dave matthews band – linsenbardt.net

November 28, 2010

Of Thanksgiving and Wireless Printers

This year marked our annual trek across Missouri for Thanksgiving, but the first time we’d done so with a nearly 9-month-old. We’ve done this every year since being married, but until now, we’ve only had a dog to deal with. This time, we had a baby…plus the carseat and luggage that goes with her. Needless to say, I’m glad we have a different car now, as all the stuff filled up the back to the point where we couldn’t see out of it any longer.

Regardless, we went to Hannibal for the Thanksgiving holiday where the majority of the Poor/Baumann clan typically goes. Meg did great, for the most part, but didn’t sleep terribly well the second night. As usual, the food was great, the company was fun, and the “Poor Women” entertained me with their video game shenanigans (this year, some fun with “Just Dance 2“…and yes, we have video evidence…). On Friday, we continued our Tour of Missouri by driving to my parent’s house in Columbia where we hung out with the immediate family. Again, Meg did pretty well the first night…and not so well the second night… But overall, again, good food had by all, and a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit on Saturday night.

Either way, it was a pretty good trip. We made it back to Iowa by mid-afternoon, so it allowed us to clean up a bit around here and prep for the upcoming week. Christmas is going to get difficult, I imagine, as we were already pressed for space in the car on this trip. We’ll need to pick up some kind of roof rack bag in order to make space for everything. That, or Edie will have to spend Christmas with Sam… 😛

On a side-note, we didn’t do much Black Friday shopping. I did pick up a few games online, and Brooke and I grabbed a new All-In-One printer from Wal-mart for $44. Great deal. And it works wonders. Wirelessly. It’s glorious. 🙂

And, on another side-note, I was looking to see if the Dave Matthews Band performance from the 2010 Grammy Awards was posted anywhere and, low and behold, it’s up on Youtube. I tried finding it the day after the awards and the only place I could find it was iTunes for $3. Outrageous! Therefore, I post it now. It’s, perhaps, the best live performance of them I have seen and, by far, the best performance of any group at the Grammy’s that night. They should have won.

August 19, 2008

Tripping Billies

We went to the Dave Matthews Band concert in Memphis a few weeks ago and noticed that Leroi Moore, the saxophone player, wasn’t up there with the band. We later found out that he had been in an ATV accident on his farm in Virginia over the 4th of July weekend.

I just found out that Moore died from complications of his injuries unexpectedly today in Los Angeles.

Needless to say, I’m stunned and extremely sad for the loss. His contributions to the band will be missed, especially as his musical offerings were so versatile and unique adding various sax sounds, flute, etc. to all of their albums over the years.

“We are all sitting
Legs crossed round a fire
My yellow flame she dances
Tequila drinking oh our
Minds will wonder
To wonderous places
So why would you care
To get out of this place
You and me and all our friends
Such a happy human race
Eat, drink and be merry
For tomorrow we die”

— “Tripping Billies;” Dave Matthews Band

Update: The band played their concert last night in Los Angeles, even after hearing the news of Moore’s death. An article in the Orange County Register describes the music and the feelings from the band and the crowd.

From the article:

“Remember: They had spent the better part of two decades making music with Moore; this is how they related to one another most. First time Matthews heard Moore play, he recalled as the encore began, was in a bar in Virginia: ‘He leapt on the cash register – ’cause standing had become something of a chore at that point. And he played the most beautiful rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ I’ve ever heard.’

“‘If I could, I would,’ he added, as if to say why he wouldn’t attempt it, before instead offering a haunting rendition of his own ‘Sister.’ Indeed, all that he – and they – could do here was richly revive some of Moore’s favorite songs, disappear into their frameworks, savor lyrics that now had new meaning – and deliver the emotional immediacy the moment demanded.

“It was brave, it was brilliant – it was a performance unlike any I’ve ever seen Dave Matthews Band give.”

August 4, 2008

1450 miles and 30.9 mpg…w00t!

So, Brooke and I went on vacation this past week…if you wanna check out some pictures, by all means do so… In summary, we went to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park for 3 nights of camping, and then checked out Memphis, TN to visit Beale Street and then the Dave Matthews Band concert for Saturday night.

