latest / older / g-book / profile / d-land

"I'm playin', dog"

The end of last week was beyond busy. I got off work on Friday afternoon, came home, ran a few errands and had about five minutes to get ready to meet my sister to drive back to Illinois for this fish fry thing my mom and dad wanted us to go to for my grandma's birthday. I didn't have time, really, but I went anyway. Came home later that night and had to rush around picking up the apartment and packing for Chicago the next day.

Chicago was awesome. The weather was brilliant, kind of brisk yet sunny. Finally found a place to park although our hotel room wasn't going to be ready till 4pm, so we went on our way. Walked around for a while then took the El to Michigan Ave. so Erin could do some shopping. Ate dinner after that at some random Vienna Beef place before heading back to get ready for the show.

Marillion. Live. Finally.
Seriously, I bought my first album of theirs seven years ago *right* after they finished what would be the last tour they did here until this one. So I've been waiting what feels like forever to finally see them in concert. And I wasn't disappointed, not in the least. The "Marbles" set was spellbinding, with almost nothing going wrong and tons of things going better than right. The Invisible man was intense, Angelina was dreamy & groovy, You're Gone was electric, and Neverland was awash in monster guitar lines, Steve H singing his heart out, and a spotlight on the disco ball hanging from the roof. The second set (and first, second, and third (!) encores) was just as good, they dug out just about all of the songs I'd want to hear them play, including my all-time favorite Afraid Of Sunlight. The solos soared in The Great Escape, and the Park West rocked to the point where it felt like it was going to fall down to a huge Between You And Me.

The show was just everything I'd hoped it would be and more. I just wanted to find the band and say "thanks -- just thanks". Oh, and I even ran into John Wesley out in the lobby after the show. He no longer looks like Jesus, but he still rocks. I shook his hand & told him he did a great opening set and that it was great to see him play again, finally. I felt bad that I didn't have any cash left to buy one of his sampler CDs.

So yeah, it was amazing. Erin and I walked back to the hotel aftewards and slept like logs. Drove back home this afternoon and have spent this evening just chilling out and watching the Rams game.

Stuart Scott drives me fucking batty. At the moment he's doing Sportscenter in an all-tan suit. Tan jacket, tan pants, tan shirt and tan tie. It's like he's wrapped in a croissant. Dammit ESPN, I just want sports highlights without heavy metal soundtracked, letterboxed "ultimate highlight" segments, without a blaring hip-hop attitude & 'boo yas', and without ridiculous made for TV movies, 'original dramas' or reality shows. ESPN, if you are not airing a sporting event of some type, you should be showing me a non-annoying Sportscenter. No bullshit, no celebrity poker, no Good Morning America-esque morning shows, just the basics. Come on now, work with me here.

I'm on vacation this week, hell yeah! Going down to Cape tomorrow afternoon to hang out with Ryan H, which should be great, I haven't seen him for a couple of months at least.

And now it's almost betime, I think. Later gators.

then / now