First Crack Podcast with Garrick Van Buren

Thomas Bohmbach and I discuss DJ Edna, his open source project empowering musicians, and other artists, to take control of the sales and distribution of their creative work online.

DJ Edna - Open Source Website for Musicians [33 min].

This is the second in the monthly coffee review series at the First Crack Podcast.

This month, I’m reviewing George Howell’s Terroir Coffee: El Salvador: Finca La Montaña

The 2007 Cup of Excellence winner that was completely devastated by near hurricane-strength winds in January. Pushing the next harvest out to 2010. In response to this tragedy, George Howell doubled the price of his last 70lbs and sent all the proceeds to aid the farms recovery:

Special thanks to Andrew Kopplin at Kopplin’s Coffee for putting this Cup of Excellence on my table and connecting the world economy.

Listen to Coffee Review - El Salvador: Finca La Montaña [9 min].

Elsewhere:
Cup of Excellence Winning Farm 2007: Raúl Ochoa Hernández - La Montaña
CoffeeReview.com: El Salvador La Montaña - 93 points

This podcast kicks off a new monthly coffee review series at the First Crack Podcast.

This month, I’m reviewing: George Howell’s Terroir Coffee: Kenya Mamuto Kirinyaga

First, it took me a while to tweak the grinder back for a good press pot. In that time, the time was ticking on the coffee itself. Lesson learned for February.

This is a great bean, Andrew called it his favorite bean in the past 3 months. In the press pot I tasted heavy blueberry and banana notes with a trace of cherry and just a whiff of cocoa.

In the Mocha Brew, the cup was sharp and thin, very little flavor or mouthfeel. So, while I had two cups in front of me, I avoided that one.

Special thanks to my wife and Andrew Kopplin at Kopplin’s Coffee for inspiring this series and selecting this month’s coffee.

Listen to Coffee Review - Grand Cru Kenya: Mamuto, Kirinyaga [7 min].

Elsewhere:
CoffeeReview.com: Kenya Mamuto Kirinyaga - 96 points

I was forced out of my podcasting hiatus by the The Moustache Rangers, a highly-entertaining, improv’ed, space-comedy duo. Aric (also of MakeMeWatchTV and LeastDangerousGame fame) and Cory share the backstory of the Rangers, the mythos of the Great Moustache, and the emotional power of guacomole.

If like me, you’re a fan of Teknikal Diffikulties, you’ll probably dig TMR. It’s a great mix of improv, parody, and low tech.

The Moustache Rangers will be performing live at the Brave New Workshop’s Improv-a-go-go on Sunday, November 18, 8pm. $1.

Listen to The Moustache Rangers on a Podcast [30 min].

I bought Tony Thomas from Minneapoliscast, Andrea Meyers from HowWasTheShow.com, and Justin Grammens from LocalTone.com, and Brian McDonough from MinnieIndie.com lunch to talk about the Minneapolis music scene.

We cover the goal of each of their sites, the challenges of finding good independent music, and Brian makes some band recommendations.

Listen to Lunch with Minneapoliscast, How Was The Show, LocalTone, and MinnieIndie.com [35 min].

Tyler Patterson just finished up a Masters Thesis project investigating adding all the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ campus energy sources into the Chicago Climate Exchange.

In this numbers and stats intensive conversation, we discuss:

Listen to Measuring Carbon Footprints with Tyler Patterson [41 min].

Matt Thompson (Snarkmarket, vita.mn) and I discuss one of Matt’s most compelling memes - telling stories over time. via:

Listen to Time Traveling Journalism with Matt Thompson [28 min].

We catch up with Twin Cities coffee legend Jeremy Raths and talk about:

Listen to Jeremy Raths and the Search for Extraordinary Coffee [28 min].

Jeremy Raths, from The Roastery, teaches us how to cup - the traditional process for tasting and choosing coffee. He walks through:

Listen to How to Cup Coffee with Jeremy Raths [14 min].

Donavan Hall recently said some very nice things about the First Crack Podcast in his Daily Catch podcast. (After popping by and saying ‘thanks’ last fall, this episode finally came up on shuffle.)

He covers the new Dr. Who in the same episode and talks about some of the same issues I have with the episodes we’ve caught…Netflix hasn’t sent the anything from Season 3 yet. Tick….tock.

As you’ve seen here, I’ve been in a podcasting lull. Like I’m actively avoiding wanting to hit the #100 episode mark. I’m not. The podcast is. I can guarantee at least 2 more of the kind of episodes you know and love. “It makes me think about stuff”, as Donavan describes it.

Thanks again Donavan.