BeyondExquisite Blogging
6.30.2003
GOOD VIBRATIONS!!!
What a fantastic weekend in Taos!!! Friday night's lineup, with Red Earth, William Topley, then the Subdudes, still steals the show as far as Wayne & I are concerned. We left the festival that evening floating about 3 ft off the ground from all that awesome music.
Saturday's performances were wonderful, too, but not quite the heady experience of Friday evening.
Gaelic Storm was simply fantastic on Saturday afternoon. Those guys can sing, and play all kinds of instruments -- everything from digireedoo (sp?) to bagpipes -- and dance a jig, too! Their guy, Bob, just tore up the fiddle as well as any Nashville cat I've ever heard. They were wonderful, and I'm gonna go down to Natural Sound and find a couple of their CDs! !
Michelle Shocked was there all by herself, with her guitar, and she was just great. Bob, the fiddler, came out for the last few numbers and stole the show. They pulled some local lady named Wanda from the audience to play gut bass on a couple tunes. She was a trip. They closed with John Prines' "Down by the Green River".
Acoustic Hot Tuna was quite hot indeed! YOW! Jack and Jorma, and their mandolin player were tight as it gets! Sonny Landreth came out for a couple tunes, too. Sonny is always awesome. We didn't go on Sunday, where we heard he was awesome playing with John Hiatt.
Big Head Todd & the Monsters came blasting out with some AWESOME rock n roll. Todd was feeling really good, and it showed. There was some kind of tuning problem on a couple songs, but overall they rocked! We rocked! We danced! We sang! YEAH!!
Robert Mirabal was quite the magnanimous Master of Ceremonies both days. He danced a LOT, he joined Gaelic Storm for one of their lively numbers. His sense of humor is delightful. He has great taste in headgear! :)
On Sunday, we drove back through Eagles Nest, Cimarron, and Springer. What a beautiful drive.
I'm still full of good vibes, fresh Taos air, and lots of vitamin D. Already looking forward to next year's Taos Solar Music Festival .
THANKS KTAO!!!!
6.28.2003
Super, Extra-loud WOO-HOO!!!!!
I'm sitting in an incredibly relaxing, beautiful, quiet little cyber cafe in Taos, called "Wired?" Wayne brought his wireless laptop, and we're using their internet for free. When we're done here, we'll mozy on over to the wonderful Taos Solar Music Festival, where I will, for the second day in a row, commence to dance my ass off to some of the most fantastic music on the planet.
Yesterday evening, we saw two fabulous performances: William Topley, with his awesome band, then an unreal and enraptured performace by the newly re-united SUBDUDES! Those guys totally rock, and they can sing like noone else I've heard in a long time. We are still floating on the vibes from those two performances at the Kit Carson Park here in Taos.
Today, we'll go over there and listen to this great Irish rock band that I can't wait to hear, Gaelic Storm. It only gets better from there: Acoustic Hot Tuna, Michelle Shocked, then..... BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS! Yes, we are in for a real treat.
Taos is just in it's own little time warp, and we like it that way.
I'm ready to do some more rockin'.
6.26.2003
Thank goodness the raging fire last night in the Albuquerque bosque did not damage any homes. It was quite disconerting to be driving home at sunset, and see a HUGE billow of black smoke! As we watched on TV later in the night, the flames were shooting 150 ft into the air. Thank goodness the wind didn't kick up.
Today, they are able to drop water from the air, and it is pretty much under control. What a scary night for residents living in the bosque along the Rio Grande.
I returned from a 2-day trip to Phoenix. That town is way too hot for me this time of year. Good thing I was inside working the whole time.
Time to go to Taos and PLAY! Woo-hoo! Can't wait to see The Subdudes! and William Topley! tomorrow night. More good music on tap for Saturday!
6.18.2003
Over 13,000 fans attended the Isotopes game on Sat night, June 14. That, so far, is a record crowd for the brand new stadium and team. What is truly fantastic and thrilling about that statistic, is the fact that the ladies bathroom on the third base side NEVER HAD A LINE during any of my several visits to the facility that evening. This, in and of itself, is something for the Isotopes to absolutley brag about!! As a female fan who has stood in many bathroom lines in other ballparks, I couldn't be more ecstatic!!! Way to go 'Topes!
