Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

The JennEric-JulJam Beerfest 2006

1. Fuller’s London Porter -

Julie – Dark & lovely
James – coffee, chocolatey – thick!
Eric – Toasty brown

2. Victory Hopdevil –

Julie – thick & rich, one of the best hoppy beers I’ve had
James – tastes like IPA, not as “bitey”
Eric – the sweet side of hops, syrupy

3. Rogue über Pilsner –

Julie – smells funny, tastes delightful w/ bite & bubbles
James – kinda spicy in a weird way, not too good
Eric – representative of pilsner, both regards
Jenn – hoppy, slightly bitter, malty

4. La Rossa –

Julie – Kinda latest like Newcastle: not pussy beer – delightful
James – med-thick, tastes like a stronger beer – “brown”
Eric – strawberries, brown Italian ones
Jenn – brown & sweet, high grav. alcoholy taste, malty feel

5. Ommegang –

Julie – best yet.  So smooth, sweet & rich.  8.5%!
James – v. good.  I taste some small hint of fruitiness.  Tasty as hell
Eric – stump water J foamy sweet w/ trappist trappings
Jenn – rich, fruity, earthy (but not like wine), sweet, spicy

6. Steelhead Extra Stout –

Julie – tastes better than it smells.  Rich, dark, fantastic coffee finish
James – good flavor, not as strong as you’d think – still good
Eric – rich choco-licorice nose, but weak palate, watery (bacon bits)
Jenn – licorice, coffee-molasses, smoke

7. Great Divide – Yeti Imperial Stout –

Julie – completely different than last stout.  Dark, sweet, hoptastic
James – strong assshit!  Gives me shivers across my shoulders
Eric – this stuff has claws
Jenn – HOPS!!

8. Allagash Dubbel Reserve Belgian Style Ale –

Julie – wonderful – my favorite yet – smooth, sweet, but not too sweet
James – I dunno.  Tastes good.  Strong – thick taste
Eric – cloven, broad mouth spicy ale
Jenn – clove, Chimay-like, good mix of spice & sweet, good Autumn beer

9. Fin Du Monde –

Julie –
James –
Eric – skunky monk
Jenn – Chewy

10. Arcobräu –

Julie – dark, but not crunchy.  Smooth & caramely
James – had a slight bite, but v. short.  Good Bavarian flavor!
Eric – Caramel, refreshing Bavarian purity!
Jenn – caramely, brown, light, tasty

**SESSION #2**

11. Duck Rabbit Brown Ale –

Jenn – tasty hops & barley – toasty, good front end & fairly sweet finish
Eric – Typically good full taste duck rabbit brew
James – damn, this is some stuff!  Great flavor, slight bit of coffee
Julie – this rocks!  Great bitter taste & slightly hoppy

12. HE BREW – Messiah Bold –

Eric – chocolate
Jenn – sweeter but sort of barley/hoppy/wheaty – Interesting blend of all
Julie – thicker & richer than the last – Almost crunchy
James – definitely “bold” – thick, kinda chewy.  Yummy

13. Highland: St. Terese’s Pale Ale –

Eric – Hops nose, mild even ale taste
Jenn – Grassy-green tasting – fresh light IPA
Julie – hoppy, but not overbearing, light & toasty
James – tad tart, but not in a sweet kind of way – like it, but not as much

14. Dogfish Head – Indian Brown Ale –

Eric – A stout charactered, hoppy ale – but light
Jenn – The Perfect Beer – Hops, barley & more hops – stouty & brown & IPA all at the same time!!
Julie – clean, hoppy & brown.  Really fantastic
James – great taste – flavor stays in the mouths for a long time

15. Attack of the Black Hawk Stout –

Eric – Too bright for a true stout, but good underlying flavors
Jenn – heavy – not enough sweet – too bright
Julie – pretty chewy, dark & yummy, me gusta
James – good stout, not amazing, but tastes great w/ chocolate cake

16. Fuller’s Extra Special Bitter –

Eric – British
Jenn – extremely smooth & even, not Bitter at all
Julie – my fave.  Bitter is best
James – I love bitter!  Yummles.  Also tastes great with cake!

