Just Cyd.

I'm not going to separate my venue review for this show, because the Moody Motel is a private residence! It's been a decade or two since I've been to a house concert, but they are increasingly popular with the small bands I'm seeing on all the socials. the hosts were fantastic, the event was in their front room, with room to move about in the kitchen and living room behind, so accessibility would've only been an issue had we arrived super-late and had to park far away. Lights were dim in the front and back rooms, with lots of candles (most electric) and other dim lighting to set the mood. I spied a kitty at one point, who was clearly not a fan of the crowd.

A house concert is nothing like a show at a bar. We were greeted by Jill, who welcomed us warmly and shared my joke about our mothers haunting us if we didn't do right as hostess and guest (her showing us around, and me producing the baked goods and beer to be shared). I'd been commenting on the Instagram posts, so once the word "cookies" was sounded, several people approached me to say hi and confirm i really DID drive in all the way from Ohio. A few were shocked to hear this was my 5th show of the year. One guy, Lance, pulled me aside and asked how I found out about Darren's shows, as he's yet to figure out how to get the info to come to him. I told him I stalk IG/FB and his website, but that the summer shows first appeared on Spotify. I joked that I was going to demand Darren let me take over his social media, but I wasn't 100% kidding.

The vibe was nice and chill, and eventually I saw Darren and Zach and waved hello, figuring we'd chat at some point. Many people were meeting them for the first time, and let's face it, we're old friends by now. heh. Ben was rather subdued, but introduced himself around, and the "where do you live?" game was played. He lives by a drive-in theater on the south side of town, which everyone immediately knew of. It was that or use the uber-racist name for the neighborhood. Eventually someone recognized his Pedro t-shirt du jour, and the two of them launched into Pedro-talk for quite a while.

At one point, Darren approached me and began talking about the book I'd given him, and how some friends of his spoke highly of her, and how much he enjoyed it. He's got such a soft voice that he's hard to hear in loud rooms, but it was a lovely conversation. He'd read Al Jolson, and talked about the chimp/gorilla that lied, and compared it to his line "I'm the boy who fell in and got the gorilla killed" -- the actual meaning being doing something for one reason but it having vastly different (bad) consequences. I chided him for the Harambe reference and confessed I have a very hard time seeing past the literal meaning of that line. I spoke a bit about how Hempel is the reason I write, and have been writing since I was a teen, and the challenges I have writing fiction. As always, there wasn't enough time, and he got pulled away by someone else.

Lance, another super-fan, had a box full of albums he wanted Darren to sign, but did not have with him the three that were for sale. He asked if I had paypal; I do. Then he asked if I had Venmo. I do. Darren was accepting Venmo (that's new), but Lance only had PayPal, so he asked if he could PayPal me the $$ for the albums, and I make the purchase via Venmo. I agreed. we completed the transaction, and I put in the note "for Lance, i promise!" and made him go tell Darren, so Darren wouldn't get mad at me. That was the first time I've ever seen Darren with his phone out, and it was just long enough to see the transaction, and then it was back into his pocket. an aside -- the cash price for his albums has always been $20. This is the first I've seen him take venmo, and I was happy to see the price increase, if only to cover the transaction fees associated with digital payments.

Then out of nowhere, Jay Gonzalez started playing. The show was a sell-out (40 people) and it got a little tight as we all moved forward to better hear and see. at one point, Jay had a tiny keyboard (smaller than a melodica) strapped to his guitar and was playing both. crazy. He didn't sound anything like Drive By Truckers, but I didn't hate it. after one song, he quipped "I'd always wanted to write a bosa nova about cunnilinguis" and the crowd lost it.

Eventually Darren and Zach took the floor, and Ben and I moved over to the side, on their right, to have a better view. I know that Darren often turns to look at Zach while playing, and when he plays his keyboard he'd be facing us, and that's what I wanted. Going into the show he was very calm and relaxed. He'd had a beer or two, and he really seemed to be vibing. At one point, he said "Zach, it's too quiet. Can someone grab something off a shelf and break it?" and we all chuckled. none of the bar background noise, no people coming and going, no TVs or loud conversations, just 40 people focused on the music. Some where there for Darren or Jay; others were there because they'd attended prior events and loved the atmosphere. either way, we all wanted to be there. Ben commented later that a few times Darren looked very please with himself, like he'd hit a chord/note just right, and had that look of bliss when things just line up perfectly. I have to agree. He got a little funky with the phrasing in a few songs which was nice to hear, loosening up a bit. Zach didn't have a microphone, so his harmonies weren't nearly as prominent, but he still added a lot to it. He played a song or two I'd not heard him play this year, but still no Wild Ascending Blue. I need to ask him about that; I'm guessing there's just not room in the Subaru for a 2nd acoustic guitar?

