Sunday, January 1, 2012
Another year over. And a new one just begun.
Each year as the days on the calendar go by and the year changes to a new one, I like to recount my experiences of the previous year and look forward to what lies ahead. 2011 was a great year full of music, beer, and lots of good times.
Last year I went to quite a few excellent music concerts. I began the year with My Darkest Days and Three Days Grace. I saw an amazing acoustic performance by Chris Cornell (lead singer of such great bands as Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, and Audioslave). In April, I saw Cold, Egypt Central, Kopek, and a few other bands. In May 2011, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee with my Bachelor's Degree in Information Systems & Technology, an achievement that I am very proud of. My brother came to Milwaukee to help me celebrate my graduation weekend and we had a great time. I took him to see Disturbed and Nonpoint at The Rave. Great weekend! The last weekend in May I saw Godsmack and Sully Erna's performance of his solo album Avalon. The Avalon performance was my all time favorite show of 2011, hands down!! Simply AMAZING!!!
Summerfest saw me attend 10 out of 11 days, unlike all 11 in 2010. Summerfest is always a great time! Among the bands I saw were: Saving Abel, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Rise Against, Sick Puppies, Middle Class Rut, Crash Kings, The Heroes Lie (a great local band), 10 Years, Hollywood Undead, and many more. I attended the inaugural Rock USA festival in Oshkosh, WI, where I saw Dokken, Hollywood Undead, and KISS. Other shows I saw were Five Finger Death Punch, All That Remains, Evans Blue, Pop Evil, Chevelle, and Bush. I met quite of few bands last year as well.
At the tail end of 2010, my brother and I kind of proclaimed that 2011 was going to be a great year for both of us. That turned out to be true for my brother, who landed what he calls is his dream job. While it was a great year for me also, I didn't experience the kind of change that he did. Looking forward to 2012, however, I think there could be some very promising opportunities being presented to me in the early part of the year. Aside of the unknown, I know I can count on plenty more concerts, festivals, and great times with friends and family. I am well on my way to fulfilling some of my personal goals for 2012. I'll let you know how it goes as the days of 2012 go by. Happy New Year everyone!!!
Monday, December 26, 2011
The Twelve Beers of Christmas
Beer aficionados often zestfully look forward to seasonal and special releases from craft breweries everywhere. These innovative special blends are part of what makes the craft beer industry so great. Breweries experiment with ingredients like fruits, vegetables, spices, and varieties of hops to create beer with so much flavor and uniqueness. There are seasonal brews from Summer, Fall (including Halloween and pumpkin), Winter ales, and special Christmas blends. The Christmas beers can be difficult to find as breweries usually brew a very limited supply and they sell quickly. I wanted to put together a collection of Christmas beers that were named specifically for the Christmas holiday. I specifically did not include Winter ales. To share with you my favorite Christmas beers, here is my adaptation of a Christmas classic.
On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 2nd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 3rd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 5th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 6th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 7th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
The Twelve Beers of Christmas
Holiday Spice Lager from Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee, WI.
 |
| A very special lager brewed with honey, oranges, and spices. The spices and hops balance the sweetness of the honey and malt to give this lightly hopped beer its perfect flavor. |
Holiday Porter from Sam Adams and the Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA.
 |
| A full-flavored porter with aroma of chocolate and coffee. Very smooth, lots of flavor, and very drinkable. |
Holiday 'Sucks' Ale from Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, CA.
 |
| It's called 'Sucks' because Lagunitas were unable to brew their regular seasonal brew, BrownShugga Ale. Make no mistakes about it though, this is one fine beer. This american strong ale rates a 99 out of 100 on ratebeer.com, consistent with everything Lagunitas makes. I have yet to taste a brew from Lagunitas that I did not love. |
Christmas Ale from Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI.
 |
| This malt driven scotch ale is made with 100% Michigan grown barley. In contrast to many other seasonal brews (Winter, pumpkin, etc.), Christmas Ale doesn't contain any spices. Plenty of flavor and very little bitterness. |
Christmas Ale from Abita Brewing Co., Covington, LA.
 |
| Abita changes the recipe on their Christmas Ale, an amber ale, every year. It's not very strong this year...actually pretty weak with not a lot of flavor. I've had better. |
Christmas Ale from Breckenridge Brewery, Denver, CO.
