Laser sailing

Robert and Jen stopped by on Friday around dinner time. They had started partying early being Veterans Day. After a little 3D TV demo we headed over to Steven and Yuko’s house to check out their new deck Steven built. Scott, Jen, and Scully were there already. The kids were up asking for entertainment or entertaining us. Steven and Yuko prepared dinner which was good. Robert and Steven were talking about sailing Lasers on Saturday being that it was supposed to be warm and windy. Robert was trying to convince me it would be a good day to go out.

So while I was watching Forumla One qualifying the next morning Robert and Steven called me. The thought of the cold Potomac water was not a fun feeling as I sat on my comfortable couch but I decided to go out and join them. Robert hooked me up with a dry suit and I was good to go. There were about 7 or 8 Laser sailors out for the preseason run. They took out the motorboat to set up a practice race course. Steven took out the motorboat first so he let me sail his try out is boat. I’ve never sailed in a dingy before. It is a whole different world. Steven's Laser was nice and new. It was going to be interesting.

A Laser is a one person boat that is very light weight and maneuverable if you know what you are doing. You can also end up on the water quite easily. You can go really fast but it is easy to go over the edge and end up in the water. My plan was to play it conservative, try to stay out of the water, and try to keep the boat in one piece. It took a little bit to figure out how to keep the boat going consistently and to work out the mechanics of tacking. I never did get comfortable with the tiller extension. Robert sailed next to me for a few minutes and gave me one of the best tips which is to turn with speed. I kept out of the water at first. Then after I was starting to think I’d stay dry it went over. I went over three times and I think each time was in heavy or shifting wind while jibing. Not having the mechanics down I’d either have my weight in the wrong place or some other basic mistake while I’m trying to deal with all these new factors at the same time. The first time I was able to roll over the high side, stand on the center board, and roll it back over. The second time I ended up in the water. I was scared going in but I quickly realized I didn’t feel a thing. The dry suit worked well. The last time I went over was a bit of an issue. When you flip the boat back over the trick is to land in the boat. Otherwise you can’t get back in without flipping it again. So it took me a bit to get it that time. I wasn't hiking out and healing over far so the most fun was surfing down wind at full speed. I could feel the hull vibrating.

The other guys did practice races. I’d follow along sometimes in the back but mostly tried to stay out of the way. Robert took Steven’s place on the motorboat so I switched places with Steven to give him his boat back. I was about done after the third time flipping the boat. After a couple more races everyone headed in. It was an interesting first experience. I’d be more comfortable the next time going out and maybe a little more methodical at learning how to handle that type of boat. I was trying not to break anything this first time. Not sure how much I want to get in to dingy sailing in the winter. I have no plans on purchasing a sailboat anytime soon. It is fun though and if the weather is nice I wouldn’t mind going out on occasion.

pic by Nabeel Alsalam during last season

Bela & The Flecktones

The last time I saw Bela and The Flecktones was at the Strathmore. It was the reunion of the original lineup. I was able to get a center 6th row seat. It doesn’t seem like two years ago. This time I got a little different perspective and sat in the center of the last row. I didn’t feel like paying more than $30 for a ticket. The Strathmore is a great venue though and every seat is good.

Teri and I walked in and sat down the minute before the band took the stage. They played two great sets. It reminded me of the show two years ago. The harmonica/piano player, who is the one that came back from the original lineup, can play the harmonica with incredible precision. That always impresses me. The guy is good. Victor Wooten is an awesome bass player and he threw down some mind blowing bass lines and solos. Bela did his thing which was great as usual. His alternate banjo of choice was a guitar hybrid which sounded nice. With all that awesome talent between the three of them I don’t see how they still keep “Future Man” around on that percussion thingy.

Bela will always put on a quality show I’m sure. He needs to keep his ticket prices down though.

Skyline Drive drive

A few times this fall, Teri and I thought about hitting Skyline drive, doing a little hiking, and checking out a brewery or winery. Usually this idea came to us after the weekend was over or it was too late to plan. So we finally planned it. She picked me up at 8am on Sunday and we were off. Good thing we had an extra hour of sleep thanks to the DLS time change.

