Cruising with Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

Friday, October 11 - We checked out the surprise soft opening of the long-anticipated East Nashville Beer Works - Wilson County tonight along with a large group of friends.  It was great! Lines were long as expected, and the parking was an adventure as even the unpaved overflow lots were jammed.  But the pizza was solid, and the beer was cold and tasty.  What a great addition to our area!!  

October 30 - Damn right, we did!! And early too.   Up yours, Rump!!! 

Thursday, October 31 - We TREATED ourselves this Halloween to some new sofas in the living room as well as a repainting of same said living room and the adjoining dining room.  

Saturday, November 2 - We attended our local Bark in the Park event at the Wilson County Fairgrounds today to help support New Leash on Life Pet Rescue.   Sunny enjoyed herself with a lot of butt-sniffing hellos given and taken.  Our friend, Tarryn, who was in from Indiana joined us as well at this fun time in some beautiful fall weather. 

Tuesday, November 5 - Election Day was a huge disappointment unfortunately.  Gonna be a long four years with Adolf Shitler embarrassing us left and right again.  Hopefully that's all he does...

Friday, November 8 - We flew to Miami today to prepare for our first Sixthman music cruise in a good while. The quickly SOLD-OUT Andrew McMahon's Holiday from Real Cruise starts tomorrow!! This unique line-up headlines with Andrew each day with his three bands throughout his career:  Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.  Pretty neat concept.  Supporting acts were not very well known to us except for Augustana, who has been probably our favorite band throughout the last twenty years to see live, so we were very excited about this one and we feel lucky that we went ahead and put a deposit down about a year ago to secure our space on this pricey, but exciting, opportunity.   

We stayed overnight at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport and close to the port as well.  Our room had a nice pool view.  We didn't use the pool, but the view was lovely considering ours is all covered up for winter currently.  We had a surprisingly good dinner in the hotel lobby tonight as well. 

Saturday, November 9 - Holiday from Real Cruise - Day 1 - Our first day on board was great!  Andrew and his Jack's Mannequin band (which is the music where we first discovered him) had a great sail-off show on the pool deck.  But the highlight of the day/night was getting to FINALLY meet Dan Layus, the heart and soul of Augustana, after their great set on The Atrium Stage.  This dude has no idea how long we have stalked him!!!  What is really fascinating about Dan is that despite being a dynamic singer and musician (guitar, piano, harmonica) on stage, the guy is PAINFULLY shy, so getting this selfie and a handshake really means a lot to us.  Thanks, Dan, we really love you!!! 

Sunday, November 10 - Holiday from Real Cruise - Day 2 - The seas were too choppy today to stop at Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas since you have to tender to the island from the ship.  No biggie, we've been there before.  So instead, we started to explore some of the other performers on the ship that we didn't know much (or anything) about.  First up was Zac Clark who we've actually seen before open for Augustana in Nashville.  He's also got a great duet with Andrew McMahon.  His one-man crooning set back in The Atrium was pretty darn good. Next it was Nashville's own alt-country (he calls it "dirt emo") artist, Ruston Kelly (photo above).  Witty, deep and talented - we really enjoyed Ruston's intimate set in the yet very large Stardust Theater venue. 

Next up was Augustana again in the same Stardust Theater (photo above).  They were loud and rocked the place to its core.  What a great show!!  
We stopped out on the Pool Deck next to catch some of the poppy and energetic tunes from Misterwives.  They reminded us a little of Fitz and the Tantrums, but lead singer, Mandy Lee, is a force of nature all on her own and their announcement of going on a hiatus as a band after the cruise had us wondering if a solo career is coming her way now.  We shall see.   Capping off the night was Mr. McMahon again out on the Pool Deck stage with his Something Corporate hat on...well, actually they were pajamas.  Yep, the theme tonight was pajamas night, so he did the entire show in a pair of silk PJs.  Classy, Andy, classy!! 

Monday, November 11 - Holiday from Real Cruise - Day 3 - We finally got to get off the ship today as we docked in Nassau, Bahamas, for the day.  It was a bit windy and partly cloudy for any beach activities, so we kind of slept in and then took a walk into town this afternoon.  We've actually been on this ship, the Norwegian Gem, before for two other back-to-back Sixthman Cruises (Michael Franti's Soulshine Cruise and The Rock Boat) back in 2022.  We also recently learned that Norwegian has actually bought Sixthman and will be the exclusive cruise line for their popular music-themed cruises going forward.  

Once off the ship, we took a rather long walk out of the touristy port area of Nassau to Rip Ty'd Craft Brewery which is a very nice place.   The female-owned and brewed establishment had some great craft beer that we enjoyed in their roomy tasting room while playing some spirited two-handed UNO. 

