“Brandon, you never post anything personal. It’s already something weird, like you want people to reenact bad 80s movies with your corpse or some PR junk that no one cares about.”
I’ve heard your criticisms and instead of ignoring them, I’ll talk about our Pioneer Day vacation to Wine Country in California.
See in Utah they have a special holiday on July 24 called Pioneer Day. This is the day when the Mormons came into town, and is celebrated by basically copying Independence Day. Oddly enough, the local boy scouts place flags in lawns as if it were a patriotic holiday. But I digress.
If you know me then you understand I’m more of a jack and coke and ribs guy than a wine and cheese guy. I fully expected four days of snobbery and self-loathing, with a few subtle barbs thrown my way for having gnarled tastebuds.
Instead it was a really nice, laid back trip. A few notes:
-Sonoma and Napa are totally different places. Napa is tourist country, with more obnoxious attractions like castles. The wineries along this route mostly charge for their tastings, unlike Sonoma, and you’ll battle a lot more tourists along the way (the castle is insane, and costs $10 per person just to get in). Sonoma is classier, more laid back and features lot of free tastings. Both are pretty, but Sonoma is worth spending more time in.
-The best experience we had was our first winery: Blackstone. Not actually a full winery, but they make several of their labels here. We paid $25 per person for a hands-on tour, barrel tasting and wine/cheese pairing. I expected snoberry and people holding their noses in the air, but instead the lady doing the tasting was very cool and totally understood that years of abuse have destroyed my sense of taste, and that I was being totally honest when I responded to her questions of “What do you taste?” with “Grapes.”
Even still, I totally get the concept that wine is best served with a matching food. Suddenly wine that I thought was awful before was fantastic when matched up with the right cheese, or sausage.
Know the scene from Ratatouille where Remy gives his fat, disgusting brother samples of wine and then cheese, and fireworks go off for the little chub? That was me. Stuff was good.
Go see Judy at Blackstone. Her husband is a Supertaster. He has the tastebuds and nostrils of one thousand Supermen. She can’t wear perfume because his nose is far too sensitive to handle it.
I can’t decide what is more awesome: that the guy gets paid to taste wine all day, or that when you reach the top of the tasting profession you are simply dubbed a Supertaster. This is far superior to the boring titles of “Senior” and “Executive” normal people give each other.
-Be prepared to drive. A lot. The wineries are just far apart enough to prevent walking or even biking comfortably. Also, don’t take a tour bus. Those people looked miserable. Both valleys are best toured at whatever pace you want, and the best places are the ones the buses don’t stop at. Key among these is a little line of shops on the outskirts of tiny Glen Ellen (late home of Jack London as well as Hunter S. Thompson at one point). Right next door to each other is an olive oil maker with fantastic oils and vinegars to taste, a chocolate maker with some fancy candy, and a cheese maker, who was actually closed when we stopped by. Go figure.
-Skip The Girl and the Fig. It looked really good and came recommended by “insiders,” but was a real letdown. And foie gras, while a great Iron Chef ingredient, ain’t that special.
-Mustard’s on the other hand, was phenomenal. The touristy place recommended by every brochure may have actually been the best meal we had in the place. The pork chop is fantastic and you must order it.
-Other good meals: The Crepe House in San Fran; Dierk’s in Santa Rosa; Buster’s in Calistoga (order the lunch portion, it’s massive); Cafe Tiramisu in San Fran; and the place in Sonoma that gave us our own little table for dessert. I can’t remember your name, but that was cool.
-Besides Blackstone, my favorite wineries were:
Arista, which is owned by the in-laws of a childhood friend of Lori’s – go see them, they’re good people despite being Texans.
Frank Family, which is owned by some former TV bigwig and their wines aren’t that great BUT YOU SHOULD CARE BECAUSE one of their tasting hosts is a former OU player that started for some of the great OU teams in the late 70s. His stories are fantastic. Wish I could remember his name.
Freemark Abbey – Lori ordered this super sweet Edelwein gold Late Harvest Reisling that was basically like fermented Kool-Aid. Their pours are generous and the ladies are very understanding of people who can only say, “Well, I taste grapes.”
It was also the first time The Wife and I had been away from Junior for longer than 24 hours, which was also very good. But however cool Sideways made the place seem to be for a week away, I really believe three to four days is more than enough for the average wine enjoyer. If you’re the type who can taste tiny hints of cranberry in a rich syrah, then maybe you ought to just live there.
Happy Friday to one and all. Prep football starts tonight, which means I’ll be writing pieces for the local paper again. And that Lori and Nate will have to find their own Friday entertainment for the next three months or so.
