The months of July and August mean a lot of pool time,
but they are also chock-full of concerts and other fun stuff for us this year:
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| Wednesday, July 3 - So we were both at Jeff Lynne's ELO concert at the Bridgestone Arena tonight, but we were not sitting together!?? I got tickets first with my pals, Craig and Barry, and Ashlee wasn't interested. Then she found out that Jeff Lynne did all the music for Xanadu, one of her favorite films, and she was in with our friend, Bridgette, and they got seats fairly close to our nosebleeds. Turns out their seats were right next to ours! Yes, they were up high, but they were also dead-center for a great view. We all had a great time and the show was sensational. At 72 years old, Jeff Lynne, is still sounding great and the show was full of hits from his amazing career. |
Friday, July 5 - We checked out the new film, Spiderman: Far From Home in IMAX at The Streets of Indian Lake Theaters in Hendersonville tonight with our pal, Wayne. It was an enjoyable romp and a nice finish to this phase of the MCU.
 We've had a house-guest this week with our "cousin cat" Penny, who we are watching while Ashlee's sister, Paige, and her family are on vacation. Our young cats are having a ball with her. Zippy seems to like her too. Ms. Bea is quietly indifferent.  Tuesday, July 9 - We went to see Rob Thomas perform at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville tonight. He's been one of our favorites for many years and his band, Matchbox 20, was one of the first shows we traveled together to see as a couple in Knoxville way back in 1998. Tonight's show was spot-on with new songs from his solid new album, "Chip Tooth Smile"; other hits from his long solo career; a few Matchbox 20 classics; and even a very good cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" which he did even into the crowd. Our seats in the balcony were good and his great voice sounded divine in this beautiful acoustic-friendly facility (a taste of which is in the video above). We were surprised that he had two openers, one of which we saw very recently open for Martin Sexton. His name is Chris Trapper and he is excellent. The second opener won't be mentioned because we thought she was fairly awful. Rob's only guest during his set was Jimmie Allen, a young country artist who has a popular cover of MB20's beautiful song, "3 A.M." which the pair did a duo version of tonight. We had an OK dinner beforehand at Taki Sushi over in Hermitage and a drink at City Tap around the corner from the venue. |
 Here's a cool shot from the stage perspective that I stole from Thomas' social media feed. We are in the top left balcony. Photo credit to Jim Trocchio Photography. |
Wednesday, July 10 - We were back down at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center again tonight after I won four tickets to the National Geographic Live Speaker Series featuring photojournalist, Brian Skerry from NowPlayingNashville.com (thanks, folks!). Our friends, Danny and Brenda, came along to use the other two tickets. Our seats were great for this visual feast. It was an interesting, enlightening, worrisome and hopeful presentation all at the same time. regarding our world's oceans Beforehand, we had a tasty dinner at The Southern Steak and Oyster restaurant. There are three more of these speaker series coming up in the next year and we are going to try and make as many of them as we can.
One of my favorite images of Mr. Skerry's was this one of President Obama snorkeling off Midway Island, a marine sanctuary that he helped save while president.
Friday, July 12 - It was a beautiful night to have lawn seats for Fitz and the Tantrums at the Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville. They continue to be one of our favorite bands to see live and tonight's show was great. The opener, Coin, a young band out of right here in Nashville were solid as well. It was a co-headlining tour with Young the Giant, but we skipped their set since we didn't know any of their songs, and to beat traffic and get home at a decent hour. We had a very good dinner beforehand at the new Sun Diner, a 24-hour joint serving breakfast all day.
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| We did get home in time for me to take my first night swim of the summer. Ashlee just put her feet in and Zippy just hung out with us. There is a rumor that I swam naked...but, hey, that's just a rumor....and Zippy's not talking.... |
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Tuesday, July 16 - We were back on the lawn again tonight for a SOLD OUT show with two of our favorite 90's bands, Train and The Goo Goo Dolls, at the Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville. Our friend, Emily, and her husband, Andrew, joined us as well. We've seen both of these bands numerous times and still enjoy listening to their timeless hits. Both put on great shows and as did the opener, Allen Stone, who we've seen more than once, and he's such a great talent. Rain from Tropical Storm Barry threatened all day, but we were mercifully spared even a drop while at the show. and the temps were even cooler than our previous visit last week. Traffic slowed us down from our planned dinner locale, so we ate at the Ascend whose concession stand food is actually pretty good, but, pricey as expected. The Goo Goo Dolls took the stage first and really brought the hits, and even some new stuff from another upcoming album.  Train closed the show and sounded about as good as ever with the seemingly ageless, Pat Monahan, on lead vocals. We did miss lead guitarist, Jimmy Stafford, who we've met and who retired from the band a few years back, but his younger replacement is solid. |
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| Sunday, July 21 - After rescheduling exactly three times, we FINALLY saw The Lion King live-action remake in IMAX at the Streets of Indian Lake Theaters in Hendersonville with our pal, Wayne. The theater was packed, but the plethora of kids there were pretty quiet during the show. We enjoyed it, but forgot how scary and foreboding the whole story is. |
Sunday, July 28 - We made the drive down to Chattanooga today for our first-ever visit to "The Little Brown Church" on Signal Mountain. The historic Union Chapel as it's more formally known was built in 1905. We were there to attend the memorial service of Ashlee's great Uncle Bob who passed away recently at the age of 96.
