Blood Of The Vines - Lights! Action! Music!

Pairing‌‌‌ ‌‌‌wine‌‌‌ ‌‌‌with‌‌‌ ‌‌‌movies!‌‌‌  ‌‌‌See‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌hear‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌fascinating‌‌‌ ‌‌‌commentary‌‌‌ ‌‌‌for‌‌‌ ‌‌‌these‌‌‌ ‌‌‌‌‌movies‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌many‌‌‌ ‌‌‌more‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌at‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌From‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Hell.‌‌‌ This week it’s all about the music. Oh, and the wine. 

Celebration at Big Sur is the film version of the 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival, although the movie was not released until 1971. You get a heavy dose of Joan Baez, not nearly enough of Joni Mitchell and just about the right amount of CSN&Y. It would have been nice had the filmmakers included a complete version of "Cowgirl In the Sand," but I get it - ten minutes can be a long time to wait for a Neil Young song to end. 

Miniscule in comparison to Woodstock, which had happened just a month earlier, the Big Sur event drew barely more than 10,000 people. Many of them listened to the two-day folk fest for free, from the shoulder of Highway 1. It’s not the best way to hear a concert, but it is the cheapest. 

I enjoyed a Bob Dylan concert once in San Diego, when he played the Embarcadero Amphitheater. As I walked toward the venue, planning to buy a ticket, I realized that I could hear just fine from the steps of the Convention Center, so I sat down. There was no $20 beer to be had there, but I did save the cost of a ticket and didn't mind being able to leave whenever I felt like it.

For a movie about a music festival in Big Sur, it is only fitting that we open a bottle of Big Sur Red from Big Sur Vineyards. This wine is a blend of Grenache and Syrah grapes grown in Monterey County, the home of Big Sur. Pretend you're at the festival and drink it straight from the bottle. 

From 1975, That's the Way of the World showcases the music of Earth, Wind and Fire, who basically play themselves as a fictional band. Harvey Keitel is in it, which is usually enough to draw me into the theater. He's a record producer with a "golden ear" who works with the group. Personally, I prefer him as a hit man, but a hit record producer will do in a pinch. If he had only insisted on "more cowbell."

You may have listened endlessly to the soundtrack album to That's the Way of the World without realizing that it was a soundtrack album. Rolling Stone called the EW&F record "makeout music of the gods," which is at least one thing they got right.

Lodi's Jessie's Grove Winery puts out a nice red wine which they call Earth Zin and Fire. The Zinfandel clocks in at more than 15% alcohol, routine for the fine farms of Lodi. It will def put a person in the mood for making out. 

1973's Wattstax is 103 minutes of pure soul. The film shows the concert put on by Stax Records in 1972 to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the Watts riots. There is more than the concert in the film - many artists who couldn't appear during the show were asked to film separate pieces elsewhere to be included. Isaac Hayes, in fact, recorded some songs that were different from those he did in concert because MGM wouldn't let them use "Theme From Shaft" in the movie. That restriction fell by the wayside in 1978. When the movie was restored in 2003, Shaft was put back in as part of the film's finale. "Right on."

There was skepticism that a little record label - Stax - could team up with a little neighborhood - Watts - for a successful show at the Los Angeles Coliseum with tickets that sold for a buck apiece. It happened. It happened big time. As Isaac Hayes said, "You’re damn right."

Watts Winery isn't in Watts, it's in Lodi, farmed for four generations by the Watts family. But hey, how about an actual musician vintner? Earl Stevens - you might know him as rapper E-40 - makes California wines that look to be on the sweet side and are priced on the affordable side. Enjoy a chilled Mangoscato with Wattstax.

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Grateful Dead Wine

From about 6 years ago.

Wine For "Woodstock"

From the vaults, five years ago. The wine and movie pairing for "Woodstock." Thanks to "Blood Of The Vines" for hosting these originally.

Jay Z's Problem Bubbles

BOTTLE OF RED, BOTTLE OF WHITE

I've been a big fan of the Billy Joel song, "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," since it appeared in 1977.  There may not be an award given for "pop song that best presents wine as a social vehicle," but if there were, this song would probably win it.

I've done a bit of study on songs about wine and have found that they tend to stray into the unsavory areas of drunks, bums and hobos.  In "Scenes," there's no "drowning your sorrows" or "trying to forget" or "let's bum some change and get loaded."  It's all about sharing wine with a friend and enjoying the memories which are revisited over a bottle of wine and a red and white checkered tablecloth.

"A bottle of white, a bottle of red, perhaps a bottle of rosé instead."

I understand that a waiter actually delivered that line to Joel.  The singer reiterates it in the languid introduction to his tune. He sings about the social aspect of wine - citing it as an ingredient which augments the great feeling of spending time with friends and having good conversation.

Back in the college days, the wine may have been cheap - it may have been bad - but it was definitely an important part of the social scene.  Sure, we drank too much of it - that's what college kids do.  At least, that's what non-valedictorian college kids do.

