Sunday, July 27, 2008
Compassionate festival-goers
Today I volunteered for Compassion at Heavenfest festival. I was in the early shift, and our main goal was to handout child information packets in the middle of Seventh Day Slumber's set on the main stage. I don't really know much about the band, and am not exactly into "Jesus metal" (or whatever category they would be in), but the lead singer has an incredible story to tell in support for Compassion, so it was great. He took about 10 minutes in the middle of their set to talk about Compassion's mission and to encourage people to become sponsors. Apparently there were about 500 sponsor packets brought to the event (apparently they estimated 10k attendees and shot for 5% of the audience), and I'd guess we passed out 250 within 2 minutes of asking people to raise their hands if they were interested in sponsoring a child. I have to admit I was worried people would ask for a packet but not fill it out (it's easy to say you'd like to help, but you really speak when you sign on the dotted line and commit to writing letters, sending photos, money, etc.) but to my surprise and joy, so many people filled out their packets that we ran out of pens at the booth! It was a great experience and I'd like to volunteer again whenever the opportunity comes up. It feels really good to help spread the message of something I feel strongly about, and have been affected by in such a positive way. It was pretty hot so I didn't stay for the whole day, but it seemed like a really solid turnout for the event. I was surprised to see license plates from Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and even a group of several cars from Wisconsin. I hope they do the event next summer and can get tons more third world kids helped.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
recent rides and Soul Stew Revival review
I haven't written much about this summer's mountain bike outings, but will list off a few here for future reference:
The evening started out with several songs from Scrapomatic, who came on right as I took my seat. I immediately recognized the vocals of Mike Mattison from his DTB work, but didn't know he had a band outside of DTB. The music was good, but the surrounding audience left a bit to be desired. As soon as the ladies behind me started talking about how they hoped the show didn't go past 10:30 because that would be past their bedtime, I knew I had to move. [Captain Obvious at that point: "Well, Brett, let's just take a look around and ask why you're single, when you spend your Saturday nights at concerts with people twice your age..."] When Scrapomatic finished I got up and headed to the beer line. The Twisted Pine was worth the wait, but I was bummed to see the band walking from the bus into the auditorium with 5 people in front of me in line, and even more disappointed to see the sign telling me I couldn't take my beer into the auditorium. Okay, fine, I'll just have a water... SOLD OUT! Back to beer then... 4 minutes later (sorry Brown Ale, no time to savor...) I tossed my empty cup in the recycle bin and made my way back inside to catch the 2nd song. [According to http://dtbsetlists.com/setlist.php?id=2966, I missed Don't Do It.] By that point I couldn't find any open seats with a decent view, so I headed to the back for a stand-up dance show. The crowd was much more worthy of my company back there :) [Somebody behind me was puffing the really really kind back there.] The next 1:45 was easily one of the best shows I've ever been to. There were several covers (Freddie's Dead, The Weight, Don't Keep Me Wonderin' to name a few) but the original material shined for me. I was, however, quite impressed with the version of The Allman Brothers' Don't Keep Me Wonderin'... Derek was seriously channeling Duane at times. I laughed when it started because I wasn't sure anybody else recognized the song even though I was the one not yet born when Idlewild South came out. Speaking of channeling, I have to say I was blown away by Susan's guitar prowess. That woman can play!!! At one point she pulled out the wah-wah and it sounded like a bit like Jimi. As an added bonus, her vocals were superior to what I have heard in her studio work. I have come up with a list of things I wouldn't do for, with, or to a girl who could sing and play like that for me:
1.
(I have to admit that joke is borrowed from something I read about Erin Andrews, which I would also generally agree with even though she's a UF Gator alum, but seriously, congratulations Derek, your wife is an amazing musician and singer.)
Anyways, until the set closer (The Weight, which has been the closer at many Soul Stew shows this month) it seemed very few people were as awestruck as I was (not that I was there for validation of my opinion), but it turned out they were just old. The roar from the capacity crowd was evidence of time and money well spent. I didn't see any tapers, but if anybody knows of a source of tonight's show out there, please send me an email. I'd love to get a copy. Those of you who live in a town this show is coming to are hereby highly encouraged to get tickets if you haven't already done so. Those of you who had a chance to see it but missed it because you were tired from working on the lawn all day... well, I'm just glad I'm not you.
