"Shopgirl" - Not sure if I really liked it. There were definitely several parts that just made you feel awkward, and I'm not a big fan of movies that make me feel like that. Steve Martin did a decent job, but more of the definite older man of the picture - think "LA Story" or "Father of the Bride" with no humor. Jason Schwartzman is also good in it, but his performance is where a lot of the awkwardness of the movie comes from.
"Topaz" - A good spy film. It's old and so kind of slow, but I enjoyed it. Not Hitchcock's best, but definitely not one of his worst.
"Cool Hand Luke" - You need to see this movie. It's a classic. Paul Newman and George Kennedy are incredible. A great story about the unbreakable will of a man.
"That old Luke smile. Oh, Luke. He was some boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he's a natural-born world-shaker."
"Junebug" - Not quite sure what I thought of this movie. The performances of the cast was good enough, but the story was nothing to spectacular. Although it didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth, the was nothing quite memorable about it either. Good one to skip.
"Hoodwinked" - Thought it was going to be much better than it was. It had it's moments, but as is it in most of these movies, the moments that it has you've seen on the previews and the rest is just filler. Could be a good family movie, but then there are others that are much better.
"Terminator 3" - Pretty sweet. Good third film of a pretty cool trilogy. Although, I wouldn't be completely floored if they released another. Arnold's back and bad as ever although this time even more than in Terminator 2, you have no idea how he's going to win as out matched as he is. The story is definitely good enough to keep you entertained through the parts that have a little less action although those parts are few and far between. Check it out for a good entertaining couch night.
"The Squid and the Whale" - Didn't like it. Very disturbing. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney had really good performances, but if I had never seen it I wouldn't be any less for it.
"Munich" - Powerful movie, powerful filming, writing and acting. Another good serious Stephen Spielberg success.
"Pride and Prejudice" - I haven't read the book, nor have I seen the BBC edition of the movie that came out a while ago and is about three times as long. I've heard that people who have read the book or seen the other version are really disappointed with this movie, but I thought it was actually pretty good. Donald Sutherland as the father of the girls does a great job, and Keira Knightley does a great job as well, although I'm a little biased on that point.
"The Sentinel" - Great movie. Intense all the way through and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The performances of Michael Douglas, Keifer Sutherland and Eva Longorina do not hurt the film either.
"Saint Ralph" - I really liked this movie, although there's some stuff in the beginning you're going to have to look over. Don't watch this movie with your parents but I think watching it separate from each other, each party would really enjoy it. A story about a boy with everything against him striving to do the impossible: win the Boston Marathon. It's definitely a drama, with some great funny parts in it as well as a lot of things to really make you think.
"Lucky Number Slevin" - Fast paced filming, smart writing, quick dialog and great performances from the all star cast make this a film not to miss. A little violent in times (it's about two rival gang leaders and a hitman) but that's easy to look over in a film this good. Sir Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman play the two rival gang leaders and have an incredible scene between them. Bruce Willis is still in his prime and there are two surprisingly good performances from both Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu whom I'm starting to like more and more with each movie I see them in.
"Art School Confidential" - Not as good as I thought it was going to be. Couldn't tell if they wanted to make it a mystery, a romantic comedy, or just a stupid college life run of the mill comedy. For me it ended up turning into the last one, just with out being very funny. Skip it.
"X-Men III: The Last Stand" - Wow. Really good movie. Action packed, good story line, great acting and unexpectedly dark. Very cool effects. Best of the trilogy. See it if you liked the other two, or even kind of liked the other two. If these type of movies aren't for you, then you probably won't see it anyway.
"Cocktail" - It's okay. Nothing too special although there's a good 10 to 15 minutes of Tom Cruise and co-star Bryan Brown doing some really cool bottle tricks while bar tending in crowded NYC bars. Other than that, I think it was only popular because it came out shortly after "Top Gun".
"The Break Up" - Surprisingly more of a drama than a comedy, although it definitely did have its laughs. Vince Vaughn is Vince Vaughn, and if you've liked him before you'll like him now. Same with Jennifer Aniston and same with John Favreau. The writing is pretty good though, and for all it's billed as a comedy - it's a good serious movie that I think couples will really enjoy.
"A Prairie Home Companion" - I liked it enough, but nothing really great. I think I liked it as much as I did because I've listed to the radio show enough that I really got the characters. It was interesting seeing Garrison Keillor as an actor, but I would definitely say that John C. Reilly and Woody Harrleson stole the show. Their number towards the end of the film was a high point in the film for me and had me laughing out loud. A good family movie with not a lot to it.
"The Prestige" - Really good movie. Thriller that keeps you guessing (or at least kept me guessing, Julia caught the ending much sooner than I did) until the end, or nearly the end. The writing, filming and acting are incredible - there's not one weak link in the cast. See this movie.
"Sahara" - Fun entertaining movie. Steve Zahn is great and gives you laughs in his role as only he can. Matthew McConaughey is perfect for the lead character and I hope (although I think some of Clive Cussler's fans will disagree) that they will continue with this character and make some of the other books into movies.
"Borat" - You'll either love or hate this movie, and if you love it, there will still be several unbelievable scenes that make your jaw drop and your mind have to ask yourself if you actually just saw what you think you did. There's enough press going on about this movie that I don't need to review it any further.
"Clerks II" - Not as good as Clerks I, and I didn't really feel that it had quite the Kevin Smith touch as his other movies, but as a sequel goes - it accomplishes what it needs to. It's a nice wrap up and a nice continuation of some running gags throughout the Tri-city movies. There were a couple of great dialogues reminiscent of the first movie and those definitely made me laugh out loud. There just weren't enough of them for me.
"Superman Returns" - Pretty good. I really liked Kevin Spacey, thought he did a great job as Lex Luthor. Decent story line as well, but nothing awesome. For as much hype as it got and for as big as it needed to be as a new Superman movie, it fell a little short for my liking. Not that I didn't think it was a good movie - it was a fine movie - but nothing special. A good, entertaining, Sunday night flick for the whole family.
11 December 2006
08 December 2006
A Trip To Paradise
Wow. What to say about an incredible week spent with great friends in one of the most beautiful places in the world? I spent last week in the town of Paraiso in the Dominican Republic with two great friends from high school and junior high, one of whom is a Peace Corps volunteer down there working with a coffee cooperative. Now I'm not extremely well traveled, but I have been to my fair share of the world and I must say that the beaches of the southern coast of the Dominican Republic where the most breathtaking beaches I have every seen.
So because I can't tell you everything about the trip - it would take way to long, as those of you who know me realize ;) - I'm just going to give you some highlights:
-fresh fruit: It's incredible. Oranges, grapefruit, papaya, passion fruit, avocados, sweet lemons, bananas, and coconuts. First time eating fresh coconut and trying to peel them from their outer shell with a machete. Good times.
-people: Everybody we met were so helpful, gracious and wanted to be the best hosts they could be. We were offered fresh made Dominican coffee in every house we went to, very sweet coffee, but I enjoyed it. Everybody made us feel very welcome and all of Kat's friends became our friends in a matter of minutes.
-the first view of Paraiso. After driving down a road near the coast line, you wind up a fairly large hill (mountain) and as you turn the corner and start the decent you have an amazing view of the green landscape, the blue sea and sky and the white of the clouds and the sand. Beautiful.
-riding on a "moto": The main mode of transportation and my first time on a motorcycle. There's not a better way to see the scenery around you though.
-the weather: I mean come on! It's December and I'm in shorts and a t-shirt, sunny all the time hanging out on the beach in the Caribbean Sea. Pretty sweet.
-Bahia de las Aguilas - Bay of the Eagles. Two hours in the back of a truck carrying 11 people, but it was a fun ride and the destination for the day was absolutely worth it. White sandy beaches, clear sky, blue water, snorkeling, eating freshly caught fish, picking up little blowfish, laying in a hammock in the shade of a tree, walking the beach during an incredible sunset.
-Santo Domingo: Overall not my favorite, and glad we only spent a day there, but it was cool seeing the Colonial District of the first European city of the New World. Standing outside Columbus' house, visiting the first Cathedral of the New World walking by the remains of the first hospital.
23 November 2006
Livingroom Bowling and Beercheese Soup
Nintendo Wii rocks. So does Beer cheese soup.
Last night my buddies Sam and Dennis and I got together to play Wii and make some amazing beer cheese soup. Both were considered by all to be a great success.
If you have yet to hear about the Nintendo Wii - you do not need to hear about it on my page. Suffice to say that it is awesome, and bowling, golfing, boxing (among other things) in the living room is very cool.
The beer cheese soup was also an excellent addition to a cold evening in November. Here is the recipe for all of you who would like to try it in your own homes. Please keep in mind, however, that when I'm cooking, there's a lot of approximate amounts going on - a lot of "season to taste" - so I'll give you what I can, and the rest is up to you.
So without further ado, here it is:
"Livingroom-Bowling Beer Cheese Soup"
-1/2 cup celery (chopped)
-1/2 cup carrots (chopped)
-1/2 cup onions (chopped)
-3 big cloves of garlic (if you like garlic add more, if not add less)
-5 cups vegetable stock
-3/4 cup butter
-1/2 cup barley flour (I'm sure regular flour would work, but this is what I had and it was awesome)
-6 oz Cheddar cheese
-2 big table spoons Parmesan cheese
-about four shakes of dry Chinese mustard
-5 or 6 shakes of Worcester Sauce
-1 pint of Odell's 5 Barrel Pale ale (you can use a different beer, but it should probably be not to malty, a little hoppy, but nothing as lacking in flavor as your regular Bud or Miller. Good beers will give you a good soup.)
Directions:
Chop up the celery, carrots, onions and garlic. Melt the butter in a pan and add the veggies to saute them. Make sure too cook them, but not to brown them. Next blend in the flour and the mustard. Slowly add the chicken stock and bring the mix to a boil. Cook at the boil and stir for five minutes. Then mix in the cheese and beer. Simmer for half an hour and continue to stir every now and then to make sure nothing is settling on the bottom and cooking to the bottom of the pan.
And there you go! Works really well with a good sourdough bread and a full red wine (or the beer you used to make it of course, if you hadn't finished that during the making of the soup).
Hope you enjoy!
Dave
19 November 2006
Housewarming Party!
Last night Carole and I were finally both available at the same time so we finally had our house warming party.
It was a ton of fun and a lot of great friends and family were able to make it. Good food, good drinks, good friends and good fun. We had friends jamming in the front room and playing cards in the living room. Just a great time and a perfect way to make a house really feel like a home.
I tried looking for a quote about homes, but they were all too lame and didn't sound appropriate. The one picture of the poster is an idea that Carole got to have everyone sign when they came in and now it hangs next to the front door.
16 November 2006
I can't believe the waste!!
Ahhh! Here's my rant for today.
I bought an electric shaver two years ago. Today I was at the store at thought I might get some new blades. I saw the exact shaver that I bought, it was $29.42. I looked for the replacement blades and saw the blades that I needed and - get this - they were $29.89.
Cheaper to throw the whole shaver away than just replace the blades! Why?? Way too much waste in this country.
