Music is Awesome

If you've ever read my blog before, you know I love music. All music. Matt and I try to get out pretty regularly see some live bands, whether they're popular artists or lesser-known groups. We're also pretty lucky to have some amazingly talented friends and family who entertain us regularly. Over the last few weeks and months, we've definitely had a few opportunities to listen to some jams!

The big concert of 2013 (so far!!) was the much-anticipated Ben Folds Five reunion tour! I've loved this band since the 90s, and while it took a little convincing for Matt, he now loves them, too. We've seen Ben Folds solo a couple of times, but it was amazing to see the whole band back together. They played some numbers that Ben never would have been able to pull off on his own. And we got to go with a couple of fun friends, which made the event a little more fun.

Before the trio could come out, we were able to see Nataly Dawn, who was super cute and lots of fun. We've now added her to our Starred List on Spotify, and I love her songs.

Then it was time! The main event was everything I had hoped for. So awesome.

BF5!!

It was an awesome show!

You may remember the next band, Instant Empire, from their CD release party we went to last year. The lead singer is a friend of Matt's, but I would like this band even if we didn't know them. They know how to put on a great show, and it's been really cool watching them on their rise to stardom.

Matt's had all sorts of connections with musicians this month. Another of our live-music nights was when we went to see Matt's friend Jonathan Fleig. Matt actually knows Jonathan from way back (middle school, I think), and it'd been about 12 years since they'd seen each other. I think it was cool for them to get to catch up, and it was fun to hear him play at the Walnut Room in Denver. The bar didn't have the greatest set up for live music (they could have at least turned on the stage lights...), but we really enjoyed Jonathan's sound.

Playing above the bar at the Walnut Room.

And finally, the first musician I ever knew (my dad) was playing in the Highlands a few weeks ago. He's got a new project with some friends that he's really excited about. It's a blues trio, but they play a variety of rock, jazz, and pop with a bluesy twist.

The Dirty Shoes Band at Meade Street Station

We've had quite the run of fun musical experiences lately. And with some big upcoming shows this summer (Avett Brothers and DMB!!) and our friends and family continuing to entertain people along the front range, we've got some more fun with music in our future.

I Heart Music

When thinking about fun things to do in Colorado, my mind usually goes to all the awesome outdoor activities. Sometimes it's easy to forget that Denver also has some amazing cultural events. And since we're a pretty big city, we also get a lot of great music acts coming through. Over the last few months, we've been able to check out a few different groups, from large popular bands to local artists who we actually know.

The first of our series of concerts was back in April when we went to see one of our favorite bands for a second time. Since the last concert, fun. has completely exploded in mainstream music. I'm sure anyone reading this has heard their recent hit from their new album, "We Are Young." While I'm very happy they're having so much success, I definitely miss the days when no one knew who they were (because I'm hipster like that). But they still put on a really good live show, just with a few more audience members.

After the opening act, Sleeper Agent...

Sleeper Agent was pretty good.

Then it was time for fun.!

Rocking out at the Ogden!

My favorite part of the show was when the whole back-up band left the stage, leaving just the three main members. They played my favorite song ever ("Be Calm") with a sort of unplugged vibe. Super cool.

While we'll continue to love fun. despite their massive mainstream success, their surge in popularity is certainly making it difficult to keep seeing their shows. Apparently, they recently announced an upcoming show in Denver, and sold out before we'd even heard about it. Guess we'll be waiting for the next time round.

A couple weeks later, I got to have a girls' night out at a concert with my buddy Melissa. We went to see Ingrid Michaelson in Boulder. She's a very "girls' night out" type of artist, and that's cool.

The opening act, Harper Blynn, was also pretty cool:

Then Ingrid rocked out. She played some songs with her back-up band and others alone on her piano. The whole band even came out front and sang a song a cappella. And she told some pretty funny stories, too.

Our final music event of the spring was a CD release party for Instant Empire, a local band whose lead singer happens to be an old co-worker of Matt's. The show was at a cool little pizza place/live music venue called The Walnut Room. It was a little hipster, so it was entertaining watching all the people drinking PBR in their flannel shirts. Then I realized that I was wearing skinny jeans, thick-rimmed glasses, and my Zooey Deschanel bangs, so I totally fit right in with the hipster crowd. Oh, well...

Anyway, the show was awesome, and it was super cool to know someone in the band. Of course, they had a lot of their friends and family there to support the release of their CD, so a lot of the audience knew the band... but we were still super cool.

See? Super cool.

Rocking out. And eating out.

Random lemur that seems to be their mascot...

It was a fun night, and it certainly made me want to see more live music in Denver. Luckily, we have a couple fun cultural/musical events coming up!

Winter Randoms

Winter has always been my least favorite season. I'm usually ok with the cold weather as we head into the holidays because it puts me in a cozy mood, but then I pretty much think winter should just end. Since Matt and I started skiing and snowshoeing, I've been able to tolerate the cold months a little more. In fact, skiing and snowshoeing (though mostly skiing) are really the most fun things we do in the winter (see upcoming blog post with ALL our fun skiing pictures for the entire season). But we managed to throw in a couple other mini events over the last few months.

1. We've been pretty big fans of the Discovery show Mythbusters for years, so the thought of seeing Mythbusters Live: Behind the Myths was pretty exciting for us. Of course, we really had no idea what to expect from a live version of a show that usually blows up at least one thing each episode. Sadly, there were no giant explosions during the show, and the whole thing was a little weird...


