As you are already aware, whenever I travel back to Cincinnati I love to eat all of the native food that I can. I wanted to do the same thing on this past weekend’s trip to Kansas City, and that meant one thing: barbecue. That may sound strange to some of you, knowing that I don’t really eat red meat, but I love eating smoked turkey or chicken. With some time to kill on Sunday before my flight back to Denver, we made plans to visit Arthur Bryant’s BBQ with Doni and Phil.

Having never been to Arthur Bryant’s before, I wasn’t real sure what to expect. Was it going to be of the fancier variety like the sit down service at Jack Stack, or would it be counter service like Gates. Well it is counter service, though they don’t yell at you when you walk in the door like at Gates, but that doesn’t take anything away from the food. On advice from our friends, Kim and I decided to split a sliced turkey sandwich, order of fries, and a side of beans. The turkey was pleasantly smokey in flavor and their Rich & Spicy sauce complimented it perfectly. The fries were fresh cut and flash fried to perfection. However, I wasn’t a big fan of the beans. I don’t mind a little meat in the beans but prefer it not to be large chunks. Overall, I was impressed and would definitely give it a four star rating.

After a rocking show at Red Rocks Friday night, Kim and I woke up fairly early Saturday morning for a flight to Kansas City and another O.A.R. show. Our friends Doni and Phil bought tickets for the show out at the newly reopened Sandstone and invited us to come along. We met up with them out at the airport, drove out towards the amphitheater and to our hotel near the Kansas Speedway. After some dinner and drinks we headed to the show and walked in just as Brett Dennen was finishing his opening set.

Obviously, for me, it was going to be hard for this show to live up to the night prior. The crowd was much smaller than the sold out crowd at Red Rocks, and obviously the scenery in Kansas cannot compare to the mountains in Colorado. With that said, I was happy to hear the band play mostly songs that they didn’t play the night before. Sure, there were a few repeats, but I have a feeling some of those are going to be played nearly every show this tour. “I Feel Home” opens us the acoustic set perfectly, while “On My Way” ends it just as well, complete with the full band coming back in full force for the end. The setlist may not have been as good as the night before, but we still got to hear some great tunes. “On Top The Cage” and “Risen” to name a few.

Unfortunately the wind nearly killed my recording. I tried to clean it up as best I could, but there are still some bad parts. I went ahead an posted it anyway, since I was the only one there taping. Better than nothing, right? Despite all of this, it was still a great show. I’d say better than most I’ve seen the past few years. Plus we got to hang with our old friends again, which is always a blast. Thanks guys!

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of seeing two O.A.R. shows. The first was on Friday night at the magnificent Red Rocks Amphitheater. This was the bands second appearance at Red Rocks. You can read about my experience the first time they played here. And just like that first time, we took a limo to the show. But unlike the last time, Kim and I were the only ones in the limo.

We arrived just as doors were opening and eventually made our way into the show. Once we entered, a quick rain shower sent us hiding to the visitors center and hall of fame area. The show was delayed for 15 minutes, which gave me time to get down to our seats in the roped off soundboard area and get my recording equipment setup. We met up with a good friend of mine from OARfans.com, Aaron Pitcock, just as Brett Dennen was taking the stage for his opening set.

As Dennen took the stage, the skies cleared and the weather was perfect for an evening show on the rocks. Aaron is a big fan of Brett Dennen and was the one who introduced me to his music a couple of years ago. Needless to say, he was in heaven the entire night. I believe he played for about 45 minutes and provided a great opening set while everyone filed into their seats.

After a short set change, O.A.R. took the stage launching into what would become one of my favorite sets I’ve seen from them in years. Just take a look at the full setlist! Highlights for me included a rocking “Right On Time” and the always great “So Moved On.” But honestly, I really can’t say one bad thing about that setlist. It was a great night and I’m sure the sold out crowd would agree with me.

Listen to my tape below and see what you think. Plus stay tuned for more on the second show of the weekend.

Well my second batch of homebrew is more or less complete. I kegged it a week ago and have had it hooked up to my CO2 tank since. I probably could have had it ready a little earlier had I rocked it more than the half dozen or so times that I did. We tried it this past Sunday evening, and it had a long way to go still. Our neighbors joined us for this tasting, and since it was a bust, I had them try my first batch of homebrew that I bottled awhile back.

Upon opening up a couple of the first batch bottles, I was surprised to see how carbonated the beer was. Both of our neighbors immediately said that it wasn’t too bad after their first few sips. I was shocked! So I tried it once more and I had to agree with them. It appears that it might have aged a bit since my last tasting. Maybe I won’t have to settle for using this in my cooking only. I threw a couple more bottles into the refrigerator and I hope to give it another try after work today.

I did try the second batch again last night and it was much more carbonated. It still tasted a bit fruity to me, which I’m not expecting from a Pale Ale. I’ll pour another one of these today as well so that I can compare and contrast it with the first batch. Should make for an interesting tasting session.

Update: Taste test has begun. Pictured below is batch 1 (autumn amber ale) on the left and batch 2 (english style pale ale) on the right.

