[Italian Recipe!] Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve was wonderful for Josh and I.

We spent a quiet day at home with our dogs, before ringing in midnight at a friend's house party.

Being Italian, for dinner, I prepared two courses of a usually 1000-course-long traditional Italian dinner :-)

One of the important Italian dished mandatory for December 31st is lentils. They represent prosperity for the following year. Specifically, monetary prosperity. Lentils represent coins. I prepared a very simple, peasant style lentil concoction as the main course, accompanied by artichokes "Roman Style".

For the two of us, this was plenty of food! And it was delicious!

Here is the recipe, if you are interested in trying the artichokes.

Carciofi Alla Romana (Artichokes, Roman Style):

1- Clean off the artichokes. Leave the stems to be as long as possible, they are the most delicious part of the plant! Clean everything off by eliminating the outer leaves (the hard ones) and by scooping out all of the inner "hairs" which are just above the heart and are not edible. Take your time cleaning them... you only want the most tender parts of the plant, it may look like you are "wasting" lots of it, but you're really not. :-)


2- Prepare parsley, garlic and red chili flakes. Chop them up together so as to come up with a nice mixture of the three ingredients. For two artichokes, I used 3 cloves of garlic, about a teaspoon of chili flakes and about a cup of fresh parsley (a chopped cup).


3- With your hands (don't be afraid to get dirty!) spread that chopped up mixture all over the cleaned artichokes. Spread the "leaves" out and distribute the mixture throughout, evenly.


4- In a medium sized deep pot, pour about 2 cups of extra virgin olive oil and one cup of white wine. Put the two artichokes head down, stem up, in this liquid and simmer on medium heat, covered, for about 30 minutes, or until the stem/heart area of the artichokes are soft. 


5- That's it! The longest part of the whole process is the cleaning of the artichokes. The cooking happens on its own and rather quickly! These are SO good! Lift the artichokes out of the liquid with tongs and let them drain a little while holding them. Place them on a plate and eat eat eat!

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Our brief snowy Portland day, 2009...

Nothing like the snow we had in December of 2008! That was almost a month-long of temps in the teens with feet of snow!

Regardless, Josh and I and our two doggies enjoyed the 5-ish inches in our yard... what was MUCH less enjoyable was a usually-20-minute-long-6 mile-drive, ending up taking 3 whole hours! That was not fun at all...

They say the "storm" caught Portland by surprise; agreed!

After that "long drive", we arrived home and snapped a few shots of Ruby and Gino catching the snow balls we were tossing at them :-) Then, the sun set, and the snow cast a surreal, yellowish glow onto the sky and our house... which we are remodeling, so please disregard the mess! Ha!

Happy Holidays to All!

~ Alice & Josh

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{Concert Photography!} Mum - The Aladdin Theater (Portland OR) - 11/4/2009

IN OUR OWN WORDS:

"Who here has heard of Múm? Clearly many Portlanders, as evidenced by the packed Aladdin Theater Wednesday night. And for good reason.

Mum’s show at the Aladdin marked a rare live performance of their native Iceland (and Europe). Formed in 1997, Mum hasn't stopped composing new and inspiring psychedelic, electronic, funky, unusual, special-effects tunes since. Simply put, they are a group of born musicians with innate capabilities to compose. They have fun experimenting with all possible sounds traditional instruments can possibly utter, as well as unconventional, often times, custom-made instruments. All mashed up and combined with amazingly angelic soft voices and a passion that can be felt when listening to them, and watching them, live on stage.

The audience was mesmerized. I had assumed it would be a seated show. A show during which people would comfortably sit and calmly listen. Instead, it seems like no one had the audacity to relax on their seats! No dancing, no mosh-pit, no drama. Just simple, respectful, standing reverence towards their truly hypnotizing music.

Their latest release, Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know, was released this past August via download through Gogoyoko. I encourage you to get the album and look at our photos here on Melophobe while the album is playing in the background. You will not be disappointed."

~ The band's official website: Mum

~ We are ongoing contributing photographers and reviewers for shows thanks to: Melophobe

~ Where our review and interview and photos are on Melophobe: HERE

~ Our concert/music website: PASSIONS

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{Concert Photography!} Moby - The Crystal Ballroom - Portland OR - 10/19/2009

IN OUR OWN WORDS:

"When I write reviews, I usually start by going to the trusty Wikipedia and getting a little more knowledge about the artist. It’s apparent that Moby did that before visiting Portland, because he had some pretty distinct knowledge about the local area. From famous local songs, like “Louie, Louie,” or that Portland has a vast number of porn shops. Moby knew it all and had quite the dialogue going with the crowd.

As I was up front getting ready to photograph the show, the intro song ("A Seated Night” from the new album Wait For Me) was playing, and I must admit that it put a lump in my throat. When Moby ran on stage, the packed house at the Crystal Ballroom erupted with excitement. It was a great experience to be there and catch the electricity between the crowd and performer. You can tell that he is a genuine artist by the way he takes time to interact with his fans. I was amazed to see such talent on multiple instruments: from the guitar, to the piano, and on to the drums, Moby did not let us down with his skills. The show had several high energy points that segued seamlessly into the ethereal, giant musical numbers that Moby is famous for.

If you are a Moby fan, be sure to catch him on this tour—you won’t want to miss it."

