Weekend

A Tall Cold One

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Well WSP at Redrocks this year was once again amazing. They broke the record with more consecutive sellout shows at redrocks than any other band and the Mayor proclaimed Friday as an official Widespread Panic Day. No, seriously.

Here’s a stream of Saturday’s show.

I had a blast. Great company. Perfect weather. Incredible set list. It’s weird cause it seems like I always get a Talking Heads cover. This year it was “Life during Wartime”. The widespread shows are always one of my favorite parties of the year. Instead of bragging about here on Artifacting (too late?), I’ll do like I did last year and let a bunch of other blogs tell you how amazing the show was:

  • Two-month-old Ari almost made to the show but was foiled in the last minutes. Fortunately Dad got to go though. Next year Ari!
  • Two-year-old Evan, however, did make it to the show.
  • The Joker never fails to supply some of the best coverage of shows in the Denver area (This time on Coventry instead of Bathtub Gin).
  • MacG came in from out of town and nearly as much fun as I did. Worth visiting for the pretty girls in bikinis at red rock pictures.
  • Amber, over at Westword, hates jam bands but finds out that Widespread has a lot more than noodling to offer.
  • Zig is traveling around the country and made it out to this weekend’s shows.
  • And Alan in Alabama regrets not going.

    • Brotherly Love

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    I was really impressed with Philadelphia as a city. I only spent a long weekend there but I felt like I got to see most of the sights and get a real flavor of the city (though that flavor was slightly greasy [in a good way]). As soon as I stepped of the plane it was straight to Johnny Manana’s for their giant griddle of melted cheese. The queso was excellent, the margs were horrible. I then got settled into my friend’s house who were hosting me for the week, at a yummy home cooked meal and washed it all down with a few beers at the Dark Horse in the city. The Dark Horse is a Philadelphia style Irish pub with strong roots, located in a 2 story colonial rowhouse complete with dark wood, exposed brick, and one of the oldest working fireplaces in the city.

    We kicked off our first full day in the City Of Brotherly Love with Philly cheese steaks of course.

    One of the people I was staying with was a highschool history teacher, and a native Philly who’s in love with his city. He was the perfect tour for all of the historical sights we visited on Saturday. We spent the entire afternoon seeing all the historical sights. The liberty bell, Independence hall, First national bank, The oldest residential street in the US, the National Constitution Center, and a bunch more. I think I might have been a little bored if it weren’t for the interesting anecdotes and facts provided by our good friend/tour guide.

    Over There

    For dinner we went to the tasty but slightly overpriced White Dog Cafe. A restaurant known for there social activism as much as their food. The atmosphere was cool and a little fancy. It made for a great “nice night out”.

    Sunday I slept in and had a leisurely breakfast then went to the Mütter Museum. This has to be one of the most interesting museums I’ve ever been to. It was filled with biological/anatomical oddities – conjoined twins, casts of heads suffering from acute, a 30 foot colon, the soap woman, the Chevalier Jackson collection of over 2,000 objects swallowed and removed from the trachea, celebrity body parts, encased longitudinal slices of the head showing the brain. It’s all enough to make you gasp and then get a little queasy. Muffled shouts of “My God, look at that BABY MONSTER!” are often heard and quite appropriate.

    Then it was off to the impressive Philadelphia Museum Of Art. I must have spent nearly four hours exploring this place.
    Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

    On Monday we spent the morning hiking around the Wissahickon Creek. It’s so great that Philly has a such a large, heavily wooded park right next to the city.
    Thomas Mill Road Covered Bridge
    In fact, Philly was filled with parks and was one of the many things I found attractive about it. Anyway, our trip ended shortly after with a flight back to Denver that seemed to take forever.

    SLC

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    Alabaster

    I recently returned from a little weekend vacation in Salt Lake City and have a few recommendations should you ever decide to visit.

  • Meet old friends. These old friends will be incredibly gracious to there guests and are generally just a ton of fun to be around. Spend the entire time with them.
  • Relax for the full length of your time there. Remember, you are on vacation.
  • Go get mole from the Red Iguana. Get many different types of mole. Eat until it hurts. Then drink margaritas.
  • Briefly tour downtown.
  • Go to the Japanese festival to feel like you are in some warped scene from SLC Punk.
  • Take your dog for a walk down in Parley’s Hollow/Tanner Park
  • Get a pitcher of bud light and a garlic Burger at Busy Bee Bar & Grill
  • Check out Cocker’s in the Sugerhouse district (I’m pretty sure it’s the only place in Salt Lake City you can buy a butt plug without having to purchase club membership).
  • Spend the afternoon, and evening, drinking away in The Bayou. Sample all sorts of framboise, ipa, tripel, and maker’s shots.
  • Visit the Tabernacle, preferably with an ex-mormon so you can get the secret about the LDS and tips to avoid the onslaught of missionaries.
  • Spend an entire afternoon watching kids play in the park.
  • Come home refreshed.

    • Sister Golden Hair Suprise

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    The Chutes At Mary Jane
    Last Sunday probably wasn’t the last day of the ski season for me. Arapahoe Basin will most likey be open long into the spring (I once skied A-Basin on the 4th of July) and I’m sure I’ll get one last day in there. But Sunday was was the last day to ski for free on our passes. Mary Jane was much more crowded than we expected. The last two weekends have been practically empty but it seems, this time around, everyone had the same idea as us and it ended up being a lot of fun.

    The entire place was a giant party/cookout/ski fest. There were at least three bands in the parking lot – a punk band that drew all the young snowboarders, an “old persons band” that rocked out the classics like America’s Sister Golden Hair (One of my many favorite songs from the 70’s), and an acoustic duo that was barely audible above all the party goers.

