Baltimore!
Twas great!
Friday night we got in at about 9 (at a Motel 6, the height of culture), got Thyme settled, then went and drove around a bit. Zak wanted to see the lay of the land, I wanted some food, and we'd both thought to check out the Ottobar, not being nearly as tired as we thought we'd be. We decided to hit the bar first, and get fast food on the way back. The Ottobar is a very cool place, with a nice layout. You walk in the door and off to your right is the stage. In the back is a raised area where the bar is, as well as restrooms and an area for the bands to sell their shit. There is also a balcony to the far right, shich is just close enough to the stage that at least three bandmembers (one from Savory James and two Peelander-Zs) climbed from the stage onto the balcony. Beer selection wasn't large, but they had Bass and Guinness on tap (which was good, because I was hungry, and drinking Guinness is almost like eating). The bands ranged from all right to downright awesome. Savory James, the first band, was an all right. I think if they practiced more they could really have something. The second band was Karmella's Game, which completely blew us away. The music was centered on the synth player, who successfully manipulated four keyboards, and was the lead singer, and never once even looked down at the keyboard! Very talented, and the rest of the band was stellar. I bought a CD. Third was the Squaaks, which weren't that great. Individually, there were a lot of great sounds, but each musician seemed to be competing with everybody else, instead of working together. Of course, following an act like Karmella's Game has to be hard. Last, the star of the show, Peelander-Z. Their music wasn't bad, but not exactly award-winning lyrics. The great part was watching them work the crowd, which they did like none other. It was an amazing show to watch, as they pulled audience members up to play instruments or cleared the center of the dance floor for human bowling. Zak bought a DVD. Turns out, there is no food available in Baltimore after 2 am (not exactly true, but we didn't find that out until later). Not even fast food. Not even MacDonalds. I went to bed a little grumpy and very hungry, and slept like a rock.
Saturday, and we went out to get breakfast at the Paper Moon Diner (which coincidentally is open 24/7. D'oh!) I had an omelette with bacon and avocado in it, which was yummy. Must eat avocado more often! I don't actually remember what Zak had. I was too busy contemplating my own plate. And the decor! A trippy atmosphere. There's mannequin pieces everywhere with, oh, little plastic army men glued to the heads in lieu of hair, and kiddie chairs stuck to the ceiling, and little action figures everywhere, and everything is painted in different colors, very bright colors too, and the menus are bits and pieces of old children's books. Freakishly awesome, and why don't we have something like that in Dayton? Afterwards we went to the USS Constellation, which I did get pictures of and just haven't uploaded them yet (BTW, parking is abyssmal. I am never complaining about downtown Dayton again! $15 for a parking garage!). There were four decks to the ship, and though it wasn't completely finished yet (they were still rebuilding some sections) it was still really cool. Also got to listen to a little lecture/presentation on the role of the Marines in the Civil War, which was interesting enough. One thing I did think of while touring the ship was how much orcs must hate boats. I almost whanged my head numerous times, and even Zak had to duck once or twice. After the Constellation, which lasted longer than we thought, we headed off to the Subgenius book signing, which was held at a little store called Atomic Pop, which sold little Japanese knicknacks of dubious taste. Not really my style, but I could see how some of the others could appreciate it. Afterwards we all headed off to Holy Frijole (holy bean) for some Mexican. Ended up sitting with Doc Piss Off and Barbara Alien(sp?). Can't normally stand Piss Off, but was able to coexist with him for the duration of the meal. And Barbara's a nice person, she kinda makes up for her husband's jack-assiness. The food was good, and there was a lot of it. I ended up bringing some home with me, which I ate on Tuesday. We ran back to the motel for Zak's copy of the Bobligraphon (yup, he went to the signing and forgot his book), then swung back to the old half abandoned church they were using for the Devival. There was lots of anachist propaganda around, thus putting some proof to the "anarchist bookbinding commune" claim. We missed the first band, the second band wasn't that great personally, the third band (Fat Free, that one I remember) wasn't bad, but they littered up the place with paratrooping aliens and left the mess for us to clean up. And of course the Amino Acids were great. Interspersed within were rants by Stang, Priestess Pisces, Legume (don't remember if he's a Doktor or a Reverend, but he looked like a hitman), and Jimbo. Nice to just hand out and talk to some of the people I met at X-Day (okay, so Zak talked and I listened and every once in a while tried to inject a comment, which largely failed). After things were over Zak dropped me off at the hotel to sleep, and he went back to a bar called Joe², where the Aminos played after the Devival.
