Because Halloween is fast approaching, and because jillapalooza needed a makeover, I bring you the new theme: myHalloween. Enjoy it for a limited time.
Summer Concert Series
This summer was full of fun concerts. Here’s a summary of the ones I went to.
No Doubt
Blog Reader Kristen and I started the summer concert season out with a little No Doubt and Paramore action. Nothing like a couple groups of rocker chick lead singers to feel all empowered.
Bedouin Soundclash kicked off the show. I remember enjoying them, so I’ll have to go check out some of their albums.
Paramore was great to watch. Hayley Williams has such a powerhouse voice and she’s so cute and punk rockerish. One of the guitarists was doing flips while playing the guitar on stage.
No Doubt was amazing on stage. They were so quirky and didn’t lose the essense of who they were 10 years ago. They had a wacky wardrobe and were crazy on stage. Gwen Stefani looks awesome too.
One of the best parts of the concert was during the encore. Paramore and Bedouin Soundclash came on stage and sang the song with No Doubt, and there was a drum that everyone banged on. It was fun to hear them all singing at once.
Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures. We were too far away from the stage to get anything good during Paramore, and during No Doubt the girl next to me (who was actually in front of me from the angle we were at) was quite tall and large and dancing the entire time, so I couldn’t really see the stage ever. And my camera at the time really sucked. There were lots of creatively dressed people in the audience, very interesting hair too, but none of those pics turned out in the dim lighting.
The Fray
On July 21st Renee and I went to The Fray concert. Jack’s Mannequin opened for them. The only song I had heard of theirs was before the concert “The Mix Tape” and it’s one of my favorite songs. They were good, but mosty the lead singer kept me entertained. When he played the piano he would sit facing the side toward the audience and he would just rock out. I was surprised he could play at all while doing that, it was crazy. Toward the end of their set he also jumped up on top of the piano. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I would think about doing if I had a grand piano in front of me is leap on top of it.
The Fray were fantastic. The lead singer Isaac Slade sings with so much emotion and all their songs are all so great. Piano standing must be a theme with these guys because he jumped up on the piano just like Jack’s Mannequin did.
Kings of Leon
Blog Reader Kristen and I attended the Kings of Leon concert last night. White Lies, a band from London, opened the show. Neither BRK or I had heard of them but we both enjoyed their set.
Kings of Leon put on a great show. They have great music and they sound just as good live as they do on recordings. The lead singer, Caleb Followill, has a great voice. It’s gravely, but smooth, and he can sing or scream equally as well. I also think they have good personalities. They were really personable, talking about how they attended the Vikings game the night before and celebrated the big win even though they aren’t from here, and they didn’t need to emphasize with the f-bomb every time they talked to the crowd. And apparently yesterday was special because they had their first #1 hit, I assume it was “Use Somebody” because Caleb held up his index finger for a little while before the song started. The only thing I was disappointed about was they didn’t play “Closer” which is one of my favs.
The audience was a completely different facet of entertainment. Lots of interesting people, in looks, clothing and personality. Stand outs of the evening include a guy who towered over everyone on the floor but was considerate enough to stand off to the side. And let us not forget the security guards that were rocking out.
There was also a group of guys that were dancing and getting progressively more drunk throughout the evening. I probably would have been content watching them all night if the view didn’t get blocked half way through KOL’s set. I took this video of them, but at the time I didn’t realize it was a bad idea to hold the camera portrait style. Just tip your head sideways, because it’s totally worth the irritation.
There was also a guy dancing on the stairs across the Target Center from us. He was really getting into it and the security guard kept sending him up to his seat. During the encore BRK saw him take a swing at one of the guards and he got taken out, struggling the whole way. Good times, good times. I will definitely see KOL next time they come to the Twin Cities.
That wraps up this summer’s concert series blog post!!
Dive Fest PADI #79 Fest 2009, part 4
We left Blog Cabin a little after 7am and ate breakfast at North Country Cafe again. We lost Adam because he left Saturday night, but we gained Susan during the meal. Kristen and I weren’t too game on diving again so we went to HQ for the final clue while the boys went directly to the site to gear up (PADI #79 for those who are just tuning in). I think at this point [most] everyone wanted us to find it. The clue was “107′ from the platform, 47′ from the first post 22′ from the second post, in 28′ of water… might be slighty covered.” So much for all the effort we put in not disturbing the bottom.
I called Curtis with the clue as Kristen drove us back to the site. They were in the water but hadn’t started their dive yet when we arrived. Shortly after we got there three cars came flying into the site. Paula and three other divers whose names I don’t remember. It took them so long before they all got suited up and in the water that I was surprised they were even trying to search for it. I don’t think anyone can quite fathom how meticulously we combed that site over the entire weekend.
