The Manic American

Summary graphic: Three musicians on a stage and in front of a brick-lined wall. The guitarist and bassist wear plaid shirts, and the drummer a t-shirt. The keyboardist is not visible at this angle.

INFRASTRUCTURE: Live at Johnny D’s

On: 06/30/2010

INFRASTRUCTURE live at Johnny D’s in Davis Square, featuring excerpts from “The West,” “Teardown Kings,” “F#,” “The Old World,” and more.

Summary graphic: A sun-scorched container tank rises above a warehouse-style building. Midway up the tank, lettering indicates the SEA LEVEL line.

Escape to San Diego, 2008, Part II: The Desert

On: 06/30/2010

In: The West

San Diego is huge: over a million people. It used to be in Mexico. The weather attracts young adults and bums from pretty much all of the southwest.

Escape to San Diego, 2008, Part I: The Coast

On: 06/29/2010

In: Photo Essays, The West

I grew very tired of whatever I had been doing. I decided to engage some temporary manifest destiny and go west to explore San Diego and its vast desert backyard. This is what I saw.

Summary graphic: Outside of a school bus, a man grins and holds one hand up making the “longhorns” gesture of UT Austin’s sports program. Inside the bus, an older man makes the same gesture.

Photo Gallery: The Old School BBQ Bus

On: 06/28/2010

In: Photo Essays, Texas BBQ

We were driving around Austin and saw what looked like a school bus that had been turned into some kind of giant smoker.

Summary graphic: Sliced brisket upon a simple tray. The food is way better than this photo shows.

Snow’s BBQ: The Best Brisket in the World

On: 06/14/2010

In: Photo Essays, Texas BBQ

We first visited Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Texas in 2008, after Texas Monthly ranked them the #1 barbecue place in Texas. They weren’t wrong. We were wowed, and we’ve been back multiple times since that first visit.

Summary graphic: A group of friends stand under a Christmas display mimicking the pose of a giant Santa Claus.

Santa Chop!

On: 06/14/2010

In: Photo Essays

Of the tens of thousands of digital photos I’ve taken, this is my favorite.

Summary graphic: A woman sunbathing at Revere Beach

Boston Urban Beach Trifecta

On: 06/09/2010

In: Boston

Nice weather or not, we visit Revere Beach every spring. In 2010 we decided we would hit all three of Revere Beach, Castle Island, and Wollaston Beach.