I bought an electric shaver two years ago. Today I was at the store at thought I might get some new blades. I saw the exact shaver that I bought, it was $29.42. I looked for the replacement blades and saw the blades that I needed and - get this - they were $29.89.
Cheaper to throw the whole shaver away than just replace the blades! Why?? Way too much waste in this country.
07 November 2006
Rogue Squirrel on Election Day
First of all just want to say that everybody should vote today if you haven't already. I think it's a sad state of affairs that they're only predicting Colorado to have a 60% voter turnout and around 40% nationally. That's ridiculous. Voting is simple, it doesn't take up a lot of your time and it has a direct impact on what the next couple years will be like where you live. So don't give that apathetic excuse that so many do when they say that their vote doesn't matter. Or that you're sick of the two party system and the third party candidate who you would vote for wouldn't win anyway so you'd just be wasting your vote. Do you realize how crazy it would be if everybody who thought that actually did go vote for the third party candidate? They'd win by a landslide! So start the change this year and go vote this afternoon.
Here's something I found on YouTube. Apparently I checked it out and it didn't actually happen in Colorado, it was in Oklahoma where this squirrel chewed through a bunch of cords of electronic voting machines.
What I'm wondering is, how can you tell a rogue squirrel from a normal one? And how do they know this one was a rogue?
Here's something I found on YouTube. Apparently I checked it out and it didn't actually happen in Colorado, it was in Oklahoma where this squirrel chewed through a bunch of cords of electronic voting machines.
What I'm wondering is, how can you tell a rogue squirrel from a normal one? And how do they know this one was a rogue?
28 October 2006
Rock Opera in a Coffee House
Local Fort Collins artist Vee deVice as well as several friends who joined them on stage wowed friends, family and newcomers alike with their release concert of the first act of their Rock Opera: "Love Will Tear us to Shreds". The first act "And Quiet Flows the Dawn" was performed in its entirety along with narration and visuals at Everyday Joe's coffee house in Fort Collins, CO.
The night was started out in a surprisingly unique way with local band The Tanukis, a band that can be described as hardcore indie acoustic Russian folk music. Not knowing what to expect it caught me a little off guard, but I ended up really liking them. The vocal harmonies were tight, as was the music, and the song they ended their set with - a Russian folk song, song in Russian - was really good.
After The Tanukis were finished with their set Vee deVice, fully clothed in their Russian opera get up began to take the stage. Backed up with various musician friends to be able to play the album in entirety and an old public domain war propaganda film, the Narrator took the mic and requested that all applause be held until the entire opera had been performed. And then they were off into the life of Isaac Babel. Only having seen the band a couple times live I really had no idea what to expect in the concert. I was completely impressed to say the least. The album itself is extremely well written and each track fits in perfectly with the story they are trying - succeeding - to tell. The instrumentation featured acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic bass, mandolin, banjo, violin, accordion, piano, trombone and even crystal glasses. The vocal harmonies in a couple different tracks with Babel and the soldiers were particularly good and would have to be one of my favorite points of the show. The visual film in the background also accentuated the show with several times seeming purposefully in sync with the music. 
After the final song was performed the audiences reaction told me that everybody there had the same impression as I did as the quality of the show. Keep an eye out for news of the release of Act II of Vee deVice's three disc rock opera "Love Will Tear Us To Shreds". If it's anything close to Act I, we're all in for a treat.
11 October 2006
NEW HOUSE!!
I have moved a relatively few times in my life and thus lived in relatively few houses. When I was younger (<5) I moved a couple times, but then since then, I've lived up near Lory State Park for about 17 years (I suppose you could count the couple years living in the CSU and Budapest dorms, but during the summer and vacations I was always back home) and then the house near Old Town for 4 years now.
Our land lord had been trying to sell the place that I was living for quite awhile and a couple weeks ago he finally got an offer that he accepted. So that gave me a couple weeks to find a new place to live. As luck would have it, one of my good friends from high school was also looking for a place and she found a two bedroom house and asked if I wanted to move in.
Moving is a kind of a pain, but wasn't especially bad since I was only moving about 10 minutes away and I didn't have an unordinarily large amount of stuff. So yesterday I finally finished moving all of my stuff over to the new place and spent my first night there. I really like the place a lot, but we'll definitely have to work on some little "homey" touches - especially with all of the blank wall space.
Should be a great place to live though, and I'm definitely looking forward to enjoying this new change in my life.
Our land lord had been trying to sell the place that I was living for quite awhile and a couple weeks ago he finally got an offer that he accepted. So that gave me a couple weeks to find a new place to live. As luck would have it, one of my good friends from high school was also looking for a place and she found a two bedroom house and asked if I wanted to move in.
Moving is a kind of a pain, but wasn't especially bad since I was only moving about 10 minutes away and I didn't have an unordinarily large amount of stuff. So yesterday I finally finished moving all of my stuff over to the new place and spent my first night there. I really like the place a lot, but we'll definitely have to work on some little "homey" touches - especially with all of the blank wall space.
Should be a great place to live though, and I'm definitely looking forward to enjoying this new change in my life.
06 October 2006
Ben Kweller at the Fox Theatre
Last night Jules & I went to see Ben Kweller at the Fox in Boulder. I'd been looking forward to the show ever since I heard he was playing in town. The first time I'd seen him was down in Austin a couple weeks ago at the festival and he completely rocked - although it was cut a little short because of a rampant bloody nose. This show was a full set and was even better than I expected.
The Sam Roberts Band opened up and were pretty good - kind of an early 90s grunge band from Canada. Tight band and good to listen to for a little while, but it seemed like a lot of their songs were the same, and I don't think I would really enjoy a full show if they were the headliners.
The Ben Kweller came out solo and played a couple acoustic songs on the guitar and one on the piano and then the rest of his band came out starting with "Wasted and Ready" and continued to keep it upbeat and rocking for the entire two hour set. I was completely blown away with all of the talent of everybody in the band. They all played several different instruments - piano, guitar, bass, percussion - and played them all well. During the encore song - "In Other Words" - Ben Kweller got up on top of the piano and started dancing and nearly looked like he was going to tip over the piano and fall off.
Didn't get to meet him after the show or anything, but I did talk to the piano player of the Sam Roberts band and he was pretty cool. Overall just another great night of music at the Fox. Already got my tickets for Donavon Frankenreiter at the end of this month and that should be amazing as well.
Until next time!
The Sam Roberts Band opened up and were pretty good - kind of an early 90s grunge band from Canada. Tight band and good to listen to for a little while, but it seemed like a lot of their songs were the same, and I don't think I would really enjoy a full show if they were the headliners.
The Ben Kweller came out solo and played a couple acoustic songs on the guitar and one on the piano and then the rest of his band came out starting with "Wasted and Ready" and continued to keep it upbeat and rocking for the entire two hour set. I was completely blown away with all of the talent of everybody in the band. They all played several different instruments - piano, guitar, bass, percussion - and played them all well. During the encore song - "In Other Words" - Ben Kweller got up on top of the piano and started dancing and nearly looked like he was going to tip over the piano and fall off.
Didn't get to meet him after the show or anything, but I did talk to the piano player of the Sam Roberts band and he was pretty cool. Overall just another great night of music at the Fox. Already got my tickets for Donavon Frankenreiter at the end of this month and that should be amazing as well.
Until next time!
01 October 2006
Carbon Leaf & Matt Nathanson at the Aggie
Last night I went to see Matt Nathanson and Carbon Leaf at the Aggie. I had won two tickets, but couldn't find anybody who was able to go, but had to go anyway. Matt Nathanson is great to see live and I had heard some of Carbon Leaf's stuff, but had never seen them live, so I was really looking forward to it. Biking down to the Aggie I thought I would ride around the back to see if any of the band was out in their bus or just hanging outside the theatre. I noticed that the back door was wide open, so after locking up my bike, I took a quick look to see where the security guard was looking and then walked in and down the stairs to the green room. When I got in I saw Matt Nathanson was sitting on the couch working up his set list so I said hey and talked to him for a while. Told him I'd seen him a couple weeks ago down in Austin and that I was looking forward to the show. He offered me a beer and we talked a little more and then I headed up the stairs to check out Carbon Leaf. As I was walking out, the security guard noticed I didn't have a wrist band and noticed that I was coming from the back, so he told me I had to leave and go around the front. Oh well, no big deal.The show itself was great. Carbon Leaf is a great band and really tight on their live performance.
They've got a really good sound and a lot of catchy songs. I haven't heard all of their new CD, but from some of the stuff they played off of it last night, I might have to check it out. Favorite song that they played was definitely "The Boxer" and their hit single awhile ago "Life Less Ordinary" was a close second. After they were done, the band came out to the crowd and hung out to listen to Matt Nathanson play and I got to meet and talk with their keyboard player and one of the guitarists. Pretty cool guys.
Then Matt Nathanson came on. No big surprises since I'd seen him recently and several times before, but it was still a great show and he played a lot of songs that I really enjoy and that the Waido Band covers. "I Saw", "Little Victories" and "Suspended" were among my favorites of the set.29 September 2006
Everytime I see this I laugh
There are just some things that no matter how much you see them elicit a chuckle or two and just make your day better. I am happy to share one of mine with you. No matter how much I see this particular Calvin and Hobbes it makes me laugh (I think its the word 'ludicrously').
Hope you enjoy it too.
Hope you enjoy it too.
24 September 2006
Tour de Fat & The Ditty Bops
Yesterday was the annual Tour de Fat wrap up party at the New Belgium Brewery and the festival just keeps getting bigger every year. I slept in a little this year so didn't participate in the bike ride around town, but was able to see some of the crazy home-made bicycles and all of the riders in their costumes.
The festival itself was a great time with a lot of New Belgium Beer - from organic biodegradable cups - and pizza from Cozzola's. The Handsome Little devils(http://www.handsomelittledevils.com/) opened the festival with their unique juggling/vaudeville act. They were on for about an hour and ended their show juggling a chainsaw, a bowling ball and a ping pong ball. Needless to say, it was pretty impressive.
After The Handsome Little Devils got done, the Ditty Bops took the stage. I had seen them once before when they came through on their cross country bike tour and played the Aggie Theatre. It's a four piece band, two vocals - Amanda, who plays mandolin & washboard, and Abby, who plays guitar - and then a piano and acoustic bass. Really good old style swing music - reminds me a little of Squirrel Nut Zippers without the horns and a lot like the music from "The Triplets of Belleville". Check them out: http://www.dittybops.com/
21 September 2006
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS - DAY 3
Finally, the last day of the amazing Austin City Limits festival. This was an incredibly full day, but I only saw four bands instead of the usual 10+. The place was packed for the last day, and we decided rather than go to several different stages, we would just stay by the main stage and try to get as close as we could. It did not disappoint.
First was KT Tunstall at 2:30. Awesome. Played all of her songs off of her CD "Eye to the Telescope" which was great to see live. If you haven't already picked up that CD, do so, it's a great one. She does a couple songs with a loop over her vocals so during the chorus she was harmonizing with herself which was pretty sweet. Her band was great too and they all looked like they were having a lot of fun.
