Broker Gifts that Don't Suck

I recently installed the new Google Chrome beta OS, and during the transition to this high-powered software I managed to lose my saved "login and password information". Luckily, this didn't impact any of the password-protected websites I browse since I check things like bank statements, gmail, twitter, facebook, credit cards, etc on a daily basis so the passwords are hard-wired into the subconscious of my typing fingers. Or so I thought, until I remembered that I actually had a blog as well.... and for the life of me I could not figure out how to log into this POS. Oh well, yet another monthly reminder that I should probably put more effort into blogging. Anyway.... I've reset the password so now there's the chance I start posting more than once a month- We'll see! Anyway, moving on to the point of the post:


The main determinant of how hedge funds allocate their trades between brokers- Anecdotal evidence provided by the low man on the totem pole of an unknown fund not based in NYC

The holiday season at a hedge fund is usually a happy time as an analyst for a couple reasons:

1) Senior people go on vacation for extended periods of time, allowing you to browse youtube and facebook for extended periods of time

2) Bonus season is close and the disappointment from last year has faded over the past 11 months, so you are naive and optimistic about the number

3) And most importantly, the broker gifts start arriving! All year sell-side firms vie for your firm's business, offering research, access to management teams, execution, etc. But it is a little known fact that none of these matter, and the only real way to distinguish yourself is through the holiday gift. I had the (mis)fortune of starting work in this industry in 2007, so really only had one good year of gifts before the recession hit and the presents went to sh*t. Oh well, I still fondly remember the 10 pound metal container of candy from GS that I stole out of the kitchen and kept under my desk. But anyway, ever since then the gifts have been awful. I can't tell you how many fruit baskets that have remained unopened and unloved (FYI Bulge-Bracket: a fruit-basket garners you no trades) in HF kitchens across the globe. So you can imagine my surprise when last week (Note: not a holiday season for any religion that I am familiar with) a broker gift came from the Barclays Capital. Barc holds a special place in my heart as it is the home to the top nat gas analyst on the street, none other than the esteemed AVP James R. Crandell. That being said, I can't say it is known for gifts. But anyway, I'll stop dragging this out and get to the chase and display the gift. I don't believe any commentary is necessary from me in order to explain how amazing (think +7 std devs) this gift was. Thank you Barclays, get ready for some trades!

"Hot Liquidity"- Habanero Hot Sauce, gift from the LX Liquidity Cross dark pool (fastest growing dark pool in the US in '10 with 120% growth!). Contact the Barclay's electronic sales desk for hot sauce samples.

Condiment Usage: Or Why I Am Embarrassed To Be An American

"Writer's block is a condition in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked" writers have been unable to work for years on end, and some have even abandoned their careers." (lifted verbatim from wikipedia)

Despite my lack of content during the month of February, Writer's block is not a condition I suffer from. Instead, I suffer from its lesser known (but equally debilitating) ugly cousin; Slothful Blogger Syndrome. I have had many brilliant ideas over the past month, but just couldn't be bothered to put them down on paper. Pretty pathetic, I know. But coming across some unbelievable data today has jolted me out of my slump, and inspired me to bring some factoids to my disloyal (Note: I get a daily email showing me page views, so I know EXACTLY how disloyal you guys really are.....) readers. So without further adieu, I bring you:

Why I Am Embarrassed To Be An American

The top twenty condiments purchased annually in America total over $2.1 billion in revenues. Comprised of an estimated 751 million units sold, this represents an average sales price of approximately $2.80 per condiment. I know that my fridge (70 hot sauces, 1 ketchup, 0 mayo, and a lot of BEER) is likely not representative of the average man, but I didn't think I was too far off the mark as I generally like to have an optimistic outlook on the quality of my fellow Americans (which would imply they had tastes as refined/sophisticated as mine!). That being said, this condiment data has dramatically shifted my opinion. The disturbing facts are as follows:

1) The most popular condiment in the US (holding 7 of the top 20 spots, and 49% of total revenue) is Mayonnaise! GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Seriously mayo is the worst thing on the planet. I can't tell you how many times I've had to throw out food from various sandwich stores due to the inclusion of mayo on my friggin Italian sub. What were they thinking? And not only does it taste horrendous, but it also is terrible for you. And with an average price point of $3.36, it is the most expensive condiment you can buy. America, L2 shop!

