Snacking On Pop Up Restaurants

Like many people, I first heard of pop-up restaurants on Food Network. Although there are a few definitions for what a pop up restaurant actually is, let us consider that it is a different culinary experience in a familiar restaurant.

My first pop up experience was Azul, the Latin American restaurant. I don’t have much experience with Latin American food. While I enjoy the Americanized tastes of Mexican cuisine as we’ve come to know it, when I’ve gone to more authentic restaurants, like Tacos dos Amigos or El Carnavale, I’ve found myself enjoying the complex flavours in the simplicity of the dishes.

Snacking on the All About Animals Benefit

We are now the proud parents to two kitties who were strays on the street. They never made it to a shelter, but I don’t know what our life would be like without them. I know a lot of people who would want to pay money for a designer animal that they will come to love and if that’s what they want to do, it’s fine, but I want to talk about the benefits of adopting an animal from the All About Animals Rescue.

Snacking on One Year with the Rookery

As of Bragg Jam last year, I’d decided that I was never going to step foot into the Rookery again. It wasn’t just that there was bad service that day. It was the overall, “I could give a shit about your concerns” that had me making sure that I would let every single person in the whole world know how much I hated them and their food.

Of course, while I’m good at holding a grudge, I had to let my grudge towards the Rookery go. Why? Something wonderful happened.

Snacking on First Friday

There are a lot of things going on in Macon tonight and I will be down for most of them. Some people who live downtown hate First Friday, preferring to stay at home. Others believe First Friday is the only time it’s safe to come downtown. Others just know that at least on First Friday, there’s definitely something to do. Whether they follow the right people on Facebook or not, they will find something fun. Whatever you decide, I’ll be hanging on the streets and in the buildings of downtown Macon, enjoying my First Friday.

A few things I’m looking forward to:

Snacking on American Aquarium (After Trivia) at the Hummingbird

I’m a fan of American Aquarium. It’s a little more than the rollicking beat of their feel good Americana – hell, sometimes, the lyrics are about feeling down, yet they infuse even those songs with a sort of dark humour that makes it feel fun – but the members of the band themselves who have fun and hang out with the fans afterwards as if the entire city of Macon were their good friends.

The last time I saw the band was Bragg Jam. It was also the best I’d heard them of the three other times I’d heard them of the three other times I’d gone to see them. In front of an audience filled with Christians, fans, the curioius, they declared their love for Macon, the Hummingbird in particular, and I felt a swell of pride for my city. I believed BJ Barham, the singer, becauseit was told through the honest of free alcohol and the lens of open armed hospitality that Vic Stanley and the ‘Bird always offered the band.

Maybe a week later, BJ visited the city, sans band, with fellow singer/songwriters Jay Buchanan and Joe Fieldman. American Aquarium were taking a break between tours. BJ talked to Joe and they set up their own mini-tour.

Joe Firstman met BJ in Raleigh after a show and BJ told him he had Joe’s first record and knew every song. Joe asked BJ if he wanted to be a part of his acoustic tour, but BJ recommended coming to the ‘Bird in Macon. Joe also asked friend Jay Buchanan to come along and Jay obliged, all the way from Los Angeles, CA.

Jay got the evening started at 11. My husband said he sounded like Jeff Buckley on the Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk album, but I thought he sounded like a blues musician. I see the Buckley comparison. His songwriting is excellent. The album has been on rotation at work. It has a very bluesy, guitar rock sound to it. Joe Firstman, on the other hand, was more soulful, deliberate with his lyrics and playing style. BJ was simply without band, playing music similar to what we would hear from him, putting a southern drawl on acoustic, indie rock music. It was a good night for music.

Tonight, I’m looking forward to seeing American Aquarium, not to mention that it’s ladies night. Increasingly, I find that Macon is getting to the point where I can pick a night and a venue and find good music. It’s about damn time! But even as far as it’s progressed, there is still a lot to do to make this a scene that other scenes want to be and other scenes’ groupies want to be with. I’m kinda optimistic we’ll get there. Fingers crossed.

Snacking on Singer Songwriters

Eschewing Second Sunday in the Park (took a really long nap and didn’t want to be in the heat), I left my house at 8:35 and walked down to the Rookery, thinking to catch the end of the new Open Mic night that started a few weeks ago. I heard Justin Cutway and Aaron Irons talking about a songwriting challenge and I wanted to see what it was all about.

The night was eating the day, digesting some of the heat. I caught up with Everett Verner and we talked about the weather and how great it is to own cats before he forked off towards his home and I continued straight down Cherry Street to get to the Rookery.

