Thursday's Thriller

Attention residents. Due to the enormous volume of constant snack requests, Rockstardaddy Daycare has established new and permanent feeding times. Please note this is only temporary until hair loss slows down and blood pressure levels normalize. Refer to the snickering superman clock for appropriate times! 

Meat Free Month! Join Me In Ending the Drought!

  Hey gang, not sure how well you've been keeping up with the status of our California drought but let me update you. Basically the situation has gone from bad to worse and according to recently published NASA reports, we are down to about a year's worth of water in the major resevoirs. What is worse is that during the last few years of drought the central valley has been pumping so much water from the ground that it is sinking a foot per year!
  It's not what it seems though and I'm not trying to preach that you should stop washing your car or let your lawn die. 80% of the water in the state is used by agriculture and the cattle industry! http://www.takepart.com/photos/incredible-ways-skipping-meat-can-change-world/saving-water-whole-lot-water . Articles like this one tell the whole story in a few simple facts. it takes over a thousand gallons of water to produce a half-pound burger's worth of meat. It's ridiculous and we need to change. Half of the country's water goes to beef production.
  As a concerned citizen and parent I'm declaring April as Meat Free Month. Please join me. It's good for your inner and outer environment and you will truly be making a difference. Share my blog post around if you believe in this cause. In addition, each week I will post a new non-meat meal recipe I've been working on in Rockstardaddy Kitchen. Rock On!

Tuesday's Tales

  The boys were enjoying lunch time when Isaac said he wanted some of Tristan's Japanese brown rice. After he started eating his own bowl I asked him if it was good.
  Isaac: "Yeah it's so good it tastes like real Japanese."

Drought Proof Culinary

  Homemade sauce is easy, goggle it, google it, whatev's. I also wouldn't dare to tell you what to top your pizza with...but the crust...well sure!
  In this drought stricken desert we live in it is more important than ever to be water wary. I live in California where the surface and groundwater are at extreme lows and NASA scientists are saying we are on the brink of disaster, as in screwed. Sure it is important for all of us to save water at home but the fact is that agriculture and the cattle industry account for eighty percent of the water consumed in the state. So what is my point?
  We are facing a new way of living soon as humans, it's kind of like the old way. When there isn't enough water to sustain the cattle and produce industry anymore what will we do?
  The answer is I have no clue, but this crust is a blend of four different types of flour which provide a day's worth of nutrition, as opposed to regular wheat flour. If we can cut down on our trips to In and Out, maybe we can help take a step toward sustainable living. If not In and Out won't be there anymore anyway. Stay thirsty my friends, just not too thirsty! 

Homemade Pizza Crust: 1 cup AP flour, 1/3 cup brown rice flour, 1/3 cup quinoa flour, 1/3 cup sorghum flour. Throw a few pinches of salt and sugar in your mixing bowl along with two tablespoons of REAL extra virgin olive oil and two tablespoons of active dry yeast. Hopefully you have a mixer with a dough hook, if not it's a good forearm workout. Slowly add a cup of warm water while mixing until all ingredients are firmly sticking together. Work it into a ball and set it in a covered bowl until the ball doubles in size. Punch it back down to a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. I leave it in the refrigerator for a half hour. Spread a tablespoon of flour on a large cutting board and roll out the crust to your desired size and thickness. Bake the crust for two minutes at 375deg., remove, and pile your delicious toppings on. The three different flours provide a triple punch of protein that can replace red meat, and the flavor...bella!

The Rebel Variety Hour at "Spike Africa's".

  To be perfectly honest, it ended as quietly as it started. There was some warm applause, some tips, and smiles, all very nice and super appreciated, but always falling a little shy of a musicians hopes. It was the middle that was the intense part. The middle was the wild roller coaster ride that was my band mates and my nine month residency as the house band for "Spike Africa's Fresh Fish Grill and Bar".
  Recently the management has decided to scale back the live music to special occasions. I understand the decision and agree with it. The downtown beast is a tricky one to figure out and quite often the waxing and waning business doesn't merit having a band. I know personally from years of waiting tables in the Gaslamp, it can be frustrating. Of course as a player my instinct is always to play until the coach says it's time to take a blow, so from that stand point, i'm sad to not be playing there almost every weekend. Now that i've had a few days to rest up and reflect, which means a few moments for Rockstardaddy Daycare, i'm relieved for the break. The band has alot of big gigs coming up and an insanely cool album to finish. Exciting times are upon us San Diego rockin' rebels, I just want to take a moment and share some memories from what was the single most growth inspiring year in my life as a performing musician. 
  What really made it special was how it was pulled off and the challenge was met. The resulting growth was the gravy, I personally like the sweat and the search. You see the band, the "Country Rockin' Rebels" in all our rebel splendor, are a six piece rock, country, blues spectacle. We gots it all from screaming electric, bluesy slide, fiddle and pedal steel. But we can't fit as a six piece into the smaller venue, and with everybody's individual schedules we had to do some inventing to fill the almost thirty shows we played there.
  We played as everything from a five piece, four piece(with and without bass), three man and two man acoustic, to just me and a guitar. We added covers from every genre and debuted originals on the crowd to fill the three and a half hour time slot. The actual slot was three hours but when we got the Saturday night crowd rockin', we emptied out the catalog on them. In my own romantic mind it was my chance to play the role of Jon Coltrane or Miles Davis and lead a group of talented instrumentalists through a few hours of improvisational riffing and soloing against a backdrop of American music history101, rebel style!

  We developed new dynamics amidst our shuffling line-up. New tempos, inflections, approaches, etc.We discussed it over beer battered mahi and oh so many delicious, local micro-brews! They treated us well and we responded. The passing throngs of downtown night life would look into the window and watch us jamming. It seemed our personality was different for every different passerby who would look in. We took the opportunity and ran with it and now all that's left to say is thank you. I want to give my most humble thanks to Rob, Gordon, Tony, Blaine and of course the ring leader Mr. Alex Fernandez. To all the players involved, Mr. Michael Head, the man with the magic wand, Steve the "Tomahawk" Tahmahkera, Mark the "L.A. Slide" Eppler, Teddy "Strings" Stern, Tony the "Sandman" Sandoval. Of course to all us players families and friends for all you do for us musicians. And of course a giant thanks for the support from the staff of "Spikes"...I leave you all with a line from one of my own.
  "When i'm going downtown babe, you give a frown to me. I say jump in the back you can come along, enjoy a ride for free." -Indian Wind.