SPRINGing along

Friday, March 22 - We celebrated the first official day of spring today by attending a SOLD OUT Mumford and Sons concert at Bridgestone Arena with our friend, Bridgette.  Dinner before the show at The Farmhouse near the concert venue was pricey, but fantastic.  It was also kind of a hoot that our friend, Doug, was our waiter for the evening.  He did a great job.

The show was unbelievably good.  I think it was the best sounding show I have ever been to in an arena.  Our front-row third level seats were perfect for an unobstructed view of the unique "in-the-round" stage.   The songs off the new album sounded great, as well as all their other previous well-known tunes.    While their opener wasn't much in our opinion, the West London boys did bring out a few talented guests including Jerry Douglas and his magical dobro, and a young duo known as War and Treaty, who were tremendous singers.  They also did a great cover of NIN's "Hurt."  

Song memories (from the show):  https://youtu.be/Q_LQT69Xjc4
https://youtu.be/haSTN2ZijnU    https://youtu.be/O2wWv-2800M

Mumford and Sons' "in-the-round" set-up set the stage (pun intended) for a record-breaking night at Bridgestone Arena in terms of attendance since more seats could be made available that weren't blocked by the stage backdrop and there were two SRO pits instead of  just one down on the floor.  

Saturday,  March 23 - We headed  down toChattanooga for a long weekend today.  We arrived in the late afternoon to catch the end of the birthday party for our niece, Ella, which was held at  Heritage Farm Stables out in Ooltewah.  Ella's beautiful horse, Hope, is pictured above having a rest in her stall after hauling little tweener girls around all day.

Sunday, March 24 - After sleeping in a little this morning, we ambled down to Mean Mug Coffee for some go-go juice and a great breakfast.  We split and shared our ample orders of  the egg and avocado toast and a prosciutto biscuit.

After dropping some flowers off at Ashlee's mom's grave, we took a short walk through the woods from the Stateline Cemetary to see this very cool tri-state marker.  On our walk we noticed that the wildflowers are blooming, the trees are budding out and we can safely say that spring is finally here!

Tuesday, March 26 - We attended an amazing Blackstone Beer Dinner with our friend, Nate  tonight at the Makeready Restaurant in the basement of the beautiful Noelle Hotel in downtown Nashville.  The beer from one of the craft brewing pioneers in Nashville and the six courses were outstanding!  

The "wreckage" on the table as the last course came shows what a grand evening it was.  We even had the honor of sitting with Blackstone Brewing's owner, Kent Taylor, who is an interesting and extremely nice fellow with tons of stories of his over two decades of brewing craft beer here in Nashville.  The price for the amount of food, beer, valet parking and fellowship could not be beat.  We hope to partake in another one of these dinners in the coming months.

Tuesday, April 2 - We headed over to the recliner seats at the Roxy Theater here in town tonight to catch a showing of the new live-action remake of Disney's Dumbo during $5 Tuesdays.    We really enjoyed it and thought it was very well-made despite mixed reviews from the media.  

Saturday, April 6 - We were in Chattanooga again this weekend for Mrs. Carroll's birthday and a few other errands and met Paige, Ella and Andy for dinner at the excellent Italian restaurant Il Primo in the Riverview area on Hixson Pike.  It was our first time here and we really liked the food, the prices and the ambiance.  I am sure it won't be our last visit.

Sunday, April 7 - On our way home from Chattanooga today, we stopped by the relatively new Happy Trails Brewing Company in Sparta to have a cold one in celebration of National Beer Day.  Salute!!  

Saturday, April 13 - Yep, we took 'em.  Doris and Byron weren't thrilled with the idea (and neither was the Easter Bunny from the look on his face), but, hey, it was free and nearby. 

 We attended the second of two SOLD OUT John Crist shows at The Ryman in Nashville tonight as part of the 2019 Nashville Comedy Festival.  We discovered John's comedy through a series of online videos that were just hilarious.  We couldn't figure out at first if he was gay or just acting effeminate, and we also couldn't figure out if he was making fun of Christianity or just the absurdity of many holier-than-thou Christians out there making jackasses of themselves with their actions, but we did know one thing:  this dude was funny. 

The show was very Christian, very well done. and very, very funny.  He had a cool pre-show DJ and two great openers:  Aaron Weber, who is a local comedian, and Dustin Nickerson.  Both openers also came back out during John's set for a "joke-building round-table" that was hilarious.  There were also new video clips that were instant classics.  It was really a great show.  Before the show, we had a tasty early dinner at drinks at City Tap.  

Sunday, April 15 - We were back at The Mother Church again today with our friends, Wendy and Charly, for a free self-guided tour during Ryman Community Day.  We have done the backstage tour before and enjoyed it, but this one was enjoyable as well since it included a new and well-done film about the amazing history of The Ryman and even a free picture up on the famous stage.

CWAR - The best foursome you've never heard of to grace the Opry stage!

The Ryman tour was just the beginning of what turned out to be a great Sunday Funday for our foursome with visits to the rooftop bar of the new Kid Rock Honky Tonk on Broadway for a drink.  We then popped in to the classic Nudie's Bar on Broadway which has an actual Cadillac hanging on the wall.   

Our next stop was over in East Nashville at the fairly new Pearl Diver tiki bar for another drink and some snacks.  This place is very cool and someone dropped some serious coin here since the decorating is chic and cuts no corners.  

Our "snacks" at Pearl Diver included oysters on the half-shell for Wendy and Charly, and pineapple fried rice for us...served in a pineapple...are we sure we aren't in Tahiti and not just on Gallatin Road??  

