Atlon Brown and the Georgia Trifecta

A really busy long weekend recently found us at four back-to-back shows 

along with some other fun sprinkled in between them.

Thursday, 11/8/13 -The always funny and wise, Alton Brown, of TV's Food Network fame made a stop at TPAC in Nashville for his first-ever national tour and we jumped at the chance to see him.   His show was a variety of entertainment that included informative food topics discussion, interesting food facts, a lot of jokes and even some music.  He sang some original (and funny) songs, played guitar and even the sax.  His two "cooking" demonstrations included " Jet Cream"  - that's a gallon of ice cream made in 10 seconds thanks to Co2, and pizza in a giant Easy Bake Oven that he designed and built himself.  In true Food Network fashion, Ashlee even made our own dinner beforehand with a wonderful shrimp salad from Blue Apron, a home delivery company that sends you great recipes and every ingredient you need to make them each week right to your door for a very reasonable price. 

Friday 11/9/13 - We headed down to Atlanta this afternoon to catch yet another show by one of our favorite bands, Michael Franti and Spearhead along with the talented Serena Ryder opening at The Tabernacle.  Joining us were seven of our friends including Wayne, Danny, Brenda, Chris and Tarryn from the Nashville area, plus Mike from Chattanooga and Rex from Atlanta.  In the shot above "The Sound of Sunshine" is literally coming down all around us.  The show was great as usual.

A friend of Rex's took this great picture of Michael Franti up amongst his people including our large crew of nine who were a couple rows from the center of the stage (look due north of Michael''s green hat to see us.)

A great suggestion by Rex after the show was to go to The Porter Beer Bar in Little 5 Points for an amazing beer selection and some really tasty food. We closed this place down and didn't get back to our nice room at the Westin Buckhead until 3 A.M.  What a great day/night/day it was!

Saturday 11/10/13 -  We got up probably a little earlier than we really wanted to after the late night before, and headed to Athens, Georgia, for another concert tonight.  While in the home of the Bulldogs, we grabbed some cheap tickets to see Georgia vs. Appy State at beautiful Sanford Stadium for their homecoming.  It was a fun game and the beautiful weather was a bonus.  Thanks to our friends, Chris and Tarryn, for going with us and for not getting towed!   

After the game, we meet up with the rest of the crew from the night before except for Rex and had a great visit to The Terrapin Beer Company (another reason I wanted to come to Athens).  These guys are one of our favorite regional craft brewers and they have a dandy tasting and tour opportunity each evening at their busy brewery.  The place was packed and for basically 4 quality beers for 10 bucks you can see why.

It was on to the SOLD OUT Dirty Guv'nahs show at beautiful Georgia Theater in downtown Athens next.. Before the show and while the two ho-hum openers were playing (yes, Dangermuffin is a great band name, but their music's a bit of snooze), we had a tasty dinner at Momma Goldbergs Deli next door and then hung out on the awesome roof-top bar at the theater.  The show was raucous as usual and it was the first time for several of our group to see The Guvs live and they were impressed.

Sunday 11/11/13 - We headed back to Atlanta for yet another show while the rest of our group headed back north.  We hooked back up with our friend, Rex, at the new Skyview Atlanta Ferris Wheel which has been set up right next to The Tabernacle.  It was nice ride and our BOGO tickets made it even better and Rex even got to ride for free.  Thanks Scoutmob.com!  After going round-and-round a few times and enjoying the downtown views at sunset on a clear late-autumn day, we had dinner at Serpas, another fantastic recommendation by Rex.  This guy knows Atlanta!!  

After dinner, Rex dropped us off at The Center Stage Theater where we caught a show by Frank Turner and the Sleepless Souls.  We caught these guys at Bonnaroo this year and were blown away by them.  This show was just as good despite the fact that lead singer, Frank Turner, had a back injury.  But that sure didn't slow him down!  This was our first visit to this venue also and we really liked it.