John Butler Trio

M and I went to see the John Butler Trio last Tuesday at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.  While the band has come to Minnesota many times over the past years, M and I have passed on seeing them each time because they always seems to play at First Avenue, a venue that neither of us care for anymore, however when I saw they were coming to the Fitzgerald, I jumped at the chance to go and gave the tix to M as an anniversary present.

Mat McHugh, the singer of The Beautiful Girls opened the show, which was a pleasant surprise to us as we did not know who the opener was and we enjoy some of the music of The Beautiful Girls. 

John Butler Trio hails from Australia and is most described as roots rock/jam band and they are known for their live shows. Once they took the stage, the crowd was on its feet rocking and dancing and there would be little time in the next hours that any of us would be sitting down.  The show started at 7:30 pm with the opener who played for around 30-40 minutes and the rest of the time was dedicated to JBT and the show wouldn't be done until 11:05 pm.  The show itself was truly incredible.  It was sometimes hard to believe that they rocked as loud and hard as they did with only three people on stage.  I can't say I had one favorite part or one favorite song (maybe "Better Than") but some musical highlights of the show included the use of the slide guitar, the bass (including upright bass) and drum solos, the trio all drumming together, the 11 minute song "Ocean", the didgeridoo and my favorite, the banjo.

I've seen hundreds of bands in my concert career which spans over 21 years and this was the funnest (I know it's not proper English) concert I've ever been to, which says A LOT.  Waiting to see JBT for all these years in the appropriate venue for M and I was the best decision.   If you don't know their music, I highly recommend them to you!  I searched for a long time for a good video representation of the band and while I couldn't find any good live ones with the current lineup, (the band is somewhat of a revolving door)  I choose this one so watch it!  It might remind of you somewhat of the Dave Matthews Band for this song, however they are not that similar altogether. 

If you feel like watching the whole concert, click below!

Watch live streaming video from johnbutlertrio at livestream.com

Vikings vs. Packers

On the morning of Sunday, November 21st, it was very icy and extremely slippery.  M slid and almost fell off our deck stairs and M's uncle Jim slipped and fell earlier that morning.  My BIL slipped outside his door and broke two ribs.  I'm glad we ended up riding with M's cousins Jim and Lorrie and uncle Jim in their truck to go tailgating that morning as we left the house a little before 8 am.  We saw cars in the ditch on the way there and once we got to the parking lot, we all slipped right down the parking lot and when we got out of the car, the parking lot was sheer ice.  Our friends Andrea and Brian met us there also and M's friend from high school met up with us for bit. Both M and Brian played human shuffleboard by running and slipping down the parking lot to try and not go past the marker they put up.  M wanted me to record it so it was especially funny when I got him falling right on his butt.  M didn't realize it at the time but everyone must have been watching them play because once he fell, the whole crowd around us yelled, "OH!!!!" in unison.

Instead of our usual burgers, brats, dogs-type tailgating food, we opted for breakfast.  I made an egg bake early that morning and put it into an isolated heat bag to keep it warm.  I also made apple cinnamon and chocolate chip muffins the night before.  Jim and Lorrie made the hash browns, bacon and scrambled eggs and I brought the orange and grapefruit juice...of course vodka was added.  

And that's about when the fun ended.  As soon as we walked into the door of the Metrodome, we would watch a pathetic show by the Vikings which means that the Packers kicked our asses, 34-3.  There was nothing fun about the game.  Nothing exciting. The best part of inside the dome was probably at half time when John Randle was recognized for being inducted into the Football Hall of Fame a few months ago.  I did zoom in and take a picture of coach Brad Childress though as I had a strong feeling that would be his last game as a Vikings head coach.  The next day he was fired. 

Uncle Jim is one of my favorite Packers fans

Goodbye, Chilly

Pizza and a Chris

I met my friend Chris at Pizza Luce in Hopkins on Thursday night last week for dinner.  We had been saying for awhile that we wanted to get together one of these days after work and it finally worked out.  If you read one of my recent blog posts you would know that I've had the crave for Pizza Luce lately.  M and I had it after the Eyedea show a couple of weeks ago and I was craving it again.  We both ordered a small pizza and shared artichoke dip and bread.  If you haven't had their pizza, it's one of the best out there.  There's a reason I've been frequenting Pizza Luce more often as of late but I'm waiting for something to come in the mail before I talk about that. I know, I'm sure you can't wait.

