This one is back. Life is incredibly busy, I have had to step out for a bit and take care of the primary source of income. Let me correct that statement. I had to take care of the ONLY source of income for a little bit.
In the days since the last entry I have learned a great deal about the many things that have been executed improperly and incorrectly regarding the vines that I have so brazenly labeled as my own. But I love that component of doing so much so wrong and so often. Not that I wish to continue to fall into the Sisyphus cycle. The music informs the other interests. Music and exposure to larger audiences doesn't make sense to me. The calculus is not actually Calculus and does not adhere to true Logic. Writing songs, anymore, is becoming quite difficult. It is because sloppy lyrics are quite common and they are often rather ubiquitous. Is this true of vino? Is it possible that individuals out there are just consumed with the notion of producing large quantities of any varietal to make a fast buck? Folks, reality check here. You won't have to worry about watered-down vino at Conejo Loco Vineyards because the student loans have the effect of humbling a person. I am not out to make a quick buck. We're going to do these wines in an exceptional way. Not competition, but we'll give it our best with the soil we have to work with.
Conejo Loco Vineyards will prosper. Hell or high water. This is a stubborn movement in my soul. Having said all of this I just wonder if the 'Terroir' of my 'Southeast Logan Square' vines will produce grapes arising from soils saturated with rat shit, rat piss, rat hair, rat carcass, et al. Rats are everywhere in the Second City. Any takers on developing a wine bottle label for a varietal that the winemaker wishes to market in concert with the 'Terroir'? Send me a draft of your design for Cabernet Franc Conejo Loco Vineyards with a terroir consisting in poor drainage, poor sunlight, rat piss, rat shit, rat hair, rat ash, rat carcass, black squirrel shit, black suirrel urine (pronounce the long 'I') et al. Send it to: lifessecondact@gmail.com It is all referred to in a sterile manner by suggesting that such things create 'Humus' or 'Peat', when one goes to the local nursery or greenhouse or big box hardware store. Rat Humus. Rat Peat. Vermin Humus. Vermin Peat.
Crazy Story of the Week:
It is pretty obvious that I am a little too excited about 17 inch tall 2nd-Year Syrah grape vines that are not going to get their required number of 'Heat Days'. Anyway, I had the rare pleasure of actually sleeping in my own quarters, as it were, on this past Sunday May 30, 2010. I had programmed my body prior to slumber to awaken at 08:00. My body, miraculously, did just that. I was able to jump out of bed and take some snaps of my garden (with the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T900) at the residence in Southeast Logan Square, before darting back up north to the job that consumes my life. In the process of taking the photo, I had to lean over my bldg's front step wrought-iron railing to grab the best photo of Syrah 02-2009, as it is growing quite impressively. Well, as I just clicked my first photo or three, one of the new neighbors to the north walked up to the front to check out what in the devil was going on with this strange cat taking photos (potentially of his property), the fella being me, of course. Strange experience, to say the least, especially at that early hour of day, and on a Sunday of all days. And he seems quite the weathered individual (even seemed to have somehow recovered from a night of heavy drinking, actually). I think he might've been ready for a rumble - that is common in my neighborhood. Another funny story, in my opinion. Either way, such is life. All for the Conejo Loco Vineyards. I won't complain as he and his buddies have really turned that neighboring foreclosure home entirely around for the better. They recently even went with new landscaping. Not sure if they are hoping to flip or actually to settle there. It seems like a flip project to me, but I am not real estate savvy enough to know better.
By the way, czech out St. Francis Winery in Sonoma County, CA. Their website is excellent and they have a You Tube page with wonderful snippets of material. Hellshit, folks, reading the bios of some of these established vineyards seems a bit daunting. It all is deposit material for what is occurring in the now.
And what about the following photos? Glad you asked in your brain, to be honest. This is THE first vine. Two were planted back in March 2008, only one took. This one perdured and now it has a 2nd generation in Chicago IL. The vine is in a sloped setting, which I didn't realize is the way to go with vines, at the time. It also receives a lion's share of sunlight, and thank the deities for that. Conejo Loco Vineyards Southeast Logan Square is probably going to have to buy artificial sun stars to get the vines growing. Just joking, of course, in that Craig Ferguson kind of voice.