We all may not have been "wine lovers" in our youth - I seem to remember a beer now and then - but we definitely loved sharing wine with our friends.

Through the years, we have attended weddings - even been a part of the spectacle - and we've toasted friends and relatives on their nuptials again and again with champagne or some other sparkling wine which seemed to be the best in the world, given the circumstances.

"A bottle of red, a bottle of white, it all depends upon your appetite."

I can't recall a pop song, except for this one, which references the pairing of wine with food.  From pizza to pâté de foie gras, food is better with wine.  How many snacks, lunches or dinners have you shared with friends over the years?  If you're like me, it's the
friends you remember the most, then the wine.  I don't usually reminisce over a ham sandwich I had twenty years ago.  The person with whom I dined and the wine we drank are memories which do stay with me.

Jerry Jeff Walker sang ever so (hic!) eloquently about sangria wine, in which he also extolled the virtues of wine plus friends.  However, his Texas friends were spiking the wine with Everclear.   No food needed there, or even advisable.

I once brought a Spanish Garnacha to a friend's dinner party.  One of the guests - a guy I didn't even know to be a wine lover - told me he liked the way the wine made the food taste - so much so, that it made his visit even more enjoyable.  I don't know how I could have felt any better about that wine.

"A bottle of red, a bottle of white, whatever kind of mood you're in tonight."

Once in New York, a friend and I caught a cab to Little Italy on a very warm summer evening.  We took a sidewalk table, bought a bottle of red wine and proceeded to amuse ourselves with stories and laughter.  I don't even remember what kind of wine it was,
but it was good and it was cold and the bottle was sweating even more than the cabbie who brought us to the restaurant.

Another friend had a sister who loved a particular brand of cheap, California Chardonnay - a grocery store brand.  Anytime the three of us got together, it was that brand or nothing.  Even when I offered to spring for something else, something better, she wouldn't hear of it.  The wine wasn't very good at all, but it didn't seem to matter.  We had a good time sharing it every time.

My wife and I have explored the various wine regions of California together many times.  It never fails to warm my heart when she tastes a wine she really likes.  Her eyes light up and she spills forth with tasting notes that come to her immediately, not over long swirls, sniffs and sips as with me.  She has found dessert wines and Italian varieties to be her favorites, and it's always a special occasion when we enjoy those together.

Ohio sommelier Tony Bellatto, in his blog, "Open The Cellar Door," sums up the social aspect of wine nicely with this comment:

"I realized that it really didn’t matter what we were drinking, because the wine did its job, it created a moment in my life that I will never forget, a snapshot in time that I will remember forever, and that is what it is worth all the money in the world to me."

"I'll meet you anytime you want, at our Italian restaurant."



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WINE SONGS

Let's do a little multi-media multi-tasking today.  If it sounds too tough, warm up with the crossword puzzle, then come back.  Today's blog features a whole slew of songs about wine.  After you read about them, feel free to click over to 30 Days Out and listen to them.  That happens to be a really great blog about music, which is headed up by a really great guy with whom I used to drink some really cheap wine.

One of my many joys in life is music. I love gathering mp3s of songs together in a thematic group and burning them to a CD.  I use these CDs to pass the hour and a half or so each day I spend behind the wheel of the car in Los Angeles traffic.  Believe me, I need all the help I can get.

Another of my many joys is wine, so it’s not too much of a stretch for me to assemble a compilation of songs about wine.

It's difficult to find too many songs about wine that are actually about the wine.  Most wine songs are lyrically concerned with over-imbibing: getting drunk on wine, staying high all the time, etc.  I was certainly no saint in my younger days, but at this point in my life I try to promote only the responsible use of alcoholic beverages.  Besides, I drink wine to enjoy the experience of the wine, not to get blasted.

Wine has a rather seedy image in some of the more well-known wine classics.  The Tom Paxton song, Bottle Of Wine, deals with the trials and tribulations of panhandling for spare change in order to buy some fruit of the vine.  Many other songs deal with the soft underbelly of the wine drinking populace, too.  In Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee, also known as Wine, Wine, Wine, the singer has a nickel and only needs another dime to afford the desired bottle. You'd be hard-pressed to match that in even today's depressed wine economy - even at 7-11.

Jerry Jeff Walker's Sangria Wine is all about the camaraderie of wine - which is great - but his delivery gets more liquid as the song progresses.  It ends up with a “slumped-in-the-lawn-chair” sort of feeling that isn’t exactly unpleasant, just maybe a little undesirable.

Red, Red Wine was penned by Neil Diamond in the 1960s and performed by a wide variety of singers since then.  In it, the wine "goes to my head, makes me forget."  That’s touching, but most counselors will tell you it's a bad idea to try and hide from your troubles in a bottle of wine.  In similar fashion, Two More Bottles of Wine, Wine Do Yer Stuff and a host of others deal with wine as a crutch or escape from reality.

