I went to a country concert....

and a rock concert broke out (or I should say, "tried" to break out).

Sara, Kristen and I went to the new arena on UVA's campus to see Kenny Chesney. It was a very entertaining show, as I expected. I'm not really a country fan. I don't go out of my way to listen to it, but if I happen to come across a station on the radio, I won't immediately turn the channel. I've only been to 3 country concerts, and have never paid more than $10 to go to any of them. Everytime I've gone to one though, the thing that sticks out to me is the number of rock songs that were either teased, or outright covered.

One of the opening acts was a guy named Phil Vassar, who apparently is from nearby Lynchburg (about an hour south of C'ville). He only mentioned about 5 times each song, how happy he was to be "home". When he initally took the stage, he and his band started the show by playing "Baba O'Riley" by The Who (also the theme song to one of the CSI shows on TV). He then segwayed that into one of his normal songs. After the first song, he and his band broke out into "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5, which was then segwayed into another one of his songs. I thought I was sensing a theme here. For most of the rest of his set, he just played his stuff, until at the end when he and his band broke out into "Kasmir" by Led Zeppelin, and also a little "Day Tripper" by the Beatles. So we have The Who, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles all covered in one set. Two of my all time top 5 favorite bands.

Next up was Kenny, who took to the stage with a little "Streets Have No Name" by U2. Most of his set was cover free until 3/4 of the way through when Uncle Kracker (Detroit represent!!) showed up on stage. Uncle Kracker and Kenny sang Uncle Kracker's hit "Follow Me" along with Kid Rock's "Cowboy" and followed up with Uncle Kracker's cover of "Drift Away".

My question, is 1.) Why do country musicians cover so much stuff in concert, and 2.)Why do they cover rock songs? The only other country artist I've seen was some dude named Clay Walker. When I saw him (Dock got us free tickets, and my roommate Polio and I thought it would be good to go for a laugh) he sang a 45 minute set (no joke), went off stage, then for an encore came out and played another 45 minutes playing nothing but Elvis, Creedence, Van Morrison, and The Eagles (to name a few of the classic rockers that he covered). If I was a hard-core country fan who paid money to see this stuff, I would have been mad. It would be like me going to a rock show, only to have half the show consisting of country or something. I don't mind going to a concert and hearing a cover song or two, I mean I've been to a ton of DMB shows where Watchtower was played, but why do they do so many, and why don't they cover country artists? Its not like there aren't any good country artist to cover (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, Sr., etc..)

Maybe they've always just had dreams of being rockstars, couldn't make it and so they had to settle on country music, so this is how they live out the fantasy.

Today is my Friday, which means a nice 4-day weekend for me. Have a good Labor Day weekend!

Last 5 songs I've listened to:
None - I've been listening to the Tigers-Yankees game.

What the heck!?

For almost as long as I've been working at my current job, I've always seen this strange van parked in the same row as me every day at work. It had a strange math-like equation on the passenger door. I would try to describe it, but really no matter how I could try to describe it, I wouldn't do it justice. Everyday me and my buddy Steve would always make fun of it. Last summer, I started seeing this van in random places. One weekend Sara and I were up in Baltimore, and while in the Washington D.C. area on our way home, I was cruising down the freeway, when this white van comes flying up behind me like a bat out of hell, and flys by me. Strangely enough it was the van I saw and made fun of everyday at work. Later that summer when I would go over to Sara's apartment, I would see the van parked in her parking lot. It started getting wierd. After taking a look at the picture below you'll see why:



One day, against the advice of my buddy Steve, I went to the website listed on the picture (and on their licence plates), I discover its this weird "religion". Its so out there, it makes Scientology seem plausible (ok that's probably a stretch). Are these people following me? If I vanish one day, it very well could be because of them. When I finally found out whose vehicle this was, I discovered that its someone on the same floor as me. Now whenever I see the person around the building, I avoid any eye-contact. I quickly left their website, in fear that the government might be tracking all visitors (since G.W. and the rest of his evil minions like to track the activity of everyone) to that website thinking that anyone who visited that site might be a wacko terrorist or something. There's definitely some strange people out there. Of course I'm sure the arguement could be made that I am weird as well..

On a totally unrealated note, do you know what's awesome? Having a wife who has a cool job. Sara got us free tickets and VIP/Backstage passes for the John Mayer/Sheryl Crow show up in D.C. this weekend. I could careless about Sheryl Crow, but seeing John Mayer will be pretty cool. Plus getting tickets that cost like $60+ each, along with VIP passes (free food and all that good stuff) for free rocks. I then found out today that we might also be getting free tickets to the Kenny Chesney show here in C'ville tomorrow night. Rock on!