Also, college football kicks off in less than two weeks. If I were the type to use exclamation points wantonly, this would be the spot I would do it. Alas, you’ll have to just imagine the excitement I feel through simple periods.
Brett Favre Returns
And more people seem pissed off about that than the other big quarterback news of the past week, Mike Vick signing with the Eagles.
I listened to a Tulsa sports talk station the day Favre announced his return with the Vikings, and you’d think he had toured the town, slapping babies and pushing over old ladies as he went. People were pissed he was going to play again. This was in Oklahoma, where I doubt Favre has even been.
I just don’t get it.
If you’re a die hard Green Bay fan, then MAYBE you have a gripe. Things seem to have definitely gone sour between him and the organization, and if you’re loyal to the organization then you dislike Favre. That doesn’t have anything to do with him signing with the Vikings, or the Jets last year.
I just don’t think Favre has done anything wrong, other than a few public relations missteps. But the fact he retires and unretires (and sometimes retires/unretires again) every summer doesn’t do anything to you outside of annoyance. Favre isn’t giving your kid the flu or spreading rumors around the office about you.
Same thing with Vick, I suppose. Unless you’re a rottweiler with family in the south or the relative of a shanked prisoner in Leavenworth, nothing he’s done is harming your life. The guy did some sick stuff and got punished for it. If he messes up again, he’ll get punished again.
Both are guys with rare talents, just like you, fair readers, have for PR/Web Design/SEO. Favre just wants to keep playing while he still can, and so what if he wrecks his “legacy?” That’s his problem, not yours. The guy had a chance to make an extra $20 million or so while playing for a Super Bowl contender. I think he’d be crazy not to come back.
Same thing with Vick. He could work construction for $8 an hour, but if there’s a market for his football abilities, then of course he’s going to play. If someone wanted me to come play QB in the NFL, I’d be there in a heartbeat. When Vick screws up again, hell he might just get a third chance. It’s not his right to play football, but it is his right to take advantage of second, third, fourth, fifth chances and so on.
We’re all given second chances. I’d say most of us are given twenty, thirty chances. Playing in the NFL isn’t a right, but if there’s someone there willing to pay you handsomely to do it, and you WANT to do it, then there’s nothing anyone else can do. Don’t throw your outrage toward the players for wanting to play – save it for when they screw up and throw three picks on Monday Night Football.
PR people – you ever send out a pitch that you know it’s money? Where the story/source you offer is just perfect for the editor/publication you’re sending it to, and you know it’ll be perfect for their readers? Of course you do, 99% of your pitches should be like this (the other 1%, long shots. It’s okay, we all have them.)
And you get a response from the editor, agreeing that your story is one they really want to tell. They want to talk to your client, and clients of your clients. Send over product shots and anything else you have. SAMPLES!
So you fire off that email to the client, trying not to sound like you’re bragging, like you do stuff like this every day. It winds up looking like this:
Hello Jimmy,
We pitched your story to (Major Media Outlet) and they have great interest. Would you be able to do an interview with (Famous Media Personality) later this week? I’ve attached some background info on (the outlet) and some talking points.
Thanks,
Sammy
But if you were being honest, it would read:
Dude!
Holy Crap!
You’re going to be in freakin’ (Outlet)! I just made more revenue for your company that you’ve put together in years! How awesome am I? How lucky are you, ya lucky bastard?!
Let’s talk about upping that retainer, brah.
-Sammy
But then, the editor just disappears. No responses to emails or phone calls.
This happens to me almost weekly, and it seems to be getting more frequent. Maybe it’s due to overworked editors or constantly shifting beats. But sheesh, just tell me nevermind or “sorry, it’s a no go.” Just don’t ignore the emails; not after you’ve agreed to work with me.
All I can say is Dude, WTF?
How do you handle this and why does it happen?
Dunno. I guess you just take it in the pants from the client and try again.
———-
Yesterday the wife and I were cruising the hardened, tough streets of Sandy, Utah when an ad came upon the radio. It seems Pearl Jam is coming to town. Hooray!
For a “big” city, Salt Lake sure doesn’t get a ton of good shows. We get the ones who go to 220 cities a year like Kenny Chesney and Green Day, but the ones who don’t tour year-round rarely come here. I’m looking at you Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Kings of Leon. (Though some of our smaller venues should be credited for getting good ones such as Sigur Ros, MIA and Sonic Youth)
So to hear that Pearl Jam was coming was obviously a big deal and a no-brainer to attend.
Then they said the date.
Right smack dab in the middle of our Oklahoma trip. For a wedding that was called off.
#$%@#
Then to top it all off, they said the opening act is Ben Harper.
#$@%$#
Thus completes another week of schadenfreude, courtesy of Brandon Carter.
