The Vinyl Bistro

Friday, July 13, 2012

12 things I learned in ACC 255 this summer

I have been taking an online course, ACC 255, through Illinois State University. It has taught me quite a lot! I thought I would make a list of what exactly I have learned:

1. How to create a blog
2. How to create a website
3. What a sneeze post is
4. How to generate traffic to a blog
5. How Google AdSense works
6. How to become an affiliate with major companies
7. What a "Pillar Article" is
8. How to create a mission statement
9. How to create an eBook
10. How to develop a business plan
11. How to create a paypal account
12. What "pay per click" advertising is

Those Gilmore Girls and their Coffee

Have you ever sat and browsed through different channels on the television, but could not find anything you wanted to watch? For me, this is often the case, especially because I work such odd hours. Usually during the summer, I work from 2 or 3 PM until 11 PM, also known as second shift. In the morning, there are a lot of talk shows I enjoy watching, but once those are over, nothing of substance takes over. There are quite a few children shows and often re-runs of prime time shows or shows from a few years or even decades ago.

Because of this, I have purchased quite a few seasons of my favorite shows on DVD. If I am ever bored, cannot find something to watch, or just am in the mood to see one of these shows, I pop in a disk. Gilmore Girls is one of my top 5 favorite shows, along with The Office, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, White Collar, and Arrested Development. Anyway, Gilmore Girls is a show I have watched since I was a kid, and pretty much grew up with it in my life.

Gilmore Girls has also had quite an effect on my life - at least the aspect of my life that loves coffee. If you have never watched the show, you probably are unaware of the severe coffee addiction the two main characters, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, possess. In almost every scene of every episode, coffee is mentioned or is being drank. They constantly speak about how it is the elixir of life and they should be taking it through an I.V. Every time the show came on, I would see the coffee and pour myself a cup as well. It is dangerous to watch the show without any, or I immediately crave it! They are also very humorous and mix in a lot of music and pop culture references. My kind of show!

Best of The Vinyl Bistro

I have been writing this blog for quite some time now, and have accumulated almost 40 posts. As any of you who follow this may be aware, they all include various posts about coffee, music, or both of them combined. I figured that there should be a certain post that viewers of my blog could go to for them to check out a certain aspect of my blog, instead of sifting through posts that contain no relevance to them. There are a few blogs in particular that I feel really represent The Vinyl Bistro and what I would want my viewers to get from my blog, and because of this I decided to make this blog entry a "Best of" post. I will list my 3 favorite blogs, the best of this blog as a whole, and provide their links if anyone would like to check them out or for those who have not read them before.

1. My Top 10 bands of all time.
This item is a two-fold, because I did them in separate posts. In one post there are 5 bands, and in the other the additional 5. If anyone comes across this blog and wants to get a real feel for who I am, not just the business side of things, they will be able to find out a lot through these two blog posts.

Part 1
Part 2

2. The best cup of coffee I have ever had.
I also think this is a great indicator of who I am as a coffee lover and a small insight to my world. It offers the experience of the best cup of coffee I have had, and what around me made the experience so spectacular. I would love to hear about other people's "best cup of coffee", so I figured coffee lovers might want to hear mine as well!

The Best Cup of Coffee I have Ever Drank

3. A little more about myself and the music I love.
I think this blog further develops me in the eyes of my viewers. I have mentioned in previous posts the type of music I enjoy and bands I like, but have not gone any deeper. In this blog, I tell a lot about my personal preferences and how music makes me feel. It is a great one to read.

More About Myself and Music

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Death Cab for Cutie

As promised, here is my follow-up blog concerning the Death Cab for Cutie concert tonight at the Taste of Chicago. First of all, I was very excited to be there, seeing one of my favorite bands with some great friends for absolutely no charge. What is better than that? We arrived to the venue, Chicago's Petrillo Music Shell inside of Grant Park (where the Taste of Chicago is being held), about an hour before the concert was set to start. We noticed that the free seats were first come first served, spread across a large lawn. However, there were seats very close to the stage guarded off. We approached the event staff and asked how we could get to sit near the stage in the fenced off seats. They said we could purchase tickets for twenty dollars, or answer some trivia about the band and try our luck at winning the tickets. One of my friends got the trivia question correct and we got even better free seats than we had planned on.

