Babe

For Valentine's Day, I'd like to give a shout out to my Valentine and best friend of the last 18 years. I love you, Bestest! Thanks for being my Valentine!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

This present is really pretty lame compared to the awesome V-Day gift my wonderful husband got me, which he had me open last night: two tickets to the Old 97's show in St. Louis this coming Friday! Road trip for us--I'm so excited!

97's at The Bottleneck

All this talk by me about my important blog post may have misled my tens of readers into thinking it was something important to normal people as opposed to something important to just me! As you can see from the title, I was just very excited to share the story of what made last weekend awesome--our 10th live Old 97's show!

Seeing the 97's at The Bottleneck was a little nostalgic for me, because just over 10 years ago this was the first place we ever saw them, after our friend Jason sent us a few bootleg CDs of their concerts and then invited us to the show. The rest is history, a history which I don't really need to repeat since I already chronicled the whole thing here. In fact, as I was looking for that particular post I realized how many times I've actually blogged about them. It's kind of insane and I'm really slightly embarrassed. I can just see them Googling themselves and finding this blog and then recognizing me as the crazy-eyed person who rambled incoherently to Murry in Kansas City last summer. They're probably slightly frightened at my obsessiveness, which wouldn't be that weird since my husband is slightly frightened by it too.

So ANYWAY, clearly we had a fantastic time at the show, and I'd be repeating myself if I told you how great they were live. They played 9 of the 12 songs from their new album, which meant that we missed a lot of the old classics (Niteclub, guys...everyone in the audience was cheering for Niteclub!), but almost all of the new ones they played we really liked. Even those that we liked just a little on the new CD, we liked tons more live. While there were tons of old songs I missed, I at least got to hear my most favorite song ever--Four Leaf Clover--which they hadn't played in several of the last shows I'd been to.

What made the show even more fun was my location, since I left Chad and our other friends to push my way to the front immediately after the opening band was finished. I made it to the second row, which was fine since clearly the people in the first row were also hard core fans who'd waited there during the entire opening act as well. Since I was alone, I quickly made friends with a woman by herself who looked about my age (I realized she was just a little older when she talked about her daughter's recent wedding!) who is from New York but now lives in Olathe. She was at her sixth 97's show and was wearing a t-shirt signed by the whole band. She was just about as serious as I was about being there--it was great to meet a fellow superfan!

Besides the great performance, we also had a terrific time hanging out with our friend Jason and his mom, dad, sister, brother and future sister-in-law until the wee hours of the morning. Spending time with his family is always a plus! While we were sitting around at the Bottleneck out after the show, Murry came out into the bar and I went over to take his picture again--this time not for myself but for Jason's sister Brittany. I specifically kept my mouth shut and just ran the camera, knowing full well that I'd sound like a complete moron if I said anything to him. At least I learned from my mistake last time!

A little later as Murry was heading out to their tour bus parked out front, he walked right up to Jason's parents and started chatting with them. He was just so nice! We all thought he probably recognized them since they are at so many 97's shows in the area and they are almost always the oldest people there. We got a picture of Murry with them as well, and then in probably the most hilarious moment of the evening, Jason's future sister-in-law Morgan offered Murry and the band a place to stay for the night. Murry very graciously declined, but somehow the conversation still turned into a discussion of their accommodations and the fact that they had an extra shower and the band was welcome to use it. Uh--awkward but hilarious! It was so nice to see someone else babble incoherently in Murry's presence!

As usual, the pictures with my point-and-shoot camera were pretty terrible, so I picked just a few from the night that I doctored up with Photoshop to make them a tiny bit interesting. There are a few others from after the show too--although I didn't capture the exact moment that Morgan invited Murry into her shower. Classic!

Old 97's Video Blitz

After about six upload attempts I finally got one of the the videos from this summer's 97's show on Youtube, so if you're interested you can watch their old song Doreen below. I love this one because it shows each of the guys rockin' out on their own instrument--they're all so good at what they do!


If you missed their stint on Leno last night, you can actually watch that as well (after sitting through a brief commercial) on NBC's website here. Their website also had a backstage interview with the guests of the evening, which includes a few words from Ken and Rhett starting at about 1:50. Rhett mentioned that this was actually the 4th time they've been on Leno's show, so apparently I'm not the only person out there who thinks they're pretty awesome!


