Month: February 2004

Remember when I mentioned The Grey Album, the samizdat remix disc that merges the Beatles’ beats with Jay-Z’s words? The record companies involved (or more precisely, the record companies who were not involved) have been trying to shut down distribution. In response, for today only, you can download the full album via greytuesday.org.
Some of the download sites are already broken; for what it’s worth, I just downloaded my copy from this site.

Intriguing-if-true rock tidbit: The Afghan Whigs (who were better than you remember, if my current listening thoughts are accurate) were “named after a Florida-based white Muslim biker gang from the Sixties who were into love, not war.”
I’m still a little pissed that someone stole my copy of Congregation in college. On first-listen-in-seven-years, Black Love is solid (if a little sonically dated). And of course, as previously hyped here, Gentlemen is an absolute classic.

I just grilled myself a burger for dinner.
Why has no one ever told me how glorious homemade burgers are? Seriously, I should have been let in on this secret before age 28.
(Actually, I should have shuffled off the collegiate life of fast food and nuked frozen things before age 28.)
See, I’ve been trying to eat better the last few months — a largely successful effort, I must say, if 35 pounds lost means anything. But I went straight from crap into lots of fish, fruit, and rice dishes. I skipped right over burgers in the transition. What a horrible, horrible mistake. (Also of note: Ground beef is substantially cheaper than salmon.)
If you’re curious what goes into my Louisiana-themed Joshburger (this makes three burgers):
1 pound lean ground beef
A few shizzle-dizzles of Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning [Chachere’s is pronounced “SASH-er-ees,” by the way. If you can’t remember the spelling, you can always get to the web site via icantspellit.com.]
A few shiznits of Tiger Sauce
A few schlemiels of boring ol’ grated parmesan cheese
A few schlemazels of Worcestershire sauce
Mix it all in a bowl. Fashion it into three patties — make ’em a little skinny, like a modified hot dog. Grill it up (go George!) to medium rare — about four minutes. While that’s going on, slather Zatarain’s creole mustard on two hot dog buns.
Then split the patty in half and slap ’em on the buns. (Note: This frankfurter-fueled improvisation was caused by my lack of hamburger buns. But it works!) Then — this is key — sprinkle a little extra Tony Chachere’s and splatter a little extra Tiger Sauce on the meat.
Then consume, ravenously.

Those interested in achieving a higher state of Joshism may wish to tune into TXCN tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m., where I’ll be talking about my story in tomorrow’s paper.
What’s it about, you ask? Standardized testing. It’s springtime in Texas. All I ever write about in spring is standardized testing.
Warning: It’s an in-studio appearance (as opposed to my usual remote shots), so you’ll even get to see me from the shoulders down. Which means I really should do laundry tonight.
Warning: It’s at 7:30 a.m., significantly earlier than I am normally awake. So I may doze off mid-interview, or at least have significant bags under me peepers.

For those interested, football went well Saturday. Two touchdowns scored by yours truly. I am an offensive juggernaut, truly.
Of course, you can read that last sentence in two ways.
No game this weekend, but we’ll bring it back the following weekend.

My De La Post yesterday made me break out my older rap CDs. So here’s a 13-years-too-late recommendation for the oft-overlooked classic A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing by Black Sheep. (The followup was crap — there’s only one good Black Sheep album.) It’s got that laid-back Native Tongues feel (more Tribe than De La), but enough playful sexism to avoid the light-in-the-loafers tag some slapped on their musical peers. “Flavor of the Month”? “The Choice is Yours”? “To Whom It May Concern”? Stone cold classics, I say.
And — I never thought I’d say this about a rap record — some good skits, too.

I’ll be on TXCN this afternoon and evening — starting (probably) sometime in the 4:00 hour and repeating until the end of time. Or tomorrow morning, whichever comes first. I’ll be talking about my story from yesterday’s front page.
If you live in Texas and aren’t sure if you get TXCN from your cable operator, here are the various channels to check.

Props to my employer for devoting the better of a page in today’s paper to a fond tribute to De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising, released 15 years ago. (I’m already on record [track 15] as being a 1989-era Native Tongues fan.)
In solidarity with the DMN, today is De-La-in-the-CD-player day. Prince Paul needs a haircut, indeed.

Here’s my story from today’s front page, on Texas’ new school ratings system. (There’s more detail in some graphics that aren’t online — if you’re really interested, track down a paper version of the, er, paper.)

Watch Microsoft swear. Favorite self-criticism of one’s programming skillz: “The magnitude of this hack compares favorably with that of the national debt.”