musicbyoscar  kegged the IPA while I was out of town last week, and it's drinkable now... Yum!   The Imperial stout I mentioned in my last beer post turned out great -- several of our friends are giving it two thumbs up.  (well, okay, more like a thumb and a half -- they're trying not to spill their beer.)   So, for the first time since I bought him that twin-tap kegerator last year, we finally have 2 beers on tap. It's a glorious thing!

Meanwhile, the Oktoberfest brew is just about ready to move to the secondary fermenter, and it'll most likely be kegged before we finish off one of the current beers, so I think we're finally set for a while.  I've suggested an Irish Red for his next beer.  We'll see what he feels like trying though.

The home brew is coming along.  This morning musicbyoscar kegged his imperial stout, and he just finished racking the IPA to a secondary fermenter.  
Before long we'll have the twin-tap kegerator going full steam!

Several times a year, I have to travel back to the DC area due to my job.  Sometimes I'm lucky enough to catch a meal with friends while I'm in town.  All the while, musicbyoscar is back home in Texas, keeping the cat company.  This week, in a bizarre role reversal, he had to travel to DC for his job, and I stayed home with the cat.  Thankfully, his trip was really short (Tuesday - Thursday), and he flies back home this evening. 

I am sooo looking forward to having him back.   And so is the cat. 

For the last two nights, she's stomped up and down his side of the bed, meowing plaintively.  It feels like it takes forever before she gives up and curls up to sleep.  He's mentioned that she behaves that way whenever I'm out of town -- and now I finally know what he goes through.

Winner from this week's karaoke contest is posted.  I must admit that I've never hear the Leader of the Pack [mp3] sung with quite this inflection before.

Don't forget -- this week's winner will be the final contestant for the August 30th grand prize contest -- the winner earns a limo driven tour of all Lion and Rose pubs in San Antonio, $50 worth of food and drink at each location, and $100 cold hard cash.  Then we start this 8 week contest all over again!  What's not to love? 

Hope to see you this Thursday!
 

When we first moved to San Antonio, we tried attending some of the local meet-us for rennies, and we decided they were not the crowd for us.  (And I used to think I could get along with any group of rennies!)  Anyway -- fast forward to a few months ago, and we met some fun people at the Very vodka festival.  Turns out they were members of the San Antonio Parrot Head Club.   Believe it or not -- these folks remind me of most of my rennie friends from MD.  They party with a purpose, and do a lot of events to raise money for charity -- and most of all, they're FUN.  (while the local rennies seem to be mostly depressed, rude, self-centered, humorless Johnny Depp wannabes who wouldn't help their own mothers cross the street.)

We joined the SAPHC at last month's happy hour and attended their charity night golf event earlier this month.  Met lots of folks and had a great time at both events.   Tonight is our monthly happy hour, and I'm totally looking forward to it.   Although I'm bummed that we'll have to leave early due to our karaoke show at the Lion and Rose. 

Speaking of the karaoke show ---
The contest is coming to a close, and we've had some interesting competitors so far.  If you're interested, check them out at MusicByOscar.com.

Our karaoke show is really starting to pick up steam. This past Thursday, the crowd was large enough that Oscar and I only sang one song, and that was only by request. Unfortunately (unfortunate for die-hard karaoke singers, but fortunate for Spurs' fans), our show is on a 2 week hiatus due to the the NBA Finals. (The hiatus could possibly stretch to 3 weeks if game number 7 is needed.)

What can I say? The crowd at Lion and Rose would rather show their civic pride and cheer on their beloved home team than sing off key to background tracks of pop tunes from a bygone era. Who knew?? The good news, is that the Thursday Crazy Cruzan Nights drink specials will continue to be available during the Playoffs (along with beer buckets and Shiner pint specials). So kiddies, enjoy the playoffs, scream yourself hoarse (you don't need your singing voice for at least 2 weeks), and have a great time. The Music By Oscar craziness will return in a couple weeks.

In closing -- at the risk of upsetting any LeBron James fans that may read this --
Go Spurs Go!!!!!

Although we've done some karaoke and DJ gigs for single events, we held off on anything that would require too much time when we first moved to San Antonio.  But, now that we've been here a year and things have settled down, we can finally get back to the karaoke shows that we loved so much.
So, I'm happy to announce that Oscar and I are starting a weekly Thursday night gig at The Lion and Rose's Park North location on May 3rd. They're a British restaurant/pub that has great food and a fabulous beer selection.