Wychwood Hobgoblin Dark English Ale

As many of you know out there I'm not a drinker, but I do enjoy a fine brew. I'm a connoisseur of good beer you might say and what has been my tradition for the last four years is to buy myself a sampler of micro-brews and imports and have one a night for six nights. It's a treat for me and gives me the chance to taste new things as well as enjoy some old favorites. This year though I have a platform by which I can share my favorites with all of you so the first one up is the Wychwood Hobgoblin Dark English Ale. Before I forget I acquired all of these brews at Roots Market on Main Street in Cedar Falls.


History: Taken from Eurobrews.com

It was in a shadowy corner of the old maltings in Witney that the first gurgle was heard: a delicious, dark, rich ale pouring from the cask.

A local landlord had commissioned a special brew to celebrate his daughter's wedding. Our founder, the late Chris Moss, God rest his soul, created the ale of his life - a dark, rich, and mysterious brew. What to call it though? Too much was brewed for the wedding, so a firkin of our still nameless beer was sold to a local grog shop. It went down so well, more was called for the very next day.

Chris dutifully delivered another firkin, and was stopped aghast in his tracks. What sight beheld him? A drawing of a Hobgoblin and the name had magically appeared on the beer. Was it the wanderer of the night? Was mischief afoot? Perhaps, under his gaze, a lay artist serving at the counter was so charmed with the ale, he'd been compelled to depict the character of the brew in a drawing.

From that day hence, customers would ask for The "Hobgoblin" beer, and the legendary ale was born.

Beware The Hobgoblin . . . He may work his magic on you . . .

What they say about the tastes: Taken from Eurobrews.com

5.2% ABV 500ml bottle, 5.0% ABV in cask

Hobgoblin is a powerful full-bodied copper red, well-balanced brew. Strong in roasted malt with a moderate hoppy bitterness and slight fruity character that lasts through to the end.

Head Brewer, Jeremy Moss, has produced a full chocolate malt flavour beer by the addition of a small proportion of crystal malt and the use of Fuggles hops blended with Styrian Goldings hops. The ruby red coloured Hobgoblin is full-bodied and has a delicious chocolate toffee malt flavour balanced with a rounded moderate bitterness and an overall fruity character.

The Original Commissioned Artwork for The Hobgoblin was produced for Wychwood Brewery by Ed Org.

Various adaptations of the Original Hobgoblin have evolved the character into his depiction today.

What I have to say about it:

Wychwood's Hobgoblin was a tasty little treat. I'm not one for getting into the actual flavors that I taste as much as I am for the aroma and the actual flavor going down and the after taste. Hobgoblin is what can be expected from a Dark English Ale, it does have a very full bodied flavor that you can't escape, and that's good in my opinion (if you're favorite beer is Bud or Miller you may want to stay far away from this beer, or most of the beers that I'm going to review). The flavor is what some would call burnt like a Guinness but not that thick. The aroma was very nice and had a real "nutty" aroma too it. The pour was smooth and I gave it a minimal amount of head in hopes of not letting too much of the carbonation escape the beer itself. Carrie enjoyed a sip of this as well, so I know that her palette is rather sophisticated when it comes to the brews (she detests most domestic Lagers and Ale's but seems to have a soft spot for this one and the one I had last night as well as a favorite of both of ours the Blue Moon but that's a subject for another day). The after taste was also what could be expected nice and bitter but not too much that you were looking for something to help squash the overwhelming taste in your mouth. I'm pretty sure this beer would go great with a desert or something sweet to balance out it's bitterness. If you get the chance give this one a go, I think I like other English Ales better (I'm looking at you Newcastle) but this was a pleasant surprise. 3 1/2 mugs out of 5.

11 Months old Already...

So for Asher's 11 month blog I thought I would start with some recent pictures of the boy.

Asher and Daddy in Tough Guy Pose with our Superhero T-Shirts. Ash is sporting the vintage Batman shirt from his cousin Jack and I am sporting Marvel's Zombies which Asher and Mommy gave me for my birthday. We are so tough eh?


Asher is receiving a big daddy kiss while sneezing at the same time.


This was at Carrie's family Christmas in Aplington. I have no idea what we were doing here but it's mommy in the background so I know I'm the one that shot this but I have no idea exactly what's going on. But it's one of those pictures you could write your own captions to so go for it and leave me a comment if you come up with something good!


Now the good stuff, what Asher is up to at 11 months old.

Nicknames: Ash, Bubby, The Boy, Buddy.

Weight & Height: Last weigh in was in on December 6th in Iowa City and he weighed in at 22 lbs and 8 oz. His height hadn't changed much from last time and our doctor was a little concerned about that and wants us to speak to Ash's pediatrician about that at his year check-up.

