msu wins the national championship!!!
Okay, I'm officially going to Spartan Hell for missing this game.
Man-oh-man!
We were at a play in Columbus tonight, but I had my dad and Stefy sending me text message updates the whole time. When dad sent me a note saying BC was up 1-0 after the first period, with a ridiculous shots on goal margin, I wasn't optimistic that we could pull it out.
Sounds like we had quite a finish though.
It's funny, after all the years where I felt like a jinx on MSU's hockey program, the first season I didn't watch a single game is the one where they go ahead and win a national championship. Geez, I wonder if the same thing would work if I quit watching MSU football next year.
Wow! GO GREEN!!!
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it's april 7, and there's snow on the ground
Okay, there's not actually that much snow on the ground, but to have any kind of accumulation at this point in the year is just ridiculous.
It was a pretty quiet night down here in Ohio last night. We just watched Hollywoodland, which was pretty good (if not a little draggy in spots).
Today I think we're just going to go do some shopping in the afternoon, and then go see a play later in the evening. Tomorrow morning we're going to go to 9:30 mass, and then go to a restaurant for a nice Easter brunch. Pretty low key, but it's just a nice weekend to relax and spend time with the folks.
Anyway, that's it for now. Stay warm today!
busy week = slow posting
Good Lord, it's been a busy week. I was in Detroit all day yesterday, came back to Lansing later in the afternoon to do some birthday shopping for a certain someone, went out to dinner with Stef, worked a full day today, I'll be taking off to go babysit the girls as soon as Stef gets back from her class, then tomorrow morning I'm getting up bright and early to hit the road for Ohio. Man alive!
Anyhoo, that's it for now. I have no clue when I'll be able to post again (maybe later in the day tomorrow, maybe sometime on Saturday or Sunday), but I hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend. Have a Happy Easter, and remember kids... the Chocolate Jesus died for your sins!
ben folds concert: the best i've seen
Well, last night was the third time I'd seen a Ben Folds show, and despite a slew of technical difficulties, it was hands down the best concert of the three. For starters, he did even more covers and impromptu little ditties than usual...
And speaking of pianos, the funniest part of the show was about three quarters of the way in, when the pedals on Ben's piano started busting apart. He interrupted the lyrics to the song he was playing, and started singing about MSU's shitty piano. He eventually quit playing, and signaled for someone to come try to fix it. This scruffy looking dude came out with a screw driver and got under the piano, but quickly figured out that it wasn't attached with any screws. Ben kinda tried to keep things moving by making up a tune on his synthesizer, but he was clearly peeved, and just walked off the stage after a few minutes.
Another guy came running out with some duct tape, and they started wrapping the pedals, trying to re-attach the unit to the bottom of the piano. The crowd was starting to get restless by this point, but then we noticed this guy in a blue silk shirt stand up over in the section next to ours. A couple people behind us started chanting "Rick Shaw – Rick Shaw!" and we finally figured out that this was the harmonica-playing cab driver that Ben had brought up on stage at last year's concert. I guess the guy just decided to show up at the concert with his harp, hoping that he might get invited onstage.
Well, Ben finally came back out, noticed Rick, and brought him up. They started jamming on an impromptu blues number with Rick whaling on his harmonica, and everyone in the crowd was going nuts. I think a lot of people remembered him from last year, and it was just hysterical to have the whole piano pedal episode capped off with Rick Shaw onstage.
Rick took a bow and made a graceful exit after his jam session, and then Ben and his band ripped into this amazing sequence of songs to cap off the main part of the show. They did Narcolepsy, Kate, Zak and Sara, Army, and, my personal favorite, Underground. For those who don't know, Underground is my favorite Ben Folds Five song... maybe even one of my top-five favorite songs of all time. I've never seen Ben perform it live, so I was pretty geeked that he decided to play it last night.
Anyway, they came back out for the encore and played Not the Same, which is another great song for crowd participation. All those angelic "ahhhh-ahhhhhhs" just sound really cool with a couple thousand people singing a three-part harmony together (check out the video below to see what I'm talking about).
So yeah, the show was even better than I expected, and as bummed as I was about missing my dad's big debut as a playwright, I was really glad we were able to go.
- "Your Cheatin' Heart" (by Hank Williams)
- A song he called "F#ck You, I'll Miss You" (which Ben made up on the spot, after mis-hearing a couple girls yell out "F#ck Yeah, MSU!")