We finished our day with our main meal: huge cuts of beef and all the fixin's at Cherokee Steak House up on the lake here in Wilson County where we were also joined by our pal, Wayne.  

Well, Nashville is in the NHL Playoffs and Doris and Byron couldn't be more excited now that they've realized that  "Predators" are actually cats! 

Tuesday, April 23 - We grabbed some last-minute "fire-sale" tickets off of StubHub today to see Snow Patrol at The Ryman tonight for less than Ticketmaster prices.  This would be our third time seeing them at the Ryman including a tremendous show back in 2009, and again for a great performance in 2012.  Tonight was no exception as the band was solid and tight despite coming off a 7-year hiatus, and the new songs off the new album, Wildness, sounded even better live.  

The biggest difference about tonight's show vs. the previous two was our proximity to the stage.  We got great seats on the main floor very close to the stage (photo below) while  we were in the balcony for the previous two shows.  They had two solid openers as well including fellow Northern Irishman, Ryan McMullan, and an interesting little duo out of NYC called We Are Scientists.  

And hello back to you, Snow Patrol!! 

We both also got to see the amazingly huge 2019 NFL Draft stage tonight before the show that has been erected at the east end of Broadway.  Note the semi tractor-trailer in the foreground for scale as to how large it really is.  The draft starts in two days and we hope to be back down here to check it out some if the crowds and traffic allow.  

Friday, April 26 -  Well, we did make it down to Day 2 of the 2019 NFL Draft here in Nashville.  I took a day off for the occasion and Ashlee took a half day and we headed downtown with beautiful weather.  We were able to find parking near Nissan Stadium for a reasonable price and meet up with our pals, Danny and Brenda, at the NFL Experience going on around the stadium as part of the draft celebration.

The NFL Experience was very fun and best of all, free.   They had live music, autograph sessions (we saw current Titans players, Taylor Lewan and Tajae Sharpe), tons of displays, and interactive goings-on all around the stadium.  Will this be the closest the Lombardi Trophy will ever be to our stadium?  Only time will tell.

For some reason, they had bedazzled helmets displayed from every team in the NFL.  Anything to keep the ladies interested, I guess! 

After having a beer to close out our NFL Experience visit, we headed across the Cumberland River via the John  Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge which was adorned with electronic displays representing every team in the league, to the giant draft stage over on Broadway.

To say that the NFL had taken over Nashville would be an understatement.  Photo by Ashlee.

After grabbing some snacks and more brewskies at the HQ Beercade and being joined by our friend, Nate, we headed into the fray that was the draft stage viewing area (usually known as Broadway).  Despite the throngs of people, we were actually able to merge right in off Second Avenue without any hindrance and throughout our stay we slowly moved closer to the stage as the Round 2 picks began.  The appeal of Round 2 is that former players announce the picks of the respective teams, and we saw an impressive line-up that included Colts long-time WR (and fantasy football juggernaut) Reggie Wayne; a nice salute to the recently late Reggie Cobb who played for UT and in the NFL; Heisman Trophy winner and secondary great, Charles Woodson; former UT stand-out and NFL success, Al Wilson; the great Packers receiver, James Lofton, the legendary, Jim Brown,  at 83 years young; and Alabama great and Seattle Seahawks RB, Shaun Alexander.

Our own legend, Eddie George, (donned in a Steve McNair # 9 jersey...nice touch) announced the Titans' 2nd round pick (and 51 pick overall), A.J. Brown, out of Ole Miss, a much-needed weapon for our sputtering-at-times offense.

We headed back across the bridge as twilight set in, satisfied with our NFL Draft experience.  What a great time and a what a great accomplishment for our city!  Proud of you, Nashville!!  

And we were part of it!!  

Saturday, April 27 - We worked pretty hard doing yard work this morning and decided to reward ourselves with some doughnuts and beer up in Cookeville at Hix Farm Brewery.  The pairing with the legendary Ralph's Donut Shop just across the street was tremendous!  Surprisingly, our favorite was the sour/tart Weiss beer with the buttery chess square, but they were all great and included the Corn Fed cream ale with a strawberry cake and cream doughnut; their version of Kentucky Common ale with a maple nut doughnut; and finally their coffee stout pair with a red velvet and cream doughnut.  We don't usually drive a 100 miles RT for doughnuts and beer, but sometimes we do! 

After our tasting, we walked across the street and popped in Ralph's Donut Shop and got a half-dozen more for breakfast tomorrow.  When in Cookeville...right?  We also stopped by the town's outdoor Made Here Market and browsed and then split a huge burger at Father Tom's Pub as our early dinner before heading back home.

Monday, April 29 - We headed back to downtown Nashville tonight to Acme Feed and Seed for a tasty dinner, and then checked out the SOLD OUT Lucero unplugged show on their private-event third floor.  We've never been on this floor, and it's a very nice set-up for live music.  We arrived in time to catch several good songs by the opening duo, Joey Kneiser and Kelly Smith.  Lucero was up next with a solid hour set.  The audio was being streamed live also.  Lead singer, Ben Nichols, and his very unique voice even performed my favorite tune, "Loving" which he originally released as a solo effort for the movie of the same name that his little brother, Jeff, directed, and that we both really liked.  This is our first time seeing the Memphis-based quintet together, and they did not disappoint as we both really enjoyed the show...plus the fact that it ended by 9 PM on a "school night" was a real plus!

Song memory:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucHx3ucmVpk