On Sunday night, S. and I jointly celebrated our birthdays and headed over to the Rock and Roll of Fame for Chef Jam. This is the event that started last year at the Beachland Ballroom and mushroomed into this get together at the Rock Hall. Uh, I think it's stayin' there. They sold 1,000 tickets and they disappeared with about a week to go.

It was $50 per ticket. This got you all the food you wanted and beer, wine, pop and water were included. Mixed drinks were available at, I think, $7 or $8 each. 25 local restaurants were there. They were set up in the lower level and 3rd floor of the Rock Hall. There were two local bands plus Todd Rundgren played with the band assembled by the Crop as the headliner. Besides Todd, the other two celebrity-spottings were: Mayor Frank Jackson and Anthony Bourdain's nemesis, Michael Ruhlman.

Todd looks pretty good for 62, I must say. They played mainly the songs from last year, the Doobies "Long Train Runnin'", Hendrix "Fire", the Allmans "Whipping Post", Todd actually got to let loose on the old Nazz song, "Open My Eyes". For some reason, they played a lengthy version of Neil Young's "Ohio", which seemed odd for that sort of event. I don't mind that tune. S.? Well, she can't stand it. Then, of course, they played "Bang the Drum".

Here is what I ate:

Smoked pork butt with collard greens and black pepper cornbread. This was from Zach Bruell and was outstanding. Probably the best thing there.

Momocho had wild boar tacos. Terrific.

Bistro on Lincoln Park had an Allman theme with a grilled peach, cracked black pepper ice cream with a balsamic reduction. Yummy!

Johnny's ceviche was great. They called it yellow snow.

Sushi Rock had a sushi surf and turf.

Prosperity Social Club had an awesome jambalaya (with Frank's hot sauce available). That was a repeat visit and they easily had the largest portions.

Lago had some meatballs that were good.

Crop had some rollups that were good, as well.

Melange went all out, as usual. Their "Bad to the Bone" ribs had an unusually tasty ingredient...Watermelon in that sauce! Dill pickle popcorn this year.

Amp 150 had beef tongue with cabbage salad that was wonderful.

Dante had LSD (Lemon-Scented Doughnuts). I would have preferred BLFD (Bigass Lemon-Filled Doughnuts), but it was OK. This won the Maker's Mark prize for best use of the bourbon in a recipe.

We passed on some others and Bar Symon and Moxie ran out of their stuff earlier than most.

My impressions. Overall, it's a lot of fun and definitely for a good cause. But they could make better use of that big plaza they have. They should have some things outside. It certainly would ease the crowds inside. It was awfully tight moving about, although most of the crowd was gone by time Todd started. But that's mostly nitpicking. I'm sure the event grows in stature from here.

Meal of Links

In case you haven't noticed, it's Cheer Up Keanu Day. I think there is another one on July 1st.

GQ has an in-depth look at Deepwater Horizon before and after the explosion. So many topics are addressed, just an excellent piece. And here is some info on the chemical dispersants that BP continues to use. Even after directives have been issued.

The New York Times reveals its 50 most challenging words. Hey, "canard" is in there. I actually use that one a lot. I use it because it's in "The Natural". And we've all heard Jim Rome's phrase "wooden and laconic". Another good one, used in the crosswords, is "ersatz".

Where Americans are moving. It ain't here, folks.

Comedy showrunners talk shop. Seth MacFarlane references that "Family Guy" can't get Disney songs cleared and talks about who has sued them.

Tim Goodman recaps the past TV season. Probably time to take a look at some of these shows I've ignored.

"Psycho" is 50 this week. PopMatters has a daily celebration of Alfred Hitchcock going on.

Speaking of Bourdain, he has a new book out. "Don't blame Guy Fieri on me. That's not my fault. That's a radiation accident."

Exercise Yard

It's winter in South Africa and at some of the sites it's been pretty damn cold (at night, in the 20's this week), so I apologize for the lack of female fan photos. But I've caught up with a few.

She Has A Lovely Paraguays





























Hey, Nice Dutch Boys



























Don't Cry For Me, Argentina





























The World Cup is going pretty true to form with Japan over Cameroon a true upset. I actually have Japan in my pool. Huh? Shocking that North Korea scored a goal off Brazil today. Paraguay tied Italy, but this is not the Italy of 2006. New Zealand scored very late for a tie with Slovakia today.

I wanted to mention the Dutch. It's very seldom you hear the roar of the crowd over those damn vuvuzelas this week, but the most impressive guy so far (outside of Messi, of course) has been Eljero Elia, who is getting a loud response. He played the last 25 minutes or so in their win over the Danes and virtually each time he touched the ball, he made things happen. Look for him. Hard to miss, he has some sort of dreadlocked mohawk thing going on.

Visitor

31 Down: Celtic great Larry (4 letters) Answer: Bird