So I finally finished something that had a purpose. Honestly, this is so unusual that I feel like jumping up and down and celebrating. Usually the things I finish are the crap that doesn’t matter, the stuff that I write just for fun. But finally, finally, I finished something that has a decent chance of being used. (And wasn’t something that someone told me to write. I finish those all the time.)
Unfortunately, my jumping up and down opportunities were curtailed by the fact that I was sitting in Starbucks at the time.
Don’t make fun of me. Yes, I know that Starbucks is low on the list of wonderful places to get coffee. And yes, I realize that I have implied I am a bit of of a coffee snob in the past. In fact, I usually don’t drink coffee in corporate america’s soul. If I get something, its usually hot chocolate. Somehow I’m convinced that since I don’t really like chocolate, its ok to drink bad versions of the hot type. But the other day, I was walking through downtown and it started pouring. So I ducked into the friendly corner shop and stood dripping in the line.
I feel bad about going into coffee shops without buying anything.
I decided to chance their coffee, in the hopes that it might prove drinkable. They’ve got this thing where you can buy dark, medium, or blonde roasts. I’ve tried both the medium and the blonde in the past and both have been utterly disappointing. The blonde is a little too bitter, not treated with the delicacy that blonde roasts benefit from. The medium is the embodiment of cheap coffee. This time, I tried the dark.
And was pleasantly surprised. It really didn’t taste all that bad. Yeah, it suffered from all the regular corportate coffee problems – it had been left out for too long, it was overdone, the beans hadn’t been kept at the right level of humidity. But hey, for bad coffee it was pretty good.
In other news, I have two new recommendations for you. First is Alabama Chicken by Sean Hayes. While I really like Sean Hayes, I had fairly ambiguous feelings on this piece when I first heard it. Sean Hayes, a CA based folk/country guitarist, is usually a little more diverse in his lyrics than Alabama Chicken proves to be. He’s got a fairly traditional folk rock sound to a lot of his work, and at first I didn’t appreciate what felt like a sort of put on accent and aesthetic in Alabama Chicken. Musically, though, its a lot more adventurous than his work usually is. It takes some interesting chances with the bass line if you bother to listen in. Side note, I also really like Sean Hayes because he was raised in the best state in the union, North Carolina.
Next up is Rastus Russell by Adrienne Young. I can’t believe I’d never heard this song until the other day. In fact, I can’t believe I hadn’t heard Adrienne Young. Her voice is INCREDIBLE. Its the best type of contralto, deep and melodious. WOW. This song shows off her range wonderfully. The slide down to “dead and gone” during the chorus is thrilling. It doesn’t hurt that she advocates for something I’m really interested in, locally grown foods and American agriculture. So listen. This is amazing.
Limes Writes 