As you can imagine, Chad was pretty excited to hear that their new song started as a Bob Dylan tune, since Dylan is his absolute favorite artist ever. Now Chad's on a mission to figure out which song it was that they rewrote. I'm sure he'll be going through his 100 Dylan CDs in the next few days and listening to every song--or maybe he'll just be able to find the answer on Google!

Seriously, don't you think I deserve some sort of compensation from Old 97's for all of the online marketing I'm doing for them? Maybe in the form of backstage passes for their upcoming show at The Bottleneck? ;)

My Favorite Foursome

Back in July when we saw my favorite foursome from Dallas (aka Old 97's), I really intended to blog more extensively about the show, but instead only ended up sharing about my awesome encounter with Murry. So let me just sum up my review of the evening: the weather was perfect, we had great company (our friends Nate and Leigh Ann), and the 97's sounded fantastic. Although they didn't play two of my favorites (Niteclub and 4 Leaf Clover), they played with their standard over-the-top energy and were absolutely terrific. Although we weren't quite in the front row because we didn't pay for VIP tickets, we were just a few rows back at the front of the "regular person" section. As usual though, I didn't have my good camera, so getting good pictures of the band was nearly impossible in the dark with them always moving! I saved just one of the band and one of each of the 97's.

Ken

Rhett

Phillip

Murry

Old 97's

While my pictures pretty much suck, my camera does much better at video, and I have several great clips of entire songs that I'm going to try to get uploaded to my Youtube page tomorrow.

So this post might seem completely out of nowhere since the concert I'm talking about was so many months ago, but the reason I thought of it was that I was just looking at my calendar and noticed that I'd set myself a reminder to record Jay Leno on Wednesday, because my 97's are the musical guest! They'll be playing a song from their latest album, which I don't like nearly as much as their old stuff, but it will still be fun to see them!

Speaking of seeing them, I'm way more excited to see them in person, which will actually happen again in just a couple of months!! They are coming to Lawrence on January 28 and will be playing at the Bottleneck! I'm putting it on my calendar right now and think you should too!

A Trip to Cloud Nine

Old 97's show number nine actually put me on cloud nine the other night, and I didn't wipe the smile off my face for two days. I'll try to blog a little more about the show itself later, but for now I just have to share yet another awesome small world story. When we bought our tickets for the show several weeks ago, we also bought tickets for Chad's brother Jonathan and his girlfriend Molly, who met us at the show Thursday night. Molly and I were talking about a friend of hers, I think her name is Ann, who also invited them to a different concert over the weekend. Molly mentioned to Ann that it was their lucky week since they'd already been invited to see Old 97's, at which point Ann said, "Oh, my cousin is in that band." Now when Molly told me she thought Ann's cousin was the bass player, I seriously thought she must be mistaken, since it just seemed too unreal that she would actually be friends with someone literally related to an Old 97. There were two other bands playing that night so I kind of though Ann's cousin was probably someone in one of the other groups, and then I sort of forgot the whole conversation.

A little later when Chad went into Grinders to get a drink, he came back out and told me that Murry Hammond, the bass player for the 97's, was actually right next to him in the restaurant. I was obviously disappointed that I hadn't gone along to get a glimpse, but then just a few minutes later, Molly came up to tell me that Ann was eating with Murry and her family in the restaurant! Molly had told Ann that I was a superfan, so Ann insisted that I should come in and meet Murry in person. I seriously didn't think I would at first, because I didn't want to seem like a crazed stalker (Chad keeps reminding me there's a fine line between superfan and stalker), but Jonathan and Molly kept encouraging me, saying that Ann assured them that it would be totally fine and not a big deal. They finally talked me into it and we went inside the restaurant and over to the table where Murry was sitting. I seriously thought for a second I might faint!

After Molly introduced me to Ann, she turned around asked Murry if he would mind meeting a big fan, and he got up from the table and came over to say hi. He seriously could not have been more kind, gracious and friendly, despite the fact that I was a babbling bumbling idiot who probably sounded slightly obsessed, which of course, I am. I don't really remember what I babbled about initially, but it might have been something about my brother living in West Hollywood, since I knew Murry lived in the LA area. He probably really thought I was a stalker at that point since I knew where he lived! Molly totally bailed me out since she had her wits about her, because she had enough sense to ask Murry if he would mind taking a picture with me. I'm so glad she did because I was so starstruck I don't think I would have thought of it. Even if I had remembered a picture, I don't think I would have been brave enough to ask!