 |
| This american strong ale has rich flavors of caramel and chocolate and at 7% abv, it's definitely a 'Winter warmer'. |
Our Special Ale from Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco, CA.
 |
| A very nice and smooth seasonal rated a 95 on ratebeer.com. Just slightly bitter with hints of spices. Excellent! |
On the 8th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 10th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Christmas Ale from Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, OH.
 |
| Rated a 93 from ratebeer.com, this fine brew has a cinnamon and ginger spice flavor, a rich copper color, and a medium body that will fit with any holiday meal. Quite possibly the best Christmas Ale I've had so far! |
Christmas Ale from Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL.
 |
| This Christmas Ale is a brown ale and is a deep garnet color and brewed with a generous amount of hops that adds that extra spicy aroma. Another fantastic beer from Goose Island, rated 93 from ratebeer.com. |
Santa's Private Reserve Ale from Rogue Ales, Newport, OR.
 |
| This amber ale, rated 93, is a variation of Rogue's Red Ale, which seems somewhat appropriate. This one has double the hops, including a mystery hop called Rudolph by the head brewer. |
Alpha Klaus Christmas Porter from Three Floyds Brewing Co., Munster, IN.
 |
| Rated 100 on ratebeer.com and 7.5% abv, this big American Christmas porter is brewed with chocolate malt, Mexican sugars, and lots of hops. Another absolutely fantastic brew from Three Floyds! |
Delirium Noel from the Huyghe Brewery, Melle, Belgium.
 |
| This spicy, crimson brew completes the Delirium trilogy (including Tremens and Nocturnum) of fantastic belgian strong ales and is, by far, my favorite of the seasonal Christmas ales. This ale is rated a 97 on ratebeer.com and is a stout 10% abv. |
Finding and sampling these beers was a lot of fun. I am especially pleased to have found twelve Christmas beers. I even have two more in the fridge that I did not include here. Maybe an addendum? A friend of mine suggested that I do an advent calendar for next year...a whole month of Christmas/Winter brew. That could be quite interesting.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Five Finger..............Death Punch!
It's been a little while since I've been to a concert, but last night was a show that I had been anxiously awaiting for a few months now - Five Finger Death Punch. When I purchased tickets months ago, the lineup was supposed to be FFDP, All That Remains, Hatebreed, and Rev Theory. Of the four bands, I was most excited about FFDP and Rev Theory, but Rev Theory pulled out after one of the band members had some kind of an accident. They were replaced by a band called Rains. Having never heard of them, I listened to their music and I liked them. I liked them so much I bought the album. Though I was curious as to how they fit in with the other three bands on this tour. Rains is a bit softer, more like Evans Blue. Good rock tunes, but certainly not tear-it-up, speedy metal.
Arrived at The Rave about 6pm and was herded into one of the smaller bars downstairs to wait before they allowed us to go upstairs to the ballroom. I hate it when they do this. At least they had bands there playing while we waited. The band playing when I got in there was on their last song. No idea who they were, but I didn't think they were that good anyways. Then I recognized the next band as they were setting up. Hard to forget the big black guitar player and the smoking hot lead singer from Losing Scarlet. Saw them back on April 8 when I went to see Egypt Central. After their first song, the gates opened and upstairs I went. The stage setup was interesting and because it was already after 6:30 I was wondering if all four bands would play. The stage was setup with Hatebreed's banner separating the stage leaving about 10-12 feet of stage in the front for the bands to play. Right around 7pm, Rains took the stage. They only played five songs. The crowd did warm up to them a bit, but seemed happier when they finished. I enjoyed them and would definitely see them again.
Up next was Hatebreed. I'm not a huge fan of this band, but they did put on a really good stage show. They had a lot of energy and got the crowd involved a lot. I know I've mentioned in the past that working the crowd and stage presence is something that separates the good bands from the bad ones. Don't get me wrong though, good music is important too. After Hatebreed got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy, All That Remains was next. Whereas Hatebreed is more of a guttural growler band, All That Remains is more of the screamo type. They ripped through a good set mixing in old songs and some off their new album. I did notice a couple of interesting things about this band. First, the bass player is a woman...and she's a growler. When they got to the parts of their songs where there was growling, she did it. The other thing I noticed was the drummer. Again, I've mentioned in the past that I do pay attention to drummers as they can make or break a band. All the drummers were good on this night, but the drummer for All That Remains held his drum sticks in the old school traditional way (see picture below), which I don't remember ever seeing from a hard rock or metal band.
