2016.07.28 Lords of Waterd’oh!

 

3-Players: K, Si, W
Game: Lords of Waterdeep + Undermountain expansion

Location: K

Choice: K

Game One:

Game Over

Player	Points
Si	222
Z	214
K	213

Final Tally:

• Si was declared this week's winner!

Game Notes:

• The Lord card Z had is probably not as awful as he made it out to be.
• The Quest card Z had is probably not as unbeatable as K made it out to be.
• K misread his Lord card, leaving him at the end of the game with a measly 12 Lord card points despite completing 13 quests (d’oh!).
• 4^th player on the night was baby B, who was held by K for two thirds of the game.

Music Notes:

Dave Matthews Band (random compilation by K)

Stone Temple Pilots (Core)
Core is the debut album by American rock band  Stone Temple Pilots, released on September 29, 1992 through  Atlantic Records. The album, which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #3 on the Billboard 200, was certified 8x  platinum by the RIAA on December 18, 2001, making it the band's best-selling album.

Xavier Rudd (To Let)
To Let is the debut album from Australian roots musician Xavier Rudd. It was released in 2002.

Stars (Set Yourself on Fire)
Set Yourself on Fire is the third album by Canadian indie rock band  Stars. It was released on September 14, 2004 on the  Arts & Crafts International record label in Canada and the United Kingdom, and on March 8, 2005 in the United States.  The album's most notable single was "Ageless Beauty", the band's breakthrough hit in Canada. "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" has also garnered significant play in the United States. It was featured on the soundtrack of The O.C.  On November 17, 2009, "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" was featured on Fox network's  So You Think You Can Dance,  season 6. Former show contestant and current choreographer  Travis Wall chose it as the track for his piece danced by Ellenore Scott and Ryan Di Lello.  In 2005 Set Yourself on Fire was a  Juno Award nominee for Alternative Album of the Year. It lost to the album Let It Die by Feist, who is an occasional band-mate of Stars' Amy Millan, Torquil Campbell, and  Evan Cranley in the indie rock band  Broken Social Scene.  The novelist Ibi Kaslik is quoted on the jacket of the album.

 

 

 

2016.06.16 There Can Be Only One (Loser)

6-Players: W, G, Si, J, M & Z
Game: Settlers of Catan: Traders & Barbarians
Location: Si
Choice:  G


Game One:


Player	Points
Z	7
Si	7
G	7
J	7
M	7
W	5

Final Tally:

• W was declared this week's non-winner!

Game Notes:

• Game called on time

Music Notes:

John Coltrane: Transcendence (1961)
The classic quartet, live in Europe.

Betty Davis: Betty Davis (1973)
Briefly married to Miles Davis in the late sixties. Miles apparently said that she was "too wild." this album is her first and arguably best. She was a sexy funk queen, for sure.

2016.05.12 Put Some France in Your Pants

6-Players: Si, W, M, J, Z & G
Game: Imperial
Location: Z
Choice: G


Game One:


Player	Points
Si	80
W	77
M	75
G	61
J	60
Z	58

Final Tally:

• Si was declared this week's winner!

Game Notes:

Country	Victory Point Multiplier
France	x5
Austria	x3
England	x3
Germany	x3
Russia	x2
Italy	x2

Music Notes:

Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks Vol 4: February 14, 1970 - Not Fade Away
Grateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Volume 16: March 28, 1973 - Dark Star -> Eyes of the World
Pink Floyd: Animals (1977)
Wildcard's Choice: ?
Medeski, Martin & Wood: End of the World Party (Just in Case) (2004)

2016.04.28 Six Minutes West

7-Players: K, Si, M, J, Z, W & G
Game: 7 Wonders
Location: Z
Choice: Consensus


Game One:


Player	Points
K	59
W	53
J	48
Si	43
Z	42
M	36

Game Two:


Player	Points
M	54
Si	52
Z	49
J	44
W	43
G	42
K	34

Game Three:


Player	Points
Si	58
Z	52
K	51
W	47
G	43

Final Tally:

Player	Points All Games	Avg Points Per Game Played
Si	147	49
K	144	48
W	143	47.6
Z	143	47.6
J	92	46
M	90	45
G	85	42.5

• Si was declared this week's winner!
  