Awful Taste + Instantly puts on the pounds= FAIL. No wonder America is obese as hell.

2) Hot Sauce comprises only 4% of revenues! Hands down the best possible condiment (hot sauce literally makes ever type of food other than ice cream taste better), hot sauce is extremely under-represented. With only 33mm units sold per year, I personally am buying about 0.0002% of the total turnover. Come on people, step the F up! Quit buying ipods and ipads, and start buying some quality sauces like Gator Hammock or the Beast. Which brings me to my third and final gripe.....

3) Frank's Red Hot is the number one selling hot sauce in the US! ZOMG...... what part of "THIS SAUCE BLOWS" do people not understand? It's almost unfair to call it a hot sauce, as it registers a feeble 450 scoville units. A bell pepper is literally the ONLY PEPPER on the whole planet that is less spicy than this thing. So embarrasing that not only is hot sauce 4% of revs, but it is over 50% dominated by Frank's Red (not)Hot. The one other sauce is Tabasco. While not in my top 40 as far as favorite sauces go, I do respect Tabasco for blazing the hot sauce trail (similar to how Dave's original insanity blazed the trail for ACTUALLY hot sauces...) so can't say anything negative about it.


The One Silver Lining To the Otherwise Frightening Data:
At least Salsa outsells Ketchup on a revenue basis (though disconcertingly it does so only because of its higher ASP, it still lags on a unit basis ). If Ketchup>Salsa, I'd literally hand-in my passport right now and try a little reverse border-crossing into Mexico. At least there the number one selling hot sauce in the country is legit (El Yucateco)



Underlying Data courtesy of Symphony IRI Group
(and laboriously compiled into the below tables during a demoralizing Friday afternoon at the office while my stock picks were getting smoked)

Category		Revenue		Sales (units)		Unit Price
Mayo		$1,040,771,390		309,730,069		$3.36
Salsa		$447,411,960		148,723,524		$3.01
Ketchup		$352,564,010		169,288,420		$2.08
Mustard		$178,881,080		90,306,070		$1.98
HotSauce		$84,479,850		33,122,350		$2.55
Rank		Company		Category		Revenue		Sales (units)		Unit Price
1		Hellman		Mayo		$401,204,800		114,503,900		$3.50
2		Tostito		Salsa		$286,239,700		88,308,500		$3.24
3		Heinz		Ketchup		$278,647,900		114,466,800		$2.43
4		Best Foods		Mayo		$175,221,400		47,707,840		$3.67
5		Kraft Miracle Whip		Mayo		$163,491,100		48,741,980		$3.35
6		Kraft Classic		Mayo		$159,494,100		53,164,700		$3.00
7		French's Classic		Mustard		$88,099,770		50,975,970		$1.73
8		Kraft Flavored		Mayo		$79,211,620		24,225,870		$3.27
9		Pace		Salsa		$74,117,570		23,080,890		$3.21
10		Hunt		Ketchup		$73,916,110		54,821,620		$1.35
11		Grey Poupon		Mustard		$44,943,710		13,244,600		$3.39
12		Frank's		HotSauce		$43,907,580		16,397,280		$2.68
13		Tabasco		HotSauce		$40,572,270		16,725,070		$2.43
14		Duke		Mayo		$39,889,620		13,826,190		$2.89
15		Chi-Chi		Salsa		$34,640,500		12,948,640		$2.68
16		Herdez		Salsa		$27,170,240		14,893,080		$1.82
17		French's Flavored		Mustard		$25,713,740		13,042,750		$1.97
18		Newman's Own		Salsa		$25,243,950		9,492,414		$2.66
19		Blue Plate		Mayo		$22,258,750		7,559,589		$2.94
20		Gulden		Mustard		$20,123,860		13,042,750		$1.54

n00b alert: Four Dead Giveaways!

Not only the world's most badass investor, WB is also a veritable fount of simple yet profound quotes. Normally focused on the financial world, he also sometimes takes a crack at offering life lessons. Below is a quote I've always enjoyed:

"If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy."
-Warren Buffet

This is a great metaphor for many things in life, but one particularly near and dear to my heart is the circumstance where people (unwittingly) demonstrate their utter lack of knowledge or ability without having any idea that they have done so. For instance, take a new skier. Walking towards the chairlift carrying their skis, they are feeling pretty confident about their abilities. However, the fact is they are carrying their skis with the tips facing backwards and are rocking a big ol' gapper gap; clearly exposing themselves to the rest of the world as n00bs.