Seriously, at this point I just went completely loopy, and I started babbling about how many years ago when we saw them at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, he and Ken (the lead guitarist) came out to watch the opening act (John Eddie, who we became big fans of that night) and I took a picture of the back of their heads because I was so excited to see them and that it would be nice to actually have a picture that wasn't just the back of his head this time. Seriously. He was probably terrified at this point that he was taking a picture with a crazy person.

Fortunately for Murry I'm not crazy--I was just extremely excited. Like really really excited. Like abnormally excited, which you can probably tell from this picture.


As my brother told me yesterday after seeing this shot on Facebook, I'm smiling so big it looks like my face is about to explode. Thankfully it didn't, and I lived to tell you this tale about the time I met Murry Hammond of Old 97's fame.

My 97's Times Nine

I interrupt my previously scheduled blog post to bring you this important announcement. I realized this morning I'd forgotten this important post after my subconscious reminded me through several dreams last night on the same subject. Now I can't stop thinking about the event--I'm so excited! This Thursday, my favorite band will be playing at the Crossroads in Kansas City, and I can't wait to see them again! This will be the 9th time I've seen them live (the last one being last May in Tulsa) and I never get tired of their shows--they're fabulous! No one puts on a more energetic show--plus the Crossroads is a terrific venue. Now I'm just crossing my fingers for good weather! If you're not busy on Thursday night and you're in the KC area, you should definitely come out and join us!

Just to give you a taste if you haven't seen them, here's one of their most popular songs that they generally use to close the show! Love it!

Tulsa Mayfest

Here's one more blog post that I should have completed many, many moons ago, but since things were so busy with house shopping and packing and moving during the spring/summer, I just never could find the time to edit all the pictures from the weekend. When I was working on our Christmas letter for 2009 and thinking about all that we did during the year, it hit me that I'd never actually blogged about our trip to Tulsa!

It was a very quick weekend vacation, but one that was so needed at the time. We were just so overwhelmed with house hunting and trying to get ready to sell our house we just wanted to get away from it all just for a couple of days. It worked out perfectly that my favorite band just happened to be playing at a music/arts festival in Tulsa right in the midst of all our house craziness!

We took off on Saturday morning and made the drive south on Highway 169, and taking the scenic route was so incredibly relaxing! The pastures were all so green and lush, the skies were beautiful blue and the air was unseasonably cool. After an enjoyable drive of about 4 hours we arrived at our hotel, right near downtown, where Mayfest was held. Our friend Jason and his girlfriend Tracy met us there, and we headed to the festival, walked through the artist booths, ate horrible fair food and listened to a few bands along the way.

We started moving towards the main stage as the Old 97's showtime neared. There was a pretty big crowd watching the band before them, but as soon as that group finished their set, the crowd started to thin out pretty quickly. We jumped at the opportunity and quickly filled into the front row, which was actually (unfortunately) at least 30 feet from the stage because of a barrier. Regardless, we snagged our four chairs and then moved them up right against the barricade, just to make sure no one else would be able to stand in front of us once the show started. We were determined to be in the front row, even if the front row was 30 feet away from the stage!

The show was excellent, but that pretty much goes without saying when it comes to the Old 97's. Despite the fact that it was downright cold in Tulsa that night, the 97's went all out and put on a terrific show on the outdoor stage. While they didn't play one of my favs (Nightclub), they did play The One, which I'd never heard in concert before. It was a bummer that we were so far from the stage, because that meant my pictures turned out pretty awful, but we still had a great time jumping around and singing at the show!

We regained our hearing on the way back to the hotel, and after a good night's sleep, we headed back over to the festival in the morning and browsed through the art again before heading to a local restaurant for lunch. After a great meal with our friends we hit the road and headed home, taking a different route back just for a change of scenery. The drive home was almost as relaxing as the drive down!

It was really a terrific weekend overall, despite the fact that my pictures of the show turned out so terrible! Most of the shots are so over-exposed they make the guys in the band look like ghosts. If only I'd taken my good camera they would have been a little better. Regardless, here are the pictures from the weekend if you're interested! There are also a few videos if you go directly to my Picasa page!