After KT Tunstall ended we began the surge towards the front of the crowd, which basically 
took me until 8:00 (5 1/2 hours) to get to the fourth row for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. At 4:30 Matisyahu took the stage and blew my mind. I had heard his CD "Youth" only recently before seeing him live and I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. The band was incredibly tight and Matisyahu himself was awesome. Seeing this jewish rabbi with the full get-up, beard and all, dance all over the stage, jumping up on speakers and singing reggae with the best of them was surreal. The music was great and the crowd was really into the whole show. Quite the memorable experience.
After another hour of crowd surging towards the front (I ended up in about row 10) The Flaming Lips came on. Best live show I've seen ever. It was incredible. They had Wonderwoman and Captain America setting up, a huge plastic clear ball that the lead singer got inside and rolled over the crowd in, huge cannons that fired billions of scraps of confetti, streamers, smoke machines, fox tails, strobe lights, fake blood, a group of dancing girls dressed up as aliens, a group of dancing guys & kids dressed up as santas, two huge blowup dancing astronauts, a huge blowup dancing alien, a huge blowup dancing Santa and a dancing guy in a mouse costume. Not to mention the band. Only four people in the band and if you've ever heard their CDs it is hard to believe the music can be performed live. But they completely rocked. It was incredible. If you ever get a chance to see them live DO NOT pass it up.
And then it was another hour (in which I moved probably 20 feet to get to the fourth row) watching all of the stage hands clean up all of the streamers and balloons and confetti on the stage to get it ready for Tom Petty. Tom Petty is one of those bands that I've been listening to since pretty much forever. I grew up with the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Stevie Ray Vaugh, BB King, and Led Zepplin to name a few. To be in the fourth row at Austin City Limits with 80,000 screaming fans behind me seeing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the first time - well it was an experience to say the least. It pretty much rocked. The show was great, they're old - and they look it - but they can still rock with the best of them. They played all the old hits: Mary Jane, Free Fallin', Refugee, American Girl as well as a lot of new songs off of the "Highway Companion" album. I thought it was a pretty awesome show and apparently so did Matisyahu and Matthew McConaughey because they were standing in the front VIP/Press section.
And that was Austin. Three days packed full of music and fun. Definitely worth the entire trip, and I will definitely be going back every year from now on.
20 September 2006
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS - DAY 2
Day 2 of Austin City Limits was a little less crazy hectic as day one. We kind of took our time and left a little early rather than doing ten full hours of music in the sun.
Saturday started with lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, with a crab cake sandwich and a big plate full of fried things from the sea. Then we got to the festival grounds at a little after 2:00, noticing that the festival was much more crowded Saturday than it was Friday around the same time. The first band that we really wanted to see was Ben Kweller, who was playing on one of the main stages. He was supposed to start at 2:30 - and at this festival no one was more than 5 minutes late - and he didn't come out until about 2:45. When he finally did come out, it was with a white towel shoved up to his nose, that was getting covered in blood. The guy had a bloody nose that wouldn't stop, but he's such a rockstar that he played the show anyway. After a couple songs, (with the camera continually highlighting the blood streaks on his guitar) he asked the crowd if anybody had a tampon, which he preceded to shove up his nose and then play another couple songs. After that he told us he had to sit down, so he was going to play a piano song. The nose continued to bleed - getting blood all over the microphone and the piano keys - and after that song he said he couldn't continue. He did play probably about 1/2 an hour though, and thoroughly rocked the stage.
After leaving Ben Kweller, we walked over to a side stage and checked out the end of Galactic and the first half of Nada Surf before heading back to the main stage to see The Shins. Galactic was pretty sweet live, kind of a hip-hop, funk New Orleans style band. Nada Surf was good, but nothing really spectacular. We weren't all that close and neither of us knew too much of their stuff though.
The Shins, however, were a different story. The crowd was completely into it, and the band put on a great set. It's a lot of fun seeing a band that you've recently heard a lot of music from, but never had the chance to see live, or really gotten to know too much about them. Seeing some of my favorite songs in the last couple years performed live was a cool treat as well.
After The Shins, we walked to a side stage to check out Aimee Mann who put on a really laid back, but incredible show. She played a lot of songs from the Magnolia soundtrack as well as some newer stuff that I hadn't heard before. The band was really tight and it was a perfect relaxing show to take in while sitting in the grass under a clear blue sky.
After Aimee Mann we left the festival and went to grab massive amounts of BBQ at Rudy's. It was amazing! You just go in and order different meat by the pound. We got a half rack of ribs, half pound of chicken, half pound of lean beef, half pound of fatty beef, and half pound of turkey. Then they give you a loaf of white bread and you load up on BBQ sauce and you're on your way. If you're ever in Austin, you have to check it out (for you non-vegetarians out there) http://rudysbbq.com/
The rest of the night was spent on the couch watching Nebraska lose to USC, and eating way too much meat. Again, sleep came easy as the excitement for the coming day gave way to the exhaustion from the current one.
19 September 2006
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS - DAY 1
Last weekend Waido and I went down to Austin, TX for the Austin City Limits festival. It was incredible. We left Thursday morning at 4:35 in the morning and pulled into the house we were staying at in Austin at 7:49pm. Long drive, but we switched every 250 miles or so. We were lucky enough to stay with a couple of Waido's friends who happened to work at a couple amazing restaurants in downtown Austin, so that was pretty sweet. Thursday night we all went downtown and had dinner at Manuel's - an incredible Mexican restaurant - and then we walked around 6th street for awhile. Went in to a couple bars and checked out a couple bands, all around good time.
But the best time really started Friday morning when we got to the Festival. Here's the bands we saw.
David Ford - great solo musician from England, does a lot of political songs and plays guitar, bass and piano with loop pedals. Really cool.
Terri Hendrix - really good folk band. Great lyrics, covered a Woody Guthrie song, also a very political act. And speaking of political acts... I don't think any band there - or anybody for the most part supported the current administration... One of the really cool things about Terri Hendrix was that she had a signer on the side of the stage to translate her lyrics for the deaf.
After Terri Hendrix we wandered around the shop booths for a bit and grabbed a bite to eat and then walked over to the Barton Springs. Barton Springs was about a 3 minute walk from the festival grounds and is a natural spring that they've dammed up to make a pool. It's around 68 degrees and although that's normally really cold, it felt awesome when it's 95 degrees outside, there's not a cloud in the sky and it's Texas humid. After spending about a half an hour at the springs (only $3 for the entire day) we walked back to the festival grounds to check out Guster.
That was the first time I'd ever seen Guster live and the thing that made the show for me was their drummer. He was incredible. He has this set that he's put together of a ton of different hand drums and percussion instruments and is just insane on them. You could only watch him the entire time and be constantly amazed.
After checking out Guster for awhile we walked towards one of the smaller stages and as we were walking Waido noticed someone near us and shouted out "Ray?" and Ray LaMontagne said "Yeah?" So we talked with him for awhile, which was awesome. We both shook his hand and told him we were really looking forward to seeing his show later on. We also asked if we could get a picture with him, but he told us he doesn't do pictures. But it was pretty sweet anyway.
Then we checked out this singer/songwriter girl named Tristan Prettyman. Really good music and she had some great sounding riffs on the acoustic guitar. She was backed up by a drummer and a bassist, but you could tell that she's normally a solo act, because they were both at the back of the stage and she was front and center.
After Tristan Prettyman we saw Matt Nathanson. Both Waido and I had seen him before (we cover a couple of his songs) and it's always been a good show, so I was looking forward to it. He did put on a great show and played some songs from his upcoming CD, but his inbetween song bantering went on for a little long. But a cool set none the less.
Around this time (still only 4:30) we were feeling a little warm and a little tired, so we walked over to this big tent that was advertising AT&T and had air conditioning and internet access. So we stayed in there for a bit, bought tickets to see Bob Schneider later that night, cooled off and then were ready to check out Gnarls Barkley.
6) Now I don't know too much about Gnarls Barkley, and they were playing one of the main stages, so it was packed and we were way far away. You could still hear the music and see the stage, but not too well. When they were done with their first song they apologized to the audience that Gnarls Barkley couldn't be here today and they were some other band (I forget the name they used) and were just filling in, but they'd try to cover some of their stuff. Since I'd never seen them before, I didn't know what was going on, but apparently they play all their shows as different identities, and after the third song (their main hit "Crazy") I knew it was them. Fun show, good music, but again, we weren't too close.
7) Then we left Gnarles Barkley to go and see Gomez. Amazing. Awesome show and incredible musicians. I had heard a couple of their songs on the radio, but that was it. After seeing them live though, I'm a huge fan and have to check out more of their music.
8) After Gomez we went to see Austin's home boys - the Los Lonely Boys. They rocked. Although the crowd wasn't as into it as I was expecting, I think because they were still kind of during the beginning of the evening (they started at 6:30) and it was still sunny and really hot out. The band rocked the stage anyway though and played a lot of stuff from their new album which I had bought a couple weeks previous. They also played a couple of their hits from their other album, which went over really well.
9) Then we left Los Lonely Boys and walked to the other main stage to check out the last part of Thievery Corporation. I'll definitely have to see them live again, because it was packed around the stage and we could only really see the screen and not the actual stage. There was probably about 16 people in the band and they rocked the hip-hop/reggae. Really good live.
10) After listening to a couple songs from Thievery Corp, we walked to another stage to see Ray LaMontagne. For as mellow as his songs are, and for how anti-social he is, he puts on a hell of a show. He played mostly stuff from his first album "Trouble" which was fine for me because I love that disc, and I'm not too big of a fan of his new one. "Jolene" was probably my favorite live, but the entire show was incredible.
11) I had to leave Ray early because I definitely wanted to catch the whole set of John Mayer and I wanted to get in close. I got there about 10 minutes before he came out and was able to get a good view of the stage and right in front of the huge projection screen, so it worked out really well. John Mayer rocks. He played a lot of older stuff and a lot of stuff from his new album "Continuum". "Slow Dancing in a Crowded Room" was incredible to see live. He played "My Stupid Mouth", "Daughters", "Gravity", "Vultures", "Waiting on the World to Change" and a ton more. He is absolutely mind blowing on the guitar and he shows it live. It was awesome.
After John Mayer, we left the festival to go downtown. This was at 9:30. We were worn out and needed food so we went to the Rio (used to be the Real World Austin house) and one of the girls we were staying with was working that night so we got hooked up pretty nice there. After some great food at the Rio we walked over to Antone's and got there 10 minutes before Bob Schneider and his band started. Antone's is this great small club that even if you're in the center in the back row of the crowd you're no more than 20 feet from the stage. We had a great spot to start out with, but we'd both been on our feet all day long and were really tired, so when I noticed a balcony section that had some people sitting at tables overlooking the stage, I thought it would be nice to get up there. I walked up to the door (which read "Authorized Personnel only") and asked the security guard who was right next to it if he minded me going up there. He said that he couldn't let me up there, so I went back to where I was before. About three songs later, I used the bathroom and when I came out the security guard was gone, so I just walked through the door. Then I was in the green room with the band's guitar tech, and walked up the stairs and grabbed an empty table next to all of the bands friends. Later I got Waido up there (telling a different security guy "Don't worry, he's with me") and we hung out there for the rest of the show. After the encore when we were ready to leave we walked down into the green room and there was the whole band so we told Bob what a great show it was, got a couple pictures with him, talked with the rest of the band and then headed out. It was awesome. The show was incredible too - another band that if you have the chance to catch, there's no excuse not to. So much fun.
