I just Simpsonized myself:

Let’s see yours…

The O.A.R. show at Red Rocks was just as great as I always imagined it would be, if not better. Our weekend started off with having all my friends who were in town over to our house for some cornhole, pizza, drinks, and good times. From there we headed back downtown and ended up at Sing Sing for a wild time to round out the night. I’ve been wanting to go to this dueling piano bar, and what better time to actually do it than with a dozen of your friends. Our camera didn’t make it out at all that night, so I’ll have to wait for other peoples pictures from those events.

After a brief recovery period on Saturday in the hotel pool and hot tub, we were quickly back at it and headed to a nearby dive bar in downtown called Shelby’s. After a few hours on the patio there it was time to catch our limo to the show. With such a monumental event we had to arrive at the show in style. I was really excited since I think this is the first time I’ve ever been in a limo, as strange as that may seem. I would highly recommend doing this for trips to Red Rocks. Limos get great reserved parking at the top parking lots where very few other people end up, which means much smaller lines to get into the show. Because of this we ended up with a huge spot reserved for our group within the first twenty rows.

The show itself was nothing short of amazing. The setlist may not be the best ever, but it was full of high energy tunes from the start and included enough rare songs to make it special. Obviously hearing Patiently at the show was a highlight for our group as it was the first time most of us have gotten together since our friend Jordan passed away. One of the reviews on oarsa.org (link above) mentions that even Marc may have had some tears during the song. It was definitely an incredible and highly emotional performance and I will never forget it. Overall it was great to finally see a band I’ve watch grow throughout the years achieve yet another milestone in their career. It was such a great event to be a part of.

Since I am still having issues with my photo gallery on my site, I’ve added some pictures to my flickr page.

The day that I’ve been waiting years for is finally so close. Tomorrow O.A.R. will be playing their first show at Red Rocks. Obviously I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Through my high school and college years I always dreamed of seeing a show at Red Rocks, and that finally happened a few months ago. Now one of my favorite bands of all time will be headlining a show at the famed amphitheater. A dozen or so of my friends from OARfans.com will be joining Kim and I for the show and the weekend. Good times will be had. Pictures and stories to follow next week. Have a nice weekend, I know we will…

I went to the dentist last week and all was well, except this dentist/hygienist wants me to have my wisdom teeth removed. Multiple dentists before always thought it would be okay to let them grow in, and I was perfectly fine with that. Honestly, I’m a little scared of the procedure and don’t want to go through it unless it is necessary. Am I just being a wimp?

Sorry for the late in the day post. I wanted to get this up earlier, but my installation of gallery was not cooperating. It appears that a recent update that I installed a day or two ago may have broken a couple of things. So instead I had to add some pictures to my flickr page. I guess this is also a good time to announce that my mom has officially moved her pictures to flickr since yahoo photos is apparently shutting their doors.

Anyway, a local Denver 7-11 store has been converted over to a Kwik-E-Mart to promote the upcoming release of the Simpsons Movie. And given that 7-11 is giving away free squishees today for their 80th birthday I just had to stop in and check it out. I got my free sour apple squishee, took a few pictures, and even bought a six pack of Buzz Cola and a box of KrustyO’s. Click here to see a list of Kwik-E-Marts and see if one is in your area. If not, you can still get a free squishee today from any 7-11 store. If they only had Duff Beer my day would be complete.

Prior to leaving for North Carolina for the weekend, we headed to a Denver Outlaws major league lacrosse game against the Chicago Machine. Earlier this year we went to a few of the Mammoth games inside the Pepsi Center, but this was the first time I’ve seen a professional outdoor lacrosse game. So I was already pretty familiar with the game, not to mention my short lacrosse career in high school, but this version of the game is a little different. First of all there is a two point arch in this version of the game. And to make it even more higher scoring and fast paced, they also have a sixty second shot clock. And our game was no exception, the final score was an Outlaws victory 22-14 over Chicago.

After the game we were treated to a fireworks show that actually went above and beyond my expectations. Typically I am pretty disappointed by fireworks displays after seeing the WEBN Fireworks for years and other Rozzi productions. Anyway, they had a nice fireworks display that was perfectly synced up to music playing throughout the stadium. I was pleasantly surprised. The Outlaws only have two home games remaining this season, and I can only attempt to make it to one of those, but I will definitely be back sometime soon.