The weather was nice. The leaves were about peaking in DC, which means they were past peak out in the mountains, but they were still very nice. Skyline Drive wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be. Traffic wasn’t bad at all. We picked two of the shorter hikes. One with a large waterfall and another with a 360 degree summit view. They were probably the more popular hikes for people doing the drive like us but they weren’t too busy. The waterfall hike was downhill the whole way there and a bit cold without my jacket. It was worth the hike though and much warmer walking back up. At the end of Skyline Drive we hiked up to a little rock covered summit. It only took 15 minutes so I convinced Teri to hike on. It was actually part of the Appalachian Trail. We ran in to two guys who were finishing up an overnight 14 mile segment. It wasn’t the most exciting portion of the AT though so we made a U-turn before we got to our planned turn around.

After the drive and the hiking we were ready for some food. I originally planned to go to Devil’s Backbone brewery which is a favorite of mine but when I saw that the Blue Mountain Brewery was having their 4th Anniversary Birthday party we headed there instead. There was a lot of people but not much special going on besides a moon bounce and kettle corn. We missed the special menu by about 30 minutes. We had some decent food, sampled all seven of their beers, and each got a growler fill to take home. Teri got the Rockfish Wheat and I got their Full Nelson.

On the way back we ended up on I-95 somehow thanks to our GPS. And as we were stuck in traffic we looked over and saw Mark and Michelle trying to get our attention. After connecting with them on the phone we followed them on Rt-1 for a bit to avoid the traffic. Not sure how much time we saved but it was nice to be moving.

It was a long day in the car but Skyline Drive, the hiking, and trying new beers was fun. I didn’t see any black bears as I did once in the past but maybe next time. I gotta get out in the mountains and woods every so often or I get withdraw.

The GPS data includes the whole day from the drive out to the drive back. If you go to the split times you can see that laps 2 and 4 are the two hikes we did.

Soulive, Lettuce, & Rahzel

I’ve been looking forward to this show since it was announced long ago. I’m a fan of Soulive and they always put on a good show, especially the Rubber Soulive tour, but I’ve never seen Lettuce and I dig raw funk and a horn section. I got tickets only a day or two in advance; I was surprised they were still available.

Teri and I tried to go to Mad Fox for dinner. It was the first day of their cask week. I’m a fan of fresh cask beer. Unfortunately the place was packed and had about a 40 minute wait. So we headed to the old staple Argia's which is almost next door to the State Theater. I ran in and put our name on the list, jumped back in the car and we found a place to park and break, then a minute after we walked in we were seated. Always good Italian food.

At 9:00 the line at the door was huge. And it was a bit cold. After waiting we ditched our coats in the car and walked in the warm venue. It took a few minutes for my ears and head to stop hurting. The place was packed. We headed up to the balcony to relax for the beginning of the show. The balcony was full but we found good seats with leg room. Lee walked past us but didn’t see/hear us in the dark. Soulive threw down as usual. It was a nice groovin’ set. They played a Beatles medley from their last tour that rocked. The crowd was crazy. Lots of young people on various intoxicants.

During the intermission between Soulive and Lettuce a guy named Rahzel came out and did his thing. It was quite impressive. With just his mouth and a microphone he threw out some crazy beats. He could put out a super low bass note that rumbled the whole place, and beat box on top of that, while also throwing in other odd DJ scratching noises and lyrics. It was something to see and hear. He made a point to count out all the tracks/sounds he was doing at the same time. Teri liked the car crashing and mechanical gear sounds. What impressed me the most was his ability to beat box while singing. You had to see it to believe it. He was entertaining.

Finally Lettuce took the stage. The guitarist and keyboard player from Soulive played as part of the band. The drummer, bass, and other guitarist all wore flat rimmed baseball hats and had that NYC or LA look. The could play some funk though. The horn section accented the grooves well. Teri and I got down in front during intermission for Rahzel and everyone was dancing around on the floor for Lettuce. It wasn’t as crowded as I was expecting close to the stage. They played a fun set. They seemed to be able to take a simple funk riff and put a great song around it. Lettuce only played a couple of shows with Soulive. Hope I can catch them again before too long.