Sampler Release Party

If you recall, I won tickets to the Cities 97 Volume 22 Sampler Party, which I attended on Tuesday with my friend Jill.  If you are not familiar with the radio station Cities 97 or the Sampler, here's some background.  Cities 97 is a radio station in the Twin Cities and the best way I can describe the music played would be Adult Contemporary and Adult Alternative.  The Cities 97 Sampler is a CD that is a compilation of artists that performed live within Studio C at Cities 97.  The CD itself has been released every November since 1989 with all proceeds benefiting Minnesota charities. It is only offered through Target stores and the line each year for this CD on the morning it is released is out the door and around the corner.  The CD sells out every year and this year it was released on Thursday, November 18th and sold all 33,000 copies early that morning.  I also got my copy in the mail from Cities 97 on Thursday.

The Volume 22 Sampler Party was held at BayView Event Center in Excelsior on the shores of Lake Minnetonka.  If you know where Maynard's is, it's right next door. I do not venture out too much to the west side of the cities so it seemed so far away from my house but it wasn't too far of a drive from my work, which is where we left from.

Once we arrived inside, it wasn't too busy, with maybe a few hundred people there and it was very comfortable to walk and stand around.  We grabbed a beer (thank you, Jill!) and got there just in time for the first band to start. Cedar Avenue was the name of the first band.  They are a local band and are featured on the Sampler.

The next artist to take the stage was the one I was excited about....Donavon Frankenreiter.  He played for maybe 30 minutes as he had a show at the Varsity Theater later that evening.

After Donavon played, we were hungry so we ventured downstairs to eat some of the free food that was offered.  At this time, it was pretty busy and it was hard to move around.  Once we were downstairs, it was another big room with a heated outdoor tent that extended onto a patio outside.  That where the food was with tables and chairs to sit and eat but it was so packed down there, we had to stand and eat.  The food offering was pretty good including spinach and artichoke dip and chips/crackers, chicken wings, BBQ ribs, crab rangoon and different kinds of sandwiches.  We ate and hung around downstairs while the next band, The Rescues were playing, however there was a TV and a live feed from upstairs so we didn't miss the music.  We ended up going back upstairs towards the last part of their show and it was completely packed.  We could no longer move and everywhere we could stand was not a good place because it was either an aisle to somewhere or we were just packed in like sardines.  

We ended up leaving before the headlining band, One EskimO came on.  They are a band from the UK also featured on the Sampler CD.  One our way out, we were given a gift bag that included some earplugs, a few coupons, a note pad from TCF and a 10 pack of cute eco-friendly Thank You cards.  

Colton's Baptism

My nephew Colton was baptized last Sunday at their church in South St. Paul.  He was a very good baby throughout the whole service. Colton's Godmother lives out of state and wasn't able to attend the baptism so Jamie's stepdaughter Emily stood in for her alongside her brother Gunnar who is the Godfather. After church, we went back to Jamie and Tom's house to visit a little, eat some good food, open presents and watch a not-so-good Vikings game.

Colton with his cousin Owen

Colton after his big day with his Vikings gear on  

Random Schmandom

I always go in streaks with blogging and I've been on a non-blogging streak as of late so it's time to share some hodge podge thoughts and experiences with you, bullet style.

• I decided to shop for car insurance as my policy was expiring and I haven't been happy with the rates I've been getting considering that I've been driving for almost 18 years (that sounds so weird to say)and I've never been in an accident and I only have one speeding ticket from 2003 in a different state that is no longer on my record, however my car is on a top ten list (at least it was two years ago) for high insurance rates. Anyway, I first went to Allstate to check their insurance because let's face it, Mayhem was the only reason I checked there because I love those commercials.  Their quote was the same as what I was currently paying so I went to Progressive.  After getting their quote, I decided to go with them.  Progressive saved me 50% off my current insurance premium with equal coverage but better deductibles.  So thanks to Progressive and Flo, who saved me a lot of flow.  Here's a picture of my friend Jill from Halloween as Flo.  Doesn't she look good?