Hair: Ash is getting more and more hair but it's all very blond now so you can't see it. I promise it's there but the red has subsided a bit and now it's looking mainly just what Carrie calls "ash blond" how fitting?

Favorite Foods: His new favorite food would have to probably be bagels. We are slowly but surely starting him on more and more new foods and he seems to really like everything we put in front of him. Especially (and my vegetarian heart is smiling) vegetables. He just scarfs them down. He ate Lima beans for the first time last night and then again for lunch today and he dug the heck out of them. But his favorite all time food is probably bananas.

Favorite Drink: And the drink stays the same. Milk and Water.

Favorite Toys: With Christmas came an abundance of new toys and it's particularly hard to tell what he likes the best especially right now. There is a lot of toys in our house but of the new toys his favorites appear to be the Fisher Price Grand Piano and the Fisher Price Bounce and Spin Zebra. He also really likes his Wood Stacking Train with Lights and Sounds that we got him. I also got him Bandai's Mechagodzilla for Christmas to battle Godzilla I got him earlier and here's sneak peak at his birthday present from me. Carrie says that's enough for now, but there are still so many other figures to get him yet. Any who, Ash got lots of toys and right now it's too hard to pick a favorite!

Favorite Stuffed Animal: Ash got a giant Teddy Bear and a Giant Elmo for Christmas from his Grandma Deb and he's been wrestling with them a bit, but personally other than the bear he sleeps with his more interested in the two walking, breathing and running stuffed animals by the names of Taffy and Raja than the ones that don't move on their own.

Favorite Person: I think Mommy still holds the number one slot, but every day I think Daddy moves a bit closer on the brackets.

Bedtime: His bedtime remains the same as last month, we really try and get him down between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm. Most of the time we are successful, except of course for the weekends. Carrie doesn't get home until 8:00 pm or after and Ash goes to bed shortly after she gets home.

Wake-Up Time: His wake up times seems to be getting later and later for Carrie, which is awesome for her to get caught up on her sleep with she loves more than anything on the planet. Generally he gets up closer to 8:00 am now and even later some times!

Naps: His naps are pretty consistent with last month. While he tends to take a shorter morning nap for me I can almost always count on a solid 2 1/2 or 3 hour nap in the afternoon and then another quick short hour nap in the late afternoon (around 4:30 pm) to keep him fresh for when Mommy gets home from work.

What He's Saying: He continues to work on the words Cat, Dog, Mom or Momma and Dad, and he has also added Num Num to the equation. I think he actually knows what it means too. When he picks something up off the floor that he thinks may be food he says Num Num, and then proceeds to try and put it into his mouth. Notice I said try, he's very rarely successful at it because of our vigilance. But he tries.

Latest Accomplishment: He's doing about the same as last month but the standing seems to be getting stronger as well as his knowledge on where stuff goes and how it goes together. His grasp of his environment and his surroundings seems to be the biggest changes right now. I think a lot of what is growing and changing is the stuff we can't see but one of these days it will just all explode right before our eyes!

Likes: Asher LOVES music. I don't know if that's an every kid thing or not but he loves music and dances to it when ever he hears a good beat. That's the other thing, he doesn't just dance when he hears music he waits to see if it has a good beat and then boogies down. Not to mention that he can now drop it like it's hot while using the TV stand for his balance. It's way too cute! Apart from that Asher likes just about everything and everyone he comes in contact with except for his new arch nemesis which will be named in the following paragraph.

Dislikes: SANTA CLAUS. The first time he got his picture taken with Santa it was not a pretty sight. The second time when I shot him on Santa's lap for the commercial that I posted it was spotty at best. As of right now Santa isn't high on Asher's list of people he would like to hang out with on a daily basis. He also really doesn't like having his face or hands washed after a meal, but that my son you can't avoid!

What gets said most often about Asher: He continues to charm all walks of life with is smile and personality so it's probably no surprise that everyone continues to tell us how handsome he is and how happy he seems to be. The other new one is "he looks pretty good for having all his health problems". While I can understand why people would say that, it just kind of gets under my skin sometimes you know?

Best Known For: His contagious smile, contagious laugh, sharing, excellent disposition and all round awesome baby.

Health: Since my last blog about Asher not much has changed. We survived an ear infection and anti-biotics and we've been to Iowa City which amounted to a lot of nothing for Asher and us. Suffice it for me to say but we are considering going to Mayo instead now. The problems are too lengthy and probably boring to get into here, but after our last appointment we were very disappointed with Iowa City, which is uncommon from our other experiences, but unfortunately not a first time incident. Other than that Asher remains as healthy as can be expected and very happy!