I am happily jamming to “Ordinary” by Simple Thing as I type. Bryan Dunn, my great friend and guitarist for many years fronted this band a few years ago in NYC. They’re an excellent band, but that’s expected since it’s Bryan’s music after all. Today he sent me their EP from 2003 (?) called My Indestructible Me via the intertubes. Since I was kind of in Texas when the EP came out, I never got a copy. Now, I have it; and that makes me happy. The completist in me is smiling, but also the musician and music fan. I love this stuff.

Today I also listened to live show Bryan sent me from 5/31. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will most likely listen it again soon. And then there’s his new album which will hopefully be out in a few months. I’m just guessing, but I hope.

I don’t know how much I’ve really talked about Bryan on here, so I figure I’ll go ahead and just type away about him right now.

Bryan was my guitarist in my bands from 1992-1998. My Right Hand Man, all the way. I first met Bryan in the summer of 1992, after my 10th grade year and his 12th. My friend, Sean, wanted to form a band with his friend Dave. I talked my way in to the project, so then all we needed was a guitarist. We put an ad out through our guitar teacher (Chuck Pangburn, who just flat out rules) and I think Bryan was the only one who responded to the ad. At the point of the first practice I had only been playing bass for 6 months, so I was a rather dreadful musician. My first impressions of Bryan were that he was a dork (which is perfectly OK since Sean, Dave and I certainly were dorks….actually I know that helped us bond better since Bryan wasn’t some “rocker” guy like I had expected him to be) and that he knew a lot of songs. I didn’t know how to play them, but he DID. Also, he had written some things (music and lyrics) and that was pretty cool. I mean, I wrote songs, but they were all strange instrumentals.

Eventually our quartet became a quintet and then finally a trio with Bryan taking over singing duties. Through the years of Miniver Cheevy I know we not only became great friends, but we also learned how to be musicians. We wrote a lot of songs (mostly by him) and the three of us learned to communicate in a musical way that I still look back on with fondness. I haven’t found too many musicians who responded the way Dave and Bryan did. After Cheevy we went off to college and I joined Bryan in Echo Juliet. We played 4 gigs in Cheevy, but EJ was the place where we really blossomed as players. That band played so many shows over our 3 year existence; the tightness that bonded Bryan, our drummer Wiley and myself was pretty intense. Of course, then the three of us formed a new band, 3 Penny Opera, and added 3 other great players. Bryan wasn’t out front for EJ or 3PO, but he was the primary songwriter for 3PO and that further brought his great songs out to the public.

See, I’ve always loved his songs. I liked “Good Lookin’ Woman”, the first song we ever worked on. I mean, nowadays I don’t think it’s that swell, but who cares. He had Cycle, which he’d bring to the band much later (and would be a 3PO staple), and then Venice (eh, decent) and sometime later came Sunshine, which I still feel was his first *great* song. Many others would follow, but that was the first one that really excited me. It’s a great riff and a terribly fun song to play.

The great thing about Bryan’s songwriting skills is that he’s always strove to improve, and he has. I mean, OF COURSE all of us songwriters strive to improve our craft. I guess it’s more than that. Even though I loved Sunshine, at the time I didn’t know that he was capable of writing something like She Waits By the Sea or Boatman’s Daughter or Cancion or Diamonds or Last Romantic (sheesh, I love that one) or Growl or Audio-Stereo-Radio or…yeah, you got the point. I think he’s certainly been guilty of reigning himself in and not pushing himself too much, just staying in a safe zone, but I think he pushes himself in a different way (in terms of songwriting) than I do. It’s a different way to perfect the craft of it all. I have to say that I was seriously impressed with the boldness of his first solo album, Static and Scripture. There’s some ballsy material on there, not to mention a ton of great songs. If I haven’t said it already, I’m extremely proud of him for that album. And look, Audio-Stereo-Radio just came on. I love this song. LOVE IT.

This is what I’m talking about: Bryan’s a great friend of mine. He was my Guitarist for 6 years and it almost happened to be longer. Even as his bassist and friend, I always loved his songwriting. Always, always impressed me. And this song is certainly no exception. The great thing is that he continues to do excellent stuff. I can’t wait to see what he’s going to pull out for the next one.

