Sam Adams Bewmaster's Collection is in the Stores!

The Sam Adams Brewmaster's Collection has been spotted! As always, it includes the Boston Lager; carried over from last year they have the Cream Stout, Boston Ale and Scotch Ale; the Coastal Wheat is a carryover from the Holiday Winter Classics 12 pack and a new offering, replacing the White Ale as the Spring seasonal, "Noble Pils", which I am assuming will be a Pilsner lager.

We don't have it at Super Saver yet, but it has been spotted at The Still.

Keep your eye on IGB for reviews of Noble Pils, as well as Scotch & Boston Ale.

The Longest Night, The Deepest Dark

So often I hear rain and snow referred to as "bad" weather. I suppose if you're of the opinion that all of nature functions for your own pleasure and convenience, then, sure, that makes sense. I look at things from a different perspective. It's unreasonable and unrealistic to expect that the weather will always cooperate with your own personal schedule, or that if you live in Nebraska, that it will never rain or snow. It's neither good nor bad, it just is. To me, the cold of winter, with its ice and snow reminds me of the cycle of birth, life, death and resurrection that all things are part of. Just as a new life begins unformed in the dark of the womb, or the egg, or the soil, so the year begins in the dark of the season where the days get steadily shorter and the nights, the darks, steadily longer. The night of the winter solstice is sometimes celebrated as the beginning of the long procession of increasedly longer days; I observe it as the time of the longest night, the heart of the dark, the genesis of the underworld whence springs the unfolding year, the source of intuition and emotion, the wellspring of all that is wild & free: the deepest dark of our selves.

We need both the light and the dark, the heat and the cold to complete the cycle of birth, life, death & resurrection.

Christmas Boycotts

Back in November the American Family Association called for a boycott of The Gap for "censoring" the word "Christmas" from their ads. The biggest problem was that they didn't! The Gap called the holiday by it's religious name in an ad in heavy rotation.

Although stories like this pop up every "holiday season", I've noticed a decline in the last few years and even saw a quote by an evangelical Christian minister who wondered aloud why his fellow believers thought it was the job of retailers to spread the message of Christ and celebrate his birth.

It seems to me that many people just look for things to get worked up about. Jews, Hindus, Wiccans and Atheists getting in a tizzy over the central role that Christmas plays in the winter holiday season, when after all, most of the country is Christian, at least nominally; and Christians getting their noses out of joint when folks of another (or no) religion want to participate in the commercialization of the season, even though most, if not all "Christmas traditions" were either invented by 19th century authors, or derive from old pagan observances.

Grow up people...all of youse!

I thought I Had Seen It All....

Surely you've seen the cleanup guys in local parking lots, picking up trash with little sticks with nails in the end or with little clamp doohickeys. This morning I saw a guy slowly driving around South Pointe with the door open, stabbing trash with his nail festooned stick.

Okay, I know it's cold out, I know it's windy, and I know the frost just works its way up through your boots from the icy asphalt, but please, get out of your freakin' truck and walk around for 15 minutes!

Atheists in Office

Recently, in Asheville North Carolina, Cecil Bothwell was elected to the City Council. There was no dispute about how many votes he received, no absentee ballots stuck in the snow on a broken down truck, no 'hanging chads', no irregularities of any kind. Nontheless there was a movement to deny him his Council seat. What deep dark secret did Bothwell harbor? He was an atheist.

The North Carolina constitution states that any officeholder in the state must believe in God. Of course this goes against the United States constitution, which states that there shall be no religious test for any office of public trust. The City Council of Asheville did not bow to the pressure and had Bothwell sworn in. A local opponent of Bothwell was quoted as saying that he was a Christian, and as a Christian he opposed having someone in office who did not believe in God.

I guess people, in their personal lives, can choose to associate with whom they wish to associate. But what specifically about atheism makes an atheist unfit to serve as an elected official? They are as likely to be conservative as liberal, hawk as dove, free-market as protectionist, as any religious person. In a poll during the last presidential campaign, the group of people judged as a group to be least fit to serve as president was atheists.