Since we were early, we got pretty close to the stage. We were seated in the fourth row in the direct middle, perfect seats! In fact, these were possibly the best tickets for a show I had ever received. I have only been in the front row to a show once, and that was last year at Lollapalooza for the Foo Fighters and I camped out at the stage all day until their performance at night. Aside from that concert, I had never been so close to the stage and my friends and I were thrilled!

The band started off the night with an accoustic performance from Ben Gibbard, the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie, of the song ''I will follow you into the dark''. I thought it was quite a bold move to perform the first song accoustically, as most bands wait until the middle of the concert to do so, if they perform acoustically at all. It was amazing and his voice was crystal clear, the crowd ate it up. The rest of the concert exceeded my expectations and will go down as one of my favorite concerts I have ever witnessed. The list is pretty long, so that is high praise.

Molly's Cupcakes

On the agenda this with my Scandinavian visitors is Lincoln Park. We are going to take a short ten or fifteen minute trip to get there by the metra and spend the day walking around. Lincoln Park is a great park of Chicago, there is a free zoo, there are pleanty of discount clothing stores, and a ridiculous amount of wonderful food. It is pretty hard to choose which place to stop in and eat at, because walking down one road has multiple prospects. I thought I would let my Swedish friends choose where they would like to eat, and I could choose the place where we fika. I have already planned to take them to Molly's Cupcakes.

Cupcakes seem to be pretty trendy right now, as awkward as that may sound. Can food be trendy? Anyway, with all of the different shows, such as D.C. Cupcakes, Cupcake Wars, and more on television today, it seems appropriate to take them to a store devoted to the delicious treat. In addition to their delicious cupcakes, Molly's Cupcakes also has amazing coffee, and quite a unique layout inside their store.

There are three different seating options once you go inside the small bake shop: You can sit at the bar, you can find a seat at one of the multiple brightly colored tables, or you can plop down on a swing. Yes, a swing. Inside Molly's Cupcakes are four or five swings bolted to the ceiling near a counter that you can sit at and rock back and forth. It is not the biggest shop, and there are chains restricting the swings from going out too far, but it is very cool and brings something new to the average coffee and cake café. We are heading there tomorrow, so I will let you know if they enjoy it!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Hotel Coffee

So, as I stated previously, I have a few friends in town visiting from Sweden. I met them while I was studying abroad in Sweden and am extremely excited to catch up with them and show them around my beautiful country. For two of them, this is their first time ever in America. The other one has visited before and has traveled a bit through the states. I feel a bit of pressure to make sure my country leaves a good impression on them, so I have planned a lot of unique and exciting activities for them. We just checked in to our hotel in Chicago and are excited for our Taste of Chicago experience (as well as the Death Cab for Cutie concert I mentioned in my blog yesterday). So far, however, we have not done much.

We did not get in to the city until 7PM, so we mostly relaxed at the hotel. We were going to check out a coffee shop near our hotel, when instead my friends spotted the complimentary coffee and coffee machine in our room. I am quite familiar with this, as most hotels I have stayed in offer this treat. They, however, we completely surprised and excited and wished to make the hotel room coffee instead of finding a coffee shop. We opened the small package of coffee and filled the filter on the coffee machine. As it brewed, they became more and more excited – it was quite amusing to watch. After the coffee was finished, we drank and enjoyed thoroughly. I have to admit, for just being a hotel coffee, it was one of the best cups I have ever had. We even went to the front desk and inquired the brand name so we could purchase our own. For not even leaving our hotel room, I'd say we have done pretty well already!

Tomorrow night is the concert, so I will make a follow-up blog on that later! Cheers!