Just like last week, we had another come from behind win in hockey last night. Our opponents came out flying from the get-go, while my team was pretty flat for most of the first period. I thought that this was the best team we’ve played against so far, though their 1-2 record wouldn’t make you believe it. Fortunately we were able to pick up our play and come from behind to tie the game 3-3. That was the final score at the end of regulation. Again we proceeded into a best of three shootout. This time we shot first, with our first two players missing their shots. The first two for the opposition also missed their shots. Our third skater put a solid move on the goalie and made his goal. So it all came down to their final attempt, which our netminder easily handled. My team remains undefeated with a 4-0 record in which two of those wins came in shootouts. Hopefully the streak will continue without me, as I’ll be missing next week’s game.

Earlier this week when writing about the Race for Dreams, I mentioned a party that Kim and I attended on Saturday night. The “Spring Fling” party was a benefit for the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver put on by the Denver Phoenix Club. For $30 we were treated to a great time with music, food, drinks, and prizes. We attended the same party last year, and knowing how much fun it was, invited some friends of ours to come along. Here’s a photo of us with our friends Erin and Nick:

Today is a big day for the Dave Matthews Band with the release of their latest album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this their best release in over 10 years, since 1998’s Before These Crowded Streets, and there are tons of others who would quickly agree. That’s not to say that there haven’t been some good songs on the last three releases, but overall the entire albums were far below the quality of the original three albums put out by the band: the previously mentioned along with Crash and Under the Table and Dreaming. I’m curious to see how this album holds up to the test of time, but I’m thinking that it could easily rise to be one of the highest regarded releases of their career.

Earlier, I mentioned really like the radio friendly single “Funny the Way It Is.” But beyond that track I’m finding it hard to say that any of the songs are bad. I especially enjoy the big energy track “Shake Me Like a Monkey” along with “Why I Am” which has already grown into a fan favorite live song. Some other standouts from the overall superb list are “Time Bomb” and “Squirm” to name just a few. Another positive is that this could be some of the best material from standout drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard.

Last night the band played a near three hour show which was broadcast on the Fuse TV channel along with online with Hulu. If you missed it, fortunately the entire performance has been archived online at Hulu. Not only was one of my college roommates actually at the show, he met Dave himself prior to the show starting. As he said via a text message, his life is now complete. I know I’m not alone when I say this; I am super jealous of you, Ryan Fightmaster.

Kim and I have been running fools recently, and this weekend was no exception. After staying up way too late Friday night, we woke up way too early Saturday morning to run in the Race for Dreams 5K in Washington Park. The park is less than a mile from our house, so we just walked over in our pajamas a few minutes before the race was scheduled to start. Pajamas were the encouraged attire for the themed race. Fortunately it was cool enough in the morning for me to sport a pair of pajama pants.

The race had about 300 participants, which was a good turn out for the first time event. For us the run started off a little rough, as we were still feeling the effect of the previous night’s party. However we were eventually able to find a nice pace and finished in a time of 26:10, or just under eight and half minute miles. Not too bad for how we felt. Our time was good enough for Kim to receive an award for second place in the female age 26-40 group. The same cannot be said for myself as there are always way more guys ahead of me. It was a well put together race and we look forward to seeing it again next year.

In a couple hours from now I’m hoping to have my second batch of homebrew successfully kegged and then I will start the carbonation and cooling process. I just popped open the fermenter and took a specific gravity reading of 1.018. This isn’t much lower than the first batch (1.020), but the difference this time is that I started at a higher starting gravity of 1.050 (vs 1.045). This should equal out to a nice beer at 4.3% alcohol by volume.

Earlier today I made some modifications to the lines in the kegerator using this quick disconnect set, so that I can now easily switch from the lines needed for the Cornelius keg for homebrewing to the other lines and tap needed for a standard keg of beer, the Sanke keg. I also took apart my Cornerlius keg for cleaning and sanitizing. In a little bit I am going to put it all back together, finish the sanitizing and pressurization checks, and then I will move the beer from the fermenter to the keg. I’m hoping that by the end of the weekend I’ll be able to pour my first glass of Big Willie Pale Ale.

Wow, my adult hockey team won yet another game last night! For those of you who have lost count, that is now three in a row. As per usual, the stats from the game are not yet online, but I do know that I had one assist in the game. Once again I was playing defense, but still managed to get some great passing and shots on the goal. Unfortunately, I peaked at the score sheet after the game, and I was not credited with the assist. That’s alright, as I’m pretty sure I didn’t actually have all four of my previously credited assists. I just hope that I’m still the league leader in assists after the game. Check out the league statistics leaders and notice my name on there three times.

At one point in our game last night, it looked like our winning streak was going to come to an end. We were down 4-2 with around five minutes left in the game. Surprisingly, we snuck in two quick goals around the three or four minute mark. The game ended in regulation with score tied at four. From there we moved on to the overtime shootout. Each team had three chances to score, and we only needed two. The other team shot first and missed. Next a guy from our team took full advantage and scored on his shot. Then the other team missed again, we missed our chance, and finally the other team missed their last shot. We didn’t even need our third attempt to take the game 5-4. I’m really liking winning for a change.