I am damned proud of this Cabernet Sauvignon vine. In a few weeks the Japanese Beetle will ravage the thing, undoubtedly, but all things in due time. I guess the beetles need to eat, too.
I recently was re-reading a document produced from the University of Tennessee on the topic of growing grapes in Tennessee, an excellent document. At one point, the authors reported that typically less than ideal soils are often great soils for vines. That kind of statement just simply douses the lighter fluid on this Conejo Loco Vineyards Southeast Logan Square endeavor. I'll go with it and take what I can get.
Find the document in question here: http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1475.pdf
How about some photos? Enjoy!
http://www.stfranciswinery.com/
Great website. Look at some of their photos on the Facebook. My goodness, talk about a testament to the notion that lifestyle is both end and means.
http://twitter.com/stfranciswinery
The Twitter page for St. Francis Winery, which is a behavior that I do not personally strive toward, is actually pretty information rendering. They just need a Copy/Editor, but who doesn't, right?
And, why not end on music. I love our current crop of styles within music because we need them to shake up and rattle our notions of who creates beautiful music, and who is allowed to. The gift is bestowed on many and available to many.
LINK (This is only one song among many [part of a whole concert performance] that I listened to while creating this post):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8dgsb0Dn_s
I'll do alot of music on this blog because it is part of the very fiber of my being. Stone Sour is the band. Two of the members are in another band that just lost their bass player nearly 2 weeks ago. Life happens and that weirdest of times. I am a bass player, as well. The issue was pretty significant for a heavy metal fan like myself.
Soon we'll try to explore what Les Claypool is trying to do with his vineyard in Northern California. Claypool Cellars is the name. Claypool started the band Primus. Here is a video to their song called 'Too Many Puppies':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2zQKqgNAeE
Claypool and his band members are musical savants. Enjoy!
Bonus Track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNOiZogdqsE&feature=related
In the days since the last entry I have learned a great deal about the many things that have been executed improperly and incorrectly regarding the vines that I have so brazenly labeled as my own. But I love that component of doing so much so wrong and so often. Not that I wish to continue to fall into the Sisyphus cycle. The music informs the other interests. Music and exposure to larger audiences doesn't make sense to me. The calculus is not actually Calculus and does not adhere to true Logic. Writing songs, anymore, is becoming quite difficult. It is because sloppy lyrics are quite common and they are often rather ubiquitous. Is this true of vino? Is it possible that individuals out there are just consumed with the notion of producing large quantities of any varietal to make a fast buck? Folks, reality check here. You won't have to worry about watered-down vino at Conejo Loco Vineyards because the student loans have the effect of humbling a person. I am not out to make a quick buck. We're going to do these wines in an exceptional way. Not competition, but we'll give it our best with the soil we have to work with.
Conejo Loco Vineyards will prosper. Hell or high water. This is a stubborn movement in my soul. Having said all of this I just wonder if the 'Terroir' of my 'Southeast Logan Square' vines will produce grapes arising from soils saturated with rat shit, rat piss, rat hair, rat carcass, et al. Rats are everywhere in the Second City. Any takers on developing a wine bottle label for a varietal that the winemaker wishes to market in concert with the 'Terroir'? Send me a draft of your design for Cabernet Franc Conejo Loco Vineyards with a terroir consisting in poor drainage, poor sunlight, rat piss, rat shit, rat hair, rat ash, rat carcass, black squirrel shit, black suirrel urine (pronounce the long 'I') et al. Send it to: lifessecondact@gmail.com It is all referred to in a sterile manner by suggesting that such things create 'Humus' or 'Peat', when one goes to the local nursery or greenhouse or big box hardware store. Rat Humus. Rat Peat. Vermin Humus. Vermin Peat.