Trains and Music

In a few hours, I will be on my way to pick up my friends visiting me from Sweden. They are flying in to Chicago, and we are planning on staying in the city for a week. I am going to take the Amtrak train from Bloomington, Illinois to Union Station in Chicago and meet them at our hotel. I take the train quite often, as it is extremely economical and convenient. It is about a two and a half hour train ride, although it usually takes up to three or even three and a half hours to reach Union Station due to interferences. For example, there are multiple freight trains sharing the rails with Amtrak trains, so if one is approaching, we must exit the rails and wait for the freight train to pass us by. This could take anywhere from a few minutes to a full hour. Regardless, as long as you do not have a time deadline to reach, or if you plan ahead early enough so that delays will not bother your schedule, the train is great. I usually try to arrive in Chicago an hour early so that I will not have to worry about tardiness.

Anyway, I really love taking the train, especially by myself, because it gives me a wonderful excuse to become lost in music. I always take my iPod with me for the journey. Sometimes I will upload a new album I have been wanting to check out or create a specific playlist for the ride. This time, it was a mixture of both. There are a few bands that I love that I have not kept up with in the past years – The Decemberists and Jimmy Eat World. Their most recent albums I have only listened to once or twice and I have not given enough time to fully digest the music or to make up my mind on which tracks I like the most or how I feel about the album in general. I mixed their albums in a play list, along with some other bands and tracks I enjoy, and am prepared for my ride!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Co-Op Records

The best place in my town to purchase music is Co-Op Records. To be honest, I am not entirely sure if it is a chain store or not. I know there is another Co-Op Records in the adjacent town that I visit every now and then, but if you have never heard of it, it is probably not too big. Co-Op Records is a place for everything. You can purchase CDs, vinyl records, posters, tapestries, and other random music memorabilia, such as patches and stickers with bands on them, action figures of famous musicians, coffee mugs with the logo of your favorite band or artist, and more.

Co-Op Records is where I bought my first CD ever, and where I stll buy my new and used vinyl records. They have quite a selection of vinyl albums, which is kind of rare for music shops these days. However, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, vinyl records are making a comeback and for that I am thankful. Co-Op also offers trade ins, one used vinyl album for another used vinyl album. If you simply wish to get rid of your record collection or are strapped for cash, Co-Op Records will also purcahse your new and used vinyl records (if they are in good enough condition) and re-sell them at the store. Because of this, there are constantly new options of different genres and different artists in the used vinyl section, which is great for an avid collector like myself when on a budget.

Co-Op Records has also been known to host live bands in their parking lot, usually monthly or every other month. These bands are usually local acts or cover bands and are usually no more than five or ten dollars to attend. Some of them are even free! Another great part about Co-Op Records is that they sell tickets for concerts in the area. Some people do not like TicketMaster and see them as a company with a monopoly of selling tickets. Because of this, they purchase their tickets elsewhere and Co-Op Records is one of those locations! Overall, this is an amazing music shop and I have yet to find a better one. If only they served coffee …

The Taste of Chicago

Hello again!

So this week, July 11th through July 16th, the annual Taste of Chicago has once again taken over Grant Park in Chicago. I have friends visiting me from Sweden and thought this was the perfect opportunity to show them the great city of Chicago while enjoying the finest of its cuisine. There are also live performances every night (for free!) with some of the biggest names in music. This year, headliners include Chaka Khan, Jennifer Hudson, Death Cab for Cutie, and Fitz and the Tantrums. Death Cab for Cutie is a very popular indie rock band and I have been a fan of theirs for quite some time.

