concerts (2)

Social Calendar

If you’ve been following my blog for any amount of time, you’ve probably noticed that I have a hard time sitting still for long. I’m impulsive and daring, and love to try new things and going places. I was marking up my new calendar at work with everything going on in the next few months…and it’s going to be a blast!

Jan 24: Touring Athens, GA with my friend “Tall Amy” from HS

Jan 29-Feb 1: California. I’ll spend Friday at Disneyland with Liz, an evening with friends Friday night, and go to Hizzeather’s wedding reception Saturday and a Nikki Forova Concert. Hopefully Taylor will join Rosie and I, since he’ll have that weekend off (*note* if you’re a friend that want to see me Friday in Cali, let me know)

Feb 5-7: The weekend of my birthday. Taylor is on reserve for the 5th (my actual birthday) but he’s off for the rest of the weekend. Friday night we’re going to have a birthday/housewarming party, and Saturday we’ll tour cool destinations in Atlanta (World of Coca-Cola, CNN Tour, Georgia Aquarium, etc)

Feb 14: Valentine Day. Taylor’s got something up his sleeve

Feb 17-19: Three Fox Elipsus Concerts in the Atlanta area (and if I weren’t at those, I’d be seeing Nathan McEuen in Nashville)

Feb 20-22: Texas. I’m going to stay with my HS friend Janet Jackson (except she’s not famous nor skanky) and tour the Dallas/Fort Worth Area. And hopefully hit Six Flags over Texas at some point

Feb 27: Missy Higgins and Justin Nozuka Concert at the CW Loft

March 17: NKOTB concert in Greenville, SC (I’ve got an extra ticket if you’re interested)

March 19: A big gala event for work that I get to be all fancied up for

April 3-5: Chicago for Pilot Wives Club Meet-up!

NKOTB Revisited

NKOTB announced another leg of their tour. Unfortunately, they won’t be performing this time in Atlanta, and the closest location in Greenville, SC. It will be on Tuesday, March 17th (St. Patricks Day). It’s about a 2 hour drive from here. Tickets go on sale January 24th, and will probably be around $40. I’ll probably drive out after work, sleep over in a hotel, and come back early in the morning for work. Anyone with me?

The Block

Rosie had such a blast getting ready for the concert! I let her wear her sparkly shirt, makeup, and jewelry. She made the poster, but unfortunately the ticket-takers said no posters were allowed, so we had to put it back in the car.
I was actually pretty impressed with the Palace at Auburn Hills. It looks like it probably received some recent upgrades, because there are restaurants and more-modern-looking features than some other arenas I’ve visited. This pic was taken between Natasha Bedingfield and NKOTB.
Look at my grown-up little girl! She says that Joe is her favorite. Probably because I showed her the original video to “Please Don’t Go Girl,” where Joey is only about 3 years older than she is now.
Even with all the concerts I’ve been to, I have to rate this as one of the most entertaining. It brought back so many nostalgic memories, and I created some new ones with Rosie. The lady sitting next to us couldn’t believe that Rosie knew the words to so many of the songs!
There’s quite a few videos on YouTube from this concert tour, including I’ll be Loving You Forever, Step by Step, and bare-chested Jordan singing Baby I Believe in You.

IT’S ON


Just like Donnie punches into his Blackberry at the beginning of the “Summertime” music video….it’s on. I just won my ebay auction for tickets to the NKOTB concert tonight. I got the pair for $75, which is actually one dollar less than face value before convenience fees would be. I’m glad I didn’t buy them on Ticketmaster yesterday…my patience saved me $24. Rosie and I are so excited. She wants to make posters and wear makeup.

Tempted…

Ever since I heard about the New Kids on the Block reunion tour, I’ve really wanted to go to their reunion concert. My first concert, February 14, 1991 was NKOTB at the Memorial Colosseum in Portland, OR. I’ve never denied how much I love NKOTB….even as embarrassing as that may be. I’ve debated and debated over if it’s worth the cost that a pair of tickets would be…as Rosie has already been tainted my my teenybopper obsession and can sing along to about 10 of their songs. Then I heard the date, and connected that it was the same day as Rosie’s Halloween carnival at school. I downloaded “The Block” this week, and very surprised at how much I liked it. But this morning, there was a commercial on the morning news…saying that the NKOTB concert was on Saturday, not Friday. Suddenly the option to go is available again, since the carnival is tonight. Should I do it?