The Show

Okay--I'm finally posting the long awaited review about the highly anticipated Old 97's show from over two weeks ago. Please don't take my delay in blogging about the event as evidence that the show wasn't good--it was terrific! I've just been trying to give such an important post the time and effort it deserves--and finding adequate time is definitely a problem lately! Today I finally finished it while I was home sick in bed. It's kind of sad that I'm using sick days to get caught up on my life!

Obviously I was extremely excited about this concert despite the fact that I've seen the 97's live on six previous occasions. In my opinion, one can never see the 97's too many times. As always, they put on an amazingly energetic show. It's hard to believe that these four guys who are all older than I am can still rock out so hard for two solid hours. Never do they slow down! They played a lot of stuff from their latest album, which I'm a big fan of, but that also meant that a lot of my old favorites got bumped from the rotation, which was a bummer. I missed Four Leaf Clover--my favorite song in the world! Is it bad to wish your favorite band ever wouldn't put out another album so that I could hear more of my favorite old songs at their concerts? That's probably not very good logic at all. They did play Niteclub, which is also one of my favorites that I didn't get to hear at their last show I saw in KC.

Another highlight of the show was getting introduced to a new opening band that was really good called The Spring Standards. They were good musicians with great voices and wonderful harmonies. I really enjoyed them live--much more so than in the studio. I bought their CD after the show, along with a new 97's t-shirt, which I put on immediately for our group picture with our favorite Salina family--the Fellers! No 97's show would be complete with out the presence of at least 4 members of the Fellers clan!

There were only a few things that were missing from this show at the Granada. First, although they played a tons of songs off the latest release, they didn't play my two favorites--Here's To The Halcyon and The One (which is actually an old song that had just never been released on a real album). I didn't get to see them live, but thanks to YouTube you can watch them here and here!

Okay, back to the Lawrence show. The second thing that was missing from the Granada was a big crowd. The crowd was not totally embarrassing, but the place was certainly not packed. We've seen them fill much bigger venues, so I just felt really bad for the band that the place wasn't bursting at the seams! I think part of the lameness of the crowd was due to the fact that KU wasn't in session that Thursday night or Friday, although I really don't know how much college kids listen to the 97's these days. I know it being a weeknight didn't help the adult crowd get there either. I felt so bad for the band, and I also felt personally responsible that the crowd kind of sucked because I had tried so hard to promote the show! The one good thing about having a mediocre crowd was that it was pretty easy to stand on the floor, super close to the stage. Being able to see the boys rock out close up is one of the best parts of seeing the 97's in the first place!

As a direct result of the crowd being slightly small, I think a lot of the normal witty banter between Rhett and the fans was missing as well. Rhett seemed particularly quiet this show, and I couldn't help but worry that he was secretly a little disappointed in the turnout. His relative silence was probably partially because they are just freakin' tired at this point. They've been on tour for almost a year I think! They've got to be pooped, and yet they still rocked out like there was a packed house and their tour had just started! I love it that they always give 100% and never phone in a show! I'm already trying to convince Chad that we should drive down to Dallas and see them again on December 30th! :)

The Show In Pictures

It's crazy that it's been like 5 days since the big concert and I have yet to talk about it. I've been rather consumed with 3-Day stuff lately, so this blog has been neglected a bit. Unfortunately, I think my play-by-play and analysis is going to have to wait another night, since right now I'm too darn tired to form a coherent sentence. This evening I went with some friends to the Gabriel Iglesias show at the Lied Center, which was fairly entertaining but pretty much took up the entire evening. I guess blogging about THE show will just have to wait another night (or two).

In the meantime, I'll share the pictures I took last Thursday, despite the fact that they aren't really very good pictures at all. I of course didn't take my good camera, and when the Granada staff reprimanded someone for taking flash photos, I had to quickly learn how to use my Pentax on manual! The lighting was so bad it was really difficult to get good pictures, but there are maybe a couple that are worthwhile! Enjoy the slideshow of the show!

Tonight!!!

I woke up this morning and thought

"Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's Old 97's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Did I mention I was excited about tonight? In honor of the concert, here's the video for one of the songs off their newest album. I'd never seen it before today. So funny!

Four Weeks

Exactly four weeks from tonight, I will be rockin' out at the Granada to my favorite band in the world!! I am so excited for the Old 97's show! For all of you who have heard me blathering on about the 97's for years and are wondering what all of the fuss is about, now is your chance to find out! That is, if you live in the KC/Lawrence/Topeka area, or if you live in the Salina area and want to ride to Lawrence with our friend Jason, who I know will be driving to Lawrence for the show.

