Thursday, July 28, 2005

Mead (the Drink, Not the Notebooks You Favor)

After checking out a feature on the Real Beer website, for whatever reason I now very much want to sample some mead.

I've done some surfing and have found that France 44, The Liquor Depot, and Zipp's may sell mead. There are meaderies in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Has anybody out there tried mead? Please share your thoughts via comment or email. Thanks!

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Didn't You?

I'm currently reading Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads by Greil Marcus. A whole book just about one song? Sure! Like Dave Marsh's Louie Louie, which also dealt with one song, it's a great read.

One enjoyable part of the book are when different people talk about when they first heard the song. Tonight I read a segment where a girl in the UK first heard the song while at university (or as we call it here in the States, "college.") Being raised on punk, she was unfamiliar with Dylan's music. She was in a working-class pub and "Like a Rolling Stone" came on the jukebox. The whole bar stopped their conversations and begun gleefully singing along with all six minutes of it. Needless to say, she was amazed.

A couple of "Like a Rolling Stone" memories:

1) The trailer for In the Name of the Father from 1993. The trailer starts out with the song, and we soon see Daniel Day-Lewis and a friend enjoying a pint. Day-Lewis loudly sings the didn't you? that appears at the beginning of the first verse. (Oh and Day-Lewis acted circles around Tom Hanks in Philadelphia but got jobbed out of an Oscar. I'll save that rant for another time.)

2) Similarly, and a few years earlier ... Thanksgiving weekend, circa 1987. My cousin Dale and I arrive at a Dinkytown bar with our cousin Shannon and Dale's girlfriend. The girls grab a table and Dale and I go to the bar to get drinks. The song starts playing on the sound system just as we buy the drinks. When it comes to those two words, Dale and I grin at each other and loudly sing didn't you?

Monday, July 18, 2005

Mischke

Great article in The Rake about T.D. Mischke. Him even doing a Summit Beer commercial is generally better than 99% of all talk radio out there.

Link via Chad at Fraters Libertas.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Exiled Radio

I've started a podcast.

Because blogging is sooooo last year.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Where Have You Gone Sal Putrid?

Liked Sunday's Doonesbury. Not as good as some of Tom Tomorrow's blogger cheap shots, but still fun.

Whenever I think about Doonesbury, I end up wondering what happened to Mike Doonesbury's little brother Sal. This site has a short bio:

Mike's younger brother, who is currently at university. First appeared as the only rebel student in a morass of "pre-med flamers", his philosophy being "we were put here to party". Trudeau's contribution to safer sex was to get him to sell condoms as "Doctor Whoopie".

Sal debuted in the strip as a college student the same time I was in college, so I naturally had an affinity for him. I had one strip taped in my room, a professor was lecturing and lecturing about the illegality of radar detectors and no one was responding. Then Sal shot up his hand and used a Thomas Jefferson argument to defend radar detectors. The professor yelled: "This is wonderful! One of you speaks! Who are you! What's your name??" Sal looked around nervously and asked: "Did I do something wrong?"

The Doonsebury site's FAQ states that Sal is still gainfully employed:

Benjamin Doonesbury (a.k.a. Sal Putrid) still works as regional sales manager at Dr. Whoopie, Inc.

Monday, July 04, 2005

To Readers of Exiled on Main Street:

Yes, it's been over six months since the last issue of the zine. I haven't folded it or given up writing.

I was working on a kinda secret writing project from March through last Thursday that took up my creative time. I hate to sound so cryptic, but I'm not comfortable discussing the project in this forum. If you're curious, send me an email and I'll clarify.

I'm taking a short breather and then it will be back to the pots of coffee and the scribblings in the notebook that lead to Exiled pieces. Summer is never my best time for generating new writing - the heat and the long days drag me down (I'm a nighttime, cool-to-cold weather writer) - but I'll be back in zine mode soon.

Oh, and also ... for the past few months I would kill a few hours here and there designing a font. Yes, I secretly want to be Chank. I hope to release the font this summer.

Thanks for your continued support.
Bill