Back on the ship tonight we enjoyed an intimate Q and A session with Andrew going behind some of his songs as well as some cool impromptu song covers including the Guns and Roses classic, "November Rain."  Later, after checking out a few more tunes from Misterwives again, we queued up early on the Pool Deck to get a good view of Andrew's third night as the headliner with his current band, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.  Another stellar show!! 

Tuesday, November 12 - Holiday from Real Cruise - Day 4 - Our last full day was at sea, so we checked out some of the bands we had missed up until now.  We thought Wildermiss was, well, a miss.  Cartel was pretty good as was Jukebox the Ghost, but nothing life changing.   Andrew was the winner again with a final show out on the pool deck doing covers and oldies of his own along with several other performers from the cruise.  Even Dan from Augustana helped out with "Message in the Bottle" by The Police.  Andrew's second ride in the inflatable duck came closer to us this time and i got this great screen grab above from a video I shot.  

but only for one more night...

Andrew wins the cruise swag game for sure!!  These beautiful, signed posters were waiting for us in our stateroom tonight.  Each night of the cruise, we got special swag including very nice pins and sharp luggage tags as well.  

Wednesday, November 13 - Our disembarkation and flight home from Miami were easy and smooth. Ruston Kelly was even on our flight back to Music City and we got a chance to say hello to him when we landed and to express how much we enjoyed his set that we saw.  Very nice and humble fellow.  Another great cruise wrapped in a musical bow.  Let's start looking for the next one!! 

Another birthday, a little Pilgrimage and a new (and muddy) South Star

Well, the man was pretty smart...

Saturday, September 8 - The birthday presents for Ashlee have started to arrive and first up was this hilarious little door mat that is very accurate in its forecasting of our little Letty Spaghetti, the backdoor escape artist! 

Thursday, September 12 - Happy Birthday from afar, Ashlee!!  While I was on the road for work in East Tennessee, Ashlee was in Austin, Texas, for work as well today for her birthday.   We have a weekend of birthday activities planned to make up for it however.   

Friday, September 13 - Ashlee's birthday extravaganza weekend started tonight with a drive down to Murfreesboro for the Canine and Cactus Mixer at the Wag it Better Dog Training and Boutique, co-hosted by the Classy Cactus Farm.  Along with a couple other friends, we had a fun time arranging our own dog-themed succulent planters and then hanging out with some cute and friendly small dogs that are up for adoption as well.  

1,700 pieces!!! Happy Birthday, Ashlee...and good luck!!! - love, Dudley

Saturday, September 21 - We attended the Duke at MTSU college football game this afternoon down in Murfreesboro with our friend, Tom, and his girlfriend, plus his brother and his wife.  We were definitely for D-U-K-E even though this wasn't basketball.  The game was actually halted due to lightning in the area in the 3rd quarter with a comfortable lead for Duke, so we skedaddled before the storm and rain got to us.  They eventually finished the game with Duke winning 45-17.  

Saturday, September 28 - After learning that our # 1 want-to-see artist, Gwen Stefani, was headlining at the new South Star Music Festival in Huntsville, Alabama, today, we decided to buy day-passes and see her show even though we already had Pilgrimage Festival two-day passes also this weekend.  We figured we could catch Day 2 at Pilgrimage on our way back.  Simple, right?  Not so fast says Mother Nature! 

The rainy remains of Hurricane Helene threatened both festivals with complete cancellation, but we monitored both of their social media pages to see if they were going to try and go through with them.  With no cancellations announced, we headed down to Huntsville today and met our friends, Emily and Bridgette, at a nice Hilton Garden Inn near the festival site where we would spend the night.  We found parking fairly easily, not realizing it was a helluva walk to the festival entrance, but we made it with rain continuing to spit and sprinkle down. 

We headed to the Supersonic Stage and caught a great day-opening set from 90's veteran rockers, The Gin Blossoms.  We decided to stay at this stage throughout the day since we were able to move up to the very front when the next act, Tom Morello (photo above), took the stage...and proceeded to blow the roof off of the place as well as our minds!  Holy crap!  This dude is phenomenal!  As a part of Rage Against the Machine, we now have his band at the top of our must-see-live list.  An amazing show!!  And his "fuck Trump" banner in the heart of Bama was awesome!! 

After a fun and entertaining set from the 90's divas, TLC (minus the L sadly), it was time finally for the big payoff, front row for Gwen herself in all her blonde bombshell glory (video above).  She put on a stunning 90-minute set full of energy covering songs from her solo days and with No Doubt.  A great day and night worth the rain, mud, and sore feet and legs.  