Crazy Story of the Week:
It is pretty obvious that I am a little too excited about 17 inch tall 2nd-Year Syrah grape vines that are not going to get their required number of 'Heat Days'. Anyway, I had the rare pleasure of actually sleeping in my own quarters, as it were, on this past Sunday May 30, 2010. I had programmed my body prior to slumber to awaken at 08:00. My body, miraculously, did just that. I was able to jump out of bed and take some snaps of my garden (with the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T900) at the residence in Southeast Logan Square, before darting back up north to the job that consumes my life. In the process of taking the photo, I had to lean over my bldg's front step wrought-iron railing to grab the best photo of Syrah 02-2009, as it is growing quite impressively. Well, as I just clicked my first photo or three, one of the new neighbors to the north walked up to the front to check out what in the devil was going on with this strange cat taking photos (potentially of his property), the fella being me, of course. Strange experience, to say the least, especially at that early hour of day, and on a Sunday of all days. And he seems quite the weathered individual (even seemed to have somehow recovered from a night of heavy drinking, actually). I think he might've been ready for a rumble - that is common in my neighborhood. Another funny story, in my opinion. Either way, such is life. All for the Conejo Loco Vineyards. I won't complain as he and his buddies have really turned that neighboring foreclosure home entirely around for the better. They recently even went with new landscaping. Not sure if they are hoping to flip or actually to settle there. It seems like a flip project to me, but I am not real estate savvy enough to know better.
By the way, czech out St. Francis Winery in Sonoma County, CA. Their website is excellent and they have a You Tube page with wonderful snippets of material. Hellshit, folks, reading the bios of some of these established vineyards seems a bit daunting. It all is deposit material for what is occurring in the now.
And what about the following photos? Glad you asked in your brain, to be honest. This is THE first vine. Two were planted back in March 2008, only one took. This one perdured and now it has a 2nd generation in Chicago IL. The vine is in a sloped setting, which I didn't realize is the way to go with vines, at the time. It also receives a lion's share of sunlight, and thank the deities for that. Conejo Loco Vineyards Southeast Logan Square is probably going to have to buy artificial sun stars to get the vines growing. Just joking, of course, in that Craig Ferguson kind of voice.
I am damned proud of this Cabernet Sauvignon vine. In a few weeks the Japanese Beetle will ravage the thing, undoubtedly, but all things in due time. I guess the beetles need to eat, too.
I recently was re-reading a document produced from the University of Tennessee on the topic of growing grapes in Tennessee, an excellent document. At one point, the authors reported that typically less than ideal soils are often great soils for vines. That kind of statement just simply douses the lighter fluid on this Conejo Loco Vineyards Southeast Logan Square endeavor. I'll go with it and take what I can get.
Find the document in question here: http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1475.pdf
How about some photos? Enjoy!
http://www.stfranciswinery.com/
Great website. Look at some of their photos on the Facebook. My goodness, talk about a testament to the notion that lifestyle is both end and means.
http://twitter.com/stfranciswinery
The Twitter page for St. Francis Winery, which is a behavior that I do not personally strive toward, is actually pretty information rendering. They just need a Copy/Editor, but who doesn't, right?
And, why not end on music. I love our current crop of styles within music because we need them to shake up and rattle our notions of who creates beautiful music, and who is allowed to. The gift is bestowed on many and available to many.
LINK (This is only one song among many [part of a whole concert performance] that I listened to while creating this post):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8dgsb0Dn_s
I'll do alot of music on this blog because it is part of the very fiber of my being. Stone Sour is the band. Two of the members are in another band that just lost their bass player nearly 2 weeks ago. Life happens and that weirdest of times. I am a bass player, as well. The issue was pretty significant for a heavy metal fan like myself.
Soon we'll try to explore what Les Claypool is trying to do with his vineyard in Northern California. Claypool Cellars is the name. Claypool started the band Primus. Here is a video to their song called 'Too Many Puppies':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2zQKqgNAeE
Claypool and his band members are musical savants. Enjoy!
Bonus Track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNOiZogdqsE&feature=related
