ALEX BACA

Alex Baca wrote about music and DJ'd at the Black Cat in Washington DC before recently relocating to San Francisco.

What was the food highlight of your year?

This year, I moved from D.C. to San Francisco by way of a snack-fueled road trip. I've been learning about my new city by eating through it. I love a local novelty like Craftsman & Wolves' The Rebel Within and have been on a steady diet of carnitas tacos, but my favorite discovery is Mitchell's ice cream. It's 16 percent butterfat and 100 percent the dreamiest ice cream ever. The pistachio is the best.

What was the music highlight of your year?

Beach Slang's existence, period. Both Beach Slang EPs are exactly what I want music to sound like, and I love how the band manages to be as goddamned poetic on social media as they are with their lyrics, which are simultaneously joyous and heartrending. I hope when I die, I feel as alive as I did while seeing their Saturday night set at Fest 13.

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

My going-away party in D.C., at Black Cat, was also our last Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault DJ night. My dudes Matt, Justin, and I played a lot of sentimental pop-punk for all our friends; after, we got our drunk asses some pizza at Manny & Olga's. It wasn't anything special, but it's nights like that I miss the most living on the other side of the country.

A close second: Eating lemon poundcake from It's All Good (whose building has a tremendous history) at a hardcore show in Oakland. I haven't gone to many shows on the West Coast, and have gone to even fewer house shows. It reminded me of D.C., and the poundcake was incredible.

@alexbaca

JOAN GUÀRDIA

Joan Guàrdia operates La Castanya, a record label and booking agency (Ted Leo, Obits, Rebecca Gates, Daniel Higgs) in Barcelona.

What was the food highlight of your year?

I travelled quite a bit during the past year discovering some new places and trying new dishes. Mexico and Texas were amazing highlights since I was visiting for the first time. Besides this, touring Spain again was one of the best culinary experiences of the year: amazing seafood in Galicia, great “pinchos” in Euskadi, or delicious black rice in Tarragona… the variations on traditional recipes are never ending, so you have to keep touring!

What was the music highlight of your year?

Music wise 2013 has been an intense year and it is hard to choose. Here are a few highlights: Rocket from the Crypt playing the 5th anniversary of our label and booking agency in Barcelona and cooking ”boquerones” for them in exchange for the amazing show they delivered. A great celebration. Shudder to Think playing at The Black Cat’s 20th anniversary in Washington DC. I thought maybe we could cook for those guys one of these days. Charles Bradley playing at the Daptone Soul Revue in Brooklyn on what felt like the last day of summer. No “boquerones” in NYC, so… It was also great to see Mrs Magician, Parquet Courts, and Ex Hex for the first time. And I saw Nueva Vulcano, Obits, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists as many times as I could. It reminded me of the important things in this world, as always.

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

It came together many times, especially when we cooked for our friends in bands or when those friends cooked for us when we visited each other. Of course, meeting at our favorite restaurants also counts. “La Cova Fumada" in Barcelona was one of the places that hosted many music meetings with spanish and foreign friends during 2013. Places like that are always memorable!

lacastanya

ALEX BACA

Alex Baca in a journalist and bicycle activist living in Washington, D.C.

What was the food highlight of your year?

I finally ate at Blackbird. A friend and I were in Chicago in 2011 for the Promise Ring reunion show and wanted to try it, but our only free day was Sunday, and it was closed then. I was back in Chicago in April 2013 for a conference, and after realizing I’d never even get a bar seat at Girl and the Goat, I posted up at Blackbird. I had a horrendous cold and my taste buds were only operating at about 40 percent, but it was a phenomenal meal. I recall there being quite a bit of fennel.

What was the music highlight of your year?

The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die’s Whenever, If Ever has been pretty important to me. I listened to it endlessly when it came out in June. I love the way it sounds and, as a whole, it matches up well with the experiences I’ve had in 2013; “Gig Life” in particular really destroys me. While in Long Island with my boyfriend, he put Whenever, If Ever on in the car and, for the duration of it, I felt very young and very old. A few weeks later, I saw the band at D.C.’s Rock and Roll Hotel, which seems like an appropriate full circle.

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

On the first of the two Black Cat anniversary shows in September, Matt Cohen and I drank two bombers of pumpkin beer before ambling over. Neither of us ate dinner. At some point between Ted Leo’s super-high-powered “Me and Mia” and the beginning of a David Yow-ified Boys Against Girls, we looked at each other and said—or maybe brainwave-communicated, I’m not sure—”vegan lasagna.” I’ve drunkenly housed no small amount of Food for Thought’s vegan lasagna over the years, but this evening was a particular intersection of booze, Marlboro Reds, fake cheese, and D.C. punk. (A friend earnestly exclaimed, “There are, like, eight generations of scenesters here!”) Gray Matter played for an hour, but it felt like twenty minutes. 

alexbaca