Prepare for big changes.

After a little while of playing around with Bohemian Heroes, we feel like it’s time to take things in a new direction. The inspiration we felt at first is still there, but it’s shifted, and changed, and so we want to tweak things and make sure we still feel like we’re expressing ourselves. We’re going to change around some categories, and instead of hoping for a post every day, we’re only going to keep categories for a few days a week. Don’t worry, we’ll still be awesome.

You stay classy, San Diego.

Tunes We Toked To: Wendy’s Top 3 Favorite Holiday Albums

Happy holidays! Our Bohemian Heroes chose to celebrate Christmas this year. We each visited our respective families, except Peter Pan. He and I spent our first Christmas Eve together at a church service, playing with the kid sitting in the pew in front of us, passing notes on the bulletins and whispering, and hoping no one noticed we were still a little bit high. Peter Pan, Kaiser and I woke up on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, packed chillums of weed, smoked cigarettes and listened to Christmas music. There’s nothing like music to get us feeling festive, and we listened to a huge variety of it this week. But, I successfully narrowed it down to three, since I’m sure you’re all sick of reading blogs about this stuff by now. But, you’ll have to suffer through one more post, because instead of choosing an album and reviewing it this week, we’re going to share some of our must-have Christmas and holiday music.

1. “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, Vince Guaraldi and the Charlie Brown Trio (1965)

Ah, nostalgia.

The oldest of the albums on our holiday list, the soundtrack to the movie A Charlie Brown Christmas was released in 1965. There’s a nostalgic feel to the jazz trio, even if you didn’t grow up watching Charlie Brown like I did. It’s perfect background music at holiday gatherings.

2. “Christmas Eve and Other Stories”, Trans-Siberian Orchestra (1996)

Rock on.

A staple in my household growing up, Trans-Siberian Orchestra started as a collaboration with former members of the kickass metal band Savatage. It includes original works and interpretations of classics such as Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.  It adds a rock feel to Christmas music, but with a sense of childlike magic and wonder. It’s an adult’s interpretation of a child’s Christmas.

3. “Barenaked for the Holidays”, The Barenaked Ladies (2004)

It's a green Christmas for us.

The most diverse of the albums on this list, “Barenaked for the Holidays” includes Christmas, Hanukkah and secular seasonal tracks. Of course, we loved Green Christmas. Go figure.

We heroes hope you enjoy the rest of the holiday season!

Stuff We Stole: Sorry, Santa!

Blurry and adorable AT THE SAME TIME.

This week, Kaiser and Wendy went to Petsmart to stock up on supplies for Kaiser’s new kitten! Kaiser named her Aeyo, so that when she needs to find her she can just say “Ay yo girl!” and the cat will respond. Since it had been a while since Kaiser had owned a cat, they had to start from scratch. They got bowls, a collar, toys, a litter scoop and a bag of cat litter, all in their purses. As they were leaving the store, a Petsmart employee dressed as Santa was greeting customers with bellowing laughs and holiday well-wishes. Wendy and Kaiser were sure that they were only getting coal for Christmas, but Santa didn’t suspect a thing, and the Petsmart heist went off without a hitch.

Where We Went: Bojangles (Sexy and I Know It)

We definitely weren’t there for the fried chicken and biscuits, as delicious as they might be.

Kaiser and Wendy were high one Thursday. They were really high. And they were drinking. Relatively early in the evening, they told Peter Pan and Hendo that they were going out to pick up a couple of beers. They did get beer, but they drove around and finished them instead of taking them home. They admired Christmas decorations, and debated going home for the night. Then they crashed the local Bojangles holiday party.

It all started with this video:

If you didn’t watch it until the end, you probably should. Who knew adorable Fez would grow up to be such a stud?

Anyway, Kaiser and Wendy decided that they were drunk, and high, and they wanted to see someone’s dick wiggle. Luckily, Kaiser had a friend about 20 minutes away, hanging out at the Bojangles Christmas party, and the girls were sure they could get him to wiggle for them. They rolled into the parking lot, where four or five people were standing around smoking cigarettes and chatting. They cranked the music up loud, and danced like the alcoholics they were, to the vast amusement of their captive audience. After all that driving and effort, BP didn’t wiggle his dick for them. He did give them a blunt to smoke on the ride home, though. When Wendy and Kaiser stopped by his house to pick it up and socialize for a few minutes, they were enraptured by the houseful of kittens. Kaiser had already planned on adopting one of them, so it rode home on Wendy’s lap.

Peter Pan and Hendo were at home, on laptops and napping, when Kaiser and Wendy rolled in, hours after they left to get beer, way more intoxicated than they were when they left, with no beer and a tiny kitten. It was an excellent Thursday.