How He's Like His Daddy: Asher and I seem to be bonding in a way that only a father and son can bond. I can look at him and he will just crack up. It's a glance or a move of my lip but it doesn't take much and the little guy is just laughing his butt off at me. It warms your heart to the core really. We also get a long very well on the weekends and it is something that I look forward to every week. But how is Asher like me? Probably still the temper thing, we both seem to have a pretty good temper when we don't get what we want so hopefully that subsides as he gets older!

How He's Like His Mommy: So far Asher is just like his mother in his understanding, compassion and ability to share with other people. He is also like his mom in the way that they both light up the room when they enter it. You know if they come into a room together it's kind of like an eclipse. It's so bright it could damage your eyes, but you have to look because you're drawn to them. I'm drawn to these two, and I love them both dearly.

So there you go, a couple of pictures and all that's fit to print about the boy now that he's 11 months old.

Klaatu Verada Nictu

6 days and counting...

That's right folks only six days until the celebration of presents. I know, that's a bit cynical isn't it? But that's really what it means to me. Rather than get into it and offend my christian friends and readers, I'll leave it at that, but at least I'm honest about the way I feel about Christmas.

I'm having a heck of time getting any weight off the last three weeks, I think I've been bouncing between a half pound now since the official 40 lb weigh in on December third. I don't know if I have to step up my work out or cut back on the eats a bit more. I've been naughty the last 2 weeks or so, that's for sure, but not that naughty. So I guess I'll try cutting back a little bit on the intake first and if that doesn't work then I will have to increase the work out.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock rules! I'm having a blast playing it, I'm so glad I finally have it for myself, so glad. The only problem for me is that I have no memory card so every time I beat a series of songs I have to start over from the beginning. After the christmas holiday, I generally get a few gift cards and cash from co-workers and family members, if I haven't recieved one I will go out a buy one so I can save my progress. So far though I've played songs by Foghat, Poison, Kiss, Rolling Stones, Sonic Youth, Dead Kennedys, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Heart, Cream, Social Distortion, Black Sabbath, AFI, The Killers, Priestess, Sex Pistols and others. It's a ton of fun and I can't wait to beat the whole game and become an expert.

It's also been awhile since I wrote a blog about the things that I like. I've been having a hard time deciding what to write about, not for a lack of things to write about but more so there is too much I would like to share with everyone. So here are some of the things I'm thinking about doing, maybe you can pick from these and tell me which you would like to read more about.

God Lives Underwater

Note: This is a cover of David Bowie's Fame and it's damn good IMHO.

Jeff Buckley

Note: This is a fan made video, SonyBMG doesn't allow embedding for Jeff's videos, so rather than paste links I put this up, YouTube Jeff Buckley for some of his real videos.

Public Enemy
A hell, what's up with record labels not letting you embed their artists videos. Bone heads, any who here is a link to a high influential song for me from Public Enemy By the Time I Get To Arizona

Queens of the Stone Age

Note: Speaking of QOTSA they were just featured on my favorite Travel Channel Show Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations.

Strapping Young Lad

Note: This song is about having children, or better yet being in love and deciding it's time to have a child. It's about getting pregnant from a mans' perspective. This is also a homage to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Films. Pretty unique topics for what many consider to be un-melodic noise, but if you listen close enough there is a huge sweeping melody buried underneath the walls of distortion and palm muted guitars and double kick drums. Brilliant.

Old Lenny Kravitz

Note: This is from his first CD Let Love Rule and it is some of the best music he ever released. I have a real love for all of his stuff up to and including Circus but after that, not so much.

Depeche Mode

Note: I picked a "newer" song to focus on here. It's from the album Ultra which could be one of the best albums ever released and this song sums up everything I have to say about my wife. It also features Martin Gore on the vocals instead of Dave Gahan, whom most people associate as the voice of Depeche Mode, but Martin proves he too has the chops to be the man. By the way, I have to have tissues near by to watch this video. I cry every time, I'm such a sucker.

The Cure

Note: I picked Catch from Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss, which may not be an obvious choice since it wasn't a hit, but I love this song and it's imagery.

Duran Duran
Once again here's a link What Happens Tomorrow. This is from the album Astronaut, which is the tour that Carrie and I caught in St. Paul. To this day it's one of my most favorite shows I've ever been too! Amazing seats, incredible performances and nostalgia galore. I'm really looking forward to hearing their new album produced in part by Justin Timberlake and Timberland.

