2011 - The Year of Twos

Well, the new 2011 collage is done and it looks pretty darn good.  This the 13th one now hanging in our den.  Upon assembling it and looking back over this blog for the past year, it came to our attention that 2011 was a year of twos.  That is, we did a lot of stuff more than once in this same calendar year.  Here's a few examples:

Saw Grace Potter & the Nocturnals perform twice

Saw Augustana perform twice (on the same road trip)

Saw Jack's Mannequin perform twice

Saw Brett Dennen perform more than twice

Saw The Dirty Guv'nahs perform twice

Saw two Nashville Predators playoff games

Saw two home games for the Tennessee Titans

Took two different music cruises to Cozumel, Mexico

Took two trips to the Outer Banks of North Carolina

Two trips to Las Vegas for Rob

Saw Mat Kearney perform more than twice

Saw Alpha Rev perform more than twice

And finally, we want to do twice as much in 2012! 

The new year is shaping up nicely already with several concerts including The Dirty Guv'nahs (again!), O/A/R, Gaelic Storm, Roger Waters and Trevor Hall. We got a couple big trips planned to Aruba with some friends in February, and a 3-country tour of Europe in May for our 11th wedding anniversary that will include Poland, Italy and the Netherlands, and yet another trip back out to The Outer Banks of North Carolina in July.

Happy New Year everyone!

Predators & Stars Under Glass

January 5, 2012 - We decided to get off our wallets and check off an item on our bucket list and sit "on the glass" at one Nashville Predators hockey game in our life.  After some research on my part I found a pretty good online ticket broker (sorry Stubhub, we prefer TicketsNow...uh, now) and began watching the price of a certain set of 6 seats that seemed available for almost every game.  I noticed that they went for a higher price on the weekends which wasn't surprising, so we decided that a weeknight game would be the most economical.  Next, I noticed the price of the tickets went down as the game date approached.  Obviously, they want to get rid of them  if they don't sell early.  Finally, I noticed that if you looked at certain tickets on TicketsNow.com and entered your email address, but decided not to buy just then, you would get an automated message from them an hour or so later giving you a chance to complete your order and save 10 to 15% (Stubhub doesn't do that). 

I surveyed a few folks who I thought might be interested if the price was reasonable and got a rather surprising amount of interest.  Our friend, Wayne, was a go from the start which we figured he would be since he has gone with us in the past on road games to see the Titans and last year to the Indy 500 (see blog entry).  Our friends, Danny and Brenda, were also keenly interested, as were our friends, Chris and Tarryn.   Unfortunately that totals seven and as I mentioned there are only six seats available and you can't buy just five.  They only sell them in sets.  Danny and Brenda confirmed first (by only a few minutes) and Chris and Tarryn decided they did not want to see their first game on the glass without each other (totally understandable).  Our friend, Emily, who just went with us on our fabulous Southern California New Year's trip (see previous blog) was willing to take the sixth ticket and joined us as well.

The tickets were available a week before a Thursday night game vs. the hated Dallas Stars and when the price dipped below what we all agreed was the maximum price we would pay, we pounced on them before anyone else could!






The seats were amazing.   The speed of these guys on the ice and the
physicality of the game itself is incredible this close up. 
The roar of the crowd is mind-blowing down this low,
 and was at its maximum evidently when  it was announced
that the game was a sell-out.

   

Although not mentioned in the ticket description, our seats were kind of on the "sub-glass" as they were right behind the opponent's penalty box which actually turned out to be quite a hoot.  Here the hated Mark Fistric (he gave Preds captain, Shea Weber, a cheap-shot concussion during their last meeting which Predator brawler, Jordin Tootoo, reminded him of by putting his ass on the ice early in the game and sending him to the box also for retaliating).  We gave him as much verbal pounding as we could since our hitting of the glass behind him was quickly no-no'ed by security.  Oops.  Lucky for you, SISSYtric!!



To say a good time was had by all is kind of an understatement. 
Who knew cotton candy could bring this much joy to people over the age of six?