As I mentioned earlier Kim and I headed to North Carolina last Thursday to attend the wedding of our friends Amanda and Joel. These two were some of the first friends we made in Kansas City, and it was nice to be a part and help them celebrate their wedding. Kim was a bridesmaid in the wedding along with our other friend Maria. So it was nice to see all of these friends of ours again. Despite a couple of canceled flights, and some lost luggage, we eventually made it to Wilmington, NC after nearly 18 hours of travel time. We met up with our friends Mike and Christie and Mike’s parents’ condo, which was conveniently located about ten minutes from the site of the wedding.

The rest of the long weekend was spent golfing, sitting around pools, checking out the beach, and other wedding related activities. Mike and I, along with two of Joel’s friends, won the golf outing that they had. I contributed a few shots in the scramble despite playing with a set of rental clubs since my clubs didn’t show up until late Friday night. Needless to say, I will never fly US Airways again, at least not by choice. The wedding activities I attended were all very nice and mostly outdoors. We had great weather for the most part, even though it was quite humid. The ceremony was held outside and was very picturesque, although most of my pictures didn’t turn out too well because it a little too overcast, but the good ones that I do have can be found here. Congratulations Joel and Amanda!

I just finished sanding and painting the trim along with hanging blinds on all of the windows we had replaced a few months ago. We tried to get the blinds from Home Depot and Lowes, but neither of them could make them in the store or do it for a good price. So instead we found blinds.com and ordered two inch faux wood blinds for incredibly cheap! It really completes the project and should hopefully provide cooler temperatures in the house to combat the heat wave we’ve been having recently. As always, I added some pictures of the project for you to enjoy. My vacation starts now, and we are off to North Carolina tomorrow! Happy 4th of July!

I added a few photo albums to the site from Kim’s family’s trip out to Colorado. I wish I could have joined them for more of the activities, but it looks like they managed to have fun without me. I did visit their cabin on night and we went to a local track to race some go carts. That was a good time, even though I always seemed to get stuck with the slow cars. Next time I will definitely have more vacation saved up so I can do even more activities.

I finally got back into the concert scene over the weekend. On Friday night we headed down to Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom to see Tea Leaf Green. Prior to this show, I had only seen them at Wakarusa just over a year ago. The band definitely falls into the jam band genre, but from my experience they actually sing a little more than the typical jam band. They definitely still have their solos (some of which were a little long for my tastes on Friday) but their vocal harmonies and melodies are what draws me into this band. Their show on Friday was just an opening spot but we still got to see them play nearly 20 songs during their set. The show was well worth the $15 it cost to get in.

The show on the following day at Red Rocks was one of my favorites in a long time. This show was put on by the etown group and featured a headline performance from Michael Franti & Spearhead, an hour and fifteen minute set from the John Butler Trio, and an opening set from Mavis Staples. I knew very little about Ms. Stamples going into this show, but she actually delivered a nice performance full of classic songs from around the 60s. She also brought Michael Franti out for a nice version of The Band’s song “The Weight.”

The John Butler Trio played next and put on an excellent show as they always seem to do. Their performance further proved to me that this Australian trio are all amazing musicians. I saw them at a small stripped down show in March and it was nice to see them back with the full setup, although it wasn’t much different than before. If you ever get the chance to see them play live in concert, you should definitely go with no hesitation. If you go and don’t like the show, I will personally reimburse your ticket.

And finally, the show closers, Michael Franti & Spearhead. Out of all of the bands, they are the one that I have listened to the longest. I haven’t seen them too many times over the past three and half years, but each time that I do I always ask myself why I don’t go more often. The amount of energy they leave on the stage is pretty hard to beat, and I’m not sure how Franti does it. He jumps around the entire show, dances around the entire stage, and at the end of the show he still has enough energy to do a headstand and then drop down into various gravity defying yoga poses. His energy is infectious, as the crowd was very much into the performance on Saturday night. In one of the coolest moments in the concert, the entire band ends up on top of the soundboard covering and plays a mini acoustic set, playing in the middle of the crowd. This is another band that you just have to see to appreciate. It was another amazing performance.