- Switzerland Trail / Pennsylvania Gulch loop: A nice and easy climb with a hair-raising descent. PA Gulch probably has too many babyheads to consider it a great downhill, but for those who like to earn their downhills, the Switzerland Trail is about as easy of a way to do that as you could find.
- Sourdough Trail: I liked the tail, but got eaten alive by both mosquitoes and the elevation (I started at the South Terminus, 9,200'), and ultimately turned around after about 2 miles. This will be a good trail to come back to and test my lungs once the mosquitoes die off.
- Heil Ranch with the Wild Turkey addition: Eureka! In terms of technical difficulty, this is a beginner ride for sure, but it made me feel like a beginner on the ascent, so it'll be a good one to come back to. This is probably the most enjoyable singletrack I've found in Boulder County so far. [I include Walker Ranch in that statement because I rode terribly at Walker... note to self, add both Heil Ranch and Walker to to-do list.]
The evening started out with several songs from Scrapomatic, who came on right as I took my seat. I immediately recognized the vocals of Mike Mattison from his DTB work, but didn't know he had a band outside of DTB. The music was good, but the surrounding audience left a bit to be desired. As soon as the ladies behind me started talking about how they hoped the show didn't go past 10:30 because that would be past their bedtime, I knew I had to move. [Captain Obvious at that point: "Well, Brett, let's just take a look around and ask why you're single, when you spend your Saturday nights at concerts with people twice your age..."] When Scrapomatic finished I got up and headed to the beer line. The Twisted Pine was worth the wait, but I was bummed to see the band walking from the bus into the auditorium with 5 people in front of me in line, and even more disappointed to see the sign telling me I couldn't take my beer into the auditorium. Okay, fine, I'll just have a water... SOLD OUT! Back to beer then... 4 minutes later (sorry Brown Ale, no time to savor...) I tossed my empty cup in the recycle bin and made my way back inside to catch the 2nd song. [According to http://dtbsetlists.com/setlist.php?id=2966, I missed Don't Do It.] By that point I couldn't find any open seats with a decent view, so I headed to the back for a stand-up dance show. The crowd was much more worthy of my company back there :) [Somebody behind me was puffing the really really kind back there.] The next 1:45 was easily one of the best shows I've ever been to. There were several covers (Freddie's Dead, The Weight, Don't Keep Me Wonderin' to name a few) but the original material shined for me. I was, however, quite impressed with the version of The Allman Brothers' Don't Keep Me Wonderin'... Derek was seriously channeling Duane at times. I laughed when it started because I wasn't sure anybody else recognized the song even though I was the one not yet born when Idlewild South came out. Speaking of channeling, I have to say I was blown away by Susan's guitar prowess. That woman can play!!! At one point she pulled out the wah-wah and it sounded like a bit like Jimi. As an added bonus, her vocals were superior to what I have heard in her studio work. I have come up with a list of things I wouldn't do for, with, or to a girl who could sing and play like that for me:
1.
(I have to admit that joke is borrowed from something I read about Erin Andrews, which I would also generally agree with even though she's a UF Gator alum, but seriously, congratulations Derek, your wife is an amazing musician and singer.)
Anyways, until the set closer (The Weight, which has been the closer at many Soul Stew shows this month) it seemed very few people were as awestruck as I was (not that I was there for validation of my opinion), but it turned out they were just old. The roar from the capacity crowd was evidence of time and money well spent. I didn't see any tapers, but if anybody knows of a source of tonight's show out there, please send me an email. I'd love to get a copy. Those of you who live in a town this show is coming to are hereby highly encouraged to get tickets if you haven't already done so. Those of you who had a chance to see it but missed it because you were tired from working on the lawn all day... well, I'm just glad I'm not you.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
selling my body parts to afford Ticketmaster fees
Ticketmaster sucks.
No, seriously Ticketmaster, I can't wait for you to get "Microsoffed" into oblivion by some smaller, cheaper competitor that won't tack on 40% extra to buy a $36.50 concert ticket. Is there any justifiable reason that is necessary? And this is without the "most convenient" delivery method of "print" where you add another $2.50... for me to use my own printer, paper and ink.
No, seriously Ticketmaster, I can't wait for you to get "Microsoffed" into oblivion by some smaller, cheaper competitor that won't tack on 40% extra to buy a $36.50 concert ticket. Is there any justifiable reason that is necessary? And this is without the "most convenient" delivery method of "print" where you add another $2.50... for me to use my own printer, paper and ink.
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