Saturday, March 31, 2007

Shawn Mc Donald is A Dreamy Man


Annette and I made the drive down to Wheaton, IL last night after a long work day with the intent to enjoy some amazing acoustic music, and hopefully not get lost in the process. Due to some incredibly precise directions (a shout out to Chris Stokes is in order), we indeed made it to the chapel and home again without incident. And due to some phenomenal musicians, we did indeed enjoy some music that will make me giddy for days.

Shawn Mc Donald has a unique style that just finds him playing with music like it was a toy. As write, I realize that this is what I find most endearing in musicians. He doesn't feel like he needs to stick in a style that works, just because it works. He plays with his instrument, in Shawn's case, with his voice, and makes new music with it. he doesn't whine. His songs are a joy to listen to. His lyrics are different. They're not all just a variation on the same 6 words. He writes on themes like freedom, and greed, and pride, and hunger. He's honest. He's human. He's married.

Just a few observations about Wheaton and the concert experience in general:
  • College kids are young. Annette and I felt really old at this concert.
  • A lot of Wheaton kids have DSLR cameras. I got to move up close during the Shawn portion of the concert and sit with them, and I felt very inferior with my Canon ELPH. In retrospect, I wish I had fiddled a bit more with the settings, because I'm not very pleased with the lighting in most of my Shawn pictures. I got some nice stills before the concert, though.
  • I really dislike seat savers. The two girls in front of us came in, saved seven seats, then left until 5 minutes before showtime. At least there was no arguing at this show as in the past...
  • A lot of Wheaton guys look like Chris Stokes.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

In My Mind I'm Going To Carolina


But in my car I'm going to Peoria, Bowling Green, or Wild Rose. These are my options, as I see them, for my Spring Break, April 6-15. I don't know of anyone else with a break at the same time, so I'm probably going this alone. That is, unless I can convince anyone to take some vacation time to take a road trip with me.

Why the random boring locales? I need to get some relaxing done, and I don't want to do it at home. I'm not looking for a Disney World vacation, just a get-away from my apartment. A little excitement and change of pace, that's all. It'd be nice to share with a friend, but I think it'd be exciting to do alone, too.


We'll see what comes of this. Kentucky would be exciting.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

I Found It!

I've been looking for the last disc of my 24 Season 5 set for awhile now. It finally occurred to me to look for it in my computer bag. Of course. Isn't that the most logical place that YOU would look?

6 episodes left in the season, and my questions is: what's with the cheesy music all of a sudden? Or did I just not notice it all along? Also, I think I counted about 5 "Da**it" utterances in this viewing, and one that should have been there, in the case of the little girl in the hotel room.

Monday, March 05, 2007

So That Happened

Well, the birthday is over, for the most part. The weekend began with a very enjoyable Friday off of work spent however I pleased, and ended with a late night in Madison with the guys at a not-too-rockin' Pete Yorn show (Eric's review here). Thankfully, Josh did not get beat up this time around, by a girl or otherwise.

Sandwiched in between Friday morning and Sunday night were several nice dinners with friends (no tears shed!), one very lovely Mojito, my worst two games of bowling ever, afternoon manicures and girl talk with KB, and lots of super fun presents, including all kinds of fun music to listen to and talk about on my blog!

Oh, and there was also a few hours spent at the lovely St. Joseph's Urgent Care facility on Hwy 100 on Sunday afternoon, where I had my left foot x-rayed to find a fracture in the bone of my big toe, from spill I took down the stairs at Landmark on Friday night. The doctor ordered a surgical shoe type thing, and no jogging or volleyball for the next four weeks. And at least a week of living in terror of children jumping on it (happened at least 3 times today).



I guess 25 years without a broken bone all that milk drinking could buy me.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Today is Friday, March 2nd, 2007

Just sayin,' is all.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Ben Harper is a Sexy Beast

I find myself exclaiming this once every three minutes or so while I'm in my car, as Ben Harper's Pleasure and Pain album is playing over and over on my way to work. The music varies from the mellow, harmonic, meditative Pay The Man, to the strummy, tongue in cheek Mama's Got a Girlfriend Now, but it all has the characteristic sound that I've come to love from so many acoustic artists, most notably Mr. Harper.

A voice that's sometimes scratchy, sometimes just the right amount of flat, and sometimes just so sweetly melodic, whether he's up or down. Fingers that know his guitar strings better than anything he's ever touched, that know when to pick and play around, when to bend all the notes, and when to make heavenly chords and rhythms. Lyrics that make you think about the state of the world, about life, about spirituality. An attitude that says "This is who I am. And here's why..."

I'm gushing. I'll stop. In the meantime, find yourself this album. Then listen to the title track. Then your tune will sound a little bit like mine.