SALSA!...and other goings-on.

No, I'm not referring to the dance.

I made my first salsa tonight. Now, keep in mind, the literal translation is 'sauce,' not the pseudo-pico de gallo that you find on the shelf at your local QFC (shameless plug).

By the way, let it be known that hatch chiles are the shiznitobamsnipsnapsnappy. These are apparently grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico and are renowned for their incredible flavor and spot-on spice control. The aforementioned grocery store has them on sale for 99c/lb, and has for a couple weeks, and for some reason we've been continuously out. Oh, wait, that's because people have been buying them a 25lb case AT A TIME.

So we got some in, and my good friend and resident produce manager James has been talking about them, as has my friend (and 4th manager at Des Moines) Mark, so I decided to buy six of the medium and six of the hot varieties with the intention of roasting them to make salsa tonight. Now, just because I hadn't made salsa before doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. I'm no Paolo, but I am quite above-average when I gets me in a kitchen. So I pick up some fresh cilantro, some Romanita tomatoes (yum, bring on some sweetness), and added a few extra ingredients that I will not mention here as I will be taste-testing this salsa on you. Yes, you.

I got home and quick-panfried the halved chiles, then roasted them on a pizza pan with halved Romanitas. I quickly diced up some Walla Wallas (oops, ingredient slip), and threw that into a food processor with cilantro and three other ingredients, and waited. The apartment filled with the smell of roasting peppers and tomatoes. Still, I waited. The wife wants to know me in the Biblical sense. "No time," I say as I continue to wait. Finally, the veggies are done. Of four of the chiles, ONE was of the 'hot' variety. Yeah, Anaheims got nothing on that shit. I threw all the roasted veggies in the processor with some unroasted Romanitas and hit the spin cycle. Three modifications later, we're grubbing on some slow-burn salsa that ranks top three in the best salsas I have ever had. I was immensely proud of myself. No, it didn't have diced tomatoes. No, you couldn't identify the ingredients. Yes, it was verde (green) due to the ratio of peppers and cilantro to Romanitas.

Yes, it was amazing. Allie even loved it, despite the hotness. It was, in fact, a slow burn. Ten minutes after getting seriously down on it, she had to take a temperature break....and got down again. That's some good sauce if even SHE is willing to take the burn.

Now, the other goings-on:

We're headed back to the AZ in mid-October. My stepmother Terri works for Alaska Airlines and during a recent visit proffered some "buddy passes," which due to the fact that I still have vacation time left and the passes mean that all we have to pay is airport tax, we have chosen to take another vacation. I'm all for an escape from the garbage that has been going on in our beloved Western Washington, from the epic heat and weather mood swings to the lack of musical opportunities to the simple idea of getting away from work. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and all it brings to my family, but it's still work. As far as the weather swings, I can't control that either, so fuck it, I may as well be in a place that is consistently 85-100 degrees where I can wear shorts. And, as all zero of you have been waiting for me to continue my 'edit' blog, the musical issues will resolve here:

So we have recorded two albums with the current lineup: the Lost in the Sound LP and the Alright EP. During this period, it seemed like we couldn't get our name out there fast enough. We were playing all over the place, from Bellingham to Everett to multiple Seattle venues to Federal Way and Tacoma. We played with a lot of cool bands, and went on to perform more shows with some of those bands that we fit better with. The machine powered forward, fueled by slowly-increasing attendance, merchandise sales, and CD sales, until something strange happened.

We were being slotted as one of the opening bands, yet it was obvious that we were "the draw" of the night. For the layman, that means that we had the biggest crowd and that the majority of said crowd left before the next band and stayed away for the rest of the show. Now, I advocate sticking around for an entire show, but sometimes people just don't want to listen :).

So we slow down a bit, as we are fearing that playing 2-3x a month is overexposure. However, we've been lusting after hitting the ShowBox venues, and can't seem to find an 'in,' even with Paolo's slick style and PR genius coupled with our fanbase and panache. During this time, Paolo starts questioning whether we should be working as hard as we have been, or laying in the cut waiting for more lucrative options to open up. Seeing as he is our de facto manager and booking agent, we really have no option but to submit to his scheduling desires. Some options are either laid by the wayside or turned down because of scheduling conflicts, etc.

Oh, look! We got a show at ShowBox SoDo! Yeah, that was short-lived, as Danny dumped his Harley two weeks before that show, breaking his foot. To make that long story short, our first SoDo gig was played with Danny taking off his walking cast in order to play. Yay, fun, but still SoDo. Oh yeah, and we DID play a show at ShowBox at the Market. Yeah, that was the last show we played, Feb 20th. Note that we hadn't played together in three months with the exception of a practice short one member during the week prior. You see where my anger lies, I'm sure. Up until about a month ago, I was always the "band mom," scheduling and making sure that everyone got together to practice. Yeah, and then all of a sudden....but that road has been traveled down before, hasn't it?

Now: we've been offered shows in Vegas (as in Las, NV), and a possible slot at South by Southwest - more commonly known as the 3-day festival in Texas called SXSW in 2010. You'd think we would be rehearsing, writing new material, sharpening up our stage chops.....nope. Nothing is happening, and I'm fucking sick of it. For all the blog posts pulled down, for all the e-mails apologized for, for all the text messages rescinded:

What the fuck. Not a question, but rather a statement. I have 4 opportunities a week to practice with you guys, and for some fucking reason it's the same two people, but mostly one, that used to duck out. Well, publicly now, I'm done organizing rehearsals. It's up to the rest of you, specifically Paolo (who seems to have the most restrictive schedule - ha), to corral us. I'm done being shot down. And the funny thing is, Danny's only working the bike shop right now. Well, that's not funny, but the funny part is that the swing-shift guy and Puddy are the only 100% reliable people left in this band.

"Sometimes bands take breaks, even for six months or (gasp!) a year." Yeah, if they are already integrated into the scene, whereas we are still scrabbling for a fingerhold in the business. No time like the present. I made it work during the infancy of my marriage, and continue to do so, and I've already got a family. Wanna see my playbook? It's easier than you think, I promise you.

K bye.