I guess fame has its advantages. 
Note that Preds mascot, Gnash, is not being  reprimanded
for smacking the glass behind  beloved PA announcer, Paul McCann.



Much thanks to our friend, Chris, for capturing this TV-grab
of Emily and me grinning like possums behind Dallas Star defenseman,
Trevor Daly , as he serves his time in the box for being naughty.  Fang-fingers, punk!!



The only sour note on the night was the 4-1 beat-down that the Stars put on the Predators unfortunately.  Still solidly in contention and playing well currently despite tonight's hiccup, the Preds are hopefully bound for bigger and better things.... like the playoffs.



Above is a lucky shot by me of the Preds first (and only, unfortunately) goal of the evening by the young left winger, Gabriel Bourque.  His first in the NHL!!

Holiday Happenings - December 2010

It's been a busy and fun month of December already and Christmas isn't even here yet!



Dec. 4 - We finally got to feed a guilty pleasure and checked out A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas at the Hollywood 27 Theatres in Nashville (about the only place it was still showing)..  Those bad boys were as funny as usual and they must have rubbed off on us because we snuck in to see The Muppets Movie right afterwards.  Shame on us.

 Dec. 9 - What was supposed to be a "small holiday cocktail party" at our house turned into over 30 people packing the place for a fun night of Christmas merriment.  No photos available to protect the innocent...ummm....make that the guilty.  OK, just one:

Our friend, Wayne, shows his enthusiasm at our Christmas party.

Dec. 10 - We headed over to Franklin to check out Dickens of a Christmas, an outdoor festival held in their historic downtown and square.  The temps were cold and the place was packed.  Thanks to our friends,  Tim and Lavonda, (a couple of Christmas party survivors who were visiting from Chattanooga and spent the night with us) for tagging along.

Dec.10 - We attended the annual Christmas party held by our friend, Caroline, over in Nashville.  Always a fun evening of good times and great food.

Dec. 11 - In repayment for them driving up to Lebanon to attend our Christmas party, we drove down to Chattanooga for the day and attended the Dirty Santa Party held by our friends, Michelle & Patrick.  Hilarity did ensue.

Dec. 16 - We did some much-needed holiday shopping at Green Hills Mall in Nashville and then had an early dinner at PF Chang's with our friends, Danny and Brenda. Afterwards our foursome was off to The Big Bang Piano Bar for some sing-a-longs (ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down" was excellent!).  We concluded the evening by closing down Frugal McDoogal's Liquor Warehouse doing some more late-night Christmas shopping

Dec. 17 - We attended "A Neighborly Christmas" with Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors (and friends) at 3rd & Lindsley.  We had sworn off this place as a music venue, but gave it one more try since they claimed to have remodeled and were much improved.  We were skeptical, but were greatly surprised and pleased with the results.  The stage is bigger and elevated now, more spead-out seating, they added another balcony, and a good amount of standing room is now available in front of the stage.  Well done, folks, you are now back in our good graces.



 
The show was great as well with DH&N sprinkling in their great original music with several Christmas classics.  Ever since seeing these guys at Live on the Green earlier this year, they are becoming one of our favorite local bands.  We slipped out of the show a little early to meet up with our friends, Mike and Elizabeth, who were up visiting from Chattanooga.  We met at the quaint little bar, Past Perfect,  just down the street for a few drinks.  The stories and laughs proceeded late into the night.  So late in fact that we all decided to skip the brunch we had planned on having on Sunday morning since it was already well into Sunday morning by the time we said goodbye. 

One Night in NOLA

Friday, November 18, 2011

Ashlee and I were invited by her old boss and friend, Stacey, and her husband, Gary, and her old co-worker and friend, Chris, and his significant other, Shane, to join them for a long weekend in New Orleans.  I was already committed to a weekend guys-trip to Atlanta to see the Titans take on the Falcons, but thanks to some low airfare down to New Orleans (and then back to Atlanta for me), I was able to join Ashlee and the gang for at least one night in The Big Easy.