Music Notes: 

Chris Robinson Brotherhood: Betty's Blends Vol 2
Dry the River: Alarms in the Heart
Arcade Fire: Reflektor

2016.04.21 El Grande Por Favor

meeple!

5-Players: Si, Z, J, G & W
Game: El Grande
Location: W
Choice: Si


Game One:


Player	Points
Si	112
Z	97
J	94
G	94
W	67

Final Tally:

• Si was declared this week's winner!

Game Notes:

• Played with the 20th Anniversary Edition for the first time.

end of game

Music Notes: 

Allman Brothers: Live New Year's 1973

Triple cd bootleg. Some of the jams get a bit messy and lose focus but some transcendence can be found. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed is especially tasty here. Some later tracks feature Jerry Garcia. We skipped a bunch of tracks trying to hit the highlights.

Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove  (1978)

Play something funky was the request. Who says a rock fan cant dig a funk band?

2016.04.14 The Thursday After

5-Players: K, Si, JT, Z, W & G
Game: Terra Mystica
Location: W
Choice: M


Game One:


Player	Points
Si	96
W	77
G	76
Z	75
M	67

Final Tally:

• Si was declared this week's winner!

board at game end

Game Notes:

Player	Race
Si	Nomads
W	Darklings
G	Giants
Z	Engineers
M	Cultists

Music Notes: 

• Grateful Dead: Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead (Recorded 1972)

A fine collection of live tracks all culled from the same tour of jolly old England in the spring of 1972.

Tracks        Cold Rain and Snow [6:02]
Greatest Story Ever Told [6:00]
Mr. Charlie [3:52]
Sugaree [7:34]
Mexicali Blues [3:31]
Big Boss Man [6:28]
Deal [5:52]
Jack Straw [5:19]
Big Railroad Blues [4:27]
Hurts Me Too [6:07]
China Cat Sunflower --> [5:06]
I Know You Rider [6:02]
Playin' In the Band [10:10]

Good Lovin' [20:00]
Ramble On Rose [6:42]
Black-Throated Wind [6:07]
Sitting On Top of the World [3:30]
Comes A Time [6:38]
Turn On Your Lovelight [13:02]
Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad [8:23]
Not Fade Away --> [4:54]
Hey Bo Diddley --> [4:30]
Not Fade Away [3:06]

Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu [5:15]
Black Peter [8:53]
Chinatown Shuffle [2:49]
Truckin' --> [10:14]
Drums --> [2:44]
The Other One --> [19:31]
El Paso --> [4:48]
The Other One --> [8:20]
Wharf Rat [10:49]
One More Saturday Night [4:57]

Uncle John's Band [7:21]
The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion) [7:35]
Dark Star [31:28]
Sugar Magnolia [7:16]
Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) [17:16]
Brokedown Palace [7:02]

2016.03.03 What Happened to Austria

6-Players: W, Si, K, J, G & Z
Game: Imperial

Location: W
Choice: K


Game One:




Player	Points
Si	141
J	132
Z	130
G	117
K	116
W	104

Final Tally:

• Si was declared this week's winner!

Game Notes:

Music Notes:

Graham Central Station: Graham Central Station (1974)

Paul Butterfield Blues Band: East-West (1966)

Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2 (2011)

Quantic Soul Orchestra: Stampede (2003)

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (1974)

2016.02.11 Hot tunas on a cold night

5-Players: W, Si, J, Z & G
Game: 7 Wonders + Cities


Location: Si
Choice: J


Game One:

Player	Points
Si	60
W	57
G	53
J	42
Z	40

Game Two:

Player	Points
Z	72
J	55
W	53
Si	53
G	48

Final Tally:

Si was declared this week's winner - by a single point!

