Then, this morning I woke up with the idea of how grilling/making a good burger and all it entails is in many ways like trying to write a song. It could be made of beef, chicken, fish, or any other NW politically correct obligatory food item of your choice so no one gets offended. You never know...
Not really sure where I'm going with this on a Monday morning, but let's find out together shall we?
THE GRILL (Instrument): When grilling a burger, this is the main tool much like my main tool is the guitar when I write a song. The Grill doesn't have to be the best around, but it should be nice enough help you come up with a good final product. Your friends might have a better grill than you, but then your friends may also have a heftier weight of Guitar Center credit debt as well. You want to keep your grill clean and kept up, so you can make sure it gets old and scary when lighting it like mine. Rumor has it that John Lennon cooked an outstanding spare rib on his crappy Coleman, so my old Ducane I guess works fine for me.
THE BUN (Intro):
When I think about the intro to a song, I think about the bun. The bun is the first thing that your teeth (where the taste buds are (?)) experience, and like the intro to a tune it should set the mood for the rest of the song/burger. More often than not, an instrumental of the chorus is used which many times can come off dry like a cheap pack of FRANZ that though delicious (and my old stand-by) leaves you wanting more. For guests (you like) I'd recommend a pack of brioche buns from the Macrina Bakery or some yeasty goodness from the Essential Baking company. Your patrons will be in from the start, and like a song you want people to listen to all the way through will impress from the get-go.
THE CHEESE (Verse): After you get past the bun/verse you tune in to what the song is all about and where you get introduced to the mood lyrically/musically. This is the Cheese. Take time with it and work on your choices for a while as I feel it's one of the most important first impressions to the following verses. Since you want to age it a bit, I try to find an aged block of Tillamook Vintage White extra-sharp cheddar. It'll keep the Damn This Is Good! quotient up without getting them to flip the station to "Deliah". That's not the cheese we want...
THE MEAT (The Chorus or "Hook"): Ahhhh...this is the good stuff! In a perfect world, everything about the cheese should musically and subject wise drip and melt into a seamless gooey mess diving into the Meat, aka the "Hook" or chorus of the song. This is what we all came here for and man it better be good! It all starts here, and if it's funky/boring/sat out of the counter too long...she's no good. Season it, smoke it, but don't burn it. The Meat/"Hook" should be as fresh and flavorful as when you first wrote/bought it, and unfortunately it's when you over-grill it for to long that it loses it's freshness and what it was about in the beginning. A fine line between keeping the song engaging and making sure it's not pink in the middle...
THE BEER (The Bridge):There's a theory that the bridge can make or break a song, just as there's a theory that a good beer can make or break a burger no matter how good the rest of it is. I would agree with both statements which leads me to several ways of picking a bridge without it overpowering the 2 1/2 tall stack of goodness you've spent so much time on. In writing songs I constantly have to fight predictability and personal patterns much like I would encourage you you to put the Bud Light down and surprise yourself with something different. My current favorites right now are the Raison D'Etre from DOGFISH BREWERY and the Storm King Stout from VICTORY BREWING COMPANY. Both choices get the point across and make a meal better. If only all of my bridges did (sigh)...
THE CONDIMENTS (additional instruments): Once you've got a great base and the song's essence is complete, it's time for the condiments. Much like my old piano and lead guitar traditionally filled arrangements, you can't go wrong with old stand-by's like FRENCH'S mustard and HEINZ ketchup. You know they fit in perfectly and it's not like they can mess it up any more that it may already be. If it works at the core, it works...
THE SMORES and CAMPFIRE: I really don't want to try to pull a metaphor out of my ass for these two endowments and be called on it, so I'll just say that they're important! If you've got a fire going doesn't someone usually wish for smores? If you've got smores, wouln't you want a fire ordered up? I rest my case. This summer we're making the goodness with REESE'S Peanut Butter Cups instead of a regular chocolate bar. AWESOME. :)
Grilling is another form of creativity that I really enjoy! Having a BBQ is a time when you need to be on, and grilling stuff poorly in some ways is like forgetting your words at a show...both suck and your wife will call you on it when the crowd is gone.
There are Grill Masters and Master song-smiths. I am neither,but I always hope to get better at both...
I'm hungry now,
KS
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