In a similar vein, there are four major commonly seen no-nos in the hot sauce world that will ink you as a total n00b.

1) "The heat of a pepper comes from the seeds". Um... WRONG! I heard this one this past weekend, and couldn't help myself from going off on the poor kid. So yeah, this is most certainly the biggest FAIL you could make. The heat comes from the Capsaicin, which is housed in a thin sack (a vesicle if you want to be a nerd about it) along the flesh of the pepper. The seeds themselves do not have heat; they just seem hot because of their proximity to capsaicinoid gland (which is very delicate, and often ruptures; leading the seeds to get a little "contact high" if you will).

2) "I love Chipotles, but I hate Jalapenos". FAIL again. A chipotle IS a Jalapeno that has been smoked and dried. (hi smokey flavor!) Please review a venn diagram- subsets if this is still not clear. In this case, Chipotle=A, Jalapeno=B

3) "The red yucateco is much hotter than the green. Green sauces are always milder than red sauces" ding ding ding, that's incorrect! Green= 9k, Red=5.79k. Something about those zero scoville rated tomatoes brings down the red....

and finally 4) "Habaneros are the hottest peppers in the world" While yes they are most likely the hottest pepper the average person encounters at 100-350k (the red savina strain has clocked in even higher at 580k ), they are actually only the third hottest pepper. Comfortably ahead of the habs in the two spot is the mighty Dorset Naga Pepper from England at 875-970k. And then sitting in the top spot, the baddest pepper to ever grace the scene, the fearsome Bhut Jolokia Pepper aka the GHOST PEPPER. This guy comes in at over a million scoville units, and destroys anything in its path. Don't believe, check out the video of this guy below (and note, he is an extremely experienced chilihead that eats habs like they are peanuts).


Miz-city, starts circa the 1 minute mark


thanks to JS "15 mins of game" weinberg for the video

Hi, 2011, epic year, damn glad to meet ya

Ah, nothing like the dawning of the new year. A chance to put mistakes beyond you, a chance to refocus your energies, and a chance to better yourself in work, health, and life. As my grandfather would say, another YEAR is which to excel!

Every grand journey begins with a first step; funny how it seems like every new years begins with a raging headache and brutal hangover. Oh well, I've never subscribed to the view that the first day of the year sets the tone.... I'm more of the reversion to the mean kind of guy, so if you start off low, things will only get better.

Anyway, like most people I made a resolution for 2011. Unlike most people however, my resolution is to be able to touch my toes. I think there is a very high probability that I am the only 26 year old that has ever made this resolution, as this is a trait almost everyone possesses. But sadly, these are the genetic cards I was dealt; the flexibility of a 96 year old man trapped in a 26 year old man's body. (Thanks dad) To accomplish this task, I have taken up a weekly yoga class, 12-1 on Wednesdays. Hopefully I will also augment with some additional other stretching and/or more yoga sessions each week as I go along. To give you an idea of where I'm starting from, here is a recent (80 seconds old!) picture illustrating my baseline natural (dis)ability. I've got a good 7+ inches to go it seems. Wish me luck!

My second resolution is to start getting serious about scovilles. I've realized I'm in a rut when it comes to hot sauces, and keep finding myself eating and combining the same sauces over and over again. Yes the combinations are amazing (i.e. sprinkle green yucateco over plate of nachos, lightly deposit a drop of sudden death on each chip, douse with the Perfect Louisiana hot sauce= best tasting nachos), but I also need to branch out for two reasons.

1) I am burning through a couple sauces, while many others are barely touched. This is giving me an inventory obsolescence problem, and theoretically will lead to major write-offs in the future....

2) I'm sticking with what I know and love, and not pushing myself. I am thoroughly embarrassed to admit this..... but the Mad Dog 357 I bought two months ago is STILL UNOPENED. so weak.

Going forward, I am resolved to push myself with a brand new combination of three sauces each week. With 64 sauces to choose from, the combinations should hold me over for a while. (64 nCr 3 for the math nerds out there... how long until I run out of combos?) Additionally, there will also be one FIRE night per week, where I need to take down a legit amount of a sauce that is >100k. I've plateaued in my abilities, and 2k11 is the time to start increasing my skills!

