La Pavoni Europiccola

This is one of my most beloved kitchen gadgets I own.

My La Pavoni Europiccola is a fully manual lever espresso machine, this little gem bypasses electronic pumps for pressure and utilizes pure hand power and leverage to produce the requisite 130 pounds per square inch of pressure  to brew of shot of espresso.

What makes using a fully manual lever espresso machine so satisfying and so frustrating at the same time is that the user has so much control over all of the variables that go into that 8 ounce demitasse of black gold.

As Coffeegeek.com puts it (on of the best resource for the coffee and espresso community on the net)

Manual espresso machines – or more commonly referred to as lever espresso machines – are about as hands on as you can get and still produce that beverage we know today as espresso. These machines can frustrate, infuriate, and leave you disappointed. They can also produce the best shots of espresso you’ll ever have. Lever machines hands on with a capital H.

I find this elusive hunt, and to get that perfect shot of espresso, to be all the fun, it’s like my mom who goes bird watching, she is very excited finally when she get to see that one rare bird , she experienced it and the hunt was as good as the actual event. In espresso that once in a life time experience, of that perfect shot where all the variables come together, is called the God Shot. I’ve been lucky, I have produced some simply amazing espressos on my Europiccola, it’s a joy- the elusive art of espresso.

Here in this post are photos of my Europiccola, and my pre-war manual hand coffee grinder (which are considered to be just as good or better than a Mazzer Mini –the best entry level commercial coffee grinder).

My La Pavoni Europiccola

Vintage Hand Coffee Grinder (top view)

Tools of the trade.

Portafilter | Custom Espresso Tamp.

Coffee ready to be tamped

Filed under: Food, Coffee , Coffee, Espresso, Black Gold, Lever, Pavoni, Europicolla, Coffee Geek, Pleasure/Pain

Filter27 | Burial

New, as of April, 12″ by Burial & Four Tet, two track wonder.

Re_linking this post off one of my favorite electo music/industry blogs, Filter27.

Enjoy the cut and uploaded tracks, Mot & Wolf Cub:

Filter27 | Burial & Four Tet – “Mot” & “Wolf Cub”

Posted using ShareThis

Filed under: Re_linked

Greener Pastures, in seek of_

Due to the limiting factors of non-hosted WordPress bolgs (read not being compatible with many plug-ins), I will be posting all of my sonic and video explorations and experiements over at my new interwebs home:

http://virb.com/mettasonic

I will still be maintaing this blog and will cover all of my other interests here in these pages.

Look for more posts here and at my new blog, metta|sonic,  shortly.

Filed under: Art, Music, Project Related

No Promises

To have and to hold

To love and to cherish

Life’s granting wish.

 

I look upon these and say

Who am I?

 

Kindling prospects

the flint that ignites 

the soul.

 

My heart sings

but is this a siren song?

 

Where do we go from here

Aching, renunciation 

Ownership of one’s heart

Steps taken

Belief in better days ahead

form factor rewritten 

Life’s lessons loved.

 

Everything that happens will happen today

And nothing has changed, but nothing’s the same

And every tomorrow could be yesterday

And everything that happens will happen today*

*Gray text from “Everything that Happens” by Brian Eno & David Byrne off their “Everything that Happens Will Happen Today” release. 

 

 

Everything That Happens by David Byrne & Brian Eno

 

Filed under: Buddhism/Spirituality, Music, Random Musings

Desert Island Albums of the Soul

Every so often I come across an album that I am not quite yet prepared for, not fully realizing, that on the initial preview, that something special is contained within; sonically or lyrically composed, in such a way as to unlock the subtle strata of my emotions, heat and soul. As listening deepens, as the time passes, such albums become goto mantras, meditations, a salve if you will, to help transition of stuck points into movements and action in life. Such albums help me remember what is forgotten, are reminders to let go, life is beautiful. This is music at its most fundamental level, my goto desert island albums of the soul.

 

I got to experience one of these desert island albums as a concert at first, then as a composed album later.

 

Last evening I was at Wolf Trap, for the Washington DC leg of David Bryne & Brian Eno‘s concert for their most current album; “Everything that Happens Will Happen Today.” The concert was a great staged performance with professional dancers, all rocking to classic Bryne tunes (like “Burning Down the House“) to new tracks off the new Bryne & Eno, album such as “Life is Long” (after the jump click the link to hear this track).

 

I am grateful for coming across this album, the concert last evening and to the words laid out in the tracks on “Everything that Happens will Happen Today.” I have been touched , thank you.