By this time it was well past 2:00am, we'd been listening to live music for over 12 hours and been out in the hot sun for over 8 hours, so we were pretty much spent. I have never slept so well on a couch before in my entire life.
But the best time really started Friday morning when we got to the Festival. Here's the bands we saw.
David Ford - great solo musician from England, does a lot of political songs and plays guitar, bass and piano with loop pedals. Really cool.
Terri Hendrix - really good folk band. Great lyrics, covered a Woody Guthrie song, also a very political act. And speaking of political acts... I don't think any band there - or anybody for the most part supported the current administration... One of the really cool things about Terri Hendrix was that she had a signer on the side of the stage to translate her lyrics for the deaf.
After Terri Hendrix we wandered around the shop booths for a bit and grabbed a bite to eat and then walked over to the Barton Springs. Barton Springs was about a 3 minute walk from the festival grounds and is a natural spring that they've dammed up to make a pool. It's around 68 degrees and although that's normally really cold, it felt awesome when it's 95 degrees outside, there's not a cloud in the sky and it's Texas humid. After spending about a half an hour at the springs (only $3 for the entire day) we walked back to the festival grounds to check out Guster.
That was the first time I'd ever seen Guster live and the thing that made the show for me was their drummer. He was incredible. He has this set that he's put together of a ton of different hand drums and percussion instruments and is just insane on them. You could only watch him the entire time and be constantly amazed.
After checking out Guster for awhile we walked towards one of the smaller stages and as we were walking Waido noticed someone near us and shouted out "Ray?" and Ray LaMontagne said "Yeah?" So we talked with him for awhile, which was awesome. We both shook his hand and told him we were really looking forward to seeing his show later on. We also asked if we could get a picture with him, but he told us he doesn't do pictures. But it was pretty sweet anyway.
Then we checked out this singer/songwriter girl named Tristan Prettyman. Really good music and she had some great sounding riffs on the acoustic guitar. She was backed up by a drummer and a bassist, but you could tell that she's normally a solo act, because they were both at the back of the stage and she was front and center.
After Tristan Prettyman we saw Matt Nathanson. Both Waido and I had seen him before (we cover a couple of his songs) and it's always been a good show, so I was looking forward to it. He did put on a great show and played some songs from his upcoming CD, but his inbetween song bantering went on for a little long. But a cool set none the less.
Around this time (still only 4:30) we were feeling a little warm and a little tired, so we walked over to this big tent that was advertising AT&T and had air conditioning and internet access. So we stayed in there for a bit, bought tickets to see Bob Schneider later that night, cooled off and then were ready to check out Gnarls Barkley.
6) Now I don't know too much about Gnarls Barkley, and they were playing one of the main stages, so it was packed and we were way far away. You could still hear the music and see the stage, but not too well. When they were done with their first song they apologized to the audience that Gnarls Barkley couldn't be here today and they were some other band (I forget the name they used) and were just filling in, but they'd try to cover some of their stuff. Since I'd never seen them before, I didn't know what was going on, but apparently they play all their shows as different identities, and after the third song (their main hit "Crazy") I knew it was them. Fun show, good music, but again, we weren't too close.
7) Then we left Gnarles Barkley to go and see Gomez. Amazing. Awesome show and incredible musicians. I had heard a couple of their songs on the radio, but that was it. After seeing them live though, I'm a huge fan and have to check out more of their music.
8) After Gomez we went to see Austin's home boys - the Los Lonely Boys. They rocked. Although the crowd wasn't as into it as I was expecting, I think because they were still kind of during the beginning of the evening (they started at 6:30) and it was still sunny and really hot out. The band rocked the stage anyway though and played a lot of stuff from their new album which I had bought a couple weeks previous. They also played a couple of their hits from their other album, which went over really well.
9) Then we left Los Lonely Boys and walked to the other main stage to check out the last part of Thievery Corporation. I'll definitely have to see them live again, because it was packed around the stage and we could only really see the screen and not the actual stage. There was probably about 16 people in the band and they rocked the hip-hop/reggae. Really good live.
10) After listening to a couple songs from Thievery Corp, we walked to another stage to see Ray LaMontagne. For as mellow as his songs are, and for how anti-social he is, he puts on a hell of a show. He played mostly stuff from his first album "Trouble" which was fine for me because I love that disc, and I'm not too big of a fan of his new one. "Jolene" was probably my favorite live, but the entire show was incredible.
11) I had to leave Ray early because I definitely wanted to catch the whole set of John Mayer and I wanted to get in close. I got there about 10 minutes before he came out and was able to get a good view of the stage and right in front of the huge projection screen, so it worked out really well. John Mayer rocks. He played a lot of older stuff and a lot of stuff from his new album "Continuum". "Slow Dancing in a Crowded Room" was incredible to see live. He played "My Stupid Mouth", "Daughters", "Gravity", "Vultures", "Waiting on the World to Change" and a ton more. He is absolutely mind blowing on the guitar and he shows it live. It was awesome.
After John Mayer, we left the festival to go downtown. This was at 9:30. We were worn out and needed food so we went to the Rio (used to be the Real World Austin house) and one of the girls we were staying with was working that night so we got hooked up pretty nice there. After some great food at the Rio we walked over to Antone's and got there 10 minutes before Bob Schneider and his band started. Antone's is this great small club that even if you're in the center in the back row of the crowd you're no more than 20 feet from the stage. We had a great spot to start out with, but we'd both been on our feet all day long and were really tired, so when I noticed a balcony section that had some people sitting at tables overlooking the stage, I thought it would be nice to get up there. I walked up to the door (which read "Authorized Personnel only") and asked the security guard who was right next to it if he minded me going up there. He said that he couldn't let me up there, so I went back to where I was before. About three songs later, I used the bathroom and when I came out the security guard was gone, so I just walked through the door. Then I was in the green room with the band's guitar tech, and walked up the stairs and grabbed an empty table next to all of the bands friends. Later I got Waido up there (telling a different security guy "Don't worry, he's with me") and we hung out there for the rest of the show. After the encore when we were ready to leave we walked down into the green room and there was the whole band so we told Bob what a great show it was, got a couple pictures with him, talked with the rest of the band and then headed out. It was awesome. The show was incredible too - another band that if you have the chance to catch, there's no excuse not to. So much fun.
By this time it was well past 2:00am, we'd been listening to live music for over 12 hours and been out in the hot sun for over 8 hours, so we were pretty much spent. I have never slept so well on a couch before in my entire life.
10 September 2006
Highlands Fest Show
First off, I have to say that I'm a little disappointed in this years Highlands Festival show. Now, I've got to cover my bases when saying that - keep in mind that I've only gone to two in the past and that's been probably three and four years ago. When I went those two times, my buddy was in a bagpipe band, so I went up with him and got into the festival free. Back then all of the closing night concerts were still on the festival grounds, in a huge tent, didn't cost any extra money and was just a good time with a lot of beer and dancing to some kick ass, rockin' Celtic music.
This year was a little different. And not in a really great way. Seven Nations was playing again, which was cool, since they hadn't played the festival in three years, but the closing show that they were playing each day took place at the Estes Park YMCA, which is a good 20 minutes outside of town and quite far away from the actual festival grounds. So I had quite a bit to do Saturday, so didn't go up for the Highlands Festival during the day, but just went up to see Seven Nations because it had been awhile since I'd seen them. The auditorium that they played in was fairly comparable to a high school auditorium. There was a light above us that the fuse didn't work, so it couldn't shut off. At first glance, the majority of the people there were older - and no offence to the elderly, but they're not necessarily the hard core dancing, cheering crowd at a concert. There was no food or drink in the auditorium which was probably most disappointing to the bands, although towards the end Seven Nations seemed to ignore that 'rule'.
The opening band was a group from Australia called Brother. I don't think I've ever seen as many didgeridoos in one place at one time. It's a four piece band and I don't really even know how to describe their music. Call it Australian/Afro/Celt. They had a drummer on a trapset, a guy who played synth and didgeridoo, a rasta/Australian guy who played guitar, bag pipes, penny whistle, didgeridoo and sang, and then another guy who played bass, electric guitar, bag pipes and didgeridoo and sang as well. Very weird melodic styles, some of the melodies almost reminded me of Gregorian chants and old English melodies. Really good though - I liked them a lot, and now I'm starting to learn anew how to play the didgeridoo. Thought that was pretty sweet.
Then Seven Nations came out. Now I've seen Seven Nations probably over 10 times. This was not their best show. It just kind of seemed like they were tired after playing two days at a festival, and then the sound guy was pretty much terrible, so that didn't help their attitudes at all. Now, don't get me wrong - the music didn't suffer at all. They played a brand new song that was incredible, all their old stuff was great and the even brought out "Under the Milky Way" for their encore with Brother. But you could just tell by watching them that they weren't having the most fun that they've had. One funny thing about it was that Scott - their bagpiper - requested a jig set that Dan - fiddle player - always brings out his tap shoes and does a great jig to towards the end of the song. After Scott requested it and said that he wanted to play it, Dan said no way, and gave Scott the most hateful look ever. But the played it and Dan got on his shoes and busted out his dance that was incredible, but you could tell afterwards that he really didn't want to do it. I think Scott just got a kick out of making Dan do something that he really didn't want to do.
But it was a good show and I'm glad I went. I was able to get front row on the dance floor, just because there wasn't a lot of people who felt like getting out of their seats and dancing. So that was pretty cool. Also really glad I got to see the band Brother. If any of you hear of them coming around and get a chance to see them, I would totally jump on it. There a bunch of fun guys and play some really cool music.
This year was a little different. And not in a really great way. Seven Nations was playing again, which was cool, since they hadn't played the festival in three years, but the closing show that they were playing each day took place at the Estes Park YMCA, which is a good 20 minutes outside of town and quite far away from the actual festival grounds. So I had quite a bit to do Saturday, so didn't go up for the Highlands Festival during the day, but just went up to see Seven Nations because it had been awhile since I'd seen them. The auditorium that they played in was fairly comparable to a high school auditorium. There was a light above us that the fuse didn't work, so it couldn't shut off. At first glance, the majority of the people there were older - and no offence to the elderly, but they're not necessarily the hard core dancing, cheering crowd at a concert. There was no food or drink in the auditorium which was probably most disappointing to the bands, although towards the end Seven Nations seemed to ignore that 'rule'.
The opening band was a group from Australia called Brother. I don't think I've ever seen as many didgeridoos in one place at one time. It's a four piece band and I don't really even know how to describe their music. Call it Australian/Afro/Celt. They had a drummer on a trapset, a guy who played synth and didgeridoo, a rasta/Australian guy who played guitar, bag pipes, penny whistle, didgeridoo and sang, and then another guy who played bass, electric guitar, bag pipes and didgeridoo and sang as well. Very weird melodic styles, some of the melodies almost reminded me of Gregorian chants and old English melodies. Really good though - I liked them a lot, and now I'm starting to learn anew how to play the didgeridoo. Thought that was pretty sweet.