• I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping!  Not only do I have most of my shopping complete, I also have everything I've purchased wrapped!  I love being ahead at this time of year. 
• I went to lunch with a couple of girls from work at Big Bowl in the Galleria in Edina.  After lunch, we went into the new Louis Vuitton store.  It was totally like being in a store in a movie where there isn't much merchandise but just a few items with beautiful decor all around.  The one girl I was with has a Louis Vuitton purse so she was looking for a wallet to match it.  We looked at a wallet and it was $925!  Forget about all that luggage I was admiring.
• I didn't find out until the 3rd day of November that November is NaBloPoMo, which is National Blogging Posting Month, which is where you blog every single day for the whole month of November.  If I would have known sooner, I would have joined up to do it and your life would have been that more pleasurable as you would have been able to read about all my amazing life events every.single.day.
• M was out of town for the past two weekends due to deer hunting.  I've loved having the house to myself but I've found myself missing him more than ever too.  I love that I still love him this much after all our years together.  And no, he didn't get a deer....he didn't even see one while in his stand.  
• Do you go in waves with what types of food you crave?  I do and while it's usually good tacos, this time it's good pizza.  Pizza Luce to be exact.  I love their pizza!  What do you crave right now?
• While doing my hair yesterday morning and parting it a different way than usual, I found a gray hair!  NOOO!!!  This is about the 4th or 5th gray hair I've had in my life, my first being when I was young, like 20.  I think I've had 2 gray hairs this year....well the first one this year was questionable because it looked blonde, but why the heck would I have a blonde hair?  I'm not ready for this.  I'm too busy trying to fight fine lines and future wrinkles on my face that I don't need to deal with this too quite yet, but I've had enough to stress about the last few months so I suppose it might come with the territory.  
• I took off my shoes from work yesterday and laughed because this is what I saw.  I guess because they are both pale yellow in color, they must be matching socks. 

 

• I got new tires for my car!  After the big snow day this past Saturday where some parts of the Metro received up to 11 inches of snow, it was time to replace the tires.  Unfortunately I was only able to get the front two as that's all they had in stock since I have a weird size but that was enough for me not to slip and slide all over the roads.  Here's a picture of what my backyard looked like around 11 am on Saturday:

A Celebration of the Life of Mikey "Eyedea" Larsen

I went to First Avenue last Tuesday with M and Sara and we mourned and celebrated at the same time for Tuesday, November 9th would have been Micheal Larsen’s, aka Eyedea 29th birthday. The night was dubbed, “A Celebration of the Life of Mikey “eyedea” Larsen. No one really knew what to expect of the night as it was not announced who would perform or any details of the night were released. There was a no camera policy for the evening as it was the strict wishes of the family to allow no photos or videos. While that bummed me out as I would have loved to have documented the evening, I completely understood and checked my camera at the door. As I would later read on a blog, the night became more special without the camera.

Once inside, there weren’t that many people there, maybe a couple hundred. This disappointed me as I wanted it to be a packed house as all the proceeds of the $20 entry fee would be going to Eyedea’s family, but it was still early and I hoped for more people to show up.

The first person to take the stage was Slug (Sean Daley) of Atmosphere. He started talking to the crowd and it became clear that he would the evening’s emcee. From that point forward, it would be a revolving door with the number of artists to take the stage. Here are the artists that would perform in one way or another for the evening:

• Carnage
• No Bird Sing
• Kristoff Krane
• Roma di Luna
• Kevin Beacham DJ set
• Carbon Carousel with Glo Pesci
• Abstract Pack
• Battle Cats breakdance team
• Felipe from Los Nativos
• DJ Abilities
• Memorial video
• Kimya Dawson
• Themselves
• Alpha Consumer
• Face Candy with Slug
• Kevin Beacham DJ set
• Speech and reading by Mikey's mother Kathy
• Freestyle jam with Aesop Rock, Slug, Doseone of Themselves, Joe Horton, Kristoff Krane, Psalm One, Sector 7G, Glo Pesci, Kevin Beacham, Battle Cats, Carnage and more

On all of the TV’s around First Avenue, there was a picture slideshow that was shown during the performances and in between one of the performances, there was a video tribute to Eyedea, which showed off not only his freestyling skills but also his ability to breakdance as well as some different interviews he’s done over the years. There was even a video of him as a young kid jumping on a trampoline and just being a kid.

The mood was still somber, yet celebratory. Everyone on that stage was either a close personal friend, an artistic collaborator or just an artist that Eyedea admired. The feeling was mutual that these artists impacted Eyedea’s life as well as these artists lives were impacted by Eyedea.

During the performance of Kimya Dawson, the three of us congregated near an artist who was painting a collage of Eyedea. I would later find out that this artist, Michael Gaughan, also did the artwork for the album cover of Eyedea & Abilities latest album. Speaking of DJ Abilities, he watched over the artist while he painted. I purposely made eye contact with Abilities as I wanted to look into his eyes. What I saw was sadness. I felt and feel terrible for him as his best friend and long-time musical partner is no longer. I wanted to go up to him and just hug him. I know that may sound strange but I really wish I would have.

The tribute lasted nearly four hours. It was quite a long time, however that was how much time was needed to honor Eyedea. I stated earlier that there was only a couple hundred people earlier in the evening but that did change as I would imagine there was around 1,000 people that showed up. In addition, The Depot also donated 10% of all food and beverage sales to Eyedea’s family.