Now if you are a Christian you have a right and privelege to have the opinion that atheists are wrong, but they have the same rights and priveleges as everybody else.

It's amazing, and truthfully, a little bit sad, that in this day and time people are still judged by their religion.

Chris Duarte Group Show Review

First Set:

• Leave Her Be
• Big Legged Woman
• Letter to My Girlfriend
• Crazy
• I'll Never Know
• The Romp
• One More Cup of Coffee
• Let's Have a Party
• People Say
• Screenwriter's Blues
• Azul Ezell (incl. drum solo)

Second Set

• Slapstack
• Scrawl
• Best That I Can Do
• Still I Think of You
• Hold Back the Tears (Not sure about this one, I had not heard it before but Steve Kloke said that's what it was...the hook was "dream about tomorrow...)
• Paper Dolls
• Hard Mind
• Ballad of Kohima Ridge
• My Way Down

Saturday night at the Zoo Bar! I switched my days off in order to stay up late for the CDG show, and it was certainly worth it. Steve K, his new wife Sylvia and dad Bud drove down from Omaha and my eldest son Ben & his girlfriend Liz showed up as well. Duarte fans from all around the area, and some not from the area, like Tracy & her husband from Iowa, filled the place with excited fans. I volunteered to get in early and save a table, always a good idea on a weekend show.

This show was different, decidely better than any of the previous Duarte concerts, at least in recent years. Often a "get up and dance" number left for the end of the night, the band opened with 'Leave Her Be' and jumped right into 'Big Legged Woman'. The first of several songs to be done differently than what we're used to hearing, Chris did most of the song in a kind of funky tempo, quietly strumming, rather than his usual shredding, but finally exploded into a wild song-ending solo. The Romp, as always was crowd favorite, Chris ended this one with a long, extended, technically brilliant solo. 'One More Cup of Coffee' and 'Screenwriter's Blues' were brilliantly executed, balancing the low-key vocals with the searing guitar...that's right, baby! You ARE listening to...Los Angeles! The first set ended with a surprise: 'Azul Ezell' from Love Is Greater Than Me, a CD that I had not previously heard any songs performed live from. We had been commenting on that oddity when the band launched into this smokin' instrumental, highlighted with an incredible drum solo.

During the intermission Chris stayed busy selling merchandise, signing autographs, chatting with the fans, and posing for photographs while drummer Chris Burroughs and bassist Matt "Skinny Buddha" Stallard enjoyed a well-deserved break. As you can see from the photographs, Chris was also sporting a new haircut; the trademark thick ponytail was gone. Unlike the biblical Samson, the loss of his long locks had no effect his (musical) strength!

Set #2 opened with a few live show standbys before regaling us with a ballad-like song that Steve said was 'Hold Back the Tears' - I had never heard it before, so I deferred to his superior Duarte knowledge! Another Love Is Greater Than Me track, 'Paper Dolls' was next, which included a long, jazzy solo. 'The Ballad of Kohima Ridge', from the 396 CD with Bluestone sounded good, despite Chris' protestations that he didn't like the way it sounded with Toshi's slide guitar. The final song of the night was 'My Way Down', which segued into a series of solos which ranged from psychedelic to quotes from Miles Davis' In A Silent Way.

After the show, one of the bartenders mentioned to me that several people came in, listened to what was happening onstage and wanted to know why there wasn't any blues that night. CDG's window posters advertise the band as 'hard rockin' Texas blues', but any hard-core Duarte-head knows that Chris and the boys are more than simply a blues band. From early in the show it was obvious that jazz was influencing the music that night; the song selection seemed to flow better than previous shows that I have attended, and I was sure glad to see the two from Love Is Greater Than Me.

It was obvious that this incarnation of the Chris Duarte Group had been playing together for a while, and The Zoo Bar patrons surely benefitted from being the last show on the tour. The band was tight, responding easily to unannounced changes and picking up on subtle cues from Chris to switch directions. Chris Burroughs was awesome, driving the sound and laying down a rock-solid foundation. Matt "Skinny Buddha" Stallard was his usual unflappable, solid self, smiling throughout and alternating a meaty bottom with melodic rhythms.

