LIVE for Fighting

Chalk up another good venue in Nashville to catch live music. The Belcourt Theatre on 21st Avenue is known mostly for showing independent films but occasionally they have musical acts play, and seeing Five for Fighting there tonight in an acoustic show was our first such experience, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Good sight lines, comfortable seating and great acoustics made the experience worthwhile and definitely something we would do again. The general admission seating also allowed us to grab great third-row seats for the show as well.

Opening for FfF was the angelically-voiced, Angel Taylor, a 21-year-old, up-and-coming singer/songwriter whose work has recently been heard on some TV shows as well as a live appearance on the "Ellen" show. Her original songs were catchy and melodic but perhaps the most memorable tune in her short set was an acoustic cover of "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon. Ashlee said it sounded better than the real thing that she saw and heard at a recent KoL show at the Sommet Center.

In case you didn't know, Five for Fighting, is the stage "presence" of singer/songwriter John Ondrasik, sometimes with a plugged-in band, sometimes alone and sometimes, like tonight, acoustic with just some guitar accompaniment. John's been on the scene for about 10 years now with some large critical success and more limited commercial success. His biggest claim to fame came strangely after the events of 9/11 when his song "Superman (It's Not Easy)" became sort of an anthem for the men and women who worked (and died) helping to save victims of the tragedy. His work is inspiring and uplifting and several of his songs like "100 Years" and "World" and "Freedom Never Cries" have been heard and loved by millions of people in ads, TV shows and movies, but who may just not know who John or Five for Fighting really is. Not a glitzy "rock star" by any means, John's a humble family man, a poet and an idealist whose outlet is music and his feelings and experiences with his children, his country and his world are reflected in each and every song.

He interacted well with the audience, telling stories and asking questions in the fairly intimate setting. He gave Nashville high praise which reiterates our feelings that we are so lucky to be able to catch live music in a town so loved and revered by artists who seem to give a little bit more at their shows here. John is promising to return to the stage next year with a full band and we sure do hope he includes Nashville on that tour.

You Can't Be in Two Places at Once...

We bought tickets to see O.A.R. again at the Vanderbilt Memorial Gym quite a while back when they first went on sale. So it's understandable that Ashlee mistakenly bought tickets to see up-and-coming singer/ songwriter, Mat Kearney, on the same night at a different venue. She was kicking herself pretty hard for not checking our always-busy calendar before purchasing the conflicting tickets. But what's done is done. We mapped out a plan that sounded like it would work pretty well: We would go to The Cannery at 8 PM and see Kearney's opening act and hopefully half a set from Mat. Then we would take a cab over to the Vandy Gym and catch O.A.R. around 10 PM as they closed the "Commodore Quake" Homecoming concert.

We arrived at The Cannery a few minutes before 8 PM after a carb-free dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We've been on the South Beach Diet for a few weeks now and it's working pretty well in terms of weight loss. Opening for Mat Kearny was the young, lovely and smokey-voiced Diane Birch and her band. She announced this was their last show opening for Mat, who has lived in Nashville for several years now since moving from Oregon where he grew up. Her original songs were catchy and well done. Her band was talented including a great trumpet player, Eric Bloom - horns are always a great addition to a rock band. During her set we got an unexpected text from our friend, Brandon, wanting to know where we were. He told us he was at the Vandy Gym watching O.A.R.?!?! Well, nuts!! It seems that O.A.R. was not the headliner as we had assumed at the Commodore Quake. Instead it was some goofy Latino rapper who calls himself Pitbull [insert eye-roll here]. That's the crap we thought we were missing while checking out some of the show at The Cannery.