Then Seven Nations came out. Now I've seen Seven Nations probably over 10 times. This was not their best show. It just kind of seemed like they were tired after playing two days at a festival, and then the sound guy was pretty much terrible, so that didn't help their attitudes at all. Now, don't get me wrong - the music didn't suffer at all. They played a brand new song that was incredible, all their old stuff was great and the even brought out "Under the Milky Way" for their encore with Brother. But you could just tell by watching them that they weren't having the most fun that they've had. One funny thing about it was that Scott - their bagpiper - requested a jig set that Dan - fiddle player - always brings out his tap shoes and does a great jig to towards the end of the song. After Scott requested it and said that he wanted to play it, Dan said no way, and gave Scott the most hateful look ever. But the played it and Dan got on his shoes and busted out his dance that was incredible, but you could tell afterwards that he really didn't want to do it. I think Scott just got a kick out of making Dan do something that he really didn't want to do.
But it was a good show and I'm glad I went. I was able to get front row on the dance floor, just because there wasn't a lot of people who felt like getting out of their seats and dancing. So that was pretty cool. Also really glad I got to see the band Brother. If any of you hear of them coming around and get a chance to see them, I would totally jump on it. There a bunch of fun guys and play some really cool music.
05 September 2006
Wedding in the Mountains
This weekend was pretty cool. Normally I'm one to freak out at weddings - not any weddings, just weddings of friends, because I feel I'm so far from that point, but this wedding was really cool. Two of my good friends from college got married this weekend at the Snow Mountain Ranch about 20 miles outside of Winter Park, CO. The got a couple of cabins and had a bunch of camp sites reserved for the whole weekend and were having all of their family and friends come in and spend the weekend up in the mountains. I had a gig (or thought we did - see previous post "Motor City Mad Man") Friday night, so I didn't get down there until Saturday evening, just in time for the 'rehearsal dinner' which was basically just a cool dinner with everybody hanging out, meeting new people and talking to old friends. Later that night the party descended to the depths of karaoke and drinking games - but it's all forgivable at a wedding.
Sunday we awoke, had a long relaxing breakfast and then played some hardcore volleyball (I tell you - if Olympic scouts would have been there, man... ;) they would have just kept right on walking...) and then played a great round of disc golf through trees and down mountains, and then it was time to get cleaned up and look presentable. After all, we were here for a wedding.
The wedding ceremony was perfect. That's all I can say. I can give any more descriptions because I feel like me trying to describe it would take away from it. It was perfect. That's it.
Then the reception. Great food, great music, great people, the dance floor was occupied pretty much the entire night. It was way too much fun.
Monday everybody was a little slow getting up and getting ready to head out. A great testament to the lucky couple was how cool all of their friends were. Friendships were made in two days from people who had never met each other and now will probably stay in touch for years to come. One of CJ's (the groom) good friends from New York was out for the wedding and wasn't leaving until Tuesday, so Monday she and I hung out in Boulder, walked through a cool Labor Day festival, ate lunch at Illegal Pete's (awesome) and went on a short hike through Chautauqua Park. Then we drove back to the Fort, and Anne (girl from New York, who just happens to be an amazing cook) put on a dinner party and cooked for a couple of us. Great relaxing way to end a perfect relaxing weekend.
Sunday we awoke, had a long relaxing breakfast and then played some hardcore volleyball (I tell you - if Olympic scouts would have been there, man... ;) they would have just kept right on walking...) and then played a great round of disc golf through trees and down mountains, and then it was time to get cleaned up and look presentable. After all, we were here for a wedding.
The wedding ceremony was perfect. That's all I can say. I can give any more descriptions because I feel like me trying to describe it would take away from it. It was perfect. That's it.
Then the reception. Great food, great music, great people, the dance floor was occupied pretty much the entire night. It was way too much fun.
Monday everybody was a little slow getting up and getting ready to head out. A great testament to the lucky couple was how cool all of their friends were. Friendships were made in two days from people who had never met each other and now will probably stay in touch for years to come. One of CJ's (the groom) good friends from New York was out for the wedding and wasn't leaving until Tuesday, so Monday she and I hung out in Boulder, walked through a cool Labor Day festival, ate lunch at Illegal Pete's (awesome) and went on a short hike through Chautauqua Park. Then we drove back to the Fort, and Anne (girl from New York, who just happens to be an amazing cook) put on a dinner party and cooked for a couple of us. Great relaxing way to end a perfect relaxing weekend.
02 September 2006
Motor City Mad Man
Last night... I saw Ted Nugent live in concert... Here's how it came about:
Second Wind was booked to play the Thunder Mountain Harley Fest Friday night over on the Clear Channel stage on the other side of the interstate from the Budweiser Event Center. We were scheduled to go on at 9:00 after two other bands and a preliminary round for a bikini contest. We later heard that during our set breaks there was going to be a scantily clad dance troop dancing on stage, so overall, it had all the ingredients for a fun time. Unfortunately, we show up and the weather is rather dismal - cold, windy, looks like it might even rain. And, because of this rather unpleasant weather, the crowd was pretty pitiful. The first band cancelled, none of the bikini contest or dancing girls showed up, and half way through the second band's set they told us that they were going to cancel our show. Now, we've played in the cold before, and we've definitely played to an empty audience before, so we were a little miffed that we weren't going to play after lugging all of our equipment out there on a Friday night. Luckily that had a VIP lounge that had a balcony that over looked the stage and a cool heated kitchen area with all the beer & wine you could drink and a ton of food. Needless to say, that was taken advantage of. But even after the free food and drink, we still felt a little let down, so a suggestion was made that we get free tickets to go see Ted Nugent who was also playing that night, but at the Budweiser Event Center.
So that happened. We got in for free - there was no way we were going to pay to see him - and I guess one of the only things I can say was that it was loud. Really loud. If he was trying to be the loudest thing that had ever been in the Budweiser Event Center, I think he succeeded. I couldn't even tell what songs he was playing - not like it would have mattered too much, because I can't say that I know any Ted Nugent songs. All I know is that I felt completely out of place in my baggy cargo pants, hippie sweater pullover and shaggy long hair. Oh and being a democrat, anti gun, anti Bush and pro peace didn't really help me to feel welcome either. The guy brought his machine guns on stage. Need I say more?
So we stayed for probably 45 minutes. Started out in the stands, then my Dad and I wandered down to the front of the stage to get our ears blown off, until we got kicked out, and then we walked up on the balcony, checked it out from a VIP booth, and walked around to the back of the stage. Somewhere in there I caught a fairly awful version of Isaac Hayes and David Porter's "Soul Man". Seriously, that was the only song I could tell you that he played. All the rest (I guess including "Soul Man", but I caught the distinctive bass line) was just a bunch of yelling and loud noise.
As far as concerts go I'd give it a 2 out of 10, but I'm not a fan, so take it as you will. As far as life experiences go, I can at least say I've seen the Nuge live, although I've probably sacrificed four years of hearing for it. Was it worth it? I leave you to think that one out.
Second Wind was booked to play the Thunder Mountain Harley Fest Friday night over on the Clear Channel stage on the other side of the interstate from the Budweiser Event Center. We were scheduled to go on at 9:00 after two other bands and a preliminary round for a bikini contest. We later heard that during our set breaks there was going to be a scantily clad dance troop dancing on stage, so overall, it had all the ingredients for a fun time. Unfortunately, we show up and the weather is rather dismal - cold, windy, looks like it might even rain. And, because of this rather unpleasant weather, the crowd was pretty pitiful. The first band cancelled, none of the bikini contest or dancing girls showed up, and half way through the second band's set they told us that they were going to cancel our show. Now, we've played in the cold before, and we've definitely played to an empty audience before, so we were a little miffed that we weren't going to play after lugging all of our equipment out there on a Friday night. Luckily that had a VIP lounge that had a balcony that over looked the stage and a cool heated kitchen area with all the beer & wine you could drink and a ton of food. Needless to say, that was taken advantage of. But even after the free food and drink, we still felt a little let down, so a suggestion was made that we get free tickets to go see Ted Nugent who was also playing that night, but at the Budweiser Event Center.
So that happened. We got in for free - there was no way we were going to pay to see him - and I guess one of the only things I can say was that it was loud. Really loud. If he was trying to be the loudest thing that had ever been in the Budweiser Event Center, I think he succeeded. I couldn't even tell what songs he was playing - not like it would have mattered too much, because I can't say that I know any Ted Nugent songs. All I know is that I felt completely out of place in my baggy cargo pants, hippie sweater pullover and shaggy long hair. Oh and being a democrat, anti gun, anti Bush and pro peace didn't really help me to feel welcome either. The guy brought his machine guns on stage. Need I say more?
So we stayed for probably 45 minutes. Started out in the stands, then my Dad and I wandered down to the front of the stage to get our ears blown off, until we got kicked out, and then we walked up on the balcony, checked it out from a VIP booth, and walked around to the back of the stage. Somewhere in there I caught a fairly awful version of Isaac Hayes and David Porter's "Soul Man". Seriously, that was the only song I could tell you that he played. All the rest (I guess including "Soul Man", but I caught the distinctive bass line) was just a bunch of yelling and loud noise.
As far as concerts go I'd give it a 2 out of 10, but I'm not a fan, so take it as you will. As far as life experiences go, I can at least say I've seen the Nuge live, although I've probably sacrificed four years of hearing for it. Was it worth it? I leave you to think that one out.
31 August 2006
Another friend in another part of the world
I feel so lucky to have the friends that I do. The group of high school friends that I've kept in touch with are always spread throughout the world doing some incredibly cool unique things. From studying theoretical chemistry in Germany, to doing African dance in Ghana, to working for the ICTY in the Hague, to living and working at the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, to teaching English in Kunming, China - the different paths my friends take throughout the world continue to amaze me.
This is the newest adventure. My buddy Jesse is spending the next couple years in Antarctica working at a research station down there. Check out his blog: http://jesse-in-antarctica.blogspot.com
This is the newest adventure. My buddy Jesse is spending the next couple years in Antarctica working at a research station down there. Check out his blog: http://jesse-in-antarctica.blogspot.com
30 August 2006
"Little Miss Sunshine" movie review
I went to see "Little Miss Sunshine" last night with a couple friends and was full of great expectations. Now, there are times when I'd like to see a movie and not really know anything about it ("Dot the I" is one of those such movies), but there are times when you can't really help it - case in point being "Snakes on a Plane". Now I had seen a preview for "Little Miss Sunshine" quite awhile ago and I knew right away that it was going to be one of those movies that I would really enjoy. So when it came out in limited release, I of course read all of the reviews and was pleasantly surprised to find that it got good reviews. Now, for the most part I don't take a lot of stock in reviews. There have been many a bad review for movies which I've absolutely loved, and a couple good reviews where I've truly thought that they were watching a different movie than me. But when a movie gets all good reviews, it's a pretty good sign that the movie is going to be at least decent.