Arrived at The Rave about 6pm and was herded into one of the smaller bars downstairs to wait before they allowed us to go upstairs to the ballroom. I hate it when they do this. At least they had bands there playing while we waited. The band playing when I got in there was on their last song. No idea who they were, but I didn't think they were that good anyways. Then I recognized the next band as they were setting up. Hard to forget the big black guitar player and the smoking hot lead singer from Losing Scarlet. Saw them back on April 8 when I went to see Egypt Central. After their first song, the gates opened and upstairs I went. The stage setup was interesting and because it was already after 6:30 I was wondering if all four bands would play. The stage was setup with Hatebreed's banner separating the stage leaving about 10-12 feet of stage in the front for the bands to play. Right around 7pm, Rains took the stage. They only played five songs. The crowd did warm up to them a bit, but seemed happier when they finished. I enjoyed them and would definitely see them again.
Up next was Hatebreed. I'm not a huge fan of this band, but they did put on a really good stage show. They had a lot of energy and got the crowd involved a lot. I know I've mentioned in the past that working the crowd and stage presence is something that separates the good bands from the bad ones. Don't get me wrong though, good music is important too. After Hatebreed got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy, All That Remains was next. Whereas Hatebreed is more of a guttural growler band, All That Remains is more of the screamo type. They ripped through a good set mixing in old songs and some off their new album. I did notice a couple of interesting things about this band. First, the bass player is a woman...and she's a growler. When they got to the parts of their songs where there was growling, she did it. The other thing I noticed was the drummer. Again, I've mentioned in the past that I do pay attention to drummers as they can make or break a band. All the drummers were good on this night, but the drummer for All That Remains held his drum sticks in the old school traditional way (see picture below), which I don't remember ever seeing from a hard rock or metal band.
Not even sure what time it was, but some time after All That Remains, Five Finger Death Punch took the stage. I thought they kicked ass too! Stage was set up with a lot of towered lights and several large video screens up high. The drum set was on like an elevator structure, which raised the drumkit up high in the middle of their set. FFDP opened with Under and Over It, then right into Salvation. American Capitalist was the only other song they played from their new album of the same name. The rest of the setlist included: Hard to See, The Way of the Fist, No One Gets Left Behind, Bad Company (Bad Company cover), White Knuckles, Far From Home, Bulletproof, Never Enough, The Bleeding, and the encore Burn It Down. A great setlist!! Great performance!! I did manage to take a few decent pictures. Check them out if you'd like.
As of right now, my next show is An Evening With Corey Taylor on November 23. Rock On Everybody!!
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Sound of Winter
No, I'm not hearing things nor am I hoping for the cold and snowy season of Winter. The Sound of Winter is the latest single released by the band Bush. The once extremely popular band had gone their separate ways in 2002 only to reunite and release a new album, The Sea of Memories, in 2011 that is both new in sound but also continues Gavin's amazing lyrical content. I do recommend you check it out.
You might be asking. "Why is he mentioning Bush's new album?" I can tell you that I am not getting paid for this advertisement. I mention Bush's new album because I saw them in concert on Saturday, October 8, and it was an amazing show. I saw three bands - Filter, Chevelle, and Bush - that each could have been the headliner and all for less than $30. In fact, each of them has been a headliner at Summerfest in years past, though you would most likely never be able to see them in the same night.
A quick gripe...the venue website said the show started at 7:00. I arrived at The Rave at 6:30, because I wanted to check out the merch booth, only to find out that Filter was already playing. They must have started closer to 6. I ended up missing the first three songs, but still heard a few of my favorites, including Take a Picture and Hey Man Nice Shot. They did a pretty cool cover of ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin' and also played (Can't You) Trip Like I Do, a collaboration with Crystal Method. During the performance of The Best Things, Richard Patrick body surfed through the crowd while singing. Pretty cool!