A few good things

After such a downer post, here are a few good things….

-The Ben Folds Concert- Mike, Erin and I drove out to Adrian to see Ben Folds last night. It was over an hour each way on winding country roads, but the music was great. Even if the music wasn’t good…it was worth going to see obese toga girl and the girl who danced like a maniac while everyone else stood still.

-A few tiny buds on trees- We might actually see some green in Michigan soon. I’m so sick of the color gray.

-Payday- We can pay most of our past due bills this month. It still blows my mind that Taylor’s student loan payments are over $1500/month.

-Taylor- He gets home from a week of high-speeds to Montreal. I’ll get to see him more than an hour a day until Sunday night.

My concert addiction

Current mood: nostalgic

If anyone knows me well, I’ve always been a concert junkie. Ever since I first saw New Kids On The Block at the Memorial Coloseum in Portland in 1991, I was hooked. As a teenager, I always wanted to go to concerts, especially pop-alternative groups. In fact, once I had a #2 wristband for Duran Duran, but my parents wouldn’t take me and I couldn’t find anyone to go with (this was about a month after I moved to Utah.) Those seats would have been awesome!

The next concert I went to was in 1997 for U2′s Popmart Tour. It was at the old Rice Stadium at the UofU. That concert was great! I went with so many cool people, and the showmanship and music was incredible! I thought that show could never been beaten in excitement, and to date it’s still one of my favorite concerts.

Sometimes people ask me all the concerts I’ve been to, so here’s a list off the top of my head. I’ve excluded the opening acts and local/LDS performers because the list would be infinitely longer, unless their show was terribly awesome or influential:

NKOTB 1991

U2 1997, 2005

Savage Garden 1997

Lilith Fair 1998 (Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Cowboy Junkies, Lisa Loeb, etc)

Weird Al Yankovich 1999

Chicago 2000

They Might Be Giants 2000

Sarah McLachlan 1998, 2004 (the night Taylor decided he wanted to marry me)

Barenaked Ladies 2002, 2004

Sugar Ray 2003

Matchbox Twenty 2003

Dixie Chicks 2003?

Butterfly Boucher 2004 (twice)

Sting 2005

Depeche Mode 2005

Howard Jones 2005

Howie Day 2004, 2005

Michelle Branch 2004

Maroon5 2004

Kelly Clarkson 2004, 2006 (Rosie’s first concert)

John Mayer 2004, 2006, 2007

Keane 2006, 2007

Rob Thomas 2005

Anna Nalick 2005

Missy Higgins 2005 (an Aussie, one of the best undiscovered talents EVER)

I know there are more that I am missing, but this is just the big name concerts I’ve been to. I’m sure I’ve been to at least 50 smaller-name concerts and local-type shows. I’m always up for a show, so if you get extra tickets or want someone to go with, give me a holla!

But the reason I wrote this blog was to write about my adventure with Lizzie last weekend for the John Mayer/Ben Folds/Rocco DeLuca concert at the Hollywood Bowl. I purchased the tickets in March to go with Taylor, but it didn’t work out for him to go since he’s neck-deep in training at Jet U. So Lizzie and I went, and by the advice of a coworker, we went to Pasadena to the stop for the BowlBus Shuttle. I was told about the madness of the Bowl traffic and parking, so we thought we’d be responsible and economical and take the shuttle. Unfortunately, I read the website wrong and we missed the last shuttle. We had to drive to Hollywood anyway. We drove for almost two hours looking for a parking spot, and the cheapest one was $30 almost 2 miles away. We didn’t have anough cash on us to park at most places. So we drove around and around and got hit on by this Haitian Rapper in his funky van, waved to a Raider in a limo (I can’t remember his him right off), had a few near-death experiences on Cahuenga, and minute by minute missed more of the show. We finally got in touch with Lizzie’s cousin Patrick who lives in Hollywood. He saved the day by letting us park at his place, and then dropping us off at the show. By the time we got seated, it was 9:45, and John Mayer was 2/3 through his set. We’d missed Rocco and Ben Folds entirely

But the songs we did catch were awesome (Dreaming with a Broken Heart, Why Georgia, Waiting on the World, Stop this Train, Vultures,Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, Gravity, and I’m Gonna Find Another You) I wasn’t too broken up about missing the rest of John’s show since I saw him less than a year ago when Continuum came out. I was however, very very bummed to miss Ben Folds. He doesn’t tour very much, so that was my only downside to the night.