Last 5 Songs I listened to:
A Day in the Life - The Beatles
I'm A Believer - Neil Diamond
After Midnight - Eric Clapton
The Captain - Guster
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp - Led Zeppelin

Friday Randomness

- Been a crazy busy week. Probably one of the craziest in the nearly 3 years I've been here. At least it makes the time go by quicker, and I'm definitely not bored.

- I think I may have jinxed the Tigers. I was noticing a couple of weeks ago, that i don't really have much Tigers paraphenalia. I've got a T-shirt, hat, and a batting practice jersey that I bought during their last season at Tigers Stadium, but that's it. I was looking online for another t-shirt, and came across a cool jersey t-shirt of Justin Verlander on ebay, so I bought it. I finally got it last week, and well, they haven't really been playing great lately. The only thing left is for Verlander to get hurt now or something (I probably shouldn't even joke about that). Typical, I have bad karma like that.

- Football season is right around the corner, and I have paid very little attention to it. I'm still playing in 3 fantasy leagues however. I hope Yahoo's player rankings are good, because I'm using those for my drafts. Am I uninterested because I have zero expectations for the Lions this year, or have I just not been paying attention, since the Tigers have been playing so well this year? I'm thinking its a bit of both.

- I came across the following clip earlier today. Its funny, whenever I hear a pop-song done accoustically, I immediately think, "wow..you know, it really isn't that bad of a song". Granted, I really liked (and still do like)the original version of the song, but this is an interesting take on it.



It reminds me of another example from a few years back, of a song I really hated, until I heard the Scottish band Travis play it in concert:


- Speaking of concerts, its been awhile since I've gone to one, and I don't really have any coming up anytime soon either. I would really like to go to this though for a laugh. Sara doesn't seem as interested.

Have a good weekend!

Last 5 songs played on my iPod:
Closet Full of Fear - Hootie & The Blowfish
High - The Cure
Creep - Stone Temple Pilots
In the Blood - Better Than Ezra
Sugar Free Jazz - Soul Coughing

I think I found what I want my next job to be

So I was on my way to work today, when as I was nearing the airport, I saw signs saying that the road was under construction, and there was a 1-lane road ahead. Nothing new, as they've been expanding the airport, and upgrading the roads. Last year, we became a very European-type town, as they installed a traffic circle (or a roundabout) at the entrance of the airport. Anyways, I approach the car who was heading up the line of cars in our lane, waiting for the sign guy to turn the sign so we could go. I watch the cars going in the opposite direction when I see the lead car, a white truck, do a U-turn in front of the pack, and get in front of the car who was leading our lane. On top of the truck was a yellow flashing light, and on the tailgate was a sign that said "Escort Truck". The purpose of this truck was to lead the line of cars down the one lane, past the construction equipment, to the safety of where the road resumed 2 lanes of traffic. I've never seen anything like this before. Every other time I've seen sign people use the STOP and SLOW signs, they usually would just turn the sign letting you know its cool to go, and if you caught them on a good day, they might even wave their arms a bit, like a 3rd base coach waving a runner home...only not as enthusiastically. Seriously, how easy of a job would that be? Lead a line of cars about a quarter-mile down the road, then pull a LEGAL u-turn and proceed back with a new line? The only thing you'd have to worry about is making sure you don't cut the u-turn too wide, and accidentally hit the guy holding the sign. Where can I sign up?

Some random questions to ponder over the weekend:

1.) Why is Brooke Shields famous? I understand that she may have been a popular actress of some sorts when she was a kid, but other than marrying/divorcing Andre Agassi, and having post-partum (spelling?) depression which caused a spat with Tom Cruise, what has she done to help her keep "famous"? As long as I can remember she's been famous, and I sort of just accepted it, but last night I wondered "why?" You may be wondering where this came from, well last night Sara and I were watching TV and a commercial for some acne medicine came on, and bragged about how famous people like Jessica Simpson, P. Diddy, and..Brooke Shields endorse it. It just made me wonder why her endorsing it was a big deal.

2.) Am I the only person who wants to see Snakes on a Plane? The fact that Sam. L. Jackson is in it makes me want to see it. I know it is probably going to be bad, but is that a bad thing if you go in expecting it to be that way? I've always been a fan of Sam. L. Jackson since the time I saw a preview for his movie 'Shaft' way back when, and in the commercial he declaired "It's my duty to please your booty". Priceless.

