Not to hijack the Charlottesville gig thread with a beer discussion, so I just thought I'd post about my recent favorite:

Blue Marble Organic Pilsner from Butte Creek Brewing in Chico California

It was a gift, and I haven't been able to find it in any local shops, but I'm definitely going to have to ask a local store to stock it.

Here's a review (not by me):

http://truebrews.blogspot.com/2008/07/blue-marble-organic-pilsner.html

And I also received a marvelous semi-sweet (56%) Icelandic Chocolate recently:

http://noi.is/?i=55&expand=34-49-55

Really nice, I think you can get it at Whole Foods. Go Iceland!

Lucky you, Greg!

We have a Whole Foods opening in Short Pump next week (Sept. 3)! Not to mention Trader Joe's soon after that (almost next door). We'll have to see what brews they will carry.

p.s. I spoke with Sal S. today, he's in town for LeRoi. He plans to be at your Gravity Lounge gig with the International Counselors. I plan to be there too.

Take care,

Paul

Hi Paul,

I saw Sal at the family and friends viewing for Leroi last night. He's such a great guy. Lots of people there from "back in the day" that I hadn't seen in a while. It's really a huge loss, Leroi was a true original. He's probably the most "successful" rock saxophonist since Clarence Clemons, but he never lost his original voice.

And on another note...It's finally raining here for real for the first time in weeks and weeks, things are feeling a little bit more normal....

not about donuts or beer:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7617191.stm

Thanks to Emmett and all the rest of you who have served in your country's armed forces. I never had to, and never chose to (though my wife did), so I honor your choices and sacrifice. Without people willing to volunteer, the rest of wouldn't have the luxury of not serving.

Looking back on the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day, I remember that I've read The Guns of August several times over the past 10 years, and it's an amazing book about the folly of war, but we clearly still need people to keep the peace.

Maybe we've learned something since then...

I don't know if Dynamic Systems is another name for fractal mathematics, but they seem to generate the same types of "art" or patterns. I love this stuff, even if I haven't the foggiest notion about how it actually works.

Hi Everyone,

I just thought I'd make note of this milestone. Since the database meltdown last December, we've had 1000 different threads posted, and almost 8000 posts. Nice to see the forum doing so well, and to see new names arriving all the time.

Thanks, Manny!

So, someone just told me it's Christmas in about 3 weeks time...did we skip a couple of months somewhere...?

Cheers,
Andy

Indeed, Andy, and did I find something that will save you lots of time with your Christmas shopping....

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1085

Hi Everyone,

If you have a spare hour for your ears, please listen to this interview. I heard it yesterday morning, very inspiring pianist, conductor, peace advocate and writer Daniel Barenboim

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/08/12/09.php#23621

Enjoy