We were treated to a double rainbow while sitting on our front porch this evening. It’s a little faint to see the double, but it did stretch the length of the other. I’ll now spend the weekend looking for the double pot of gold!

Double Rainbow

Today I was reading about The Six-Pack Project from the author of This Is Why I’m Drunk. Basically the idea is to get six beer bloggers from six different states to post a list of six beers that best represents each state and/or the state’s beer culture. I first heard of this today while reading Queen City Drinks’ post for Ohio and Hoperatives’ post for Kentucky. Tom, the author of the Queen City Drinks post, picked a couple of Cincinnati beers for his Ohio selections. This got me thinking about my favorite beers from Cincinnati. The two that he picked would also be in my list (the first two) and it didn’t take me too long to think of my other four.

• MadTree PsycHOPathy IPA – the best IPA brewed in the Cincinnati area
• Triple Digit Chickow! – a very powerful hazelnut porter, clocks in at 10%
• Blank Slate Fork In The Road – an India amber ale, more maltier than typical IPA
• Fifty West Kelly’s Roadhouse Stout (Nitro) – just had this for the first time last week and I am still thinking about it
• Mt. Carmel Amber – the flagship beer from one of the area’s first craft breweries
• Rivertown Roebling Porter – vanilla and espresso fill this nearly black porter

So far The Six-Pack Project has had two editions, meaning twelve states have been covered. I know that I look forward to searching for some of the South Carolina beers mentioned by Drink. Blog. Repeat. on an upcoming trip to Hilton Head. What would be in your six pack?

As I mentioned at the end of last week, I spent the weekend out in Noblesville, Indiana for two nights with the Dave Matthews Band. The area around the Klipsch Music Center, aka Verizon Wireless Music Center, aka Deer Creek, has changed a lot over the nearly fifteen years and thirteen shows I have seen at this venue, but it still continues to be one of my favorite places to catch a show.

We (myself and a dozen or so friends) do as we always do and stayed at the excellent Sleepybear Campground, which is directly across the street from the venue’s parking lots. New this year was an RV that some friends had rented, while some others in the group slept inside the farm-house for an added fee. I continued as I normally do and pitched my tent for sleeping under the stars.

Crew Cart

Our afternoons were spent playing cornhole, tossing a football, grilling food, and hanging out with a great group of friends. Of course stories from years past were shared, some of which have been told every year since. An old friend of mine is now a member of the DMB crew and he even stopped over on a branded golf cart for a surprise visit. Good to see you, Rick, and thanks for letting me get a quick photo on the cart.

Crazy Dancing Dave

Aside from a freak afternoon storm on the first day, which left some of my belongings soggy, we had great weather to go along with the music that was just as great as ever. The combo of “Best of What’s Around” and “Ants Marching” to close out the show on the first night was about as good as it gets for me. Other highlights included “Spoon” with opening act Brandi Carlile on vocals, “So Damn Lucky,” and “Hunger for the Great Light.” There were no songs repeated between the two nights, which I love to see. Overall it was another incredible weekend at Deer Creek.

Killer Light Show

Below are some additional photos I snapped at the shows.

Tomorrow is the first of three Dave Matthews Band shows I will catch this summer. I’ve been streaming all sorts of their music to get me ready for an awesome weekend ahead. There are tons of excellent videos on their own YouTube channel, take this clip from last year’s performance at Riverbend for example.

In addition to these official videos, there are some really great fan created videos as well. One of the best is @Copperpot5’s YouTube channel with tons of multicam videos synced with fan recorded audio. They compile shared amateur recordings, clean, deshake, and mix them together with others of the same performances. Some of the videos are even entire shows. I’ve embedded one example from another show I attended last year.

Sure the officially licensed professional videos are better, but these amateur ones aren’t too far off.

Saturday night I found time to go see one of my favorite performers from back in the day, Mike Perkins. This was my first time seeing him play in over six years. Fortunately the show was at the Mad Frog, a place I’ve seen him play many times before, and many of the songs were just as I remembered them, including some old songs from The Shantee, Perkins’ former band.

Mike Perkins & John Zuk

Joining Mike Perkins for the evening was bass player extraordinaire, John Zuk. Zuk is a frequent collaborator with Perkins and is always a treat to see him play.

With Brandon Vitruls of Jamwave

Opening the show was Jamwave, a band that I’ve been trying to see over the last several months. I met their singer and guitar player through mutual friends. After a late arrival, I only caught a few of their songs  but I liked what I heard. Their acoustic set with two guitars and a djembe was great, and I’m told their full band performances are even better. I’ll be on the lookout to see them again soon.

Yesterday was my third Father’s Day celebrating with my own children. Unbelievable to think how quickly time is passing by.

Father’s Day Card

I also got to spend some time with both my dad and father-in-law. We played nine holes of golf, something that they both love to do.

Perfect Form

An added bonus was that dad’s golfed for free!

Ed Paff Sr.

Kim and many of her siblings were also on the course with us.

Kim and Chuck

It was a great way to celebrate with our dads and the course even threw in a free lunch for everyone.

Throughout this summer on Thursday nights a new event is taking place at Washington Park, Bandstand Bluegrass. After last night’s performance by the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars, three events have already taken place, with twelve more to go through the beginning of September.

Comet Bluegrass All-Stars

Last night my family and I went to check out it. The awesome thing about this event is it is fun for all ages. The photo below was taken from the children’s playground. So even if you are running around the slides and swings with your little ones, you are still within range of hearing the concert.

