I like to think of myself as a man of leisure with a penchant for finding great ways to drink beer. Typically you’ll find that most additions to beer come in the form of fruit (Corona and lime or Blue Moon and orange) although you do run across your Irish Car Bombs and other beer cocktails.
The last weekend of my vacation presented many opportunities for said research. My friend Jeff was in town and with unusually warm weather we headed straight for Hermosa Beach. After building of up quite a thirst we headed on over to Hennessey’s Tavern for lunch on the patio.
After a couple of beers we were joined by two characters named Alex and Christina drinking one of the more interesting concoctions I have come across. Their order came to be what we dubbed the Nachorona.
The Nachorona is composed of 3 ingredients: an ice cold Corona, a wedge of lime, and most importantly Tabasco sauce.
To begin prepare your Corona in the normal fashion by squeezing the lime into the beer. Next, instead of inverting your beer to mix, add a few drops of Tabasco sauce and swish around to mix it together. To maximize your enjoyment drink from the side of the bottle where the Tabasco was poured in (you’ll see the trail). The result is nothing short of fantastic. It takes the light and refreshing taste of Corona and adds one heck of a kick.
After a few of these any sinus problems you may have had will be long gone and you will be all smiles enjoying the sunshine.
A good story is not without adversity. Last week I began my journey to build a ladder bookshelf into something that closely resembled this. I was hoping to pull off a seamless look using wood pegs and glue but that proved to be slightly more difficult than I realized. IKEA I am not. After a few shouting matches with myself and some wonderful cuts on my hands, I decided that maybe I should aim lower as I am not a master carpenter just yet.
Fast forward to yesterday, after an awesome visit to the Santa Monica Pier, I was energized and ready to get back to work. I stopped by the local lumber yard and picked up some materials:
2 – 1″x4″x6′ pieces of pine for the ladder arms
1 – 1″x6″x6′ piece of pine for the bookshelves
1 box of 1-5/8″ woodworking screws
1 bag of 3/8″ wood caps
1 3/8″ drill bit
The new plan of attack was to simply screw my shelf together and cover the holes with wood caps. No glue. No pegs. No anger.
The first thing I did was measure out my shelves. As I bought 6′ pieces of lumber the idea was to have shelves that were 18″ wide and 6″ deep. I began measuring and drawing my lines to saw, however; when I reached the end I realized the fantastic people at the lumber yard gave me 71 1/2″ instead of 72″. Not to worry! Since I am super smart, and great with math, I settled on shelves that were 17 3/4″ instead. After some sleek cuts from my borrowed table saw (Thanks Eric!) I had 4 shelves measuring 17 3/4″.
Since the bookshelf is supposed to lean like a ladder the next part was to cut an angled edge on the shelves. This way when the shelves were set in place they would be flush with the ladder arms.
After some more math I decided that a 10 degree angle would work best. I did not want the bookshelf to stick out too far from the wall but, at the same time, I needed it to accommodate at 6″ shelf fairly near the top. A quick adjustment to the saw blade and I had my angle cuts.
Since I was done sawing I did a little victory dance since all 10 fingers were still intact. The next step in the process was to set the highest shelf in place on one ladder arm.
I set the ladder arm at an approximate 10 degree lean against the wall, slid the shelf up until it was close to the wall, and drew some lines for approximate drill marks. I am actually drawing inside-out lines. The face of the ladder arm above is actually the outside. I simply needed an approximation.
Now with my approximate lines I drilled two holes with the 3/8″ drill bit about halfway through and then went all the way through the wood with a 1/16″ bit. For the remaining shelves, I separated them by 12″ (most hardcover books are about 10″ tall) and drilled similar holes. Continuing on, to get the same drill holes on the other ladder arm, I simply clamped the two arms together and used my 1/16″ bit to drill small guide holes.
The next part involved screwing the shelves into place and ensuring that they were level. I had also noticed I had ample room at the bottom of the shelf and added a 5th with a leftover piece of pine I had from my mistakes earlier in the week. The shelves were now in place and I hammered in the wood plugs.
Skip to sanding and we have ourselves a ladder! While the shelf needs some more sanding (and probably a layer of black paint to match the bedroom) the results are precisely what I was looking for.
In all this was a fairly simple project to do at home. I had minimal tools and a small space to work with but the final product was exactly what I wanted. Now I will try to repeat the process using higher quality wood and hopefully create something suitable for my TV room as well.
My favorite thing to do in Los Angeles is to attend live shows. Because of our location we get great music almost all year round. Now that the weather is getting warmer, outdoor concerts are starting to pop up. Los Angeles has 4 or 5 great outdoor theaters so last night was really a surprise since it was not at one of the usual venues. On Saturday night my friend and I headed downtown to check out one of our favorite artists Groove Armada at Los Angeles City Hall. The ‘Los Angeles City Hall’? The one and only.
The stage was setup on the South staircase and was sponsored by KCRW. Since this was a very unique setting for a concert my friend and I were a bit skeptical on how it would be pulled off.
After a quick dinner in Little Tokyo we headed over to City Hall (1st and Main). The show kicked off promptly at 6PM and started with a DJ set by KCRW’s very own Jason Bentley. Jason had the slot from 6-8PM and the task of warming up the crowd on an unusually brisk Spring night in LA.
While it was billed as a DJ set, Jason did more ‘Macbooking’ than spinning on the 1’s and 2’s. While this lead to a lame joke by me, Jason Bentley got the crowd moving and warmed up. One of the highlights of the set was Jason mixing ‘Nasty Girl’ by Vanity 6. My friend decided that if she was a stripper that would be her goto song. If you don’t remember ‘Nasty Girl’ listen below.
At about 8:30, after the crowd was sufficiently warmed by Jason Bentley and an ample supply of booze, Groove Armada took the stage and did not disappoint.
The tour was billed as a DJ Set for their latest album ‘Soundboy Rock’ so we were not expecting the full lineup of Groove Armada characters as when we saw them at the Hollywood Bowl over the Summer. True to our expectations they transitioned without a break in the action and put on a great show.
The acoustics were a nice surprise and the setup provided great clarity. Although we couldn’t hear each other talk during the car ride home (note to self: get earplugs), Groove Armada provided a great night downtown. The first 2/3 of their set was mostly a DJ set however they began mixing in their greatest hits for the last third of the show. When they mixed in ‘Super Stylin’ the crowd reached their feverish peak.
The crowd was filled with your KCRW subscriber types (thirty-something hipsters, yuppies, eco-friendly moms and dads) and a few of the just turned 21 crowd. Everyone meshed well together and the party was in full swing for close to 3 hours. During one of the last songs the stairs in front of the stage were opened up and everyone rushed the stage to groove as close as possible to the action. They wrapped up their set around 11PM at which point we retreated back to the Westside to rest from a long night of dancing.
In all, Los Angeles City Hall provided a unique venue and Groove Armada provided the perfect soundtrack for an evening in an urban environment. While it was a bit chilly the dancing kept us warm all night long. These kinds of nights make me wonder why I don’t do more things downtown.
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