summer in the pit

i know it’s about that time, but i’ve been in denial. a bbq over the labor day weekend at my friend elias’ crib, however, drove the point home – summer is over.

i love bbq partly because i’ve always associated it with chilling with friends and family on those hot and muggy northeast summer afternoons. i also love it for the food, slightly charred and smothered in a rich and tangy sauce.

friends know that i would do pretty much anything for ribs from lc’s bbq in Kansas city, one of my favorite joints in the country. i have also spent hours driving with my like-minded friend jeff in pursuit of a memorable bbq sandwich at various hole-in-the-walls in the streets of savannah.

another fond if not somewhat surreal bbq memory is a night spent in a large wooden shack in the hills just outside of fulton, arkansas (about ½ hr drive south of hope, bill clinton’s hometown). the locals would congregate there on friday nights, and as the town preacher bbq’d on sawed-off oil drums, drank moonshine and partied to a r+b set by a mobile dj who had the annoying habit of talking shit over every song. a fight broke out later that night and the last thing i remember was scrambling out of the door with the rest of the crowd after a shot was fired, and seeing a big guy in a cowboy hat stomping on another guy’s face as “happy” by surface played on the abandoned turntable.

a more genteel soundtrack for a summer bbq is olu dara’s “used to be” from his 2001 release neighborhood (atlantic). having recorded with artists as varied as art blakey and nas (his son), dara deftly mixes blues, jazz, funk, and gospel to create one of the most alluring musical brews around. working in this case with jazz singer cassandra wilson, olu serves up a choice cut that perfectly captures an afternoon with great food, better company and a lazy sun.

Posted by cellpharmer at September 10, 2004 09:03 AM