Sunday, September 29 - This is the remnants of "Hurricane Gwen" last night! That joke is in very bad taste to the shocking damage and death toll to our east with the powerful Hurricane Helene path.  Our thoughts are genuinely with them. And, yeah, sure, global warming is a myth.   This pic does give a good idea of what we had to slog through last night in the dark to get out of here from the front row.  Not surprisingly, the City of Huntsville cancelled the second day of shows here for safety reasons due to the poor conditions of the grounds in their park.  
(photo courtesy of the South Star Facebook page) 

We tried our best to carry out the Two Fest Weekend, but Mother Nature made it very hard.  We made it to this year's 10th Annual Pilgrimage Festival with no problems from Huntsville.  Getting in was fairly easy and we even got some free tasty food from the Hardee's tent, but then here came the non-forecasted and not-on-the-radar rain again!! Seriously??  WTF?? 

So, after a very entertaining set by new-to-us artist, Stephen Wilson, Jr., IN THE RAIN AGAIN, we made the tough executive decision to call it a very early day.  There was just no way we could stand for another six or so hours in even more possible rain.  Sorry, Better Than Ezra, NeedtoBreathe and Noah Kahan.  Maybe next time.  It was nice to get home and rest early.  

Tuesday, October 1 - Summer is over, but it's trying to hang on as best it can.  We are closing the pool this week for the season and that's just too sad of a picture to post, so this little beauty got the nod instead for hanging on as long as possible.  

Friday, October 4 - We attended a magic show and dinner at Cedar City Brewing tonight along with our friends, Kate and Curtis.   The food was good, and the two magicians from House of Cards in Nashville were great.  Ashlee even got called up to help with a trick!  

Saturday, October 5 - We attended the relaxing and lovely "Beautifica" show at the Adventure Science 360 Theater in Nashville tonight with and at the suggestion of our friends, Kate and Curtis.    We had a quick, but tasty, stop at Schulman's in East Nashville for dinner beforehand. 

Holy cutie-pies, Batman!!!  Our new fosters, three brothers named Frankie, Gordie and Jett, are just freaking adorable and oh so loving.  They definitely should be easy to convince someone to adopt them (all together maybe??)

Sunday, October 6 - We did a fun and interesting behind-the-scenes at the Nashville Zoo at Windmere today.  We even got to feed a giraffe!  This was a belated birthday present for Ashlee that we both really enjoyed.   Beforehand, we strolled around the rest of the zoo checking out the Komoto dragons, the rhinos, red river pigs and some beautiful azure macaws.  We even had a very tasty lunch at the zoo.  The behind-the-scenes tour was great.  It looked like you were going into Jurassic Park when we entered the giraffe's enormous habitat and state-of-the art barn.  

The Nashville Zoo actually has five total giraffes of which we saw all of them including this gang shot of four of them at one time.  Proceeds from our tours go directly to conservation efforts in Africa for these magnificent, shy but curious animals. 

Summer Rageth On

Friday, June 28 - We drove to Asheville, North Carolina, tonight after work and stayed downtown at the Renaissance Hotel with some friends for our annual summer "go to the mountains" trip.  This year's trip came a little early, so we could also take in a concert here tomorrow night. On the way, we stopped at the Buc-ee's in Crossville for some amazing sandwiches for dinner. 

Despite our late arrival, we still met up with our friends, Curtis and Kate, at a late-night cocktail bar called The Rankin Vault within easy walking distance of the hotel for a couple libations before turning in for the night. 

Saturday, June 29 - We started the day here in Asheville with a baker's dozen from nationally famous Hole Doughnuts that included decadent flavors like vanilla glaze, toasted almond sesame, cinnamon sugar and watermelon margarita.  These giant babies are hand-made at the time of order and were delicious.  We had a nice share session in the lobby of our hotel along with Kate and Curtis; and our friends from Chattanooga, Michelle and Patrick, who also arrived last night.  

Despite a strange end-of-the-hall location and a bit of musty smell, our hotel room had a nice view of downtown Asheville including legendary author, Thomas Wolfe's, boyhood home.  

Keep it weird, Asheville.  Even though it's been nine (gulp) years since we've been to downtown Asheville, it's not changed a lot, and that's good.  There was a homeless presence as there is everywhere, but the city's been doing a good job with them based on what one of our Uber drivers told us.  We forgot how much we love it here and sure can't wait another nine years to return!! 

Today's selfish endeavor was a planned Asheville 6-Pack Brewery Crawl planned by me.  Everyone but Michelle was game for it, and we wound up having a great time walking and taking Ubers to Highland; 7 Clans; Hillman (great lunch here too); French Broad; New Belgium [East Coast Ops] (good snacks here too); and finally the recently expanded Green Man Brewing.  

Tonight's show was Michael Franti and Spearhead (guess who we saw here in downtown Asheville nine years ago too) with Niko Moon opening at Salvage Station.  What a great outdoor venue!  It's a damn shame it's closing soon due to eminent domain for an interstate expansion (boo!!).  

