Jester Music Festival

Oh what a crazy weekend we just had!!! I know it's Wedensday already, but I really needed these last few days to recuperate before I tried to even think about it again.

Saturday was the Jester Music Festival at German Park in Indianapolis. It was a festival with several local bands and Ekoostik Hookah as the headliner. The Hookah boys don't come to Indiana very often, so I was exstatic when I learned they would be in Indy this summer. I have been looking forward to this for months now!!!!

Ryan and I got up Saturday and started getting things ready for his birthday party which was Sunday. So, of course, we got off to a late start. I know that is a huge surprise that I'd be late for anything :-) So, we had our friends Matt, Liz, Dave and Kelly all waiting on us in Indy. Matt was the funniest about it. He kept calling Ryan and harrassing him about everything. They're both really good at giving eachother a hard time!!!

Finally, at about 2:00, we started heading to Indy. When we got there, we went to Dave and Kelly's house and hung out for a little while before we left for the show. The guys all drank a few beers, and then they were ready to go.

The park was gorgeous. I really liked it a lot, and I think I'll take my mom there sometime soon. Kelly told me they have live music every weekend, and sometimes have polka dancing going on. I think Mom would enjoy that a lot. They also had a German restaurant that I would like to take her to.

Ryan played designated driver Saturday night, so I actually drank. It's not often that I can just let loose and get toasted at these shows. I'm usually the sober one :-) Needless to say, I had a blast!!!!This is Dave, Matt, and Ryan before the show.Here's Liz, Matt, Kelly, and Ryan again.......Matt is always poking his head around to get himself into the pictures :-)It's always great to hang out with Liz. It seems like we hardly ever see eachother. I love her!!! And once again, there's Matt poking around behind us. Adam is the kid on the far left. It was his first Hookah show. We kept calling him a Hookah Virgin. I'm pretty sure we've got him hooked!!!

Hopefully this guy is starting to look familiar to most of you. This is the guitarist/genius, Steve Sweney!!! He rocked my sock off!!!!This is Nick Reynolds and Ryan. Nick is showing off Ryan's sexy, soapy legs. There was a giant foam pit that Ryan and Kelly jumped into while we were waiting for Hookah to start playing. My batteries in my camera were trying to die on me. I think that's why these next couple pictures turned out so dark.So much for that nice new pair of blue tennis shoes....they were a nice hue of brown by the time he got out of the pit!!!!!I wish this picture would have turned out better. The pit had a big bubble dipenser overhead, and lots of plastic around the trees to contain the bubbles. The kids at the show were all having a blast in there.Dave on keys. He's absolutely amazing, and a huge inspiration to me.And Cliffy on bass. He's the kid in the band. It seems like he's always the one dancing around acting silly. I love it!!!Here's a pretty decent pic of Eric...MY man. OK.....my OTHER man :-) But thats OK, 'cause Ryan knows, and he says it's OK :-) I was really happy to be able to get behind the stage. I danced back there for a little while. It was awesome to get a few good angles for photos that I can't get very often. It sounds totally different when you're back there. The sound is much better out in front. But the view back here was awesome!!!!Ryan and I hanging out on the hill in front of the stage.I think this is the cutest picture of Kelly!!! Aren't her nails pretty?!?!? I really wish we had more time to spend together too. We always have so much fun!!!!This is John Mullins. We actually had a chance to hang out with him for awhile after the show. It was a lot of fun. He doesn't drink while he's on stage, but by God, he does afterwards. He was hilarious!! In fact, he and Ryan both ended up in the middle of a hula hoop before the night ended. And remember, Ryan was sober :-)!!!!!Ryan and Matt....cuties!!!!!This is my friend Dani. Ryan and I met her threw some mutual friends at other shows. She was along with us for the trip to Atlanta last fall. We've really had a chance to get to know eachother over the last year or so. Once again, I am thankful to Ekoostik Hookah for bringing another great person into my life!!!!

