Sooo ... the day went along rather well -- it wasn't agonizingly long nor amazingly fast to come to a close. However, it was the after-work that made this day special.
Instead of going straight home, I felt like grabbing a beer somewhere prior to going back to Hell ..... ummm, I mean the house.
So I stopped at a no-fee ATM, withdrew some cash and headed out to find a bar with a somewhat decent selection of beer. Not an easy task here in NASCAR country! ; )
Oddly my choice of route took me southward, as I could not think of any bars on the way home with any decent selection. Knoxville has some (which was the direction I headed), but outside of that, I was drawing a blank.
I was just poking along, in no hurry, along US 11-E southbound when I saw the sign for TN-139. Wait! there is now an Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday's .... or one of those that offer a bar with *some* beer selection over in Dandridge (which was only about 8 miles from where I left the ATM). My ride was closer to 30 miles. Ah well! I had "extra" gas in the tank and the skies were blue. Any saddle time is good, so no loss!
Anyhow, I finally arrive at the restaurant and belly up to the bar. I check their taps and only one is a light beer. YAY! The other four were Yuengling (that's okay), two Samuel Adams offerings (again drinkable), and a local Knoxville-based hoppy brew that I have had before. SCORE!
I order that and check the phone to make sure nothing has happened at home. I see a missed call from .... my sister. UH OH! She NEVER calls me! EVER!! .... even when I try calling her. SHE ... CALLED ... ME!!
UH OH! something must have gone wrong. I no sooner get my beer than I return her call. No worries, she just wanted to chat ... to ... ME!! I was glad I was sitting down!! I was tickled for the opportunity, though.
We spoke for a very enjoyable 40 minutes or so getting caught up some. I tell you it made my whole day!
It has been waaayy too long and I had given up on ever talking to her again unless it was in person (which is hard to do considering the distance between us). I have tried calling and texting, but never get much of a reply, and NEVER a phone call!
I felt like a bit of a hypocrite as I sat there in the bar like one of those ignorant a$$hole$ that sit there on their phone ignoring the world. However, I wasn't going to pass up the chance to talk with her and I smugly smiled from joy that I was talking to my sister, in spite of myself. Special thing indeed!
On my way home, I needed to stop at the grocery store to grab some beer for the next few days Megan works right next to the Food City and I circled the parking lot and noticed her car. I circled again looking for a parking spot.
No sooner than putting my kickstand down, Megan comes rolling out (doing carhop duty on roller skates tonight) and says "I thought that was my Daddy" and lays a big ol' hug on me. Can you say "heart melt"?
Yeah! it did! I asked when she was due for her break. She went back inside and her gracious boss allowed her to take one .... NOW.
I was already late getting home and knew it, but fuggit! time with my daughter is rare and more than precious! We spent 30 minutes enjoying each others' company.
First, a rare phone chat with my sister, to be followed up with nearly as long a face-to-face visit with my daughter. It ... doesn't .... get ... ANY .... better!
I got to spend time with two of my favorite ladies in the whole world tonight. Well, three of them, once I got home. I'll take it! (color me happy) I should've called Mom to make it all four!
Saturday, August 2, 2014
A perfect trifecta?
I have seen Filter perform live twice now and seen Robert Patrick (lead vocalist) when he was with Army of Anyone. Each and every time I have walked away pleased.
They had a show scheduled for Knoxville this past Wednesday night. I had to be to work at 7 AM the next day. We'll see if Ed can hang after this for sure!
We (Sean and I -- due to our work schedules) knew we would miss the opening local act. At the same time, we were both in agreement that we wished to catch the rest of the bill.
Local H was the first band up (for us). They had one hit in the late 80's and it was a two-man band. This intrigued me. Yeah, I loved the music they put out (at least that one song I had heard),
but,
WOW! I had no idea!!
The vocalist/string guy had an either 7 or 8 stringed "guitar". I don't really know, because the dude didn't stay still long enough to count them. I DO know that the two top ones were waaayy lower than a low E string. Additionally, he had what looked to be bass pickups on his "guitar". There was no doubt that there was something additional than the standard guitar because of some of the deeper (toned) notes he was pushing off that thing.
