Good Clean Fun

Hiding from the feds in nashville

1 Comment / Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Travel / By

There are a lot of bars in Nashville.  The Broadway District has over 30.  And there are many, many more throughout the city.  On Broadway, there’s Kid Rock’s, Blake Shelton’s Old Red and many more.  You have to see it to believe the loud country chaos.  Lots of fun.

My favorite bar this trip was located I-don’t-know-where (you can look it up online).  I wasn’t driving.  There’s no sign.  It’s a speakeasy in the Prohibition tradition.  Old Glory is hiding in what used to be the towering boiler room for White Way Cleaners, formerly one of the largest steam cleaning facilities in Nashville. The space features the original electrical boxes, coal hopper, and smoke stack that were in use in the 1920s. Today it’s dark with lots of candles.  The Feds will never find us here.

The craft cocktail bartenders are something special in their own right.  Give them a hint on what you like and they will rise to the challenge and provide you with a visually-pleasing, palate-pleasing taste treat.  They use ingredients that might as well be French to me.  Turns out some of them are French.  And I don’t have them on the shelf at home which is why I need to spend more time in speakeasies.  I tried a Last Word which is gin, green chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice,  Excellent.  I also asked for a “surprise me” gin martini.  It came with Ford’s Gin and a vermouth-like ingredient plus some orange blossom and bitters.  Also excellent.

Here’s to Prohibition and Old Glory!

– “Vito” Jet Cannon

Nashville Caffeine Buzz

Caffeine, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Music, Travel / By

Nashville is on the steroid juice when it comes to drinking, live country music, party buses, cut-off jeans, cowboy boots and hats, and roof-top bars.  I just wasn’t expecting art in my coffee.  Yet, plenty of caffeine is a requirement for this Baby Boomer to keep on rockin’ in this town.  Whoa!!  It’s fun.  It’s overload.  It’s draining.  But it’s a hoot!

– “Johnny” Jet Cannon

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Superiority in Numbers

Cannabis, Endorphins, Fitness, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Trending / By

There are approximately 70 million Baby Boomers living in the United States right now.  70 million!!  And some interesting things are emerging.

  • We are the most intelligent of all the generations
  • Our musical tastes are acknowledged to be more sophisticated than those of other generations
  • We make the best cocktails
  • Our exercise habits are second to none
  • If video gaming is added to the Olympics, Baby Boomers are expected to dominate despite advancing age.  We’re just very good at games
  • We travel more than other generations and are steadily chipping away at bucket lists
  • Our sexual skills are advanced and imaginative
  • We have mastered utilization of marijuana hybrids and CBD  to achieve a perfect Buzz while minimizing pain and facilitating deeper sleep
  • No other generation comes close to Baby Boomer BBQ skills

Now, none of the above is backed up by any facts or data.  But does it matter?  It feels good!  It feels right!  It must be true!

– Jet Cannon

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Double Chocolate Trouble

Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Travel / By

If Catching a Buzz while maintaining a healthy lifestyle is of interest to you, read no further.  As if tasty summer cocktails weren’t enough of a temptation, mixing alcohol and ice cream should be illegal.  Alcohol and mega-sugar doses?  Paging Dr. Diabetes.  

That said, the Buzzed Boomer Research Department has been sampling some summer beverages to go with our cheeseburgers and fries.  Go Puff  shares recipes, with tantalizing pictures, of concoctions that should be, but thankfully aren’t, banned.  Boozy Chocolate Frozen Mudslide, Strawberry Shortcake Drink, Boozy S’Mores Shake, Irish Coffee Milkshake with Whiskey Caramel, Boozy Peach Milkshake, Samoa’s Cookies and Cream Coconut Milkshake, Hot Fudge Bourbon Milkshakes.  You get the idea. Yum. Don’t want to make your own?  Mental Floss  lists some restaurants around the country with spiked shakes.  Or fire up Google for double trouble near you.

– Jet Cannon

Happy Place

Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Music, Travel / By

Our visit to Baby Boomers Mike and Karin’s Happy Place began with a mini live rock and roll concert in their neighbor Dave’s man cave.  Dave’s a musical entertainment czar and he’s got the photos and rock posters in his cave to prove it.  Welcome to Crescent Bar!  

Mike and Karin’s condo overlooks the mighty Columbia River and surfing behind their Centurian Surf boat is a popular activity. And so is golf.  And so is ripping around the community in golf carts to visit with other happy folks enjoying the summer.  Whether behind the wheel of the boat, his cart, his truck or just sipping from his WSU Cougar coffee cup, Mike was in the zone.  Karin will surf your doors off and is the reigning community midnight golf champion. Mike is the reigning champion mixer of the perfect Manhattan cocktail and he insists on making his own Bloody Mary’s, not trusting his inexperienced guests to do it properly.  That last part is not entirely true.

