Mike Gittings

As I am typing this post I am trying to think of how long I've known Mike for. It is a long time...perhaps longer than many of my current friends realize. I am not entirely sure when the initial seeds of this friendship were planted, but I know that brother Eric was the gateway for it existing, since they are the same age and attended multiple schools together. I also know that in middle school we played on the same soccer team, coached by Mike's dad Neil, and grew up playing Hamilton Little League together (technically we usually opposed each other, I guess). I am positive that this particular soccer team occured in the Fall of 1993. My reason for knowing this is a little bit strange, but I have a distinct memory of showing up to a soccer game having just come from watching MTV's top 10 current videos or whatever they called it. This was back when Music Television still played music videos, and not reality TV shows about turning 16 and being a spoiled brat. Anyway, I had just come from watching this top 10 video countdown and had the emotional ballad "Two Steps Behind" by Def Leppard (from the Last Action Hero!) stuck in my head, tugging at my heartstrings. Mike had either been watching the same top 10 video countdown, or listening to In Utero because when I showed up he started singing "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana to me. The moments that stay in our memories are weird, as I don't remember anything else related to this particluar soccer game. It also shows that my musical taste in 1993 was much lamer than Mikes.

Anyway, I love this guy, and I would assume everyone else who knows him does too. He is the worst softball coach probably ever, but that doesn't stop me from thinking he is an A+ kind of guy. Also he can sing his heart out and plays the guitar real well. He has a great wife named Jenny, and a great (although the shortest I have ever seen) dog, too. Additionally he has a real knack for making recommendation lists, and here we go. He recommended a few recipes, and while they were too long to post in the list, they will get their own post later in the week. If you don't cook you might consider skipping that post. Buttermaker recommends:

Music:

E-music – I didn’t buy any new music for a long time due to budgetary considerations. I mean I was down to probably 5-10 CDs per year for the last two years. This left me in a musical rut, listening to the same stuff over and over and just not being that much of a music person any more. But beloved site- host Adam Hopkins turned me onto this Emusic thing, in which you pay $20 a month for 75 downloads per month on into the indefinite future. That’s like 6-7 albums a month , for something like 30 cents per track. Also, if you’re interested in getting in on this bandwagon, talk to Adam or me (note from the editor, talk to Adam about this), since we can get you 50 free tracks if you sign up through us.

Bon Iver – Quiet, haunting kind of stuff with high/low doubled vocals all over the place. Acoustic, mostly, at least on the first album For Emma, Forever Ago. Kind of reminds me of Ben Matthews back in the day

She + Him – Star powered but not gimmicky, I wouldn’t say. Or at least the gimmickry is quality stuff. I like the fact that they have some covers on here.

MGMT – Keyboardy dance type music with drum machines and loops. The vocals strike me as a little dumb sometimes, but it doesn’t really matter with stuff like this, does it? Think Faint, although maybe a little less dark.

Pete and the Pirates – Credit Mark O’Donnell for turning me onto this one, although I’ve acquired some more of this stuff on Emusic. Kind of everything Bon Iver is not…this is peppy and poppy and fun. Clever and unpretentious in the vein of early Weezer, but with arguably more interesting guitar parts.

Animal Collective – Credit George French for making me a believer. AC incorporates a lot of weirdness into their songs, which turned me off at first. But then I realized that underneath all the beeps and boops and screams, there are really great pop songs at play here. This is based on Strawberry Jam, their last LP, since Merriwether Post Pavilion doesn’t come out on E-music until March 3.

Reid Anderson- Another shout out to Adam Hopkins here. The Vastness of Space is apparently one of his favorite all time albums. If you like what Dierker and Trudel do in Quartet Offensive, you’ll probably like this stuff too. Personally, I mainly know the classic Coltrane and Miles stuff, and from my limited availability of reference points, this stuff is closest to Blue Train era Coltrane with more varied beats, as in less of the stereotypical bop beats. Actually, now that I think about it, it has a little bit of Birth of the Cool to it too, with the really cool horn riffs interlacing with each other. A true jazzbo could probably explain it better. All I know is I like it.

Books:

John Hodgman-–More Information that You Require - Mike Ward and I are completely in agreement that this man is a genius. I just finished the second book, and though I can’t remember a single thing he wrote in it because it’s all fake and of absolutely no consequence, I do remember laughing my ass off almost every time I sat down to read it.

Junot Diaz–-Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz is a Dominican writer who grew up in New Jersey and writes with a kind of tough guy aesthetic you’d expect from a street kid on the Wire. But his writing flows so well and is so beautiful, you have to believe that he’s actually a pretty meticulous writer. Really touching book, at least so far, I’m about halfway into this one.

Michael Chabon-–Yiddish Policemen’s Union - The movie Wonder Boys with Tobey Macguire and Michael Douglas was great, right? That’s a Michael Chabon book. And so is The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay, which won him a Pulitzer, and then he wrote Yiddish Policemen’s Union. There were a few steps in between those, a forgettable book called The Final Solution, maybe a few more I missed, but I’m pretty sure these are the big ones, and they’re all great.

Hiruki Murakami–-Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Most mysterious and amazing book I’ve read since The Master and Margarita. I have a feeling I’m going to be reading a lot of Murakami for a long time. He’s jumped right up into my favorites club.

John Updike--Rabbit Run - Updike died recently and I just thought I’d recommend a good starting place if you have never read any of his books. I’m not really sure this is the best Rabbit book he wrote, but it is the start of a long saga that’s basically about a former high school athlete searching for meaning in his rather mundane suburban life as a car salesman. Who can’t get behind a theme like that? I like the whole Rabbit series actually, but like I said, this is where it all starts.

Food:

Recipes – I spend a lot of time cooking. Since I stopped playing in a band, I would say it’s the number one creative thing that I do. Here are some good recipes that all involve some form of curry.

Indian Potato Salad – This is the one recipe that my ancient teacher friend Joe Cegelski wants the recipe for. It’s much better than your everyday potato salad.

Curry Chicken Salad (Jamaican-ish) - Since Jenny, my wife is a vegetarienne (well, pescetarienne), I substitute either seitan or Morningstar farms fake chicken in this. I got this recipe from a free university cooking class a few years back.

Masaman Curry Beef or Chicken (Thai) – I’m a fan of the masaman curry at Thairish and that’s what inspired me to try this one. Basically Masaman has some cinnamon sweetness to it and believe that cinnamon should really be in almost every dish out there. (I don’t really believe this.)

Curry Tuna (Indian) – Best use for canned tuna ever invented

Panang Beef in Red Curry Peanut Sauce – I believe every dish should have peanut butter in it. (I don’t really believe this.)