Take a peek at the Scene blogs. We’ve got Pith in the Wind, which is excellent and full of political and historical musings, but it also tends to poke the trolls a bit. Then we have Nashville Cream, everything you’d expect out of a respectable alt-weekly, with concert and music reviews and info about bands that I’m sure y’all know everything about but which I’ll never see unless they play a gig on Colbert in the hazy minutes before I drop off to sleep. Finally, there are the folks here at Bites, covering the local food and drink scene to the best of our abilities and budgets.
If you’re a regular reader of those last two, have I got a book for you! Booze and Vinyl is the project of siblings Andre and Tanaya Darlington, food and drink writers based out of New York and Philly, respectively, who grew up flipping vinyl on their family’s Thorens turntable. They have combined their love of food, drink and music into a new book that invites readers to combine their passions into preparing the perfect dinner and cocktail parties.
The book features 70 iconic albums of the last hundred years into four mood categories, Rock, Dance, Chill and Seduce, offering their personal liner notes along with small plate recipes to enjoy while you listen, and a Side A and Side B cocktail suggestion to create a two-drink-minimum listening session. The cocktails run the gamut from simple to complex, but they are all thoughtfully chosen and crafted to create the perfect party environment.
Think “Sticky Fingers” by the Stones with a classic Tequila Sunrise and a simple Jack and Coke with a Coors back for a perfect boozy brunch repertoire, or a more complex Godfather Cocktail, and a Night Train in honor of James Brown’s “Live at the Apollo” for a rollicking dance party. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” calls for a Maharishi-inspired East India Cocktail and a classic margarita in honor of “Lovely Rita.”
In between playlists, the Darlingtons offer tips on how to create nuanced infused syrups to add oomph to cocktails and how to host a whiskey tasting if you’re listening to Robert Johnson. This book could offer a year's worth of party planning inspiration! Don’t feel like you have to play all these classic albums on vinyl if you’re more into Spotify, but the break to flip the album does offer a natural break to fix another drink. (Or roll another one if that’s your speed.)
The book will officially be released around Record Store Day on April 21 (see our guide here), but I’ve already enjoyed taking advantage of my preview copy to stimulate some creativity in drink making and encourage me to listen to music instead of binge-watching some Netflix that I really don’t care about. Plus, The Walking Dead is done for the season so my Sunday nights are now free.
Andre and Tenaya are apparently hip to the scene in Nashville, because they have chosen Grimey’s as the spot for their local launch event on Wednesday, May 2, from noon until 6 p.m., where they’ll be discussing their book and offering sage eating and drinking advice. True to the ethos of vinyl, they’ll be appearing with the Crosley bus (Crosley being the masters of nostalgic music devices). If you’re a regular Scene reader, this should be right up your alley!