In all honesty though, I really really really hope everyone will come, because I promise they are a blast to see live. I'll even make it easy for you--here's a link to the Granada's website where you can buy your tickets for around $20 after fees. Now you have no excuse not to come check them out!

In case you need some more evidence before you buy your tickets, check out this clip from a 97's show from just a few weeks ago. They have this much energy from start to finish and are so much fun to watch!! Four Leaf Clover is seriously my favorite song of all time--I love it even though Rhett totally forgets the words at one point!




Hope to see you all at the Granada on October 16th!

Blame It On Gravity

Just a couple of hours ago, I almost hyperventilated. Seriously. For real.

I got an email from the Old97's mailing list, which listed a few new tour dates. I scanned the list carefully, looking for anything that might be remotely near Lawrence/KC. I read

Oct 1-----Athens, GA

Oct 9-----Pittsburgh, PA

Oct 14----Des Moines, IA

Oct 15----Columbia, MO

In the split second after reading "Columbia" I got so excited, since we've driven there for games and concerts on multiple occasions, until I read the next date...

Oct 16----Granada Theatre, Lawrence, KS

DID YOU SEE THAT??? I seriously just about flipped out. Although there was no one except for me and the dogs at home, I started yelling "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh" and Celtic jumped up from where he was sitting with a startled look on his face. I called Chad (who is at a T-Bones game for a work function this evening) and tried not to sound completely hysterical as I told him the news. Of course, when he heard the hysteria in my voice he immediately thought something was wrong, so he was more than pleased when he realized I was just super excited!

You might remember that the last time I blogged about my 97's was when I was lamenting the fact that they were going to be in Lawrence for the Wakarusa Music Festival while we were going to be in San Francisco. We thought about hitting the Tulsa show, but since it was just a couple of days before we were going to leave on vacation and would have required us to be up pretty much all night, we thought that so much tiredness would definitely put a damper on the start of our trip. We opted not to go, but our friends Jake and Amber went to Tulsa without us! I will admit I was a little jealous, especially when they came back talking about how fantastic the show was! I still thought maybe we'd be able to see them before the end of the tour, but none of the cities (until now) were within driving distance, and since we'd just spent a lot of money on a vacation, flying seemed a little excessive and expensive. Until this evening, I was pretty sure I'd lost the chance to see my boys on this tour!

If you live in the Lawrence or KC area, I highly recommend you come to the show with us on Thursday, October 16. I really really really really recommend it. Really. If you want just a glimpse of what their shows are like you can check out Youtube or this video that I found in this recent article from chron.com. In this video their sound isn't as good as normal (they were playing in a record store), but the fun banter that is typical of their shows is still present. Just watch Rhett break a string on the first strum and then proceed to change that string while he continues to sing! It's absolutely classic!



I really really really hope you'll join us for the show on October 16th! I already bought our tickets! :)

On the Subject of Concerts

While I'm on the subject of concerts (okay, maybe it was last week when I was on that subject, but whatever), I mentioned a few weeks ago that my Old 97's were kicking off a new tour, which actually started in the wee hours of the morning on March 13, the day that their new album Blame It On Gravity was released. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't actually purchased the new album yet, but I have listened to several new tracks on their MySpace page, and so far, I like what I've heard. Even if I hated every song, I would still be thrilled to see them live in their current tour, based on their many previous albums that I love and their spectacular live shows.

So based on my obvious fanaticism, you can probably imagine how elated and excited I was when I found out that they were actually coming here to Lawrence on their tour. I seriously just about flipped my lid. They haven't been in Lawrence for years, and until last summer's concert in KC, we'd been driving to places like St. Louis and Dallas to see them. Even though the Lawrence venue is the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival, which isn't exactly our cup of tea (think Woodstock), I was still prepared to wade through the masses of unshowered campers (aka "stinky hippies" per my husband) to see my favorite band of all time.

