Here are the highlights of my weekend. Be warned it's nothing too exciting.
Friday evening I chatted on aim with my friends, Chris and Nick. That is always a special event!
On our weekly trip to the grocery store and Trader Joe's we spent about $40 less than we usually do!
Dancing Daughter needed a dress for a dance this Saturday and Star Wars Son needed a part for his drumset so we took off for the mall. Normally I dread one of these trips but this time was different. We all went our seperate ways and I was able to spend a good hour of uninterrupted time in the book store. Heaven! I found two books in the discounted section that I couldn't live without. I got a book about vegetable gardening because it's almost that time! Dancing Daughter got her dress, shoes, skirt, jacket, etc. SWS got his drum part and Handy Man got nothing. His choice!
I set up a scrapbooking table in the family room. Now I can scrapbook in the warmest room in the house, watch tv and be with my family!
My friend Sharon stopped by with some lovely tulips from the Pike Place Market. This inspired me to use the camera.
Last night I took a trip to Asthmagirl's house. I'm going to admit to you all right now that I have condition that just won't go away. It required monthly (or every 6 week) visits to see my good friend. She cures me of this condition until another month passes, then she has to work her magic all over again.
I have gray hair! *GASP*
How lucky am I that I can go to a good friends house to temporarily cover this affliction?! I only hear gossip I care about. I almost always get to see K-3 who I adore, sometime K-2 who I also adore and I love to hear all about her career and once in a blue moon I have the pleasure of seeing TOG (asthmagirl's husband). The Brute Squad is always there to greet me at the door, kiss me and beg to be picked up.
Sometimes our conversations tend toward the venting, sometimes they are very serious, sometimes we spend much of the time laughing, no matter the topic of discussion I'm always happy to see my friend.
Last night we got down to some serious planning and plotting. We took notes. We rubbed our hands together and said, "MWHAHAHAHAH". Summer is just around the corner and we were making some plans that include you!
Check out Athmagirl's blog today to see what she has to say about all this planning and plotting!
Yes, my band is celebrating 20 years of togetherness this year.
According to Rolling Stone magazine Pearl Jam is planning a year long celebration "Starting with a deluxe reissue of their second and third albums (1993’s Vs., 1994’s Vitalogy), the yearlong celebration will also include the unveiling of a Cameron Crowe-directed documentary about the band and a massive self-curated festival this summer."
Uh, yeah... I'm gonna need the dates of that "massive self-curated festival" real soon. All I've heard is "late summer". Is that August? September? I've got other really important summer plans to make.
Oh and where is it going to be? I've heard the possible locations of, Chicago... or East Troy? That's in Michigan right?
On top of Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary, this summer is my 30th class reunion! GAH. I can't make plans to go to that until I know when Pearl Jam is playing!
It's really important that they announce those dates!!
In other Pearl Jam news they recently put out a live album called Live on Ten Legs. I don't have it yet, but do plan to get it, especially after hearing this:
It's hard to find a long lost friend on Facebook who has a common last name like Smith. It's much easier for her to find me who has a 3 syllable last name that no one can pronounce properly. Which she did. Yesterday!
There are not enough hours in the day.
I'm going to San Diego for spring break. What must I see while I'm there?
I'm also going on a "wine trip" to Oregon the first weekend in February. I'm pretty darn excited.
Every year, in October, Neil and Pegi Young host a weekend of music to benefit The Bridge School. The school serves children with severe speech and physical impairments. The goal of the school is to help give these children the skills they need to successfully participate academically and socially with their typically developing peers. Many of the students and graduates are invited to sit on stage to be a part of the show. I was moved by how many of the artists spent a good deal of time with their backs to the crowd while singing to the very people the show was benefiting.
The participants change year to year, but there are many artists who have played the benefit multiple times. Pearl Jam has played the show 8 times. Each year I think about going, but that's about as far as I get. For the show in October my friend Chris said, "This year we should really go. Seriously, we really should." I said, "Let's do it." And just like that we ended up in the bay area to see the 24th Annual Bridge School Benefit.
After spending a couple days in San Francisco we boarded the train to Mountain View to enjoy a weekend of amazing music. The weather was horrible, cold, rainy and windy. Luckily I had packed a rain poncho, just in case.
Night one participants:
Grizzly Bear
Modest Mouse
Jackson Browne and David Lindley
Lucinda Williams
Kris Kristofferson (Merle Haggard was supposed to perform with Kris, but he was ill)
Billy Idol
Elvis Costello
Pearl Jam
Buffalo Springfield
We arrived at the venue while Modest Mouse was playing and met up with other Pearl Jam fans we hadn't seen in over a year. It was great to see everyone and get caught up on what was happening in our lives. By the time we got to the lawn seats we had for that night there weren't many places to sit other than the very back.
Chris and Nick:
Me and Chris (before the rain):
Then the rain arrived!