Oh, well, "the best laid plans of mice and men" right? There was simply no way to catch enough of O.A.R.'s hour-long set and get back to The Cannery to see the end of Mat's set, so we excepted our fate and settled in to enjoy the full show. Ashlee really felt bad and apologized over and over for the mix-up. Luckily Mat bailed her out BIG TIME! Man, what a voice! Man, what a great backing band! Man, what a great show! This was our first time seeing Kearney live and he was simply amazing. Great stage presence and great energy as he played before a packed crowd back in his current hometown. This was one of the best sounding concerts we have seen/heard at The Cannery and also one of the liveliest as Mat enthusiasm of a packed house in his home town was very evident. He even waded into the crowd during his song "Top of the World" and then climbed atop the long bar to perform part of the song. Very cool. He included his hits (mostly heard on independent radio and as TV show background music) of "Breathe In, Breathe Out" - "Nothing Left to Lose" and his new hit, "Closer to Love" from his new album, "City of Black and White." He closed the show by inviting Diane and her band back on stage and they performed an ensemble cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" and there was that great trumpet again covering the saxaophone parts in the song. Very, very cool. In hindsight, the night really could not have went any better. If not for the lucky text by Brandon our plan would have pretty much been a bust as we would have missed most of Mat's set (he did not go on until 9:30) and all of O.A.R.'s (they were off the stage by 10 PM). Plus, Mat's headlining set in his hometown was longer and probably better than O.A.R.'s sandwich set - yes, another rapper opened for them...ugghh! We hated to miss seeing O.A.R. live again (Brandon did say they were great) since they put on such a great show that we saw in Atlanta a little over a month ago, but we know we will catch them again (hopefully as the headliners they deserve to be).

Going On Snow Patrol

We missed seeing Snow Patrol on their last visit to Nashville when they opened for Coldplay, so we were excited to find out they were coming back with their own headlining tour to our favorite Nashville music venue, the historic Ryman Auditorium. We bought tickets way back in June and it was a good thing we did because the place looked sold out by the time they took the stage. Opening for Snow Patrol was a good little band out of Chicago called The Plain White Tees. They struck commercial success a few years ago with their catchy little ditty "Hey There, Delilah." They performed a nice opening set that included some good original songs including "1,2,3,4" which is on our favorite videos that we've seen in the last few years . (let it play for a minute or so to see why it's so good)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6pW_q1PvH0&feature=fvw

Their songs are pretty simple and uplifting in tone. They said they were heading back to Chicago this fall to record a new album and we look forward to hearing more from this talented quintet.

We have become fans of Snow Patrol in the past few years thanks to a string of great songs that have made radio and TV airplay including "You're All I Have", "Chasing Cars" and their newest hit, "Crack the Shutters." This was our first time seeing them live and it was a truly amazing show. Led by charismatic (and darn funny) frontman/singer, Gary Lightbody , this Irish/Scottish band of five (seven members touring) is extremely talented and quite a well-oiled machine after being together for 14 years. The lyrics of their songs are simple and complex all at the same time with haunting melodies and catchy rhythms. Lightbody was very engaging to the audience and when he wasn't cracking jokes (in his Irish accent..."We have sung to you and now ya...uhh...yawwwl can sing to... uhhh....y'us"), he was expressing the sincere honor of playing at the Ryman. We are extremely fortunate to catch acts at The Ryman who appreciate the history of the stage they are standing on and in turn give a great performance so as to leave their mark there as well. In short, we have never seen a bad show there and most of our Top Ten have been there which includes this one.

They encored with an incredible three-song epic they call "The Lightning Strike." It was accompanied by an amazingly complex light and image show that draws similarities to live performances by the likes of Coldplay and Pink Floyd. The nearly two-hour show flew by and definitely left us wanting more. We cannot wait to see them again.

FOOTNOTE: We also caught another show from our favorite regional band, Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, at Nashville's Mercy Lounge (photo right) during The Americana Festival last month. The boys put on a lively show despite the late hour (they didn't go on until after midnight) and we were right down front to take it all in. "Sin in Indiana. It's a powerful thing!"