Niko Moon was a ton of fun as the opener for Franti.  He's such a great entertainer and good soul seems like.  Love the outfit, Neko!!   It's a natural match to be playing with Capt. Stay Human whose show was as solid and heartwarming as ever.  

Sunday, June 30 - After a great breakfast in downtown Asheville at the Five Points Restaurant, we had an easy drive back home thanks to decent traffic and the continuation of a great audiobook autobiography called "What a Fool Believes" from legendary rocker, Michael McDonald, and his late-in-life friend, funnyman Paul Reiser.   We were supposed to go see them talk about their book a few weeks back in Nashville but got stormed out of going.  We did get a signed hardback copy of the book at least. (photo above).  

(Editor's note:  A mere four months later this beautiful area of North Carolina and East Tennessee were ravaged by flooding from Hurricane Helene.  We wish the entire area and its inhabitants the best in recovery.)

Thursday, July 4 thru Sunday July 7 - Happy Independence Day from the pool!  We hosted a fairly casual long weekend "come by and swim and hang out" party since we both also had Friday off from work as well this year and decided not to travel anywhere.   Ashlee's cousins from Cincinnati came down for the long weekend also and were our only guests on Thursday and Friday which was fine with us.  We grilled excellent steaks from CostCo.  Saturday had a few more friends drop by throughout the day including a couple dog-friends for Sunny.  Hot dogs and hamburgers were the grill selections. 

Sunday, July 7 - It was just us today in the pool and some leftovers from the weekend's activities.  Shout-out to Ashlee (and Memo's in Chattanooga) for this great chopped-wiener plate/bowl idea for dinner tonight.  Salute!! 

We did have several bats drop by during this beautiful sunset tonight as well. 

Sunday, July 14 - It was another Dog Party at the Pool today with Sunny's friends, Duke and Rio, coming by for a dip.  Thanks to our friend, Adrianna, for snapping this great pic, and our friend, Kate, for the Care Bears Knockabout Sunglasses that Duke is sporting. 

Sunday, July 21 - We went to see the new movie Twisters in IMAX at Opry Mills Theaters with several other friends this evening.  The original Twister (RIP, the great Bill Paxton) was the first movie Ashlee and I ever saw in IMAX down in San Antonio, so it seemed like a must to see this remake in the same format.  The film was fantastic!  Great (scary) special F/X and a good, original story that was a bit different from the original.  

Saturday, July 27 - We went to see the Hootie and the Blowfish show at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville tonight.  Opening were a couple other 90's classic rockers: Collective Soul and Edwin McCain.   The entire show was great, but the timeless voice of H and B's, Darius Rucker, was and is the best of the bunch.  Thanks to our pals, Kate and Curtis, for going with us in place of Emily and her husband, Andrew, who is not doing very well after being diagnosed recently with skin cancer.  We wish him all the best and a full recovery.  

Thursday, August 1 - It's the 25th Anniversary of the BFFFL! Let's get ready to FUMBLE!! 

Monday, August 12 - One perk to some of the dog-sitting I've been doing as a side hustle on Rover is getting to hang out at some pretty nice houses here in the area.   Ashlee stopped by the Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Lebanon and got us some dinner tonight which we enjoyed with this nice lake view and some canine companionship from Sunny and the two dogs I am sitting with tonight, Maggie and Mollie.  

Saturday, August 17 - We grabbed some super-cheap ($8! on StubHub) Titans' preseason tickets for tonight's game against the Seattle Seahawks along with our friends, Craig and Alison, and Emily.  We rode The Titans Express train from Donelson to the game and back.  We chose the Donelson station so we could get some tasty dinner and do some imbibing before the game at the Homegrown Taproom which is just across the road.  The game was a good one (despite the heat) with the Titans pulling out a game-winning field goal as time expired.  While it was still hot this evening, we played it smart and sat on the west side of the stadium out of the sun (opposite of our tickets) since there were large swaths of empty seats up top for the 6 PM kick-off.  The ride back ended with some stormy weather that made the short drive home a little daunting.  

Saturday, August 24 - This beautiful mourning dove hung out around our patio this morning as we sat and reflected on the sad news that our friend Emily's husband, Andrew, passed away last night after a very recent battle with cancer.  At just 48 years old, it's pretty shocking.  We've read that the presence of mourning doves symbolizes departed loved ones, so we hope this one meant Andrew was telling us goodbye in one of the last places we remember him and Emily being together - relaxing and smiling on and around our patio and pool here at home.  RIP, friend.  

Sunday, August 25 - We tried our first Sunday Brunch at the Cumberland University Cafeteria today and it was tasty!  We will be doing that again!  The puddin'-head shown above stayed home and guarded the couch.