This last picture is of The Max Allen Band. They're a local band, and have become a pretty common name throughout the music scene in Indy. They actually came outside during this picture, and were playing on the patio outside the German restaurant. I really enjoyed seeing them. There were a couple cops sitting in front of the bathrooms inside who looked totally bored out of their minds. They normally don't have to do much as far as crowd control at the Hookah shows. These crowds are just a bunch of tree hugging hippies who would rather hug you than cause any trouble. So, since the cops looked so bored, Max decided to go play directly to them. He walked to the foyer in between the reaturant and the bathrooms and starting ripping his guitar like Stevie Ray Vaughn or something. He gave them a very exciting personal show. It was pretty entertaining to see him in all his arrogance trotting around the cops like they were little kids or something.............................good times!!!!!

Anyone from Indy, or nearby, you should check the Max Allen Band out. I think all of you would enjoy their music.

Our friend Adam, AKA, the Hookah Virgin, lost his wallet during the show. He was freaking out when he realized it at about 1:00 AM. We were all just getting ready to head home when he ran up in a panic to tell us. I felt really bad for him. I have lost my stuff before, and I know what a huge sense of panic comes over you. The funny thing was, I had heard someone talking about having found a wallet while we were hanging out after Hookah got done playing, and I knew the guy had turned it into the bartender. I still don't know for sure if it was the same wallet, but sure enough, when Adam went in to inquire about his, they had it!! He was amazed. There was a little over three hundred dollars in there, and it had not been touched. THAT is why I love these people so dearly. Even when you think you're with strangers, we all look out for eachother in some way. And in turn, it seems like a huge extended family. Wow....I am so fortunate to have gotten to know such great people through this music. I love this scene, and I would be completely lost without it and the friends and family I have accumulated over the last few years because of it...........................................

Next up....the birthday bash......................

Just wanted to share a few photos of my mom and me at Indiana Beach. We headed up there one day last week when I actually had a day off and wasn't leaving Indiana :-) She loves Indiana Beach. We have been going there every summer for the last few years. We always enjoy watching the ski show and surprisingly, she LOVES the haunted house...........She's so much fun when she's doing well. Sometimes it's kinda like having my own little girl to entertain and take care of.....maybe that's why I don't want any kids!!!!

Anyway...here ya go:

This picture was taken on the bridge on the way into the park. It was a pretty cloudy day, so it was pretty tolerable temperature-wise.

I love this picture of my mom. It's really hard to catch her with a natural smile sometimes. But I caught her here!!! :-)

Another good picture of Mom........hanging out by the water before the ski show.I always hate these pictures I take with my hand stretched out in front of me. I always think it makes my neck look funny :-)

Last but not least, we had to get a picture of some of the rides.

I don't think Indiana Beach has changed hardly at all since I was a kid. Maybe a new ride or two, but they still have the same rides I remember getting on when I was little.

Hey, S-Hooks, do you remember going there with my dad and me when we were little? I vaguely remember being there with you and John. If you remember details...I could use a reminder!!!!

Fun in the Sun in Tampa!!!!

I have worked on putting this blog together for the last four days. Sorry if it seems choppy........

Let me start by saying I had a blast!!!!

My flight to Florida was nice, other than the fact that I had a three hour lay-over in Chicago on the way. I was bored, and scared to fall asleep for fear of missing my plane, so I just wandered around O'hare for awhile. By the time I landed, it was early evening. John had been circling the airport waiting on me because my flight was a little late.

Once we found eachother, it was time for the fun to begin!!! We went back to John's house and decided we needed to go out to eat. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was REALLY good!! I actually found a type of sushi that I liked pretty well. It was called "Temupra Bagel." It had batter on the outside and had been fried briefly, so it was little warm. I think that was the key in me liking it. The cold stuff freaks me out a little :-) Being the tourist, I had to take a picture of it.........It was beautiful!!!

We met up with a friend of John's named Megan, and she went out to eat with us. After dinner, we went to a little Irish bar called "Four Green Fields." When we got there, another friend of John's, Greg, met up with us. I had also called my friend Mike Guimont to meet us there. He is one of my dearest friends, and has been living in Tampa far almost two years. This was the first time I had seen him in almost a year. So, it was really nice to have some time to catch up with him.

This is after a couple drinks, so you'll see me cheesin' quite a bit in most of these pictures....he he he. The tall guy in the back is Greg, and Guimont is on the right.

This is John's friend Megan. We hit it off right off the bat. She was a lot of fun.John, myself, and Guimont. It was so good seeing them both!!!!!

