Jumpin' At The Woodside

Here it is... the premiere of this year's summer mix . Lots of new stuff with old stuff mixed in, and made for repeat listening as the first song is a good follow up to the last song. This year's mix pairs well with any brew, wine or libation but for me a nice unfiltered IPA did just fine. Funny thing is last year's Motown-infused summer mix was inspired by the Fitz & The Tantrums, who are included this year. Tried as I could, they just didn't fit in to last year's summer mix . This year I was bound and determined to include more new songs, especially after being introduced to so many new acts/artists at last year's DMB Caravan festival in Atlantic City . The last song was added near the end of putting the whole mix together, even though it seems as if the whole mix builds up to that song. A happy accident I guess. A little known fact is that I don't repeat songs in my summer mixes. This goes back to 2003/04 when I started putting them together...

Went to my 33rd Dave Matthews Band show the other night here in Charlotte, and I have a road trip planned next month for two more. Charlotte always seems to bring out a good show from the band, especially last time they played here in 2010 with surprise guest Branford Marsalis , who joined them for three songs. Jimmy Joe Pete and I got to the parking lot with plenty of time for tailgating including beers ( Sierra Nevada Summerfest for me), cigars, tunes via my new Bose wireless mobile speaker, talking set lists with other fans and people watching - everything from strange folks to beautiful ladies to what were they thinking. One such fellow we watched as he chatted up every girl who walked by, and it didn't matter that he was older or quite a bit out of shape... OK a lot out of shape especially for someone who looked to be in his 30s. Let's say I would be worried for this guy to walk a flight of stairs. Anyway, one girl walks by and she's very attractive and weari...

It's been a few years since I last went to Charlotte's own PGA Tour golf championship , but didn't take much convincing and managed to find tickets on Craigslist from a local seller who turned out to be one of my employer's clients... and they dropped off the tickets at the office front door, can't beat that. I first went to the tournament in 2007 for the Saturday third round the year Tiger won, and then again the following year for the pro-am on the Wednesday before the first round. This year we got tickets for the second round on Friday and took a half day from work to catch the afternoon action, which featured Phil Mickelson. Tiger, McIlroy and Fowler (the eventual winner on Sunday ) teed off in the morning that day. They changed the rules recently allowing cell phones on the course, but photos were strictly forbidden during tournament play... Phil Mickelson lining up his approach on the 8th - Quail Hollow 5/4/2012 ... unless you snapped them whi...

Van Halen at Time Warner Cable Arena - 4/25/2012 Looks like I was lucky enough to see Van Halen last month as they recently cancelled 31 dates that would have extended their current tour deep into the summer. Insiders reported they "hate each other" - we'll assume that's David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen who are infamous for their on again and off again hating. Glad I went as this was as close as one might get to the original line up, minus original bassist Michael Anthony who last played with the band in 2004 . Anthony sided with former front man Sammy Hagar in what looks to be a permanent rift, with the Van Halens on one side and Hagar/Anthony on the other. Four Friends 1-77 IPA at Carolina Ale House This was my first show at Time Warner Cable Arena, I previously had only been there for a Bobcats game. Jimmy Joe Pete and I walked down to the Carolina Ale House from work for some pre-show libations and dinner, just around the corner from the arena. The...

In the fall of 2008 I started using Nike + iTunes to keep track of the miles I ran using my iPod. Seemed like a perfect fit for me, because for as long as I can remember I had Nike running shoes. I also started making the leap to digitizing all my music via iTunes. For Nike + iTunes to work, you had to purchase the transmitter that fit in the base of the latest Nike running shoes and the receiver which plugged into the bottom of your iPod. This worked as sort of a high-tech pedometer to track your miles, and I found it was usually accurate to within 400 yards or so. Jump to 3.5 years later, I have an iPhone 4s with the Nike + GPS app that tracks my runs via GPS and couldn't be happier. My entire music collection is now safeguarded in the iTunes cloud and the only music actually stored on my iPhone is my run playlist. Music has always been an important part of my life and running was no different. I still remember running with a Sony Walkman loaded with a cassette run mix. Funny, wh...

I know it's only January, but already getting "cabin fever" of sorts thinking (hoping) for an announcement of a 2012 Dave Matthews Band (DMB) summer tour. Maybe it's that DMB came up on the iTunes, along with the fact that I'm enjoying my beer of choice at DMB shows, Starr Hill's Northern Lights IPA in a DMB firedancer pint glass. While all DMB members are rumored to be gathered in Seattle for recording sessions, there has been no official news from the DMB camp. Any other anticipation is just my own wishful thinking fueled by past show memories, especially from an amazing three-day festival in Atlantic City last summer . I'm hoping to add more live-show memories to my already long list. After 30-plus shows you might think I'd be sick of them, but far from it. Here's my DMB show history to date as recorded at the site AntsMarching.org. FYI... the star ratings are the average ratings as selected by AntsMarching.org members. Let's just say I do...

I'll always remember 2011 as the year I woke up. My divorce was final in 2009 and I dated other women on and off since. Although I was looking to meet someone with whom I could share real feelings and a serious relationship, I never had more than casual relationships. For awhile I wasn't sure if it was the fact that I didn't have chemistry with the women I dated, or that I wasn't ready yet... or maybe a little of both. The closest I came to a serious relationship was with a woman who I felt very comfortable with and we became good friends. We had a lot in common and had great times together, but no matter how intimate our relationship became I didn't feel love for her. This grew difficult over time as I saw her growing closer and closer to me. Finally, I had to tell her how I felt. We tried to remain friends and still spend time together, but that didn't work. While daily life went on and snowstorms became a regular occurrence in the early part of this year, I s...