Taking the stage next was Chevelle. I love this band! Two brothers and a brother-in-law, I love the sound these three guys put out. Awesome bass grooves! These guys just get on stage and jam! This tour was a double-headliner, so Chevelle and Bush both played longer headliner sets. Chevelle played all of the usual favorites - Jars, Antisaint, Sleep Apnea, Well Enough Alone, Send the Pain Below, The Red, The Clincher - and played a new song called Face the Floor off their forthcoming new album. At one point, I believe it was during The Red, Pete's guitar wasn't working. The roadie brought out another one, but that one was apparently not tuned correctly. Third time's a charm. He was visibly annoyed. Finished out the set and tossed the guitar into the crowd and slammed his mic. Entertaining to say the least.
And finally...we've got Bush! Reunited after a ten year hiatus...well Gavin and the drummer are original members at least...fans packed The Rave for an awesome show! Kicking off the show with Little Things and then performing I Believe in You from their new album, they did a great job of introducing fans to their new songs while appeasing cult followers with some of their all-time hits such as Comedown, Machinehead, and Everything Zen. During their encore, they did a fantastic version of The Beatles' Come Together that had the crown singing along.
As with all of the concerts I see, I usually take some pretty good pictures. Check them out.
Thanks for reading. Rock on!!
You might be asking. "Why is he mentioning Bush's new album?" I can tell you that I am not getting paid for this advertisement. I mention Bush's new album because I saw them in concert on Saturday, October 8, and it was an amazing show. I saw three bands - Filter, Chevelle, and Bush - that each could have been the headliner and all for less than $30. In fact, each of them has been a headliner at Summerfest in years past, though you would most likely never be able to see them in the same night.
A quick gripe...the venue website said the show started at 7:00. I arrived at The Rave at 6:30, because I wanted to check out the merch booth, only to find out that Filter was already playing. They must have started closer to 6. I ended up missing the first three songs, but still heard a few of my favorites, including Take a Picture and Hey Man Nice Shot. They did a pretty cool cover of ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin' and also played (Can't You) Trip Like I Do, a collaboration with Crystal Method. During the performance of The Best Things, Richard Patrick body surfed through the crowd while singing. Pretty cool!
Taking the stage next was Chevelle. I love this band! Two brothers and a brother-in-law, I love the sound these three guys put out. Awesome bass grooves! These guys just get on stage and jam! This tour was a double-headliner, so Chevelle and Bush both played longer headliner sets. Chevelle played all of the usual favorites - Jars, Antisaint, Sleep Apnea, Well Enough Alone, Send the Pain Below, The Red, The Clincher - and played a new song called Face the Floor off their forthcoming new album. At one point, I believe it was during The Red, Pete's guitar wasn't working. The roadie brought out another one, but that one was apparently not tuned correctly. Third time's a charm. He was visibly annoyed. Finished out the set and tossed the guitar into the crowd and slammed his mic. Entertaining to say the least.
And finally...we've got Bush! Reunited after a ten year hiatus...well Gavin and the drummer are original members at least...fans packed The Rave for an awesome show! Kicking off the show with Little Things and then performing I Believe in You from their new album, they did a great job of introducing fans to their new songs while appeasing cult followers with some of their all-time hits such as Comedown, Machinehead, and Everything Zen. During their encore, they did a fantastic version of The Beatles' Come Together that had the crown singing along.
As with all of the concerts I see, I usually take some pretty good pictures. Check them out.
Thanks for reading. Rock on!!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Time sure does fly when you're having fun
And a lot of fun I have had over the last month or so. Let's see, my last post was August 23. Guess I never mentioned my birthday did I? I had a really great birthday (August 26). I took the day off work. Just a relaxing day. Weather was beautiful. I went golfing. Met some of my good friends for drinks at The Iron Horse. They have an awesome patio. Afterwards a few of us went to the Potawatomi Casino and played some Black Jack. My two friends left after about an hour. A couple hours after that, I left just $10 down. Not bad.
The following weekend, on September 3, I attended Milwauktoberfest, which was a part of the Made in Milwaukee festival at Cathedral Square Park. That was a really great time. The Milwauktoberfest showcased a dozen or so Wisconsin breweries. In case you are just tuning in, I'm a beer aficionado and any time I can sample some of Wisconsin's best beer, I'm there. Aside of Milwauktoberfest, the Made in Milwaukee festival showcased all kinds of art, crafts, and products that are made right here in Milwaukee. Several local bands played music throughout the day and night and the evening culminated in a fashion show. Never been to one of those before. It was quite interesting.