What I failed to consider in making my concert-going plans was that my husband was busy making surprise vacation plans. When I got home one night and Chad had the tickets for our flight all picked out, the first thing I said was that we can't go that weekend because my Old 97's will be here! My dear hubby talked me into the trip and out of the concert, by stressing the importance of us having a romantic getaway on our anniversary instead sometime after our anniversary. Oh yeah--he also promised to take me to any other location in the country that they happen to be playing on their tour. :)

The bummer is, most of the dates that they'll be playing in the Midwest, we'll be on the west coast! We might still be able to make the concert in Tulsa (what's a four hour drive on a Sunday afternoon, anyway?), but since we'll be just days away from leaving for California, I'm guessing we'll be just slightly busy packing for our trip! Even though it wouldn't be the most convenient of concerts to attend, I have no doubt that it would still be worth it!

Check out the 97's tour dates and be sure to see them when they visit a town near you!

Wilco

On Wednesday night, my husband took me to my first ever Wilco show. In general, I'm not really a Wilco fan at all. Chad's been listening to them for years, and although I liked their first couple of albums like Mermaid Avenue (with Billy Bragg) and A.M., their more recent CDs just don't interest me much. I'm not saying they're not a good band--their latest release was nominated for best rock album this last year (Rock album? Really?)--I'm just saying that it's not my cup of tea. For the most part, I find Wilco way to mellow. Generally speaking, Wilco makes me want to fall asleep. My rule of thumb with music is that if it doesn't make me want to sing along or dance along, then I probably don't want to listen to it.

With all that said, since Wilco actually played right smack in the middle of downtown Lawrence on Wednesday, I felt like I should at least give them a try. There are lots of bands that are more interesting live than in the studio, so I thought maybe after seeing them in person I would grow to appreciate them more. Chad loved their concert in KC a couple of months ago, so he encouraged me to come along. I wasn't really disappointed with the show I guess, but I can't really say that I grew to love them either.

Given my preference for rockin' out at a concert, I obviously thought the set had way to many slow songs. Not only that, but the band also tends to lean towards long guitar solos and random inserts of "experimental" sounds, like weird guitar distortions and blasts of percussion in the middle of singing. They're bordering on being a jam band at times, which I absolutely can't stand. There was also way too much piano in most of their songs (for my taste) since on several numbers they actually had two guys playing keyboards! What self-respecting "rock" band even has a piano, anyway?

At first I thought maybe I just wasn't into the show because I didn't know very many of the songs. Then I thought back to my first Old 97's concert, when I went having heard only a couple of their songs once or twice, and came away as one of the biggest fans ever. The bottom line is that Wilco just doesn't float my boat.

Despite the fact that I didn't immensely enjoy most of the concert, I did really enjoy the encore. Their last several songs were ones I really liked from their first couple of albums, involving a lot more guitar and a lot more up-tempo beats. They even closed the show with my very favorite (rather obscure and very silly) Wilco song, Hoodoo Voodoo. I think that last song made the entire evening worthwhile!

Actually, the other thing that made the evening worthwhile was hanging out with our friend Jason (from high school) and almost his entire family. I hadn't spent time with his parents for years, and it was so nice to see them and most of Jason's siblings (although we missed Domi!).

I'm sure it's a huge shock, but I actually failed to bring my camera to the concert. If you're interested, you can check out more pictures and the article about the show in the Lawrence Journal-World!

Old 97's Alert

Clearly we all need a break from my ridiculously long ramblings of the last three days--me from writing and the rest of you from reading! Thanks to the few of you who stuck it out for the long haul and actually read the entire story--Chad was convinced no one would! :)

So today's post is strictly to provide a quick dose of entertainment--at least for me it will be entertaining! I'm so so so excited about this! The Old 97's are releasing a new album AND kicking off a new tour next month!!! Check out the YouTube video posted by their record label.



In other very important Old 97's news, tonight (yes, tonight), my Old 97's will be performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno! How sweet is that? Set your Tivos, everyone!

The 97's Experience

Finally this evening I have time to talk about the major musical event of my summer! As I'm sure you all know, on July 11 my "most favoritest" band in the world played in KC, so I was able to see them live for the first time since December of 2004. Making it an even more fun evening was the fact that we got to see old friends from high school and bring some other friends along to enjoy their first 97's show ever!

It was a truly terrific show for so many reasons. The boys from Dallas sounded great and played almost all of my favorite songs (except for Niteclub) and then some. The weather was absolutely perfect (like in the low 70s) and the venue was really nice. There were plenty of clean port-a-potties (at least early in the evening) and no lines for food and drinks, along with a nicely mulched and nicely sloped area for viewing the stage. The acoustics were generally good, aside from one brief moment when the band came unplugged. It was actually kind of funny, because the crowd momentarily went ballistic, startling the band who apparently didn't realize what had happened. After the song was over, Murray (the bass player) commented that they must have been rockin' out so hard they'd blown out the speakers or something. He was obviously kidding, but I thought it was kind of funny.

