Yeah, I’ve been sitting on the floor a lot this past week, playing back through the Assassin’s Creed series (I’m already on Revelations again today). But my knees can’t handle sitting cross-legged on the floor so much anymore. Getting old stinks.
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Sketch a Day, Day 187
Felt like this all weekend. Well, and like my head was about to split open with the pounding headache I’ve had all day.
The Avett Brothers Live in Baltimore
On Saturday, October 16th, I saw the Avett Brothers at Pier 6 in Baltimore, Maryland. They put on a hell of a show, even if I do find it bizarre that what is essentially an old-timey string band has become as popular as these guys have (seriously, there were way too many douchey frat guys at this thing. Way too many). That aside, they are very entertaining, and their live show is full of energy and humor. The guitar player spends most of the show running in place for some reason, the banjo player keeps hopping back and forth between the banjo and the piano, and the cellist carries his cello around while playing.
Songs that felt rather staid and flat on studio recordings come alive in this setting. The guys in the band are all energetic and clearly love what they’re doing, though I sometimes wonder how they manage to keep singing night after night (what with all the shout-singing they seem to do). These guys can holler, let me tell you.
The band’s following is clearly just as passionate and energetic as the band themselves are. People were singing along, dancing, and jumping around as though this were the greatest event in their lives. It would’ve been hard not to have a good time, honestly, even if this wasn’t a type of music you’re particularly in to.
On top of all that, they had Grace Potter and the Nocturnals open for them, and those folks can put on a hell of a show, too. They struck me as sort of a CCR fronted by a Janis Joplin type, and that’s something I can really get behind.
All in all, the show was really quite good. The only downside was the venue. The Pier 6 Concert Pavilion is an outdoor tent-type thing (which is fine in and of itself), but the organization and security presence at the show seemed poor at best. My friend used the ATM and didn’t receive her money out of it, there were almost no venue personnel around, leaving everyone to find their seats by themselves and leaving no one to enforce the rules (such as the no smoking rule which everyone around me seemed to ignore). I don’t think I’d want to see another show at that venue, honestly.
But hey, it was a damn good concert anyway.
Despatches From The Homeland
A week into my trip back to the homeland (known to others as “Oklahoma” or “that hellish place from whence you came”), and I’m having a blast. Friday was spent at the Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma. Talk about a lot of fun: free concerts by names big and small, bluegrass and folk and Americana surrounding you, and kind, friendly folks all around…but the real draw is the pickin’ circles they hold at the campgrounds every night: a dozen or more people gathered together with guitars, mandolins, banjos, upright bass, fiddles, and whatever else they can scrounge together just playing a song that someone in the circle calls out. It’s a freakin’ blast, man.
I’ve spent most of my time so far with each parent. This coming week is a visit to all the grandparents, getting fed more and better food than you can possibly imagine, and maybe a little golf. On top of all that, I found a copy of Bob Dylan’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid soundtrack for $5 last night. Good times.
Birthday Stuff!
So my birthday was a couple of weeks ago, but the stuff my wife ordered for me didn’t arrive until today. On the positive side, the stuff she got me is tremendously awesome.
First, there’s season 2 of My Name is Earl, which is a show I’m rather fond of (my youngest brother got me seasons 3 and 4). Even better, she got me the graphic novel of Coraline, the fantastic Neil Gaiman story illustrated by P. Craig Russell, and Mr. Punch, one of Gaiman’s first comic efforts illustrated by the amazing Dave McKean. I’m really looking forward to reading them.
All of which is a nice way of saying my wife is better than yours.
Brilliant, What Ho!
This is quite possibly the most brilliant thing I’ve read in quite some time. I’m just sayin’.
Kitchen Adventures
Not to break the world down into gender-based dichotomies or anything, but I absolutely suck at cooking. It’s not ’cause I’m a man or anything like that, and my wife isn’t great at cooking ’cause she’s a woman (though she is great at cooking; seriously, getting home-cooked meals made by her several nights a week is just this side of paradise.
Okay, it’s not that I can’t cook, just that I’m not particularly good at coming up with interesting food. For instance, the wife asked me once to make chicken and rice, so I gave her some pan-fried chicken tenders with a side of minute rice. She just gave me a weird look.
But there are a couple of things I do pretty well when it comes to cooking: I do alright at baking and I make a nice baked mac and cheese. So tonight, I decided to go ahead and fix dinner, just for the hell of it. I’m pretty pleased with the results, which you can see here.
Anyway, yeah, I cooked tonight. I am impressed with myself.
On Snow Days
We’ve been laid up under a rather thick blanket of snow for the past several days here in Northern Virginia. As I type, there’s more snow falling. We’re supposed to get somewhere between 10 and 20 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow.
Now, as a teacher, this basically means I haven’t been at work since Thursday, and that’s not likely to change anytime this week. We’ve actually been out of school more since the new quarter started (way back last Monday) than we’ve been in class. Admittedly, I’m okay with having extra days off, we are going to have to make up a bunch of these days. We’re definitely losing our Presidents’ Day break, and we’ll probably lose our teacher work days in April and June as well.
My deepest fear is that they’ll take away Spring Break. I’ve got plans, man. This stupid Snowpocalypse is driving me nuts.
Sketches From Memory 