The drummer was .... just .... nuts! Man! he pounded the f*ck outta those drums! I mean almost violent strikes every 2 nanoseconds! He, too, was great.
It was really amazing the fullness of sound that those two put out. The set was really tight and they didn't engage in trivial chatting with the crowd to ensure they could play as much as possible. What a great set and a fine way to kick off the show.
Next up was a band called Helmet. They have been around forever and I had heard one of their songs on the radio before. Sean has been a fan of theirs for a long time and I think he was most looking forward to seeing these guys live (again).
They rocked it! I was really impressed with them. When they hit the song that has had some air time, a mosh pit broke out. Sean and I were just outside of where this started. We are usually further back, but since we were not in the midst of the melee, we stayed there to enjoy the rest of the set.
Well, these four guys all fell at once. The general "rule" is the pit stops to get everyone up so no one gets hurt. I was close by, so I stuck my nose in there (so to speak) to help out. Just as soon as I had, one of the dudes flailing around had his arm make contact with mine and knocked my beer out of my hand.
SPLAT! went that bottle of Sierra Nevada that I just had taken two sips from. DAMMIT!
Luckily, no one got cut when that happened and I tried corralling all the glass to prevent folks from being hurt. One of the guys that worked there came over when the pit started, saw what happened and was quick to go get a broom and dustpan and some towels to sop up the mess.
Sean gave me a hard time for being dumb enough to take a beer bottle into a mosh pit. "what did you expect would happen?" he queried. LOL Anyway, the rest of Helmet's set was great and no further incidences occurred.
Next up was Filter. I have seen these boys play a few times before and they always put on a great show. Tonight was no different.
Robert Patrick saw one guy filming their set and grabbed his cell phone took it around the stage to each person playing (to give a close-up) and then panned the crowd and handed the phone back to the dude. Class act!
He has an amazing vocal range, and really hits some high notes. He's quite a professional, too.
They had equipment problems, in that, his guitar started making feedback and crackling noises. The sound guy came out and they tried to get it to work to no avail. Robert finally said they would do the next song without the guitar and apologized to the crowd.
This was ongoing. The sound guy, bless his heart, kept on trying to get the guitar fixed. After each song, he would come out and try something else.
Robert, was very cordial and respectful to the dude and said "It's not his fault! It's not his fault" (which we all knew but it was gracious of him to make a point of that). They eventually got it fixed.
They were kicking into the song "Picture" as I had my phone up to do just that ...
sometimes, timing is everything. Then there are times, when it doesn't go so smoothly.
He did some crowd surfing and came out amongst us. As you can see, Sean and I still were rather close to the stage. Robert had worked his way close enough I could have touched him, but I wasn't quick enough to draw out my phone, turn the camera on, and get a picture of him in time.
Oh well, here are a few more pics anyway ...
They played for about 80 minutes. Such a great show!
All three bands were great. As we were walking back to the truck, Sean said "Every one of those bands were worth the price of admission alone." and I was in complete agreement.
Sean and I have been to this venue to see a show plenty of times now. We used to get slightly lost going there. We no longer do that, but when he listened to me to take a left when we are leaving we managed to get lost on the way home. There's always a first for everything, I guess.
We soon found our way back onto I-40 and I got home a little before 1 AM. Of course, I couldn't go straight to sleep, so it was nearly 2 when I fell asleep. I still managed to get up at 6 and make it to work on time, so I guess I ain't "old" yet. (grin)
They had a show scheduled for Knoxville this past Wednesday night. I had to be to work at 7 AM the next day. We'll see if Ed can hang after this for sure!
We (Sean and I -- due to our work schedules) knew we would miss the opening local act. At the same time, we were both in agreement that we wished to catch the rest of the bill.
Local H was the first band up (for us). They had one hit in the late 80's and it was a two-man band. This intrigued me. Yeah, I loved the music they put out (at least that one song I had heard),
but,
WOW! I had no idea!!
The vocalist/string guy had an either 7 or 8 stringed "guitar". I don't really know, because the dude didn't stay still long enough to count them. I DO know that the two top ones were waaayy lower than a low E string. Additionally, he had what looked to be bass pickups on his "guitar". There was no doubt that there was something additional than the standard guitar because of some of the deeper (toned) notes he was pushing off that thing.
