Jumpin' At The Woodside

Rogue OREgasmic Ale Greetings and Hoppy Friday! Tonight's brew is  Rogue's OREgasmic Ale ... "Brewed using 100% OREGON Ingredients. Micro Barley Farm Dare™ & Risk™ Malts; First Growth Micro Hopyard Revolution & Independent Hops, Pacman Yeast and Free Range Coastal Water." Believe me it lives up to its name, it's good stuff. That is of course if you're a hop fan, if not then probably not so much. This week was our somewhat quarterly "All Hands" meeting, and as usual it was held at the EpiCentre Theaters , maybe the finest movie theater complex I've ever seen. Immediately following our meeting was the theater's regularly scheduled showing of the latest Batman film. When the meeting started, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was thinking of the victims and their families in Colorado . Actually a few times this past week I found myself thinking "what if..." in various public places. Granted I doubt there a...

Route 95 South - Virginia After the previous night's show , Sunday morning came bursting in quickly as the hotel shades didn't close all the way. No matter, we were excited to hit the road and get started to Virginia Beach that morning. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel's buffet. We gassed up on our way to route 95, refreshed the cooler's ice and grabbed some refreshments for the drive. Good thing we got an early start as we hit traffic due to an accident outside Va. Beach, but the three-hour drive went by fairly quickly. We got to the hotel before check-in time so we hit the 11th St. Tap House Bar & Grille for lunch and then checked in. View from the balcony - Va. Beach I noticed the Tap House sold souvenir sweatshirts. Being that I had no cool weather gear and the strangely cool day was going to get even cooler in the evening, I picked up a sweatshirt to wear to the show that night. Monkey drunk as a coot again... just kidding, he asked me ...

While sometimes I may be a bit, how they say... "loco en la cabeza," but this does not negate the fact that I believe the word "party" is a noun. - Salud!

Our 2012 DMB VA trip - Google was actually spot on for best routes. When I looked at this year's Dave Matthews Band tour schedule I thought they have back-to-back shows in Virginia (Bristow and Va. Beach) on June 16-17, which are basically hometown shows for the band. They were also looking at a short break following the Va. Beach show, and young blues guitar slinger Gary Clark Jr. was opening both shows... I thought this was a must see. Without regard to travel plans, I bought the tickets and reserved hotel rooms nearby both locations. My first thought was I might fly into DC (Dulles) and meet up with my pals who would then drop me back at the airport on their way home the day after the last show. After some time to think on it, I came to the conclusion it would be best to fly up to the Lehigh Valley, see my family and then drive down to the shows and back with The Monkey. Friday afternoon beers at the Legion. I flew into Allentown, Pa., a couple days ...

I've been seeing a lot of Warren Haynes of late. First time was with Gov't Mule here at the Fillmore in 2009 . With Gov't Mule visiting again this year on June 9, I've seen Warren a few times within the last year. Gov't Mule - June 9, 2012, Charlotte, NC A year ago on this date (6/25/2011) the Warren Haynes Band played a slot during the Dave Matthews Band Caravan in Atlantic City, NJ , and then later that night Warren joined DMB on stage for their classic song "#41." Later that summer I caught the Warren Haynes Band again in Charlottesville, Va., playing a gig at the Jefferson Theater following a Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds acoustic show at the nearby outdoor amphitheatre. Dave & Tim joined Warren and the band for an encore that included a funky cover of "All Along the Watchtower" and The Band's "The Weight." Whiskey Warehouse rooftop bar - June 9, 2012 This time around, I went with my old friend Michele (aka ...

Hola and Happy Friday! Been awhile since I posted regularly. Hope to keep it up with concerts and traveling coming up. Speaking of... enjoying an Avery IPA while listening to my latest summer mix , and looking forward to the Gov't Mule show next Saturday. Last I saw them was here at The Fillmore in July 2009 with Ol' Lazy Acres. Great show and was my first visit to the then new NC Music Factory . Next weekend The Mule will be at the outdoor Uptown Amphitheatre where I saw The Black Crowes in Sept. 2010 . We got a nice "gift" at work today. For our division's recent performance, we were granted "summer hours" starting today and going through August 31, which means our offices will close at 3 p.m. on Fridays... very nice! Last weekend I was lucky enough to see the Iron Pigs while they were in town. Although they got swept in the series by the Charlotte Knights , it was still good to see them along with some other Phillies/Pig fans in attendance. ...

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...