After the four of them were in the water Kristen and I headed up the hill to try to find the boys. The wind made them hard to find, but we eventually saw their bubbles across the way. We could only assume they had found the medallian right away and were continuing on a leisurely dive.
It felt like an eternity, but we finally saw them swimming back to shore. It took an equally long time for them to get completely out of the water, but Curtis emerged wearing the medallion around his neck.
Instead of going back to HQ and gloating we opted for going back to the cabin to pack up our belongings and take short naps. We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch on the way back to the campgrounds. They had a new blizzard: Cookie Jar. Oreos, cookie dough and fudge. Mmmm. I got a medium because it was my birthday weekend.
Since we didn’t collect any poker chips over the weekend, we had to sit and watch everyone else win prizes. None of us won a raffle either, but I suppose it was all worth it to have Curtis get the medallion for free fun dives all next year.
What a great way to end the season. Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze another dive or two in. Maybe at PADI #79 for old time’s sake…
Dive Fest 2009, part 3
Kristen was just getting back with Ted’s truck full of full tanks when we finished the dive. Fortunately for us the other divers hadn’t found the medallion either. It was about 1pm and we were starting to have hunger pains. Since we only had an hour before the next clue reveal we had to come up with a strategic plan. Kristen volunteered yet again to pick up Subway sandwiches for lunch. I volunteered to sit out the next dive so I could drive back to HQ by my onsie and call in the 2pm clue to the gang[bangers].
The next clue was something along the lines of “from the SE corner of the platform, go 120 degrees, let the fence be your guide.” Todd also reminded us there were two platforms. Having two platforms wasn’t much of an issue, since 120 degrees from the welding platform led smack dab into the shore. Curtis, Kristen, Ted and Adam were already in the water when I got back to the site. Mike sat this dive out as well. I was surprised that no one from HQ arrived at PADI #79 behind me. One of the two “other diver” cars had already left.
To our shock no one from our group found the medallion and the other group of two were just as unsuccessful. We discussed where to go for our night dive when we came to the realization that we had no other decision than to dive PADI #79 again. We drove back to HQ with out empty tanks, then ate dinner at Louie’s Bucket of Bones. After dinner we booked it back to HQ but the tanks weren’t back yet. It was 7pm and starting to get dark, so we grabbed four rental tanks and hightailed it back to PADI #79.
Dive Fest 2009, part 2
After finishing up our dive we drove back to HQ to drop off our empty tanks so we would have them by the next morning. There was some live entertainment by a few of the divers that work for MSD. As entertaining as it might have been we opted for dinner instead. Since Gary’s, our favorite pop-by-the-can restaurant, had apparently closed it’s doors we drove around Crosby looking for a tasty looking place. I spotted a restaurant off the main drag called Ya Betcha. It was a nice little place with delicious food and a sign that said “welcome bikers” (no mention of whether or not they welcome back door guests). I’d eat there again.
We were all pretty tired after dinner so we decided to head back to Blog Cabin to hang our stuff to dry and hit the hay. I think we all knew that nothing was going to dry in the rainy condition that the weather was in. Dried wet suits are pipe dreams during Dive Fest. However, I would much rather struggle to put on a soggy suit for the entire weekend then have the water pump be on the fritz. That was unfortunate.
In the morning we were all out of bed by 6:30ish. That’s 6:30AM… Happy Birthday to me indeed. We left the waterless cabin by 7am and opted to try a new place for breakfast. That decision may or may not have to do with Mike and Kristen finding ants in the syrup at our regular haunt. Since North Country Cafe was on the Dive Fest sponsor list and was listed as having “fabulous breakfast” we decided to try our luck there.
We picked a nice round table at the front of the restaurant. The service and the food was good. We even met a nice gentleman who asked us where we were from, then proceeded to tell us about all the gang bangers in our areas and how he used to hear gun shots all the time and even got stabbed in the face *pointed to scar* when he lived in the cities. Yikes. I don’t even think I’ve seen a “gang banger” in real life. Good thing my back was to him because I kept having to face away from him to hide my smile.
Once at HQ we packed up our filled tanks and waited for the next medallion clue. Adam was there waiting for us already, another welcome addition to our quest. Todd gave us the question regarding the dive table. Good thing Ted had a table with him. The question involved finding the minimum surface interval required between two dives, that number would be a hint for the dive site. It took us a bit of speculating since we all have computers and no one remembered how to use the dive table. Todd did coach us a little bit as everyone had cleared out to go dive. We finally figured it out… 1:19 was the answer. As Math Wiz Kristen pointed out, the answer is also 79.
On the way back to PADI #79 I kept having nightmarish visions of all the vehicles that had time to beat us there, but as we pulled down the hill there was no one. There were other people spotted with dive tables, did they not figure it out? Or were they not in it for the medallion? It made no sense. We wasted no time suiting up for the dive.
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