Spill The Wine, the great 1970 hit by Eric Burdon and War, is about a dream where wine is involved.  To me it always seemed like a dream induced by something harder than wine.

Lee Hazelwood's Summer Wine, which took him and Nancy Sinatra to the top 40 in the mid-’60s, is the flip side of that dream in Spill The Wine.  There’s no happy ending, though.  Eventually, the summer wine runs empty.

I prefer songs about wine made from grapes, so I'll toss out Sweet Cherry Wine, Elderberry Wine and Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine.  Who needs wine made from old dogs, children and watermelons?

Here are some songs with at least a passing reference to wine either in the title or lyrics.  Pick and choose and make a Wine Song CD of your own!  I’d love to hear about any wine songs you like, in the comments.

Scenes From An Italian Restaurant by Billy Joel - While not entirely about wine, he does bookend his vignettes with references to 'a bottle of white, a bottle of red, perhaps a bottle of rose instead."

Bad Chardonnay by Graham Parker - About the touring life of a rock star, which in this case is filled with "cigarettes and bad chardonnay."

Killer Queen - by Queen - “She keeps Moet et Chandon in a pretty cabinet.”

Champagne Jam by The Atlanta Rhythm Section - They don’t specify what type of Champagne in this one, but I’m guessing it’s actually sparkling wine.

Hotel California by The Eagles - “pink Champagne on ice” is the beverage of choice at this West Coast retreat.

Champagne Supernova by Oasis - “A Champagne supernova in the sky” sounds like a good reason to break out the bubbly.

Old Red Wine by The Who - I hear this was for The Who’s late bassist, John Entwistle, who loved red wine.

The Wino And I Know by Jimmy Buffett - Ask not for whom the cork pops...

Wine, Women An’ Song by Whitesnake - Winemakers themselves these days, Whitesnake was not the first artist to sing a tribute to this holy trinity, and they won’t be the last.


Don't forget - enjoy the music over at 30 Days Out !

THE 100-POINT WINE RATING SYSTEM AS APPLIED TO OTHER ARTS

The 100-point rating system used by wine critics such as Robert Parker is either embraced or reviled.  I include myself in the latter group.

I think of winemaking as an artistic process.  Is it really possible to accurately describe a wine's value with a numerical representation?  I think not.  But there are many who would disagree with that viewpoint.

What if other art forms - music, for instance - were rated on a 100-point scale the way wine is?

Utilizing Robert Parker's scoring system, an assessment of the Rolling Stones' "Exile On Main Street" might go, as they say in the Poconos, a little something like this:

“I am giving this CD, as I do all CDs, a base of 50 points.

“The general color and appearance of the CD merit up to 5 points. With most CD artwork being produced by professional artists, most CDs receive 4 or even 5 points.

“In the case of "Exile...," however, I must insist that the cover artwork seems put together in what I will generously refer to as a haphazard way.  It actually appears to be the work of a rather disturbed child who discovered some old photos in the attic and made a collage from them.  I will award only 2 points for the disappointing appearance of this CD.

“The words and music merit up to 15 points, depending on the intensity level and dimension of the words and music as well as the cleanliness.

“First of all, I can only understand about half the words.  Those I can understand seem directed from the gutter.  While the lyrics seem delivered with a certain amount of fervor, especially in some of the faster songs, I feel some understandability is required.  The cleanliness level leaves much to be desired.  The music is written and performed in a professional style, in keeping with other rock CD of the Classic Rock variety, so I'll award 7 points.

“The sound and emotional impact merit up to 20 points.  I may not understand it, but it kicks ass. 17 points.

“Finally, the overall quality level or potential for further evolution and improvement merits up to 10 points.  The overall quality seems only moderately high, even given the recording techniques of the day.  Moreover, owing to the advancing age of the principals of this unit, I can't reasonable expect much improvement through aging.  3 points.

“Total score for 'Exile On Main Street': 79 points.”

Is "Exile..." really a 79-point CD?  If the critic isn't inclined to like the Rolling Stones, maybe it is.  But for those who do like them, and consider "Exile..." to be a classic of the rock era, what are we to make of the 79-point score?

The same questions can be asked about a wine's critical rating.  Is the critic simply not a fan of the winery or the vineyard from which the grapes are taken?  Does he or she simply not care for Grenache, Merlot or White Zinfandel?  Did the critic simply not wake up on the wine-appreciating side of the bed that day?

I would prefer to see wine criticism stated in words, not numbers.  I enjoy reading about what a taster thinks of different wines, but I have a hard time relating to a number score which leaves so much unsaid and open to interpretation.

Please leave a comment on how this topic hits you.  If you'd prefer to email me, you can do so atnowandzin@gmail.com.  Twitter users can message me: Twitter .  You can also tip in onFacebook .  I look forward to hearing what you have to say.