After we left the bar, we all went back to John's house for awhile and had a few more drinks. It turned out to be a late night. But, it was a FUN late night!!!!

Saturday, John and I decided to try out this indoor rock climbing place he had heard about. It was pretty cool. I just wish we could have climbed higher. We didn't take the class to use the ropes, so we were only allowed to climb to this orange line they had taped up on the wall. It really didn't seem high enough, so we cheated a little in the easy spots and went past it. There weren't many easy spots though. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have no idea how those people do that. Oh yeah....and the shoes they made us wear were NASTY!!!!! But, we still enjoyed it. It was something that neither one of us had ever done before, so it was kinda cool.

After our little rock climbing trip, we went back to John's to get cleaned up and start another fun filled night. We went to a restaurant on the water called Rattlefish. It was really nice. We sat outside and watched all the rich people and talked about them. It was fun. There were a couple guys playing live music. Nothing fancy, but it's always nice to have live music in the background. They did play some Def Leppard, and I was laughing at John because he was mocking their one-armed drummer through part of it. That's definitely one thing I did a lot of while I was there....LAUGH!!!!

We went back to John's after dinner and just hung out together for the night. We made balloon animals, or I guess I should say we TRIED to make balloon animals for a little while. It was hilarious. John got one looking pretty close to a dog. "Perty close, but not plum," as my dad would say:-) A couple of them popped while we were twisting them around, and of course, I screamed like a little girl. I just wonder what his landlord was thinking. Poor guy. He has been away for the last few months, and this was his first weekend back. We probably kept him up all night.....oops.......

At about midnight, we decided we were hungry again, and John fixed a second dinner for me. He is a great cook!!! You should all pay attention when he sends his recipes. That boy knows what he's doing!!!! He fixed blackened salmon steaks for us. That was definitely my favorite meal while I was there. Not just because it was free either!!!! It was delicious!!!

The next day was Sunday. My last full day there. John bought himself a kayak not too long ago, and wanted me to go kayaking with him. So, we went to Fort Desoto beach and I rented a kayak. It was a lot of fun. John gave me a quick lesson in paddling, and we were on our way. It took me awhile to get the hang of it. John had to keep slowing down and waiting on me....sorry Cuz!!! We were in a really nice area with lots of nature all around us. It was absolutely gorgeous!! We floated up near some egrets and sat and watched them for a little while. I just thought they were cranes. A little further into our trip we saw a manatee. Holy cow!!!! THAT was amazing!!! I can't say I've ever encountered an endangered species anywhere besides the zoo. Here is a picture of what a manatee looks like. Obviously, I didn't take this:Isn't he cute?!?! They are not dangerous to humans, so it was really cool to be able to sit and watch it as it swam around us. There was nothing scary about it at all. Every once in awhile you would see a big flat surface rise out of the water. That was his back coming up. It was so big that I probably could park my car on it. We saw it's back fin pop out a couple times too. It was pretty exciting.

That's me...floundering around in my kayak :-)
Here's John posing for a pic.............he he heWe stopped on a sandbar to get out and walk around for a few minutes. I was expecting to see some sting rays, and was actually a little nervous about getting stung by one, but I never had any problems. The water here was hotter than normal bath water. It was crazy.
This is John's kayak. His was much prettier than mine :-)
These are the egrets that we stopped next to for awhile.

Kayaking was definitely one of my favorite parts of my trip. I love being outside and seeing nature all around me. This was a little different than hanging out on the beach like I usually do in Florida. I loved every minute of it!!!!

By the time we finished our kayak trip, we had been out for almost four hours. I didn't realize how sore my arms were until the next morning. Between kayaking and rock climbing, I got a decent amount of exercise while I was on vacation. My arms felt like jello for a couple days. But it was SOOOO worth it!!!!

That night, John took me to Ybor City. It's kind of a little party town not too far fromTampa. There were several little artsy shops, and a few expensive clothing stores down there. We ate dinner at a pretty nice brewery. We ate some coconut shrimp, which was delicious, and conch fritters for our appetizers. The conch fritters were awesome!!! I'm really glad we ate so much seafood while I was there. Normally, I'm not a big fan, but I ate some really good food while I was down there this time. Again, the salmon steaks were by far the best meal I had.