After the show we got to chat with Zach, and someone asked how he and Darren got connected. Zach had been hired to be a guitar tech for Hiss Golden Messenger when Darren was playing drums, and they toured together. sometiem after that, Darren called him up. Zach is in his own band, Canine Heart Sounds, where he plays keys and guitar and drums, plus sings. We talked with others that we hadn't seen prior to the show, and had many a good laugh with other fans. it was also quite apparent that the crowd was pretty queer-leaning, and the Moodys were queer-friendly. they had a rainbow flag in the main room with the words "abide no hatred" and the sign on the bathroom door was the one with "whatever, just wash your hands" on it. Ben loved it.

I'd told Ben prior to the show that his mission, if he was up for it, was to get a pic of me with Darren. I've never bothered to even ask up until now, but figured I could make my friend be The Bad Guy :) so finally, I have proof that I've met Darren Fucking Jessee. Ben only took the one shot, and Darren was mid-blink, but that's OK, there's other photos, and it was a perfect way to end the night.

After my friend Doug shared his beautiful Detroit style pizza on the 'gram, I decided I needed to give it a go. The catalyst for his was finding Wisconsin brick cheese, which is apparently the traditional cheese for this. With that in mind, some friends and I made a trek to Jungle Jim's, where I was able to acquire two kinds of WI brick cheese (in the German cheese section?), as well as Pizza Flour type 00.

To start, I used King Arthur's recipe. For the first time ever, I weight the flour rather than measuring it with measuring cups. I should have at least checked to see how the two compared. I did not weigh the water, and it did not occur to me to do so until much later.

it's a very basic dough, and the initial mix to "shaggy" was my first indication that i had too much water or too little flour. I let it rest, then started the kneading in my KitchenAid. It was more like batter than bread dough, so i added more bread flour, three spoonfuls in all (about 1/4c), to get it to actually hold together, kneading it well, then let it take its first nap. By this point I was texting Doug, and he provided some much-needed encouragement and inspiration by showing me his just-baked bagels.

Not knowing if my yeast was still good, I was please to see that after two hours, the dough had easily doubled, and had that yeast-y smell. I divided it into the only dark pans I could find - a 7" springform and a Perfect Brownie pan. both had the ability to free the contents easily, were dark and nonstick.

The dough only needed one rest between smushings to get it to fill the pan, and then it was time for nap #2. During the dough's nap I cubed up the cheese, two different kinds of WI Brick. One was commercially packaged, and was drier, and tried to crumble a bit when broken, the way a sharp cheddar will. The taste was mild and pleasant. The second cheese came from a larger block and was re-packaged by JJ's. it was much creamier, but had that pungent bite of a sharp aged swiss. It also had some of the glossy interior bubbles you see with swiss. very strong, and it lingered. The creamy texture was divine, but even my dormant tastebuds could register this one, and disapproved.

The dough puffed some during this final rise, but I didn't see the big bubbles that I thought I would. With the oven heated to 500F, it was time to assemble and bake. I tossed the combined cheeses onto both pizzas, making sure each got the appropriate amount for the available surface area (equitable vs equal?), then dolloped on some (too runny) canned pasta sauce. Into the oven for 12 minutes, worried that the full 15 would have been too much.

I should have used the full 15 minutes. I did have the crusty burned cheese along the edges that is the hallmark of Detroit style pizza, but the crust was a bit under-done. Also, the sauce was too runny and/or the cheeses were too much or too fatty? lots of extra and unexpected grease. The crusty cheese released well, and once cooled enough to handle, I devoured the smaller of the two. It's not exactly the same as the stuff I get locally, but with some adjustments, I think i can get a LOT closer for a lot less money.