Make this when there’s snow on the ground.  I’m not even sure if it’s officially chili but whatever it is, it tastes great.  Maybe a bit healthy, too.

• 1 lb ground turkey (leanest you can find)
• 4 carrots, peeled
• 4 celery stalks
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1 28 oz can peeled whole tomatoes
• 1 10 oz can black beans, drained
• 1 10 oz can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 small can green chilies
• 1 medium white onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 C fresh cilantro
• 2.5 T chili powder
• 1/2 T ground coriander
• 1/2 T red pepper flakes
• 1/2 T cumin
• 1 t garlic powder
• Pepper to taste

1. Brown the turkey in a pan, drain grease.
2. Chop everything up and add along with the turkey to a slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours.  Stir occasionally.

Honorable mention (unlisted):

• Radiohead – The King of Limbs
• The Black Keys – El Camino
• The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
• Lil Wayne – Tha Carter IV
• Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
• Tapes ‘n Tapes – Outside
• The Decemberists – The King is Dead

The format is the same as previous years (2010, 2009): [ #Rank. Band Name - Album Name (fav song(s)) ]

In other news, this is my 200th blog post.  Here’s the list:

30. (updated) Jamie xx Smith and Gil Scott-Heron – We’re New Here (remix album) (fav songs: Running, NY Is Killing Me)

29. Tom Waits – Bad As Me (fav song: Face To The Highway)

28. Bonnie Price Billy - Wolfroy Goes To Town (fav song: Quail And Dumplings)

27. Wild Beasts – Smother  (fav song: Albatross)

26. tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l (fav song: Bizness)

25. Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will (fav song: White Noise)

24. Destroyer - Kaputt (fav song: Chinatown)

23. Death Cab For Cutie – Codes and Keys (fav song: Underneath the Sycamore)

22. Battles – Gloss Drop (fav song: Futura)

21. Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972 (complete album)

20. The Antlers – Burst Apart (fav song: Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out)

19. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong (fav song: The Body)

18. Pantha Du Prince – Black Noise (fav song: Bohemian Forest)

17. Cut Copy – Zonoscope (fav song: Blink And You’ll Miss A Revolution)

16. Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind Of Fix (fav song: What You Want)

15. Panda Bear – Tomboy (fav songs: Slow Motion, Tomboy)

14. A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP (fav song: Purple Swag)

13. Drake – Take Care (fav songs: Make Me Proud, Underground Kings, Headlines)

12. Atlas Sound – Parallax (fav songs: Angel is Broken, Te Amo)

12. Hercules And Love Affair –  Blue Songs (fav song: Falling)

11. Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost! (fav song: Wait & See)

10. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (fav song: The Shrine / An Argument)

9. Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital (fav song: Memories of the Future)

8. John Tejada – Parabolas (fav song: Subdivided)

7. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (fav song: The Glorious Land)

6. The Strokes – Angles (fav song: Under The Cover Of Darkness [on SNL])

5. Austra – Feel It Break (fav song: Beat And The Pulse)

4. Araabmuzik – Electronic Dream (fav song: Feelin So Hood)

3. Real Estate – Days (fav song: It’s Real)

2. M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (fav song: Klaus I Love You)

1. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

It gets funny around 1:40, pretty radical:

Credit: SE

The twelve minutes he takes to (kind of) describe one of his songs is pure gold.  He doesn’t care if you don’t get it, either.

#TERROR

He also says, “without Cleveland, the current comic book world would be a very different place…”

Click image for PDF:

FRIDAY

The Friday of Halloween weekend, I woke up early, picked up JM and headed to CP’s house to embark on our journey to Asheville, North Carolina for the second annual Moogfest.  Our travel progress was immediately interrupted when CP realized he had his ticket stuffed in a book that he had left at home.  He ditched JM and I at the Denny’s in Independence, drove home and met back up with us, waiting with a moons-over-my-hammy to-go.  We were off.

We drove through some light snow, were nearly ran off the road, and made much of the journey with the driver side window stuck in the down position.  JM stuffed his scarf that he bought in Russia into the window frame, but naturally, it flew out and presumably landed somewhere on the I-77 S median.  We stocked up on some local staples before pushing through heavy fog in the great state of Tennessee.

We arrived in Asheville after the music started but were still able to see some of Holy F*ck‘s set.

• Holy F*ck – great start to the weekend.
• Chromeo – an awesome show at the outdoor venue.  I totally dig Chromeo but felt they couldn’t deviate (read: play guitar) too much from their backing track(s).
• Moby – production value was up for this one, about 15 people on stage, good lights/sound, but just wasn’t feeling Moby.
• The Field – can’t remember this too much?
• Flying Lotus – was there to start the set, but left early, somewhat underwhelmed.
• TV on the Radio – caught a few songs, but not their biggest fan.
• AraabMUZIK – best show of the night, one man and his MPC, totally killed it.  Small venue, we were lucky to get in before capacity.

