14 posts tagged “best of”

it was expensive and a long day, but worth it.

Austyn and Nick each played in the 3-on-3 tournament, and even though their teams did not do all that well, they seemed to have fun and enjoy themselves. They had games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I showed up early on Saturday to help setup for the Festival. I was a regular gopher for those first couple of hours. I even went knocking on the neighbors doors and invited them to the festival, although I don't think any of them showed up.

This great "stick guy" showed up from Tribute Cause Cure. He was on a 45 day US tour to promote his sticks and just happened through our area on Saturday. He donated 3 sticks to our raffle and 10% of his sales to our new rink. As part of his sales he donates 10% to one of several tributes, causes, or cures of your choice. We happened to qualify as a Cause with building a new ice arena. Austyn talked me into buying him a stick. Then I won a stick in the silent auction, and then Austyn won a stick in the raffle.

I tied the Dunk Tank Contest with the most number of people trying to dunk me. Then myself and Tony had to each try to see how many times we could dunk each other in 5 tries. We each got one. The highlights of my dunk tank experience were the first person in line, McKenna, who was on crutches from a foot injury. She hobbled up to her spot to throw and hit the bullseye on the first throw. It was a bit humbling. After that many kids tried but failed. Both of my sons missed on multiple occassions. My wife stepped up last and after several throws and moving closer each time, dumped me into the tank. 

The Race Bannon band was really good. They played some great covers and had a really good sound. Unfortunately I didn't get to to listen to their entire set, I was busy watching my kids play hockey in the 3-on-3. Race got the folks to drinking a lot of beer and really enjoying things.

My wife won a Sake basket in the raffle. We had fun watching hockey and drinking beer and listening to the band.  

it was a great day, with wonderful weather, and brought out lots of people.

A big THANK YOU to everyone on the Face-Off committee.
And thank you to everyone who attended the event.

 

Stomp is explosive, provocative, sophisticated, sexy, utterly unique and appeals to audiences of all ages. The international percussion sensation has garnered an armful of awards and rave reviews, and has appeared on numerous national television shows. The eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments-matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps-to fill the stage with magnificent rhythms. As USA Today says, "Stomp finds beautiful noises in the strangest places."

STOMP. See what all the noise is about.

STOMP is awesome. It's amazing percussion. The sounds and beats and tempos these 8 people can create are amazing. And it's funny. I would say it's definitely fit for all ages. We would have taken the kids but the cost was prohibitive at this time.

We had seats in the Orchestra, which is on the floor. We were literally at eye level with the floor of the stage. Being in this position allowed us to see the dust fly with every stomp and to see the expressions on the performers faces as they went through their motions.

I would like to attach a video, but I can't access Youtube from work.

What would you like written on your tombstone?

James D***** T****

1968 -

(of course the *'s would be filled in with the actual letters of name, which have been removed here to protect the guilty)

Dear Bono,

Please, please, please don't change the band's original music. I love it the way it is. I love Boy, and October, and War. I love the raw sound and the energy and the statements. I love how the band sounds together. That is the U2 that I love, that is the U2 that I want to remember as U2.

I don't care for the new U2. I haven't really like them since Achtung Baby. I found a couple of tracks on the new download that I liked. That I might listen to once or twice more.

Please don't change the early stuff. As a matter of fact, I'll be adding that to my iPhone tonight to compliment the "Best of 1980-1990" that I already have on there. I might even listen to that this afternoon.

One of your original fans,

RM

 

My first computer was a TRS-80. I can't remember how much memory it had. I do remember loading software from cassette tapes.

My next computer was an Apple //e. It had 64K and an expansion card to 128K.

Then I got a PC. I remember it had a 40MB hard drive.

I found the table below very interesting.