Fast forward just a little to September 17th and the Warrior Dash. This was a highly anticipated event. Described as a 3+ hellish mile run with about 12 obstacles, including fire, it was everything I had hoped it would be. Sure I have been nursing a stress fracture to my right foot for most of the year, but a bad foot wasn't going to keep me from running in this race. Oooh Rah!!! Attack!!! Even with a bad foot I was able to finish in 30 minutes. What may be an even better part of this day was the discovery that I am a pro at axe throwing. I split an axe handle with another axe. Check it out.
Sprinkle in rounds of golf throughout September and then I went to the WI Beer Expo. Yes, another beer tasting event. This one, however, was the worst one I have ever been to. First of all, all of the people behind the tables were volunteers and not from the breweries. So I couldn't really ask them about the beer. Second, for the price of admission, they could have done a lot better than hand-written signs. How about a few giveaways? Ehhhh. Disappointing.
On September 29, I went on a VIP tour of the old Pabst Brewery. This was a really great event. A few cold Wisconsin beers and a behind the scenes look at the historical Pabst Brewery. Very nice.
Friday, September 30, was Brew Madness, a fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I went last year with a friend and we sampled pretty much everything there. Fortunately the event is held at the Zoo, which is within walking distance from home. The unfortunate part of last year was that there was a bar, Mo's Irish Pub, in between the Zoo and home. Probably shouldn't have stopped. This year, my friend couldn't go, so I attended solo. Hell, I made friends. ;) Since I had sampled most of the beer that was there, I concentrated on the ones that I had not had before. There were several really good brews. A couple of my favorites were Autumnal Fire from Capital Brewery and Orange & Black from Moylan's. I even showed a few people how good Buffalo Water's Bison Blonde tastes with vanilla ice cream. Yum. Check out the pics.
Now the weather is getting cooler. Opportunities for golf are getting slimmer. One thing about Milwaukee though, is that no matter the season, no matter the weather, there is always something fun to do.
Coming up (so far):
The following weekend, on September 3, I attended Milwauktoberfest, which was a part of the Made in Milwaukee festival at Cathedral Square Park. That was a really great time. The Milwauktoberfest showcased a dozen or so Wisconsin breweries. In case you are just tuning in, I'm a beer aficionado and any time I can sample some of Wisconsin's best beer, I'm there. Aside of Milwauktoberfest, the Made in Milwaukee festival showcased all kinds of art, crafts, and products that are made right here in Milwaukee. Several local bands played music throughout the day and night and the evening culminated in a fashion show. Never been to one of those before. It was quite interesting.
Fast forward just a little to September 17th and the Warrior Dash. This was a highly anticipated event. Described as a 3+ hellish mile run with about 12 obstacles, including fire, it was everything I had hoped it would be. Sure I have been nursing a stress fracture to my right foot for most of the year, but a bad foot wasn't going to keep me from running in this race. Oooh Rah!!! Attack!!! Even with a bad foot I was able to finish in 30 minutes. What may be an even better part of this day was the discovery that I am a pro at axe throwing. I split an axe handle with another axe. Check it out.
Sprinkle in rounds of golf throughout September and then I went to the WI Beer Expo. Yes, another beer tasting event. This one, however, was the worst one I have ever been to. First of all, all of the people behind the tables were volunteers and not from the breweries. So I couldn't really ask them about the beer. Second, for the price of admission, they could have done a lot better than hand-written signs. How about a few giveaways? Ehhhh. Disappointing.
On September 29, I went on a VIP tour of the old Pabst Brewery. This was a really great event. A few cold Wisconsin beers and a behind the scenes look at the historical Pabst Brewery. Very nice.
Friday, September 30, was Brew Madness, a fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I went last year with a friend and we sampled pretty much everything there. Fortunately the event is held at the Zoo, which is within walking distance from home. The unfortunate part of last year was that there was a bar, Mo's Irish Pub, in between the Zoo and home. Probably shouldn't have stopped. This year, my friend couldn't go, so I attended solo. Hell, I made friends. ;) Since I had sampled most of the beer that was there, I concentrated on the ones that I had not had before. There were several really good brews. A couple of my favorites were Autumnal Fire from Capital Brewery and Orange & Black from Moylan's. I even showed a few people how good Buffalo Water's Bison Blonde tastes with vanilla ice cream. Yum. Check out the pics.