This is a view of the heated saltwater pool (which I tried out - it was excellent) and some of the beautiful surrounding courtyard from our room's balcony at the lovely Hotel le Marais just a block off Bourbon Street in The French Quarter.  This elegant small hotel was a great find and highly recommended for convenience, but also solitude once you are done with N'awlins and just need some sleep.

We spent a large part of the day and night on the one and only Bourbon Street doing our best Big Easy Crawl.

There are always some "interesting" characters on Bourbon Street.  In the photo above one of those characters poses with (L to R) Chris, Gary and Ashlee.

We had a late dinner in the quirky Clover Grill where their famous hamburgers are cooked under hubcaps (okay?).  This little hole-in-the-wall was featured in the Brad Pitt movie, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

One of our guilty pleasures are piano bars, especially dueling piano bars, and Howl at the Moon on Bourbon Street is one of the best.  I mean where else do they set the pianos on fire during during JLL's "Great Balls of Fire."

This was our first time back in New Orleans together since before Hurricane Katrina.  It was good to get back and see this unique and amazing city bouncing back from such devastation, even if only for one crazy night.  We are already vowing to come back together and spend more time in The Big Easy.

Nat in Nash

Sunday, November 13, 2011

We got our first experience inside the beautiful, new Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville tonight as we had second-row orchestra-level tickets to see singer/songwriter, Natalie Merchant,  joined by The Nashville Symphony.  Since no photograpy is allowed inside, the photo above is a balcony view of the symphony center  from their website.  Probably the most amazing thing about the experience is the fact that this exquisite building was practically decimated by the 1000-year flood back in May 2010 when 24 feet of water filled the basement and bottom floors.  Nice recovery!

We hadn't seen Natalie Merchant since her "Motherland" tour way back in 2001 at a show at The Ryman.  As she nears 50 years in age now, gone is her girlish figure, and her mane of dark, full hair is graying fast, but her powerful, signature voice remains, and it sounded pitch perfect in the symphony hall.  Her music has drifted away somewhat from the alternative light rock that drew us to her and her masterful 1995 album, Tigerlily.  Her newest endeavor is Leave Your Sleep (album cover photo above), a compilation of 19th- and 20th-century poem intepretations and lullabies inspired by her childhood and from conversations with her own daughter as she was growing up.  While we had hoped for a few more of our favorites to be played by Merchant, the true stars of  the night were The Nashville Symphony and the Schermerhorn itself which made all the songs soar to their full potential.

We appreciate our friend, Wayne, meeting us for dinner at the always-yummy, Urban Flats, in The Gulch before the show.

Play it again, Mat....and Bear and Bo et. al....and Casey et. al

Inside a recent 3-week period, we saw three shows from artists we have seen before and love:

Thursday, October 20, 2011 - The Cannery - Nashville



SOLD OUT SHOW!  Nashville resident, Mat Kearney, returned home to The Cannery and  performed all his fan favorites, plus lots of songs off his new album, Young Love, the cover of which is pictured above.  He also did a surprisingly good cover version of a fairly new song "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People.

Friday, October 28, 2011 - Track 29 - Chattanooga

We attended the more than SOLD OUT SHOW for NEEDTOBREATHE at Track 29 in Chattanooga tonight.   There were 1.700 people in attendance once they had pushed back the stage and added 200 more tickets to the sold out show.  This was our first time at this fairly new live music venue located in the back of the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo property, and we were very impressed.   It is large in size with good sight lines and great acoustics.  Nashville singer/songwriter,  Ben Rector, opened with a good set that included a band member breaking out the always-funky "keytar" on their last song of the night.  We haven't seen that since Stevie Wonder played at Bonnaroo.  NTB were excellent as the headliner.  Led by lead singer and big brother, Bear Rinehart, and little brother, Bo, on lead guitar,  they played a lot of stuff off their new album The Reckoning  plus many of their older tunes including some of our favs off their previous album, The Outsiders, whose cover is shown above.  This is our third time seeing them and I swear they get better as a band every time we do.  Keep up the good work, guys!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011 - Exit/In - Nashville