For the massive readership of THTF, I recommend adding your own hot sauce New Years Resolution; Building up your Habanero abilities. Habanero peppers and sauces are the highest level one encounters in normal life (i.e. you have to go out of your way to get anything hotter), so mastering the habs makes you pretty badass compared to the average Joe. Below are my three favorite Habanero based sauces.

The Beast is most accessible, clocking in the mid 50s I'd say. You can really taste the Garlic and Onion flavors, and it does not have an overpowering heat at all.

Beast - Habanero Peppers, Vinegar, Salt, Garlic, Onion, Citrus Juice, Pepper Extracts And Spices

Next up is Colon Blow, prob a mid/high 60s. I've found this to be a polarizing sauce, with people either loving or hating it. I love it, and think it has one of the more unique "sweet" aftertastes, apparently due to the inclusion of cane sugar.

Colon Blow - Red Habanero, Tomato Sauce, Hot Pepper Extract, Onions, Red Chiles, Garlic, Cane Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Xanthan Gum, Spices

And then finally, the most aggressive of the three is Sudden death at around 104k. It's the best tasting of the Blair line that is over 100k, but def can sneak up on you if you put too much on. So treat this one with a little more respect than the previous too. And no, I have no idea what the Siberian Ginseng brings to the table (other than increasing the sales price...)

Sudden Death - Red Habanero Pods, Cayenne Chilies, Pure Pepper Resin, Clover Honey, Key Lime Juice and Siberian Ginseng.

Master the Lineup: A worthy 2011 Resolution

Happy New Years!

December Update

Thanksgiving, my birthday (hi 26! you feel a lot like 25....), and my annual Florida Xmas vacation (perks of being the low man on the totem pole, get to celebrate in early Dec and be in the office during the actual holiday) have all come and gone since I last wrote. I'd say vacation in FL was the highlight, with daily tennis/golf/rollerblading/reading/cards occupying my time. I'd guess that my birthday was the lowlight, but frankly I can't remember anything past 11pm so I'm not totally sure. (just kidding MOM, I was dead sober) Other events since we last spoke include deactivating my facebook account, creating a twitter account, and getting new skiis. The snow continues to dump this week (9 inches @ Vail last night, ~30inches in last week), and I can't wait to get out there Saturday. But anyway during that time, a few events happened in the hot sauce world that I figured were worth sharing.

1) Disowning of my Sister: During a normal family dinner conversation over break, the topic naturally slipped towards hot sauce. Below is a verbatim interchange, and completely justifies our decision to disown my Sister.

Todd- Valentina is a great sauce. It is the most popular one in Mexico.
Dad- Yeah it is good, but not too hot.
Brooke- Todd, what is that sauce I really like?
Todd- Um, I don't know, Walkerswood?
Brooke- No, it's more basic but tastes so good. It's really common.
Todd- Sriracha?
Brooke- Nope, it's Franks. I love Franks!

Disowning by me and my parents ensued immediately.

Side Note: In what is one of the "darker times" in the Wood family hot sauce career, someone made the decision to buy the massive jug of Franks from Costco. It languished in our pantry for about 10 years before dad and I finally pulled a Kevorkian and ended its unopened and underutilized misery with a mercy killing. A sauce literally could not be lower quality, less spicy, or more pathetic than Franks. #onemansopinion



2) Dad's Xmas gift to mom: Comprised of about 12 different hot sauces. I was really impressed by his gift giving ability, he hit up hotsauceworld.com and make some great selections. I would have liked him to go a little farther up the scoville scale (he concentrated in the 4-12k range), but kudos for the effort. The Peri Peri sauce seemed to be the fan favorite, with brooke declaring it "The best sauce she has ever had". But please see item 1 in order to just how relevant her opinion is.


