Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Kiss My Irish Ass

No, I'm not Irish, and you needn't kiss anything.  Heheh.  This is the project that has kept me away from blogging lately.  My very first CD cover!  It's been a while since I did any print work, and so this was a lot of experimenting and remembering how to do things in hi res.  I also got to do the website design, which was a lot more fun, and you can see both here: www.kelticcowboys.com

There's an interesting backstory here.  This friend of ours, Frank Mackey,  wrote and recorded a song called Kiss My Irish Ass about 10 years ago.  Well, unbeknownst to Frank, it became a big hit with the Irish drinking crowd online.  It's all over the net, but listed as the wrong artist!!!  Apparently nobody knows Frank did it.  Everybody seems to think it was done by some other group, either Flogging Molly, Great Big Sea, Young Dubliners, or Drop Kick Murphy.  Poor Frank.  Not to get credit for his own hit!

ED:  The hubs wanted me to be sure to state categorically that "Kiss My Irish Ass" is by Frank Mackey and the Keltic Cowboys, not by any of those other bands, and that the CD contains some other great songs, including his (the hubs') personal favorite "I Won My Wife in a Pissin' Contest" (which he didn't).  [Now he owes me a nice dinner.  :)]

The bad news is the old CD master is dead.  The good news is, he's reissuing the song on a new CD, and the better news is, I got to do the cover.  The bad news is, since it's a friend, and my hubs paid for the publishing, I get no monies until a profit is turned.  So, get thee hence and spend some of your hard-earned ducets on this CD, just in time for St. Patty's day of course, so yours truly can see some green as well!

Yesterday & Today

I seem to be a day behind again!  What's up with that?  Some cosmic force is holding my heels down.  Yesterday was Chocolate Mousse Day.  In belated honor, here's a recipe for Decadent Chocolate Mousse that sounds like it could kill the hardiest of choco-holics. 

And if you're a chocolate (not-limited-to-mousse) fan, you might want to mark your calendars for October 14, 2006, the 4th Annual Chocolate Moose Festival at the The Murie Center in Moose, WY.  A bit far for me to go, but it sounds like fun.  And the entries all sound delicious and decadent.  Too bad they don't include photos on their website. 

Catching up to today . . . Martin Luther King was assinated on this day in 1968.  I remember that day.  I remember thinking I didn't want to live in a world where such evil things happen. 

And bluesman Muddy Waters was born on this day in 1915.  (I'm not always up on what's happening today, but I like to see what was happening in history.) 

As a little bit of trivia, Muddy Waters got his nickname - not from coffee, like you might think - but from his grandmother chiding him for playing in the muddy banks of the Mississippi river.  However, when I was searching for info on the man, I found a ton - I mean a TON - of coffee shops all over the U.S. called "Muddy Waters", and one coffee roaster, which apparently is defunct because their website is gone.  I sort of thought there might be a connection, coffee shops, blues, muddy ... well, you get the picture, but there seems to be no connection at all that I could find.  And I could only find one song recorded by Muddy Waters that had anything to do with coffee: Iodine In My Coffee, from the album Top of the Boogaloo.  I'm still trying to find an mp3 of it.  Kat?  Anybody? Bueller?

Tids & Bits

Update from the abyss.  I've been sick.  Being sick sucks.  Nothing tastes right.  I can't enjoy any of my usual delights and distractions, foodwise, drinkwise, or otherwise.  I haven't had any attention to spare from my body's complaints to blog, which really sucks.  Still, I'm determined to do Chocolate Friday, I am, I Yam!

Before I do that though, I wanted to post real quick about a few other things. 

I've been working hard on my Coffee Croons and Tea Tunes list. Many thanks to Kat, who has been most helpful.  I'm still missing some mp3's, and I know there are tons more tea songs out there somewhere, and probably a few coffee songs too.  If you know of any, please post in the comments, or email me. But the deal is, I'll prolly have to take the mp3's down soon, so if you want to hear any of these songs, better do it now.

I missed last week's Carnival of the Recipes, hosted at Physics Geek.  Go check it out!

What else, what else... I know there was something else.  Gawd, my kingdom for a brain cell.  Ah well.  I need more coffee.  I'll be back to post Chocolate Friday when the caffeine has hit.

Coffee Croons & Tea Tunes

I had this blogpost bookmarked (found via Cafe Metaphoric) where I found some cool coffee songs to add to my ever-growing coffee/tea music collection, but now I find that the links to the mp3's are gone!  Well, it's a great coffee post, anyway, lots and lots of well-written coffee info, worth a read.  There's quite a good list of coffee songs there, but the comments here include a some more coffee songs, some of which I've never heard.  Or heard of.  I guess I need to expand my musical horizons.  Thanks to these posts and Kat's coffee and tea posts, etc, I'm getting quite a nice collection.

But, as you'll see, there are still some holes in my database.  Missing album titles, etc.  And I was surprised to realize how few tea tunes I have!  Must work on that.  Of course, this will be an ever-growing list.  If you know of a song about tea or coffee that's not on this list, please post in the comments.  I'll include mp3's when I have them, for a limited time.  And I guess I better borrow this blurb from Locust St., just to cover my butt, which I'm somewhat fond of and would rather not lose:

All songs are posted for a very limited time and are imported at a low bit rate level. They are meant to encourage purchase of the original albums. Please do not direct link to them. If you are the copyright holder of a posted song and do not want the song posted, by all means contact me and I will remove the song.

