I Got Me Some Barfi

I'm at my brother's currently. The Illinois-Arizona game is one so we're huddled around the tele. All I really care is that the Badgers won last night and I don't even care all that much. I spent the afternoon with my mom but more on that later.

Firstly, the Steve Earle gig was incredible last night. Most of the set was uptempo and there was a tangible energy in the air that was for the most part an extension of the music but was also a reaction to Earle's lyrics and tirades against Dubya. Going in the Barrymore, I was really keen on hearing "Home to Houston" but I'm not sure why. It's a blatanty catchy tune, to be sure, but so is "Billy and Bonnie". I guess hearing a song about the predicament of Haliburton workers in Iraq instead of a love song was what the doctor ordered. The lights went down and Gil Scott-Heron's "Revolution Will Not Be Televised" started blasting through the PA. To say that revolution was a motif for the show is a bit of an understatement. The band came out and Earle started the guitar riff for "The Revolution Starts..." And, just as on the album, "Home to Houston" immediately followed. While I know anything about driving a rig much less driving one in a warzone, but I still love it and sang along. Over the course of the night, he played The Revolution Starts...Now in its entirety. This was cool as it meant that he played "Condi, Condi" but it but it also meant that he played "Comin' Around". I must be an old softy because tears welled up in my eyes while they played it. It got more intense when he did "Goodbye". Not only did it speak to the end of my relationship with The Dulcinea the night before but it also reminded me of my dad. As I wrote last year about this time, it was the song that would not leave my head as I drove away from the funeral home with my dad's ashes. I felt like I was reliving that moment at the Dick Thompson show in '96 when she played "She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair". Earle did a great job with the setlist. Most of it consisted of faster, heavier lefty songs but it was punctuated with slower, more tender moments such as "Goodbye". It was also cool that Earle's girlfriend, Allison Moorer, came out and sang on few songs as well having opened the gig. She is a hottie in addition to having a great set of pipes.

As I said, the show was chock full of heavy, angry tunes interspersed with Earle's tirades against the Bush administration. The show was really loud, which I liked, and this gave mid-tempo songs like "Transcendental Blues" extra energy. I didn't recognize many of the songs but they didn't take long to grow on me. "Harlan Man" was great and he did a rippin' version of "Copperhead Road". "F the FCC" was killer and they closed the show with a cover of The Beatles' "Revoltuion" and "The Revolution Starts...Now". They ended up playing 4 or 5 encores to boot including a cover of "Sweet Virginia" by The Rolling Stones. When he comes back I will definitely see him again. It was a great show full of energy and emotion. Before walking off the stage for the final time, Earle told the crowd, "Madison - get out in the streets!"

Although I didn't get to bed until around 1, I ended up awaking before 7. I spent part of the morning watching a Zatoichi flick on IFC and chatting with Stevie, who now has a bug up his ass to be a social butterfly. We perused the Isthmus for events going on for him to attend. Then I did laundry, caught up on e-mail, and prepared to head here to Chicago. I got to my mom's place about 2:30. She greeted me with a couple bars of Scharfen Berger chocolate. Soon we were out the door and headed out for lunch. We decided on German cuisine and went to Lincoln Square to eat at the Chicago Brauhaus. I had sauerbraten while my mom got wiener schnitzel. Mmmm...sauerbraten...vinegary, clovey, beefy goodness! For dessert, we split a piece of German chocolate cake. With bellies full, we went to Merz Apothecary. For Madisonians, Merz is a bit like Community Pharmacy but with more of an old-time general store kind of look. Lots of skin care products as well as dental stuff and just lots of stuff to make one smell nice. And it seemed like most of the products were from Europe. For my part, I bought some Bath Tub Gin shower gel, a new toothbrush with "natural" bristles, and some German toothpaste. The last one was a tough decision as they had German, American, and Italian toothpastes. (None from England, not surprisingly.) The Italian stuff came in funky flavors and was the clear winner in the best-looking tube category, but I thought $8.50 was a bit steep so I opted for some that was more reasonably priced. The area used to be heavily populated with German folk, unsurprisingly, and is now becoming a yuppie haven.

From there, we walked down the street a bit so my mom could do some window shopping at a clothing store. Then it was off to Devon Avenue and to Ambala. It's by Devon and California smack dab in the middle of a large Indian neighborhood. Walking into the store, we found that we were the only ones there. It was a large place with a long semi-circular counter littered with trays of treats. Wandering to one side, we encountered barfi, barfi everywhere. Plain, pista, chocolate...The guy behind the counter approached and handed us a sample of this delectable, warm sweet which was kind of like one of those fried Italian cookie hoolies that look like a round pretzel and begins with an R, the name of which escapes me at the moment. Well, it was like that except it was drenched in a honey glaze instead of being sprinkled with powedered sugar. Oh my fuck, was that good! I knew immediately that I'd be spending some major ching. The guy brought out a box and prepared to fill it with some Habshi Halwa but I said I needed something bigger. So he reached underneath the counter and got a larger box. "Do you have anything bigger?" So he pulled out the mega-box. "Great! I'll need 3 of those." And they got filled with, not only Halwa, but also Pera, Pista Barfi, Chocolate Barfi, Ladoo Motichoor Badam Barfi, and other stuff whose names I cannot recall but contain tons and tons of pistachio and cardomon. The guy also gave me a spoonful of this pasty carrot stuff that was on a tray - oh mama! Just sooo fucking good! As I was paying a small fortune to the owner, we chatted a bit. My mom told him that she'd heard of the store via the Sun-Times and I relayed that I was from Wisconsin. He replied that his brother lives in Janesville and used to live in Eau Claire. I wanted to tell him to have his brother move to Madison and befriend me so I can get free consignments of these pukka sweets.

It seems like every time I come here to ChiTown, I see a billion wonderful culinary opportunities. I really must take advantage of them more. Next time I'm going to that Swedish bakery my mom raves about. And the Swedish restaurant we drove by on Paterson. Life is too short for fast food. Not only will is shorten your life but it also deprives you of the opportunity of experiencing the wonderful cuisines of the world. One grocery store we drove by had a sign in the window for young goat - only $3.29/pound. Eating should not be viewed as something you do when you have time or as something that just makes you fat. It should be seen as a sensual experience, something to relish and enjoy.

OK, the Illinois game is nearing an end and the Ozrics show nears. Hopefully they'll play something from Strangeitude as that's the only album of theirs with which I am familiar. "Sploosh!", perhaps? Maybe "The Throbbe". We'll see.