Anyway, I wasn't able to stand quite as close to the stage as I would have liked, as my ailing back wasn't up to going down front during the opening act just to get good position for the 97's. We managed to get a decent spot just to the left of the stage and outside of the "VIP" area, which was perfect for me because there was a railing to lean on for support. I certainly couldn't have stood there completely unsupported the entire time, because the guys played for almost two hours! It was awesome! Of course you're probably thinking that I would've declared it awesome no matter what they sounded like--but it wasn't just me. There was a great review the next day in the KC Star weekly entertainment section, and the next morning our friend Beth sent us this "review" via email as well:

"WOW!!! We all LOVED the Old 97's!!! They were so energetic!! I wish there were more lead singer/guitar players who had hips like jelly and legs like rubber! He was so fun to watch! But I was also very distracted by the face-melting guitar abilities of the guitar player. Not to mention the singing greatness and fun lyrics. This is one of the first concerts where you could actually hear and understand the words.

I am blown away, and we need more CDs before we leave! How fun! Thanks for inviting us to the show!"

I can't tell you how happy it made me that my friends enjoyed the show as well! I've been singing the 97's praises for so many years now, and it often felt like that praise was falling on deaf ears. Finally, my thoughts and feelings have been validated! Thanks Beth! :)

Beth was definitely right about Ken's guitar abilities. He's apparently been practicing a lot on their hiatus from touring. He was rockin' OUT! Chad and I both noticed how great he sounded and how many new riffs he'd incorporated into our favorite songs. Speaking of the songs, I was a little surprised at how many songs they played from their 5th (6th if you count Early Tracks) and most pop heavy album, Satellite Rides. I'm pretty sure they played 9 of the 13 tracks on that disc, which I thought was a ton. I could have done without a couple to make room for Niteclub, Melt Show, The Other Shoe, or something else of the older variety, but overall I even thoroughly enjoyed those songs from my least favorite album!

Since I'm obviously a picture-a-holic, I certainly would have loved to have been closer to the stage so I could have snapped some better photos and video. As it was, I could only get some fuzzy pictures of the whole band without a flash (it embarrasses Chad too much when I use one), and some pretty far away grainy video. Regardless of the quality, you're welcome to check out some clips and pictures on our Picasa page! Maybe you'll be inspired to go see them next time they come around! :)

Rhett, Murray, Ken and Philip

Honestly, it's crazy that in my 10 months or so of blogging I haven't talked more about these four boys. As far as I can remember, there's only been one post in all that time pertaining to my Old 97's. In that particular post last November, I mentioned that the next time they toured anywhere near here I would be bugging everyone I know to go see them. Well that time has finally come! They will finally be in KC on July 11--less than 3 weeks from today!

Let me first tell you how I came to love this rather obscure alt-country band from Dallas. In the year 2000, our friend Jason sent Chad a couple of CDs that he'd burned, either from one of their studio albums or from a bootleg of a concert of theirs he'd been to--I don't even remember. I listened to it a little bit along with Chad and thought it was kind of fun and catchy; I was definitely drawn to the toe-tapping beats and slightly goofy lyrics. So when Jason subsequently asked Chad to go see them at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, I decided to tag along.

Even though we sat like old people the entire concert and I only knew a few of the songs, I still had a terrific time. The band (well, mostly Rhett) was amazingly energetic and so much fun to watch. In a live setting, they seemed more like a rockin' punk/country group than their alternative country label implied. The venue was so small you felt like you were almost a part of the action. I was amazed at how the young, crazy crowd knew the words of every song of a band I'd never heard of until a few months before. It only took this one concert for me to become a die-hard fan. I was hooked.

So for the next few years the 97's toured, coming back to Lawrence twice during that time. The second year we saw them, again at The Bottleneck, we stood on the floor much nearer to the stage, and being up close made the concert even more amazing! For my third concert, which was at the Granada (since the band had outgrown the tiny Bottleneck), I stood in the front row with Jason's sisters who'd driven in for the concert, and it was absolutely incredible! We could see the stain on Ken's pants, the bulging veins in Murray's neck, and Rhett's every eye roll. My heart stopped every time Rhett jumped up and down on the stage and I thought he was going to trip over the cord to his amp that was wrapped around his foot!

