The Baader Meinhof Complex

This was an absolute­ly spell­bind­ing film. It’s fas­ci­nat­ing to see the par­al­lels between the splin­ter fac­tions in both Amer­i­ca and Ger­many. How the Weath­er­men and the Baad­er Mein­hof Group became self-appoint­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives of a so-called rad­i­cal left is a strange epi­logue to the advances made world­wide dur­ing the Sixties. 

The Baad­er Mein­hof Com­plex does a fine job of show­ing their descent into mad­ness, as botched jobs lead them to take even more des­per­ate mea­sures, irre­spec­tive of the costs. Most inter­est­ing was the man­ner in which the orig­i­nal mem­bers dis­avowed lat­er gen­er­a­tions of the Red Army Fac­tion. The movie goes to great lengths to show how bru­tal polit­i­cal vio­lence is. To sum up: the Baad­er Mein­hof Gruppe went to extreme lengths to protest Amer­i­can impe­ri­al­ism, but those RAF sol­diers who remained were real­ly cuck­oo for cocoa puffs.

If you’re into polit­i­cal thrillers, it’s def­i­nite­ly worth check­ing out.

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Starting 2010 Right

Osso buco, orig­i­nal­ly uploaded by J T. Ram­say.

The iPhone pho­to does­n’t do it jus­tice, but Helen’s osso buco was noth­ing short of amaz­ing. That risot­to was divine and the meat fell right off the bone. Recipes like this one are what win­ter­time is all about: slow-cooked food that gets you right where you live.

The home­made tiramisu we had for dessert was to die for. I washed it all down with a deli­cious Rogue Choco­late Stout and it was time to call it a night.

Hap­py 2010, everybody!

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Happy New Year!

Helen and I spent a qui­et evening in our neigh­bor­hood. We ate a deli­cious din­ner at Mem­phis Tap­room — short ribs on a seafood grits bed — and I had a flight of Gift of the Magi, Port San­ta’s Lit­tle Helper, and Nøgne Ø‘s God Jul. The beer was amaz­ing as well. Our sec­ond New Year’s Eve din­ner was just as great as our first.

We can’t say enough how much we love that place and the peo­ple who work there. It’s like an exten­sion of our liv­ing room and kitchen. It’s our Cheers. We get great ser­vice, great food, and great beer. It’s hard to believe it’s been open less than two years. It feels like it’s been there forever.

We spent the rest of the evening at home, watch­ing movies, drink­ing beer, wait­ing for Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest to count down to the New Year. It’s a minor mir­a­cle that Helen and I were able to stay awake to see the ball drop. Char­lie’s usu­al­ly wak­ing us by 4:30 in the morning!

The start of 2010 was much more com­fort­able than where we found our­selves on Y2K. As Helen and I sat on the couch, watch­ing tele­vi­sion, I could­n’t help but think how lost we were last year after we board­ed the R5 in the wrong direc­tion, jumped off at Wayne Junc­tion, and found our­selves strand­ed there until Helen’s aunt and uncle picked us up. We did­n’t even have cell­phones back then!

To add insult to injury, we end­ed up there after going to see G. Love at the Elec­tric Fac­to­ry. No fur­ther com­ment necessary.

As we start 2010, we’re thank­ful for our friends and fam­i­ly who’ve been there for us all along. We feel very lucky in these try­ing times. Here’s to a great 2010 and the decade ahead!

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A Quick Word on Jack Rose

I was at a wed­ding when I got word that Jack had died. It felt like a punch in the gut. I did­n’t know him par­tic­u­lar­ly well, but well enough to say hi when I saw him around town. He lived around the cor­ner from me here in Port Fish­ing­ton, and I’d often see him smok­ing a cig­a­rette out­side his house on Cedar Street. I named this blog for the song he’s play­ing in the video above. Watch it and let it soak in.

Jack­’s music con­tin­ues to amaze me. His genius was revered with­in a small group of fans here, grew some­what when Kens­ing­ton Blues was released, and then shrank again. See­ing him play was always a treat and I saw him pret­ty often, most mem­o­rably in the First Uni­tar­i­an Church sanc­tu­ary when he opened for Sunn O))). I saw him play with Pelt when they opened for Earth in the church base­ment. Jack was the sort of artist who had his bonafides and did­n’t need crit­i­cal praise from Pitch­fork to grow a com­mit­ted following.

I can’t believe he’s gone. It’s one of the sad­dest sto­ries in music for me in 2009. I some­times imag­ine him still play­ing at 60, daz­zling a new gen­er­a­tion with his sin­gu­lar style. I want­ed to see where he’d take his music. It’s a shame that we won’t all get to see that hap­pen. I’m hope­ful that Thrill Jock­ey can release his final album and that Jack gets the recog­ni­tion he so rich­ly deserves.

Rest in peace, Jack. Your music lives on eternally.

Posted on by J T. Ramsay 4

Merry Christmas!

Delir­i­um Noël, orig­i­nal­ly uploaded by J T. Ram­say.

I drank my way to the per­fect Christ­mas. No, I did­n’t drink myself into a stu­por, only to spend the hol­i­day in a soporif­ic haze. I think I actu­al­ly drank the per­fect amount of beer to enjoy myself and still be help­ful with Charlie.

I shared a bomber of Delir­i­um Noel Christ­mas night, but the real sur­prise was a six­er of Lagu­ni­tas Brown Shug­ga I picked up at Weg­man’s. Deli­cious! If you see any at your local dis­trib­u­tor, be sure to pick it up. It’s a per­fect beer for the hol­i­days, and it’s decep­tive­ly easy drink­ing, even at 9.8% ABV. Watch out!

I found myself just a tad dis­ap­point­ed in Bel­l’s Win­ter White Ale. I am all for a lighter beer around the hol­i­days, but this felt more like a sum­mer beer with a new label slapped on the bot­tle. I think it was a mis­take on my part to expect a del­i­cate win­ter warmer at 5.0% ABV.

If there’s one res­o­lu­tion I man­aged to keep this year, it was my effort to broad­en my palate when it comes to craft beer. I think the days of me hoist­ing IPA after IPA are behind me. I’m try­ing sub­tler fla­vors (and low­er ABVs.) I’d like to take a class next year to fig­ure out the fin­er points of beer, rather than just pre­tend I know how to iden­ti­fy any­thing that isn’t a mas­sive hops fla­vor. Can any­one rec­om­mend a good one in the Philly area?

Last, but not least, I’d like to thank the great Philly beer writ­ers for intro­duc­ing me to new and dif­fer­ent brews through­out 2009. I don’t know where or what I’d be drink­ing were it not for Lew Bryson, Jack Curtin, Joe Six­pack, and Suzy Woods. Plen­ty of peo­ple say — right­ful­ly so — that Philly’s a great beer city. They’re right, but they’d be mis­tak­en if it weren’t made bet­ter by the peo­ple I’ve list­ed here.  If you live in Philly and like beer and you’re not read­ing their blogs, you’re prob­a­bly miss­ing out on some great stuff. They’re all invalu­able to the Philly beer scene. If you see them out, be sure to buy them a pint!

Posted on by J T. Ramsay 3