Lover's Melt 2

     Are you a fan of seventies soul? Sixties psychedelia? Funk? Free jazz? Extra smooth cool out jams? Underground summer loving B-side anthems you have never heard? Then you are in for a real treat today :-) While Stephen Ellison aka Flying Lotus (more on him and his future of music label Brainfeeder later) is normally known for his very abstract, left-of-center hypnotic head-bobbing beats, with Lovers Melt II he is offering you a two hour mix of his favorite tracks, from the genres mentioned above, all blended up nice and smooth.  Its the perfect backdrop for a back yard cookout, a country drive or road trip, romantic time with a friend, an after-after party wind down, or when you want to cook up something extra special for your lover.   Oh, did I mention this mix is free? Because it is !! 100% free and legal from our friends over at Brainfeeder via the Stonesthrow podcast series. Download Here: Lovers Melt 2 Mixed By Flying Lotus 

     Since the title of the mix is Lovers Melt 2, I will offer up this amazing recipe I found in Food Networks Magazine July/August 2011 issue (slightly spiced up and altered to my loves taste buds) for you to cook for your lover.

Ingredients:

• 2 small to medium zucchini
• 2 small to medium yellow summer squash
• 4 eggs
• 1 to 2 jalapenos
• 3 to 4 green onions
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• salt and pepper
• pinch or two of cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons of butter

     Start off by grating up two small to medium sized zucchini’s and squash’s a piece with a box grater, mix in a couple pinches of salt and let drain in a colander for about 30 minutes, also be sure to squeeze out any remaining water after it has sat.  Finely slice up 3 or 4 green onions, 1 or 2 jalapenos (depending on how hot you want) and a clove of garlic.  Get this sauteing in a pan with a little butter.  Add your zucchini/squash mixture with some salt, pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and a pinch or two of nutmeg.  Cook this until slightly dry and add about a quarter cup of chopped parsley.  Set aside and let cool a bit.  With the back of a spoon make 4 round indentations into the pan big enough to crack an egg into.  Put a dab of butter in each, add a cracked egg into each and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle each egg or the entire thing with your favorite grated cheese and place in a preheated 375 degree oven until the egg whites are set and the yolks are to your preferred doneness (the runnier the better).  Serve with hashbrowns, toast and sliced tomato (and bacon if you want :-)) If this doesn’t make your "lover melt" then just leave it up to the Flylo mix.  Until next time Peace, Eats, and Beats

Identify: Mae's Diner Pleasant Ridge Detroit

Aug 12 2011

   So I picked up a ticket for the Identity Festival www.idfestival.com that came through DTE Friday (FYI, for future reference DTE will always be Pine Knob to me) .   While there were a lot of DJ’S on the bill that can actually induce vomiting it was stacked with several that made the 20 dollar ticket a real bargain (sorry those of you that paid full price), including a personal favorite of mine DJ Shadow.  But first things first lets get to the amazing breakfast/brunch I had before hand.  I met up with friends in Ferndale and they took to me to Mae’s in Pleasant Ridge http://www.maesdetroit.com/. While I have been to Royal Oak plenty of times as well as Ferndale I had never heard of Pleasant Ridge which was kind of odd and funny. Anyways my meal was amazing. It was called the Hillbilly and featured two buttermilk biscuits topped with southern fried chicken (by the way whoever decided it was ok to serve fried chicken for breakfast is a genius), two perfectly poached eggs, and their creamy sausage gravy. It is then smothered in cheddar cheese and Franks Red Hot (however I substituted with my go to hot sauce Siracha).  All this for only $7.50 which is a bargain well worth it compared to some other trendy diners I have been to that are not as good. I had a very delicious plate of hash-browns on the side but may go for the home-fries next time after having a bite of my friends.  I love that they do their best to incorporate local products such as Faygo and Better Made as well as other fresh local ingredients and I especially love their story of love and spontaneity you can read at http://www.maesdetroit.com/ as well under “our story”.  I honestly want to try everything on the menu after enjoying my meal so much and seeing everything being served around me including the the monster “hangover” breakfast my friends enjoyed and the unique looking aebleskivers which are a Scandinavian fried pancake  delight (a house specialty I doubt you will find anywhere else around).  I had the opportunity to have a delicious homemade oreo but lost my opportunity to try a chocolate chip cookie which I was told were amazing as well (don't sleep on the baked goods). I can't wait to take my beautiful girlfriend there because I know she will love it and all of their vegetarian options.

Hillbilly Breakfast @ Mae's

Now with a pleasantly filled belly I was glad the venue was still a 30 minute drive away because my friends and I just picked up a few sixers of dank Michigan beers and I needed to make room. I grabbed my recent favorite Huma Lupa Liscious from Shorts Brewery www.shortsbrewery.com(more on Shorts Brewery, their delicious food and beer, and our obsession with Ween in the near future)   We enjoyed our delicious beers in the parking lot while listening to tracks including classic Beastie Boys, Pop Levi, DJ Numark and DJ Shadow just to name a few.
   One of the best things about Identity was that my group had zero schedule conflicts, we all wanted to see the same acts and none of them over lapped (this is pretty much unheard of in the music festival scene).  Modeselektor www.modeselektor.com was on point and I enjoyed the hand visuals in the background you will be able to see in my video below.  Crystal Method was better than the previous two times I had seen them and my first time seeing Booka Shade was a real treat www.bookashade.com.   I do a lot of listening on Pandora and it seems that many times when I go to thumbs up a song it ends up being Booka Shade depending on what channel I am  tuned into so it was nice to see them live after regretfully passing them up a couple years ago at DEMF.  The Disco Biscuits www.discobiscuits.com did an excellent job of packing a nice high energy and upbeat set into an hour that left everyone all smiles and wanting more. In the words of my friend "the Disco Biscuits own the Jamtronica sound" and I cant argue with that.   
   On to the man, the myth, and the legend DJ Shadow www.djshadow.com.  He has really stepped his game up with the whole Shadowsphere (see video below taken in Chicago last fall) element to his show and brought a nice change of pace and something fresh to the lineup which was stacked with mostly pseudohouse/trance/clubby/dubstep music I don't normally care for. Shadow never disappoints in his live shows as he is a master of constantly updating his classic instrumental hip hop beats so they are new and fresh for each tour and performance as well as incorporating new material.  I love that he furiously scratches non-stop over each track so the whole time you are moving and shaking. It is always a great  idea to throw in a nice Pharcyde blend in the beginning (which he has been known to do on occasion) to make people that much happier because thats what The Pharcyde does is make people happier when they hear them. Over all Shadow did what he does best which is leave heads wrecked and faces melted. I was happy to cop his new EP on vinyl and a dope picture/poster of him taken by B+ (one of my favorite hip hop photographers along with Ricky Powell).  All in all a great day of food and music. Enjoy the professional video taken for the Shadowsphere tour show in Chicago I was lucky enough to attend, a non professional video taken of Modeselektor by myself last week at Identity fest and a picture of Shadow and myself in the streets of Chicago just before the Jump Off at Park West. 

DJ Shadow Live From the Shadowsphere Highlight Reel Chicago

DJ Shadow Highlight Reel from Tribeca Flashpoint on Vimeo.

Modeselektor Live @ Identity Festival

Shadow and I