Player	Points
Si	113
Z	112
W	110
G	101
J	98

Game Notes:

• Game 2 tie for third place broken by W having more $ at game end.

Music Notes:

Hot Tuna: Hot Tuna (1970; Recorded in September, 1969)

Debut album featuring some nice acoustic-blues. Side project of Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. Would sometimes open for the Airplane. A lot of nice covers including Death Don't Have No Mercy and I Know You Rider.


Grateful Dead: The Music Never Stopped (1986; Recorded in September, 1977)

A fan club album, aka bootleg, given out in Sweden to members of the united fan club. From the dead's best year, 1977. Not from the well-regarded month of May, this one's from the labour day weekend in September. Four songs. Two on each side of vinyl. For me, some definitive dead: the secret stash, the holiest of holies. Starts with Jerry singing one of his great songs about gambling: Loser. His guitar just rings like a bell, crystal clear in the mix and there's plenty of bottom bouncing around thanks to Phil. There's a simply amazing Estimated->Eyes, especially the Eyes, followed by a smokin' He's Gone. A jewel in my collection.


Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)

One of the few listenable Genesis albums. The last one with Peter Gabriel.

2016.01.28 It Takes a Village

4-Players: W, Si, M & G
Game: Village + Inn + Port
Location: W
Choice: W



the Port expansion upgrades the traveller options in the original game

Game One:

Player	Points
Si	69
G	66
W	59
M	41

Final Tally:

Si was declared this week's winner.

Game Notes:

• First time for all: playing with the Inn expansion
• First time for all: playing with both the Inn and the Port expansions
• First time for Si & M: playing with the Port expansion
• Not as complicated as the Cones of Dunshire

Music Notes:

Queen: Night at the Opera (1975)

[AllMusic Review by S Erlewine] Queen were straining at the boundaries of hard rock and heavy metal on Sheer Heart Attack, but they broke down all the barricades on A Night at the Opera, a self-consciously ridiculous and overblown hard rock masterpiece. Using the multi-layered guitars of its predecessor as a foundation, A Night at the Opera encompasses metal ("Death on Two Legs," "Sweet Lady"), pop (the lovely, shimmering "You're My Best Friend"), campy British music hall ("Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon," "Seaside Rendezvous"), and mystical prog rock ("'39," "The Prophet's Song"), eventually bringing it all together on the pseudo-operatic "Bohemian Rhapsody." In short, it's a lot like Queen's own version of Led Zeppelin IV, but where Zep find dark menace in bombast, Queen celebrate their own pomposity. No one in the band takes anything too seriously, otherwise the arrangements wouldn't be as ludicrously exaggerated as they are. But the appeal -- and the influence -- of A Night at the Opera is in its detailed, meticulous productions. It's prog rock with a sense of humor as well as dynamics, and Queen never bettered their approach anywhere else.


Little Feat: Waiting for Columbus (1978)

Classic live double album. Recorded August 2, 1977 - August 10, 1977. Lowell George's last release before he died. Has all of the bands greatest songs played by the band. They jam out a number of their hits, some seven years old at this point. Apparently there's quite a bit of post-production but nonetheless, a great showcase for the band's material.

Chris Robinson Brotherhood: Betty's Blend Vol 2 (2015)


Live Album. Recorded in the summer of 2014 by famed, former Grateful Dead recordist Betty Cantor. Features a cover of the Grateful Dead's They Love Each Other. Also features a cover of Drivin' Wheel, a song by Ottawa-native David Wiffen.



McCoy Tyner: Live at Newport (1963)

First live recording. Played piano with Coltrane. The first jam announces: this is jazz, baby! It's all there with some strong bass and drums backing up the bottom and horns and keys dancing above. Some of the players were using borrowed instruments and the show was very spontaneous. They play a couple of standards after the opening jam and then a couple of Tyner's. Quite enjoyable, although: jazz.