I couldn't see the stage, not even when standing, so I hunkered down and listened. It really was quite enjoyable even with the cold windy rain. The highlight of the night for me (aside from Pearl Jam) was Billy Idol. Yes, Billy Idol. I wasn't all that excited to see him. I thought it would be cool, but when he came out and started singing I was transported back to the 80's and I loved every minute of it. I even stood up and braved the cold, windy rain so I could see a corner of the screen. I'm embarrassed to say we left night one right after Pearl Jam finished. The next night, after watching Buffalo Springfield perform, I really regretted leaving early the night before.
The next day started earlier, but no less rainy. We vowed to get there early so we could buy merch and see all the bands. We scored seats for that night and were thrilled!
Day two participants:
Grizzly Bear
Modest Mouse
Kris Kristofferson
T-Bone Burnett's Speaking Clock Revue featuring:
Ralph Stanley
Jeff Bridges
Neko Case
Elvis Costello
Elton John & Leon Russell (!)
Pearl Jam
Buffalo Springfield
(Sorry about the blurry picture, it's hard to find a good guest photographer.)
Being in seats was so much better than the lawn! We still got wet, but at least we could see the stage. Too bad the amphitheatre cover didn't protect us from the rain! It looked really cool though.
Didn't take too many pictures because of the rain, but later in the evening after it dried out for a bit I could take some shots. For this trip I was using a small Canon point and shoot. It's a lot easier to get into a show than the big Nikon. The close up shots were taken of the big screen.
Jeff Bridges might not be the best singer, but he sure is nice to look at! At the end of the show everyone came out to sing together... Eddie Vedder, Jeff Bridges and Kris Kristofferson all shared a microphone. It was almost more hotness than I could handle.
Part of what helped my decision to go travel to the Bridge School Benefit was the appearance of Elton John. I'm a big fan, but have never seen him perform live. While this was not, technically, an Elton John performance I was blown away nonetheless. In the fall Elton John and Leon Russell made an album together, The Union. This performance was from that album. I loved all the songs and writing this has reminded me that I really need to buy the album! Rolling Stone magazine rated it the 3rd best album of 2010!
I was so ready when my beloved Pearl Jam took the stage. I may have been in attendance the night before, but I couldn't see a thing and I couldn't wait to feast my eyes on my favorite band.
Another downside to the cold, wet weather was that Eddie was wearing a hat, boo hoo!
Later "Uncle" Neil came out to play "Walk With Me" with Pearl Jam.
Then came Buffalo Springfield! There are really no words to describe the vibe of their set. It's really hard to believe they hadn't performed in over 40 years. Here is a Rolling Stone article describing how the reunion came to be. To say they sounded amazing is really understating it. Stephen Stills still has "it".
It really was an amazing trip. Chris and I planned to catch flights at the same time from the San Jose airport and I'm so glad we did. While walking to the gates I spotted Stephen Stills walking toward his gate!! It was shocking, but I managed to stop him to tell him how much I enjoyed the show! Later, after Chris boarded her plane she texted me that he was on her plane and she got his autograph!!
These are video highlights from the weekend. They are a little long but worth watching.
This is my 499th post since I started blogging in December 2008. The past 6 months I haven't posted much, so I was surprised to see that number when I logged on today. I'm working on a big post for next time and appropriately it will involve music and Pearl Jam. I can't think of a better way to celebrate my 500th post!
For today I'm sharing a little of what I've missed sharing with you the past few months with photos. I hope you enjoy them!
June:
Star Wars Son Graduated:
Then his band played at a graduation party in the park:
Dancing Daughter performed in the summer dance show at the 5th Avenue Theatre:
August:
Star Wars Son got his license:
And shaved his head:
September:
Dancing Daughter started her Sophomore year of high school:
October:
We had a Halloween party that included many teens and another concert in the basement:
November:
And just so you don't think my world revolves around my kids...
Handy Man and I went to this very cool auction organized by my amazing friend Diane, who is also a blogger. That's not her in the picture, but the very talented and entertaining Auctioneer.
That's a little bit of what you've missed. We've done some less exciting stuff like getting new windows, having the electrical panel updated and installing a fireplace insert in the family room.
All in all it's been a good few months, but I've sure missed blogging!
In October I took a few days off from my new job to take a trip to California. It was a multi-purpose trip, to see San Francisco for the first time, meet up with my friends Chris and Nick, AND see Pearl Jam perform.
San Francisco was pretty cool. We were there when the Giants won the world series, that was exciting. We stayed for two nights on the waterfront. Chris and I scheduled our flights to arrived close to the same time, her from Boston, me from Seattle. We got to the hotel just in time to walk to peir 39 and grab some dinner.
We made plans to go to Alcatraz the next day.
It was a cloudy, rainy, foggy day, but we didn't let that discourage us. In fact, the whole trip was cool, rainy and windy. Just like home.
It was creepy to be in a place that held so many hard core criminals, but the views were amazing.
For some reason I love this shot of a tunnel entrance. I think the colors are stunning.
After the Alcatraz tour we went to Ghiradelli Square and did some window shopping. The three of us bought chocolate at the Ghiradelli store claiming we were buying it for others (yeah, right).
Later we met up with Nick's brother and his girlfriend for dinner and many drinks at a tiny Irish pub.
The next day we packed up and took the BART to the Caltrain and landed in Mt. Veiw for the first of two concerts.