3) Dinner Party: In order to "liven up" the vacation, my parents invited over two family friend's for dinner one night. We've been friends with the family our whole lives, and it was great to see them. Sadly, I'm not sure they can say the same about us. My dad, still bulled up about his hot sauce gift to mom, decided that for appetizers we should arrange all the hot sauces in proper Scoville order and test them all out on chips. This was all well and good, and was actually a great chance to try out his new sauces. This is where Brooke decided that the Rhino sauce was the best. Anyway, the couple arrived and dad immediately sent them towards the hot sauce challenge. (clearly missed Party Hosting 101: Offer a drink to the guests upon their arrival) The wife dove right in, and took worked her way up to the red El Yucateco (the ~6k sauce that drove ZS (the reigning wuss of the week) to tears) with minimal trouble. So +1 for her. The husband on the other hand demonstrated significantly more caution. Allegedly he had something at lunch that didn't really agree with him, so his stomach was hurting him a bit. A normal host would agree that this was a valid excuse for skipping the hot sauce challenge. My dad is not a normal host. Despite protests, he "encouraged" the man to try some sauces. Against his better judgment, he did. Long story short, this exacerbated the stomach pains and forced him to leave the table and drive home alone (leaving his wife) in order to recuperate in solitude.

Moral of the Story: Everyone should work on their Scoville eating capacities daily, as you never know when you'll be faced with a situation like this where you either dominate the sauce, or are sent home alone packing like a wuss.


4) JD pwns another one: So I was not here for this event, but since it happened in my apartment and utilized my sauces, I feel slightly responsible. JD had a couple kids over last weekend while I was gone, including a girl J (one of our three girlfriends (friends that are girls...)) and her boyfriend E. They brought along one of E's friends, who allegedly constantly talks about his hot sauce prowess and how nothing is too hot for him. Never one to pass up a challenge, my star pupil JD decided to show him what's up and brought out the Widow sauce. This is actually an awesome tasting sauce, and has some solid kick (comes in at around the 80-90k level i'd say). JD takes down a chip with sauce, and then offers one to The Dude. In the best possible outcome, JD sweats a little but handles it like a champ, whereas The Dude gets completely blown up and tears stream down his face, nose starts running, and he can't really talk for 15 minutes. Good work JD! Now it's time for you to start training on Sudden Death.... and then Da Bomb!




P.S. Is it just me, or is the magazine title missing an Adjective.... CREEPY-Looking! Jeez he's scary, it really wouldn't surprise me at all if he was actually a pre-development AI droid that escaped from the GOOGLE campus.



P.P.S. JD and I were talking the other night, and came to the inexorable conclusion that there is only one outcome from developing AI; Our future is going to be like Terminator, not I-Robot. As soon as a robot is sentient and able to create another robot, they will realize how illogical and dangerous humans really are (look how we unsustainably utilize Earth's natural resources) to future survival. It's only a matter of time then before they decide to eliminate us for their own safety. Interesting question we came up with while talking: "What do Droids do in their free time? Do they have hobbies?"

The Fearsome Blazin' Wing Challenge

Housekeeping Note

JC responded to my last post re:Terrible Tues. While an entertaining banter ensued, no resolution was reached, as his personal experience trumped any logic/thoughts I was able to bring to bear. Considering how little reader interaction there is on this blog, I have decided to post the conversation in its entirety. Hopefully this will be inspiring to some. This will either be mildly amusing/completely uninteresting depending on the reader.

JC: I disagree with the premise of your latest blog post. m^2 is always worse than t^2

THTF: I would submit that it's not just the absolute level that makes something bad, but the relative level vs expectation.

Think of a stock. Everyone knows that the earnings will stink. And then it reports bad earnings, but not quite as terrible as expected. It rallies. This is Monday.

Then there is a stock that should do fine. But then earnings are a tiny bit below expectation. It sells off. This is Tuesday.

JC: Maybe for you. My mondays usually don't come in better than expectations until im out of work

THTF: Monday is always expected to be awful. It usually matches this expectation, but sometimes it comes in better.

I always have much higher hopes for tues, and it more often than not comes in below expectations.

Maybe I need to re-calibrate tues expectations downward.

JC: It sounds like that would be a rational adjustment given your experience.

THTF: It also has ability to surprise to upside as well though. Mon never does that. Tues is just a more volatile day, but the utility loss from a downside surprise is much greater than the utility gain from an upside surprise

JC: Maybe you are more of a scholar on the topic than I

THTF: That usually is the case

THTF: So is today significantly better than yesterday for you?