Here's John sitting outside the reastaurant in Ybor City.

This was the best I could do picture-wise at night with my cheap little digi cam. Ybor City in all it's glory..................

After we ate dinner at the brewery, we went back to John's house and started burning CD's from his computer. I think I came home with close to forty new Cd's to listen to. I'm going alphabetically, and I'm still on "B."

In between burning some of the CD's, we decided it was our last chance to get a quick drum lesson in. John played some really "nasty" stuff as he would say :-) He has a child's size drum set in his living room. His real drum set is all in cases in the corner. It was a lot of fun to hear him play again. It's been a long time. He let me sit down and gave me a little lesson on the basics. It was so much fun. We tried to keep an eye out for his neighbor coming home. We didn't want to keep him up all night again. John gave me an acronym to remember some important things about playing the drums. CRUF: C- be Confident, R- Relax, U- elbow Up, F- wrist Flat. Now, if I only had a drum set to actually practice all that. I finished off the last bottle of wine that I had bought the first night I got while we played drums and burned CD's all night long. It seemed like we got a lot done that last night I was there, but there was still so much left to do. I guess I'll just have to go back sometime soon :-)

This is the last picture of John and me together. I think it's pretty obvious that we had both finished off a few drinks by then.......................... he he he................................... Check out the cheeseburger in the background. I think we have Craig S. to thank for that. I'm pretty sure that is right out of Steak and Shake. Looks pretty authentic to me!!

I had to get up at about 9:00 to get ready to catch my plane. That was a little earlier than I would have liked to get up, but I caught a nap on the plane on the way to North Carolina. I had a lay-over in Charlotte. It was only supposed to be an hour, but it turned into a three hours by the time I got out of there. On the way out of Charlotte, I took a couple pictures from the plane and decided to take a nap. I landed in Indy about two hours late, but luckily, I had gotten ahold of my friend who was picking me up so she wouldn't have to wait too long. After meeting up with them, I went back to their house to pick up my car and Delilah. They took care of her for the weekend so Ryan would have one less dog to deal with while he was working on the house.

It was great to get home, and especially to sleep in my own bed again. But, I had a wonderful time, and I can't wait to go back!!!!!

Man Man in Bloomington

OK, back to business.

I guess I'm ready to try to get caught up on the last show I went to before I left for Florida. This was actually just over a week ago in Bloomington.

Ryan has been talking about this band called "Man Man" for quite awhile now. He was very excited when our friend Shawn Kirby called to tell us they were coming to the Bluebird in Bloomington. I really dont care for their style of music.....it's a little loud for my taste, but I always appreciate a live show and I can't deny that they're good at what they do.

I didn't know exactly how to explain the type of music they play, so I looked them up on Wikipedia. This is what they had to say about Man Man: Man Man is known for their multi instrumental style that centers on the keyboard of Honus Honus and a revolving door of instruments played by the rest of the band. On record, Honus usually plays a honky tonk style piano but during the live shows he performs on a Rhodes Piano. The rest of the band plays instruments including a Clavinet, MicroKorg, Euphonium, Fender Jazz Bass, Danelectro Guitar, Xylophone, Melodica, Science and various percussive instruments.

I have no idea what some of those instruments are, but they all sounded great!!!

Anyway, I was happy just to be hanging out with Ryan and a few friends. Clint and Shawn Kirby ( we have to call him by his last name too...it just doesn't sound right otherwise...) were there, so it was kind of like a little family reunion for all of us. I wish our schedules allowed us to see eachother more often. I call them both my "big little brothers" because they're bigger than me, but they're both younger. So....it was awesome to spend some time with my big little brothers AND Ryan. It's been awhile since we were all able to get together at the same time.

I hadn't been to the Bluebird since John was in college. I saw him play there with People Tree a couple times. They bought the building next door and knocked a few walls out, so the place is a lot bigger than it used to be. I really liked it.

Shawn Kirby had booked a room for us because we all planned on having a few drinks. It was much nicer than the last room I stayed in in Ohio. We took cabs both ways so we could all drink a little. I love it when I don't have to play designated driver. Clint, Shawn Kirby, Monique, Ryan and I all stayed in the same room after the show. Needless to say, we had a blast!!!