2015-12-27 Merry Gameday

close approximation of the event

8-Players: K, W, G, Si, Sc, J, D, DT
Game(s): 7 Wonders + Cities & Stone Age
Choice: Consensus
Location: K

Game One: 7 Wonders + Cities

yay cities!

Player	Points
Si	58
J	56
Sc	49
DT	49
G	47
D	44
K	42
W	27

Game Two: 7 Wonders + Cities

yay cities

Player	Points
Sc	58
G	56
Si	55
D	43
W	42
J	38
DT	35
K	30

babel on the other hand, not so much yay

Game Three: 7 Wonders + Cities + Babel

Player	Points
Si	48
K	47
J	44
W	42
G	38
Sc	33
D	32
DT	32

Game Four: Stone Age (two side by side 4-Player games)



stone age yay!

Player	Points
K	168
G	149
Sc	149
Si	133
J	132
DT	124
D	120
W	97

Final Tally

Point totals from all games were added together to get the final tally for each player

Player	Points
Si	294
G	290
Sc	289
K	287
J	270
DT	240
D	239
W	208

2015-11-12 An Empire Rises



Maybe next week's game?

5 Players: G, Si, J, Sc, W
Game: Imperial 2030
Location: W
Choice: Sc

Game One:

Player	Points
Si	108
J	103
G	103
W	82
Sc	69




what each Thursday offers M:
a new game or new version of a game never played before
and a whole new set of rules

Game Notes:

• China was the first country to reach the x5 threshold
• We kinda went late but we finished. yay!
• M was missing this week leaving only speculation as to his Thursday evening potato chip consumption.

Music Notes:
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

Fifth album for the venerated rockers continuing in much the same vane as Vol 4, at least on the first side (the second side with the introduction of synthesizers had a more pop-oriented feel and presages some later Osbourne solo era albums).

Ozzy said about the time: "Tony had been doing coke literally for days - we all had, but Tony had gone over the edge. I mean, that stuff just twists your whole idea of reality. You start seeing things that aren't there. And Tony was gone. Near the end of the gig he walked off stage and collapsed."


Also, Osbourne has said that Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was "the beginning of the end" for Black Sabbath's original line-up. insert sad face emoticon here.

Herbaliser Band: Session One (2000)

Hip hop duo Herbaliser reproduces a bunch of tracks from their first three albums live in the studio with a funky jazz band. Most tracks are completely instrumental, and vocals are only present in sample form on two tracks ("Who's the Realest?" and "The Sensual Woman").


LemonJelly: KY (2000)

The so-called debut release actually just their first full length cull of tracks from earlier EP's. Personally, I enjoyed the beats and sounds but pitchfork eviscerates the album here. ouch.

AllMusic says:  It's downtempo for the acid generation, an eschewing of popular prêt-à-porter after-hour aesthetics.


Pink Floyd: Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)

Do I really have to explain the appeal of this album? Their first full length featuring the songwriting stylings of Sid Barret himself. Named after a scene from Wind of the Willows. This psychdelic masterpiece with it's twist of childlike whimsy and fear would provide the background for the swinging London scene. This album when I was sixteen... We named our high school intramural soccer team "Astronomy Domine" after the opening track. That didn't go over great...

2015-08-20 The Not-So-Stoned Age




G was somewhere else

3 Players: W, K, S
Game: Stone Age
Location: W
Choice: S

Game One:
S (217 pts), J (200 pts) & W (164 pts)

Final Tally:

• S was declared the winner

Notes:

• None

Music:
 

 Unknown

2015.07.16 Tom's Other Son

6 Players: S, I, K, W, J, G
Game: 7 Wonders: Tower of Babel expansion
Location: W
Choice: I

Game One:
S(59 pts), G(49 pts), K(49 pts), J(44 pts), I(43 pts), W(42 pts)

Game Two:
G(65 pts), J(65 pts), S(64 pts), I(58 pts), W(55 pts), K(55 pts)



Final Tally:

S(123 pts), G(114 pts), J(109 pts), K(104 pts), I(101 pts), W(97 pts)
S was declared this week's victor.