"Little Miss Sunshine" was much more than decent. First of all, any movie with Alan Arkin as a fairly main character has to be good. Think of his character in "Edward Scissorhands" just 30 years older and a little less suburban. That being said, I can't ignore the rest of the cast either. There wasn't a weak link in the entire ensemble. Greg Kinnear did an excellent job as a failing motivational speaker who doesn't believe in failure, Toni Collette was perfect as the mother trying to hold the whole family together. Steve Carell played a depressed suicidal uncle, the foremost intellectual on Marcel Proust - no wonder he's depressed and suicidal. The brother is played by Paul Danno who has taken a vow of silence until he becomes a fighter pilot, and the little girl is played by Abigail Breslin who does an incredible job. The film mainly takes place in a beat up VW bus on a road trip from Albuquerque to southern California where the family is traveling so their little girl can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant. I suppose it would have to be classified as a fairly dark comedy, but you're definitely smiling all the way through the movie and you just feel happy at the end.
There's definitely quite a bit of cursing in it, so it's not a younger family movie, but it's not one of those that the language really takes away from the overall film. Basically it's just a nice funny movie about a semi dysfunctional family on a road trip so there daughter can compete in a beauty contest that she's obviously not going to win. The characters are great, its amazingly well written and there's enough funny moments and touching moments to just make you feel good after you've seen it.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone. I'll buy it when it comes out on DVD. 10 out of 10.
"Little Miss Sunshine" was much more than decent. First of all, any movie with Alan Arkin as a fairly main character has to be good. Think of his character in "Edward Scissorhands" just 30 years older and a little less suburban. That being said, I can't ignore the rest of the cast either. There wasn't a weak link in the entire ensemble. Greg Kinnear did an excellent job as a failing motivational speaker who doesn't believe in failure, Toni Collette was perfect as the mother trying to hold the whole family together. Steve Carell played a depressed suicidal uncle, the foremost intellectual on Marcel Proust - no wonder he's depressed and suicidal. The brother is played by Paul Danno who has taken a vow of silence until he becomes a fighter pilot, and the little girl is played by Abigail Breslin who does an incredible job. The film mainly takes place in a beat up VW bus on a road trip from Albuquerque to southern California where the family is traveling so their little girl can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant. I suppose it would have to be classified as a fairly dark comedy, but you're definitely smiling all the way through the movie and you just feel happy at the end.
There's definitely quite a bit of cursing in it, so it's not a younger family movie, but it's not one of those that the language really takes away from the overall film. Basically it's just a nice funny movie about a semi dysfunctional family on a road trip so there daughter can compete in a beauty contest that she's obviously not going to win. The characters are great, its amazingly well written and there's enough funny moments and touching moments to just make you feel good after you've seen it.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone. I'll buy it when it comes out on DVD. 10 out of 10.
29 August 2006
Pluto: A small, inadequate misfit
Isn't it enough that we took away Pluto's status as a planet? Do we have to resort to name calling and kicking it when it's down?
I was reading this article today from a link on Google News and came across this quote from astronomer Dava Sobel.
Referring to Pluto: "Adults relate to its inadequacy, it's marginal existence as a misfit."
Kind of harsh isn't it?
I was reading this article today from a link on Google News and came across this quote from astronomer Dava Sobel.
Referring to Pluto: "Adults relate to its inadequacy, it's marginal existence as a misfit."
Kind of harsh isn't it?
24 August 2006
my refrigerator
Last week all of my roommates moved out and back into the dorms, so over the weekend I did a throughough cleaning of the house, including the refrigerator & the freezer. And believe me - that needed to be cleaned.
So now that I've gotten rid of all of the old food and have no roommates with their food, I look at my refrigerator and think, "Man, I really need to go to the grocery store!"
Proof of Dark Matter gives scientists a warm fuzzy feeling
Sticking with my recent "science in the news" posts:
For years astronomers and scientists have been using this theory of "Dark Matter" in space to help them understand different observations and prove different theories. Only no one had ever been able to scientifically prove the existence of the stuff, which kind of makes one uneasy after basing so many other facts and observations on the assumption that dark matter does exist.
So you could imagine hearing a collective "whew!" throughout the scientific community this Monday when studies of the Bullet Cluster were announced and given as the best evidence to date that dark matter actually exists. Basically, two clusters of galaxies collided and through observing the collision - astronomers had already know what collisions of stars and other previously studied bodies looked like - they detected the dark matter indirectly through gravitational lensing. Kind of cool, right?
So now they've got one thing checked off the to do list. I suppose the next will be, "alright, so we know now that it actually does exist, so now... what is it?"
But that might be a couple years down the road.
Picture is a new photo from NASA showing the Bullet Cluster and what is believed to be dark matter, shown in blue.
For years astronomers and scientists have been using this theory of "Dark Matter" in space to help them understand different observations and prove different theories. Only no one had ever been able to scientifically prove the existence of the stuff, which kind of makes one uneasy after basing so many other facts and observations on the assumption that dark matter does exist.
So you could imagine hearing a collective "whew!" throughout the scientific community this Monday when studies of the Bullet Cluster were announced and given as the best evidence to date that dark matter actually exists. Basically, two clusters of galaxies collided and through observing the collision - astronomers had already know what collisions of stars and other previously studied bodies looked like - they detected the dark matter indirectly through gravitational lensing. Kind of cool, right?
So now they've got one thing checked off the to do list. I suppose the next will be, "alright, so we know now that it actually does exist, so now... what is it?"But that might be a couple years down the road.
Picture is a new photo from NASA showing the Bullet Cluster and what is believed to be dark matter, shown in blue.
Roman God of the Underworld no longer special in the skies
Today astronomers from all over the world at the International Astronomers Union gathering in Prague finally nixed Pluto from the 9 (now 8) planets of our solar system. Pluto, named after the Roman God of the Underworld, just didn't make the cut after much discussion on a final definition for "planet". Last week a secret group of astronomers that had been appointed to define the word basically came out with a definition that a planet would be something with enough self gravity to make it round, but that didn't hold up since that would have brought in many other things to qualify as planets. So they scrapped that definition and came up with the following:
"To qualify [as a planet], a celestial body must be in orbit around a star while not itself being a star. It must also be large enough in mass for it's self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a...nearly round shape, and has cleared its neighborhood around its orbit." *
So no more Pluto. All of those elementary school teachers will have to come up with new mnemonics to teach their kids the planets without including Pluto. All new models of the eight planets will have to be built. Think of the impact!
I just hope Disney won't change the name of Mickey's dog to Uranus.
* source: BBC News
"To qualify [as a planet], a celestial body must be in orbit around a star while not itself being a star. It must also be large enough in mass for it's self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a...nearly round shape, and has cleared its neighborhood around its orbit." *
So no more Pluto. All of those elementary school teachers will have to come up with new mnemonics to teach their kids the planets without including Pluto. All new models of the eight planets will have to be built. Think of the impact!
I just hope Disney won't change the name of Mickey's dog to Uranus.
* source: BBC News
"Snakes on a Plane" review
This is not so much of a review as a suggestion to go see this movie. There are plenty of other reviews out there from writers with a greater gift for words than I have, so if you want to read a fun review, check all of those out.
First of all, I give this movie kudos for it's marketing racket. "Snakes on a Plane" as a title? Of course I'm going to see this movie. It leaves no mystery as to what the movie is going to be about. It's going to be about snakes - on a plane. If you're not into movies for the pure sake of entertainment and fun, if you're not into great B-movies, you're not going to see this, because it's called "Snakes on a Plane". However, if you want to see an entertaining movie, how could you not see it? So I was super excited when I saw the previews.
Then I got a call from Samuel L Jackson and thought it was so cool that I proceeded to have him call a bunch of my friends. That was awesome. I still have the message he left saved on my phone. Hopefully I won't rack up too many minutes listening to it. If you want to have Samuel L Jackson call one of your friends check out www.snakesonaplane.com
So finally the other night a group of my friends and I went to go see it. It did not dissappoint. There were scenes that made you jump, scenes that made you squirm, scenes that made you laugh, and scenes that made you say "oh snap!" Now, it's definitly not a kids movie. There's a lot of violence (basically a whole mess of snakes killing a whole mess of people - on a plane) there's some sex and of course the obligatory language that comes with Samuel L Jackson being a bad ass mother.
The movie is awesome. Go see it. I have to give it 10 out of 10 just because it was such a fun time. I'd see it again.
First of all, I give this movie kudos for it's marketing racket. "Snakes on a Plane" as a title? Of course I'm going to see this movie. It leaves no mystery as to what the movie is going to be about. It's going to be about snakes - on a plane. If you're not into movies for the pure sake of entertainment and fun, if you're not into great B-movies, you're not going to see this, because it's called "Snakes on a Plane". However, if you want to see an entertaining movie, how could you not see it? So I was super excited when I saw the previews.
Then I got a call from Samuel L Jackson and thought it was so cool that I proceeded to have him call a bunch of my friends. That was awesome. I still have the message he left saved on my phone. Hopefully I won't rack up too many minutes listening to it. If you want to have Samuel L Jackson call one of your friends check out www.snakesonaplane.com
So finally the other night a group of my friends and I went to go see it. It did not dissappoint. There were scenes that made you jump, scenes that made you squirm, scenes that made you laugh, and scenes that made you say "oh snap!" Now, it's definitly not a kids movie. There's a lot of violence (basically a whole mess of snakes killing a whole mess of people - on a plane) there's some sex and of course the obligatory language that comes with Samuel L Jackson being a bad ass mother.
The movie is awesome. Go see it. I have to give it 10 out of 10 just because it was such a fun time. I'd see it again.
09 August 2006
New Websites!
So the news of the past couple days is that I just got a new website for both of the bands I'm in. Both sites have our gig schedule and contact information which is always nice to have. I'm working on the Michael Waido Band website, and I'm kind of new to the whole HTML thing, so it'll be a learning experience and the website will get better with age - so continue to check it.
Anyway here's the links, check them out!
Second Wind: www.swband.com
Michael Waido Band: www.michaelwaidoband.com
Anyway here's the links, check them out!
Second Wind: www.swband.com
Michael Waido Band: www.michaelwaidoband.com
31 July 2006
Cool idea
One of my buddy's found this on YouTube and I thought it was pretty sweet. It's a much cooler idea than just taking pictures of your trips around the world. I've been in that exact same spot in Berlin and Seattle, and at least near the same spot in San Francisco - check out if you recognize any places you've been.
29 July 2006
Second Wind gig
So today I went down to Denver with Second Wind for a gig we had at the Denver Thunder Mountain Harley custom cycles. It was way too hot, but was a really fun gig. Now I'm not much of a motorcycle guy, but there were some incredible bikes there. I'm talking really nice custom cycles with awesome paint jobs. They also had 103.5 The Fox radio station there promoting the Hogfest tomorrow and I got to see one of the DJs there - Kathy Lee. That was pretty crazy, just because if you've heard some one for a really long time and never seen what they look like you automatically develop your own image of them in your mind, and then you finally see them and it totally doesn't fit with your own made up image. They also had some girls from the Denver Coyote Ugly bar so that was kind of nice (that's the picture).
