New Song

Here's a demo for a new song I wrote this week. Comments, criticism and suggestions are most welcome.

One Dirty Pearl

Homespun

Well trout season is fast approaching, and with it a determination to fish the hell out of it. The notion of that gets expensive real fast, considering the tight spots I like to fish for trout in--small, shallow streams with a gauntlet of lure attracting rocks and fallen limbs, beaver dams with, well...beaver dams, all of these scenarios of course surrounded by all manner of plantlife with a particular appetite for hooks. I'd say I lose a good ten plus lures a year to these conditions. Now perhaps this introduces the more significant issues of "angler competence" and "casting accuracy", to which I say "BAH! I'll just make me a bunch of my own lures for dirt cheap and cast the way I wanna cast!" Which is exactly what I have done. I visited Jann's Net Craft and ordered a bunch of parts, enough in fact to make roughly 75 in-line spinners, ranging from sizes 0-2. Here's a picture of the first three I made. I've since made about 15 more.

Bindlestick Blues

A new discovery in the world of archival recordings was made today, that of a grammophone record containing a song by 1920s hobo balladeer Crusty Pete. The song, "Bindlestick Blues", is considered by experts to be a quintessential example of hobo balladry, a genre now nearly forgotten, once made popular by such artists as Smoke Tanner, "Moonshine" Willy Clawhammer, Two Batches (struck down by a train at the height of his popularity), and Crusty Pete himself. The record was recorded for the now defunct Ho-Bo-Phone label in 1929, and contains the B-side "Where The Bindlestick Don't Reach." The Hobo Ballad Field Studies Society has released this recording.

I have found happiness in the state of Maine

Last Saturday I went to see Of Montreal in Portland, Maine. The show was awesome, but very nearly outdone in terms of awesomeness by the brewpub I went to before the show. The place is called The Great Lost Bear, and it was excellent. They have 54 different beers on tap, so you could have 4 beers a night for 2 weeks straight and never have the same beer twice; or, if you like, 8 beers a night for 1 week. How's that for a pitch? Beer Advocate has a list of the top 50 places in the U.S. to have a pint, and the GLB (as I've just this instant begun to call it) is near the top of the list at number 4. And I was there (cue angelic choir).

And lest I forget the food, the food was great too. All of your favorite pub fare, with some delicious twists here and there.

So with this blog post, I am calling for a pilgrimage to this mecca of microbrews, to be made some night in the warm months which approacheth presently. I light a beacon to the many corners of the Beer People kingdom--to Kendar in Hyannisport, Lesthar in Newmarket, Robdar and Jefflar in Dover, Bridar in Seabrook, and all other Beer People who would heed my beacon.

Are thee in?

-Kotar

Magnolia's Blossoming

Go and visit little Magnolia's wicked cool blog! Mom (Trisha) and Dad (Les) are very proud of their internet savvy little bundle!

Magnolia's Blossoming

Live Eagles (not the damn band!)

Here's an eagle cam.

See the eagle.

Maybe the eagle's in its nest.

You'll have to find out for yourself.

Don't look at night 'cause you probably won't see it.

Unless the camera has night vision.

The Year In Ice

Well, it was a tough ice fishing season, and I think I'm ready to hang it up. It started off with three skunks in a row. First on the Bellamy reservoir in Madbury, NH, followed a day later by major skunkage in pursuit of crappie on the Lamprey river in Newmarket, NH with Les. Then there was Sunapee in February with Les & Jay. Oh, Sunapee... Oh 35 MPH wind gusts... Oh white out conditions... Oh... you get the picture. Did I mention no fish?

Then my luck changed, but not by much. The Bellamy produced a little for me, then I went up to Maine for a week and spent many lonely hours on Duck Lake in hopes of catching some salmon, whitefish or trout (Thank you Richard for the tips and the free minnows). I only managed to catch a bunch of yellow perch and pickerel. I kept a few big yellows and 1 big fat pickerel, whose post-fillet remains kept the bald eagles well fed.

The big downer of the season was that the Oyster river never froze, and thus never produced for us any delicious smelt. So the shelter will be stowed away for next year, and the trout gear will come out soon. Here's to grilled brookies on Les & Trisha's barbecue!

2005 Top 5

So at work we decided to make lists of our choices for the top 5 albums of 2005. It was kind of fun so I'll share mine and encourage you to post yours. Here are mine in no particular order:

1. Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers
2. Illinois by Sufjan Stevens
3. The Sunlandic Twins by Of Montreal
4. All Rise! by Inara George
5. Room Noises by Eisley