 

Game Notes:

• 2nd game: no expansion, vanilla 7 Wonders due to time restrictions
• J was a deal breaker in game one
• Now! well, not now now but now
• Simon built 3 townhalls in game one
• Library built in chain from Scriptorum by 2 players on the same turn

 

Musical Notes:

 

Electric President: Electric President (2006)

• Indie electronic
• enjoyed by all
• surprising 80's sound to some tracks

 



2015.06.18 I didn't expect a Spanish Inquisition!



 

5 Players: W, K, Si, M, G
Game:  El Grande: Grand Inquisitor & the Colonies
Location: W
Choice: K



 

Round Two:

Si(86pts), M(81pts), K(80pts), W(79pts) & G(64pts) 

 

Final Tally:

Si was declared victor for this week.

 

Notes:

• Game not finished due to time.
• Game cube was used but not enforced. Time was set at 1:00.  

Music Features

Lou Reed: Rock 'n' Roll Animal (1974)

 

 

[Notes from AllMusic.com] In 1974, after the commercial disaster of his album Berlin, Lou Reed needed a hit, and Rock N Roll Animal was a rare display of commercial acumen on his part, just the right album at just the right time. Recorded in concert with Reed's crack road band at the peak of their form, Rock N Roll Animal offered a set of his most anthemic songs (most dating from his days with the Velvet Underground) in arrangements that presented his lean, effective melodies and street-level lyrics in their most user-friendly form (or at least as user friendly as an album with a song called "Heroin" can get). Early-'70s arena rock bombast is often the order of the day, but guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter use their six-string muscle to lift these songs up, not weigh them down, and with Reed's passionate but controlled vocals riding over the top, "Sweet Jane," "White Light/White Heat," and "Rock 'n' Roll" finally sound like the radio hits they always should have been. Reed would rarely sound this commercial again, but Rock N Roll Animal proves he could please a crowd when he had to.

 

Squarepusher: Hard Normal Daddy (1997)

 

[Notes from Sputnikmusic.com] Hard Normal Daddy is wicked mixture of spacey keyboards and laid-back beats. When he’s on his game Jenkinson can create the most bizarre, trippy atmospheres with fleeting synthesizer tones and bluesy guitar riffs. Countless electronic acts fail as they try to cram in several clicks and beats into one song, Jenkinson falls victim to this on a couple of tracks but makes up for it with his innovative “UFO’s flying through outer-space” type of sound.

 

 

King Megatrip: The 4th Expedition

 

[Notes from megatrip.blogspot.ca]Who is this King Megatrip? Known only as MK to his closest friends - the origin story of this enigmatic agent of chaos has yet to be told. A super-powered roofing DJ - playing records with his dog and living in his very own Fortress of Solitude at Megatrip Central. ------ What can't Megatrip do? Guided missiles, laser beams, fireball fists, jet boots, energy blades, a protective force field, the ability to change size, mad kung fu skills, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2015.05.28 Rolling Stone Age

most embarrassing name in boardgaming



5 Players: G, W,  M, Si, J

Game: Stone Age + Style is the Goal Expansion
Location: G
Choice: M


 

Game One:

Si(117pts), G(114pts), J(86pts), W(70pts) & M(64pts)

 

Final Tally:

Si was declared victor for this week.

 

Notes:




• Game was called early due to time
• Non-canon game this Saturday at Si's 

 

 

 Music Features (with notes from AllMusic.Com unless noted)

Stanton Moore: III (2006)



Maple Plank is the seventh song on the album

...These are future funk grooves made by basic instrumentation from the past. Moore's always been about shakin' it down, but in the past his sense of syncopation and adventurous instrumental dictates won out over solid, in-the-pocket funkifying. That's not to say that All Kooked Out! and its predecessor, Flyin' the Koop, weren't good records...hell, they were great. But they were complex jazz and soul studies, whereas III is nothing but greasy...