A Wee Little Trip to Ireland - Day 6 - Doolin to Dublin

Our last full day in Ireland. Sad, but true. We slept away most of the morning as we heard the rain coming down again outside our hotel window. We would have loved to explore more of this quaint little town of Doolin (artist rendering right) if the weather had been better, or even stay a couple more days. We did get up in time to grab some complimentary breakfast from Hotel Doolin and awaited our ride back to Dublin which would arrive sometime around noon. We were informed by the folks at Extreme Ireland that we would be taking a Paddywagon tour bus (remember, the folks with the bright green buses we used on our visit to Blarney Castle) back instead of one of theirs. Seemed a little odd since we figured they were in direct competition with each other. but again the Irish are very cordial - even in the business world. The Paddywagon bus arrived earlier than we expected and that was because their tour had not visited the Cliffs of Moher before

lunch like ours did. So, we got a second visit to the Cliffs of Moher (photo above) for no extra cost! Might sound redundant, but with the weather changing so often in Ireland, a second visit was vastly different from the day before. The wind was howling on the clifftops and while the rain had let up during our visit it was very damp in spots including a natural wind tunnel that was blowing surf up 400' or so from below. Totally amazing! (video below) More luck of the Irish was with us by riding back with this particular Paddywagon Tour because the driver, Tom, was the best guide we had the whole trip. He had great stories, jokes and tidbits of info he shared along the ride back in fairly dismal weather. This certainly made the time pass quicker. We stopped again at Bunratty Castle as we did a few days before, but instead of going back to Durty Nelly's, we wondered into another nearby pub called The Creamery Bar - guess what? large, clean and friendly. We we got back to Dublin around 7 PM, we had a decision to make. We could head on out to the Dublin Airport Hilton where we were staying tonight a good distance from downtown Dublin, or we could hang around in Dublin a few more hours for a last farewell. Since the place where we had our best meal, The Bull & Castle, was just up the street, we decided that dinner and a few drinks before heading out toward the airport would be worth dragging our luggage a few blocks to it. We felt a little goofy with our luggage in tow, but the folks at The B & C thought nothing of it and gave us a table with room to store the bags while we enjoyed dinner...did we mention the Irish are very friendly? More Irish microbrews and whiskey were had as well another great dinner. We are definitely gonna miss this place.

A cabstand was just outside and we made good time to the Airport Hilton which looked like it was fairly new and actually in a nice neighborhood area near the airport, but not right up on it (i.e. no jets buzzing the rooftops all night). We organized and packed for our trip home tomorrow thinking back on what a great time we had. We would love to return to Dublin again and perhaps travel north to Belfast and visit The Giant's Causeway on the northern shores of the island, as well as the southern area of Kilkenny that gets high praise as well.

Thank you, Ireland, for a wonderful trip that we will never forget.

A Wee Little Trip to Ireland - Day 5 - Headin' West

We got up early again this morning, lugged our suitcases down to the lobby of the Conrad Hotel, bid it farewell, and grabbed a cab to the other side of Trinity College to the Dublin Tourist Office to meet our second day-tour company, Extreme Ireland. These folks also got good reviews online and offered a day trip out to the west coast to visit the stunning natural wonder called the Cliffs of Moher, a half mile or so of 400 ft. cliffs plunging straight down into the Atlantic Ocean. We settled in for another long ride that included some of the same landscape we saw a few days earlier (the weather was nicer today and the views much more stunning). We once again stopped in downtown Limerick - a little longer this time allowing a few minutes to stretch our legs and walk the Thomond Bridge (photo above) over the River Shannon toward King John's Castle.

Back on the bus for another hour and a half and we arrived on the west coast at the stunning Cliffs of Moher (photo below). Wow, what a site! Definitely in the Top Ten of places we have visited that simply take your breath away. We were given a full two hours here to wander around atop the cliffs and around O"Brien's Castle, a small stone lookout tower and tribute to the former owner of the land who deeded it to the people of Ireland upon his death (photo below). The weather was pleasant with a good breeze blowing and the sun trying to poke out from the clouds allowing for good photo opportunities.

Weather moves in and out of these cliffs rather fast and we were told the last two days of visitation were basically washed out by rain and the views obscured by fog, so we felt very fortunate. Entry to the cliffs is free - this was an important part of O-Brien's will that it be free to all visitors forever - but they have some interactive things that you can pay to see in the visitor's center. We opted to buy tickets since we had a little spare time and checked out a nice historical display about the area plus a cool short 3-D film called "Atlantic Edge" showing the cliffs from literally a bird's-eye view.