We’re all waiting for the sun to shine…

Current Location: on stage at Steamboat

Current Mood: musical

Current Music: My Indestructible Me > Arcade > Static & Scripture

Ah, it’s nice to be back.

So, here’s what’s going down in my world:

The main thing going on is the house. Yes, Julie and I decided to jump back into that sea of madness and buy another house. The last one we bought (our first) turned out to be a horrible experience, even though we did learn a lot. So we were reluctant for buying another one. We said that we’d only buy one when the time was right and when it was the right house. No exceptions. Well, we found the right one, the time is right, blah blah blah, and we’re buying a house. We close in a few weeks so once that’s done we’ll begin the process of painting and moving and reorganizing. I’m really excited about the new place. My music room will be totally sweet (Julie suggested that I get the best room of the house for musicking…I love her) and I’ll have plenty of room for all of my instruments and stuff. I am EXCITED! Once we get in I’ll get some pictures up on Julie’s site.

So it shall be written, so it shall be done…the Heavy Metal Lunch returns this week. Don and I are going to do the “real” HML today for lunch (pizza today) and we’ll be recording 2 episodes on Thursday if all goes according to plan. I’m ready to get back to it. If you haven’t caught up with where we are (Ep. 3), go catch up so you’ll be ready for the ONSLAUGHT of #4. We’re a little bit late this month because of my time away. We have the intention of releasing a new one on the 15th of every month, so hopefully everyone will be forgiving since this one is bit late.

The band has our next gig on July 14th. We worked up a setlist and I’m pleased with it. A couple of debuts and a lot we didn’t play last time at Pheasant Creek. Plus we’ll be opening for Don and his CD release party. He said he’ll be getting the new disc in a few days. I’m really psyched to hear it. I’m going to try my hand at writing lyrics for some of the newer songs I’ve written. That should be interesting. The new material excites me and seems to be pushing me into some new areas as well as stuff I have done in a long time. Mostly, I’m talking about dark songs. Heavy, in an acoustic sort of way. I can’t wait to see what they’ll become.

in addition to house stuff and band stuff, July is Harry Potter month so I know that’ll be consuming me too. Movie #5 comes out on 7/11 and book #7 comes out at midnight on 7/21. I get so dorky for this stuff. I seriously can not wait. I started re-reading Goblet of Fire last night and of course I’ll move onto Order and HBP before devouring the new one on the night it comes out. I’m not going to bother going through the first 3 again since I’ve read them so much I think I know them well enough. We’ll see if Deathly Hallows can equal the greatness of Goblet of Fire, that’s my favorite of the series. So, yay, Potterstuff!

Current Location: the boring time in summer waiting for football season…

Current Mood: happy

Current Music: Shaolin Death Squad - The First Half of Yesterday

I finished up a project on my (old) website today and so I figured I’d post about it. It’s not my official first album, but it’s an album of DJ improvisations I did while back in college at KVRX. I digitized the tunes a few months ago and gave CD copies out to 3 of my friends (only 1 of which has listened to it. The other 2 of you who HAVEN’T…watch out) and the other day I thought about the “album” and I said to myself, “I should put that up on the website so anyone can hear it.” Boo-ya, it’s done.

DJ Fun on KVRX, Spring 1997

I’m aware of how utterly strange the album is. It’s pretty “out there” so be aware. However, I do enjoy it and think that a few of the tracks are quite good. Some aren’t. Additional happiness comes from the fact that the songs were totally improvised and it was possible on various spring nights back in 1997 to hear this strange stuff coming from your radio…probably while you were driving home drunk from going out on 6th Street in Austin. It existed, and that pleases me to no end.

So yeah, please go download it and tell me what you think. Oh, and since Geocities kinda bites, if you get an error message it means too many people have been over there and it won’t be available for another hour or so. It’s actually happened before. Oh, and make note of the times on the tracks, many of them are 10-12 minutes long. But those are the best ones.

Oh yeah, Julie and I put an offer out and it was accepted so once we sign the papers in a few weeks, we’ll be HOMEOWNERS again. Crazy stuff.

Enjoy the tunes.

Current Location: home, for now

Current Mood: accomplished

Current Music: Millicent Friendly - Downtime

Current Location: the computer

Current Mood: artistic

Current Music: the E string on said bass