- "Rock Out With Your C*ck Out" (which accompanied a funny story about how he accidentally flashed his family jewels to an audience one night after stripping down to his boxers)
- "Bitches Ain't Shit" (Dr. Dre's "sad" rap song)
- "Such Great Heights" (which I posted the other day)
Another guy came running out with some duct tape, and they started wrapping the pedals, trying to re-attach the unit to the bottom of the piano. The crowd was starting to get restless by this point, but then we noticed this guy in a blue silk shirt stand up over in the section next to ours. A couple people behind us started chanting "Rick Shaw – Rick Shaw!" and we finally figured out that this was the harmonica-playing cab driver that Ben had brought up on stage at last year's concert. I guess the guy just decided to show up at the concert with his harp, hoping that he might get invited onstage.
Well, Ben finally came back out, noticed Rick, and brought him up. They started jamming on an impromptu blues number with Rick whaling on his harmonica, and everyone in the crowd was going nuts. I think a lot of people remembered him from last year, and it was just hysterical to have the whole piano pedal episode capped off with Rick Shaw onstage.
Rick took a bow and made a graceful exit after his jam session, and then Ben and his band ripped into this amazing sequence of songs to cap off the main part of the show. They did Narcolepsy, Kate, Zak and Sara, Army, and, my personal favorite, Underground. For those who don't know, Underground is my favorite Ben Folds Five song... maybe even one of my top-five favorite songs of all time. I've never seen Ben perform it live, so I was pretty geeked that he decided to play it last night.
Anyway, they came back out for the encore and played Not the Same, which is another great song for crowd participation. All those angelic "ahhhh-ahhhhhhs" just sound really cool with a couple thousand people singing a three-part harmony together (check out the video below to see what I'm talking about).
So yeah, the show was even better than I expected, and as bummed as I was about missing my dad's big debut as a playwright, I was really glad we were able to go.
ben folds, one year ago
Here's the post I wrote about the Ben Folds concert at Wharton on April 11, 2006. Tomorrow's show is at the Auditorium, and this is the first concert I'll have attended since they finished the ridiculously overdue renovation. Should be fun!
Well, even though Ben didn't really rock this bitch last night (people yelled for it, but he never played it), it was still an amazing concert. It's a little hard to compare the show from two years ago because (a) I was in the sixth row this time instead of the balcony and (b) Ben had two other musicians with him onstage (a bass player and drummer) this time, and he was solo before.
The opening number was Give Judy My Notice, which is a great tune, but a bit too mellow for a first song. Still, I really appreciated Ben playing the Theme from Dr. Pyser as the second song, because it's something I never expected to hear him play live.
Ben was in his usual goofy mood last night, telling odd stories and cracking jokes with the audience. One funny story was about a run-in he had with the marketing director of Meijer, who stopped him from taking photographs inside the store yesterday. Ben kept referring to this guy as a f-ing asshole, but said he made it out of there with some good pictures that exposed Meijer's trade secrets, which he was going to sell to Kroger. It always kills me to hear stories like this of musicians running around town when they're around for a concert, because I'm always jealous that I never got to run into Ben Folds at Meijer during the week.
Anyway, I digress. Most of the show (probably at least 3/4) was all newer stuff that's been released in the post-Ben Folds Five era. I mean, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but for people like me who are still in love with his old stuff, I was left at times hoping he would step back into his older material a bit more. Ben did do some goodies like Brick, Lullabye, Army, Narcolepsy, and a surprising closing rendition of One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces. I say surprising because that's just another song I never expected him to play live for some reason.
One of the funniest and most interesting points in the concert came when Ben started telling this story about getting driven around town by Big Daddy Taxi. He mentioned that they had this really cool driver who said he was a musician as well. That's when they brought this guy Rick out to honk on his harmonica while the band jumped into this impromptu blues number. Not only was it funny to see Ben Folds playing blues for a change, but this guy Rick was actually a REALLY good harmonica player. For me, it's improvised moments like that which make a Ben Folds concert so much fun to see. Nowadays the modern rock concert is so rehearsed and pre-programed, that it's refreshing to see a performer try unusual stuff like that to keep it interesting.
It's a little sad now that these two concerts I was looking forward to so much are over. For the last few months it felt like these shows marked the end of the year for me, but I still have a few weeks left to go, and all of the fun stuff has already come and gone! Ah, well. If the last big memory I have from my final semester at MSU is seeing Ben Folds, that's okay with me.
Well, even though Ben didn't really rock this bitch last night (people yelled for it, but he never played it), it was still an amazing concert. It's a little hard to compare the show from two years ago because (a) I was in the sixth row this time instead of the balcony and (b) Ben had two other musicians with him onstage (a bass player and drummer) this time, and he was solo before.
Ben was in his usual goofy mood last night, telling odd stories and cracking jokes with the audience. One funny story was about a run-in he had with the marketing director of Meijer, who stopped him from taking photographs inside the store yesterday. Ben kept referring to this guy as a f-ing asshole, but said he made it out of there with some good pictures that exposed Meijer's trade secrets, which he was going to sell to Kroger. It always kills me to hear stories like this of musicians running around town when they're around for a concert, because I'm always jealous that I never got to run into Ben Folds at Meijer during the week.
