A Failed Comedy

"Man Of the Year"

A great idea for a movie, and one so representitive of our current times. Robin Williams as a smart personable political comedian who has a show on TV. (John Stewart, anyone?) Suddenly he has the idea to run for president. He wins. There you have the great set up for a funny political movie to follow him through his first year or so and see what changes in the three branches of the US Government because of him. A real opportunity for a writer and a director to make a good point and really say something about the current political climate. But no, that doesn't happen. Instead you get a pseudo-comedy that looks great in the previews and completely fails when you watch the entire thing.

Apparently the writer didn't think that the above story line was enough and wasn't fully satisfied with just writing a comedy. He (Barry Levinson) wanted to make this a political thriller and by doing so, failed miserably at a comedy and at a thriller. He introduces a computer programmer (Laura Linney) who works for a company that gets the go ahead to do the entire electronic voting booths throughout the country. She finds a bug in the program, and alerts the CEO, but he sees his stock rising and if he were to announce this glitch, he would lose a lot of money, so he drugs her, gets her put into a hospital and fires her from the company. The rest of the story is her trying to tell Robin Williams that he's not actually president and the electronic voting company trying to find her to stop her from telling anybody.

Both ideas are good alone, but somehow they completely fail when put together. Kind of like lobster and oreos. You like lobster, and you like oreos, but sandwich some lobster between oreos.... I don't think so.

Needless to say, I was dissapointed. It could have been a great movie. I guess I like "Dave" too much and thought from the previews I was getting into something more reminicent of that. I guess I'll just have to watch "Dave" sometime this weekend. Kevin Kline is great in that movie.

And so it begins...

So if any of you do not know - a couple friends and I started an Irish band awhile back for the sole purpose of having way too much fun the week of St Paddy's Day. It is a goal I think we might just accomplish.

The band is called "Juice of the Barley" after the Gaelic quote (not written here in Gaelic, but in English so that more that 6 people can read it):

"The milk of the cow is good for the calf, but the juice of the barley for me"

The band numbers 4, and features Dennis Bigelow on the guitar and lead vocals, Carole Lundren on fiddle, Sam Ernst on bodhran and harmony vocals, and myself on piano, harmonica, lead and harmony vocals.

It's been way too much fun getting together and jamming, and we've decided to stick around awhile and play year round, depending on the gigs that we get.

And on Saturday night, the madness started. We had a small intimate kickoff party with some great friends and some great beer to get things started. If you were unfortunate enough to miss said party, check out the Juice of the Barley myspace site for the complete rundown of all upcoming shows.

The pictures are from our living room show, I have to send props out to Kim who is responsible for the Manchester jersey and hat I'm wearing - I know it's not Irish, but I was so unbelievably excited that I got it, I had to wear it for the party.

And so raise your glasses and join me in the most traditional of all Irish toasts:

"May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand."

Hope to see you out this week and if not - have a happy St Paddy's Day with all your friends.

Best movie I've seen in a long time

I just saw the movie "Stranger the Fiction".

I loved it.

I'm not even going to review it, because I don't want create any preconcieved notions about it.

Just go see it. It's fantastic.

John Butler is a madman on the 12 string guitar

Words cannot describe how much the John Butler Trio rock live.

The best word I can think of to even begin to encapsulate the awesomeness of this show is "powerful". Powerful in all of it's meanings. The music, the sound, the lyrics, the attitude - all just blew me away.

The show was billed as an "acoustic" show, but I don't know if it would be possible for them to rock any harder. John Butler has an amazing effect on his acoustic guitars that rivals any electric rock guitarist. Half way through the show he played an eight minute solo instrumental on the 12 string that expanded my known world on what is possible on that instrument. The rest of the show he continued to astound switching from 12 string, to Dobro, to lap slide, to banjo and even some ukulele. The bass and the drummer were equally as mind-blowing on their respective instruments. The final encore song went on for a good ten minutes featuring an incredible bass solo followed by an amazing drum solo that left everyone in the crowd screaming for more. Between songs throughout the night John Butler would bring it down and tell the crowd a little bit about the song and where he was in his life when writing it which gave a very cool intimate "Storytellers" feel to this sold out show at the Fox.

Basically what I'm getting at here is that the John Butler Trio rocks. If you haven't seen them live make it a top priority. That's all I'm saying.

The Shins Rock the house and Cliff Diving at "The Most Exciting Restaurant in the World"

Wow.

Let me tell you something, Denver. You put out quite the night. Even hitting rush hour straight on couldn't put a damper on this evening.

It's been so long since I've been down to Denver during a rush hour that I completly forgot they existed. I'm used to trying my patience on Shields and Mulberry trying to get home from work - that's nothing compared to going 7 mph on a four lane interstate jam packed with cars. And then just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" came on the radio and all was better. Check out the music video for that song if you don't already know what I mean.

Then it was time for dinner - not my choice, but I was all for it when I heard what Cynthia suggested and all of the sudden we found ourselves at the entrance to the Denver, nay, Colorado landmark: Casa Bonita. I hadn't been there for probably 20 years and it definitely was everything I remember and more. Self proclaimed as "The Most Exciting Restaurant In The World" I would have to agree. It's set up exactly like an amusement park all the way down to the line you have to wait in to order and to get into the actual restaurant. Then once you get to the tables you're surrounded by palm trees, cliffs, water falls, old "Mexican" posters and decorations, Mariachi bands and high school actors and members of the local dive team who work part time putting on a melodrama with cliff diving every 15 minutes. Pretty spectacular. We had fun.

