A Couple Things VIII

--- I decided against the Little Brother review-blog last night. Just felt like it needed a couple more listens. My initial thoughts are this: it's a banging album. Although, outside of the skits, I didn't get as much commentary on the state of the industry as I'd have liked. But the Minstrel Show skits will probably go down as one 10 best skit collections in hiphop. They're priceless. I'm stuck on about 5 tracks right now, too, which is preventing me from really giving the whole album enough proper listens. I find myself listening to the same 5 songs over and over again, because that's how I get down. I'm called the Tippy-Top King, meaning that I will restart a song, sometimes 10 times, before it finally finishes...if it's slaying me like that.

Vino, meanwhile, has already called it a classic and said that it measures up to most any albums in the Glory Days (93-99). Don't know if I'm feeling that initially or if I ever will, which is why I'm giving it time.

I have probably a group of 10 people that can make me go back and listen to albums again if our opinions differ, that's how much I respect them as Music Dudes. Vino is one of those kats when it comes to hiphop and jazz. So, its like, if he's calling th e LB a classic, then I gotta really do some more knowledge before I make a final assessment.

Anyways, Vino, gimme a couple more days.

--- The music situation in this County is dire. No Borders, no Barnes & Noble, no Tower, not even a Best Buy or Sam Goody. Which means that, unless I wanna drive 20 minutes (with these gas prices), I'm stuck with Circuit City or WalMart. And also recognize that these places order albums based on their customers. So, just like a record store smack in the middle of the hood (as long as the hood is being gentrified by young-prof gays) won't carry Franz Ferdinand; My Circuit City and WalMart has the worse selection ever.

I was astounded when I saw, like, 20 copies of the LB. I mean, yeah, 50 Cent will show up everywhere from Bismark, North Dakota to Antarctica...but LB still flies a lil below the radar, so it was refreshing to be able to kop in my hood. But jazz? Fugedaboutit. Even some of that next-steez rock is nowhere to be found.

I was talking to one of our music critics here at the Times. This dude is acting as my punk/rock guide for that music. Someone to help me sift through all the music out there (I'm doing the same for jazz music with him). My rock collection is rather thick, but I'm trying to be a connoissuer(sp?) and it's easier to get there if someone already on that level can walk with you for a while, give you some tips. So, he's gonna take me to some shows in Tampa, hit me off with some CDs every now and then and vice-versa. Anyways, I was telling him how I dig this group My Chemical Romance. Well he told me that if I dig them, then I need to go kop this group Thursday (everybody I mention you can read about by click on The ill Music Source link I put on the site). So I went to Circuit City hoping against hope that it might be available to kop...but of course it wasn't. Which means, this weekend I will be hopping in the car and driving into Tampa so I can go locate the Thursday album and the couple others he has on the list.

You don't know how much this sucks, but it's my unfortunate reality at the moment.

--- As you know, I'm a Foodie and restaurant-freak. One of my fears was that it'd suck needing to drive into Tampa to get some good food at a nice restaurant...and it does suck...but I've managed to eat some pretty slick meals since I've been here and none came in Tampa.

Hernando is a weird county (or maybe its normal, I don't know) because you have Spring Hill and Weekie Wachee (keep gigglin M) that have streets like Norcrosse and Mariner that have all the requisite chain restaurants and fast food. US 19, the big street my neighborhood is located off, runs north-n-south through all the counties. It's your typical two-way, eight-lane street with every known chain -- from Loews, to Home Depot, to Fridays to Target to Chili's, blah,blah,blah...the closer you get to St. Pete/Tampa, the better the stores get. But on the east side of Hernando Cty is Brooksville, a small town that feels like a small town, not a strip-mall/subdivision suburb.

Well Brooksville has all these privately owned, passed-through-generations diners and restaurants and the food is consistently immaculate. You Mykonos, which was opened decades ago by a Greek family, then taken over by an Italian family and then one of the Italian sons married a Cuban woman and before you know it, customers were walking into the place, opening the menu and choosing from authentic greek, italian AND cuban fare. And if you spend more than $10 (tax/tip incl) then you must be paying for two.

Just yesterday, the Cty editor took me and my sports partner out for bruch at this spot called Farmer Johns. Apparently, John closes his diner down from April-August while he...well, while he farms. When its opened, its probably the best restauant in Brooksville. They probably have 30 different kinds of pancakes/french toast and crepes. About 10 different omelettes and the skillet things, which is probably a southern thing.

Then you can go to M.C. Chef's and get the ill gut-bucket southern fare. You know, fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, fried corn...fried water. Plus, check the name yall. M.C. Chefs? Is there anyway I'm not gonna be a patron?

You got BigUns BBQ, too, which is also one my favorite names. The servers are all BigUns, too. Big ol' women, with big ol' breasts and big ol' ankles and big ol' everything -- a whole bunch o' big ol' chins. And they serve big ol' plates of bbq too. Its a winner.

As far as food goes, Brooksville is murdering the rest of the County. I did get this nice chicken dish at this new, flashy brewery on Commercial Way in Spring Hill. It was mesquite grilled and served in a peach-creme sauce. I don't know if I enjoyed it because it was partcularly tasty or if it was because the taste was new to me. But that's about the only good meal I got in Spring Hill, excluding the authentic phillycheese steaks i kopped on Deltona. Philly's Best is owned by some real Philly transplants. My sports partner, Dave, is from Philly and he gave it the stamp of approval.

--- judging from the last quickie (can I call it a quickie) you might wonder what I'm tipping the scales at right now. Well, let me just say, that I've never fit worse in my suits and its now at a code-red level. So, after, I finish this coffee and get my shower, I'll be stopping by Gold's Gym to begin a membership. Jogging around my hood is cool and all, but it's dicey since my ability to jog is dependant on daylight and weather. Plus, I got get on some weights. I may even think about getting at a personal trainer, so he put me on a regimen. but it's time. I know you read that before...but really, it's time. I'm takin it back 1996-99.

--- Not having dental insurance over the past two years really Fd my choppers up. But I, went to the dentist yesterday and it was such a downer. No cavities, but my wisdom teeth need to be pulled and my cleaning is gonna be a mofo. Dr. Holbrook even had to prescribe an antibiotic to reduce the inflamation of my gums before I come back for my cleaning. They had this prcedure where they poked my gums and called out numbers...any number higher than 3 meant something was wrong. So my roll call went like this: 4,4,5,4,7,5,6,6,5,4,4,4,5,6,7,8,8,19. It was embarrassing. I could tell the hygenist was attracted to me and wanted to pull me in one of the dark rooms and get a little physical, she was being as flirtatious as possible...that was until she started calling out 7s and 9s and started thinking, "Who'd ever want to kiss this loser with gingivitis." Touche, honey...touche.

Meanwhile, my next month will be full of weekly dentist visits.

--- Compared to Justice Thomas' hearings, these John Roberts hearing are a true snooze. Where's John Doggett when you need him? Thomas was an Uncle Tom gangsta on some ol', "I think there's a pubic hair in my coke." Roberts is all, "I think I found some calcium in my milk." Lame-o.

Meanwhile, the panic of this dude becoming Chief Justice hasn't hit me yet. The NY Times and Wash Post print outs on this dude are literally sitting in a stack right in front of me, with a bottle of echinasea on top of it...I've yet to do the knowledge on him like I should. Since I'm lazy, someone please put me on.

--- My nigga Wolf Blitz was just on the tube and said something about officials expecting to reopen the French Quarter soon. That's good news. Meanwhile Ophelia is actin like she's gonna unleash her woman's scorn on the Carolinas. Lets hope things arent as catastrohic this go-round.