Much music, fast cars and a little travel

Rob Thomas

Apr 22

Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN

Tuesday, April 22 - We saw a great SOLD OUT two-hour acoustic show by Rob Thomas at The Ryman with no opening act.  He did tons of hits including solo stuff as well as several Matchbox 20 songs and was even joined on stage by his band's lead guitarist (and Nashville resident), Kyle Cook, for a few choice cuts.  He did a great cover of  Jane's Addiction's "Jane Says" also.  Rob's definitely one of our favorite voices in music today. We had a terrific dinner beforehand at our new favorite sushi restaurant, O'Sake, over in the West End of Nashville.

(a short clip of part of a beautiful acoustic rendition of the Matchbox 20 hit,  "3 A.M.")

Friday, April 25 - We attended the Nashville Film Festival Closing Night screening of Lucky Them starring Toni Collete, the hilarious Thomas Haden Church, Oliver Platt and a surprisingly-cool cameo by Johnny Depp.  The director, Megan Griffiths, and co-writer, Emily Watchel, were there in person for the film's intro and a Q-and-A afterwards. It was a terrific film and a fun and interesting time.  Thanks to our friends, Danny and Brenda, for attending with us.

Tuesday, April 29 and Wednesday, April 30 - I tagged along on a work-oriented road-trip for Ashlee into her newest territory of Kentucky.  We visited Lexington, Louisville and Elizabethtown in our travels and sprinkled in a little fun along the way: 

We stopped at the Parkette Drive-In in Lexington for lunch.  This nostalgic place was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a few years back and it's a perfect representation of the show.  The double burger and tots were delicious!

We spent the night in Louisville at the beautiful and historic Seelbach Hotel located downtown.  It happened to be Derby Week so we ambled over to the Brown Hotel for one of their signature mint juleps. I varied mine up a little by asking the bartender to use Jack Daniels instead of bourbon.  He obliged...secretly.  It was great, by the way.   Part of the week-long Derby Festival was a charity poker tournament held aboard The Cinncinnati Queen paddle-wheeler boat which was docked downtown. Ashlee didn't play, but tagged along for the ride since the boat went out on the Ohio River for the first hour for a nice cruise.  The evening went long with me placing 30th out of over 200 people (no money, but a good run) and Ashlee stayed with me the entire time sipping libations and watching the antics.

The next morning before heading back south with a stop in Elizabethtown, but before we left Louisville we had breakfast at a new location of one of our favorite restaurants there called Wild Eggs.  The new downtown spot is beautiful and roomy and the food was just as good as we remembered.

Saturday May 3 - A while back we bought a couple Groupons for a NASCAR 3-lap shotgun ride-a-long at the Nashville Super Speedway.  It was perfect weather for it today.  Upon arrival, we bought an extra two laps for $20 each for some side-by-side racing that was a great bonus to the overall thrill of this 140-mph-average experience.  Thanks to our friend, Bridgette, for joining us as well.  At one point all three of us were on the track (video below).  

Here's a link to a short video shot by Bridgette's brother, Eddie, who we appreciate for sharing with us.  I am in # 11 and Ashlee is in # 48:

.http://youtu.be/gpM8RyxJTa4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpM8RyxJTa4&feature=youtu.be

Afterwards we headed on down to Murfreesboro to check out the fairly new Mayday Brewing Company and have a sampler of their beers along with some food-truck lunch from My Roots.  Today's menu was Mexican fare and it was delicious.

Sunday, May 4 - We took the kayaks out to Barton's Creek today, and we towed them for the first time in our new trailer that we bought at Tractor Supply recently.  It was a beautiful day for a paddle and it was so much easier to load and unload the boats!  We saw tons of wildlife, grabbed some rays and drank a few brewskies as well.  It was so easy and fun, we took the kayaks out again on Tuesday, May 6 and Thursday May 8.  Three times in one week!!  That's definitely a record for us!

Wednesday, May 7 - We caught an incredible live show from the band, Blue October at the  Exit/In tonight.  This group has quickly jumped up the ranks in terms of performers we want to see play live again and again.  They had two solid openers as well tonight with a strong acoustic set by Matthew Mayfield (great cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit") and a last-minute substitute for a band we like (Terraplane Sun) by the name of Zeale, an indie hip-hop artist
 with great on-stage energy.

(a few seconds of Blue October's  "Bleed Out" off the new album "Sway")

Saturday, May 10 - It's not the first time we've traveled to Chicago to see one of our favorite bands, Augustana, but it was the first time we saw two back-to-back shows from them in the same venue on the same day!  After the first show at The Double Door sold out quickly, they added a second earlier show and we said, "Hey, why not??"  It helped that our friends, Laurie and Derek, were going to the earlier show as well.  And much thanks to our friend, Wayne, for flying up with us today and going to both shows as well.  We all had a great dinner of New Haven-style pizza and some brews beforehand at the nearby Piece Pizza and Brewery which we had visited before during a Chicago food tour in this Wicker Park neighborhood a few years back.

(from Show # 1:  we had a great close-up view and here's a few seconds of lead singer, Dan Layus, on the piano with "Remember Me. ")

(from Show # 2:  a good ways back from the stage this time, but still a good view. A few seconds of "Steal Your Heart" with the whole band.)

Sunday, May 11:  Since it was Mother's Day, Ashlee got up early and flew back to Chattanooga early to see her mom.  Wayne and I goofed around in The Windy City the rest of the day before catching a late flight back to Nashville.