Eyedea has impacted me more after his death than while he was alive. I’ve listened to a lot of his music and I truly enjoy and respect his talents as an artist and just as much as a human being. I hope his legacy will carry on. As I write this today, it has been exactly one month since Eyedea’s death, yet the cause of death is still unknown. As the details become available, I’m sure I will post more about it in the time to come.

Slug’s last words to the crowd was this: "We all gotta remember to push and challenge the people we love to do better," he said, choking on his own tears. "This dude pushed everybody he loved to do everything better -- that's something we could all use more of. Push those people and make those people push and challenge you."

DJ Abilities last words were this: "Mike's favorite time was being on stage and sharing with you guys. Thank you so much."

If you’ve been to First Avenue, you know of the many painted stars paying tribute to the most coveted bands and artists that have played there over the years. Eyedea & Abilities earned their star the same day of Eyedea’s death, one month ago.

 
R. EYE P., Eyedea.

 

 

Vikings vs. Cardinals

The last home Vikings game was against the Arizona Cardinals.  The date was Sunday, November 7th and the weather was pretty decent with the sun shining warm for November.  Because of Daylight Savings Time, we gained an extra hour and despite that we slept in and didn't arrive to the parking lot until 9 am and was surprised with a $50 parking lot fee instead of the usual $40.  Really?!  You are going to charge us $50 to park there to see the Vikings and the Cardinals?  Yep, and we paid it.  Well, I paid it.  That's the deal.  M buys the season tickets, I pay for parking.  It was just M and I when we got there but M had 3 groups of people that were maybes.  One of the maybes did show up....M's friend Wayne and his son Tyler.  We tailgated with them until it was time to go in but not before both M and Tyler got their "Fire Childress" shirt.  Let's actually go back to the Dallas game back on October 17th.  It was Randy Moss's first home game with the Vikings and there were guys in the parking lot selling shirts that had Randy Moss on it and it said on the bottom, "I'm back bitches."  In between that Dallas game and this Arizona game, Randy was cut from the team.  So what does a t-shirt peddler do with all those Randy Moss shirts?  He prints "Fire Childress" over that same shirt and sells them again.

The Vikings were down 14 points with about 4 minutes 30 seconds left to play.  The Vikings tied it up with two touchdowns bringing the game into overtime.  The Vikings ended up winning with a 35 yard field goal to win the game 27-24.  Brett Favre also threw for a career-high 446 yards.  Bernard Berrian also got fined for wearing yellow cleats during the game.  The players can wear only purple or black shoes and Berrian knew this going into the game, however he had 9 catches for 89 yards so maybe he should wear them again.

Check out those yellow shoes

Lucky Duck

Monday, November 1st was the actual date of M and I's anniversary and while we didn't even remember to acknowledge it in the morning while we were both home before going to work, I did remember to call him and tell him Happy Anniversary.  On the way to work, I was almost hit by a semi on 35E going south.  And yes, he was talking on his cell phone.  He came right over into my lane and I was scared.  So I thought, ok, so this is how my day is going to go.  Turns out, it wasn't.

I'm a regular reader of the blog Mi Vida Ocupada and Kristi was having a giveaway for a gift certificate to CSN Stores. I entered the contest based on her rules and I was chosen which means I won a $45 gift certificate to be used at CSN Stores so that is when my luck started to turn around for the day and it was shaping up to be a good Monday.  Thanks, Kristi!

Later in the day, I quickly checked my personal email and I saw that a girl I went to high school with wrote on my Facebook wall to check one of the radio stations websites because she thought I had won. I went to the website and saw that in fact my name was on the website and all I had to do was click the link to claim my prize.  So what did I win?  I won the radio station's yearly CD release of in-studio performances of many artists.  This CD goes on sale at Target every year and it's a big deal.  The line is out the door and round the corner at every Target on the morning they go on sale and they never have enough for the demand.  So to win won is pretty awesome.  Not only that, I also get to go a private concert on Lake Minnetonka to see a few of the artists that are featured on the CD.  I'll blog about that after it happens, which will be in mid November.  So how did I win?  I've been signed up as a frequent listener to that radio station for many years.  I used to listen to that radio station much more but I've since become exclusive with another radio station, which I'll blog about in the future.  Anyway, so being that I'm a frequent listener, they feature one person on the website from October 27th to November 18th which gets posted at 7:40 am and you have until 7:40 am until the next day to claim your prize.  If it hadn't been for my Facebook friend having my back, I would have missed out.  

So I felt pretty lucky that day.  My life and car were spared by my quick cat-like reflexes by dodging the semi, I get to go shopping on the internet for free and I get to listen to much in demand music and attend a concert.  Not too bad for a Monday.