D.R.I, Deep Sleep and More @ Sonar Tonight

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For all the complaining we’ve done recently about old bands dragging their carcasses around the country on tours trying to relive their glory days and pay their rent, you’d think we’d be staying as far away from Sonar tonight as possible. To the contrary though… the Chop will be all up in there.

You shouldn’t need the Chop to tell you who D.R.I is. The band that first brought punk and metal together and pretty much invented the circle pit once held a Guinness record for being the fastest band in the world. The way we’ve got it figured, even if they have slowed down with age, they’re still pretty damn fast. Perhaps this is an inherent advantage that speed metal has over punk rock; with its intense focus on musicianship, it holds up better with age, and is usually much more interesting to see live than to hear recorded. With most of their catalog clocking in at or below 2 minutes, the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles have little choice but to stay fast.

D.R.I. plays sonar tonight. 8 pm doors.

In fact, it’s entirely possible that on a six band bill, there may be exactly zero songs hitting that 2 minute mark. As a grumpy old man, we usually balk hard at six band bills. We just haven’t got the patience for that kind of thing anymore. We’ve got a feeling that time is going to fly at this show though. If there was ever a bill where bands might seem to be racing each other to see who can finish a set in the shortest amount of time, this might be it.

Local mainstays Deep Sleep and Triac pair up for support with the new, new, super brand new Radical Discharge, who are, you know… new.

Also lined up tonight is Philly’s Women, who are neither women, nor Canadian but are pretty awesome, and Denmark’s Hjertestop, who sound more Like Los Angeles than Copenhagen (and we mean that in a very good way).

That lineup is so solid that we’d show up even without D.R.I. on the bill. These bands might just make our head explode before the headliner even hits the stage. And we’ll have had our money’s worth too. When you consider the very reasonable $12 advance ticket price and the fact that it’s Sunday, how could you not want to come out for this?

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Sonar is at 407 E. Saratoga St. Downtown. 8pm Doors, All Ages.

Fill Your Boots With Ragg Wool Socks

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We told you recently about the best boots you can buy under $200. Whether you’ve already hit the shops and picked them up, or you’re polishing up a pair of old favorites for winter service, you’re going to need the socks to fill them. Those casual, everyday Gold Toes are a great choice most of the year, but they may not be quite suited to another Snowpocalypse.

Winter is close upon our heels (yes, that is a pun), and just as you don’t want to wait for the snowfall to buy a shovel, you also don’t want to wait until you’re strolling through slush to keep your feet warm. Thus we declare this weekend the official start of wool socks season, and we recommend REI’s Classic Ragg.

Ragg Wool Socks- $8.50 at REI

We’ve been wearing ragg wool socks for years and years; literally both around the house and around the world. Ours have served faithfully whether we were tromping around in a Belgian winter, or drinking Belgian hot cocoa in our pajamas all day through. All of our pairs are still somewhat serviceable, but after more than 10 years of use a bit of wear is beginning to show.

Now, we don’t make a habit of doing our shopping at outdoors and sporting goods stores, but REI beats the world when it comes to wool socks. There are plenty of brands and types from which to choose, but for our money a basic ragg sock can’t possibly be improved upon. (Because let’s be honest here… the Chop’s not climbing any goddamn mountains anytime soon.)

The best part? At only $8.50 a pair, we can afford to replace a whole drawerful of socks. If nothing else, these deserve a priority spot on your Christmas list this year.

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REI has Baltimore area Locations in Timonium and Columbia.

A Fun Filled Friday at the Old-Punks’ Home

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Okay, Baltimore. Today is the last day for you to go over and vote for us in the Mobbies. Go ahead. Click over and do it now. We’ll wait.

Are you back? Okay. Cool. Thanks for that.

Anyway, We’re still hoping to pull out a win in the Music/Nightlife category. We seem to have fallen well behind in the Personal category, which is strange to us, because we continue to think of this first and foremost as a personal blog. It’s solely about the things that we do and think of day in and day out. We just happen to like seeing live music and drinking in bars more than most people.

A visual approximation of dinner at the Chophouse tonight.

Case in point: tonight we will not be attending the Youth Brigade show at the Sidebar. Likewise, we also won’t be going down to DC for the Suicidal Tendencies. And there’s no fucking way we’re going to pay $30 to see Saves the Day at Sonar.

These are all bands we like. At least, we liked them in their time and place. For all of these acts though, their time is well in the past. We’ve already gone on record with our feelings about old bands as well as their aging fanbase, and all of these shows fall squarely into that category. It’s hard to call yourself Youth Brigade when you’re fucking 50, and we’d like to see the fat, aging Mike Muir try to get on a skateboard these days. These bands were about the coolest thing going in the year we were born and if we’re feeling old in 2010, then they must have roadies who are just in charge of Ben Gay, Icy Hot, and prune juice.