~ The band's official website: Moby

~ We are ongoing contributing photographers and reviewers for shows thanks to: Melophobe

~ Where our review and interview and photos are on Melophobe: HERE

~ Our concert/music website: PASSIONS

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{Concert Photography!} BoomBox - The Crown Room - Portland OR - 10/2/2009

IN OUR OWN WORDS:

BoomBox has a huge following all around the US. I have personally been a fan of theirs for three years, even since another relatively obscure (but HUGE) band (Particle) introduced me to them. I’ve been hooked ever since! They rarely come to the Pacific Northwest, so when I learned of their show here in Portland, at The Crown Room, I jumped at the opportunity to see them live and to get to meet them!

We were set to meet with them right after sound check, around 7:30pm. When we arrived, they had just gotten there from their previous show in Seattle. We all know how horrible traffic on I-5 southbound can be sometimes! So we reassured them of the normality of it all and told them to let us know when they were going to be ready for us. Sound check happened and then a quick trip to the green room downstairs to grab wallets and van keys, and we were off! We joined them for a quick bite to eat at a local burger joint around the corner from the venue and immediately hit it off! Zion and Russ and their crew were genuinely interested and mesmerized by the facts and figures and little bit of trivia Josh and I gave them about Portland and they sincerely wished they could stay for a couple of days after the show to take in the scene and the local people. They promised us that the next time they come around, they will!

Their opening act, Ana Sia, started playing and the room was bumpin’! Pretty close to a packed house an hour or so before BoomBox was even supposed to start. We took advantage of the down time after dinner to ask them a few questions downstairs in the green room. Read on below for the interview.

One last note. If you have never heard of BoomBox, know this: two members, Zion on guitar and voice, Russ on synthesizers and other complicated equipment that makes their sound what it is. They are genuinely peaceful and sweet people who do what they love. Dance, house, trance, techno—whatever you want to call their style—it’s live and always fresh. Light shows always accompany their performances, making it not only pleasing to the heart, soul, and ears, but to the eyes too. They play everywhere from smaller venues like The Crown Room in Portland to giant festivals like 10000 Lakes! Give them a listen and be sure to put them on your concert calendar for their next show! You will NOT regret it!

INTERVIEW WITH THE BAND: 

Melophobe: How has the tour been so far?



BoomBox: The tour has been good, interesting. Trying to break in new markets and new promoters and getting everyone to know BoomBox. The sound is very important to us, we are perfectionists and our performances can be affected by sound problems. We played a gig in southern Oregon where the venue was on noise ordinance probation and we got shutdown! Another show was in Seattle where the venue did not have enough power and the power kept going out. It was tough for us and for our fans.

Melophobe: Do you get to mingle with your opening artists?

BoomBox: We do, occasionally. The schedules are really tight and by the time we get to a venue, get setup, do sound check, immediately we have to do the things we have to do. A lot of the times, by the time we finish getting ready, the opener is already on. There are times we get to hang out though. Festivals are really good for that. We get to hang out backstage and catch up with other musicians. It’s cool that Ana Sia is opening for us on this tour and to have a constant opening act.

Melophobe: Were you impressed by any bands that were completely new to you?



BoomBox: We try hard to promote our local music scene (Muscle Shoals, AL), there is a lot of talent coming out of there. We try to educate off of what we have learned and help the bands pave a road out of town on to their own thing. As we learn, covering so many bases, our goal is to develop the record label and help develop talent. We feel like we’re part of a movement in Muscle Shoals, and it’s really cool to feel that.



Melophobe: What are some of the cool sights across the US that you have been able to see on your tours?

BoomBox: A boat. We did a boat party in NYC that was crazy, get on the boat at midnight and play out to the Statue of Liberty. It’s crazy! Getting paid to play at the feet of the Statue of Liberty. There’s another cool cruise in Boston that we like: Harper’s Ferry. The festivals are cool; the small ones usually fall under the radar until you hear about them from another band. We are really blessed that basically every city we roll into we get to meet really solid people and a cool scene.
We stay in hotels now, but four years ago we would couch surf in the cities that we played in. We would book one show and stay in the city for a couple of days after, just to get to know the people and the city. It’s a unique perspective that you can’t get from a normal job.



Melophobe: What’s next for BoomBox?

BoomBox: The New album! Downriverelectric should be out in early 2010. The first record was sold out of the trunk of a car! This new record will be a whole new step for us as independent artists. We both go down the road with headphones working on this album, it’s needed for our souls! It’s literally been eating at us, we need this record. Also: we want to eventually hit Europe. We’d love to be in with the crowds overseas. Eventually it will happen!
 

~ The band's official website: BoomBox

~ We are ongoing contributing photographers and reviewers for shows thanks to: Melophobe

~ Where our review and interview and photos are on Melophobe: HERE

~ Our concert/music website: PASSIONS

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The leaves are changing in the Pacific NW...

Well... the {short} sunny days of summer are over.

They were GREAT while they lasted!

We are in full October mode and the rains are finally here. I suppose this is the reason why our forests are so lush and green :-)

It is easy for residents of this area to be somber about the gloominess of the fall and winter months... I am guilty of it myself!

Today, I stopped and {smelled the roses} took a look around our huge back yard (which is part of Forest Park- the largest urban park in the United States) and saw the beauty of nature at work.

Leaves are quickly turning to gorgeous hues of yellow and red and orange. I decided to take advantage of the short fall season and took some closeup photos of the most colorful leaves I could find...

Here they are :-)

Happy fall everyone!

~ Alice & Josh

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