Taplister is a free application and website that helps you find out what’s on tap in your local pubs. The CrapMonkey Podcast caught up with Ken Baer, Chief Technology Officer of Taplister, to find out what this crowd sourcing tool was all about. Click below to hear the interview.
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Happy holidays and I hope you are having a festive season! There is a temporary lull in activity so I thought it would be a good time to enjoy an Arctic Rhino and record a podcast. In this episode, I chat a bit about perfume made from beer and also about Stone Brewing’s consideration of expanding into Europe. In the tech world: if you live an active online lifestyle, you may wish to sign up for Backupify to back up your data. For that matter, you may also want to try Picnik, an online photo editing service that ties into your social networks (a must have for folks who use flickr). If your still living an “offline” life, you might bridge the gap a bit with a Smart Pen – a pen that records your written notes for syncing with your computer or online account. By the way – there is no restroom review in tonights episode, so I thought I’d link to this article on the ladies room at 5 Spot.
The song of the day is My Way or the Highway by Travis Carl and the website of the day is the Beer Mapping Project. The show closes on Two Years Down by Stonehoney.
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Happy Labor Day from the CrapMonkey Podcast! There are a couple beer related events coming up that may be of interest to those of you in the Seattle area. This weekend is the Great Canadian Beer Festival in Victoria (just a few hours away on the Clipper). Fremont Oktoberfest is September 18, 19 and 20th. You may wish to kick it off by joining in the Brew Ha Ha 5k Run & Walk. If you’d rather hang in the great outdoors, you might want to join the Beer Geek Campout at Deception Pass State Park on Sept 19.
This weekend I caught a brief interview with “Dirty Uncle Mike”, the lead singer of a band called Dicktionhead. While at the Galway Arms Irish Pub to see them play, Wendy also phoned in a Restroom Review.
Were you ever a fan of the V mini-series in the eighties? Well ABC is airing a remake in November. This episode includes an audio preview – but check out the video version at ABC.com.
The song of the day is the difficult child by Dicktionhead and the website of the day is picnik.com. The show closes on Movie by Katie Davis. 
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The Seattle Hotpocalypse is coming to an end, so I’m actually able to stand the heat in the CrapMonkey “Studio” long enough to make a podcast. This episode is focused predominantly on beer topics: First of all, MillersCoors is starting to experiment with beer in a box. Kid Rock is also throwing his hat into the beer arena with BadAss Beer (by Michigan Brewing Company). If that’s not your style, you might be interested in the new beers being distributed under the Costco Kirkland Signiture brand. Looking for a way to cool off in the summer heat? In Seattle, check out the Bluebird Homeade Ice Cream & Tea Room on Capitol Hill. They have a Stout Ice Cream made with Elysian’s Dragonstooth Stout (review available at elliemay’s blog).
Thanks to Josh from Columnbreak for an excellent restroom review from MSStudios (recorded at the August 4th Gelato Tweetup). Incidentally, the Gelato from the Tweetup was delicious. You’d be crazy not to swing by Gelatiamo and try some out!
The Song of the day is Beer Toast by Bobby Chitwood and the Website of the day is mustlovebeer.com. The show closes on Perfect Fit by Blame Amy.
Don’t forget, Gnomedex 9.0 is right aroudn the corner. Get your ticket while you still can!
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It’s another hot day in Seattle and there are a lot of things going on this summer. First of all, the Oregon Brewfest is this weekend in Portland. This is probably the best brewfest in the NorthWest. On August 4th, you’ll want to check out the Gelato Tweetup at Microsoft Studios (co-sponsored by IABC Seattle, Microsoft Academy Mobile and SMC Seattle). Be sure to RSVP! Gnomedex is also only a month away (aug 20 – 22), so it’s probably time to start thinking about picking up your ticket. A couple weeks after that is the WABL Labor Day Weekend camping trip – which also sounds like a lot of fun. Incidently, if you haven’t joined WABL yet, you ought to consider it.
Recently I picked up a toy for the office called the Mir:ror by Violet. It’s an RFID reader designed for the average consumer and it’s a pretty fun little product.