Abbrev.	Term	Amount
KB	Kilobyte	1,024 bytes
MB	Megabyte	1,024 KB
GB	Gigabyte	1,024 MB
TB	Terabyte	1,024 GB
PB	Petabyte	1,024 TB
EB	Exabyte	1,024 PB
ZB	Zettabyte	1,024 EB
YB	Yottabyte	1,024 ZB

A Yottabyte is roughly 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes.

I'll have to grab my update tonight and tell you what I think.

Street View will be cool to have.

I've never caught completly on to podcasts. I've tried a few and listened for a while, but usually grow tired. All I really want is a good "new music" podcast. Coverville was/is nice.

It will be good to get a few more bugs fixed.

And I'll probably grab that google application with the voice feature. See if it's any faster than "Say Who?"

Tomorrow, we leave to take Cece (19 YOSD) off to college. She's going to a college in Northern Wisconsin, close to the Minnesota border, about 3 1/2 hours from here. She'll be studying Hotel/Restaurant Management.

I know her mother, my wife, will be quite sad about all of this, about Cece leaving the house and heading to college. I really can't imagine the feeling myself. My boys are 6 and 9 years away from that. My wife has already had her oldest leave home for AmeriCorps, School, and now the Air Force. Her youngest is a Sophomore in High School this year, she'll be 16 in May and old enough to drive.

We've been busy getting Cece ready for college. I've been helping with the loans and paperwork side of things, what I'm better at doing. Her mother has been helping her get supplies and pack and get ready. They've had lot's of talks. And they had a great vacation to Florida together.

I'm sure tomorrow will be quite emotional for all of us. It will be strange coming home without Cece. Not having her in bed downstairs. Not seeing her everyday.

I'm proud of her and sure that she will do very good at school. I've seen her grow up quite a bit in the last 5 years.

Good luck Cece. We're still here when you need us.

Intro Music:Toulumne
MAIN SET:Sometimes, Trouble, Girl From The North Country, I Am Mine, Deadman, Man Of The Hour, Setting Forth, No Ceiling, Guaranteed, Far Behind, Small Town, Millworker, Soon Forget, Broken-Hearted, GONE!!, Rise, Driftin', Hide Your Love Away, PORCH

1ST ENCORE: Here's To The State, Blackbird, Forever Young, Won't Back Down, Wishlist, Society w/Liam, Throw Your Arms Around Me, No More, ARC

2ND ENCORE:Hard Sun w/Liam and EJ

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I arrived in Milwaukee just after 6:30, show time was 7:30. I walked to the Riverside and passed several scalpers. One was selling two balcony seats for $80 (total). Others were selling seats for face value. No one seemed to want an outrageous amount for tickets which was a good thing.

I had my ticket, Right Center Floor, Row F, Seat 11. So I was set to go.

I found my way inside, checked the goods for sale. Thought about it a little and eventually settled on a spotted cow (beer) and went to see just where my seat was. WOW. It was close. Very good seat.

I wasn't frisked on the way in and they didn't seem to be checking for much. I didn't see any signs about cameras but I hadn't chanced it and left the digital at home. Bummer. Because they appeared to be okay to bring into the venue.

The camera would have been great from my seat, that's where I was going with that.

I checked the stage, which was setup for Liam Finn. And wait, who's that on the stage, at the back, on the side, tuning guitars in front of a mac notebook? It appeared to be Eddie. Maybe it was the guitar tech, they look similar from that distance.

I drank my beer, took a couple of iPhone pictures and went back out to check the goods again. I came away with some buttons and stickers for $5 and a $35 (Batman) poster. Very cool.

Liam Finn came on stage with EJ. They were loud for two people with a guitar, some drums, a cowbell, and some other symbal type instruments. They did a lot of looping of effects. Liam would play something and record it and then play it back and record something else and then play both and play something live at the same time. It got annoying. Especially when EJ recorded her laughing and looped that on top of itself about 7 times. Not my type of music.

The curtain closed and we waited.

The curtains opened and there was the stage. A stool, a suitcase, some guitars and other string instuments, a reel-to-reel player, and a few other odds and ends. Ed walked out to standing ovation.