Sunday I was hot to see the zoo, but there were a few things Zak wanted to do first. We went to the Book Thing, which gave out free books every Sunday. Free! True, they were mostly older, but still free! We nabbed about thirty before we decided to split. Then went to a bookstore called Normals because Zak wanted to pick up this specialty book only available there (written by the proprietor, as it turns out). And then we went looking for the zoo. You'd think they'd give directions around the construction...we got a little lost. The signs we were looking for were damn near nonexistent. We eventually drove through the construction. The Baltimore Zoo turned out to be much smaller than I'd originally thought, consisting of some "typical" African animals, some Maryland natives, and some farm animals. Still a nice place to walk around though. From there we went to Sofi's Crepes and got something to eat (very delicious and nothing like what you'd think, more like a wrap, but wrapped in pancake dough), then saw Wristcutters: a Love Story next door at the Charles Theater. Great movie, but can seem a little depressing at times, which was part of what made it great. It's all about this guy who commits suicide, and his adventures in the special Afterlife for suicides, which is like reality only more grim and dull and depressing. Really good. After the movie we went back to the motel for a while...then we went out for sushi at XS. Zak tried his first real sushi, and didn't care for it. But I had no problem eating his as well as my own. I liked the layout and the atmosphere, but something about the music seemed to bug Zak. The sushi was also good, I had some eel, some inari, and some White Snake rolls, as well as Zak's salmon, shrimp, and eel. They had a very good sauce on the eel, and the white tuna on the white snake rolls was fantastic. We hit the sack a little early that night.
In the morning we packed everything up and checked out, then went over to eat at the Two Sisters Grill, which was great for big stomachs and small wallets. While there I realized that my plan for securing thyme wasn't going to work. I was originally going to keep him in my fleece pocket, where he would stay warm, and hopefully curl up for a nap. He wasn't tired though, and wanted to roam around. I ended up having to zip him into my coat pocket, though I checked on him frequently to make sure he was doing all right. After the pancakey goodness of the Two Sisters (which also had Scrapple, a goetta-type meat substance which Zak liked and I only liked the outer crispy layer), we went off to the Aquarium. The Baltimore Aquarium was awesome, and I am still kicking myself in the ass because I left my camera in the car. They had a giant ray tank, and a four story reef. Beats the pants off of Newport Aquarium, which is a good aqwuarium in its own right. I oculd have just sat there and watched the rays for hours (I love rays). There was a school group going through though, which was a little annoying at times. I bought a plush shark, and bought a little bat with magnets in the wings for Zak. we took our time in the Aquarium, and then went off to Attman's Deli for some lunch/dinner before hitting the road. The deli was a little squished, but the food was awesome and even kosher! (not that I care about that kind of thing, but it contributed to the character of the place) I got the Lombard Street sandwich, which had pastrami, corned beef, and chopped liver (mmm! liver), and Zak got the Knockwurst, which was a giant freaking sausage (recipe specific to Attman's deli) with chili on top. A side of onion rings rounded it out. After that it was time to hit the road and make the 8 hour trip back home. We arrived at around 1 am, just in time for me to head off to work at 6.
Thyme handled the trip rather well, despite the fact that he pooed in his bag about an hour into the trip and had to spend the rest of the drive in a sock. He tolerated the medication and two injections, though it didn't take him long to catch on as to what was happening. He is also now the only pet snake to have visited the Baltimore Aquarium.
Recommendations: the Ottobar, Paper Moon Diner (be prepared for weirdness), Holy Frijole, Sofi's Crepes, XS (if you like sushi), Two Sister's Grill, Attman's Deli
Check Out: USS Constellation, Baltimore Aquarium, the general Charles Street area
L.A.
