Keyboard Skills

What can I say the man's got skills.

Wedding Speeches

Excerpts from a conversation I had this morning with an experienced wedding goer...

J: I'm not sure I fully understand. They decided to allow you to be in the wedding?
D: Apparently [I am in the "wedding party" album].
J: And what is more, you are in the role of one who must speak publicly [best man]?
D: That's the rumor. I mean, sure, I'm flattered, but nervous as well.
J: Ha.
D: I will need you there in spirit.
J: Fuck that. I am getting a tux and mimicking your every move. We'll be "best mens."
D: I love it. Consider it doneski.
J: Haha.
D: We can do it just to see if anyone notices. Then, we can give the best man speech in rounds -- like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."
J: It would have to start as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," otherwise it would be too hard to get on que. And then gradually work in a line about loving being a journey -- yadda, yadda, let's get hammered.

Gentrification

I went to see Bryan Scary and The Shredding Tears last night at the Rock and Roll Hotel in Northeast. As usual, Bryan Scary was amazing – loud, exaggerated and unrelenting. Easily one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

After the concert, having fully digested my surroundings, I contemplated something new and, I think, worthwhile: I need to follow the hipsters. Not physically, of course – they are a touch too edgy for me. Instead, I need to look to them as an oracle, of sorts. You see, they are on the front lines of the ever-progressing war of gentrification. The hipsters were the first to “discover” Harlem and Brooklyn (again). They were the first set of brave souls to (re)venture into the “U Street corridor.” And now, as I saw last night, they are first to pioneer their way into the – I’ll say it – “up and coming” neighborhood of H Street NE.

And so, as I begin my search for real estate in a tight DC market, I should follow the hipsters to the promise land. They will get me in on the ground floor. I will be the guy that, as so many people say after the fact, “bought five years before everyone else.” I will be him. I will have the urban-chic flat in the new “it” neighborhood. Sure, I’ll have five years of barred windows and sleepless nights, but I can eventually sell my pad at fourteen times what I paid for it. People will say, “You see him? He did it right.”

Follow the hipsters, friends, follow the hipsters.

Called Out

So this blog has sucked lately -- sorry, guys. But Lobbying DC ain't been too sharp either.

Rumor has it the author went and got himself wifed up? Could it be true?

Status

Things have been slow around here lately. Since we lost Mr. Beerman to the corporate machine, morale has been low and posts have been few. There just isn't that much going on these days.

But let's see if we can revive this blog. After all, The Recipe has become like that old friend you just can't seem to let go -- you know, the one you don't really have anything in common with aside from a shared past. Your lives have split long ago, but you're still hoping that, soon enough, your paths will reconverge...

So what's been new?

Well, on the (home) political front, nothing. Every Republican that enjoys hearing him/herself speak is endorsing McCain. I, for one, am slightly attracted to his politics, but I just can't seem to get over the whole nothing-matters-but fighting-terrorism bit. On the other side of the aisle, though, the "unprecedented" race remains close. Obama, with his "cultish" following, is telling us to change -- he just won't reveal what we're supposed to change. I've been listening to him, but I have yet to understand what he's actually saying to me and John Q. Public. And then there's Clinton, who tells us to not listen to Obama. She also says we can and should change, but nothing that Obama says we should change. But since Obama won't tell me what to change, I am only further confused. Either way, I'm still drunk with love of the Ron Paul Revolution.

On the personal front, I've recently developed an obsession with suits. I go shopping for them all too often. Department stores, men's boutiques, internet, thrift stores -- everywhere I look for sharp suits. I can't afford any of them, mind you, but I still enjoy window shopping. Me thinks that once spring hits -- and wedding season 2K8 is in full swing -- I will treat myself to a happenin' three-piece number. I want something that quietly screams class. Just think of the sexy results!

Anywho, we'll be seeing ya.