My Swedish friends are visiting tomorrow and are also very excited to see them as they are huge fans as well. It only helps that the show is entirely free! I do not know if we will see any of the other bands and performers during our stay in Chicago because of the massive heat wave in Midwestern America. My Swedish friends have never felt this much heat and I fear they will become very exhausted very quickly! I am planning on taking them on a few sightseeing tours and walking through some of the more familiar parts of the city. We will be in the sun frequently, so if they are up to see more bands and performances, I will have to keep you posted! For now, we will just have find a great Chicago place to have a fika then enjoy the food and (free) show.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Live Music at Cafés

For someone who is passionate about both music and coffee, there is nothing better than combining the two. It is not very hard to do so – I can pour myself a cup while listening to my iPod, I can grab a coffee to go and enjoy the radio in my car – but nothing beats when the music is live. I do not care how a band sounds when performing their music live, a lot of bands get bad reviews on the vocals of the lead singer, or the feedback from amplifiers on stage. I drain it all out and get lost in the music. I do not think there is anything better than seeing a band perform live, even if the above are true. I would rather hear a scracthy voice and see the bands I love giving it their all on stage, performing truly in their element than to listen to a recording of it. A lot of people disagree with me, and will not see bands if they are not ''good'' live.

A lot of times the bands I enjoy play at larger venues, and it is harder to see them because they do not tour as often as I would like or because they do not come somewhere close enough to where I am located. However, there are several coffee shops around me that ofer live music weekly, if not daily. It is a great way for me to support local music and to hear something different than what is on my iPod or the trash on the radio. I get to see performers from across the country come and go to small coffee shops and play intimate, accoustic shows. There are often larger coffee shops that allow bands to bring their drum sets and amplifiers, and then it is a full on production. Both are amazing because who knows where these people will end up? I get to enjoy music in its most raw and vulnerable form and stand in a room with anywhere from a handful of people to a couple hundred people watch the stage and get lost in the music.

Of course, accoustic shows are my personal favorite because I get to really hear everything that is happening and sit down and enjoy a great cup of coffee. For the larger productions, many people stand and crowd around the performing area, so coffee would not be the best idea. But an accoustic show is so filled with emotion and words cannot do it justice. Even if I do not particullary enjoy the music I still leave with this feeling of happiness. If there are any cafés near you providing free, live music, or even with a small cover, I strongly suggest you check it out. Who knows where they will end up one day, you could be witnessing history in the making!

Product Recommendation: Dunkin' Donuts

For those of you looking for a great cup of coffee, a relaxing atmosphere, and a a tasty treat or two, Dunkin' Donuts is the place to go!

It seems that every great restaurant chain or fast food franchise has an equally great slogan accompanying it. This is no exception for Dunkin' Donuts. Theirs is "America Runs on Dunkin'".

What started as a company focused on donuts quickly transformed to a place that someone could get one of the best cups of coffee in the world. From the name, it can be inferred that the famous donuts are supposed to be dunked in their great coffee. This is a deadly combination and is truly a staple of American breakfast on the go. The first time I ever tried Dunkin' Donuts is when I was quite younger. At my school, if it was your birthday, you brought in treats for the entire class. Kind of odd, right? Anyway, I asked my mother if I could bring in donuts for the class, and we picked them up from Dunkin' Donuts. I was very excited and remember every moment of my first Dunkin' Donuts tasting experience. A few years later, Dunkin' Donuts came out with a frozen blended coffee drink, (probably to compete with the hugely successful Frappuccino at Starbucks), called the Moolaté. I had not yet developed my love for black coffee, so this was right up my alley. Sweet and delicious.

As the years grew, I became more and more fond of coffee, as I have previously written about, and wholeheartedly addicted to black coffee. If I am at the grocery store, my coffee of choice is Dunkin' Donuts Original blend or their Hazelnut blend. I stock my cabinents with their commercially packaged coffee grounds and brew a wonderful, flavorful cup each morning. It is safe to say that the slogan is true, I run on Dunkin'.

Friday, July 6, 2012

A few products and services I recommend!

I thought today I would make a post about a few great products I have come across online. I will promote a few music and coffee related Clickbank products or services, as well as a few products fom one of my affiliates, Guitar Center. I'll add a small description about each one. If any of these sounds interesting to you, check them out!