.We were back at the Exit/In in Nashville tonight to catch a show by one of our favorite new-to-us live artists, Alpha Rev, out of Austin, Texas.  We first saw them on the VH1 Best Cruise Ever earlier this year and they completely blew us away.  This was supposed to be a co-headline show with the band, Carbon Leaf, but they pulled out of this date for some reason.  Filling in were openers, Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes from here in Nashville  followed by Atlanta, GA, artist, Nic Cowan.  Both of these acts were great and we really enjoyed their sets.  Alpha Rev took the stage a bit stripped down from the usual line-up.  Their cello player did not make the trip and they were minus their great fiddle player, Brian Batch, who has temporarily - we hope - left the band. Despite the two missing members and instruments, the remaining quintet blazed through an hour and half set that was still fantastic.   They played several new songs and some select cuts from their masterful 2010 album,  New Morning, the cover of which is shown above.   The crowd was much smaller than the previous two shows we attended, but this didn't deter the band from putting on a great performance.  And, we were able to see it all from the front row! 

After the show we picked up the band's latest EP, City Farm: Roots, which was produced entirely from fan donations since they currently don't have a record label. We were able to chat with bassist, Alex Dunlap,  for a few minutes.  He informed us that the reason Carbon Leaf couldn't make this leg of the tour was because their lead singer had won a role in a new Daniel Day-Lewis movie about Abraham Lincoln.  Pretty cool.  We also got to say hello to lead singer/songwriter and founder of Alpha Rev, Casey McPherson, who was kind enough to have his picture taken with Ashlee (above).



Hail to the Walkers (5K and Butch)

October 8, 2011:  We had a fun, busy and long fall Saturday today in Nashville beginning with the 8 AM start of a 5K run/walk until well after 1 AM on Sunday morning with the conclusion of a concert.



With well over a thousand participants in the 12th Annual Germantown Bier 5K Run/Walk near downtown Nashville, it took us a while to even get over the starting line.  This was our first year participating in this event and we could not have asked for better weather.  The route through beautiful and historic Germantown was a lot fun and even included a path through the Nashville Farmers Market.  There is a all-day street festival afterwards with an Octoberfest theme.



 



We finished the 5K with smiles and despite Ashlee nursing a head cold, she finished in good time at under 40 minutes.  Since most of my 5K was walked, I got in under 48 minutes and was satisfied with my efforts.  With our entry fee we got the satisfaction of accomplishment, a cool T-shirt and a free beer at the end.  We happened upon our friends Chris and Tarryn (who are both pretty serious runners) at the finish line and they had already finished their beers by the time we got across the finish line and collected our brews.  We visited for a while, bought a couple more beers and talked a lot about our upcoming trip with them and another couple to Aruba in February.





Ashlee's new found love of corn dogs (she had never had one until a year ago - how weird?) was satisfied as we waited around after the race for our friends, Gary and Cary, who had texted us that they were coming down to have look around the farmers market and check out the Germantown festival.  We had a couple more beers and I grabbed a thick-sliced grilled bologna sandwich (yum!) for lunch.  There was some decent live music going on nearby as well to entertain us.







After resting up a bit back at home, we doubled-back to Nashville and met up with our friend, Ryan, and his date, Dawn, for dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, The Bombay Palace, on West End Avenue.  We chose our dinner locale because of its close proximity to the legendary Exit/In on Elliston Place where we had tickets to see one of our favorite live bands, Butch Walker & the Black Widows.  We saw Butch at this same location last year (see previous blog) and he put on such an amazing show that we knew we had to catch him again if at all possible.









All hail, King Butch!!  Walker concluded his SOLD OUT high-energy 2+ hour show by climbing up on the Exit/In bar and toasting his band and his fans with a shot of Jameson Irish Whiskey.  Salute!  Behind him are dozens of names of some of the famous artists who have graced the stage of the legendary rock bar since the early 70's.  Thanks to Ryan and Dawn for attending the general admission concert with us despite neither of them hearing of Butch and the Black Widows before today.  They stayed for the entire show and became instant fans.