Snacking on Back City Woods w/Sean Clark & Amber Bennett @ Mellow Mushroom

One night, in 1998 I believe, I couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning, I decided to just turn on the radio and use music to lull me to sleep. I couldn’t play my CDs because I loved them and besides, there is no way you can fall asleep with Tool blaring in your ear. Yep, just the radio, and obviously a station that played low key music. I turned it to Z-108, the light rock station. I knew the words to and sang every song that came on. By the time I finished singing Gloria Estefan’s Anything For You, the fifth song by the way, I knew I had to change the station. I ended up on a country station, now long gone, and after about three songs, I fell into peaceful sleep. However, it did something I didn’t expect.

Snacking on Bragg Jam: The Aftermath

I didn’t drink too much, although whatever was in that punch that Gary Schechterle was selling outside of his restaurant, Lemongrass, pretty much guaranteed that I didn’t need to spend any more money on drinks. The drink was delicious – not too sweet, the taste of cloves lingering on my tongue, the vodka was so hidden that when it hit, I almost forgot where it came from.

That drink is the perfect description of this year’s Bragg Jam. It was delicious and when I got through the whirlwind that was great music, I almost couldn’t pinpoint where all that radical came from.

It was hot. Hot as hell. The hottest day of the year it seems. I caught up with Savana Cameron at the end of Magnolia and we stalked our way down Cherry Street towards the festivities. With $20 and a wristband, I was able to walk into 6 venues downtown – and if I had chosen, gone to three other venues by way of trolley. But my destination, since it was after 5:15, was The Hummingbird Stage and Taproom. My intention was to catch Al K!ng, since I hadn’t seen him since the beginning of the year, then head back into the heat to watch DJ Dirt Dog mix in Third Street Park but something happened at The Bird…

It got really awesome.

Snacking on Bragg Jam

I feel like I just wrote about Bragg Jam!

Last year’s Bragg Jam was my first, the first time I wasn’t out of the state for work or out of the country for me. Last year, I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, and it would have gone much worse for me if I hadn’t had my handy dandy printed Venue/Musicians checklist.

Do you have your Bragg List ready?

This year, the Bragg Jam page doesn’t have a great way for you to print and highlight your list. Sure, you could use your phone and check the listings, but you know it’s going to be dead by 9 because everybody and their pooch has been calling you to find out which venue has your your attention at the moment, and you’ve been taking too many pictures, or you accidentally dropped it in your reasonably priced extra large beer. While the Concert Crawl page on the Bragg Jam site is beautiful, I want a print worthy list.

So I made a .pdf of the Bragg Jam Schedule. Just click the link and print it out.

That printed list saved my ass last year as bands didn’t go on in time, or other bands ran over, etc. I think it might be helpful to you as well.

This year’s list of bands look so good. It’s good to see Third Street Park and The New 567 at 533 Cherry Street on the list. Of course, The 567 was a venue last year, just remember they are at a new address. So, who are you going to see? I’m definitely making my start at Third Street Park before heading to the Hummingbird. Then it’s a toss up between Bottom’s Up and The 567. I’m hoping that I will get to see American Aquarium for sure, then maybe catching the end of Abby Owens and the Dirty Guv’nahs with some Citizen Insane in the mix. And where in the HELL will I end up at the end of the night? Ralph Roddenbery Band? Roly Bots? Hank Vegas? Tron Jackson just because their band name is Tron?

I hope the printable schedule works for you and if you were on the fence about whether you should go to Bragg Jam, my answer is a resounding Hell Yeah! Even the heat can’t beat how good this event is and you get the best of local (although a few are missing – MagTard, Xavii, Trendlenberg, Back City Woods, Cult of Riggonia) you also get some really good bands that travel to Macon often (American Aquarium, The Dirty Guv’nahs) and one of my favourites from last year, The Moaners, are returning as well. There’s plenty to do, eat, and definitely hear, so get out there and enjoy yourself!

So, let me have it! What’s your schedule going to look like?

Snacking On Mellow Mushroom w/ Holy Ghost Tent Revival & MagTard

The first time I visited a Mellow Mushroom, I met a good friend for the first time, someone I’d known online for nearly 5 years. I also had my first beer with an orange in it. A few years have gone by since that moment, but the experience left a pleasant thought in my mind when it comes to the pizza establishment. A year ago, Macon got its own Mellow Mushroom. Why would any of us want to go to Mellow Mushroom in Macon?