3.) Is this the Tigers year? I've got a feeling this could be a special year for them. Then again, its been 19 years since they've made the playoffs, so I don't really remember what a playoff season is like for the Tigers.

Last 5 songs played on my iPod:
The Boxer (Live) - Carbon Leaf
Make You Understand - Howie Day
If I Am a Stranger - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
Solitary Man - Neil Diamond
New Orleans is Sinking - The Tragically Hip

In a bit of a music funk

As I listen to my iPod here at work, I find myself lately skipping through a lot of songs, because I'm either bored with them, or just sick of hearing them. It's not like I've been listening to the same stuff over and over, since I've been going through my CD collection, and adding more stuff to my iTunes library, and updating my iPod. I finally realized that I haven't really bought any new stuff lately. About a month ago I bought the new Keane and Guster CD's, and this past weekend, I bought the Gnarls Barkley CD, and I still need to find the new Bob Schneider CD, but that's been about it. The problem is, I don't even know what to buy. I seem to be out of the loop on what's out there anymore, and what I do hear (the rare times that I listen to the radio), I can't stand it because it all sounds the same to me. Most of my favorite bands/performers don't have anything coming out anytime soon (U2 and R.E.M. to name a couple), and the ones that do have something coming out, I'm very skeptical about due to their track record lately (see Dave Matthews Band's last few albums).

Sara had introduced me to some good stuff earlier in the year, with Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins, but other than that, I haven't found anything that's grabbed my attention and made me want to listen to it over and over, or go see the band/artist perform live.

So if anyone has any suggestions on things I should check out, leave 'em in the comments (if anyone acutally reads this)

Last 5 songs played on my iPod:
So Why? - Carbon Leaf
So Damn Lucky - Dave Matthews
Torn to Tattered - Carbon Leaf
Springtime in Vienna - The Tragically Hip
Long Way Down - The Goo Goo Dolls

Prank Calling Will Never Get Old

Anyone who has known me for a long time, knows that I have always enjoyed prank calling people, and if you didn't know that, I'm willing to bet that you aren't suprised by this fact. There were numerous nights of boredom while at college in the lovely city of Ypsilanti, Michigan, where my roommates Joe, Mike, Boner, and myself, would prank call various friends around college, or even the live sexual issues themed show on Public Access cable in Ann Arbor. Our usual victim (we thought) was the answering machine of our friend Philip, who everyone knew as Phil McCracken....just because his name was Phil. We later found out that Phil never received the calls, they went to his neighbor. Of course, we were victims of the pranks as well, as our friend Joe would often call and leave messages claiming to be the owner of some type of sex website, and he was pulling our membership due to one of us not paying our monthly bill. It always seemed to happen when one of our parents was visiting our place. We would come back from dinner, to our apartment, and we'd walk in, see we had a message, and just push the play button and then once we realized what it was, we'd try to push stop, but it was too late. Anyways, we finally all moved out to separate places and the pranking stopped for the most part. Last week that all changed..

I was reading a story about the awesomely horrible looking movie Snakes on a Plane. I read that there was a website where you could enter someone's phone number, along with their name and a couple other tidbits of info, and then Samuel L. Jackson would then call that person telling them to go see the movie. It sounded too good to be true, so I went to check it out. I put in Sara's name, filled out the info, and then previewed what it would sound like. Perfection! It sounded great, so I sent it off to Sara, and minutes later I get an email from her saying she got it, and that it had surprised her. Once I heard that, I went to use it on others. Friends (yes if you got that call, it was probably from me), co-workers, etc. One of my buddy's here, Christian, who I play pranks with quite often, got a call from Lee (a lengendary prankster while in our office) who is in our office in Kansas City, asking why Samuel L. Jackson called him and told him that "he needed to take his life partner Christian to go see Snakes on a Plane". Surprisingly, they don't have a clue that it was me.

Last 5 songs played on my iPod:
The Outsiders - R.E.M.
Glad Tidings - Van Morrison
Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
Ramble On - Led Zeppelin
Old Time Rock & Roll - Bob Segar & the Silver Bullet Band

Testing, testing...

So I thought I'd give this blogging thing a try. Put down random/funny/stupid stuff that happens at work, crazy ideas that pop in my head, or just some incoherent ramblings when I feel the need. Here goes nothing...