Couch By Couchwest Online Music Festival #CXCW14

Yes indeedy it is that time of year, If it’s SXSW it’s CXCW  March 9th through March 15th

Find us on Web, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Let’s face it, we’re all too broke to go to Austin, and even if we had the money, we couldn’t get out of work anyway. There’s this pesky thing called “life” that keeps getting in the way. Allow us to introduce you to Couch by Couchwest.

CXCW is an annual online music festival that is for everyone. No badges, lanyards, bracelets, parking fees, ticket lines, exclusive parties, VIP tents, porta-potties, babysitters, dogsitters, expensive beer prices, or crappy hotel rooms…just the sweet comfort of your own couch. Here’s how it works, artists and bands from all over the globe record a video performance for us from their living rooms, kitchens, porches, bathrooms, you name it…pretty much anywhere but a stage…and we post them during the week of the festival (March 9 – 15, 2014).

Listen, you’re not the only person out there stuck in an office or a classroom or at home while all the supposed “cool kids” are trudging through the crowds of Austin. We are here for you, friends! So crack open a beer and a laptop, crank up the volume, and enjoy the couch!

Musicians: Please upload your unique to CXCW 2014 video (i.e. for the CXCW festival) to YouTube or Vimeo and send the link to us via the below form or to cxcwest at gmail dot com. (Think of this video as your performance for the Couch by Couchwest audience.)

• Videos do not have to be recorded on a couch, but they should be recorded essentially anywhere but a stage (we strongly encourage creativity). See these videos from CXCW 2012 for examples.
• Submitted videos should be unique (i.e. for the CXCW audience). Please do not send us promos, EPK’s, live concert footage, music videos, slideshows, etc…
• Low-budget iPhone videos are absolutely acceptable, in fact, they are encouraged.
• For the love of god, no lip syncing.
• You may do more than one video, but if we run out of time we may post both videos at the same time, or post only one. Your best bet is to do one kick-ass video that knocks our socks off!
• Please tag your video with “CXCW2014″ so that we may keep track of it on our YouTube channel (if you use Vimeo or some other service, please do the same).
• Also please include where you are from and any links you wish us to use (website, facebook, twitter, etc…) so that we may point our readers to you.
• If you are uploading your video prior to the start of the festival, please set it to “Unlisted”. This can be changed once the festival starts. Setting it to “Private” means we won’t be able to see it.
• We will be your new best friends if you submit your video link in this format – Youtube: Share: Embed: Video Size: 640 x 360/480, copy/paste
• We love all types of music and will try to post everything (unless overly offensive of course…i.e. Nickleback covers). Only Darius Rucker* is allowed to send in a video of “Wagon Wheel.”

*The Darius Rucker “Wagon Wheel” provision was enacted in 2012 well before his version was even recorded, and quite frankly, we are amazed and sickened at the power we wield. Proof. This provision still stands and is henceforth known as the Darius Rucker Wagon Wheel Provision of 2012.

Those in the crowd: we want to see how you spend the CXCW festival! Send us pics of your CXCW festivities, recipes, haikus, pet photos, avant garde performance art, kegerator, moonshine still, etc… viacxcwest at gmail dot com.

We are currently accepting submissions, but we will not begin posting them until March 9. Receiving videos ahead of time makes life a lot easier on this end, and allows us more time to watch videos and drink beer during the week (hint hint).  The last day to submit photos/videos is at 12:00pm Noon Eastern/9:00am Pacific time March 15th!

Remember, we do hand out dubious awards at the end of the festival so be creative and get your rock on!

Where the beer is cheaper and the only hipster is you.

CXCW2014 Beardliest Beard & Mustachliest Mustache Contest
The fine folks at The Mod Cabin have graciously offered some of their premium beard and mustache care products to us, so what to do…HAVE A BEARD AND MUSTACHE CONTEST OF COURSE! Winner for each category will win a Mod Cabin prize pack which will consist of Beard Balm + Beard Oil set and Mustache Wax + Mustache Comb respectively. To enter simply tweet or email us a photo of your glorious face fur tagged with #CXCWbeard or #CXCWmustache

@Hooper

@AaronOfOhio

CXCW2014 Taco Tuesday Contest
Here at CXCW, Taco Tuesday runs from Tuesday to Saturday. Send us photos and/or recipes to be entered. Please tag with #CXCWtacos

CXCW2014 Waffle Taco Wednesday Contest
We want to see your best examples of the infamous Waffle Taco. Send us photos and/or recipes to be entered. Please tag with #CXCWwaffletaco

CXCW2014 Haiku Contest
It’s a CXCW tradition, tweet us or send us your CXCW Haiku to be entered. Please tag with #CXCWhaiku

CXCW2014 “Roll-Your-Own” Poster Contest
Budgetary cuts have forced CXCW to slash budgets and gut departments, and of course the lowly art department is the first thing to go. This is where you all come in friends. We know there are some talented people out there who can create MUCH better posters than we ever dreamed of, plus we enjoy seeing what you guys come up with. So this year we are announcing our CXCW Poster contest. Send us your best CXCW poster via twitter or email to be entered. All entries will be entered in the final CXCW2014 Raffle to win prizes from our prize pool. Please tag your tweet/email with #CXCWposter to be entered. To view the posters we have received, please visit our Downloads page.