Now the weather is getting cooler. Opportunities for golf are getting slimmer. One thing about Milwaukee though, is that no matter the season, no matter the weather, there is always something fun to do.
Coming up (so far):
- 10/8 - Bush, Chevelle, and Filter
- 10/29 - Milwaukee Haunted Tour & Dinner
- 11/2 - The Southern Gentlemen Tour featuring Ed Roland of Collective Soul and Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra
- 11/4 - Five Finger Death Punch, All That Remains, Hatebreed, and Rains
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Catching up with my Summer
I realize I haven't written much lately, so I thought I'd catch you up on other events from my summer so far. Since I attended Rock USA 2011 in Oshkosh, WI, I have attended two beer festivals and another concert. Back on July 23, I went to the 2011 Milwaukee Firkin Craft Beer Festival, which was held at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee, WI. It should be no secret that I am a huge fan of craft beer, a beer aficionado if you will. I love trying new beer from all of the macrobreweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs from all of the U.S. Wisconsin has many great breweries other than the one it is most famous for, Miller. I personally have sampled well over 200 different beers from all over. Some are outstanding and others are not good at all, but each offers a different style and taste. I'm learning about beer all the time. Yes, I do have favorites. Much like the many different styles and flavors of wine, the craft beer industry has taken to brewing beer of all kinds. The Milwaukee Firkin Craft Beer Festival is a celebration of these specialty craft beers. There were over 90 beers available to taste, some brewed especially for the event. It was a great time with lots of great tastes! Here are some pictures from the event.
The following week, on July 30th, I attended the 2nd Annual Milwaukee Brewfest. This event was similar to the Firkin only much, much larger with over 120 beers to sample. No, I didn't sample them all, but I had my share. Thankfully I did not drive. I had purchased VIP tickets which got me in an hour earlier and allowed me to sample special 'VIP-only' brew. Because I have already sampled over 200 beers, I didn't need to taste all of them at this event. I concentrated on the special VIP beer and the one's I haven't sampled. There were many great beers. A couple breweries stood out - Howe Sound Brewing and Lowlands Brewing Company. There were three beers that I thought were fantastic: The Grand Saison from Grand Teton Brewing Company (Victor, ID), Peanut Butter Ale from Blue Moon, and Mango Sunset Lager from Delafield Brewhaus (Delafield, WI). Check out pictures from Brewfest.
Fast forward to August 14th and that is when I took in my next concert. We traveled an hour to Kenosha, WI for a show at The Brat Stop. The Brat Stop is basically a truck stop sort of restaurant that happens to have a stage. On this night, I was particularly excited about seeing Evans Blue, a great rock band that I have been wanting to see for a few years now. The opening act was a regional band called Soul Shaker. They were kind of a throwback southern style rock band. The lead singer looked like a cross between Axl Rose and Bret Michaels. They were decent, but not who I was there to see. Up next was Evans Blue. They just killed it! I was very impressed with the quality of the sound from such a small venue. I've mentioned in other posts how much I enjoy watching the drummers. Evans Blue's drummer, Howard Davis, is absolutely amazing! He is now my favorite drummer to watch play. Such energy! Such passion! Evans Blue played all of my favorites, well most of them anyways as I like all of their music. Pop Evil was the headliner. I saw them open for Chevelle and Buckcherry in 2009 and didn't think much of them then. I guess a couple years has done them well. They were really good. Unfortunately I wasn't familiar with most of their songs. I did, however, get to meet the lead singer and the drummer from Evans Blue while Pop Evil was playing. Check out the pics.
This has certainly been the year for me to meet bands. There was John Falls (singer) from Egypt Central; Dan Jordan (singer) from Kopek; Julia (singer) from Me Talk Pretty; Mandi (singer) from Of Verona; Tim King (bass), A.J. (guitar), and Jordan (singer) from SOiL; Sick Puppies; and Dan Chandler (singer) and Howard Davis (drummer) from Evans Blue. Still a few months left in the year too.
So what's next?