    The entire day was a blast and the whole mountain was going off. We had bluebird skies and weather in the 60’s. We had hot dogs, beer, and a grill. We had enough snow that the chutes were open (see the photo above) and the skiing was nice and heavy and mash-potato-ey at the bottom. Lots of people were dressed up in costumes or bikinis. It was probably one of the more fun days in what was one of the better ski seasons of my life.
    Party In The Parking Lot

    Suckerbowl Weekend

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    A leisurely trip up to Vail with my brother, sister-in-law, and G, made for a real wind-down type of weekend. Of course, a happy hour on Friday with a handful of friends started things out just right. We were able fit in some shopping at the outlet stores in Silverthorn on the way in addition to a lunch at the Dam Brewery. A lot of the time was spent making fun of terrible movies and figuring out how to perfect a panini (I think were getting close).

    The highlight was the skiing of course. The runs were wide open because everyone was at home getting ready to watch the suckerbowl and drink ranch dressing. When we arrived back at the condo there was a keg party in the lobby, so, double bonus for us. Below is a video of skiing last weekend at Keystone. We slide down snowy mountains as much as we can during these winter months.

    Freakshow

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    My weekend started off with a Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains, a super band consisting of Les Claypool (Primus), Brain (Praxis), Buckethead (Guns N Roses), and Bernie Worrell (Parliament Funkadelic). The show was great, they played a really long session, had some wonderful solos, a couple of good covers and it was basically a full-on freak show. I went with A.P., my bro, Pandy, and a bunch of friends and I think we all had a blast. Opening the show was Gabbylala. She put on a great show playing all kinds of instruments; look for her album in 2005.

    I slept in on Saturday consisted of yard work (raking leaves) and lazing around. I am still on the verge of a cold so I went to sleep early. By the way, that new doublemelt pizza thing from Dominoes is disgusting. Don’t try it. The chicken kickers, however, are wonderful.

    On Sunday I ran a bunch of errands and then we had a pumpkin carving party. The weather was perfect to sit in the backyard with all the leaves falling around us making jack-o-lanterns. It was tons-o-fun and we have a whole bunch of freshly roasted and liberally salted pumpkin seeds to boot.

    Winter Weekends

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    Friday I worked a little late into the evening and spent a quiet evening at home. I watched How To Lose a Guy In Ten Days. It was cute, laughable, fodder to wind down my week. I can appreciate an occasional fun chick flick despite how generally contrived and predictable it was.

    I was up (relatively) early on Saturday and headed up into the mountains for a day of skiing. I met up with A.P. and his wife and the two kids. We all ate an early lunch together and then went out to the carpet lift to play with the kids and teach them how to ski. The boy popped out before he even got his skis on but the girls were gung ho and couldn’t get enough. It was great getting a four-year old and a six-year old interested in the sport. Both me and A.P. agreed the whole secret to getting the youngsters started is just making sure they stay warm and are having fun. Most of the skills and athletics come later. At first you just have make sure they want to come back. Afterward me and A.P. went to take some turns on our own. We got about four additional hours skiing the ‘S’ lift at Copper Mountain. Traditionally, one of our favorite areas. It snowed most of the afternoon and this made for some good skiing but it also made traffic a bear. It took me two hours to get up to the mountain in the morning and three hours to get back. It was a long day.

    I spent most of Sunday running errands, grocery shopping, watching TV, and reading. I was a pleasant weekend for a change.

    This Is A Good Thing

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    San Francisco is a wonderful city. The weather was perfect. There was nearly no fog. Unfortunately, I only got to spend about 28 hours there. It was definitely a whirlwind. I did however get to spend a little time in China Town, go to the ferry building, and walk around Knob Hill and Downtown. I stayed at the Omni which was a beautiful hotel with all the luxuries. I’ll be back, there is so much more to see.

    My presentation went great. I spent most of the day in meetings, groups, and discussions. It all went well. But it was still work.

    I got back home last night around 1:00 am. There was a giant hole in my shower wall. This is a good thing. The leak in the bathtub faucets is finally being fixed after getting progressively worse for the last year and a half. A new showerhead has been put on so now I don’t have to squat my knees or bend over to rinse the shampoo off my head (which as small as it may sound, is actually quite a luxury).

    Thanks for all your luck, I know it helped.

    Getting My Sport On

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    It’s been a pretty active week. I’ve been swamped during work lately but getting a lot done. During the days and evenings I’ve been getting my sport on. Over the weekend, for AP’s bachelor party, I played in a golf tournament at Park Hill . It was a four-man scramble and we tied for first. I won a Park Hill baseball cap that is a little too large for me. It was a blast playing though, and definitely my best round so far this summer.

    On Monday I had my last Spring League Ultimate tournament. We ended up tying that too. The team that we met in the finals had been our biggest rivals all season. The final game went well into dark and it became impossible to see the frisbee so both teams agreed to stopping at a tied score. This way we remained undefeated and they got to not lose to us again. The final League standings can be found here (I am on team Chachi).

    Last night was the first game of Summer league. This league is much, much larger. We’ll never play the same team twice (there are 24 teams), and there is always couple of kegs of beer after each game. It’s a much more social league, and I’m really looking forward to another great summer season.

    Not Here

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    I have been slammed with work over the past couple of days. But no more! Tomorrow I’m taking an 8 hour road trip here, and am staying here in order to ski here.

    I’m also attending a wedding on Saturday (one of many this year) in Utah. This should make for a nice and semi-relaxing long weekend away. Utah isn’t the greatest place to hang out during the winter (the summer is much more fun, i.e. mountain biking in Moab, camping in Arches, boating at Powell), but it sure is a great place to ski. I’m just really looking forward to getting out of town. I may not post again till I get back on Monday.

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