The song of the day is Before Daylight by Zach Harjo and the website of the day is WeChooseTheMoon.org – a cool interactive recreation of the moon landing. Finally, the show ends on Beautiful Lie by Beth Thornley.
See you at the Oregon Brewfest!
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It’s 70 degrees on a Friday night, so I’m sitting in my office boiling. That said, there’s some fun stuff to mention, so I thought I’d do make a quick podcast. First of all, a new brewery will be opening soon in Fremont aptly called Fremont Brewing. I’m always glad to see a new brewery open up in the neighborhood and their blog is a great way to keep up on their progress. Additionally, the Washington Brewer’s Festival is taking place at Saint Edward’s Park in Juanita on June 20th, so you better get that on your calendar. The Fremont Fair is the same weekend. On June 13th, Seattle BrewMuster is taking place at Gallagher’s in Edmonds, there are still a couple more days to get tickets if you’re interested. Pyramid Brewery rebranded their top beers – seems kind of strange to me, but what do you think?
Want to get addicted to a simple little video game? Try out Shift.
The song of the day is One Day Soon by Mark Colety and the website of the day is bing.com. We end the show on a CrapMonkey Spool Sample featuring Tesla’s Forever More.
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This edition of the CrapMonkey Podcast is a bit of a mixed bag. In technology news, Internet Explorer 8 has released and is available for free download (you might also want to check out this funny ie8 promo video that includes web celebs like the Ask a Ninja Ninja). Also, scientists have developed a macromolecule that should lead to a self-healing clear coat that may make your car’s paint or your devices screens repair their own scratches. Addicted to Twitter? Find more people to follow with WeFollow.com. Speaking of following, you should also follow the Love Long and Prosper Podcast – so I included a fun promo for it in today’s show.
Discover Magazine has a cool series called “20 Things You Didn’t Know About…” that is worth checking out. The topics of “Television” and “Time” are certainly worth a read. Are you in to retro 3D? If so, get your glasses on and check out Swell3d.com. However, if this episode is getting you into too good of a mood, maybe you should take a look at thingstobemiserableabout.com.
Finally, there is just a smidge of beer news in this eposide (since I missed the Washington Cask Festival). Seattle Beer Week is coming up in May. Check out the Seattle Beer Week website to learn more about what that entails.
The song of the day is Hangman by Zach Harjo and we close the show on Broken Halos. Both songs are from Zach’s upcoming album called Dark Poems. It’s not out yet, but you can catch Zach this Wednesday (April 1st) on KEXP or on Saturday April 4th at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard. The website of the day is Playboy’s cover-to-cover site, a free archive of high quality, scanned playboy issues spanning the publication’s history. Also included in this episode is a restroom review of Sully’s Lounge in Queen Anne.
What’s wrong with the picture below? This is a rare glimpse of the Seattle Space Needle at night without its normal illumination. The lights were shut off for one hour on Saturday night in observance of Earth Hour. As you can see, very little of the rest of the city played along.
By the way – on Thursday, April 2nd, there will be a Tweetup at Pyramid Alehouse in Seattle. I hope to see you there! (Click the link to RSVP).
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In this very short episode I share a few of the latest editions to the crapmonkey family of products. First off, KarateKidPose.com has been updated to enable voting, so get out there and vote for your favorite photos and submit your own (be sure to come back often as photos will be added regularly). Additionally, the CrapMonkey Cube Audio Clip Player is now available for general use. Click on the “Share Audio” page from this blog to try it out.
Mix 2009 is coming up next week (March 18-20) in Las Vegas – be sure to check it out in person or online if you’re interested in the future of the web. Also, It’s never too early to start planning for the Oregon Brewers Festival (July 23-26th). Get your hotel now and I’ll see you at the brewfest!
The song of the day is flickr, by Jonathan Coulton (view a great video version of it here – and a live version here). The website of the day is washingtonbeerblog.com. The show closes on a song called Amway, by Fanny Alger.