 Ashlee's great uncle, Bob Boggild, led an eccentric, albeit very interesting, life. He was an engineer and an inventor including creating probably most famously, the Play-doh Fun Factory. He also worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. His long-time wife, Aunt Madge, is still spry and jovial at the age of 95. Both of them were and have always been very nice to Ashlee and I over the years, and we think highly of them.   |
| Thursday, August 1 - We decided to check out the new film, Fast and Furious Present: Hobbs and Shaw, in the also new 4DX-format theater at Opry Mills. 4DX immerses the viewer in not only sight and sound, but movement, weather conditions and even smells! This great action/comedy was the perfect film for this format as we were jerked, sprayed and shaken from start to finish laughing with joy the whole time. We may not see every film this way, but it won't be our last either. Beforehand, we had a tasty dinner at the Homegrown Taproom over in Hermitage. |
Friday, August 2 - We rarely repeat trips, but sometimes places are so great (Key West) and so beautiful (Paris), that it's worth it. We've kind of started a yearly tradition of going somewhere "in the mountains" with some of our friends the first weekend of August, and last year we chose Bryson City, North Carolina, and had a great time except we didn't get to do the main thing we went there to do: tubing in nearby Deep Creek, due to it being at flood stage. So we went back to Bryson City to give it another try.
To get to Bryson City, we also had to repeat traveling on the famous winding road of Highway 129 also known as The Tail of the Dragon.
The real miracle of the weekend and the entire trip was how we magically dodged spotty stormy weather all over the place.
Another repeat was this spectacular view of the Caulderwood Dam from high up on Hwy 129 except this time with a nice addition. Note the butterfly in the foreground.
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| More repeats! We drove up again in a Subaru Outback...except this one was a year newer and a rental and we stayed at the same rental house and train caboose right in Bryson City. |
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| One big change from last year was that we slept in the caboose this year along with our friends, Wendy and Charly, while Wayne, who couldn't make it last year, and Patrick and Michelle took the two bedrooms in the house. While the bunkbeds aren't the most comfortable things to sleep on, it was kind of fun and it's a very cool little space to stay in. Evidently this is the caboose used in the movie The Fugitive as well which we didn't know last year. |
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| Saturday, August 3 - The biggest change from last year is that we did get to tube Deep Creek this year! It was bit bumpy on the ol' behinds, but it was still pretty fun. I didn't take a camera along on our ride so this shot above is of some other folks enjoying the view of Tom's Branch Falls along the float. Again, the weather cooperated perfectly. |
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Our friend, Michelle, did bring her camera and she's kind of notorious for not taking the best pictures, but you gotta love her effort. Here we are at Tom's Branch Falls during our run down Deep Creek. Thanks for the pic, Michelle. While we were in the mountains, Ms. Bea was hanging out "rockin' the cat's spa" at The Chatter Cat Inn boarding house taking her thyroid medicine twice a day, and being cute for her internet posting. Thanks for taking care of our old girl and the great pic, Anjie! |
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| Sunday, August 4- Here's the whole crew just before we headed out from the our mountain home for a couple days. Thanks to Wayne and his remote camera for the shot. |
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| Another thing we missed last year was a visit to the odd, whimsical and impressive collection of The Museum of the American House Cat in nearby Sylva, NC. This is a one-man effort of over 30 years of collecting by Dr. Harold Sims, who also gave us a personal tour during our visit. The museum is connected to a large antique mall that we also had fun poking around in as well. We came last year, but they were closed due to a storm-induced power outage. |
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| Our last repeat of the trip was a visit to the awesome Tapoco Lodge for a riverside meal and last trip libation. We still plan on staying in this beautiful place sometime in the future. Maybe on a first weekend in August.... |
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| Saturday, August 10 - I sort of tricked Ashlee into going to see the new film, The Art of Racing in the Rain, tonight at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) by telling her it wasn't a sad story. Well, it is...in parts, but it's also a great story and the movie followed the great audio-book I listened to a few years ago very closely. She did wind up enjoying the film since it was so well-made and had great casting including, of course, Enzo, the golden lab. |
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| Sunday, August 11 - It turned out to be a Sunday Funday for us this afternoon as we attended a beer-and-donut pairing at Mayday Brewing down in Murfreesboro along with our friends Danny, Brenda and Kyle. The donuts were provided by Donut Country, a local bakery, and the pairings were pretty good, even if the whole set-up seemed a little disorganized. Our group moved on from there to check out the new Hop Springs Beer Park nearby. This place is new, and it's gonna be something special in the future with some bold plans. It was already hopping today with craft beer flowing, live music, a food truck, and other family-friendly activities. We finished the day off back in Wilson County with a great dinner at the always-great Cherokee Steak House out on the riverside with our friends, Wendy and Charly. |