Raging Bitch on cask at ChurchKey

I’ve talked about Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch before. When Flying Dog released it as their 20th Anniversary beer in 2010 it was one of those beers you taste and realize is a special beer. Apparently I wasn’t the only one because it was one of the most popular craft beers of the year and Flying Dog decided to make it not only every year but all year. I’ve had it on cask once or twice before but try not to miss it when I can get it. It wasn’t my favorite beer on this night though.

I started off with a full serving of the Witch Doctor on cask from Oskar Blues. It is a blend of their Dale’s Pale Ale and Ten FIDY dry hopped with centennial hops. It comes in at 8.5%. It had that familiar Oskar Blues taste. I forgot the Ten FIDY was the stout but it had a nice balanced taste.

Next was the Stillwater Harvest Saison. This might have been my favorite beer of the night. Saisons aren’t my favorite style but this had the fresh hop taste along with the typical yeast flavors. The description said... "Brewed with East Kent Goldings, Summit & Wet Citra Hops; Matured on Spanish Cedar; Dry-Hopped". It was 6.8%. I only had the 4oz of this but could have easily drank a full serving.

I also got a tasting size of the Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head collaboration Life & Limb. This came in at a nice 10.2% but I couldn’t taste the complexity in the beer on this occasion for some reason. I could just barely pick up the maple syrup.

They were out of the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Session 38: Docesna - Czech Hop Harvest Ale. I was disappointed. So finally I had the Raging Bitch on cask in a full serving. It was good but not the explosion of flavors I was expecting. I thought I detected a metallic taste or something foreign but I quickly forget it at this state in the game.

the making of Freddie's Revenge

I wanted to end with a tasting size of the 120 Minute IPA but they ran out of that as well. So I ended with a Freddie's Revenge on cask from Pratt St. Ale House in Baltimore. It is a pumpkin ale brewed w/ roasted pumpkin, spiced with cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and clove. I’ve had some unexpectedly tasty pumpkin beers this year. Unexpected because I’m traditionally not a pumpkin beer fan. I don’t like all the spice; similar to the x-mas beers. But this year there was more to the offering and some interesting flavors. Some were like eating pumpkin pie with whipped cream. So many craft breweries doing so much good stuff these days.

I had the potato croquettes just like last time. They are yummy. And the pasta special again which was fettucini with pork belly. It was pretty good. I got a good deal on the bill and didn’t get charged for any of the small servings. Similar to what happened to me earlier in the weekend at my other favorite establishment. My good looks I guess.

MMW

I haven’t seen MMW in awhile. I find it kinda crazy that I can’t find them mentioned in my blog anywhere. I guess it has been a long while. They came on a Thursday and were playing with Antibalas which I guess is a band familiar to them. They did an odd DC, Philly, NYC run together. Odd in that it was not your usual MMW show. I’ve been hesitant in the second half of MMW’s career to go to their shows as they are a bit more avant-garde jazz then I like but this was a great performance that I enjoyed.

Port City Brewery tweeted that day that the 9:30 Club would have their Essential Pale Ale on tap. I replied that I’ll be partaking.

Teri was not having a good day at work so I invited her along to cheer her up and forget about the craziness going on during the work day. We walked in after the opening band stopped and got a spot up front. Before too long MMW came out and did their thing. I wasn’t sure what they were going to play but I ended up recognizing all the songs. They were getting down to all their old classics. Teri mentioned how they were not the easiest band to dance to with their style of play. They would play traditional timing but John Medeski would often play off beat which throws people off. The reason I recognized the whole first set except for one song was because they were all requests. I remembered them asking for requests on Twitter awhile back. They said they usually don’t take requests; usually they jam whatever new stuff they are working on. We were right in front of Medeski for the first set. I could see he took the lead; at least in those old school songs. I wish I could see his hands on the keys as he was all over the place. I could smell a lot more food than usual this show and some guy actually brought a couple sandwiches up to the front row and ate them off the stage.

