fans, but for anyone who has an appetite & appreciates quality food for an affordable price (or a refreshing fruit beverage after a hot day by the pool. recently, i've discovered this service that "soccer tacos" has been providing for me. how have i been so blind?).

it seems like in a city that throws so many fastballs & nasty, barry zito-esque curveballs at it citizens on a minute by minute basis, don't folks in brooklyn & the surrounding boroughs deserve just a couple of pitches thrown by the batting practice pitcher guy? or better yet, just laid there on the tee, just waiting to be clobbered? i really think so. ok, blog updated, albeit boringly & not especially verbosely, but updated all the same. stay tuned, though, for the benefits of the Zombie Hut & Why i am an inadequate blogger when compared to Tyson Meade.

my lucky huarache

this morning, crack of 1, i rolled out of bed eager to reignite what was/is to be the summer of the huarache. there've been silent vows to not cop out on the long line & frequent miscommunications at the front of the line at the huarache stand, and head over to the pupusa booth. there does exist a wide degree of interest in fully exploring the salsa buffet line, all of which is too hot for me to eat but i'm giving it a go, and giving each salsa it's own huarache to accentuate/incinerate for me. so, i headed over to the ballfields. the initial interest of the brooklynites seems to have weaned dramatically in the food vendors, as there were really no lines today and not a lot of people out there, despite the unseasonably mild weather & sunny saturday atmosphere. i got to move to the front of the line, and to see the nopales close up & personal, as today they were not diced but cut into long delectable strips. i buy the huarache, try new salsa #2, which i think could best be desribed as a lightly pureed pico de gallo, still a little pulpy but tasty & warm but not uncomfortable. i head over to my bench & get into my first bite and...problem. i think i just lost a tooth, as i just crunched into something rock hard. i assumed it was one of my teeth, & the inevitable dental anxiety sinks in. i reach into my mouth to examine the loose tooth, & it's not a tooth at all, but a shiny new dime. somehow in the exchange, a dime had been dropped into my huarache. i wiped it off & put it in my pocket, i'm hoping it'll be a lucky charm.

i just returned from a trip home to oklahoma, and added a bag to my luggage on the flight home. my grandfather died on new year's eve of last year, and when my sister and i were cleaning out his room & deciding what to do with all of his possessions, i came upon his collection of suits. though i have no idea why, this collection of vintage suits from the 60's & 70's seemed to me to be the last thing that i could willfully surrender to the goodwill. in the inside jacket pockets of every one of these suits were a collection of the pamphlets given out at funerals. my grandfather, thomas vaughn (TV), was a very genial and social man, but he had a very genial and social fascination with death. he bought plots in the cemetery where the rest of his family was buried for himself and all of his children many years ago, and would often cart his lawn mower into the back of his pickup and take it down to the paoli cemetary, and mow the whole fucking graveyard. for fun. he outlived one of his children, his wife & most of his brothers & sisters, and saved the memorials in the jacket pockets of his suits. i couldn't surrender them. so, i've been slowly moving them back to my apt., as many as my luggage can support with each successive trip back to oklahoma. i'm going out to dinner at a fancy restaurant with a friend this evening, and i decided to wear a pair of the suit pants from one of my grandfather's suits. inside the pants pocket, i found a little segment of a tan shoelace (the suit is white, brown, & tan). i'd like to think that he carried this around as a lucky string, though i know being the forgetful and thrifty man that he was, the shoelace probably broke, he picked it up to save it & possibly repair it, and forgot about it. but now, it's my lucky shoelace. i'm pairing it with my lucky dime, and hoping for gobs of the luckiest days in my direct future.

NOPALES!!!

so, let's, and when i say let's, i mean myself, be honest with ourselves here: i'm a lazy vegetarian. years ago when i stopped eating meat, my friend eric was talking about how good the salads are at the service station in norman, OK, and i thought to myself, "i may be a vegetarian, but i ain't crazy. i'm not just ordering a freaking salad!" i never said that to him though, but i thought it. cut to years later, the fascination with frozen amy's organic meals far in the past, and the boredom with every combination of veggie burger and potato long since set in, i've become an adventurous cook...but still a skeptic at the restaurant. when i was in mexico, everyone ordered the nopales (cactus) at least once at the amazing taco stand that we went to at least 7 times, everyone except me. drunk one night in a crappy mexican restaurant in my old neighborhood (and for some reason not at one of the two AMAZING mexican places in Ditmas Park, El Alamo or Cinco De Mayo), i decided to give the nopales a try, and my verdict was "wow...tastes like a bell pepper." maybe there was a sarcastic clap afterwards, like i said, i was downing negra modelos and trying to solve the mystery of Victoria beer (a tale for another day), my memory of the dinner is foggy and the only lasting sensation of that dinner is one of being underwhelmed.