CXCW2014 Poster Posting Contest
What good is having a bunch of awesome posters if they never get posted anywhere? Here’s how it works, choose from the posters on our downloads page and send us a photo of one posted somewhere. Around your town, at your favorite bar, on your own walls, in your Grandma’s bathroom, hell we don’t care and we LOVE creativity. Send us a photo via twitter or email to be entered. Make sure to use the tag #CXCWposter to be entered.

The CXCW2014 Prize Pool
Participants from all contests (except beard & mustache) will be entered into one big CXCW raffle at the end where we will draw names at random for each of the prizes listed below. Please note: you may participate as much as you like in each contest, but you will only be counted once per contest entered (example: You send in an entry for 3 contests, your name will go into the raffle 3 times. You send in 3 entries to one contest, you will go into the raffle once).

• Lusty Monk Mustard Gift Boxes
• Howling Monkey Hand Made CXCW2014 Organic Guitar Pick Set
• Americana Rock Mix Stickers
• NineBullets.net Stickers
• Nine Bullets Radio Koozies
• Nine Bullets Radio T-Shirt
• Country Fried Rock T-shirt
• Buffalo Gospel “We Can Be Horses” CD

 

 

Visit the CXCW Archives for a list of past performers, and highlights from previous year’s CXCW festivals.

Contact us at cxcwest@gmail.com

For video and photo submissions, please see the Submissions page.

Visit our Youtube channel for videos from past CXCW fests.

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Text us: 240-CXCWEST (240-292-9378)

 

Coffee and Beer

 

Brandon Mannino pours a coffee-beer cocktail at Uppers and Downers. (Julie Verive / October 22, 2013)

By John Verive at Los Angeles Times

Coffee finds its way into a lot of beer, and the natural affinity was explored at Uppers and Downers, a weekend event that brought together brewers and coffee roasters at Intelligentsia Coffee’s Pasadena outpost, and which culminated in coffee and beer coming together in novel and delicious ways.

Fans of both brewed beverages filled the Colorado Boulevard coffee shop, which also serves beer and wine, to sample a bevy of coffee beers, snack on luscious charcuterie from Lindy & Grundy, and learn the stories behind the beer from the brewers and roasters themselves.

Read More

 

Morning Madness @PhicklesPickles Bloody Mary

This simple morning indulgence is from the great folks at Phickles Pickles a small batch pickle company in Athens, Georgia …preserving the best of every season!
Phickles Pickles Bloody Mary
2 parts Mix It Up’s (cocktail company from Baltimore) original Bloody Mary mix
1 part Phickles Pickles Juice
1 part Stoli vodka
garnished with Phickles Stix (pickled carrot) & Phickles Hotties (pickled jalapeños!)

Bubble bath is manlier in a whiskey bottle

Travis Weaver, the founder of the buzzy Houston-based apothecary goods brand Manready Mercantile, Since November last year, when he set up a table at an artisan fair downtown to introduce Manready to the Houston public, Weaver has been busy. Really busy. His goods – think woodsy and fresh-smelling lotions, candles, skin care and soap, plus one-offs such as cutting board and leather treatment, all unisex but marketed toward men – are now available in 15 independent retailers in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. A few weeks ago the line was picked up regionally by seven Whole Foods stores. It’s no wonder his place looks like it does: Weaver makes or packages the majority of his growing collection by hand, from scenting bath salts to washing and filling glass bottles and attaching labels, in the roughly 1,000 square feet of space that he shares with his Weimaraner, Dylilah.

The guy’s-guy needed an great idea, one with mass market appeal. He considered the beauty industry. Citing products such as bubble bath, which Manready now calls “Tub Elixir” and packages in a whiskey bottle, Weaver explains his thought process at the time: “What products would I use that my girlfriend uses but that I wouldn’t want anyone knowing about?”

Weaver set about growing his business, he says, by messing up a lot, and with a lot of elbow grease. He took a candlemaking class. Set off his fire alarm multiple times. Got drunk on whiskey with his graphic designer next door neighbor Roby Fitzhenry, and convinced him to partner up on the venture and to create Manready’s clever industrial-heritage-savvy branding. He tested products, such as the sandalwood-graced Beard Treatment, on himself and on his buddies. He also made connections, including with the goat farmer in southwest Houston who makes his lemony Manready soap, and with customers at market events around town.