Then it was on to The Fillmore to see The Shins. It'd been a couple years since I had seen a show at The Fillmore and I forgot what a great venue it is. We got there in time to catch the last few songs of one of the opening bands - Viva Voca - a duo that had kind of a catchy Weezer type sound to them. The girl sang and played an electric two necked guitar/bass while the guy sang and played keyboard and drums at the same time. Pretty cool to watch.

Then The Shins came on and rocked the house. I've got their new album "Wincing the Night Away" and was sure that they'd start with the opening track on the album "Sleeping Lessons". I was right, and it just got better from there. After "Sleeping Lessons" they went right into "Austraila" followed by "Pam Berry" immediatly into "Phantom Limb" which was incredible. Next they played a couple songs off their oldler albums "Kissing the Lipless", "Girl on the Wing", and "Mine's Not a High Horse". After that came "New Slang" when all the 16 year old girls (and other Garden State fans) when crazy and started screaming. Definite highlights were "Saint Simon" (which totally made Cynthia's night) where they got the whole crowd to sing along on the "La la" parts. "Pressed in a Book" was a definite favorite of mine as well as "A Call to Apathy". They ended the show with "Girl Inform Me" which was a great high energy song and a perfect song to go out on. The sold out crowd was great and the Fillmore even gave the band little trophys for selling out the show which the brought out on stage and showed everybody.

Overall it was an awesome show - one that I would reccommend not to miss when they're anywhere nearby your area of residence.

Here's to another fabulous night, Denver. Rock on.

Strange Happenings in Local Ice Chest

Check this out:
I filled up a normal ice cube tray midday and then 8 hours later we needed some ice, and upon removing the tray from the freezer we found a freak occurrence. Sometime during the freezing process, normal everyday physics had flown out the window and left us with the ice cube shown. Dennis put it in his tea and as far as I know is still living normally, so it must have just been the physical properties of the ice cube that had changed inexplicably and not the chemical properties. What made this freak occurrence take place? We are without explanation.

Weird dream

I had this crazy dream last night, which is weird because I usually never remember my dreams. Our family was visiting some friends who lived right by a harbour on an ocean and there was a big steam powered paddle boat that was just floating out in the harbour. Then my dad and I thought it would be a cool picture if I were to jump in the ocean - it was shallow enough to stand - and push the huge boat around. But as we started walking down to the water this big storm came up and the water got really rough, but I thought I'd do it anyway so I jumped in with my clothes and sandals on and the water immediately took the sandals off of my feet. I kept looking around the bottom for the sandals, but all I could find were other people's flip flops. I was so mad at myself for not taking off my shoes before jumping in and now they were gone forever.

When I woke up this morning I was so disappointed and still mad at myself for losing my sandals. And then I realized that it was just a dream.

Shoveling for days!

So there was a blizzard in Colorado. Everybody in the country knows this. We were on national news and not only because DIA had to cancel a thousand flights. We got about two feet of snow on the first blizzard and then a week later we got another eight inches. Fun times, unless you've got a two wheel drive Oldsmobile that doesn't like snow and ice.

Wednesday I had taken the day off of work with the intention of doing brunch at Lucille's (one of the best breakfast places in Fort Collins) and then the brewery tours with some friends of mine. Budweiser was already closed so we decided to meet at Lucille's at 11:00. By this time it was a full on blizzard. Then we made our way over to Fort Collins brewery (leaving my car at Lucille's) and to our utter disappointment they were "closed". The door was unlocked and there were people working there, but they refused to give us any tasters. We were there, they were there and the beer was there, but for some odd reason we left without any tasters. Disappointed to say the least. Then it was New Belgium Brewery. We got there just as they were closing up the registers, but being the cool people they are, they showed us around a little and gave us an awesome taster and a couple glasses and bottle openers. Then it was on to Odell's who were completely open and acting like nothing was any different than any normal day. So after a great taster at Odell's and a great tour we headed over to Wal-Mart to buy Madden 2007 for Nintendo Wii. For the rest of the afternoon (with the blizzard raging outside) we were working up a sweat playing football.

When we emerged from the basement to walk and get food it was as if we were in some post-apocalyptic zombie movie. I kept waiting for the looting to begin. At least a foot of snow with more coming down and cars were beginning to become abandoned. Needless to say the pizza tasted amazing.

Upon reaching the car we found it to be covered in snow with a huge bank behind it, but with a couple pushes and gunning the engine the car bashed through the snow and was able to drive away. However...it got stuck about three blocks from the house...

The next three days were full of movies and shoveling. Then it was Christmas, which was nice, and then the next Thursday it snowed another eight inches. More shoveling and watching movies.

It might melt by March...

Happy New Years!

Another quick barrage of movie reviews

"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.

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.

It was just an incredible time. And even though I don't speak Spanish (I'm learning though!) I was able to have a great time and understand a lot of what was going on and make some great friends. I will be going back.

20061205_Trip to Paradise

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Tour de Fat & The Ditty Bops

20060923_Ditty Bops at Tour de Fat

Sep 25, 2006 - 23 Photos

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/