from a dive bar in brooklyn...

you can visit here

Fleet Foxes at the Oriental in Denver

photo by rusty ralston

Switchfoot in Colorado

as always, click to enlarge.

Here are a couple shots of Switchfoot... it was a super fun night 

with my dudes don & bobs and all the guys. 

Nothing better than sipping some fine homebrew 

with some of the best friends in the world.

Beer Blog: Rusty at the Great American Beer Festival!

Check out my epic blog of the Great American Beer Festival... Link is HERE.

ST. LOUIS, MO.

here's a photo i took in st. louis while on tour with griffin / xavier rudd.

OUTERNATIONAL

Here's an lo-res image from my shoot with Outernational. this is the lead singer, Miles. 

You check out their music here. 

Finally, some humor in the campaign!

The Char Dog - Wiener Circle - Chicago, IL

I assume that you all are familiar with the Chicago Dog, as the Magic Dog is highly influenced by this amazing creation. I've had Chicago Dogs over the years of visiting Chicago, from Swank Frank's, to Clark St Dogs, to Wiener Circle... and I must say that the Char Dog at Wiener Circle seems to be the pinnacle of the Chicago Dog style. It's quite incredible. G and I doubled up on these for lunch.

You'll notice the poppy seed bun, crispy dual pickle spears, the blackened dog, sport peppers,  the tomatoes, celery salt, the mustard, with the relish underneath. 

Don't order the chocolate shake though, it's way too overpowering.

Vote for Wiener Circle in '08. 

Interesting Chart / Politics & Money

Not exactly sure what this means, but I found the chart pretty interesting to look at on a design level. And the data is pretty straightforward, so make of it what you'd like. Interesting, so maybe even if taxes go up on the wealthy in a Dem administration, they will probably do better on the stock market? See the chart HERE.

NYC Food/Drink Reviews

Check out my latest blog on Elephant Journal... check it out HERE! Lots of tasty recommendations for cocktails, beers, and restaurants!

The Mystery of the Pegu (Pegu Club, NYC)

(as always, click photos to enlarge)

Last week in NYC, a group of us ventured to the king of NYC cocktail bars... the Pegu Club. I was sent to Pegu by my friend Bryan, the master mixologist / bar tender at Frasca in Boulder. It was at Frasca that Brian once poured me a Bensonhurst, which forever changed my idea of a cocktail. Some rye whiskey, some cynar, bitters, and caramelized orange rind... amazing!

So it was with anticipation that Caroline and I set forth to Pegu, and met up with Michael, his girlfriend, and Autumn. We knew we would have some fantastic cocktails, but we didn't know that Pegu would be the site of a mysterious incident in the men's bathroom.

Our table was at the end of a hallway near the restrooms, and we were relaxing and enjoying our bensonhursts, jamaican fireflys, and a whiskey smash or two... and it happened. The security guard, clad in a black suit, led the charge into the restroom along with 2 patrons whom seemed to be concerned about a friend. Did someone pass out? punched? One too many bensonhursts? Shady! 

After a couple of minutes, the 2 patrons had not emerged, but the door man exited cleaning his hands off with a white towel. There must have been a murder, we obviously thought. It was straight out of a gangster movie... An 86 at the ole Pegu, of course. We had to find out.

Curiosity was in the air... it was a mystery that haunted us the rest of the night, as seen in the photos of us trying to figure out what was going on on the Pegu Club on the night of October 4th.

Michael, startled and bewildered, feeling like he had entered some sort of haunted cocktail bar.

Autumn, brave enough to open a men's bathroom door, but not enough to look in the door from a vantage point closer than 3 feet... cautious curiousity, if you will. who knows what could have been in there.

The ladies, experiencing fear and the sheer thrill of uncovering the mystery of the Pegu.

The fun obviously carried across the hall to the ladies room, as there was no mystery in there. Well, at least that I know of.  Must have been the cocktails speaking by that point. That lady is certainly amused, ha.

So, there you have it. The mystery of the Pegu was never quite solved. 

Please go for yourself, experience the Bensonhursts, and proceed with caution. 

It might be a memorable night in Manhattan.

From The Clash on Broadway: Joe Strummer

If you've never listened to the Clash, well you better get on it. Assuming you have, you know Joe Strummer was one of the most influential rock musicians ever.

Check out this quote, taken from one of their albums that is interspersed with interviews.

"I'd like to say, people can change anything they want to; and that means everything in the world. People are running about following their little tracks. I am one of them. But we've all gotta stop... just stop following our own little mouse trail. People can do anything; this is something that I'm beginning to learn. People are out there doing bad things to each other; it's because they've been dehumanized. It's time to take that humanity back into the centre of the ring and follow that for a time. Greed... it ain't going anywhere! The Richest person in the world is the most unhappy one. They should have that on a big billboard across Times Square. Think on that. Without people you're nothing."

-Joe Strummer