The Cult

Note: This is from the self titled album or Goat Album as it's called. This was from I think 94 or 95, they have released two albums since, one I have the other I am waiting tell I have more money. This is an interesting performance of the song. I like the CD version better.

Killing Joke

Note: This song features Martin Atkins on drums. Martin once saved my life, but that's a story for another day.

Ministry

Note: The song I decided to embed on here is from the much maligned album Filth Pig, which was the second tour I saw them on. It's also a cover of Bob Dylan for all of you out there that think Ministry is just a metal band or just an industrial band check out this mellower more melodic track. Al Jourgenson is a genius, and I wish they were coming to Minneapolis on their farwell tour, I'm afraid I may have to miss their final tour because Chicago is the only city that is close enough for me to attend and that's still a weekend trip and money for hotel and all that. I'm sad.

Love & Rockets

Note: I was actually looking for something off of Sweet F.A. but decided to go with their first hit single here in the US. I could write a twelve page article on why these guys rule everything that the planet has to offer. Not to mention that I saw them at Edgefest in Minneapolis on the Sweet F.A. tour, the cool thing about that, no one new who they were and totally disappeared and I got to stand in front of Daniel Ash the whole show and marvel at how damn sexy he is!

The Jesus & Mary Chain

Note: The brothers Reid became a huge influence on my after seeing them live in 1992 at Lollapooloza. This is still one of my favorite songs, mind you it could probably be considered offensive to some.

Soul Coughing

Note: Other than Circles it's impossible to find any good Soul Coughing videos on YouTube. That's a problem. They are definitely one huge influence on my with their sampling and stream of consciencnous writing. Good stuff here people.

Coil

Note: This is from the Wax Trax album Love's Secret Domian which is one of the greatest albums ever released on that label and can easily still be listened to today with out turning it off.

Hate Dept.

Note: I played a series of shows with these guys on the Technical Difficulties tour. Squigg (the keyboard player) and I are still friends and Steven (the singer and main man) and I still chat once in awhile. Highly influential to me.

16 Volt

Note: Eric Powell is the main guy in this band and I have spoken to him on several occasions. He's a pretty decent dude. There for awhile a guy by the name of Tom "Servo" DeSalvo was playing drums for him. Tom remixed one of the first tracks I ever recorded with my first band Zero/Fill. Tom also worked with Bryan Black of Haloblack fame back in the day. Ah, Minneapolis comes up again.

Well that should tide you over until you either help me decide, or I make up my mind on what I want to write about. You have 4 short days until I update the world on my little man Asher, it will be his 11 month birthday already. So with out furthur ado, I bid you good bye.

Asher's Television Debut...

Here is a commercial I directed and edited for College Square Mall starring Asher in his first television appearance other than our home video camera! Enjoy.


Uploaded better quality version of the spot 12/20/07.

What a long strange trip it's been...so far...

I thought I would just post a couple of quick pictures to show you what I looked like last year and what I look like now so you can get an idea of how much I've changed with the weight loss.

February 6th, 2007.


December 5th, 2007.


I can really see the difference. Perhaps you can't but I can.

Secondly, Guitar Hero III would not work for my computer, so I'm taking it back and exchanging it for the PS2 version and I'm also going to buy a PS2 with the money I got for my birthday from family and friends!

Woot!

That's it.

The King is Half-Undressed...

Well I threatened it and it's here now the Jellyfish blog. It was 1990 I believe when I first saw the video for "Baby's Coming Back" on MTV (do I need to say something about when they played videos or is that whole thing played out itself). The three part harmonies, the keyboards, the colors, the majesty of the song. It was all too good and I got the bug. Here watch this and see for yourself how awesome this song is, and for those of you who read this and think it's something you won't like, you're wrong. You could play this for your 100 year old great grandmother or your toddler and they all will enjoy this, I promise, it's pure 100% audio sugar. With out further ado watch...

I was right wasn't I? Totally audio candy, except if you listen to the lyrics. Here's a guy that is trying to get a grip on his life and straighten up for the girl he digs and what happens he lapses and has to pick up the pieces before she gets home. I so identified with this song for some reason when I was 18 years old. This is from the album Bellybutton which to this day stays in heavy rotation on my iPod. You really should pick it up and give it a listen. Any who.

There were so many things that I loved about Jellyfish but those things are so hard to write about. Their second album came a long a couple of years later and was totally off the wall, in a good way. While the first album was a strong debut Spilt Milk took their sound to a whole other level. To this day Spilt Milk is in my top 20 albums of all time. Songs like He's My Best Friend and ode to self love and The Ghost at #1 which I believe is about idol worship and false idols (you can draw your on conclusions if you listen to the record). Spilt Milk is a master piece from beginning to end and is still just as fresh to listen to today as it was when it first came out in 1993.