Tunes We Toked To: Fleet Foxes, “Helplessness Blues”

Until May of this year, Fleet Foxes hadn’t released a full-length album since their self-titled release in 2008. “Helplessness Blues”, the second album by the Seattle, Washington band, is mellow, and smooth. It’s perfect for passing around a couple of joints and talking about God, or staring at the walls and contemplating. Reminiscent of sixties folk, it relies heavily on acoustic guitars, strings and haunting vocal harmonies that Brian Wilson would be proud of. Fleet Foxes plays with dynamics in classic ways, too, introducing heavy strings and deep bass during huge crescendos and quiet vocals during decrescendos to create dramatic tension. Helplessness Blues is a bit darker and more contemplative than their first album, proving that the band has the potential to reach beyond sunny folk songs. The lyrics approach identity struggles, frustration and lack of progress, and questions about dying, all the while staying hopeful, without coming across as depressing or melodramatic.  This depth is easily found in the title track.

Considered “Critically Acclaimed” by Metacritic and  “Best New Music” by Pitchfork, and given four out of five stars by Rolling Stone, “Helplessness Blues” is a must-hear.

Meal We Made: Deep Fried Yams

It sounds strange. It sounds really strange. Trust us on this one. They’re almost exactly like spicy sweet potato fries. Background story on this new favorite: Peter Pan, Wendy, Kaiser and a couple of other friends were hanging out, smoking weed, drinking beer and wine, and indulging in a little bit of DXM. Wendy decided to “dick around in the kitchen” and found a can of sweet yams in syrup left over from Thanksgiving. Some divine light shone down on a bottle of hot sauce and a bag of flour, and it was all uphill from there. These make a pretty fantastic appetizer or side dish, or they work well for curing the munchies. Careful though, they’re hot!

You’ll need:

• A can of cut yams in syrup
• About half a cup of Tabasco sauce, or any good red hot sauce
• About half a cup to a cup of flour
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin
• Oil for frying

Let the oil get hot first. I set the over to about medium high. Mix the spices in with the flour, and pour the mixture into a bowl. You’ll also want to pour the hot sauce into a bowl. Roll each piece of yam in the hot sauce, then the flour mixture. I pressed the flour against the yams to make sure the breading was nice and thick. Drop into the oil and let them fry until the outside is golden brown and crispy. Remove them from the oil and let them drain and cool for a minute or two on a paper towel. If you like, serve them with ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping.

Sex Playlists: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, “The Golden Age”

We had trouble deciding whether to make this a sex playlist review or a Tunes We Toked To post, because it’s perfect for both. Danish pop band The Asteroids Galaxy Tour got their start by opening for Amy Winehouse, and since then, they have been featured in commercials for Heineken and Apple.

Their newest EP “The Golden Age”, released in April of 2011, is about as golden as a five-track EP gets. We loved the 80’s synth influences, and the overall retro feel. It’s a little spacey, and the vocals sound as smooth and scratchy as pouring honey over toast.

Our advice? Either put the album on repeat or add it to playlist with other music (Crash Kings and Franz Ferdinand, anyone?) because it is only five tracks, and really, that’s not long enough for a good sex soundtrack.

Stuff We Stole: Fire the lasers!

Christmas displays make shoplifting fun! They’re easy to duck behind, and full of fun little surprises, lots of which fit easily into a hoodie pocket. When Wendy saw a laser pointer on one of these displays, she couldn’t resist pinking one up for her cat. Then, Kaiser welcomed a new friend, Kaiser von Kitty, into her home. Now, Kaiser and Kaiser von Kitty can’t help being entertained. Now if we could just teach Kaiser to chase the dot too…

To ease your hangover and put you in a good mood for Saturday night, here’s this video of cats and laser pointers.

Ciao for today, Internet!

Friend We Found: A Crooning Caped Crusader

This week, Kaiser found our newest friend. She was taking a break at work and smoking a cigarette when she was approached by a man with three blankets tied around his neck like layered capes. She thought he might ask her for money, but instead he asked her for a few minutes of her time. When she said yes, he told her that he was sad because he couldn’t afford to visit his family for Christmas, and to cheer himself up, he wanted to sing her a song. She agreed, and he serenaded her sweetly, thanked her, shook her hand and walked away. She was incredibly touched, and she hopes having someone to listen to his worries and his song helped her mysterious new friend.

Don’t worry, we didn’t get arrested.

The hardest part of running a blog about living a bohemian lifestyle is that when one lives the aforementioned bohemian lifestyle, internet access is a luxury, not a necessity. Wendy, who writes almost every post for Bohemian Heroes, didn’t have access to the internet for quite a while. She had some fun while she was gone, and should have lots to tell you Internet types about now that she’s back. Hopefully over the holidays, she and all the other Heroes will have lots of fun stories to tell, recipes to share, and music to send your way.

Good to see you again, Internet!