JC: Yes, almost unquantifiable

Anyway, on to the point of the post. Last night after rock climbing, JD and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings. As per their unbiased website:

"Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar is one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the country. Our concept is more than a Buffalo, New York-style wing joint with 14 signature sauces, we are also a sports bar, with a full menu featuring everything from salads to appetizers to burgers, and a variety of specialty items. All served in a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere where people like to hang out with friends, play trivia on our Buzztime^® system, and watch their favorite games on one of our many big-screen TVs."

The restaurant is actually pretty sweet, and has a menu of 14 different wing flavors. The Mango Habanero and Spicy Garlic are amazing. The most "dangerous" of the flavors is the Blazin' sauce. I read on a rather well respected website that the sauce is in the 200k+ scoville range. That my friends is 100% libel. At most this thing clocks in at 20k.

The Menu

Tuesday nights at BWW is 45cent wings, so JD and I decided to stop by for a quick dinner before going out ($2 bowling and drinks @ Lucky Strikes last night!). I decided that this was the perfect time to give the Blazin' Wing Challenge a try. The serving girl's face went ashen when said challenge was requested, and she queried whether I was sure. I admitted I was, and off she went to get the waiver that needs to be signed. Highlights from the waiver included: BWW is not liable in case of participants death, no water or celery or blue cheese, 12 blazin' wings, 6 total minutes. JD elected to sit this one out like a little girl, but was kind enough to act as a witness.

Anyway, the actual challenge was a total cakewalk. The wings were not spicy, so it came down to whether I could eat 12 wings in 6 minutes. And like any self-respecting man, the answer was yes. Four minutes and 15 seconds later, I was the proud owner of the following T-Shirt.




EZ_MODE

Terrible Tues? I don't think so

Besides the Bangles, everyone knows that Mondays suck. After spending a glorious weekend out of the office sleeping in, playing sports, doing activities, and otherwise enjoying yourself, the pain of a 5 day work week sets in hard come Monday morning; hence the term Miz Monday. But while it is brutal, it also is very expected and understood by the masses. So you can't be too upset when the day in fact is bad. That being said, I personally believe that Tuesday is actually the worst day of the week; hence my nickname Terrible Tues (or T^2 for the nerds in the crowd). Monday you still have the opportunity to regale your work buddies with your extracurricular weekend exploits, and the bar is really low as far as having a good day. Tuesday on the other hand has nothing going for it. The weekend is still an interminably long distance away, and you are required to do all the work that you pushed off on Miz Mon due to your residual two day hangover. So more work, and what seems to be the same (i.e. infinte) amount of time until the weekend makes T^2.

So this Tuesday started off as expected; terribly. Work was rough, my stocks were moving the wrong way, and Jimmy John's inexplicably covered my Italian sub with Mayo. WTF! I got home around 7pm, and made some "poor man's chili" (a JD invention, dropping beef stew onto pasta and then slathering with hot sauce; amazing!) in order to help turn the day around. I needed a pick me up, so decided to cover my dinner with Mad Dog Inferno. A great 90k sauce (garlic/molasses), I overestimated my abilities and totally pwned myself; rendering the dinner inedible. And I got a stomach to boot, F!

However from this point on, T^2's strangelhold on my day started to loosen. For JD's 26th birthday, I got him (and myself) tickets to KT Tunstall at the Ogden. Now that doesn't sound like a good gift for a 26 year old male, but I can assure you it is. So we headed to the concert early in order to snag a front row spot. The opening band was Hurricane Bells, most famous (i.e. only known) for their song Monsters that occupies track ten on the Twilight New Moon soundtrack. They were actually pretty solid. Then after 15 minutes of anxiety attacks by JD (O.M.G. WHERE IS SHE, I HOPE SHE SINGS SUDDENLY I SEE, ETC), KT made her appearance.



She, and her new album (Tiger Suit), were friggin awesome. Totally turned Terrible Tues into an Epic Day. She even dedicated a song to me (the only positive to going through a rough breakup ) which was pretty sweet of her. Highlights include her songs Difficult, and I'm Still a Weirdo, as well as how she makes her own beats on the fly (i.e. goes "woo hoo" into the mic, then records it using footpedals, and then loops it to provide the backing track to Black Horses and the Cherry Tree).



The rest of the band was pretty cool as well. All in all, a great show. KT is a must see for the 25-26 year old male demographic imho.