Guitar Center products to check out:
1. Because I just saw Iron Maiden live, I figured I would share this tablature songbook, showing the chords of many of their songs. It is a top rated item!
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Hal-Leonard-Iron-Maiden-Anthology--Tab-Songbook--100092163-i1171909.gc

2. This is a similar product to the one above, but instead of learning solely Iron Maiden songs, you can learn VH1's 100 greatest songs of rock. This is a great book to have and will allow you or your band to cover some of the greatest songs of all time!
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Hal-Leonard-VH1-s-100-Greatest-Songs-of-Rock---Roll-Easy-Guitar-Tab-Songbook-103813630-i1159657.gc

Who play guitar and is constantly losing their picks? The next two products are for you!

3. This is a guitar pick holder, perfect for ensuring you don't misplace your guitar picks!
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Dunlop-Scotty-Pick-Holder-100281779-i1165811.gc

4. For those of you who have already lost their guitar picks, you might want to stock up. Buy this 12 pack of guitar picks from Guitar Center and be sure you will never run out again!
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Dunlop-Tortex-Pitch-Black-Standard-Guitar-Picks-1-Dozen-111002-i1276005.gc

For those beginners who are new to music but want to buy a top quality instrument that will last you many years, check out the following products:

5. Guitar:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Godin-Multiac-Grand-Concert-Duet-Ambiance-Nylon-String-Acoustic-Electric-Guitar-105305197-i1465183.gc

6. Drums:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gretsch-Drums-Renown-4-piece-Euro-Shell-Pack-with-22--Bass-Drum--Fade-Finish-720101-i1548192.gc

7. Keyboard:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Yamaha-MOX6-61-Key-Semi-Weighted-Music-Production-Synthesizer-Workstation-106717507-i1907132.gc

8. Bass Guitar:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Yamaha-Billy-Sheehan-Signature-Attitude-3-Electric-Bass-Guitar-H75903-i2003192.gc

If you do end up purchasing any of these instruments, you might need a few accessories. The next and final two products I would recommend for you!

9. Amplifier:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender-Vintage-Reissue--65-Twin-Reverb-Guitar-Amp-100128187-i1145362.gc

10. Learn how to read music with this great book:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Alfred-Ready-to-Read-Music--Sequential-Lessons-in-Music-Reading-Readiness-Boo-907102-i1434124.gc

Clickbank products and services:
1. This product easily allows you to create music beats ranging from techno, dubstep, hip-hop, rock and roll, or more. This product works on both PCs and Macs. It is inexpensive and can allow you to make great music like you hear on the radio!
Click Here!

2. Have you ever wanted to learn guitar but could not afford lessons or did not know anyone who could teach you? This product provides lessons to become a guitar master! Check it out and start playing great music now!
Click Here!

3. If guitar is not your thing, why not try the piano? This program offers you the chance to learn piano at a low cost! Check out the link below if you want to become an expert piano player in no time!
Click Here!

4. This last product is more of my style. As I have mentioned before in my blog, I have always wanted to learn to play the drums. If you are like me, check out this product below that will help you learn to play drums like the pros!
Click Here!

5. This next product is for those like me who desire to open their own coffee shop someday. This product gives you tips on how to begin a successful coffee shop in any economy.
Click Here!

6. If you have used the product above (#6) and are beginning to open your own coffee shop, or if you just want to learn skills associated with making coffee, this product is for you. It is a training product
Click Here!

Iron Maiden with special guest Alice Cooper

Yesterday, as I mentioned previously, was the Iron Maiden concert in Tinley Park, Illinois. They are currently on their North American tour, titled "Maiden England". For the tour they brought along special guest Alice Cooper to open for them. I found this pair to be quite fitting as they are both very theatrical and can be pretty dark at times.