The gig was a lot of fun, we played really well despite of nearly all dying of heat stroke. It's just a good thing we were in the shade. The people there were really into our music - and we've started to think that we're a really good biker band. We're playing the primo spot at the big biker rally over Labor Day playing outside right after Ted Nugent gets done so that should be pretty sweet.
Our next gig is Wednesday August 9th closing out the summer CSU Lagoon Concert Series. So if you haven't seen us you should come out, it's free and hopefully it will be a great night weatherwise.
26 July 2006
Myriad of Movie reviews
So I've seen a bunch of movies recently, and since this post would be really long and would take a lot of time if I decided to completely review them all, I'm just going to do little blurbs about them.
On a Clear Day - See this movie. Independent film from a Scottish film company based on the true story of the first guy who swam the English Channel. Not a lot of action, kind of a slow movie, but really good. 9 out of 10.
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story - Incredibly original, witty, well directed, well written & Steve Coogan rocks. Check it out it will be one of the most memorable movies you'll see this year. 10 out of 10.
Phantom of the Opera - Actors/singers were really good, as is the music. I'd never heard the entire opera, but I thought it was adapted to film really well. 7 out of 10.
40 Year Old Virgin - Freaking hilarious. If you're in the mood for a laugh, check it out, although not really a family film. 8 out of 10.
War of the Worlds - Lots of people are anti Tom Cruise now and I can see that, but the movie is actually really intense and I liked it a lot. Tim Robbins has a bit part in it that he's pretty sweet in. 7 out of 10.
Fantastic 4 - LAME. CHEESY. Don't waste your time. It's amazing how little actually happens. Hopefully they won't make a sequel, but I'm not optimistic. 2 out of 10.
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Rocked my socks off. Everybody's back and with avengence. The cast rocks, and there's only really one or two parts where the movie goes a little over the top, but it's easy to take in stride. Be prepared to want to watch the third one right after the movie ends. 10 out of 10.
Brokeback Mountain - Totally didn't see what the big deal was with this movie. I think if it wasn't about two gay guys, but just about a man and a woman with forbidden love, no one would have said anything about it. It's just because the two main characters are gay that Hollywood is giving itself a pat on the back by recognizing how libreral and cultured they are, when really it shouldn't make any difference at all if the main characters are gay or straight. 4 out of 10.
Capote - Pretty slow movie, but I really liked it. Phillip Seymore Hoffman continues to astound me with the roles he chooses and the talent he brings to them. 8 out of 10.
Green Street Hooligans - Awesome. Beer, violence & football (European). Elijah Wood is great in it, as is the rest of the cast. It is very violent though, so be prepared. 9 out of 10.
Mean Machine - Another great British movie about violence and football. Produced by the same guy who was involved with "Lock, Stock" and "Snatch" and stars Vinnie Jones as a once famous footballer who gets sent to jail. Basically a British remake of "The Longest Yard". 7 out of 10.
Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang - Entertaining. I don't really know what to say about it. There were times where I was thinking it was awesome and then other times when I found myself saying "what's going on? why am I watching this?" I guess the best thing I can say is it's a pretty unique detective/caper film, fairly funny and pretty entertaining. 6 out of 10.
Breakfast on Pluto - Cillian Murphy as a young gay irishman who goes on a quest to London to find his mother who abandoned him at a church doorstep when he was a little baby. It's really funny, the soundtrack is great and the cast, although mostly not well known, is amazing. 8 out of 10.
Sunshine - Ralph Fiennes shines in this story of a Jewish-Hungarian family followed through three different generations from World War One all the way to modern day Hungary. A story about survival and values and how sometimes you have to give up your values in order to survive. Filmed on location in Budapest, Hungary, which I've spent six months in, so I really enjoyed that aspect of it. 9 out of 10.
In the Mood for Love & 2046 - Not good. BORING! Thought they looked interesting, but they're not. Felt like the hours just dragged on and on and nothing happened. 2 out of 10 for the first, 3 out of 10 for the second.
Heat - I can't believe I hadn't seen this sooner. Allstar cast which does incredible, great cop/robber movie. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro steal the show. See it. 8 out of 10.
Ordinary Decent Criminal - Kevin Spacey as an Irish fun loving criminal? It works. It's a fun movie and Kevin Spacey is great in it. So's the story and the supporting cast. If you're a Spacey fan, you'll love it, otherwise you'll think it's a pretty good movie. 8 out of 10.
On a Clear Day - See this movie. Independent film from a Scottish film company based on the true story of the first guy who swam the English Channel. Not a lot of action, kind of a slow movie, but really good. 9 out of 10.
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story - Incredibly original, witty, well directed, well written & Steve Coogan rocks. Check it out it will be one of the most memorable movies you'll see this year. 10 out of 10.
Phantom of the Opera - Actors/singers were really good, as is the music. I'd never heard the entire opera, but I thought it was adapted to film really well. 7 out of 10.
40 Year Old Virgin - Freaking hilarious. If you're in the mood for a laugh, check it out, although not really a family film. 8 out of 10.
War of the Worlds - Lots of people are anti Tom Cruise now and I can see that, but the movie is actually really intense and I liked it a lot. Tim Robbins has a bit part in it that he's pretty sweet in. 7 out of 10.
Fantastic 4 - LAME. CHEESY. Don't waste your time. It's amazing how little actually happens. Hopefully they won't make a sequel, but I'm not optimistic. 2 out of 10.
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Rocked my socks off. Everybody's back and with avengence. The cast rocks, and there's only really one or two parts where the movie goes a little over the top, but it's easy to take in stride. Be prepared to want to watch the third one right after the movie ends. 10 out of 10.
Brokeback Mountain - Totally didn't see what the big deal was with this movie. I think if it wasn't about two gay guys, but just about a man and a woman with forbidden love, no one would have said anything about it. It's just because the two main characters are gay that Hollywood is giving itself a pat on the back by recognizing how libreral and cultured they are, when really it shouldn't make any difference at all if the main characters are gay or straight. 4 out of 10.
Capote - Pretty slow movie, but I really liked it. Phillip Seymore Hoffman continues to astound me with the roles he chooses and the talent he brings to them. 8 out of 10.
Green Street Hooligans - Awesome. Beer, violence & football (European). Elijah Wood is great in it, as is the rest of the cast. It is very violent though, so be prepared. 9 out of 10.
Mean Machine - Another great British movie about violence and football. Produced by the same guy who was involved with "Lock, Stock" and "Snatch" and stars Vinnie Jones as a once famous footballer who gets sent to jail. Basically a British remake of "The Longest Yard". 7 out of 10.
Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang - Entertaining. I don't really know what to say about it. There were times where I was thinking it was awesome and then other times when I found myself saying "what's going on? why am I watching this?" I guess the best thing I can say is it's a pretty unique detective/caper film, fairly funny and pretty entertaining. 6 out of 10.
Breakfast on Pluto - Cillian Murphy as a young gay irishman who goes on a quest to London to find his mother who abandoned him at a church doorstep when he was a little baby. It's really funny, the soundtrack is great and the cast, although mostly not well known, is amazing. 8 out of 10.
Sunshine - Ralph Fiennes shines in this story of a Jewish-Hungarian family followed through three different generations from World War One all the way to modern day Hungary. A story about survival and values and how sometimes you have to give up your values in order to survive. Filmed on location in Budapest, Hungary, which I've spent six months in, so I really enjoyed that aspect of it. 9 out of 10.
In the Mood for Love & 2046 - Not good. BORING! Thought they looked interesting, but they're not. Felt like the hours just dragged on and on and nothing happened. 2 out of 10 for the first, 3 out of 10 for the second.
Heat - I can't believe I hadn't seen this sooner. Allstar cast which does incredible, great cop/robber movie. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro steal the show. See it. 8 out of 10.
Ordinary Decent Criminal - Kevin Spacey as an Irish fun loving criminal? It works. It's a fun movie and Kevin Spacey is great in it. So's the story and the supporting cast. If you're a Spacey fan, you'll love it, otherwise you'll think it's a pretty good movie. 8 out of 10.
24 July 2006
seriously though... where have you been?
A lot of work and a lot of band gigs.
For those of you who don't know - I'm in a couple bands, and work full time at a local engineering company. The last couple weeks I've had a bevy of gigs with my two bands - Second Wind (an eclectic rock, blues & boogie band) and Michael Waido (we like to call ourselves wuss rock, because the chicks dig it...).
The last month has been great for Second Wind - we've played some great gigs in Old Town and also a couple gigs down at Thunder Mountain Harley Davidson which landed us a spot at the main Harley Fest over Labor Day!
The big news with the Michael Waido Band has been that we've been fortunate enough to have my good buddy Eddy Miller back with us over the summer to jam some fiddle in with our regular wuss rock to give us a little bit of an edge. Eddy, Pete and I have worked up Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down to Georgia" which the crowd seems to really get into - I think it has to do with Pete. We've been playing Lucky Joe's and our new bar you can find us at - Chug's Pub - to rave reviews... admittedly by the time we ask our fans for reviews at the end of the night many of them are three sheets to the wind, but we'll take it :) Our "hell or highwater" drummer - Pete Carlson - is leaving us at the end of the month for a job at Barnes & Noble in Rotchester, MI - so that's a total bummer. If you know a good drummer who a cool guy to hang out with and looking for a band, let me know. Other than that - we'll be rocking the house, headlining the Starlight on August 4th - it's a requirement that everybody come out that night - it'll rock the socks off any Partridge Family show you've been to.
Work is still going well, saving more money than I spend (although not as much as I'd like) so I guess that's all you can hope for.
Other than that, hanging out with old friends and always meeting new ones - a better life I could not ask for (with the hopes of getting...)
That's it for now, I will make it a point to post more often than once every month.
Dave
For those of you who don't know - I'm in a couple bands, and work full time at a local engineering company. The last couple weeks I've had a bevy of gigs with my two bands - Second Wind (an eclectic rock, blues & boogie band) and Michael Waido (we like to call ourselves wuss rock, because the chicks dig it...).
The last month has been great for Second Wind - we've played some great gigs in Old Town and also a couple gigs down at Thunder Mountain Harley Davidson which landed us a spot at the main Harley Fest over Labor Day!
The big news with the Michael Waido Band has been that we've been fortunate enough to have my good buddy Eddy Miller back with us over the summer to jam some fiddle in with our regular wuss rock to give us a little bit of an edge. Eddy, Pete and I have worked up Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down to Georgia" which the crowd seems to really get into - I think it has to do with Pete. We've been playing Lucky Joe's and our new bar you can find us at - Chug's Pub - to rave reviews... admittedly by the time we ask our fans for reviews at the end of the night many of them are three sheets to the wind, but we'll take it :) Our "hell or highwater" drummer - Pete Carlson - is leaving us at the end of the month for a job at Barnes & Noble in Rotchester, MI - so that's a total bummer. If you know a good drummer who a cool guy to hang out with and looking for a band, let me know. Other than that - we'll be rocking the house, headlining the Starlight on August 4th - it's a requirement that everybody come out that night - it'll rock the socks off any Partridge Family show you've been to.
Work is still going well, saving more money than I spend (although not as much as I'd like) so I guess that's all you can hope for.
Other than that, hanging out with old friends and always meeting new ones - a better life I could not ask for (with the hopes of getting...)