SATURDAY

We had a killer brunch on the patio at Mayfel’s in the heart of downtown Asheville.  We bummed around the neighborhood and grabbed some coffee before heading to Brian Eno’s Illustrated Talk.  This was interesting and I enjoyed it, however I’m convinced that I was the minority in the crowd of Eno-freaks who literally gasped at every English one-liner and zany dry-erased scribble.  We headed back to the hotel and rested up before heading out for a late night.

• Crystal Castles - my favorite show of the weekend.  We were close and it was loud, lights were suberb.  Alice Glass rage’d as expected.
• Flaming Lips – second row and Wayne’s ball rolled over us during the intro.  The Lips never disappoint.
• Amon Tobin – quite possibly the loudest show I’ve ever been to (surpassing Hot Chip in D.C.).  Pretty sweet, but the visuals didn’t fill the arena too well.
• St. Vincent – first time seeing them (her?) and enjoyed it.
• STS9 – good, as usual.
• Battles – impressed with this set, simplistic keys and drums, but a really fun show.

SUNDAY

Had a chance to sleep in which was much deserved (I failed to mention I was in Minnesota on Thursday).  We ate some crepes somewhere and walked around downtown some more.  We shopped and checked out some customary Asheville hippie places (and cheese stores).  There was some more lounge time at the hotel which we spent watching Sweet Genius, perhaps the most underrated smug pastry chef competition show on television.

We had dinner at a place called The Southern and headed out for the night and checked out the Moogfactory which only increased my desire to own a true synth.

• M83 – awesome set – and Brian Eno even walked into our section (plugging his ears) to watch maybe 19 seconds of a song.  We were star struck.
• Neon Indian – underwhelming, singer carries himself kind of douchey.
• James Murphy & Pat Mahoney Special Disco Set – OK, we were able to get super close but, IDK, kind of bittersweet and lackluster compared to the LCD Farewell Show at Madison Sq Garden in NYC earlier this year.
• Passion Pit – not the biggest fan, but they sounded much better than the HOB show in Cleveland last year, and even better than how they sound on the radio/car commercials.

We had an early Sunday night and vowed to be up early for the drive home.  We were successful, waking up at 5:45 AM and getting back to Clevelandtown by 2:30 PM.

THE END

We had a great time at Moogfest, I would say it could be the best festival I’ve been to (Bonnaroo * 4, All Good, NOLA Jazz Fest).  I liked how it seemed low key, maybe 10-15,000 total attendees, at most.  It was so small, we would walk around town during the day and see and talk to people who had no idea the festival was going on.  The venues were laid out nicely and we could walk to and from all them easily.  Obviously, there are major perks to a low key, multi-venue fest where you can have the luxuries of  a hotel room and time to hangout/relax while enjoying a stellar line up.  Maybe SXSW or ACL is the next festival endeavor…

See you next year?

I’m taken back to my Packard Bell 386.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.  Never Settle.

Wednesday was The Walkman opening for Fleet Floxes at the Cleveland Masonic Auditorium on Euclid.  The venue was a perfect setting for the bands – I can’t believe I haven’t been there before.  FF’s first time though Cleveland, I believe, and they pretty much made it through both albums.  I prefer the first album.

There’s some old cards, too, for good measure.

Also worth mentioning was this guy, “The Dog Man”, who was the meanest and coolest vendor I’ve ever seen.

…isn’t a grilled cheese! 

The Cuban from Market Garden Brewery. Get it with an Old Zahm’s Oktoberfest!

I had a bunch of time away from work and decided to spend some of it road-tripping down the east-coast.  In my quest to visit all 50 states, I’m left with 12 to visit after this trip.  The Northern Plains and the Pac-Northwest remain along with HI and AK.

I’ll do my normal trip breakdown since I know you love it:

FRIDAY

Rented a car and hit the road.  CH had never been to Niagara Falls so we took a quick detour to ride the Maid of the Mist.  Did the tour of the falls and got back in the car to drive through the Finger Lakes through upstate New York.  We avoided the interstate and took Route 3 through Adirondacks, which was an incredible drive.  It’s a different world up there, a part of Appalachia I haven’t seen before.  Pines everywhere gave the place a unique smell.  It was a lot cooler, too, a nice drive through winding mountain roads on a crisp night.  We jammed through the state, passing little ski towns and shantys.  We made it to the Lake Champlain Ferry and caught the night’s last boat to Vermont.