Looking forward to a visit from Chris & the Bluestone boys in March.

History of Christmas

Usually there is controversy at this time of year regarding "keeping Christ in Christmas", 'Merry Christmas' vs. 'Happy Holidays' as a seasonal greeting and occassionally even calls to boycott businesses that do not use "Christmas" in their holiday advertising. Personally I am not offended by people wishing me a Merry Christmas, although as a pagan I do not observe Christmas or celebrate the birth of Jesus; nor do I try to push my own views upon people. I'm just as likely to use the word 'Christmas' as I am to say 'Yule'. To me, it's not a big deal; to each his/her own. The problem begins for me when certain folks, usually Christians, attempt to bully others into seeing things the way they want to see them, and try to make using the phrase 'Happy Holidays' some kind of evidence of Satan-worship or moral depravity. To a lesser extent, adherents of what is derisively called 'political correctness' work at erasing all vestiges of Christmas and indeed Christinity from our culture, despite it being the faith, however splintered, of the majority of Americans; I'm not a fan of that either.

The truth is that, despite the status of Christianity as the majority religion, there are significant numbers who are not Christian, and their beliefs and customs should be respected as well. Even within Christianity there are those who don't observe Christmas, either because they literally interpret the injunction to "be not observers of days nor seasons" or because they believe that Jesus was born at a time other than Decembert 25th. For a large chunk of my life I believed both: that setting some days aside as special was unbiblical and that Jesus was actually born in the early evening hours of September 11th, 3BC.

So just when did Christmas become Christmas?

There is no universally agreed upon date of Jesus' birth in the bible. Scholars have proposed a variety of dates based on clues in the gospels according to Matthew and Luke, although some hold that the story in Luke, including the visit from the Magi, refers to a time when Jesus was about two years old and is not referring to the events surrounding his birth. Even in the early days of Christianity a variety of days were proposed, eventually settling on December 25th.

Prominence of Christmas celebrations waxed and waned throughout the centuries, increasing in popularity after Charlemagne, and later other monarchs, was crowned on Christmas Day. Eventually Christmas celebrations were marked by partying of all kinds, including drunkeness, gambling, promiscuity and other forms of debauchery...much of what we've come to expect during New Year's Eve parties.

The Protestant Reformation changed things. Puritans saw Christmas celebrations as a "Popish", i.e. Catholic corruption and even banned it at one time, Puritan influence in colonial America resulted in little Christmas observance in the early days of the United States. After independence, Christmas celebrations were discouraged as being "English", although it was celebrated freely in areas of greater German influence.

In the 1820's in England many of the religious tensions of earlier times had somewhat abated. Several writers, including Charles Dickens, pushed for a revival of the imagined "traditional" Christmases of earlier times, seen as a family-centered time of generosity. In England and North America during this time church attendance had fallen and the community and church centered observances had all but disappeared. Dickens' A Christmas Carol, an instant success, helped fuel this new slant on Christmas. In the United States author Washington Irving accomplished much the same purpose with several of his writings where he described Christmas traditions from England which it is suspected that he made up! Clement Clarke Moore wrote A Visit From St. Nicholas, popularly known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, cementing the image of St. Nick, aka Santa Claus firmly in the minds of Americans. Many of the modern Christmas "traditions" spring from the minds of these authors.

The time of Christmas itself had long had significance in pagan circles throughout the ancient world. the Romans celebrated the birth of the invincible sun, and many northern European cultures observed the winter solstice (which before calendar reformation was December 25th, not December 21st/22nd) where the lenghthening of days as well as the rebirth of the slain sacrificial god-king was celebrated. Much Christmas imagry, including holly, the Yule log, mistletoe, Christmas trees, ornaments and even Santa Claus himself comes from pagan observances, mostly in northern Europe.

So yeah, Christians celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25th, but the holiday season also includes observances by other religions, including the Jews' Hannukah and pagan solstice; give and receive those "Merry Christmas" greetings, but don't get bent out of shape over "Happy Holidays".