I have to say, though…Lizzie makes every situation enjoyable. Even though we missed so much of the concert, we jammed to some good tunes, laughed at the hillarity of the other people madly trying to find parking, and we had fun grabbing hot chocolate with Patrick after the show. I was so tired after it all, that Lizzie drove home and I crashed on her couch.

It’s nights like this I’ll never forget!

Currently listening :
More Than You Think You Are
By Matchbox Twenty
Release date: 19 November, 2002

So Much to Say

So Much to Say
Wow….I haven’t updated in a few days….and when life is eventful….the posts tend to be clipped short to fit it all in. Here’s the rundown:

Sunday:
Watched the MoTab’s 75th Anniversary Broadcast. I want to be a part of them someday.
Church was excellent. Feeling the spirit more and more each week.
Rosie still in Idaho for Butler Family Reunion. Slight pangs of sadness.

Met Martel and Sharol, Taylor’s uncle and aunt in Sandy. They live right by GG & Pop’s place on Campus Drive. They have beautiful twins, Bailey and Bennett, six weeks old. It was so fun to hold little bebees! And Taylor was dang cute holding them too. Ate some of Sharol’s BTS cake, and I stumbled over trying to make a joke about it (I bet its not as good as mine!) Took some nice pictures from their balcony, and felt very comfortable. (Much more confortable than it EVER was meeting the Perrys)

Took a drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon, listening to a mix CD Taylor made for me (Including: Hold Me Now, For Once in My Life, Sarah singing Rainbow Connection, and GROWING PAINS theme song!) Drove up to Brighton, watched the clouds float and sun set. Enjoyed each other’s company…it was terribly nice to be together alone. I can’t even count the times he told me how beautiful I am. *sigh*

Monday:
No concentration at work. Listened to Fumbling Towards Ecstasy on repeat.

After work, ran to pick up a pizza for dinner and Rosie. Taylor came over to have dinner and work on my computer while I got ready for the concert. Chatted with Tonya about wedding plans….funny how I was a little jealous of her. She took some pics of us on my digital camera, but unfortunately they didn’t come out very clear. I vamped up my hair with some big sexy curls (which I don’t think I’ve done in months and months) Taylor said I looked great, but he likes me with my hair straight better.

We got to the E-Center with enough time to hit up the radio station drawings. I ran into Jorge from work with his wife, they looked almost as happy to be there as Tay and I. We were in section 103, which was just a few feet left of the stage, and we were in the center of row 13. EXCELLENT seats…worth the $150 I forked out for them. Butterfly Boucher was the opening act, who also opened for BNL. She is very cool, need to download “Little White Dash.”

As for Sarah….words cannot describe how incredible the show was. She opened with “Fallen.” The stage was very cool….almost a fantasy/LOTR landscapey thing going on. We were close enough to the stage to check out her facial expressions, but we were very very close to the video screen, so nothing was left up to the imagination. Her set list was amazing…the WHOLE Afterglow album, most of Surfacing and Fumbling, and a few early songs I didn’t recognize. She even did a little “You are my Sunshine,” and Blackbird. I could go on and on for hours about how amazing it was, if you want the full rundown….contact me!

I ended up buying her postcard set, and a poster of Afterglow. It was pouring rain as we went out to the car. Traffic wasn’t too terrible to get out and get home. When we pulled up to my house, Taylor said how he wished the night didn’t have to end there. He walked me to my door, and realized that he hadn’t put my computer back together. So he came in, and he joked “You know, we’re going to have to put my computer at this desk!” And from then on out, or conversation had a very positive spin towards the future. He didn’t propose, but he said that nothing could make him happier than the thought of me being his wife. And once that topic is mentioned, it’s hard not to fanasize about what that would be like. This should be an interesting next few months. We stayed up talking until 3 am, and I didn’t want the night to end.