Not the Fruitcake!!

Just for fun, a musical Christmas offering: Christmas Dinner (No, Not the Fruitcake!).  My aunt is a children's choir director and songwriter extraordinaire.  She wrote this song for one of her Christmas pageants a few years back, and it's always cracks me up.  Warning, this song can get into your brain and refuse to go away. You'll find yourself singing it in the shower. 

Listen to the mp3

CHRISTMAS DINNER
By Janet Allyn
Copyright Spirit Song Prod 2001

1)  Mother makes a lovely Christmas dinner ev'ry year.
     Turkey, dressing, rolls and salad, ev'rything is here.
     Cookies, pies and special puddings I will eat it all.
     But when she sets this one thing on the table, you will hear me call:

Chorus:
"No, not the fruitcake!"  "No, not the fruitcake!"   "No, not the fruitcake!" 
"No, not the fruitcake!"  "No, not the fruitcake!"  "No, not the fruitcake!"
"No, not the fruitcake evermore!"

2)  I don't mean to be ungrateful, mother works so hard.
    Yet this fruit cake looks like something found out in our yard.
    Little bits of this and that all mashed in to a pile:
    Oily, brown - all squishy, flat and round.  It's really awfully vile!

Chorus:
"No, not the fruitcake!"  "No, not the fruitcake!"   "No, not the fruitcake!" 
"No, not the fruitcake!"  "No, not the fruitcake!"  "No, not the fruitcake!"
"No, not the fruitcake evermore!"

Part 1
We like cookies.  We like cookies.  (Sing 6 times)

Part 2
Give us lots of turkey.   Give us lots of turkey.  (sing 5 times)

Part 3
Love that dressing.  Love that dressing.  (sing 4 times)

Part 4
No more fruit cake, no more fruit cake!  (sing 3 times)

Coffee Songs!

More coffee songs at Kat's!  See what happens when you sleep through a Sunday?  You miss a whole lotta stuff.  Check out these great coffee tunes. 

* Java, by Al Hirt - I never knew the name of this song, but it sure brought back memories.
* Another Cup of Coffee, by Brook Benton
* Cigarettes and Coffee, by Otis Redding - C&C used to be my fav combo back in the day.  *sigh*  I liked this song, but I kept expecting him to segue into Try a Little Tenderness
* The Coffee Song, by The Andrews Sisters - classic harmonies, it doesn't get much better than this.

Tea Gadgets & Coffee Tunes

Happy Coffee Day!
May your cup always be full.   

Couple of items I missed when I was abducted by aliens the other day.  :)

Kat posted this great song on Friday - St. Caffeine by John Gorka.  What a great companion song to The Blessed Holy Caffeine Tree!  While you're there, have a listen to Ray Charles singing Oh What a Beautiful Morning - great way to start the day.  And remember, these songs don't stay online forever, so download them while you can.  If you see something in her archives that's not online though, just contact Kat.  If you whine enough, she'll send it to you.  :)

Cin sent me this link to a cool tea gadget, the Tea Stick made by Gamila.  Similar to a tea spoon, but in a stick shape.  Scoop up tea leaves, slide the sleeve down, steep.  Gotta love those little gadgets. 

Tea Tunes

I have this little routine I do in the mornings.  I get my coffee ready and then sit down for a scroll through my favorite sites.  I load up Keep the Coffee Coming first, because then I can set the tunes a-playing in the background while I visit other sites.  Kat usually has a good selection of oddball stuff that's just suited to my oddball tastes.

This morning - a TEA THEME!  Three tea tunes, and two cool vintage tea photos.  I'm so tickled!

At the top of the tea tune list: Tea for Two by Blossom Dearie.  Most people have heard of this song, but I'll bet you haven't heard this rendition.  Next up, When I Take My Sugar to Tea by the Boswell Sisters.  Lastly, a bit of fun with The Kinks and Have a Cuppa Tea. 

I don't know where she gets these, but I tip my cup to you Kat!  Great job!

Coffee Tunes

It's Coffee Day at Kat's. 

More than usual, that is.  I always enjoy her unusual and eclectic music, but today she's serving up coffee mp3's!

Have a listen to these coffee-flavored treats for your ears:  You're the Cream in My Coffee by Ruth Etting, Joni Mitchell's Coffee & Conversation, and my personal fav, the grande creme de la creme, Java Jive by the Ink Spots.

"O Blessed Holy Caffeine Tree"

Thanks a bean for this offering from crusty curmudgeon David Needham of third world county, "for those who love the Holy Bean". 

The lyrics were so hilarious we decided to record it and offer it for download here (mp3) as proof of our faith in the blessed tree and in hopes of permanent membership in the church of caffeine.

Note:   This is by no means a perfect recording, so if you're a music critic, move on... We had tons of fun recording this, but we almost couldn't make it past the "huge and stinky boat" verse for laughing so much.

Another Note: Lyrics and music copyright 1999 David W. Needham.  David's original post includes music, lyrics, and a midi file where you can hear how it was meant to be done.  We sort of slipped sideways a little while doing ours, but David is kindly not criticizing.  Tks for this, DWN!