SATURDAY

Woke up in some hotel and quickly did the Vermont Teddy Bear tour.  Grabbed some coffee at Village Win and Coffee where the barista knew every local’s name.  We burned through the Magic Hat Brewery in South Burlington but felt it was too early to have a drink.  Everyone there was saying how unusually humid it was, but it honestly felt like a chilly 50° to us.  From here, it was a pretty drive to Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.  We had a small serving and then hit the road to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill which was nice.  Good cider in donuts, just like Ohio.  We cranked up some Phish and in no time made it to New Hampshire’s White Mountains, which were marvelous.  It was pleasantly desolate, houses scattered about white birches.

We crossed the state line headed for Bangor, Maine.  CH drove while I did some schoolwork.  We used Yelp to track down The Eagle’s Nest, a hole-in-the-wall eatery which apparently was known for the best lobster roll around.  It was good.  It was about 8:30 and after driving all day, our plan was to shack up early for the night.  It was Labor Day weekend and we quickly realized that every hotel within an hours drive in every direction was booked.  I had a guide and must have called about 15 different places.  Finally, a lady directed us to the last hotel room in the state of Maine, a small hotel a one hour drive north (out of our way!) in Lincoln.

We drove to Lincoln, paid the $79 for the room before the front-desk lady said, “OK, follow me in my car, it’s just up the street.”  Not exactly traditional directions to a hotel room…  We followed her and were brought to an old house and went up stairs to a legitimate efficiency apartment.  It was OK, super creepy and kind of dated, but more preferable than sleeping in our rental car.  Still odd staying in a fully furnished musty apartment in northern Maine.

SUNDAY

We left the house and dropped the key back at the real motel.  Hopped on 95 south and headed for Bar Harbor, Maine.  We booked a sailing tour and had a small lunch of seafood tapas at Sips in Southwest Harbor.  Southwest Harbor was really nice, a quaint island fishing town, something of a Put-in-Bay but a bit more authentic.

We boarded the Alice E, the oldest Friendship sloop (c. 1899) in operation, around noon.  Our skipper, Carl, led us through the harbor, navigating around countless lobster traps and pointing out the different coastal mountains.  It was beautiful and we were told we were “in some of the best sailing waters in the world.”  The harbor waters felt much calmer than a flat day on Lake Erie.  This was easily the best part of the trip.  Carl fed us cheese and bread and we shot-the-shit with our fellow riders, two couples from Salem, Massachusetts and somewhere in North Carolina.  The boat ride was enjoyable and a great experience.  The talk of the harbor was a $50 million dollar super yacht, docked there for the weekend.  The Mirabella V (wiki) is the largest sloop (single mast sailboat) in the world.  At almost 300 feet high, there is not a bridge in the world that she can sail under.  It was pretty impressive.  She was anchored and loaded up $300,000 tender before steaming past us.

After the three hour tour, we drank in Acadia National Park at The Atlantic Brewing Company who served us some of the best BBQ I think I’ve had.

We hit the road south, destined for Gloucester, Massachusetts.  Planning to not be without a decent room for the night, we began calling hotels outside of Boston early.  We came acrossed The Crow’s Nest, a bar/hotel made popular by the movie The Perfect Storm.  We considered staying here for the evening but quickly changed our minds after drinking with the locals.  It was an interesting place.  Gloucester is the oldest seaport in America, settled in 1623!  We drank at the pub where the lost crew of the Andrea Gail would tie one on after fishing the Grand Banks.  We called it a night and headed west to Lowell, MA.

MONDAY

We woke up and headed to Lowell’s neighborhoods and saw Jack Kerouac’s birthplace, home, and grave site.  We then headed to Salem to see all the witch tourist-traps.  We did the Witch Museum which was quite a letdown.  We ripped through downtown Boston, saw the site of The Boston Massacre and then hit the road out of town.

We arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, another awesome little harbor town.  The main strip here went for about 15 blocks are so and offered a lot of cool places and shop to check out.  The weather was lovely, warm with a strong breeze off the ocean.  We ate lunch at The Red Parrot where we had delicious clam chowder and lobster.  We drove around a bit and gawked at some of the town’s popular mansions.

We headed through Connecticut and down the coast gazing into the night at the New York City skyline.  We headed to Philadelphia and found a hotel outside the city.  Woke up the next day and ate cheesesteaks from Pat’s King of Steaks.

We crossed into Delaware for a hot minute and filled up.  It was raining pretty hard, so we decided to point the mighty Dodge west and head home.

FULL GALLERY.