so today, in my very minimal red hook ballfields weekend (one visit), i accidentally got nopales. also, btw, anyone caring to go to the ballfields and not wait in line at all for any vendor, go around 11 or 11:30. i walked right up to the huarache stand and ordered my veg. huarache con queso, and in the assemblage process, the senora making my huarache asked me repeatedly if i wanted something on my huarache, the word describing whatever that little something was being a: in espanol and b: out of my diminutive spanish lexicon. so, i replied "si," she handed me the huarache & it was loaded with sliced, grilled nopales. sweet and tart, soft but not soggy grilled nopales. it was a revalation, a welcome addition to the palate. highly recommended. also, the ballfields was turning up the volume today, and i don't mean in food quality or service quality, though both were far above par today. as i walked up to the soccer field, i could hear a loudspeaker from blocks away, and when i got there, an assemblage of teams, i assume all of the teams playing there today, were in a giant circle on the field, and the MC was holding court. i think there was a national anthem playing, my unfamiliarity with other nation's national anthem is, frankly, embarrassing.

I ain't never had too much fun!

so, the red hook ballfields did finally open this weekend, and i think i discovered a simple fact about my own body that i didn't really realize before. it is definitely possible, to quote some modern country, to have too much fun, or i guess to accurately quote, the guy (trace adkins) who sang "i ain't never had too much fun" has a much stronger constitution than I. specifically, i had stated goals of eating 4 solid, strong meals this weekend at the red hook ballfields (lunch & dinner sat. & sun), but i couldn't hack it (i only ate there 3 times). also, even after doing all my homework thanks to the fine fella who writes the porkchop express blog, i still went back to the old standbys at the ballfields.
the delicious vegetable huarache. the undeniable bean and cheese pupusa. the roasted ear of corn with lime & mayonesa. 2 huge fruit drinks per day (2 lime, one cantaloupe, one watermelon). i was a happy, happy man, with a bellyache that literally lasted 2.5 days afterwards. Also, I had a shocking random observation out there: Saturday afternoon around 1:30 or so, the Red Hook soccer fields looked suspiciously like McCarren Park. Never have I seen so many young white people out there, many nervously eyeing the booths & trying to navigate their way around a bunch of booths with no menus & very few vendors who habla ingles (i've been there too). However, by Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon, the demographic shifted back to what is normality for the food stands, which is predominantly Latino with a hodge podge of other folks of various age, ethnicity and sex.

This observation led me to cement what i have always really suspected: New Yorkers, fundamentally, don't really like Mexican (or, what they view as Mexican) food. They're burrito tolerators, occasional taco nibblers, and non-discriminatory salsa dippers (not scoopers). I thought the popularity of the Chipotle near the UN was odd, it's long lines out the door. I've always questioned the combo Mexican/Chinese places, but Jack in the Box sells tacos too, so the concept is not foreign. The popularity of Rosa's Mexicana really helped hone this point to an edge, albeit not a fine one, because really, isn't Rosa's Mexicana to New York what Chelino's and Don Pablo's are to Oklahoma, what El Chico and the comically named La Hacienda Ranch (literal translation: The Ranch Ranch) are to Texas, what On The Border is to most of the Southeast, i.e., the baby step above Del Taco/Taco Bell/Taco Mayo/Taco Bueno? However, Rosa's Mexicana isn't ubiquitous like the other quasi-upscale chains listed above, there are only 3 in New York, and though it has it's devotees, Rosa's Mexicana is great Mexican food for people who don't really like Mexican food. so, Mr. Suspicious Local, questioningly eyeing the carne at Hernandez Huaraches...i've got my suspicious eye on you.

ballfields addendum

wonderful profile of all vendors at red hook, including a map & what amounts to a menu (!) for many of the vendors.

http://porkchop-express.blogspot.com/2006/08/red-hookd-map_22.html

an un-be-LEIV-able resource for a ballfield addict like myself.

Red Hook Ballfields Open!

http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/food/archives/2007/04/red_hook_ball_f.php

so, it looks like this weekend, my weekend can get off to a fan-tastic start. the mexican/ecuadoran/el salvadoran food at the red hook ballfields is the best latin food in new york city, and it's also probably the cheapest. i think the most expensive thing there is a huarache, which is 4 bucks, and it's gi-gantic. last summer i would routinely dare myself to get one of everything (we're not talking infinite variety here), so 1 ear of corn w/ lime & mayonesa & queso & pepper, one bean & cheese pupusa with ensalada & hot sauce, & 1 bean & cheese huarache with veggies & radishes & whatever weird and delicious hot sauce that was out that day (sometimes green, sometimes orange - i think the orange one is scotch bonnet so beware, it killed me but i'm a wimp about hot stuff), and i would be so stuffed that it would be naptime, & that whole meal, plus a beverage...9 bucks. okay, more about this next week...with pictures.