See what I mean that video there is unstoppable as far as the harmonies and sounds. Not to mention do you know how hard it is to play drums and sing at the same time, not to mention standing up? The only other band I've ever seen do that was Trip Shakespeare (which members of would later form Semisonic the band responsible for the alternapop song "Closing Time" and regular Steb's appearances). These guys have an undeniable influence on my music. Check this one out here.



These guys are all over the creative map. Now I know this will probably surprise a lot my readers that I have such a passion for a band like this. But it really is timeless music that needs to be discovered by the masses. These guys deserve to be so much more than what they are.



I lost track of what they all have been doing since Jellyfish broke up in 1994, it's one of those things that the loss of future music was too painful for me to carry on the relationship past the memories, but if they ever got back together, I would pay any amount of money to see them play these songs together again.



How can you deny such great melodies, harmonies and lyrics. Get on this train folks it really needs your attention.



And then there is this song. Easily in the top ten of my greatest songs ever.



"I hope you remember me, I was your daddy once..." "To you I'm just a picture on your mother's mantle piece..." "Medals don't mean much shit when your family is lost at sea..." "I never thought it'd be so hard to see you grow so fast to turn into the man I used to be" Those lyrics blew me the hell away when I first heard them and I still get choked up every time I listen to this song. This song holds such deep meaning for me and something I'm none to willing to talk about but give it a listen and see if it doesn't paint a vivid picture of a man struggling to deal with his past decisions. Extremely powerful for me, beyond anything else.

So lastly here is the story of Jellyfish in their words from
Roger Joseph Manning Jr.'s Website

God's Gift To Oxygen: A Brief History Of Jellyfish

Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning grew up in Pleasanton, a Bay Area-adjacent suburb distinguished chiefly by the presence of a federal country-club prison in its environs. They were high school friends united by jazz snobbery, before becoming entranced by the earthier pleasures of punk rock. After graduation, Roger headed down to Los Angeles to study music at USC, while Andy drifted in and out of bands in San Francisco, eventually teaming with an older musician named Chris Ketner in a mainstream pop-rock band (albeit with a few jazzy flourishes and some hints of New Wave-y energy) called Beatnik Beatch. In addition to his coursework down south, Roger, too, was dabbling in a series of groups (the first was a bunch of nameless Smiths geeks who went nowhere; the second was a Replacements-esque punk band called The Space Between; the third was a too-late-for-the-Paisley-Underground band called the Corsairs).

Andy and Roger remained in close contact during this period, and Roger was eventually drafted into Beatnik Beatch as keyboardist -still at USC, he endured an endless series of drives back and forth from L.A. to San Francisco -just in time for the band to get signed to Atlantic Records. Their sole major-label release was a tarted-up reissue of an earlier indie disc with Roger's keyboards grafted onto four songs. As a live act, Beatnik Beatch had some flair -Andy at the front of the stage drumming on a stand-up kit while co-lead-vocalizing was a distinctive sight, to say the least -but Chris Ketner's musical vision was an unconvincing hodgepodge of INXS and the Police that clearly wasn't going to make them superstars. Roger had tried and failed to write for Beatnik Beatch, but his influence began to make itself felt as he and Andy began to concentrate on penning new songs together. The group imploded, leaving Andy and Roger in charge of their musical destiny and determined to do something more artistically satisfying.

They were still signed to Atlantic, who remained at least notionally interested in hearing anything they might come up with, although the label's working hypothesis was that Chris Ketner was the major talent in the band. With nothing to lose, Andy and Roger began writing and demoing furiously. Carter, Atlantic's mono-monickered A&R Svengali, heard a few songs and was intrigued enough to want to hear more. Roger and Andy prepared a 4-song tape and took it to L.A. to play it for him. Carter quickly rejected "Deliver" (he hated waltzes) and "Foxhunt" (an overly-calculated stab at commercial pop; its conspicuous absence from this boxed set should tell you something) but he was blown away by "The Man I Used To Be" and "Bedspring Kiss," even going so far as to pay them the A&R man's supreme compliment of actually listening to them all the way through.