Anyway, I digress. Most of the show (probably at least 3/4) was all newer stuff that's been released in the post-Ben Folds Five era. I mean, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but for people like me who are still in love with his old stuff, I was left at times hoping he would step back into his older material a bit more. Ben did do some goodies like Brick, Lullabye, Army, Narcolepsy, and a surprising closing rendition of One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces. I say surprising because that's just another song I never expected him to play live for some reason.
One of the funniest and most interesting points in the concert came when Ben started telling this story about getting driven around town by Big Daddy Taxi. He mentioned that they had this really cool driver who said he was a musician as well. That's when they brought this guy Rick out to honk on his harmonica while the band jumped into this impromptu blues number. Not only was it funny to see Ben Folds playing blues for a change, but this guy Rick was actually a REALLY good harmonica player. For me, it's improvised moments like that which make a Ben Folds concert so much fun to see. Nowadays the modern rock concert is so rehearsed and pre-programed, that it's refreshing to see a performer try unusual stuff like that to keep it interesting.
It's a little sad now that these two concerts I was looking forward to so much are over. For the last few months it felt like these shows marked the end of the year for me, but I still have a few weeks left to go, and all of the fun stuff has already come and gone! Ah, well. If the last big memory I have from my final semester at MSU is seeing Ben Folds, that's okay with me.
homeless james bond
I mentioned these Acceptable.TV clips in my Weekend Update, but I wanted to post them anyway. Funny stuff:
weekend update
Okay, here's the not-so-quick wrap-up...
Made it to Stef's by about 2PM on Friday afternoon. Headed over to Somerset for a late lunch with her grandma at CPK, then did a little shopping. I found a nice pair of jeans and a polo on sale at the Gap, and I got them both for about $40 – que ganga!
Stef and I went back to her place after our little shopping excursion, but headed back out for an early evening screening of The Namesake, which was really good.
After the movie we came back to the house and vegged on the couch for a while. By accident, we wound up watching this new show on VH1, Acceptable.TV, which was hysterically funny. The premise is pretty straightforward: they show five super-short shows each episode, and then you can go online and vote for your favorite one. They bring the top two vote-getters back the next week, dump the rest, and add three new shows to the rotation. It's kinda like SNL, only funny, and you get to pick which sketches they bring back each week. Our favs were Homeless James Bond and Cirque Du Soleil: Sex Crime Investigators. Honestly, I couldn't tell you the last time I laughed so hard during a TV show.
Anyway, we both slept in pretty late on Saturday morning, and spent the morning/afternoon being lazy, watching movies on TV. Stef and I eventually got up the gumption to head out for lunch and go do a little birthday shopping for a certain mother of mine by mid-afternoon. We also headed back into Birmingham for another movie. This time we saw Blades of Glory, which reminded me of an SNL skit that went on for waaaaaaay too long. There were a few funny moments, but I think I would've laughed harder if we had just gone home and watched the same Acceptable.TV episode again.
We caught up with Stef's folks for a quick dinner at Pita Cafe after the movie, and then headed back to the house. Tim and Teri took off after dinner to pick up Stef's Uncle John from the airport, who was in town to visit a friend in the hospital. We watched a little basketball back at the house while we waited for them to get back, and then stayed up for a while yacking with Stef's Uncle once he arrived.
There wasn't any time to sleep in and be lazy on Sunday morning because we wanted to do breakfast with Tim and John in the morning, but John had to get to the hospital by 9:30 or 10. So, we left the house at around 8:30 and had a quick bite at the Pancake House. This was the first time I had ever gone there and didn't have to wait in line, which was pretty amazing. My breakfast, as always, was spectacular. Honestly, if I could pick one place to eat breakfast for the rest of my life, that would be it.
We split off from Tim and John after we ate, and then took care of our grocery shopping assignment from Stef's mom. Teri was planning a huge feast for everyone on her side of the family who wanted to come visit John, so we just needed to pick up a few things at Kroger. Stef and I wound up helping Teri do some last-minute prep work in the kitchen before the guests started arriving later in the afternoon, so it felt good to lend a hand feel like I contributed something.
The whole shindig went off without a hitch (except for Teri accidentally burning her hand on a hot dish – poor lady), and I think we all had a really good time. It's always nice to get together and catch up with Stef's family like that.
We wound up staying at Stef's house kinda late because we wanted to help clean up, but it was all worth it. It was a little after 9 by the time we hit the road, but we still made it back at a relatively decent hour.
Whew. So yeah, it was a pretty busy weekend, but a lot of fun.
Hope you had a good one!