Friday night we got in at about 9 (at a Motel 6, the height of culture), got Thyme settled, then went and drove around a bit. Zak wanted to see the lay of the land, I wanted some food, and we'd both thought to check out the Ottobar, not being nearly as tired as we thought we'd be. We decided to hit the bar first, and get fast food on the way back. The Ottobar is a very cool place, with a nice layout. You walk in the door and off to your right is the stage. In the back is a raised area where the bar is, as well as restrooms and an area for the bands to sell their shit. There is also a balcony to the far right, shich is just close enough to the stage that at least three bandmembers (one from Savory James and two Peelander-Zs) climbed from the stage onto the balcony. Beer selection wasn't large, but they had Bass and Guinness on tap (which was good, because I was hungry, and drinking Guinness is almost like eating). The bands ranged from all right to downright awesome. Savory James, the first band, was an all right. I think if they practiced more they could really have something. The second band was Karmella's Game, which completely blew us away. The music was centered on the synth player, who successfully manipulated four keyboards, and was the lead singer, and never once even looked down at the keyboard! Very talented, and the rest of the band was stellar. I bought a CD. Third was the Squaaks, which weren't that great. Individually, there were a lot of great sounds, but each musician seemed to be competing with everybody else, instead of working together. Of course, following an act like Karmella's Game has to be hard. Last, the star of the show, Peelander-Z. Their music wasn't bad, but not exactly award-winning lyrics. The great part was watching them work the crowd, which they did like none other. It was an amazing show to watch, as they pulled audience members up to play instruments or cleared the center of the dance floor for human bowling. Zak bought a DVD. Turns out, there is no food available in Baltimore after 2 am (not exactly true, but we didn't find that out until later). Not even fast food. Not even MacDonalds. I went to bed a little grumpy and very hungry, and slept like a rock.
Saturday, and we went out to get breakfast at the Paper Moon Diner (which coincidentally is open 24/7. D'oh!) I had an omelette with bacon and avocado in it, which was yummy. Must eat avocado more often! I don't actually remember what Zak had. I was too busy contemplating my own plate. And the decor! A trippy atmosphere. There's mannequin pieces everywhere with, oh, little plastic army men glued to the heads in lieu of hair, and kiddie chairs stuck to the ceiling, and little action figures everywhere, and everything is painted in different colors, very bright colors too, and the menus are bits and pieces of old children's books. Freakishly awesome, and why don't we have something like that in Dayton? Afterwards we went to the USS Constellation, which I did get pictures of and just haven't uploaded them yet (BTW, parking is abyssmal. I am never complaining about downtown Dayton again! $15 for a parking garage!). There were four decks to the ship, and though it wasn't completely finished yet (they were still rebuilding some sections) it was still really cool. Also got to listen to a little lecture/presentation on the role of the Marines in the Civil War, which was interesting enough. One thing I did think of while touring the ship was how much orcs must hate boats. I almost whanged my head numerous times, and even Zak had to duck once or twice. After the Constellation, which lasted longer than we thought, we headed off to the Subgenius book signing, which was held at a little store called Atomic Pop, which sold little Japanese knicknacks of dubious taste. Not really my style, but I could see how some of the others could appreciate it. Afterwards we all headed off to Holy Frijole (holy bean) for some Mexican. Ended up sitting with Doc Piss Off and Barbara Alien(sp?). Can't normally stand Piss Off, but was able to coexist with him for the duration of the meal. And Barbara's a nice person, she kinda makes up for her husband's jack-assiness. The food was good, and there was a lot of it. I ended up bringing some home with me, which I ate on Tuesday. We ran back to the motel for Zak's copy of the Bobligraphon (yup, he went to the signing and forgot his book), then swung back to the old half abandoned church they were using for the Devival. There was lots of anachist propaganda around, thus putting some proof to the "anarchist bookbinding commune" claim. We missed the first band, the second band wasn't that great personally, the third band (Fat Free, that one I remember) wasn't bad, but they littered up the place with paratrooping aliens and left the mess for us to clean up. And of course the Amino Acids were great. Interspersed within were rants by Stang, Priestess Pisces, Legume (don't remember if he's a Doktor or a Reverend, but he looked like a hitman), and Jimbo. Nice to just hand out and talk to some of the people I met at X-Day (okay, so Zak talked and I listened and every once in a while tried to inject a comment, which largely failed). After things were over Zak dropped me off at the hotel to sleep, and he went back to a bar called Joe², where the Aminos played after the Devival.
