Wine And Music Make For A Pleasant Evening
A Half-Price Bottle Of Wine Is A Good Way To Start A Night
I met my friend Kim for dinner at Shout (please web designers — stop using Flash, it’s annoying!) before we headed over to Center Stage to see Gomez and Josh Ritter.
Dinner was good and we were both happy to hear that it was half-price wine night at Shout. I was further pleased to be able to unearth some knowledge gained back in my Great Olden Days by recommending we share a bottle of Cabernet Sauvingnon from the Lolonis Winery. Lolonis is a winery that I discovered at one of the many wine tastings that I attended in the early 2000′s.
We arrived at Center Stage to find Josh Ritter already performing. Ritter and his band (consisting of a bassist who looked like the love-child of Salvador Dali and Groucho Marx) put on an entertaining set. It figured that right after I told Kim that I was unfamiliar with Ritter’s band they played a song I’ve heard often on Sirius. What really set this set apart was the fact that Ritter was jubilant; it was a wonderful change from the emo/disinterested/angry performances I normally attend. At night’s end I saw the bassist loading gear into their tour bus and thanked him for a fun performance. And before you ask, no I didn’t shake is hand.
I have been familiar with the music of Gomez for some years now and saw them play Variety Playhouse a few years ago after their release of “How We Operate.” I would have seen them play Atlanta last year as well if not for the fact that they played at Lakewood Amphitheater (I don’t “do” Lakewood any longer). The show they played last night was a great mix of older hits along with material which is due to show up on their next release “A New Tide” which is going to drop on March 31st.
Puppets Made From Meat? This I Have To See.
Oh, The Meat Puppets are a band and not actual puppets? Oh well, I am still pleased that I’ve secured a ticket to the June 16th show at The EARL. I’m fairly certain that this show will be a sell-out so if you want see these Meat Puppets then I suggest you head over to Ticket Alternative and get your ticket soon.
ITP Flickr Pic
Ugh, nothing again. I left my camera at the office since I didn’t want to leave it in my trunk.
Who’s That Guy Reading? He Looks A Lot Like Me
I will never tout the iPhondle as the best device for reading… but it’s getting me reading. What I am finding is that a book with me wherever I go is readable thanks to its convenience. I’ve also started “reading” more by listening to audiobooks during my commute. Currently I’m reading Carl Haissen’s “Native Tongue” in the car.
Along the reading lines, yesterday I broke my vow not to buy new books by purchasing not one, but two books from Amazon. Both books are photography related so I’ll cut myself some slack as I try to improve my photography skills. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll even have a few images to post on this blog. 
I Could Possibly Be TweetingUp Tonight
Tonight is the monthly meetup of Atlanta Tweeters, aka the Atlanta TweetUp. Tonight’s gathering will be held at Eclipse di Luna (Miami Circle) starting at 7pm.
I’m on the fence as to whether or not I will make an appearance tonight, although I should since I skipped last month’s gathering. My decision tonight will be mostly based on how tired I am from getting in at midnight last night, combined with the knowledge that I need to finish my laundry from Monday night and that I am going to a play tomorrow night and that there is a possibility that I am going hash “camping” this weekend.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, but a bit on the large side
Current Music – listening to yesterday’s “Buzz Out Loud” podcast
Website Of The Day – These are easy to pick when people send them to me. Today’s Food Blog is No Recipes. Thanks to ITP-Reader Darren for the head’s up on this one.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 2.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 22 (22)
Vegetarian Days – 8, Carnivorous Days – 18
Marta Rides – 0
March Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my kitchen
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas
2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop
The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Shout.. (Shout.. let it all out) is one of my lunch options for all you can eat sushi- choose from about 7 or 8 different rolls.. only fair.
How was dinner, besides good wine. And glad you had a good show experience.
-FP
Whoops, I forgot to mention the food. The food was decent, nothing about which to shout (ooooooh, I slay myself!). We shared an order of calimari, quite edible, Kim had sushi (looked good), and I had a pulled-pork pizza which sounded better than it tasted (each component was good, but together they really didn’t work).
Weren’t you just at Eclipse di Luna for something and say it was really loud? But, do you guys even talk, or just text each other while sitting next to each other, so it doesn’t matter? (I crack myself up….)
1/2 price wine at a restaurant is always a good thing……
Yeah, the art silent auction was at Eclipse di Luna in February. At that time I was with one of the TweetUp organizers and she also mentioned that it was loud, but the TweetUp had already committed to being there this month. I wouldn’t be surprised if most conversations tonight are held via text message.
One of the guys I run with in Grant Park turned me on to Haissen, I really liked Skinny Dip and I’ve started Nature Girl, both pretty funny, like you I just need more time to read.
Looks like a great weekend for camping, 70% of rain Friday and Saturday…at least Sunday will be clear for the drive home
Meh, you better run fast on Sunday — they may run out of water.
I’ve paid for camping but am not committed to going. There is a possibility that I’ll seek sunny days elsewhere in the southeast.
From the sound of it, there will be plenty of water available on Sunday, I may just have to drink it out of a puddle.
Looks like you may have to travel pretty far for some sunny skies this weekend.
Glad you got to see Josh Ritter. I’d like to know more of his music. I’ve got a few of his tunes on my hard drive. There is definitely a “joie de vivre” quality in his music that is really refreshing.
The smiles and playful attitudes of Ritter and his bandmates were really refreshing.
Shameless Plug:
If you don’t go to the Black Sheep campout, you can always do the ITP Wheelhopper that Easy and I are laying in East Point Sunday. Food will be served, and rumor has it that over achiever Ms. Screw It will be there.
I’ve seen Josh Ritter solo at the Redlight Cafe and with his band at the Variety Playhouse. Both shows were good but the show at the VP was one of the best things I saw last year. His latest album is well worth owning and you can also find some good shows at the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/browse.php?collection=etree&field=/metadata/creator)
Thanks Andrew, that’s good to know. I just remembered that I have about $11 in Amazon credit to spend, perhaps I know on what some of that will be spent.
Just to set things straight, I AM NOT running a marathon and then doing Wheelhopper, I will be at the end, propped up against a wall, drinking, for as long as my body holds out.
WHAT?!
I heard that you were going to run the marathon and then ride the Wheelhopper with flattened tires to make it even harder. I am very disappointed in you Martha.
i don’t know that i’d ask all web designers to stop using Flash so much that i’d ask that they stop abusing it in such a cruel and unusual manner. holy wow that site is bad.
Yeah, it’s really the abuse that’s the issue. I wish I could get:
a) restaurants to stop using Flash-based websites.
b) people to stop playing music when their website loads.