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It’s amazing how fast the time goes. In this episode, we listen to a brief audio clip from the last sunny day of the season when Wendy and I attended the Oyster Run in Anacortes (photos available here). Winter’s not all bad though, the 4th Annual Winter Brewfest is at Hales Ales on December 5th and 6th. Starting to compile your Christmas list? Perhaps the beer lovers on your list might like this remote control beer cooler. Or, perhaps you’d rather get creative and make your own portable kegerator.
I’m extremely pleased to note that Redhook has released their Double Black Stout for a limited time (production of the beer was halted in 2000). This was my favorite beer back in the late 90s when it was brewed with Starbucks coffee, and it’s still quite delicious today – though I don’t know what coffee they use now.
Lately I’ve been using a new service call ChaCha. This service is a great way to get information on the fly – just text 242242 with any question, and they will text you back an answer.
The website of the day is Truemers and the Song of the day is Evelee, by Darren Lucas. Today’s episode closes on Something New by John Francis. Click the Arrow below to listen to the episode.
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It’s the first day of Fall and what better way to celebrate than with a CrapMonkey Podcast. First off, I want to invite you to a benefit for Jeff Fielder who recently had some of his favorite instruments stolen while he was on the road with Sera Cahoone. It will be at Station in Ballard on October 3rd (download flyer) and you may also make a donation to the Fielder cause via PayPal (note: I accidently said Oct 4th in the podcast – please note my slip of the tongue!). In this episode, we chat about technology topics including the Democratic National Convention Online Media Gallery, Chrome, Internet Explorer 8 beta 2, and Zune 3.0. We also chat about some low tech but useful gadgets including the SwirlyGig and the Ring Thing. In beer news, Budweiser released their newest beer American Ale (strangely released shortly after being bought by InBev). Finally, I want to encourage you to check out the History Hackers pilot which airs Friday on the History Channel.
The song of the day is (fittingly) Rob You Blind by Jeff Fielder and the show closes on Last Disguise, also by Jeff Fielder. The website of the day is ThrilltheWorld.com.
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It’s hot in Seattle! I’m not complaining, but it’s a short show cause it’s just too hot in the Crapmonkey “Studio” to stay for any length of time. Looking for something to do this weekend? The Rails to Ales Brewfest is coming up in Cle Elum on Saturday, July 12th. If you’re not down with heading that far East, you might just go as far as Redmond and visit the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Concert (July 12 & 13). Personally, I’m looking most forward to the Oregon Brewfest coming up at the end of the month (Click here to view a video I produced at last year’s brewfest). In Tech news, Bill Gates retired this week. A great retrospective collection of videos is located on Microsoft.com.
The Song of the Day is Rooftop by Sunday Morning Music. They are not together anymore, but you might want to keep track of former members, Jeff Fielder and Zach Harjo. The Website of the day is viewzi.com and we close the show with a song called 4th of July by Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.
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Lots of things going on lately. I spent the weekend bobbing in the water off Alki getting my PADI scuba open water certification. In this episode, we talk a bit about the Iron Maiden Concert on June 2nd and listen to a couple of clips from that show – Including some thoughts Bruce Dickinson had regarding Grunge and the media coverage of it. In this episode we cover some beer news some upcoming events including the next week’s Seattle Podcast Meetup, The Father’s Day Washington Brewers Festival, and the Phinney Neighborhood Association Beer Taste in July.
The song of the day is Movie, by Katie Davis and the website of the day is GuerrillaMail.com. We close the show on clips from the Iron Maiden concert.
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Thanks for tuning in to another Crapmonkey Podcast. There has been a lot going on lately… but enough about me. Let’s look at what’s coming up in the near future. In the beer department, there are a few different festivals to look forward to attending. Right around the corner on May 2nd and 3rd is the Hop Scotch Spring Beer and Scotch Festival. July 4 through July 6th is the Seattle International Beerfest and from July 18th through July 20th is the Portland International Beerfest. If you can do only one brewfest in Oregon this year, you’ll want to check out the Oregon Brewfest July 24th through July 27th (warning: hotels book up fast!). Check out last year’s Oregon Brewfest Video! Looking for something to do on Memorial Day Weekend? How about attending the Crypticon Horror Convention in Seattle or the Vancouver International Digital Festival in Canada? In the Tech arena, Microsoft has launched Live Mesh as a tech preview. If you need help getting your digital life in sync, Live Mesh might be just the right thing for you.