The drummer was .... just .... nuts! Man! he pounded the f*ck outta those drums! I mean almost violent strikes every 2 nanoseconds! He, too, was great.
It was really amazing the fullness of sound that those two put out. The set was really tight and they didn't engage in trivial chatting with the crowd to ensure they could play as much as possible. What a great set and a fine way to kick off the show.
Next up was a band called Helmet. They have been around forever and I had heard one of their songs on the radio before. Sean has been a fan of theirs for a long time and I think he was most looking forward to seeing these guys live (again).
They rocked it! I was really impressed with them. When they hit the song that has had some air time, a mosh pit broke out. Sean and I were just outside of where this started. We are usually further back, but since we were not in the midst of the melee, we stayed there to enjoy the rest of the set.
Well, these four guys all fell at once. The general "rule" is the pit stops to get everyone up so no one gets hurt. I was close by, so I stuck my nose in there (so to speak) to help out. Just as soon as I had, one of the dudes flailing around had his arm make contact with mine and knocked my beer out of my hand.
SPLAT! went that bottle of Sierra Nevada that I just had taken two sips from. DAMMIT!
Luckily, no one got cut when that happened and I tried corralling all the glass to prevent folks from being hurt. One of the guys that worked there came over when the pit started, saw what happened and was quick to go get a broom and dustpan and some towels to sop up the mess.
Sean gave me a hard time for being dumb enough to take a beer bottle into a mosh pit. "what did you expect would happen?" he queried. LOL Anyway, the rest of Helmet's set was great and no further incidences occurred.
Next up was Filter. I have seen these boys play a few times before and they always put on a great show. Tonight was no different.
Robert Patrick saw one guy filming their set and grabbed his cell phone took it around the stage to each person playing (to give a close-up) and then panned the crowd and handed the phone back to the dude. Class act!
He has an amazing vocal range, and really hits some high notes. He's quite a professional, too.
They had equipment problems, in that, his guitar started making feedback and crackling noises. The sound guy came out and they tried to get it to work to no avail. Robert finally said they would do the next song without the guitar and apologized to the crowd.
This was ongoing. The sound guy, bless his heart, kept on trying to get the guitar fixed. After each song, he would come out and try something else.
Robert, was very cordial and respectful to the dude and said "It's not his fault! It's not his fault" (which we all knew but it was gracious of him to make a point of that). They eventually got it fixed.
They were kicking into the song "Picture" as I had my phone up to do just that ...
 |
| "Picture" |
He did some crowd surfing and came out amongst us. As you can see, Sean and I still were rather close to the stage. Robert had worked his way close enough I could have touched him, but I wasn't quick enough to draw out my phone, turn the camera on, and get a picture of him in time.
Oh well, here are a few more pics anyway ...
 |
| "Hey Man! Nice Shot" |
They played for about 80 minutes. Such a great show!
All three bands were great. As we were walking back to the truck, Sean said "Every one of those bands were worth the price of admission alone." and I was in complete agreement.
Sean and I have been to this venue to see a show plenty of times now. We used to get slightly lost going there. We no longer do that, but when he listened to me to take a left when we are leaving we managed to get lost on the way home. There's always a first for everything, I guess.
We soon found our way back onto I-40 and I got home a little before 1 AM. Of course, I couldn't go straight to sleep, so it was nearly 2 when I fell asleep. I still managed to get up at 6 and make it to work on time, so I guess I ain't "old" yet. (grin)
A picture is worth a thousand words right? Here are a few thousand words then.
I got to do the kayak/camp thing last weekend. I tried to do a write-up on it but was just not inspired to. Nor have I had the time with the work schedule to devote to composing and editing. So in lieu of that, here are some pictures instead ....
(and, as always, if you wish to see more detail in the pictures, click on them and they should enlarge)
Great times with some great people. Thanks Larry for the loan of the kayak. Thanks to the rest for the company.
(and, as always, if you wish to see more detail in the pictures, click on them and they should enlarge)
 |
| my view outside my tent. not too shabby! |
 |
 |
| Gavin |
 |
| Nick |
 |
| love the patterns in shale |
 |
| Okay (top flame) |
Great times with some great people. Thanks Larry for the loan of the kayak. Thanks to the rest for the company.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)