With Carter's encouragement - but not yet his financial backing - Roger and Andy went back to work feeling as if they were on the verge of major success. They were also feeling like they needed a guitarist. Fortunately, they were about to acquire one.
Roger had met Jason Falkner several years earlier, during his Space Between days, while engaged in one of his frequent bouts of combing the musician's classified section of L.A.'s Recycler looking for kindred spirits. He vowed not to call anyone unless they listed XTC as an influence. Jason's ad did. Roger drove out to Jason's home in Agoura to meet him and found an 18-year-old guitarist with, as he would later describe him, "talent oozing from every pore." But Roger couldn't quite relate to Jason's songs, which were influenced as much by the angular post-punk of Wire and the Swell Maps as by Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, and nothing came of their meeting. Jason spent the next few years playing in a succession of L.A. bands including industrial gloomsters Kommunity F.K. and Paisley popsters the Three O' Clock before Roger got in touch with him again just as Jason's tenure in the latter group was ending. Roger coaxed him up to San Francisco, where Jason crashed on his sister's couch and joined the ongoing Sturmer/Manning demo derby.

By the time a dozen songs had been fully demoed, Carter had become convinced of the nascent group's worth and was ready to let them make an album. He introduced them to Albhy Galuten, a seasoned producer best known for overseeing the Bee Gees' recordings during their Saturday Night Fever period. Albhy loved the demos, and immediately understood what Andy and Roger were trying to achieve; his know-how and affinity for their music played a vital role in shaping the two albums that followed. Albhy, in turn, was responsible for enlisting the services of engineer Jack Joseph Puig, who's since gone on to become one of the most successful producers in the music business.

Recording began in earnest in September of 1989. Half a dozen songs were in various stages of completion when the group received the disturbing news that Carter, their patron at Atlantic, had just lost his job. No one else at the label seemed to have the faintest interest or understanding of what they were up to. “We were dying to get off of Atlantic at that point,” Andy recalls. “They didn't get what we were about and as Bellybutton began to take shape, we were confident we'd find a better home. I remember our manager deliberately sending the label mixes that were six generations down. The tapes they heard were mostly hiss! [It was done] with the intent of making them think that this project was totally unprofessional and completely unlistenable.” With their relationship with Atlantic reaching comical levels of disinterest - atone point, Andy & Roger were summoned to Los Angeles for a meeting which was cancelled because it was Debbie Gibson's birthday; the exec they were supposed to meet with had been placed in charge of fetching her a cake. They soon found themselves dropped, much to their delight.

Carter, Albhy and attorney Allan Mintz began shopping tapes of the work-in-progress to various parties. In short order, a full-scale bidding war erupted as a slew of record companies and music publishers frantically attempted to sign what had suddenly begun to seem like the Next Big Thing. After several months of being wined and dined by every A&R person with an expense account, the group found a home at Charisma, a new Virgin subsidiary label helmed by industry vet Phil Quartararo, who became one of the band's biggest fans.

The Bellybutton album was finished in March of 1990, but its completion brought with it a new set of problems. With promotional duties looming, Jellyfish were going to have to transform themselves from what had previously been a studio-only project into a functional live band. To do that, they urgently needed to find a bass player (Jason and Redd Kross's Steve McDonald had played all the parts on the album). After a fruitless search, Roger suggested his younger brother Chris -- who was just about to graduate from college -- for the job. Although Chris's musical credentials were decidedly shaky compared to Andy, Roger and Jason, an audition session was quickly arranged. The venue: an unused janitorial closet. It was the first time the group had played any of the songs together in one room all at once; hearing their music live in 3-D, even in very rough form, left them giddy with excitement. It was decided that, with some coaching, Chris would be able to handle the bass duties and he was officially inducted into the band. Jason quickly set about teaching him the bass parts, while carpooling to the rehearsal studio each morning enabled Roger and Jason to instruct Chris in the art of three-part harmony by singing endless choruses of Kansas's “Carry On, Wayward Son.”

The group also needed a name. After considering - and rejecting - scores of possible choices, and with the album completed, they needed to come up with something quickly. A junior A&R associate of Carter's, who was in the habit of dropping by the studio and playing ping-pong while recording was going on, had taken to bombarding Roger and Andy with awful prospective band names like "Major Nelson." One of his suggestions had been the somewhat more palatable "Jellyfish." Out of time and desperate, Andy and Roger decided that: a) neither of them actively despised the name and b) they could live with it. Of such decisions is musical history made.

Chris had joined the band just in time for the Bellybutton cover shoot, a Sid & Marty Krofft-ian fantasia involving strawberry goop, a nude woman covered in swirly patterns of Aim toothpaste and the group members decked out in a dazzling array of psychedelic thrift-store finery. The visual flamboyance was no afterthought; Andy and Roger were insistent upon presenting the band in the most colorful terms possible. (It was on this level that Chris's recruitment made the most sense; a fearless extrovert, Chris was guaranteed to lend visual dynamics to a still-fledgling live band whose two principals were always going to be trapped behind a drum kit and a bank of keyboards.)