After our visit to the Cliffs of Moher, we were scheduled for lunch in the charming little town nearby known as Doolin. One reason we chose Extreme Ireland as our tour guides was the fact that they would allow us to stay overnight in Doolin as an option and pick us up on the same tour the next day for delivery back to Dublin. We made reservations at Hotel Doolin, a new small modern hotel in town with very reasonable rates. Since there were no Hilton properties out this way (and Ashlee was out of points anyway), Hotel Doolin gave us a small-town experience in Ireland as well. Plus, it split up the long bus ride to and from Dublin into two days instead of one very long one. We will have to remember this idea for future travels.

We gobbled our lunch down because we wanted to make a 2 PM ferry ride from the Doolin Pier to see the Cliffs of Moher from the ocean. The hotel was about 2 miles from the pier and we did not think we could make it in time to catch the boat if we walked, so we asked the girl at the desk about a cab. Evidently in Doolin there is only one cab that she called and we were lucky that the driver was nearby. He got us down to the pier and only charged us 5 Euro (no meter in the cab). Money well spent. The pier was busy as two other ferry lines offered tours as well as normal ferry service to folks living on the nearby Aran Islands. The weather was holding steady somewhat but the breeze was picking up a little and storms were forecasted for the evening. The ocean was in good shape as we headed out on a decent-sized boat that was full of sightseers. The cliffs were just as amazing from this vantage point and the stunning 200' Branaunmore sea stack (photo below) rising from the water at the base of the cliffs was even more visible than from above, as well as a cascading waterfall down the face of the cliffs. The sea stack was covered with nesting seabirds and the boat was able to get very close to it. What an amazing site! There is also a sea arch on a far end of the cliffs, but we didn't get close enough to see it real well since it was only an hour cruise. The sea was a bit choppier as we headed back and the weather was definitely turning. Ashlee got a little green around the gills, but held it together until we got back to shore. What a trooper!

We made the walk back to the hotel from the pier as the rain began to fall. We got a little gripey about the situation and then quickly came to the realization that we were walking on the west coast of Ireland in the rain seeing landscapes like the photo below, and that overall it was pretty damn cool. We stopped in a few shops as we made our way back including a wonderful chocolate shop where the owner was very friendly and very generous with her samples! We rested and unpacked somewhat (we were only there for one night) and planned our evening. Our tour driver told us that the best place for food and live music afterwards in Doolin was O'Connor's Pub - a long-standing establishment (since 1832 to be exact). It was about a mile walk back the way we came from the pier, but the rain had not increased in volume and we decided to give it a go. Another great walk worth a little inconvenient rain. The pub was again...large, clean and very friendly. We found a table fairly easily despite the place being very busy. Ashlee continued her tour of Irish whiskeys and we started the night with a classic staple: fish and chips. Delicious. The fish was light and not greasy at all. Hey, it's an ocean town and they know how to do fish. We drank and nibbled away the time awaiting the music to start around 9:30 PM. We were expecting a band to set up but instead three older fellas just commandeered a booth and started plugging away with two fiddles and a flute. We listened a while until our eyes got heavy from the Guinness and the whiskey and we were in need of some sleep after such a great, but long, day on the west coast of Ireland. The rain had let up as we walked back in the pitch-dark street on a cool, quiet Irish eve. This is living, my friends.

A Wee Little Trip to Ireland - Day 4 - Dublin City Pub Crawl

We awoke from our 12-hour slumber fully rested and completely rid of the jet lag that had been hounding us the last couple of days. It now actually felt like the actual time it was in Dublin (six hours ahead of back home). We had a "rural pub tour" scheduled for today that looked like it was going to be a lot of fun, but we were informed a few days before that it had to be cancelled due to lack of participants and the fact that a few of the pubs they usually visited on Sundays would not be playing live music because of a big game of "hurling" on TV that day. Hurling is similar to lacrosse and there was a big championship game being held in Dublin between two neighboring areas. The 80,000-seat stadium was sold out and everyone was excited about it.