Saves the Day gets a bit of a pass, since they’re only about 30, but as a band they have definitely not aged well. Can’t Slow Down was a near perfect post-high school record, but at this point we’re- uhh, very post high school. We used to love seeing this band play in churches, garages, and even a barn, but by the time we saw them in 2005 at the 9:30 Club they were barely recognizable and very disappointing.

So this is not a post about those shows. It’s a post about how the Chop is an old man, and is going to have some of our other old man friends in for dinner tonight. We could post a recipe or two, but we just don’t do that. We might make a risotto or some sort of stuffed peppers. We’re also thinking roasted potatoes and a seasonal salad, and maybe some of the scratch-made corn chowder we’ve still got on hand.

We’re also going to drink brown liquor and talk about how great things used to be and how everything is terrible now, as old men are wont to do.

This is a post about that.

The Cantonese Cookie Cocktail Recipe

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First things first: since this is Baltimore, you can feel free to pronounce it ‘Duhmain d’Cant’n’. We really don’t think anyone’s going to call you on it, Hon. If they do look at you funny either for ordering it or for mispronouncing it… then fuck ’em. You’re in the wrong bar anyway.

Now then, you don’t need us to tell you how good Domaine de Canton is. Their website takes pains to tell you just how ‘Ultimate’ and ‘Extraordinaire’ and even ‘Fait a’la Main’ their product is. Fortunately for the rest of us, Boozeblogger translates that into ‘English, Motherfucker!’ and tells us it’s pretty good stuff.

A visual approximation of dinner at the Chophouse tonight.

We agree with their assessment, and recommend Domaine whether you’re at home or on the town. Any fan of B & B or Grand Marnier should feel right at home with this stuff. It is, however, a bit on the spicy side, and we doubt you’ll want to polish off the bottle by drinking it straight or on the rocks. There are a lot of great recipes on the Domaine site as well, although none of them are quite as simple, and probably not as tasty as ours.

The Cantonese Cookie

4 oz. Domaine de Canton

juice of half an orange

2-3 dashes blood orange bitters

Note that that says ‘juice of an orange’, and not orange juice. Bottled orange juice will not work for this drink. The bitters are important as well. It’s going to be much too sweet without them, and even with them sort of tastes like a fancy exotic cookie you’d get after your meal in an Asian restaurant. Mixed properly, this drink balances sweet and spicy perfectly. It’s ideal for fans of GM or the Sidecar, and like a Sidecar, it’s a good call year round.

Fucking magnifique, pardon our French.

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Speaking of fancy Asian restaurants, the Baltimore Sun’s Mobbies party is at RA Sushi on Tuesday, and if you can keep us on top of the Music/Nightlife category, we might just show up and buy you a Cantonese Cookie.

SRB Does Midtown: Our Bi-Weekly Political Roundup

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Well, Baltimore, it’s been a long two weeks in America. A lot has happened since the last meeting of Drinking Liberally’s Baltimore Chapter, and heaven knows it’s made us thirsty, so we’ll be taking ourselves down to Midtown Yacht Club for pints and politics tonight.

Drinking Liberally Baltimore meets tonight at Miidtown Yacht Club. 7 pm.

Heavy Seas on draft is just about the best thing there is for washing that “shellac” taste out of your mouth, but in our estimation, these elections really weren’t all that bad. We’re not at all pleased with the prospect of a Speaker Boehner and so many ineffectual GOP chairmen mucking things up in committees, but all this talk of “tidal waves” and the president “not getting it” are a lot of nonsense if you ask us. Half of those house seats the Democrats lost were in GOP districts that were kind of a coup to hold in the first place. The other half will be back in blue soon enough.

But that’s neither here nor there. We had a great time on election night drinking free beer and hobnobbing with elected officials. And we’re counting on a good time tonight as well, since one of those officials, Mayor Rawlings-Blake, is going to be hanging out and drinking beer at DL.

Yes. You read that right. Tonight’s special guest is the Mayor. She’s going to stop by for an informal visit to gladhand and talk politics. If you want to meet her, or catch her ear about the Vacants to Values Program, Wal-Mart, bulk trash pickup or anything else, this is your chance. Drinking Liberally meetings are, as always, free and open to the public.

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If drinking with the mayor isn’t worth a Mobbies vote, then we just don’t know what is. There are only a couple of days left in the contest, so click over there right now, and vote for the Chop in the Music/Nightlife, Misfits, and Personal categories.