A Couple of Dumbasses

These two geniuses were arrested for fighting with sherrif's deputies at an ultimate fighting cage match at the Lancaster Event Center where the deputies where working security. Take a good look...anybody surprised?

Sam Adams Black Lager

First reviewed on December 2009, Black Lager is one of those beers that convert those souls who "don't like dark beer" - 

Not a seasonal, but part of Sam Adams "Brewmaster's Collection". I first came across this one in winter 2008 as part of a variety pack. Several guys who are not dark beer drinkers enjoyed the Black Lager. Medium body, but with a full bodied malt flavor with some chocolate overtones and some "roasted" flavor to it as well. Pours with a full, slowly dissipating head. This is without doubt a dark beer for the non-dark beer drinkers. One of their best in my opinion.

Not much to add; still a great brew

Seasonal Beer Review: Goose Island Mild Winter

This is one seasonal that's moving off the shelves fast. Not much of a head, but has a deep brown color to it. the aroma is a little different, which I suspect is the rye with which it was brewed. Very drinkable! I had a glass while sitting outside (in the cold) grilling some ribs. Strong malt flavor and not very hoppy at all. All in all a good winter brew.

Turning Wheel

Racing through the day

Thoughts blown about like ashes

From a long dead fire

Rain washed winter sky

Embers cooled not extinguished

The wheel turns again

Communication Across the Generational Lines

I'm amazed at how quickly that "texting" became the dominant form of communication, especially among the high school & college generations. I heard recently that it's because the under 21s think and communicate in "bullet points", the World War II generation communicates in stories and anecdotes, and everyone else in shades of grey between those two extremes. I think it could possibly go a little deeper than that. I think that most people, no matter how old or young they are, want to control what and to whom they communicate, and texting has just made it a lot easier to control that information flow. Think back (if you were around then) to when email first became widespread. Phone calls at work started decreasing and emails started increasing; you didn't have to get stuck talking to that boring guy in the next office over, you could just email him. I think that it's similar with texting. Sometimes you just don't want to have a conversation, and when you do have a conversation, it's still considered proper to engage in some pleasantries and small talk , which you might not have the time and inclination to engage in. With a text you can shoot a quick message out, not having to worry about being polite, using proper grammar, or even making sense.

One thing that I do think is generational is the almost pathological need to be "connected" at all times. people checking their cell phones messages (including email) while driving, while walking across the street, while talking to other people. I used to think it was bad when I'd see three or four people walking down the street and instead of interacting with each other, they're all talking on the phone to four other people. Now you have guests in your house texting under the table, or more and more, right in front of you. Wait 'till we get those chips implanted in our heads!

The American People Are Stupid

Well, not you and certainly not me, but come on, as a group, you have to admit that we Americans haven't really got this whole "critical thinking" thing down pat. Whether it be through political parties, religious leaders or maybe just a peer group, Americans really love to let other people do their thinking for them. How many people have their opinions of the President (not just Obama, but any President) pre-chewed and spoon-fed to them by talk-show hosts, Hollywood stars, Oprah or Sarah Palin? In this day and age, when we have more information at our fingertips via the internet than previous generations ever dreamed about, there is no excuse to NOT be fully informed. How about health care? It's an extremely complicated issue, with a myriad of variables and a host of opinions on what those variables mean. But to listen to the Liberals, it's nothing but a good thing and every American will live happily ever after with 100% affordable health care with a lollipop at every office visit. Listen to the Conservatives and it's a Communist plot to take away our freedoms and kill grandma. Most likely, if it ever passes, it will solve some problems, create others and leave still others untouched. You can hardly even have an opinion without being demonized by the other side. If you are middle-of-the-road, or a moderate, you can count on both sides attacking you.

What about religion? I'd venture to say that the vast majority of people in this country have no idea why they believe the way they do, or even what the alternatives are. Even something as inconsequential as music is largly dictated by others, why is it that milions of teenagers across the country simultaneously become fans of the same music?

Not a day goes by that I don't hear someone repeating something utterly unbelievable, only because they heard it somewhere else. I'm sure that other parts of the world are just as bad, but I'm not surrounded by them every day.

Critical thinking skills...a forgotten art