Bellybutton was released in late summer of ‘90 and quickly won a following among influential music biz hipsters. Especially vital was the fanatical support of MTV programming executive Rick Krim, who loved the band and managed to get three of their videos into the channel's high-exposure BuzzBin rotation over the next several months. Shortly after the album hit stores, Jellyfish made their unofficial live debut - under the assumed name "Smürf" (with two umlauts over the "u") - at a sports bar in Santa Rosa, CA; their official unveiling was at San Francisco's DNA Lounge the following night. With leadoff single "The King Is Half-Undressed" on the radio and on the tube, the group set out on a long run of touring, first as an opening act for World Party, then on their own. The shows mixed Bellybutton material with newly-penned rockers composed with live performance in mind ("Hello Hello," "Mr. Late"); cover versions that ranged from the sublime (McCartney, the Archies) to the ridiculous (the McDonald's "two all beef patties" Big Mac jingle); visual pyrotechnics (Those outfits! That bubble machine!) and precision harmonies. In a very short period of time, Jellyfish established themselves as a top-flight concert attraction. The band even held its own when asked to support the Black Crowes on a major tour in the spring of '91, winning over the Crowes hard-rocking audiences with surprising ease.

Bellybutton sold steadily, remaining on the Billboard charts for over six months, but the group's high media profile and tireless work ethic never quite translated into the kind of massive success the band were hoping for. "Baby's Coming Back" --which came complete with a stunning part-animated video--came closest to breaking Jellyfish to a mass audience, but never rose above 62 on the Hot 100. Still, as Bellybutton activity wound down following a successful series of European dates in the summer of '91, Jellyfish could look back on a year most bands with a debut album would have happily killed for.

A by-product of the album's success had been that Jellyfish now found themselves quite hip in music biz circles. Suddenly, Andy and Roger were being fussed over by a succession of Big Names. They wrote songs for Ringo Starr and actually got to record with him. There had a brief, surreal attempt at a songwriting collaboration with one of their biggest heroes, Brian Wilson. They backed up William Shatner as he performed the Best Song nominees on the MTV Movie Awards. Rod Stewart threatened to record "I Wanna Stay Home." Everyone from Tears For Fears' Curt Smith to actress Kim Basinger wanted to work with them. It was a heady time, to say the least. Unfortunately, as they began gearing up to record their second album, the band was also in the process of falling apart.

It's not hard to understand why Jason Falkner must have felt frustrated. Not just a superior musician, he was also a skilled songwriter who wanted to play a greater role in the group's creative process. Yet over the preceding year it had become increasingly obvious that Jellyfish was never going to be a vehicle for his material; he chose to follow his own muse and leave the band. Chris Manning was a different case entirely. He'd made Herculean efforts to bring his musicianship up to Jellyfish standards and had succeeded admirably. But as Roger and Andy began to complete the demos for what would become Spilt Milk, it became clear that Chris' musical ideas no longer fit the Jellyfish sound. He retired from the group with full honors, going on to a successful career as a recording engineer and songwriter.

Roger and Andy soldiered on. Despite the losses of Jason and Chris, they were in an enviable position: they had an audience and a record company that was willing to back their vision. Whatever came next had to be bigger, bolder and more fully imagined that what had come before. Re-entering the studio with Albhy Galuten and Jack Puig, they embarked upon what was to become one of the most ambitious recording projects since the heyday of Steely Dan 15 years earlier. They were determined to make their magnum opus, even if it killed them.

The Split Milk sessions dragged on for months, a painstaking and expensive quagmire of intricate arrangements, redone parts and endless mix tweaking that began to take its toll on Andy and Roger's working relationship. I remember the phone ringing late one night in the summer of '92. It was Roger, who I hadn't heard from for months. He needed to get away from the studio for a while; did I want to go grab some food? I met him at Canter's Delicatessen on Fairfax. He looked like he hadn't seen a bed, a shower or a washing machine in perhaps a decade. We made small talk and he picked listlessly at a plate of spaghetti. Then he excused himself to go back to the studio because everyone was still there, working. It was 3 A.M.

Somehow, the album got done. A new bassist, Tim Smith, had joined the group in time to contribute to Spilt Milk (although the legendary T-Bone Wolk plays on many of the tracks) and stunt guitarists Lyle Workman and Jon Brion (Brion was, ironically, just about to form the Grays with none other than Jason Falkner) had provided studio support. But the search for a new, permanent axeman was a constant low-level aggravation. A mountain of awful demo tapes submitted by wannabe Jellyfish members provided inadvertent comic relief over the next several months, before deliverance arrived in the form of Eric Dover. (How desperate were they to find a replacement for Jason? At one point, Roger even asked me if I knew how to play guitar.) Jellyfish Mark II prepared to hit the road.