Sunday I was hot to see the zoo, but there were a few things Zak wanted to do first. We went to the Book Thing, which gave out free books every Sunday. Free! True, they were mostly older, but still free! We nabbed about thirty before we decided to split. Then went to a bookstore called Normals because Zak wanted to pick up this specialty book only available there (written by the proprietor, as it turns out). And then we went looking for the zoo. You'd think they'd give directions around the construction...we got a little lost. The signs we were looking for were damn near nonexistent. We eventually drove through the construction. The Baltimore Zoo turned out to be much smaller than I'd originally thought, consisting of some "typical" African animals, some Maryland natives, and some farm animals. Still a nice place to walk around though. From there we went to Sofi's Crepes and got something to eat (very delicious and nothing like what you'd think, more like a wrap, but wrapped in pancake dough), then saw Wristcutters: a Love Story next door at the Charles Theater. Great movie, but can seem a little depressing at times, which was part of what made it great. It's all about this guy who commits suicide, and his adventures in the special Afterlife for suicides, which is like reality only more grim and dull and depressing. Really good. After the movie we went back to the motel for a while...then we went out for sushi at XS. Zak tried his first real sushi, and didn't care for it. But I had no problem eating his as well as my own. I liked the layout and the atmosphere, but something about the music seemed to bug Zak. The sushi was also good, I had some eel, some inari, and some White Snake rolls, as well as Zak's salmon, shrimp, and eel. They had a very good sauce on the eel, and the white tuna on the white snake rolls was fantastic. We hit the sack a little early that night.
In the morning we packed everything up and checked out, then went over to eat at the Two Sisters Grill, which was great for big stomachs and small wallets. While there I realized that my plan for securing thyme wasn't going to work. I was originally going to keep him in my fleece pocket, where he would stay warm, and hopefully curl up for a nap. He wasn't tired though, and wanted to roam around. I ended up having to zip him into my coat pocket, though I checked on him frequently to make sure he was doing all right. After the pancakey goodness of the Two Sisters (which also had Scrapple, a goetta-type meat substance which Zak liked and I only liked the outer crispy layer), we went off to the Aquarium. The Baltimore Aquarium was awesome, and I am still kicking myself in the ass because I left my camera in the car. They had a giant ray tank, and a four story reef. Beats the pants off of Newport Aquarium, which is a good aqwuarium in its own right. I oculd have just sat there and watched the rays for hours (I love rays). There was a school group going through though, which was a little annoying at times. I bought a plush shark, and bought a little bat with magnets in the wings for Zak. we took our time in the Aquarium, and then went off to Attman's Deli for some lunch/dinner before hitting the road. The deli was a little squished, but the food was awesome and even kosher! (not that I care about that kind of thing, but it contributed to the character of the place) I got the Lombard Street sandwich, which had pastrami, corned beef, and chopped liver (mmm! liver), and Zak got the Knockwurst, which was a giant freaking sausage (recipe specific to Attman's deli) with chili on top. A side of onion rings rounded it out. After that it was time to hit the road and make the 8 hour trip back home. We arrived at around 1 am, just in time for me to head off to work at 6.
Thyme handled the trip rather well, despite the fact that he pooed in his bag about an hour into the trip and had to spend the rest of the drive in a sock. He tolerated the medication and two injections, though it didn't take him long to catch on as to what was happening. He is also now the only pet snake to have visited the Baltimore Aquarium.
Recommendations: the Ottobar, Paper Moon Diner (be prepared for weirdness), Holy Frijole, Sofi's Crepes, XS (if you like sushi), Two Sister's Grill, Attman's Deli
Check Out: USS Constellation, Baltimore Aquarium, the general Charles Street area
L.A.