I made the two and a half hour drive from my house to Tinley Park's First Midwest Bank Amphitheater. I had never before been to this particular venue, and I was pretty nervous due to the extreme heatwave conquering the Midwest and most of the country. However, it started to cool down by the time Alice Cooper came on stage and once Iron Maiden began playing, the sun had completely set. This fortunate darkness provided some additional cool air to the audience members and those on stage. Despite this, I cannot imagine how hot the performers of both bands must have been. All members of the bands were suited in long sleeves and jeans and had larger than life costume changes for certain songs. There were fireworks that went off frequently, only adding to the heat on stage. Alice Cooper even have quite a bit of pyrotechnics, equipped with gloves that threw flames. They were good sports about the heat, though, and Bruce Dickinson (the lead singer of Iron Maiden) even referenced it a few times. I stayed cool in my lawn seats and was not too crowded by other audience members. Hopefully everyone was safe and cool!

Overall, both acts put on great shows and performed many of their hit songs. It was a great concert and I am glad I got to see both of these bands. They were two bands I had wanted to see for quite a while and I am thrilled to finally mark it off of my concert bucket list, so to speak.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Homemade "frappuccinos"!

I was fortunate enough to receive a personal blender for my most recent birthday. I have a larger blender and make quite a few smoothies and other iced drinks in it. I began bringing smoothies to class with me in place of breakfast if I was running short on time, and usually had quite a hard time converting the beverage from the blender to a to go mug without making a mess. However, this personal blender eliminates that problem. The to-go cup doubles as the blender itself, with a removable lid and removable blade.

I bought mine from QVC, but you could purcahse one from GNC's website. It is nice because it is extremely convenient and not very expensive!

Here is a direct link to GNC's online store where this product is sold:
http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11595596

Hopefully my description makes more sense now that you can see a photo of the blender. It is a great product and I have been using it non stop lately. Earlier today I made a post about Frappuccinos, so I decided to make my own using this personal blender! I found various recipes online and gave it a go. All of my attempts have been very successful!

If you want to try and make your own Frappuccino at home, I recommend the following web pages:

If you want to make your ice coffee beverages more restaurant quality, purchase some chocolate syrup or whipped cream to put on top of the drinks. These make great drinks for summer parties and cookouts, especially for kids! If coffee is too strong of a flavor, there are dozens of recipes for chocolate iced drinks, fruit iced drinks, and more. This is a great way to beat the heat without even stepping out in the heat! Enjoy!

Staying cool in the summer heat

If any of you live in an area with scorching summer heat, such as the Midwestern United States, there are a few ways to beat the heat! Aside from the obvious of going to a local pool or water park and staying inside an air conditioned building, there are certain coffee drinks that can really help!

It might sound odd that a coffee drink could help with the extreme heat because, well, it is mostly associated with being a hot beverage. However, in the past decade, coffee shops across the world have tried to bring more customers to their stores during the hot summer days. I am someone who wakes up every morning, regardless of the season, with a steaming hot cup of coffee. However, there are those who enjoy the coffee flavor but do not want to add to the heat the first thing in the morning. For these people, there is a solution!

Many brands have began stocking grocery stores with commercial versions of their brand name products. Starbucks made history with their icy coffee beverage named the Frappuccino. It became so popular that they even began selling it in stores. Now consumers can buy a pack of 4 or 12 Frappuccino bottles ranging from Vanilla to Mocha to Caramel. This way, if you want a great coffee taste in the morning without the heat, you can stock these in your refrigerator and enjoy in the morning!

Here is a link to Starbucks' in-store Frappuccino beverages:
http://www.starbucks.com/menu/catalog/product?drink=frappuccino-blended-beverages

Starbucks also has a new feature where you can get any traditional "hot" coffee beverage made into an "iced" coffee beverage.

Another big name brand that has combined cool temperatures and coffee is Dairy Queen. Dairy Queen is known across the country as a premium ice cream seller, but they also have created a line of drinks they call a "MooLatté". You can purchase these MooLattés in mocha, caramel, french vanilla, and cappuccino flavors.

Here is a link to Dairy Queen's MooLatté drinks:
http://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/eats-and-treats/menu/treats/moolatte-frozen-coffee/