Hope you enjoy it too.
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.
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