Summer Concert Series - Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick

Well, I was almost going to wait until later to post this because I was feeling lazy but I felt blogging about a July event in August was just not responsible.

We celebrated Diana's Birthday on Sunday by going to dinner at Gloria's Mexican Restaurant on Greenville. A bunch of friends came along and we had a grand time. Afterwards, about half of the group went to SuperPages.com center for the second 80's rock out that we have been to this weekend.

We arrived a little late so we only saw two or three Cheap Trick songs. No big loss, let me tell ya. Heart came out and really put on a great show. Bad thing was I just kept imagining Guitar Hero song riffs when Barracuda was sang.

Journey finished out the night. For those of you who don't know, the lead singer of Journey, Steve Perry, left the band in 98. They have since replaced him with this guy: Arnel Pineda. He was the lead singer in a Journey cover band from the Philippines. And I'll be damned if he didn't rock out the house and bring a young vibe that has been missing. We saw them last year and this was a hell of a lot better.

We don't have any more concerts lined up until ACL in September(eat your heart out Thomas).

That is all,

Newt

The Misadventures of Duncan and Hazel - Boneheads

Two canines were caught today in the act of a felony misdemeanor. Hazel Nut and her accomplice Duncan Nonuts were caught today in the act of robbery with the intent to consume illegal contraband. Suspects, seen here, were caught by Officer Trinity at the home of the Vaughn's of Lewisville.

Suspect Hazel Nut, seen with stolen bones from the Vaughn's pantry, showed remorse in her questioning. Be warned, some of the crime scene footage can be horrifying. It appears the two suspects let themselves into the Vaughn pantry sometime between the hours of 8 and 5 this afternoon and were unable to make away with the rawhide before an officer arrived at the scene.

Duncan Nonut was not at the scene at the time but had tried a hasty escape through the dog door. Finding both exits blocked and having a genetic condition of Tiny Legs, he was forced to turn himself in. After pleading 'Not Guilty' he was later discovered with some of the evidence that he had apparently hidden in the Vaughn's Kitchen.

Hazel is in solitary confinement at the moment and Duncan is under house arrest.

That is all,

Newt

Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog

Well, I discovered something new and fun. There is a web series that was release about a week ago called Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog and it stars Neil Patrick Harris as a would be mad scientist who tries to talk to his true love while fighting his arch nemesis "The Hammer". Oh, and there is singing. Below is a sample from Episode 1.

You can buy all three episodes on iTunes or look on YouTube for some of the songs. It was extremely different and also quite entertaining to hear the other side of a superhero rivalry with inventive music to go along with it. I would highly recommend it.

That is all,

Newt

Summer Concert Series - Bryan Adams & Foreigner

What a night. Last night we did a double feature of 80's goodness with an outdoor concert featuring Bryan Adams & Foreigner. I bought $10 lawn seats and I have to say that this was probably the best concert I have seen for the money spent.

My $10 got me lawn seats that were pretty close in relation to the stage. Bryan Adams is the man in terms of hits and for an hour and a half he played them all. The coolest part of the night was when he stopped playing to ask that someone from the audience come up on stage and sing with him. He looked around the front rows and found a woman, Jill, to bring up on stage. His choice was great because not only was she from Chicago(boos erupted from the crowd) but she was entertaining. I don't remember which song they sang but she knew the words and during the course of the duet, she rubbed up on Bryan, they bumped butts, and she shook her booty while he played the guitar. It was awesome.

Foreigner did a really good job as well. The lead singer wasn't the original but he looked like he had stepped out of the 80's with his long hair and colorful open chested shirt. They played all the hits from 'Urgent', 'Dirty White Boys' and 'Jukebox Hero' and a couple of lesser known. I wrote a blog on the awesomeness of this band a while back that you can read here.

It was a blast to see and I can't recommend them enough.

That is all,

Newt

Music drives me crazy

Last night we had a crazy evening which involved our CD collection. I know that a lot of people have started using iTunes and buying all of their albums online and, while I do that occasionally, I still like to have the actual CD from a store.

About a year ago, we went and bought one of those CD Binders that we put all of our CDs in so we don't have to have the cases laying everywhere. Well, Diana got the idea in her head that it was time to put all of the CDs that we have recently accumulated into our CD binder. That's when the trouble started.

It began with her going around collecting all of the CDs from the cars and rooms in the house. The first problem...we went to a Bright Eyes concert about 8 or 9 months ago and when Diana wasn't looking, I bought a CD and hid it in my car. She didn't want me spending money at the time so I was trying to be sneaky. Well, I hid it in my truck and forgot about it and I heard her yelling from the garage, "Dammit Trinity, you have a CD in here that you haven't even opened." I was caught red handed and had forgotten I committed a crime. Whoops.

Well, she sat on the floor and pulled all of the CDs out of their cases and started to put them in their places when I decided to join her. She looked down when it was time to put in a Ben Folds album and asked me, "Do you only have the 3 Ben Folds CDs?" Well, I have 5 and after looking, we couldn't find 2 of them. Then, we noticed that our first John Mayer album was missing. And Diana couldn't find the latest Dixie Chicks Cd. It was starting to look like we had lost some of our music.

This prompted me to have to get the box of CD cases out of the attic and the two of us opened every case and compared it to the binder. About 3/4 of the way through, we were missing 5 CDs. I were starting to get worried because I knew that I hadn't been using them. As Diana got up to get something from the kitchen, I looked up and right in front of me was the CD player.

Little side note: Diana puts CDs on as she is house cleaning. I hit the open button and sure enough, there were the majority of the missing CDs. Yet, still we were missing Ben Folds. So we continued our search. We went through all of the cases and they were still missing. So then we had to give up and Diana started putting the last of the CDs in the sleeves.

Diana and I have had issues with spelling before but she must have been really off yesterday because she had a hard time finding the Ben Folds albums because I had hidden them under F. They weren't the Ben Folds Five albums so I stuck them in alphabetically. Who'd a thunk?

The frustration that was beamed towards my wife last night was momentous. No CDs were missing and I felt like the last hour of my life was wasted.

That is all,

Newt

I'm a Bean Bag

Well, we spent Thursday and Friday in Lubbock for the 4th with the little Addition. We got to Lubbock Thursday afternoon and I was able to spend almost 2 days with my baby. Lets just say that I don't think there is a more perfect baby out there right now. She is doing so good with making noises and pushing off with her legs.

The proud parents thought they were going to throw me for a loop by letting me change diapers but I handled it like a pro. I also became a good place to rest the baby for her nap.

We had a great time and took Addie to the street fair to allow her to get her pores clogged with sausage on a stick, roasted corn, and crappy music.

While we were there, Dan and Jeremy came over for dinner and the six of us sat out on the back porch drank beer and wine and visited for what was one of the best nights I have spent with friends in a long time.

One little issue with the entire night was the end. After spending some time on 4 bottles of beer, half a bottle(or more probably) of a bottle of wine, and another glass of wine that Dan gave me, I was pretty drunk. We had a delicious dinner of jalapeno and chicken and finished it off with a tasty Jello and shortbread dessert that looked like a Japanese version of the American flag.

Note to self, Do Not Get Drunk and Eat Jello. I awoke at 4 a.m. to the knowledge that I was going to need to puke. I had to use the bathroom closest to Addie's room so I tried to do something that I don't think is possible...Puke Quietly.

I am pretty sure I saw a few of the Blueberry States off the flag that night. The inside of the toilet looked like something that would be thrown out to attract sharks. Also, vomit is really hard to control. I did my best and Addie didn't wake up so I guess I did a decent job.

That is all,

Newt