Visiting on July Fourth meant being able to enjoy a golf cart parade in the morning and spectacular fireworks in the evening.  Crescent Bar is hopping!

We were fortunate to partake in the summertime fun in a truly Happy Place with such great hosts.  There are vacation rentals available and a limited number of RV spots.  Google “Crescent Bar rentals” for various options.

– Jet Cannon and Hunter S.

MTV Turns 40

Good Clean Fun, Music / By

 

AARP Magazine ran a fun article noting that MTV turned 40.  “MTV forced established acts to think visually or risk disappearing; a song was no longer just a song, to be interpreted by a listener’s imagination, but the basis of a micro-movie in which performers would be judged by their hair, dancing, clothes, and shooting locale.  No surprise that MTV helped popularize a new wave of image-conscious artists who eagerly embraced this star-making medium.”  Let’s review a few.  Michael Jackson, of course.  Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club, Robert Palmer, The Police, Madonna, Bruce, Bowie, The Bangles, Devo, A-ha, Wham!, Big Country, Whitney, Salt-N-Pepa, Billy Idol, Van Halen, Eurythmics, Billy Joel, Prince, Pat Benatar, ZZ Top, Huey Lewis, and Janet Jackson.

I would argue that the music suffered a bit compared to music from the 70’s but I’d also have to admit that the visual art created was really quite amazing.

– Jet Cannon

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Light My Fire

Good Clean Fun, Music / By

Per Guitar World magazine, https://www.guitarworld.com/news/jimi-hendrix-bobblehead, Jimi Hendrix fans will be happy to learn about some new Jimi paraphenalia. 

As the greatest electric guitar player who has ever lived, there exists a wealth of merchandise associated with Jimi Hendrix. And now, his estate has made that merch pool even bigger by partnering with Kollectico for a brand-new bobblehead figure.

Commemorating Hendrix’s 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival – which he concluded by dousing his Fender Stratocaster in lighter fluid and setting it on fire – the “Live at Monterey” bobbleheads are officially licensed, hand-sculpted and painted and come in collector’s boxes.

The bobblehead’s pose appears to be modeled on an iconic photograph taken by then 17-year-old Ed Caraeff.

The “Live at Monterey” bobblehead – of which only 1,967 will be made – is set to ship in August 2021. For more information, head to Kollectico.com.  We found the opportunity to order at bobbleheadboss.com.   $49.95.  We’re not bobblehead collectors so we have no idea if the limited production will add to the value over time.  Regardless, it’s kind of fun.

– Jet Cannon

Post Game Burger

Burgers, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun / By

 

Seattle burger chain Dick’s is reminding us that there is hope to reclaim a basketball team, after the NBA champ Sonics left town years ago, with a special t-shirt.  NHL hockey is coming to Seattle in the remodeled Coliseum so there’s a modern venue in which to play.  And Dick’s has a restaurant right down the street!  Dick’s features one of the best burgers in America according to me and George Motz author of Hamburger America.  And the fries and shakes are excellent as well.

While we wait for hockey and basketball, we still have Dick’s.  

– Jet Cannon

burger, hamburger, grill

Chill Burgers

1 Comment / Burgers, Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun / By

Any respectable Baby Boomer has their own burger grilling techniques and recipes yet we’re always on the lookout for new tricks.  One thing most of us agree on is that this isn’t a time to go healthy.  That means 20% fat content ground beef.  Working in Worcestershire, onion salt, garlic, etc is up to the individual but we need the fat for flavor, drips on the charcoal, and to keep things together.

A number of chefs say searing in a cast iron skillet is a must.  Celebrity cookbook countess Ina Garten says we should freeze our smash burger patties for exactly two minutes before grilling.  Yeah, in the freezer.  For exactly two minutes.  She also likes Gruyere cheese, which is a great cheese, but we think it’s un-American to use anything other than American cheese.  But to each his-or-her own.

Buzzed Boomer At-Large Correspondent Hunter S. insists that burgers go on a fancy griddle like a Blackstone.  A cast iron skillet accomplishes the same thing but isn’t nearly as impressive. That’s from someone who doesn’t own a fancy griddle like a Blackstone.

Our Orinda, CA Correspondent Moge Starr talks up his super-sized Blackstone grill but he hasn’t written a thing for the blog so he’s been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer.

For your traditional burgers on the barbecue, another top chef recommends creating a slight crater in your patty and placing an ice cube on top to keep things moist as it cooks.  Haven’t tried it yet but it sounds promising and it’s sure to generate interest from your less-informed friends.

Keep those cards and letters coming as we continue our quest for crowd-pleasing burgers.

Cheers and Happy Chilling Grilling!

– Jet Cannon

abstract, barbecue, barbeque