 

 

Manready products, from the left: Bergamont & Teak lotion, Grandad’s Leather Treatment, Throne Spray in Forest and Citrus, Mustache and Beard Treatments, Tub Elixir and Tub Soak.

More Information
Where to buy:
Manready Mercantile products, $13-$38, are available at Houston shops including Kuhl-Linscomb, the Tinderbox and Settlement Goods, among others. For a full list of purveyors, visit manready.com.

 

 

Burn in Hell @LustyMonk Habanero Pepper Poppers

Ingredients: measurements vary depending on number of peppers used, eyeball it.
Habanero Peppers
Goat Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Lusty Monk Burn in Hell mustard
Diced Chives
Flour
1 Dark Beer
Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Cayenne Pepper

 

Directions:
Combine goat cheese, diced chives and cheddar cheese and LustyMonk mustard.
Remove tops from the habs and seeds
Gently fill the habaneros with the cheese stuffing. Place in a bowl and toss in a bit of flour so the batter will stick.
Take some flour (how much? guesstimation) and toss with the dry seasonings
Add the dark beer of your choice. Mix until you come up with a pancake batter like consistency. Use about 1/3 of a the bottle – drink the rest
Dunk the habaneros into the batter.
Fry using vegetable or canola oil for 5-10 minutes, depending on desired crispiness.

The Bloody @LustyMonk & @PhicklesPickles Mary

Ingredients:

2 oz Tequila

1 oz  Triple Sec

1 tsp horseradish

3 dashes Tabasco sauce

3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

dash of lime juice

3 dashes celery salt

3 dashes pepper

1 oz clam juice

1 tsp Lusty Monk Burn in Hell mustard

V8 juice

celery stalk for garnish

garnish with phickles pickles

coarse grained salt

Preparation:

Run a lime around the edge of a glass and then dunk the glass into a container of salt

Build the ingredients in a highball glass over ice cubes.

Top withV8 juice.

Mix well by pouring from one glass to another.

Garnish with Phickles Pickles, celery stalk and lime wedge.

Whiskey, Weed & Waffle House

JellyRoll Responds To Waffle House Cease & Desist, New Mixtape Artwork & Title
by Jake Paine – HipHopDX

Nashville, Tennessee rapper/producer JellyRoll has been smothered, covered and topped with legal notices by Waffle House.

Last month, Nashville, Tennessee-based emcee/producer JellyRoll recently released his latest mixtape, Whiskey, Weed & Waffle House. The Lil Wyte affiliate used the logo of the popular fast-food franchise of the same name on his cover art, inserts and marketing for the project, which is currently available for stream and download at LiveMixtapes.com, presented by Dirty Glove Bastard. JellyRoll also manufactured physical copies of the CD.

HipHopDX exclusively learned this week that the Gwinnett County, Georgia-based Waffle House and their legal representation of the Kilpatrick Townend firm have taken umbrage with JellyRoll and his mis-use of their brand. The rapper was cease-and-desisted this week from using the Waffle House trademark on his mixtape.

Brand New Asshole

Hot sauce so freakin’ hot it’s Guaranteed to rip you a new one! From Louisianna.

 

Hot and Spicy @lustymonk Bloody Maria

Ingredients:

2 oz tequila

1 tsp horseradish

3 dashes Tabasco sauce

3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

dash of lime juice

3 dashes celery salt

3 dashes pepper

V8 juice

1 oz clam juice

dash of Sherry

1 tsp Lusty Monk Burn in Hell mustard

celery stalk for garnish

lemon and/or lime wedge for garnish

cucumber and/or cocktail shrimp for garnish

coarse grained salt

Preparation:

Run a lime around the edge of a glass and then dunk the glass into a container of salt

Build the ingredients in a highball glass over ice cubes.

Top withV8 juice.

Mix well by pouring from one glass to another.

Garnish with the lemon and/or lime wedge and celery stalk.

The Perfect Rye Whiskey to Pair with Pancakes

Van Gogh, known for its palette of palate-pleasing flavored vodkas, has gone north of the border to bring back Tap 357, a maple-flavored blended rye whiskey with an 81-proof caffeine-surpassing jolt that will bring sunshine to your morning and sweet dreams to your nightcap.

The idea was this: Add a dollop of high-grade maple syrup to the smooth butteriness of barrel-aged rye whiskey to create a drink that kicks whiseky up a notch on that maple tree tap. Tap 357 starts with a blend of Canadian rye that has been aged for three, five, or seven years in bourbon casks. Then master blender Michel Marcil adds a dollop or two of pure “Canada 1/Grade A Light” maple syrup, one of Canada’s more-famous culinary exports.

The result is a potent but pleasurable cascade of flavors — sugary maple, toasty grain, buttery wood toast — that tastes good either neat, on the rocks, or in cocktails. It’s a tad sweeter than regular rye, and its mouthfeel is more substantial and silkier.  But there is no mistaking the barrel bite of true whiskey in the finish.