Sometimes was a great opener. Soon after that the idiots started yelling! They were yelling their requests and other stupid stuff and it on Eddie's nerves. He complained numerous times and it would help for a couple of songs, and then kick in again.

My other favorites were Man of the Hour, Guaranteed, Small Town, and Porch. Every song was amazing. Ed's version of Blackbird was awesome.

It was a great show. I'm very glad that I went. I'm sorry that the idiots took over with their yelling and I got tired of seeing the camera flashes. But some of that is to be expected at a concert. I don't think Ed will doing the solo tour again too soon.

JS Online Review
Riverside cancels scalper tickets

My wife and I attended the 2nd Annual Madison Roots Festival on Willow Island, hosted by 105.5 Triple M. The festival and music started around 2:00 PM. We arrived around 3:30 PM.

The first highlight of the event was Shawn Mullins.

 

He performed some of his hits and some new music. He was onstage alone with his acoustic guitar. He had an introduction for most of his songs that gave a little background. He is very talented and was a pleasure to listen to. My wife and I are looking to pick up a couple of his CD's.

We didn't partake of much of the activity on the 2nd stage. We'd walk by, listen to who was playing. Enjoy the music and then wander around the rest of the festival or head back to our blanket at the main stage. Beer was provided by Goose Island, we drank Honkers, at $6 a cup. Water and Pop were $3.50 for a 20 ounce bottle. Food was reasonable, but in short supply it seemed.

Next on the main stage was Dar Williams. Dar was okay, but not great. She spent a little too much time between songs explaining and talking. She was kind enough to help power the bands on the 2nd Stage. It was bicycle powered.

 

After Dar was Tristan Prettyman. She was good.

After Tristan was what we all had been waiting for John Butler Trio. It seemed everyone was waiting for this. Because the area in front of the stage starting filling in around blankets and we hopped up and picked up ours so we could squeeze a little closer. There were some rude people who tried to squeeze in around us and move towards the front, one of which I stopped and said "NO". And then found her to smoking a cigarette behind me. I then told her to put it out. I don't think she was too happy with me. The crowd was pretty good, especially since we were on the side of the stage and not in front with most of the young, twenty-something kids.

John Butler Trio was awesome. It great seeing them again. They had just over an hour set and they filled it well. They played a couple of songs from the new CD, and some old songs and jammed a bit, and let John play alone for a bit. They are high energy and something to see live.

We left after the John Butler Trio set. We didn't feel like staying for G Love and Special Sauce.

It was a great day, a lot of fun, and a very nice experience.

 

as Mark Twain said: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

Bring a coat or something long-sleeve and warm to keep you warm. I brought one fleece and wore it all week when I was outside.

If you forget that something warm, head to Chinatown for something inexpensive emblazoned with "San Francisco". Chinatown is an interesting place. A definite must see to just walk up and down the street to see the people and the shops and hear the sounds.

Although I'm sure there's nothing wrong with a Cable Car ride, I never took one while here. I tried to on Sunday to get to Fisherman's Wharf but it wasn't running. So I walked to the Wharf. It wasn't a bad walk but I had to walk my share of hills. The Wharf was a nice place. But it was VERY touristy. It was packed.

From the Wharf I took a bay cruise, out around the Golden Gate Bridge and out past Alcatraz Island Rock. It was a very nice trip. It was windy and cold, but worth it to see the bridge and The Rock up close.
It's an amazing city. Full of people, and shops, and restaurants, and things to do, and things to see. And the hills you see on TV, they're real. I walked them almost every day. People out here tend to be in shape.

My training was downtown. One thing I noticed, a few days after I noticed all of the people walking around, and all the restaurants, and the Starbucks on every-other corner, was the walk signals at the intersections.

They actually have jaywalk signals. There's a point in time when all the traffic stops and you are allowed, by signal, to walk diagonal across the street. It was great, I took advantage of it a couple of times.