DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Many of the drum rhythms on this site were created spontaneously on a drum kit. In contrast, this beat was constructed to fit a song written by a friend of mine, who is, as I type this, madly mixing tracks for his debut solo CD.

This groove is a simple transposition of a bass line to drum kit. I like the way it percolates beneath the song. In that context, the snare shouldn’t leap out as much as it does in these electronic simulations.

Patronize these links, man:

• Virtual Drummer loop
• MIDI
• MP3

I was reminded today that I’m leaving the country in about 16 days. And then I was reminded that my passport expired last year. And then I spent a frantic lunch hour overnighting still-damp photos and a check for $75 to the state department’s “expedited” passport service.

Watch this space… if they don’t get back to me soon, I’ll have some cheap tickets to Europe for sale. Yeesh.

Quarter-note bell pulse, offbeat hi-hat played with the foot, ghost notes. It’s straight time but it grooves pretty well, and the accent on the a of 3 breaks it up a bit. This sample contains 4 bars of the groove, with two separate fills (2nd and 4th measures). I particularly like the slow triplet-feel break at the end, even though it’s not really a triplet at all.

This groove works well if you can ride your HH foot on the 1/8th notes, open on the offbeats and close on the downbeats (or vice-versa). The transcript below doesn’t show this; it simply shows the HH closing on the offbeats, played with the foot.

     1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a
RC   O   O   O   O   
SD    o  O  o o O o o
KD   o  o o  o     oo
HH     x   x   x   x

Patronize these links, man:

• Virtual Drummer loop
• MIDI
• MP3

So I cooked my first-ever turkey today. Yes, we did it on Friday; thanks for asking.

I bought a fresh (not frozen), free-range Willie Bird turkey, brined it according to the Chez Panisse recipe (minus the juniper berries… can those things actually be purchased on this planet?) and smoked it over a hickory fire in my Weber Kettle.

Gross overcommercialization aside, I have to say that this was the best damn turkey I’ve ever eaten.

This book taught me how to make bread. There are dozens of great recipes in the book, and a thorough introduction to using preferments (biga, poolish) to build bread in stages.

This book remains one of my favorites because it leads the reader on a bread tour of France, Germany, and Italy, demonstrating many wonderful variations of wheat and rye breads.

The main sourdough recipe uses a firm levain, in the French style, and I believe this is much more difficult than using a wetter, barm-style starter. However, this is a quibble; I’ve had great success with most of the recipes.

A word of caution for new bakers (as opposed to, ahem, “Master Bakers”) — this book is written from the perspective of a professional baker, and tends to rely on having various starters and old doughs at hand. While it’s true that great bread requires such integredients, new bakers might feel less intimidated by Crust & Crumb.

My favorite recipes from this book:

1. Berkeley Sourdough (p. 195), one of the more sour recipes I’ve found.
2. Pain sur Poolish (p. 80) — the best one-day baguette recipe I’ve tried. I had committed this recipe to memory, in my youth. It’s easy, reliable, and make a great loaf of bread.

Patronize these links, man:

• Amazon (Paperback)