Tuesday:
Work was a bugger, having only 3.5 hours of sleep. Team meeting was okay, found out I’ll be shortly moving cubicles again. *ick*
Went to Enrichment night, Preparedness night. Tried freeze dried refried beans and other lovely food storage creations.
Had a very very nice phone convo with Taylor, reminiscing of the previous night. Didn’t want to use up all of his minutes on his phone, so we IM’d for a while as he did homework and I made a child support spreadsheet. Steve owes me $300, but there’s still the inheritance issue. Ohhh….I can’t wait until he gives up on getting his money back. Grrrr

Wednesday:
Nothing too exciting, other than talking to Taylor a few times. He called me at work, and my coworkers joked about me saying “I love you too,” at the end of the conversation.
Picked up some CDs at the library to burn, almost done, then heading home to bed

Flying Solo on Friday

Friday night I went to the Octapella concert alone at Brigham Young park. I had never seen them before, but they were very fun to see! They do a little cheezy choreography with the show, but they have some great numbers. I especially liked “Kiss the Girl,” “Light in your Eyes,” and “BALD-hemian Rhapsody.” I would have bought their CDs had I brought cash. Tyson and I had mentioned getting together for the performance, but he ended up staying home.

Afterwards I went to Trolley Square for the Steve Ames dance. It was free (Ladies Night!) so I figured what the heck. I didn’t know anyone but Mark Eborn (cute bookstore boy…who asked me if I wanted to M-O again. LOL) I met up with some girls and they were fun to chill with. I did some kareoke (“Building a Mystery”) There were a few people at the dance which I loved chilling with. One was Bryce who was in SLC visiting from BYUI (originally from Cali) and he was a total cutie. Only been home from his mish for a month or so, so a bit on the awkward side….but we had a great time Kareokeing to “LOVE SHACK!” I also met Wade, who invited me to Dees with some other people.

There were eight of us at Dees. We played some fun icebreakers like Two Truths and a Lie, and Describing our First Kiss. Wade was pretty flirty with me, but a guy named Nate also caught my attention. He was a bit of a trophy boy (Duke grad, Marketing job with Zions Securities, drives a sweet bimmer, used to model for Quicksilver) and although we exchanged numbers, I doubt I’ll hear from him again unless it is with this group. It’s been a while since I’ve gone out after a dance, and I didn’t get home until 4 am. I was sleepy, but it was nice having the option to sleep in until 9:30.

I am driving 85 in the kind of morning that lasts all afternoon….

Words to describe the John Mayer concert? Amazing? Incredible? Entertaining? Eclectic? Steve suprised me with a beautiful pink rose. We ate island food courtesy of the consession stands. Maroon 5 was very cool….although I think I enjoyed them more than Steve did. Lizzy is going to burn me a copy of “Songs about Jane.” Ralin was there on a meet-and-greet. Boy was I jealous!

I have heard that John Mayer is one of the most underrated guitarists of the day, and I would tend to believe it. The video screens on the sides of the stage did many closeups of his hands, which were simultaneously burning up the strings. I was soooo impressed. Here is his set list courtesy of johnmayer.com

July 8, 2004 Salt Lake City,UT (NaCl-ville)

No Such Thing
New Deep
Whe Georgia
Come Back to Bed
My Stupid Mouth
Something’s Missing
Not Myself
Clarity
Your Body is A Wonderland
Old Love
Bigger Than My Body
Encore: Tracing (new for next album) Back to You, Neon

If I ever was a John Mayer fan…it is now! I decided to spend some money on some souveniers. I got a pink and white wristband, some stickers, and a blue t-shirt with a construction vehicle that says “DIG!” on the back. Afterwards Steve and I went to Denneys and got peanut butter cup pie drizzled with caramel. MM MM Good! Very fun night, right up there with the BNL concert.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Heavier Things