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| Wednesday, August 15 - We both decided to take a few hours off from work and go check out the Titans preseason practice with the NFL defending-champs, the New England Patriots today. We were able to get pretty close to the action and even saw the amazing Tom Brady sling the pigskin right toward us. The heat was tough, however, and we only stayed for about an hour before it drove us away. |
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| Since we were in the area, we decided to have lunch from the drive-thru of the long-time (1972) North Nashville staple, Ed's Fish and Pizza House, which hilariously hasn't had pizza in years despite the sign. We got a huge sandwich of fried whiting on white bread to split that was outstanding. This won't be our last visit! |
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| Tuesday, August 20 - It was $5 Bargain Night at the Roxy Theaters (recliners!) here in town and we loaded to go see the raunchy new comedy, Good Boys, with our pal, Casey. It is one of the funniest movies we've seen from start to finish since The Hangover. We definitely plan to see it again since we missed some of it laughing so hard. |
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Thursday, August 22 - We attended our first of two nights at the 2019 Live on the Green Music Festival with backstage VIP tickets. 
We were pretty worried about the night being a complete wash-out with rain steadily coming down as we drove in to downtown Nashville and when we got there early to hear a little bit of Mat Kearney's soundcheck. We passed the time in the dry under a tent with some adult libations and a tasty dinner that was all included in our VIP upgrade. It was only rain at least and not storms. And, thankfully, after only a slight delay of the 6 PM planned start, the rain moved out, the temps dropped nicely and the music began! Thanks to our friends, Danny and Brenda, for joining us also.
First up was one of our local faves, Will Hoge, pounding out his solid tunes in a short,but solid set. This guy is the "Springsteen of Nashville" we think and vastly underrated.
The quirky and cute, Amanda Shires, was next on the billing. She's gifted musically, playing guitar and fiddle, but her voice wasn't our favorite, but it was still an entertaining set.
The best thing about the Shires set was that her famous husband, the ultra-talented Jason Isbell, played guitar with her band. He kept his presence on stage fairly low-key: stage right and in and out of the shadows of the spotlight out of respect for his wife I am sure. As Ashlee said, only in Nashville would a guy who headlined 9 sold-out shows at The Ryman recently now play back-up guitar at an outdoor free show. You gotta love this town.
The final performer that we stayed for was another one of our favorites, Mat Kearney, who also lives here in Nashville and has for a long time. His set was solid as usual including a fun romp into the crowd during one of his closing songs.
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| Saturday, August 24 - We had lawn seats for Judah and the Lion once again at the Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville. The weather was perfect, the crowd was large and enthusiastic, and the local boys who have done gone big time on us tore up the stage with a great show. Don't be surprised if they are playing arenas the next go around. |
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| Sunday, August 25 - We found a great way to check out the new Opryland waterpark called Soundwaves which isn't open to the public unless you stay at the hotel. However, thanks to Ashlee, we found out that you could also just book a party room for about $50 a person that included parking, pizza, a cake, drinks and an all-day pass to the park, so we figured "Hey, why not?!" |
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| We used Ashlee's upcoming birthday as our "reason" to rent a party room. Sure, it's probably intended for kids and we had a a couple kids in our group of 14, but us and some of our closest friends are kids at heart anyway. |
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| We had a great, long day inside and out at the park which has a wave pool, several slides, two lazy rivers and several other aquatic activities plus a big game room, lots of lounging areas, food trucks, bars, etc. The weather was a bit suspect and the outside was closed for a while, but reopened later in the day, so we got to experience pretty much everything we wanted. |
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| We capped off the day with 6 of us hitting Krystal for their new all-you-can-eat offer, I racked up nine cheese Krystals myself, but Charly was the big "winner" with 17 gulped down. |
We bought a hummingbird feeder for our back patio earlier this year with zero success, but our flowers have done great this summer and that has brought them in for our viewing pleasure. Look quick in the video above because he's not there long.
Thursday, August 29 - Our two summer months of concerts and other fun concluded tonight back at Live on the Green with VIP tickets for one of our favorite live bands and summer staples, O.A.R. Before the boys from Rockville closed the night out, we also saw and heard American Authors who were pretty good, and a great set of 70's and early 80's classics by Yacht Rock Revue. More good food and adult beverages were served as well and we enjoyed the company of our friends, Danny and Brenda.
Kind of a cool reverse panoramic shot from the ground of OAR on stage to over my head to the sky with the tops of buildings in downtown Nashville.