A few highlights:

1). Pigeon Forge is an interesting place. Imagine Branson, MO…but 4x longer and with a pancake shop in every other building on that stretch. It’s rather ridiculous. The worst part is that nearly every one had a full parking lot at most times of the day (especially breakfast, of course). Gatlinburg wasn’t much better, but it at least had that “Alpine Village” vibe going for it…

2). The camping was pretty nice. The first night was a bit warm, but the next two were much cooler. It only rained up on Clingman’s Dome (very foggy up there…you can see in the pictures!), and then it stormed the last night we were there. So yeah, the weather was pretty reasonable for late-July!

3). Brooke didn’t get attacked by any bears. She was rather disappointed.

4). Memphis was pretty fun, for the most part. We spent the first night out on Beale Street, which is about as close to Bourbon Street as you’re gonna get north of New Orleans (i.e. no open container law, smelled terrible, open late, etc.). We saw some excellent music and had excellent food at Rum Boogie, had some good BBQ ribs at Blues City Cafe, and walked around downtown quite a bit.

5). Graceland charges $27 to visit the mansion. Per person. And they charge for parking. It goes up from there to $32 for the “platinum tour,” and something in the $60 range to see everything. We were content with just driving by… 😛

6). We saw Dave Matthews Band at Autozone Park, which is where the Memphis Redbirds (Cardinal’s farm team) play. We got to stand right in front of the stage on the field, so it was the absolute closest we’ve ever been to a concert for Dave (I’ve been to 5 now, I think?). The set list was arguably the best I’ve seen, including many old classics as well as a few new ones – they started at 8:15 and we didn’t make it out of there until 11:00 (long set!). Willie Nelson also opened, which was rather neat! The best part was when Dave and Willie sang “Gravedigger” together, which worked beautifully with Willie’s style of singing. The band also did covers of “Burning Down The House” and “Sledgehammer” (a ‘love song,’ Dave said beforehand). So, overall, the concert was pretty awesome!

7). …except for all the people that were there with us… Since we were on the field, that counted as “general admission,” which meant that we were down there with a lot of crazies. Crazies as in frat boys with their girlfriends (with 2 carat diamonds on their fingers…). Crazies as in “I’m going to spend $65 on a ticket, not pay attention to the band, and instead fling my $8 beer around in the air while I dance poorly, spilling it on my neighbor’s feet.” I mean, I’ve been in general admission sections at amphitheaters many a time where the worst thing around was the distinct smell of marijuana…but at least everyone was a). watching the show, and b). respecting the space of those around them. It was nearly unbearable…but at least the music made up for it (to an extent).

That’s about it! It was a great trip, overall!

Time to get back to work though, I guess…

June 2, 2005

DMB rocks my figurative face off!

“If you give, you begin to live
You get the world, you get the world.
If you give, you begin to live.”
— “You Might Die Trying;” Dave Matthews Band

So yeah, the concert was great, as always… They played, like, 9 of the songs off their new album. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to hear the new songs in a live setting, but at the same time, I would have liked to hear some of their older stuff, too (although, the older stuff they did play was awesome as always). It’s always amusing to see lots of drunk/high college kids surrounding you (20,000 of them…), but not quite as amusing to see hippies with their young children dancing around…and smoking…

I decided that next Friday (June 10th) will be my last day with ITS so I can spend that last week packing before the move (June 18th) to St. Louis. Should free up some time and allow me to head down to Columbia to visit people (Ben Arnet should be around, I’m told…), as well as head wherever I need to in order to get my apartment, wedding, school stuff figured out. It’s all coming down to the wire and it’s kinda starting to freak me out… I’ll be switching to a St. Louis cell phone number at the end of the month too, so that will be weird too…let alone the whole “married” thing… 😛

June 1, 2005

…and now I'm not alone…

So yeah, Brooke decided to try being trendy like me and made herself a blog (I think she was just bored, really…) using Blogger.com (since Xanga is stoopid…)…therefore, you should check it out.

Otherwise, I’m leaving shortly for my fourth Dave Matthews Band concert, which will be in St. Louis. Brooke, Kristen, Adam Waudby and I are all going, so it should be a fun trip, although the driving will probably get annoying. Needless to say, I’m quite excited for this concert, especially since their most recent album is very different from previous offerings…I’m anxious to see what it sounds like in a live setting…and believe you me, I’ll let you know tomorrow…