When the tour dates came out in 2004, I was devastated that the boys weren't coming to Lawrence--or even the KC area! Apparently they'd outgrown the Granada too! Thankfully, my wonderful husband took me on a birthday trip to St. Louis, where we saw them the opening night of their tour at the now closed Mississippi Nights and spent the weekend seeing the sights and sounds of the area. We stood on the floor during that show as well, and it was a blast! This time I was smart enough to bring my camera, so I could actually document some of the awesomeness! We were so close to the stage that Chad started getting embarrassed at how many times I was flashing the camera in the band's face, so I switched to video mode after a short while to be a little less conspicuous.

So today over the lunch hour I uploaded the pictures from that trip to our Picasa page, excited to share them in the hope that my friends would get an idea of how cool the upcoming concert would be. What I didn't realize was that Picasa automatically loads all of the video clips in the folder as well (I didn't even know you could share video on Picasa), which would be great for showing off the energy of the concert if it wasn't that I'm a terrible videographer. When I switched the camera from picture to video mode, without even thinking I continued to hold the camera vertically as if I were taking pictures. Let me just say that you'll get a kink in your neck if you watch them. It's really embarrassing that I'm so completely dense. Many moons ago I downloaded some software that enabled me to rotate the video images, but it distorted them so badly that all of the band members looked about 50 pounds overweight, so I just left them as is. I could have just deleted them from my Picasa page, but I wanted everyone to at least get a sense, albeit a crooked one, of the experience!

So please enjoy my pictures if you get chance, and check out the videos too if you're interested (make sure your sound is turned down if you're at work!). Hopefully some of you will find them entertaining and want to check out the 97's for yourself next month! They're playing at a new venue called The Crossroads, and tickets are only $16 each. I know it will be a late night for a Wednesday, but I'm still hoping I can drag a few people along to enjoy the show. I mean come on, people, we're not that old yet! :)

Happy Anniversary, Baby!!

I haven't had much time for blogging lately, but today is such an important day I have to take the time to write just a few words. Today is the 13th anniversary of the happy day I was married to my dear husband Chad! I am so very thankful for my terrific hubby and our fun and happy marriage. I know we are very blessed!!

Chad and I went to lunch and spent the afternoon together, and my wonderful hubby even came to an extremely boring softball double header that unfortunately fell on our special day. He's such a trooper! Best of all, this morning the love of my life and my best friend surprised me with tickets to an upcoming concert of my favorite band in the world, the Old 97's! I am so excited!!

I'm sure I'll be blogging more about the 97's more very soon, but in honor of today's celebration, I have a fun and amusing history of our marriage in pictures. Enjoy--and try not to laugh too hard!! :)



June 4, 1994--Just after we were pronounced man and wife! :)



























Our first Christmas in 1994--Although I might look 18, I was actually 22!















Christmas 1995--Still in our first one bedroom apartment.


















Christmas 1996--Our first year in our first tiny townhome.
















Christmas 1997--Celtic and Steeler make their first appearance, as does Chad's spare tire! ;)














Christmas 1998--Our first year in our current house...a much better picture of the boys than of us!!















Christmas 1999--The boys do not look amused.
















Christmas 2000--Chad does not look amused.



















Christmas 2001--just days after Chad got out of the hospital!

















Christmas 2002--Looking more like the Chad and Kim of today!


















Christmas 2003--No time for a formal picture this year!













Christmas 2004--I'm trying to grow out a very short haircut!




















Christmas 2005--Our first 3 dog Christmas.

















Christmas 2006--Our first Christmas without our dear Steeler. :(





















No one probably enjoyed that as much as I did...I've always wanted to put all of those pictures in sequence to see how we've changed and aged over the years. I hope you found the anniversary entertainment at least mildly entertaining as well! :)

Old 97's

I actually posted this video temporarily a few days ago when I was practicing embedding a YouTube video into my blog. Because it's my favorite band in the world, I decided it deserved a permanent place in Luce Chatter blog history.



I know I've tried to explain to my friends and family a million times how awesome the Old 97's are live, but you can't really get the full experience until you've been there. I promise you, the next time they come anywhere near Lawrence I will be all over every one I know to go see them!