Basically, the whole thing was just very gimmicky. No real myths were tested and it was mostly demonstrations of basic physics. I imagine the show would be really awesome to most of the kids at my schools, and in fact, there were lots of young'uns there having a blast. What made it a little odd was that it wasn't marketed as a kids' show and they didn't completely buy in to the geared-to-kids idea. Instead, it felt like a weird meld between something for adults and something for children.

But I got to stand two feet away from Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, so that's super cool.

Jamie and Adam doing silly things.

Yay Mythbusters!

It was still a fun night, and we're still completely in love with Mythbusters.

2. There's usually some sort of Super Bowl gathering in my family each year, and it's frequently hosted by us. As usual, I failed at taking pictures of anything other than the food. But it was just another football-watching party, and you know what watching football looks like.

My food was rather delicious, if I do say so myself. It included bacon-wrapped smokies, pretzel bites, jalapeno popper dip, guacamole, corn dog muffins, and brown-butter rice krispie treats. Plus some frozen chicken wings and fruit salad.

Yum.

My husband would hate to hear me say this, but I can't even remember who won the game. I spent most of the time eating and talking. So it was a pretty good day.

3. As I'm sure you've seen on my blog before, my dad is in an Eagles tribute band called The Long Run. We like to get out to see him play every now and then, so a while back we went out to see a show at Nissi's, a restaurant/concert venue. Other family members were there, too, so it was a fun time.

Talking, dancing, and acting crazy.

Dad playing.

4. And finally, it wouldn't be winter without at least a little snowshoeing. Our snow was so bad this year so we didn't get out much, but we managed to get in one good snowshoe up Squaw Mountain.

There it is! We had a little bit of a climb ahead of us.

It was a super windy day, as many of our days have been this year. Because it was a summit hike, there were some points where we were pretty exposed to the giant gusts. It was crazy!

On the hike. Someone lost their car under all the snow!

Pretty views from the top. We somehow managed to not get blown away!

We had a couple of other fun things going on this winter (posts coming soon), but mostly just lots of skiing (that post coming soon, too). And now winter is over. Hooray! Bring on spring!

Catch Up: Music and Family

Alright, friends. Things have gotten serious.

I'm so far behind in blogging. Like really. So, it's time to catch up. I'm gonna bust out a bunch of blog posts in the next few days to get up-to-date. I know what your thinking. You're doubting my ability to actually post lots of posts within a few days. Well, I don't blame you. But I'm really going to try my best.

Way back in the day, summer was in full swing and we were totally enjoying it. My dad's band, The Long Run, which has made multiple appearances on my blog, played at Rhythm on the River in Longmont. I love Longmont and rivers and music, so we were SO there.

Yay for Eagles music!

The crowd LOVED them. They even played TWO encores!

I dragged Rachel along because she also likes music and rivers and such. I keep exposing more people to the awesome music of Colorado's Tribute to the Eagles!

A few days later we went continued the music theme and went to see Ben Folds!! Again!! We love him.

Excited!

He played at the Ogden, so it was a pretty intimate venue. And he completely rocked. Seriously.

Plus, he had an awesome tambourine player. He played many other things, too, but when he took center stage for the tambourine solo, it was hilarious.

So dramatic!

Back in July, my family gathered in Arkansas for our big family reunion. Sadly, Matt couldn't come, but at least he let me take the new car! My mom, Jess, four of my nieces, and I caravanned across four states.

On the road. It took lots of stops, jello, and stickers to get the little one through it. But she was pretty good!

It just so happened that our trip coincided with the release of the final Harry Potter film. Now, I am a HUGE fan of HP, as are my sisters and nieces. But Belle (my second eldest niece) is completely obsessed. Freakishly obsessed. Because she just graduated from high school, she's drawn all sorts of parallels between the end of HP and the end of her childhood. In fact, she considered not even going to the reunion in order to make sure she saw the movie at midnight. After we made her feel really bad about that thought, she ended up making the right decision. And I decided she deserved to still get to see the movie.

We bought tickets for the midnight showing in Wichita, KS (we were halfway to Arkansas on the night the movie came out). Jess and I took Belle and Hannah, and in many ways it was a very appropriate end to the series. After all, it was Jess and I who first introduced the books to the girls YEARS ago. We were all very excited to see the end.

Aah! It's a poster! Hooray!

The girls getting SO into the movie! (Ok, not really. I'm obviously not going to take pictures during the movie. They were just pretending.)

I made fun of the girls for getting so excited, but I ended up crying like a crazy baby throughout the whole thing. It was pretty awesome.

The next day, we continued our trip to Arkansas. While we were out there, we stayed in a CRAZY house with lots of weird features.

Empty closet with 20 random spools of thread on nails, a skylight covered with a picture of the sky, and a boarded-up doorway with the writing "Do Not Push" written on it.

But it was a nice big house that fit lots of our extended family. It allowed us lots of visiting time!

Saturday was the big reunion day!

The music that is always a tradition at our reunions. Granny and Aunt May dancing!

We separated into the music group and my generation of cousins, who were more concerned with chatting and catching up.

As usual, it was great to visit with family who we don't get to see very often. And I always love seeing my grandpa play his guitar!

The rest of the week was spent visiting with family... And playing with kitties...

Stray kittens we found outside our rental house. So cute!

Playing at Granny and Grandpa's, visiting with family.

And of course, no trip to Arkansas is complete without a trip (or two) to Ferguson's!

Awesome.

Belle, Hannah, and I had to get home a few days early, so we were off for the long drive home alone. It was fun to chat with Belle about he impending departure for college (more on that in a later post) and talk to Hannah about school. Quality aunt-niece time! But I'm always sad to leave Arkansas and the family who I don't get to see often enough!