We were disappointed not to visit some small pubs outside the Dublin city limits, but we can't say we were really disappointed to not have to climb back on another tour bus after the long day yesterday and another long tour pending tomorrow. So, we decided to conduct our own "Dublin Pub Crawl" beginning in the late afternoon and continuing late into the night. Before wading into our evening of debauchery, we stopped by Trinity College again to take a look at their famous "long hall" library (photo above - not our picture, no cameras allowed) and the even more famous Book of Kells, a beautifully illustrated version of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John dating back to the 9th century (photo above - again, not our picture). The library was amazing and the Book of Kells was fairly interesting. But enough of this refinement and dignity...on to the pubs!!!

Our first stop was for an early dinner and drinks at The Bull & Castle. The B&C is a pub, German-style beer hall and restaurant all rolled into one. It has an extensive beer menu (researched by Rob - see more on the brews he had in his beer blog) including several Irish microbrews. Ashlee opted for their Irish whiskey sampler instead (photo below). The food was delicious with a Guinness Pie for Ashlee (shepherd's pie cooked with Guinness) and Irish wild salmon for Rob (photo below).

We next ventured over to The Brazen Head Pub which claims to be Dublin's oldest. What's great about Irish pubs (or at least all the ones we visited) is that they are much bigger than we anticipated. The Brazen Head, for example, is comprised of 3 separate bars in 3 separate adjoined areas allowing for a lot of people to grab a pint fairly quickly, find a seat and enjoy the atmosphere. The spaces are cozy and divided enough to allow for quiet conversation in one area and boisterous singing and such in another. Other traits we noticed was that all the pubs we visited in Ireland were: (1.) very clean - no filthy "beer joints" here where you are afraid to touch anything; (2.) that the local patrons and staff are extremely friendly - no dirty looks at the tourists invading their favorite watering hole and asking "dumb" questions of the staff; and finally, (3) bright, cheery places that are even family friendly since most serve food as well, and not dark, sullen drinking pits. We encountered no problems in any of the pubs with people who had drunk too much and were unruly in any way. The Irish have long been the butt of many jokes about over-indulgence in terms of alcohol, but to us they seem to have the act of social drinking down to an art form.

Our next stop was at The Porterhouse. This is actually a fairly new establishment and also a chain with three other locations throughout Ireland. Despite no real history, the place was packed and it's a very cool microbrewery serving there own quality beer in many different varieties. The Porterhouse is located in the heart of the Temple Bar area of Dublin. Temple Bar is a festive area down near the River Liffey with tons of pubs, shops and and restaurants. From what we gathered on our walking tour the day before yesterday, the area was. at least up until a few years ago, in a sad state of neglect, but a successful campaign to revive the area has turned it into the real hotspot in downtown Dublin. While strolling through Temple Bar after leaving The Porterhouse we stopped in the Oliver St. John Gogarty (photo below). This pub is seen in many pictures of Dublin and the Temple Bar area thanks to its bright colors and numerous flags adorning the building. It is definitely a "tourist trap" type of pub with piped-in music and a TGI Friday's kind of feel inside, but it made for a nice brief stop for tired feet and we had a great board of Irish cheeses to snack on.

The final major stop on our Dublin Pub Crawl was Messrs. Maguire. This great 3-story pub faces the River Liffey and has tons of nooks and crannies to get lost in while sipping your favorite adult beverage. It is also a microbrewery (do you see a pattern here? Rob says man cannot live by Guinness alone). We arrived here after the big hurling game mentioned earlier and it was full of Kilkenny fans adorned in blue and gold attire. They were in great spirits so we assume that Kilkenny won the game. Things were starting to get a little blurry after our stop here and we did drop briefly into a place called Cassidy's Bar that was supposed to have a piano bar, but the place was dead and there was no sound of the tinkling of the ivories, so we called it a night and took a cab (very reasonable rates in Dublin, by the way) back to the hotel to prepare to pack up our stuff to take a day tour to the west coast and spend our next night in the tiny town out there called Doolin.