...As a bandleader, Moore's got it all: he has the right players for whatever he might attempt, and this is the finest example of that yet. It's from the heart, and it's got all the sass, spit, vinegar, and laughter that the great soul-jazz records of old had, and proves that the format isn't done by a long shot.

Highlight for G: Instrumental cover of When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin).
 



The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed (1969)

Mostly recorded without Brian Jones -- who died several months before its release (although he does play on two tracks) and was replaced by Mick Taylor (who also plays on just two songs) -- this extends the rock and blues feel of Beggars Banquet into slightly harder-rocking, more demonically sexual territory...

...some of the songs are among their very best, especially "Gimme Shelter," with its shimmering guitar lines and apocalyptic lyrics; the harmonica-driven "Midnight Rambler"; the druggy party ambience of the title track; and the stunning "You Can't Always Get What You Want," which was The Stones' "Hey Jude" of sorts, with its epic structure, horns, philosophical lyrics, and swelling choral vocals. "You Got the Silver" (Keith Richards' first lead vocal) and Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," by contrast, were as close to the roots of acoustic down-home blues as The Stones ever got.



 

CSNY: 4-Way Street (1971)

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had come out of Woodstock as the hottest new music act on the planet, and followed it up with Deja Vu, recorded across the second half of 1969 and released in March of 1970, supported by a tour in the summer of that year. As it happened, despite some phenomenal music-making, the tour was fraught with personal conflicts, and the quartet split up upon its completion. And 4 Way Street followed, released in April of 1971: a live double-LP set, chock-full of superb music distilled down from a bunch of nights on that tour that more than fulfilled the promise of the group. Indeed, contained on those original four LP sides was the embodiment of everything great that the unique ethos behind this group -- which was not a "group" but four individuals working together -- might have yielded. Each of the participants got to show off a significant chunk of his best work, whether presented alone or in tandem with the others, and the shared repertory -- "Long Time Gone," "Ohio" etc. -- binding it all together as more than a documentary of some joint appearances. Conceptually it was all as diffuse as the concept behind the group, but musically, 4 Way Street was one of the great live rock documents of its time, a status it retains along with such touchstones as the Allman Brothers' At Fillmore East, the live half of the Cream's Wheels of Fire, and the Grateful Dead's Live/Dead; some of the extended guitar jams between Stills and Young ("Southern Man") go on longer than strict musical sense would dictate, but it seemed right at the time, and they capture a form that was far more abused in other hands after this group broke up. Although Neil Young and Stephen Stills had the advantage of the highest wattage on their songs and their jams together, David Crosby and Graham Nash more than manage to hold their own, not only with some strong and distinctive songs, but also a strong case that less could be more; they reached the more introspective members of their audience, mostly individually, while Stills and Young wowed the crowds collectively. The double-CD version adds more acoustic material by each of the participants, which gives a fuller picture of what they were all about musically -- Nash's acoustic rendition of "King Midas in Reverse" doesn't slot in too easily next to the earthier Crosby, Stills & Young originals, but it also adds a welcome British psychedelic pop interlude to the proceedings. The essentials of the original album are all intact, and all in better sound.

 



Neil Young: Live at the Fillmore East (recorded 1970, released 2006)

so when is Miles Davis playing?

[From PopMatters.com] There is considerable controversy surrounding this anxiously awaited release. For Neil Young fans, this is an unexpected gift—a live show of the first, short-lived incarnation of Crazy Horse in all their ragged glory. For Neil Young freaks, this is an overdue, unconscionably abbreviated version of a two-night stand at the Fillmore East that has long been legend. The verdict? For anyone who enjoys good music, this is a no brainer that comes heartily recommended, period.