CARLIN BROWN

Carlin Brown plays drums in Restorations and has cooked at Philadelphia’s Industry Bar, Good Dog Bar, Royal Tavern, Monk’s Cafe, and Memphis Taproom.

What was the music highlight of your year?

2013 was a busy and exciting year for just about everyone I know in music, in food, in anything really. The most memorable time in music is a no brainer. That would be Fest 12 in Gainesville, Fl. I was lucky enough to snag a job as tech for all the backlined SJC drum kits, so I was extremely busy running around the various venues. Even so, most of my band and some of my closest friends in music all piled in the Gainesville Theatre for the long haul on Saturday to see a marathon of completely different bands: Plow United, Paint it Black, Night Marchers, Braid, BoySetsFire, Dillinger Four, and more. I was also lucky enough to catch some of Ceremony, Torche, Bouncing Souls, Menzingers, Sundowner, and finally got to see Cayetana live. Every year seems to be a pretty consistent incline of fun.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Food and music came together in September. Philly friends and their dogs converged upon and took over the huge warehouse where my band practices for what was deemed “Smoked Meats Day.” Musicians and people who write and/or obsess about music all participated in smoking any and every kind of smokable food imaginable. We hooked up a PA for music listening, tapped the keg, and got the smoker going around 8:00 AM. There were so many exciting things to eat. We smoked chicken, wings, pork shoulder, seitan, almonds, chick peas, various veggies and hot peppers. There was a deep fryer so we we roasted, smoked, and deep fried coconut to make vegan bacon. And of course there was the vegan wing off. There were also regular grills for obligatory burgers and hot dogs. The highlight of the day was a whole beef brisket that smoked for fourteen plus hours only to have it still be perfectly rare in the middle. It was a marathon day of talking about life, music, and food, all while listening to music and eating food. It ran all morning, noon, and late into the night. I can’t wait for next year!

restorations

JONAH BAYER

Jonah Bayer is a music journalist who’s served as music editor of Alternative Press and head writer of Stephen’s Untitled Rock Show (MTV). He is co-host of the Going Off Track podcast and co-creator of the Sound Advice web series.

What was the food highlight of your year?

This is a tough one for me since I mainly subsist on take-out within a two-block radius of my apartment, but earlier this year I ventured to Asia and had some amazing meals in South Korea. I got extremely lucky by making some friends who lived there on my connecting flight from Taiwan and they helped me have some super authentic dining experiences that ranged from Korean BBQ joints to nondescript food stalls on the street. From my experiences you can’t go wrong with anything that’s served on a stick. Plus you don’t have to deal with utensils, which is a huge bonus for me. 

What was the music highlight of your year?

Seeing Saves The Day play a super late secret show at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn was pretty incredible. I wrote my first cover story on them for Alternative Press over a decade ago so it was pretty surreal to be able to hear them play a lot of that material again live in a small club setting. They performed Through Being Cool in its entirety and Chris even dedicated my favorite song “Banned From The Back Porch” to me since it was my birthday. I still kind of can’t believe this happened but I’ve seen a bunch of photos from that night so I’m pretty sure it did. 

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

A few months ago my band United Nations played Fest in Gainesville and had some amazing meals at a place called The Jones, which served a ton of delicious local food. Better yet since so many bands were in town for the festival, every time we went we’d run into someone that we knew and hadn’t seen in a while. I remember one meal in particular where I had some amazing biscuits alongside the guys from Paint It Black and Octaves. Oh also some band called Knapsack played at one point, you should check them out. I think they’re pretty new. 

@mynameisjonah