A Wee Little Trip to Ireland - Day 3 - BLARNEY Rubble

We popped up bright and early this morning and took a cab over to Paddy's Palace - a Dublin hostel and tour company for a day trip south to Blarney Castle for our chance to smooch on the famous Blarney Stone. Paddywagon Tours uses bright green buses with a huge animated leprechaun logo on the side of them. Sounds and looks offensive to the Irish we would think, and definitely a bit cheesy, but they get great reviews online and their tour prices were hard to beat since they cater mostly to the younger hostel-budget crowd touring Europe. For the price of a couple tanks of gas these days, we got professional transportation cross-country on Ireland's tiny little roads without the fuss of worrying about finding our way or remembering to stay on the left side of the road driving in a rental car.

It was our first venture into the countryside of Ireland away from the hustle and bustle of Dublin and the scenery was picturesque. Pristine pasture land, quaint humble farmhouses and rock-wall fences flashed by us on the road to the city of Limerick, our first brief stop. The landscape looked a lot like the rural Southeastern U.S. at times with only the occasional ruins of a castle in someone's back yard to give away where you actually were (photo above). In Limerick, half of our tour group boarded another bus bound for the west coast and the Cliffs of Moher. That would be our destination in a couple of days as well. From Limerick it was another hour and a half south until we pulled into the busy parking area for the Blarney Castle. Trees hid its view from us until we started up the manicured walking path and then all of sudden there it was looming above us (photo below). Our first real castle up close and personal. It looks to have been kept in great original condition or at least what's left of its stone walls and ramparts. Only a very few modern amenities like flood lights placed in discreet locations gave any indication what century you were in during your visit. To get to the Blarney Stone itself, which in fact is a part of the castle's battlement wall and not a separate natural stone as we always assumed, you have to climb to the top of the structure which is a treat as well. The views of the village of Blarney and the surrounding countryside are outstanding. Kissing the Blarney Stone is a fairly low-key affair (Rob taking his turn in the photo below). You have to lay on your back atop the castle's highest point, grab hold of two iron bars to steady yourself, lower your head a bit and kiss the cold stone wall basically hanging upside down. No one looks cool doing it and you can't help but giggle when it's your turn, but admittedly it's kind of a hoot. You have to put out of your mind the fact that the Blarney Stone was ranked as the # 1 germiest tourist attraction in the world by a recent survey. Yeck. It would have been great to stay longer at Blarney Castle. The surrounding grounds are beautiful (photo below) and there are several walking trails of some distance encompassing 60 acres of gardens, woods, the small River Martin and a lake. One of the only drawbacks of a touring company is the rigid schedule you are on. There was a bit of line to the top of the castle to get your smooch on, and by the time we were done with that we only had a little time left to take a leisurely walk back to the parking area and explore a couple of shops in the nearby woolen mills. This area of Ireland is known for it's great production of sweaters, scarves and lace-works. The trip back was long and our jet lag crept up again on us. As the old song says " it's a long way to Tipperary," which actually was another town we passed through on our way back to Dublin. We made a brief late afternoon stop at another castle in the area of Bunratty and to our great surprise the pub next to it was named none other than "Durty Nelly's." This was the name of one of our favorite places to eat for many years in Chattanooga where Ashlee and I met. It closed a few years ago to our great surprise and sadness. We ambled in to the place and the barman greeted us with a smile. We mentioned that we had a "Durty Nelly's" back in Tennessee and we figured we would get an eyeroll and a snort of some sort. Instead, the man smiled broadly and said "Yah, I missed going in there when I visited Chattanooga." We figured he was pulling our leg, but then he added, "but I did get to see The Wrecker Museum." Well, we knew he was a real visitor to Chattanooga then, because only someone who has actually been there would know about the rather infamous "Towing and Recovery Museum." Yes, it's a museum of wreckers. No, we don't know why. We ordered a couple of pints and sat outside in the mild weather to enjoy them before climbing back on the big green express back to Dublin. We got back to Dublin around 8 PM with rumbling tummies and headed out to find something Irish to eat. The first place was too fancy and we weren't dressed for it, the next place was way too busy and in our desperate hunger we settled for an Italian cafe. Not what we planned but it turned out to be delicious and housed in a very cool old building. We wanted to hit some pubs after dinner but our tired bodies just wouldn't hear of it. We headed back to the hotel instead knowing we had a day of Dublin pub crawling ahead of us tomorrow. We slept for twelve hours. Good, good day in Ireland.