That's it for now, I will make it a point to post more often than once every month.
Dave
kill for an X-Box?
So apparently (the jury is still out, so it would be wrong of me to assume) these three guys in Florida killed another group of guys (6?) with a couple baseball bats because they thought that these guys stole their X-box. Wow. What a senseless waste that was! I mean if it had been an Atari.... kidding
Speaking of how messed up the world is - I've recently been listening to BBC Radio 4. I love it. Such a change from the trivial, oft biased scare tactics and rantings that local news spews forth. I was incredibly impressed when listening to an interview of a Radio 4 journalist with the Secretary of Defense of Israel. The journalist actually had the confidence and the guts to ask some pretty forthright questions to the defense secretary about the recent retaliation of the Israeli army to Hezbollah and Lebanon. He quoted several Lebanese civilian deaths and targets that have turned out to be schools and hospitals and asked the defense secretary to explain if he thought it was right or not. The defense secretary didn't back down at all, but asked the journalist to check his facts and let him know that, yes he believes that Israel is doing the right thing in this engagement.
The next piece was talking about the G8 summit that is happening in Moscow. The main discussion topic was going to be about the energy crisis and Russia's attempt in cornering more of an upper hand in the European oil supply. But then this whole Lebanon/Israel thing happened and of course that must be the main thing discussed. Because we (the US) as a nation support Israel, many of the world leaders were calling to President Bush to urge Israel not to launch an all out attack on Lebanon, but respond showing an equal aggression that Hezbollah took initially when capturing the Israeli army officers. Bush didn't say a thing, only that he still supports Israel, and didn't tell them to back down at all. I feel he should have taken a stand a this point, but apparently he had to wait until there were more bombings in Lebanon and Israel and the Israeli army began a ground invasion of Southern Lebanon to send Condoleeza Rice to try and talk some sense into the Lebanese and Israeli governments. As of today, she failed.
We'll see what happens, but as for me, I've got a good friend in Haifa, Israel which is continually getting rocketed by Hezbollah rockets, and another friend who was in Damascus, Syria just before this whole thing happened and was planning on getting back into Lebanon, and for her sake, I hope she just got the heck out of there.
The world is too messed up right now. I guess that's kind of a consequence of it getting smaller. I mean 10 years ago, what would I care what happened in Mumbai, India. Even a year ago, I don't think I'd ever heard of the city. But when you have a friend who was on the same train that just got bombed a couple weeks before it happened, it kind of hits home.
Not to depress you or anything, it's just things I feel we should think about.
Speaking of how messed up the world is - I've recently been listening to BBC Radio 4. I love it. Such a change from the trivial, oft biased scare tactics and rantings that local news spews forth. I was incredibly impressed when listening to an interview of a Radio 4 journalist with the Secretary of Defense of Israel. The journalist actually had the confidence and the guts to ask some pretty forthright questions to the defense secretary about the recent retaliation of the Israeli army to Hezbollah and Lebanon. He quoted several Lebanese civilian deaths and targets that have turned out to be schools and hospitals and asked the defense secretary to explain if he thought it was right or not. The defense secretary didn't back down at all, but asked the journalist to check his facts and let him know that, yes he believes that Israel is doing the right thing in this engagement.
The next piece was talking about the G8 summit that is happening in Moscow. The main discussion topic was going to be about the energy crisis and Russia's attempt in cornering more of an upper hand in the European oil supply. But then this whole Lebanon/Israel thing happened and of course that must be the main thing discussed. Because we (the US) as a nation support Israel, many of the world leaders were calling to President Bush to urge Israel not to launch an all out attack on Lebanon, but respond showing an equal aggression that Hezbollah took initially when capturing the Israeli army officers. Bush didn't say a thing, only that he still supports Israel, and didn't tell them to back down at all. I feel he should have taken a stand a this point, but apparently he had to wait until there were more bombings in Lebanon and Israel and the Israeli army began a ground invasion of Southern Lebanon to send Condoleeza Rice to try and talk some sense into the Lebanese and Israeli governments. As of today, she failed.
We'll see what happens, but as for me, I've got a good friend in Haifa, Israel which is continually getting rocketed by Hezbollah rockets, and another friend who was in Damascus, Syria just before this whole thing happened and was planning on getting back into Lebanon, and for her sake, I hope she just got the heck out of there.
The world is too messed up right now. I guess that's kind of a consequence of it getting smaller. I mean 10 years ago, what would I care what happened in Mumbai, India. Even a year ago, I don't think I'd ever heard of the city. But when you have a friend who was on the same train that just got bombed a couple weeks before it happened, it kind of hits home.
Not to depress you or anything, it's just things I feel we should think about.
12 June 2006
World Cup 2006 & USA
First off - disappointing loss to the Czech Republic this morning, but what can you expect from the number two ranked team in the world? I guess I was hoping that the US would give it a run like they did four years ago and surprise the world with getting as far as they did. Hopefully they won't let this loss effect the rest of their games.
Second - and what this blog is really about is an article I read in the paper today, while eating a Big City carnitas burrito. The US team is followed everywhere they go by a huge security entourage and - get this - their team bus is the only bus out of all of the teams at the 2006 World Cup that isn't marked with the team name, the country, or the flag. In fact, the USA team bus is completely unmarked. What does that say about the state of our nation that we can't even advertise the presence of our soccer team because we're too worried that it might become a target for terrorists?
Second - and what this blog is really about is an article I read in the paper today, while eating a Big City carnitas burrito. The US team is followed everywhere they go by a huge security entourage and - get this - their team bus is the only bus out of all of the teams at the 2006 World Cup that isn't marked with the team name, the country, or the flag. In fact, the USA team bus is completely unmarked. What does that say about the state of our nation that we can't even advertise the presence of our soccer team because we're too worried that it might become a target for terrorists?
09 June 2006
busy, busy, busy!
Man it's been for ever since I've posted anything on this blog! Life has been pretty full recently, but all really good things so I'm still loving what I'm doing - lot of music, working and hanging out with friends - here's some highlights:
New trivia night at Coopersmiths! First week we did it we won! Then I didn't go until last week and we came in second to this team that's won the last three weeks in a row - they're going down next week though...
End of an era - my roommates who I've lived with for four years moved out and we got together for a dinner at the house and went through all of our stuff in the kitchen and throughout the house. My new roommates have lived in the dorms and are just staying for the summer, so they don't have any furniture or kitchen things, so I had to go get a table and chairs from my parents place and went out just a couple days ago to get a George Forman grill and a toaster oven. Now I just need a blender and a coffee table and I'll be set.
Lots of good times hanging out in Boulder eating mass amounts of delicious sushi - My girlfriend left for the summer a couple weeks ago to do law clerk work at the ICTY in The Hague, so before she left I spent a lot (all) of my free time with her either in Boulder or up here, and we went out to sushi a lot and saw a lot of movies.
First BBQ of the summer! The last week in May a bunch of my friends were randomly in town and we all got together to enjoy the nice weather and had a BBQ and just basically hung out, relaxed and had fun - which really is what summer should be all about...although now that I'm no longer in school and am working full time the whole kind of bumming around town, waking up at 10:00, playing frisbee golf in the afternoon, etc... doesn't seem to work all that well.
Tons of music! Second Wind played a gig on May 19th, May 26th and 27th (with a stand in guitarist that's a story in itself) and we have another two gigs this coming weekend at The Ranch at the Budweiser Event Center! Waido, Pete and I played a gig at the Starlight last Friday night with my dad sitting in on bass - which was a whole lot of fun - and then finished the night playing at Lucky Joes. After we finished at Joe's we ended up just leaving everything set up because we were playing all night Saturday as well. This weekend we're playing a Saturday night gig at Chug's Pub which should be really low key, but a lot of fun. Also two weekends ago most of the members from Innocent Bystanders got together and jammed for a couple hours - surprisingly enough, we even remembered most of our old stuff!
Other than that, I've been watching the occasional movie (although I've just started having some free time this week) working a lot, which I'm still really liking, and enjoying the weather - even though it has been unseasonably warm recently.
So that's it for now - hopefully it won't be another month before I get time to write!
Dave
New trivia night at Coopersmiths! First week we did it we won! Then I didn't go until last week and we came in second to this team that's won the last three weeks in a row - they're going down next week though...
End of an era - my roommates who I've lived with for four years moved out and we got together for a dinner at the house and went through all of our stuff in the kitchen and throughout the house. My new roommates have lived in the dorms and are just staying for the summer, so they don't have any furniture or kitchen things, so I had to go get a table and chairs from my parents place and went out just a couple days ago to get a George Forman grill and a toaster oven. Now I just need a blender and a coffee table and I'll be set.
Lots of good times hanging out in Boulder eating mass amounts of delicious sushi - My girlfriend left for the summer a couple weeks ago to do law clerk work at the ICTY in The Hague, so before she left I spent a lot (all) of my free time with her either in Boulder or up here, and we went out to sushi a lot and saw a lot of movies.
First BBQ of the summer! The last week in May a bunch of my friends were randomly in town and we all got together to enjoy the nice weather and had a BBQ and just basically hung out, relaxed and had fun - which really is what summer should be all about...although now that I'm no longer in school and am working full time the whole kind of bumming around town, waking up at 10:00, playing frisbee golf in the afternoon, etc... doesn't seem to work all that well.
Tons of music! Second Wind played a gig on May 19th, May 26th and 27th (with a stand in guitarist that's a story in itself) and we have another two gigs this coming weekend at The Ranch at the Budweiser Event Center! Waido, Pete and I played a gig at the Starlight last Friday night with my dad sitting in on bass - which was a whole lot of fun - and then finished the night playing at Lucky Joes. After we finished at Joe's we ended up just leaving everything set up because we were playing all night Saturday as well. This weekend we're playing a Saturday night gig at Chug's Pub which should be really low key, but a lot of fun. Also two weekends ago most of the members from Innocent Bystanders got together and jammed for a couple hours - surprisingly enough, we even remembered most of our old stuff!
Other than that, I've been watching the occasional movie (although I've just started having some free time this week) working a lot, which I'm still really liking, and enjoying the weather - even though it has been unseasonably warm recently.
So that's it for now - hopefully it won't be another month before I get time to write!
Dave
05 May 2006
excited
So tonight I'm going down to Denver to see "Les Misrables" at the Buelle Theatre. I'm super excited, since the only musical I've ever seen at that scale was Disney's Beauty and the Beast and that was years and years ago, and it was Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The girl I'm going with has seen it around five times and has seen it on Broadway, so I'm convinced it's going to be pretty amazing.
Then tomorrow is KBCO Kinetics in Boulder, and I'll be going to that. John Butler Trio & Los Lobos are playing the event and I've been wanting to see Los Lobos live ever since I heard their "Just Another Band from East LA" CD a long time ago.
So, its shaping up to be a pretty sweet weekend!
Then tomorrow is KBCO Kinetics in Boulder, and I'll be going to that. John Butler Trio & Los Lobos are playing the event and I've been wanting to see Los Lobos live ever since I heard their "Just Another Band from East LA" CD a long time ago.
So, its shaping up to be a pretty sweet weekend!
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