Washington Park Crowd

Eli’s BBQ is also available every Bandstand Bluegrass night with $5 pulled pork sandwiches. And Mt. Carmel is on hand as well to provide refreshing beer to those of age. Be sure to bring a lawn chair or blanket as permanent seating is limited.

Eli’s BBQ

We had a blast last night and I’m sure we will be down again soon for another fun-filled evening.

Earlier this week my family and I visited Sunrock Farm for a two hour family tour. We joined several other families on a highlight tour of the most enjoyable areas of the farm. All of the children in attendance were able to milk a goat, bottle feed baby goats, gather eggs, hold a baby chick, pet a pig, and brush a horse. Farmer Frank was our guide for the morning, offering many jokes, as well as tons of information about the animals. The cost of the tour is $10 per person and reservations can be made by calling (859) 781-5502. Sunrock Farm also offers school tours, day camps, traveling petting farm, birthday parties, and much more.

Some friends of mine are helping to put on a brand new music festival in Columbus this summer. From the press release:

Prime Social Group is proud to announce details of the inaugural Breakaway Music Festival, an all-new concert series presented at Major League Soccer stadiums across the country. Each large-scale event will feature a genre-busting multi-artist bill spanning indie, EDM, pop, hip-hop, and beyond. Each festival date will feature a strong local component, highlighting a thriving local music scene. It’s “Your Field. Your Fest.”

Breakaway Music Festival will kick off on Saturday, September 14 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The lineup will feature a breathtakingly diverse roster, including Bassnectar, Empire of the Sun, Kendrick Lamar, Columbus’ own Twenty One Pilots, Porter Robinson, Tokyo Police Club, Schoolboy Q, Robert DeLong, American Authors, LA Riots, Stalley, Shreddie Mercury and more. The festival will also feature local acts CJ the DJ & Freaky Franz, Evan Oberla Project, Forest and the Evergreens, Jared Mahone, Kid Runner, Post Coma Network and more. Presale tickets will be available exclusively at breakawayfestival.com beginning Tuesday, June 18 at 11AM; general on sale will then get underway on Friday, June 21 at 11AM.

The festival will also take place at FC Dallas Stadium on September 21 featuring Wu-Tang, Empire Of The Sun, Matt and Kim, and many more.

For complete details, up-to-the-minute news, and ticket information, please visit breakawayfestival.com and facebook.com/breakawayfestival.

For dinner this past Friday my family and I headed to the newly opened Lime Fresh Mexican Grill in the still expanding Rookwood Exchange project. Lime is a new chain of restaurants that started in Florida and now has nearly 20 restaurants in 6 states.

Inside

It is hard not to immediately start comparing Lime with Chipotle, Qdoba, etc. As with the other restaurants in this category, orders are placed at the counter immediately upon entry. However at Lime you do not walk down a line while your food is assembled. Instead your full order is placed, you are handed a table number, and your food is brought to you within a few minutes.

Salsa Bar

After placing our order, I immediately stopped at their extensive salsa bar. Chips are provided on the side with all orders and the self-serve salsa bar provides an array of dips. I tried nearly all of them and found the majority of them to be underwhelming. They all lacked any heat, with the exception of the super spicy Habanero. I found myself gravitating back to the pico de gallo the most. The pineapple was my wife’s favorite. If I had to pick one from the others I think the Verde was the best.

8th Street Burrito

I ordered the 8th Street Burrito, a flour tortilla stuffed with chicken, homemade organic black beans, rice, crispy bacon, sour cream, pico de gallo salsa and tortilla strips ($7.99). I did not know that the burrito was going to be grilled after assembly, but that was a pleasant surprise. I am not sure if all burritos are served that way. The first few bites of the burrito left with me nothing more than bland rice. Once I finally made it to the meat of the sandwich, I enjoyed the mix of flavors. A large selection of hot sauce was also available at the counter, which I used to add some spice.

Tacos

My wife tried both varieties of fish taco. The first was a soft flour shell stuffed with fresh grilled fish, shredded lettuce, pico de gallo salsa and topped with a special sauce ($3.50). The second, surfer taco, was a soft flour shell stuffed with baja-style fresh fish, finely shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, and cool cilantro sauce ($3.50). She enjoyed the surfer taco more than the original fish. I had small bites of these and would have to agree with her. The cilantro sauce on the surfer was great and added a lot to the taco. Either style of taco could be made a meal of 3 tacos for $8.49.

Our two-year-old son had a chicken taco with only cheese on it ($2.00 during happy hour, $3 otherwise). Also available is kid taco with just meat and cheese for $2.50 any other time.

Trifecta App

We also shared a trifecta appetizer of homemade pico de gallo salsa, fresh guacamole and creamy queso dip ($5.49). It seems dumb to me to include the pico when it is available to everyone at the salsa bar, but we did not realize that at the time of our order. The queso dip was my favorite of the three and I think I would just order a larger serving of that on another visit. The guacamole was alright, but not as good as Chipotle’s. They offer four different kinds of guacamole, so maybe another variety would be better than the classic.

Patio

We ate our dinner on their spacious and shaded patio. This space is nearly as large as the entire indoor portion of the restaurant. There was a cornhole game setup on the side, which provided my son with some entertainment while my wife and I finished our meals. The patio was awesome and I hope to visit again soon.

Overall the food at Lime Fresh Mexican Grill was hit and miss. I don’t think the burrito was as good or as big as Chipotle’s, despite the higher price. The fish tacos were good and a very nice addition to the menu. I saw some of the other customers eating salads, which actually looked really good, so I might try one of those on a future visit. I’m sure we will be back, their Friday happy hour with $2 Mexican beers, $3 frozen margaritas, and $2 tacos is reason enough.