Released in February of 1993, Spilt Milk quickly emerged as that most frustrating of music business phenomena: the uncanny masterpiece that the record company can't figure out how to promote. Some of this was due to lack of imagination on Charisma's part, but some of it was also due to the climate in which the album was released. Bellybutton had come out in the pre-Nirvana days when modern rock radio had a much broader range of acceptable sounds. But in the post-Nevermind era, ornate studio masterworks like "The Ghost At No. 1" were clearly going to have a hard time competing against yowling hordes of angry guys with chain wallets trying to sound like Black-Sabbath-meets-the-Pixies. Though the band's core fans greeted the album with awe and amazement, the general public never really got to hear it.

The band fought on, touring throughout the year with ferocious live performances that concealed the tensions brewing underneath. A final string of dates at year's end as the opening act for Tears For Fears would prove to be Jellyfish's last shows. Andy and Roger reconvened at the start of 1994 and attempted to write material for a third album, but their ability to work together had seemingly evaporated and they found themselves pulling in different musical directions. A final studio recording emerged from this period: a stark (only Roger and Andy are playing on it) cover of Harry Nilsson's "Think About Your Troubles." The irony inherent in the recording is almost unbearable - a song about decomposition and death being performed by a pair of musicians whose relationship was in the throes of doing both. Whether intentional or not, it made for one helluva swansong. Jellyfish officially came to an end on April 4, 1994.


--Andy Zax
Los Angeles
November 2001

I can't drive 35!

Ha! Take that Sammy Hagar I just used the first song I ever heard by you (pre-Van Hagar) to title my blog and make it relevant to my birthday today. Yep that's right, I've now crossed over the line to my next birthday and I am officially 35 years old. That's a lot of years to be living. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it but I know that when I say 35 it reminds me of my parents. It also reminds me that I'm only five years away from forty. In five years Ash will almost be six. So everyone always says how fast the time flies and now it will really and the next time I turn around I will be 40.

Maybe I'm not so OK with being 35? We will see.

Tonight Carrie and I are going to Hu Hot for dinner. We ate there this summer when my mom and Rich were visiting from Kansas City. I loved the place and I can't wait to go back tonight. Carrie's mom is going to come over and watch Ash though, Ash isn't a huge fan of loud noises and that place is loud so he will sit this one out. It's all good though.

Monday was my next goal day and I missed it by 1 pound. I was down a total of 39 pounds since the last week of July. I'm going to call that a victory though since I had four pounds to lose in one week and that's tough by any one's standards if you're losing weight the right way, which means diet and exercise and not starving yourself or going with out your needed calories. I'm doing this the right way because I don't want to get down to my ultimate goal and gain everything back because I get complacent and lazy. Now I have 20 more pounds to loose by February 5th, 2008 and I will have achieved my ultimate goal. I'm thinking about starting a little tummy sculpting as well by starting some crunches and sit-ups on my off days (Tuesdays and Thursdays). We will see but I'm really digging this working out stuff, not so much the doing it but the results. I'm looking a lot better and I'm feeling a hell of a lot better. The only real sucky thing about all of this though is none of my cloths, except for my t-shirts, fit me any more. My waist size has dropped from a 42 down to a 34 or 36. Probably the 34, at least I'm hoping it's 34, after Christmas I will go and get some new pants and we will see. We just need to get through the Christmas season first. Not because I'm worried about weight gain or anything but because we only have enough money for Christmas and nothing extra like that right now.

I know that Carrie got me Guitar Hero III for the PC for my birthday and I can't wait to rip into that and play that when I have a few moments. I just hope my computer is fast enough to play it. If not I'm going to take it back and use the money I get for my birthday and Christmas to buy a PS2 and Guitar Hero. Carrie is opposed to the PS2 but I really want Guitar Hero. The few times I've played it I have loved it and I really want to play it and own it. So we will see what happens.

Other than that we go to Iowa City tomorrow for Ash's check up with Dr. Porter. We will be doing the whole battery of testing to see where Ash is at, and then next year we start all over again. Ash is also finally over his ear infection, it's been an interesting week and he is definitely a lot more needy lately than usual. I think it's because he has been over tired and hungry. I don't know though we will see.

Well that about does it for me for now, I'm going to enjoy my birthday today and play some Guitar Hero III and eat some Hu Hot. I'm also working on a "Thing That I Like Blog" which will feature the band Jellyfish.

Until next time (later this week probably),
Klaatu Verada Nictu