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Seeing the Eric McFadden Trio TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW was also another big thrill last weekend. YOW!! Those guys were Rocking OUT! We never get to see our dear bass playing friend, James Whiton, enough when he comes through town. But at least we got to see him perform 2 nights, and helped him celebrate his birthday on Friday the 13th. Then we got to eat some of the delectable chocolate birthday cake his wonderful Mom, Betty, baked for him, and shared with everyone over at the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid on Sat night. We drove over there after the game. We sat at the ballpark with an incredible view of the full moon rising over the Sandias and Manzano Mtns, then drove out through the east mountain wilds that were lit almost as bright as day with that moon shining. The crowd at The Mine Shaft was indescribable. ... 'nuff said.
OK, it's my bedtime.... night....
6.14.2003
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER, RANDY!!!!
BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AWESOME BASSIST, JAME WHITON!!! We are so THRILLED we got to see you perform last night at Club Rhythm & Blues!!! What an AWESOME performance.
The Eric McFadden Trio (Eric, James and The Commander) were totally over the top and out of control and it was fantastic!!! I danced my ass off on the last song. Woo-Hoo!
Looking forward to seeing the Isotopes play baseball tonight. Woo-hoo again!!
Man, I am feeling GREAT today. Must be the full moon.
6.13.2003
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE POWELL!!!!
TGIF! For sure! It's been a busy week, and it's still a very busy day for me at work today. It will just fly by, I'm sure.
Our family mourns the loss of our beloved Aunt Gennie Shanklin. She was in her 90s, in a nursing home in Beckley, WV. She had not been well for quite some time. We know that she now rests in peace up in heaven with her beloved husband, Glenn.
Looking forward to hearing some good music tonight, and enjoying some good baseball this weekend!!
6.09.2003
The Phenomenon of THE IMMACULATE HUMVEE!!!
Has anyone else noticed that EVERY Humvee on the road looks like it just came out of the carwash? Not a spot, not a speck of dirt ANYWHERE on these off-road beastmobiles!!! I have YET to see a Humvee ANYWHERE that has one bit of dirt on it. Even on our trip to Kansas, every Humvee we saw was SPOTLESS. I am beginning to wonder if these vehicles which were built to go just about anywhere a tank can go -- through mud, through muck, across streams, rocks, sand.... -- are manufactured with some miracle finish that repels any manner of dirt or bug guts???
The TV commercials show happy adventurers trekking in their Humvee across barren wastelands, going where supposedly "no one has gone before". One would think that these adventurers who pay through the nose to purchase a state-of-the-art all-wheel-drive piece of machinery would at some point use it to do some offroad trekking. Maybe, one of these days, I'll see a Humvee that actually has some grime on it.
6.04.2003
Another fine day in Albuquerque. We've actually been getting RAIN around here lately!!!
Our neighbors on the west side of our house are doing landscaping. They had guys out there digging dirt yesterday and this morning. We were glad to see they were quite exact about following the property line with their digging. It will be interesting to see what the big long ditch has turned into when we get home this evening.
We need to do some landscaping ourselves. Wayne trimmed a lot of big branches off our huge mulberry tree in the front yard last weekend. We ended up hauling 2 truckloads of branches to the county "convenience center". I want to go find some nice evergreens for the side and backyard this weekend.
Now, I'm going for my lunchtime walk.
6.01.2003
The MERMEN played at The Launchpad last night, and, as expected, the show was AWESOME!
We got there just in time for the sound check. The sound check was AWESOME! We got to chat with Jim Thomas, Jennifer Burns and Martyn Jones several times throughout the evening. We also had a great time talking to Jaime, the lady who sells their merchandise, and updates their website. Much to our delight, they were selling freshly pressed vinyl albums of their 1996 release "Songs of the Cows". The album is blue vinyl!! I'm playing it right now, and it sounds great. I guess a lot of people have gotten rid of their turntables, but not me. I still play my vinyl from time to time, and especially prize the cover art.
We snagged Jim just before the show to sign my album. He was in a great mood, and filled us in on the progress of the new studio they are building in Santa Cruz.
All in all, we rocked out for several hours to the finest surf guitar on the planet, and I danced my ass off. We bid Jim & Co. farewell after the show, and good luck with the rest of their tour. I'll be floating for several days from those fine vibes.
