Monday, October 13, 2014

It's been a while

Its been quite a while since my last post. Sorry about that. I never proclaimed that I was good at this. I write when I have something to write about. Looks like today is one of those day. Catching up... A pretty uneventful end to my Summer. I did attend the 2014 Milwaukee Firkin Craft Beer Festival, which is always an amazing time. Other than that, just a lot of chilling at home and hanging with friends.

Participated in Open Doors Milwaukee. It's a great event, sponsored by the Milwaukee Historical Society, in which many buildings and facilities in and around the city open their doors for tours. Many of them open areas that are not normally open for viewing, such as the observation deck of the U.S. Bank Building (the tallest building in Milwaukee). What a view of the city! We also checked out Historic Turner Hall (still have concerts here), Milwaukee Blacksmith, Newsroom and Safe House, Riverside Theater (another concert venue), the National Ace Hardware building, and finishing, appropriately at Brenner Brewing Company.  Doors Open Milwaukee is a great time to explore this great city.

At the end of September, I had a trip scheduled to Baltimore for a professional conference. My brother had also invited me back to Connecticut to go to a concert, which so happened to be the day before I had to be in Maryland. Well, seeing as it was so close to my mother's birthday (Oct. 3), I decided to fly in a little early, unannounced, and surprise her. The surprise worked quite well as she and my dad were not expecting to see me walk in the house. My brother and I took them to dinner for her birthday. The next day, my brother and I went to a car show, where he entered his rebuilt 1998 Mustang GT. Lots of cool cars there.  An hour or so later and we headed off to the Mohegan Sun Casino, where the concert was. What concert? Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat, Hellyeah, and Nothing More. Fantastic show!  Nothing More was really great! Lots of energy and sounded fantastic! Check them out. I've seen Hellyeah a few times before, as I have FFDP, and both lived up to expectations. Volbeat is a band that I've been really listening to a lot lately. Such a different sound. Kind of hillbilly rock with an Elvis twist. Lead singer, Michael Poulsen, body surfed right over top of me as he delivered a t-shirt to a young fan. Great show! No pictures because I forgot to charge my camera's battery.

The following weekend after the concert, I went to Heat It Up!, Milwaukee's Bloody Mary and Chili festival. I love Bloody Mary's and on a chilly day, thought this would be a great event. Well, after just over an hour and numerous samples, I actually felt like I was going to get sick.  Didn't need to see another tomato for a while. Glad I gave it a shot though. There is always some cool festival happening somewhere in the city.

This brings me to the past weekend. A few friends and I took in a fantastic concert in a newer concert venue down in Sturtevant, WI, called Route 20 Outhouse. A very small restaurant/bar type of place with a stage on one side. Not quite as big as The Brat Stop, but similar in design. We ate dinner up stairs along the balcony and stayed there for the show. Oh, who did we see?  We were there to see Thousand Foot Krutch, a Christian rock band from Canada. I've been wanted to see this band for a few years now. Well worth the wait! The other bands were Mind Merchant, The Lately, and We As Human, From beginning to end, a great show, but I was there to see TFK. They played several songs off their latest album, Oxygen: Inhale (Born This Way, War of Change, and Give It To Me), and a collection of favorites from earlier albums (Light Up the Sky, The End Is Where We Begin, Move, and Fire It Up). Fantastic concert! I hope they come back around soon. Summerfest 2015?  Guess we'll have to wait and see.

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