 

Brian Eno + David Byrne – Life Is Long

Filed under: Music

Pause

A fresh attitude starts to happen when we look to see that yesterday
was yesterday, and now it is gone, today is today and now it is new.
It is like that – every hour, every minute is changing.
If we stop observing change, then we stop seeing
everything as new.

-Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

 

Filed under: Buddhism/Spirituality

Terminal Velocity

There is a time when one see the Horizon
The precipice of change upon them.
A path, trodden, every stone unturned.
Repeated events like a siren song
crashing upon the rocks.

Time is of the essence
but one looks upon their watch
every second passes in delineated
form.

Life is what you make it
Cower in fear, turning points, way markers
never reached.

Avoidance the form speaks.

Listen, help, a compass will guide
if you listen,
don’t think.

Filed under: Buddhism/Spirituality, Random Musings

I Dig- James Yuill, “No Surprise”

Quite apropos, love’s a roller-coaster.

Here is a link to a great article/interview by LAist about James Yuill as “Folktronica’s Next Great Hope”

If you’re like me, the very word “folktronica” makes you cringe as if someone had dragged their fingernails down the chalkboard of your heart. Folk and electronica? Could anything be more horrible than putting synth beats on top of Nick Drake? Or adding some banjo and slowing down Justice’s tempo? The two genres seemed to be like beef jerky and Pop Rocks, two substances who were delicious apart but shouldn’t ever ever be mixed together.

Well…almost never. There are exceptions to every rule. What if the folk is not a sample, but written by the artist in question? What if the synth beats don’t overpower the melody, but just add a little bit of crunchy edge to the otherwise smooth veneer of the folk ballad? It would take a subtle hand, and by God, James Yuill has done it. For all of you who thought Postal Service’s classic album, Give Up, was a flash in the pan sort of moment, I am delighted to announce that it wasn’t.

Filed under: Music

Riff Rift

Holding on to holding on
Longing for longing.

Emptiness becomes the form.

Perspective is blinded
to the have-nots.
Potential is limited to
longing for future change.

The present moment
Is clouded.

Living on limits
consumed by fear.

The universe can hold you,
if you let it.

---

---

After the jump, click the link listed below to listen to my sound experiment, which I posted over at SoundCloud, with the above prose as a source file and the main inspiration to the experiment.

Enjoy.

Riff Rift by mettalogic

Filed under: Project Related

It’s in my blood

I grew up listening to music.

It’s in my blood.

Saturday mornings were Bluegrass, an all day affair with the WAMU fixture, Stained Glass Bluegrass.

I used to give my dad hell for filling the house with that nasaly twang he was so dear of. But I have grown to love his passion, coming over on Sundays to his house in Bethesda to listen to XM Radio‘s E Street Radio (nothing but the Boss). I have to love, it has become a really wonderful way to connect with my dad. I enjoy these times.

My dad has stories, many of them are about music, which he so very much enjoys telling me. One of these stories involves Washington, DC being the “Bluegrass Capitol of America“. My father would say that the now departed Childe Harold bar in Dupont was a major fixture in the DC music scene, Springsteen played there, Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt as well. I was always shocked by this, by the time I was old enough to go the the Childe Harold it was  way past its prime, with no good music (or even good food for that matter) in sight.

Mary Chapin Carpenter was a DC fixture for many years until she landed her record contract and stardom. Her Grammy Award winning song ‘Down at the Twist and Shout’ was about the little old American Legion bar “The Twist & Shout,” (in Bethesda, Md) which I have been to with my dad before it was closed down. I believe it was Tom Principato who played, a great, local, blues act that merges the slick guitar work of Joe Satrini and bluesmanship of the classics (Buddy Guy, etc).

When I got to see Buddy Guy at Wolf Trap a couple of years ago my dad was truly impressed. It was an amazing show to say the least.

So when my dad, last week sent me an email with the following words:

“Way, Way, cool”

It peaked my interest and the following is what I heard and saw:

 

This is impressive work. The Playing for Change Foundation is bringing together musicians from around the world to foster the message for the need of music to help spread and foster peace and good communication between communities themselves and the world at large.

From the New York Times:

Few musicians play with more passion and conviction than the soulful folks who take to the sidewalks to share their music. In this release, filmmakers Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls explore both the motivation and the music of the contemporary street busker by showing just the lengths to which these entertainers will go to share their music with the public. By showcasing both the lives and music of musicians in New York, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, Johnson and Walls offer a series of soulful moments that may have otherwise gotten lost in the infinite noise of the outside world. In affording viewers a taste of the outsider music that may likely never reach beyond a two-block radius, the filmmakers in essence capture the true spirit of the music that is so crucial to the lives of the performers.

-Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Filed under: Music