My birthday is this Friday (August 26th). I'll be competing in the Warrior Dash (a 3-mile race with obstacles) on September 17. I'll be seeing Bush, Chevelle, and Filter on October 8. I have tickets for the Southern Gentlemen Tour featuring Ed Roland of Collective Soul and Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra on November 2. Still have to purchase tickets for Five Finger Death Punch on November 8. Lots of fun events over the next few months. Stay tuned! Hope you are enjoying your Summer too!!
The following week, on July 30th, I attended the 2nd Annual Milwaukee Brewfest. This event was similar to the Firkin only much, much larger with over 120 beers to sample. No, I didn't sample them all, but I had my share. Thankfully I did not drive. I had purchased VIP tickets which got me in an hour earlier and allowed me to sample special 'VIP-only' brew. Because I have already sampled over 200 beers, I didn't need to taste all of them at this event. I concentrated on the special VIP beer and the one's I haven't sampled. There were many great beers. A couple breweries stood out - Howe Sound Brewing and Lowlands Brewing Company. There were three beers that I thought were fantastic: The Grand Saison from Grand Teton Brewing Company (Victor, ID), Peanut Butter Ale from Blue Moon, and Mango Sunset Lager from Delafield Brewhaus (Delafield, WI). Check out pictures from Brewfest.
Fast forward to August 14th and that is when I took in my next concert. We traveled an hour to Kenosha, WI for a show at The Brat Stop. The Brat Stop is basically a truck stop sort of restaurant that happens to have a stage. On this night, I was particularly excited about seeing Evans Blue, a great rock band that I have been wanting to see for a few years now. The opening act was a regional band called Soul Shaker. They were kind of a throwback southern style rock band. The lead singer looked like a cross between Axl Rose and Bret Michaels. They were decent, but not who I was there to see. Up next was Evans Blue. They just killed it! I was very impressed with the quality of the sound from such a small venue. I've mentioned in other posts how much I enjoy watching the drummers. Evans Blue's drummer, Howard Davis, is absolutely amazing! He is now my favorite drummer to watch play. Such energy! Such passion! Evans Blue played all of my favorites, well most of them anyways as I like all of their music. Pop Evil was the headliner. I saw them open for Chevelle and Buckcherry in 2009 and didn't think much of them then. I guess a couple years has done them well. They were really good. Unfortunately I wasn't familiar with most of their songs. I did, however, get to meet the lead singer and the drummer from Evans Blue while Pop Evil was playing. Check out the pics.
This has certainly been the year for me to meet bands. There was John Falls (singer) from Egypt Central; Dan Jordan (singer) from Kopek; Julia (singer) from Me Talk Pretty; Mandi (singer) from Of Verona; Tim King (bass), A.J. (guitar), and Jordan (singer) from SOiL; Sick Puppies; and Dan Chandler (singer) and Howard Davis (drummer) from Evans Blue. Still a few months left in the year too.
So what's next?
My birthday is this Friday (August 26th). I'll be competing in the Warrior Dash (a 3-mile race with obstacles) on September 17. I'll be seeing Bush, Chevelle, and Filter on October 8. I have tickets for the Southern Gentlemen Tour featuring Ed Roland of Collective Soul and Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra on November 2. Still have to purchase tickets for Five Finger Death Punch on November 8. Lots of fun events over the next few months. Stay tuned! Hope you are enjoying your Summer too!!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A Time to Reflect
From time to time throughout our lives, events occur that make us stop and think. Occurrences that make us take a deep breath, put life on pause, and reflect. These events that I write about are often sad and unfortunate. It is easy to let the pain and sorrow take control of you, if you let it. I choose to take a moment or two and think about my life and the many people in my life that I care about and those that have touched me in an emotional or spiritual way. I look at my life as a book and the many people I have met and the many relationships I have built all have their pages in my book. Some have only lasted a paragraph and others have lasted a couple of chapters. No matter how much space these people take up in my book, each and every one of them had a significant part in my life. I appreciate every one of them. I choose to accept people for who they are, whether they make it into my book of life or not. I understand that I may not agree with or get along with everyone and I accept that. I choose to be giving of myself to those that could use my help. I am important, but I choose to make the people in my life just as important. This probably is starting to not make any sense...
What I really want to say is...Cherish the people and the relationships in your life for however long you have them, for you never know how long you will have them. Reflect on the moments you share with the people in your book of life. I am and I appreciate every one in my book. I love and respect you all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)