The song of the day is Souls Come Rising by Lords of the North and the website of the day is TeachStreet.com. The show closed on What’s Eatin’ You by Airbourne, recorded live (from the crowd) at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. Special thanks to the AndyCast Podcast for the intro, go subscribe to Andycast – you’ll laugh till you stop!
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On Sunday night, Tesla put on a rock show to remember at the Showbox Sodo in Seattle. The show rocked the venue with all of the enthusiasm and energy that Tesla is known to exhibit. Prior to the show, I sat down with Tesla’s newest member, Dave Rude, to talk about playing with Tesla, fronting the Dave Rude Band, the future of record labels and even beer. Following the interview, we hear a track called Eighteen Eyes from Dave Rude Band’s newest EP. Check out the interview and then go visit Dave on myspace!
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The beers that you find in the casinos in Vegas are typically not that great. That’s why I decided to head over to the Sin City Brewing Company’s Pub and have something a little different. You may view the brief video below (apologies to Ipod users as the video is in WMV format).
In this episode we go over a litte beer news, including a cool initiative by Boston Brewing to help get smaller breweries through the hops shortage. Additionally, CJ from the Love Long and Prosper Podcast gave me a heads up that the Pheonix Zoo is hosting Zoo Brew 2008 in April. In other news, HDDVD is dead and the Mix08 conference is about to kick off online and in Vegas in early March. A few weeks ago we featured an interview with owner of the Ballard bar, Ocho – Zach Harjo. In this podcast you’ll find a review of the Ocho restroom and a song from Zach’s upcoming album (Zach will be playing at the Tractor Tavern on Tuesday Feb 26th at 9pm).
The song of the day is Dead Leaves by Zach Harjo and the website of the day is slideshare.net.
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On Monday, we made the trek into Lahaina to check out the beers brewed by the Maui Brewing Company. Located on the NorthWest side of the island, this award winning brewery is both charming and unique. Their beers range from blonde to Stout and include everything in between. In this Piece of Crap we speak with beer-tender, Anton, about topics ranging from the beers themselves to the reasons the brewery chose to package in cans instead of bottles.
Most of the beers in the Maui Brewing company line were enjoyable, but a couple that stood out were the Big Swell IPA (57 IBU) and the Coconut Porter (and I don’t even like coconut). Click below to hang with us at the brew pub and, by all means, when in Maui – be sure to check out the Maui Brewing Company.
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We’ve been in Maui for a few days now. Weather was a bit sketchy here for a while, but it seems to be turning for the better. Regardless, it’s a lot warmer here than it is in Seattle. This Piece of Crap is a montage of audio check-ins from various points on our trip leading up to today – Superbowl Sunday. On that note, I better get moving if I want to get a good seat at Moose’s Pub. Photos of the trip are available on Flickr.
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All this talk about Diamond Knot in the last two episodes has made me thirsty to pull an interview out of the archives. At the Winter Brewfest in december, I met Bob Maphet, founder and co-owner of Diamond Knot Brewery. I was pleased to meet Bob because Diamond Knot (located in Mukilteo, Washington) brews my favorite IPA. We had a conversation that ranged from when Bob first brewed that famous IPA to the current hops shortages that challenge the brewing industry. Click below to listen.
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Ocho, a new spanish style bar in Ballard, opened its doors to the public this evening. I had the pleasure of attending an open house reception last night and had the opportunity to preview some of the appetizers and cocktails Ocho will be featuring. Hosted by owners Zach Harjo and Gelsey Hanson, the reception delighted all who attended and the food and drinks did not disappoint. The menu consists of Tapas (small plates) which means you can get a tasty bite for as little as $2. The drink prices vary. A delicious Sangria (red or white) is $8 – which is absolutely worth it. The $10 Margarita is a little stiff in price but also comes across as a stiff drink altogether (and given that taxes are included in the prices on their drink menu – it ends up being pretty reasonable). Zach and I stepped out of the bar for a few minutes to have this conversation about the birth of Ocho. Enjoy, and I look forward to seeing you at Ocho in the near future.
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