During the set break I switched up the beer and got a draft of the DC Brau Public. I usually don’t get draft at the 9:30 Club because the open cups spill all over the place in the packed floor compared to bottles. During the set break though it was open and I wanted to change it up. The DC Brau Public was so much more flavorable than the Port City Essential Pale Ale. I’m curious why. I’m sure they were both fresh being local. I doubt the bottle vs draft had anything to do with it. The Public was definitely more of the flavorable hop taste that I am looking for. We stuck with that the rest of the night.

Antibalas came out with MMW for the whole second set. Teri and I missed their opening set so we didn’t know what to expect. The 9:30 Club stage is not small but I didn’t realize you could fit this many people on stage. Fifteen all together. Two bass players, two keyboard players, two drummers, multiple people playing percussion, guitar, and a four piece horn section. It was great. They played MMW style jams but with the Antibalas sound since they out numbered MMW 12 to 3. It was fun. I’d like to see MMW with just the horn section. I’m not sure if DC was the first show of the tour or not. I saw a tweet earlier in the week about rehearsal. It was definitely unique for a MMW show and I really enjoyed it.

NoVA Brewfest

I didn’t go to the NoVa Brewfest out in Bull Run Park (next to Manassas National Battlefield Park) in the previous four years because I hadn’t heard anything special about the event. In the past the list of breweries was nothing to write home about but it has gotten bigger each year. And it was out in the ‘burbs. Also their method of distributing beer has changed over time for the better I think. It was ticket based as always this year although you could buy as many extra tickets as you wanted for only $1. Mark asked if I wanted to hit it up this time so I decided to check it out.

It ended up being a decent group of us including Mark, Michelle, Scott, Jen, Teri, Marc, and another couple that Mark knew. Marc from Pburg only lives about 2 miles from Scott but I had to pick him up since Scott wasn’t able to find him on the map. Teri and I filled our bellies at District Taco before getting stuck on I-66 and downtown Fairfax. Traffic was not fun at noon on Saturday. It was a nice day although cloudy. The leaves are getting to that perfect stage when changing colors. Most of us got tickets online in advance for $20 which was $10 off the gate price. I found out LivingSocial had a deal and sold over 1300 so that added to my fears of long lines. Especially after Oktoberfest in Shirlington. The website said the event will not sell out. How can an event not sell out?

The taxi van picked us up at Mark and Michelle’s at 1:45. The driver took some back way. It turns out it would take a lot of people to sell the event out. It was a big open area with some rolling hills. Tons of parking, a huge stage and crowd area, although the two rows of booths were sorta full. We got right through the entrance. There was plenty of room and most beer lines were short. Some food and bathroom lines got long. Teri and I found a secret port-o-potty behind the stage that was accessible but it got less and less secret as the day went on. Also as the day went on I think the volunteers were less and less worried about taking our tickets. People were more strict than the Shirlington Ocktoberfest but after awhile I seemed to be getting away with it more and more. Later while in line someone handed Teri and I a bunch of tickets so we were set. The kettle corn was pretty good. They had a HUGE “kettle” over a gas flame and would mix popcorn and oil in it with a large wooden stirrer. After awhile it would all pop at once and he’d dump it via hinges in another big container. Hot and fresh. There was also bratwurst wrapped in a pretzel but I didn't get to try one of those delights.

We all stuck together for the most part and everyone had a good time. Mad Fox had their Pumpkinator as well as the new brewer at Vintage 50. It was her first brew on that equipment with the help of Bill. Teri talked to her for a minute and unfortunately I never made it back to try her version that she was tapping at 3:00. Schafly had their pumpkin beer and it was just as good as I remembered. They had other vendors and craft booths including wooden croaking frogs. The had different sizes for different sounds and when you rubbed the wooden mallet over their backs they made a rather realistic croaking sound. The people at the booth were jamin’ to the band with the frogs. I’d never spend money on it though. When is there a band in the background to jam to?

The taxi guy came back with just a car so he had to wrangle with another taxi driver on site to get us all back. Marc used him to get home from Mark’s and called to complain afterwards that they guy ripped him off. For some reason I slowed down once we got back but a few of those I was hanging out with were rather toasted. It was a fun day hanging out with everyone outside and being hosted by Mark and Michelle that evening. The brewfest surpassed my expectations. It helps when you have friends that live close by. It is a twice a year event so we’ll see what happens next year.