I got several pictures from the show, and a few from the hotel afterwards. Here is one of the guys playing some crazy percussion instruments. I thought the big thing he's holding onto looked like an oxygen tank...maybe that's just my medical mind working......who knowsThe red things in this guys mouth were like really loud kazoos. He was standing on his stool in this picture. I thought for sure he would fall right off the stage :-)

I can't remember this girl's name....isn't that awful. She is a friend of Clint's, and was really fun.Here's part of the gang. The unknown people are in there...we'll just call them Clint's friends. The big guy in the back is Greggie Bennett, and the guy in the red shirt is Clint's brother, Gauvin. I think he's pretty hot :-)

This is Shawn Kirby's girlfriend, MoniqueAnd then, we have the two most handsome boys in the world.....Ryan is in deep thought...yeah right!!!

Shawn Kirby is such a handsome fella....I think he kinda resembles Stiffler from American Pie.....what do you guys think???
I think Shawn Kirby and Monique are such a cute couple.

Ryan was taking good care of everybody.....isn't he sweet!!!!!

Last Show at Deer Creek

Last Tuesday, I saw my first Jimmy Buffett show, and possibly my last show at Deer Creek. Normally, Jimmy Buffett is not exactly my favorite artist, or anyone I would pay big money to see, but with a free ticket in hand, who could say no?

My friend Stacy had bought a couple tickets for her ex-boyfriend and another person, and got mad at them, so she offered the tickets to me and Julie. I was hesitant at first because I knew she had paid a lot of money for them, and I thought she would expect us to pay her back. I thought wrong. She just wanted us to go so we could have a "girl's night out" for her birthday which was Thursday. So, she wouldn't accept an money from us. Had she wanted us to pay her back, I probably wouldn't have gone. Those tickets sell for ridiculous prices!!!

So, I decided to go and enjoy what may turn out to be my last show at Deer Creek. That was actually a big part of why I wanted to go....just to hang out there one last time. I am so bummed that they are selling that place. I have so many good memories there. I know they are talking about booking shows for one more year, but there's no guarantee that I would even want to see any of those people, so I grabbed the chance to go while it was right there in front of me.

I have always been curious about seeing Jimmy Buffett because you hear so many stories about the "Parrot Heads" and grass skirts and whatnot. It was definitely a fun scene, but not at all what I expected. I guess I had pictured people getting a little more rowdy from what people have said in the past. I was also surprised at how many young people were there....lots younger than me.

One thing I figured out for sure......I really don't like the Jimmy Buffett crowd. I decided pretty quickly that this must be the one night a year that all these yuppie rich folks get out and "party" as they call it. First of all, there was definitely none of that brotherly and sisterly love that I so enjoy from the other shows I go to. I didn't get one single smile or "hello" or anything from anyone near us. People were very snooty and pushy. They complained about getting bumped into while people were dancing around them, and I actually heard someone complaining at about 9:00 that it was too late, and they couldn't believe this would go on so late(the show didn't even start until 8:00.) THOSE are the people responsible for having Deer Creek sold!!! In my opinion, you don't go to a concert without expecting to wait in a line or two, get bumped into by some people who are actually enjoying themselves, or expecting the show to end late. The later the better in my book!!!!!

Jimmy Buffett did put on a pretty good show. I was happy to hear some familiar songs like "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and "Margaritaville." I was a little upset that I couldn't hear his vocals better....but I guess if they turned the volume up anymore, some people might have left....who knows.

Regardless, Julie, Stacy, and I all had a good time together. Stacy ended up feeling bad that she gave Rex's ticket away and bought him another one, so he did end up tagging along afterall. No "girl's night out" like we thought, but it was still fun.


Here's Julie, Stacy and me in the parking lot just after we got there.

This is the "before" picture of me and Julie. it's really not "before" anything for me, because I was designated driver....as usual. I guess it's "before" I got sweaty and pissed off at all the rich people :-)This is Stacy and Rex, her then ex-boyfriend....now current boyfriend again .......I think........
This was one of the few vehicles that we saw with stuff written all over it. It would have been a lot more fun if more people had that kind of spirit!!!!

We couldn't take cameras inside the venue, so there are no pictures of the show to share...that really bummed me out. But, these are our "after" pictures....stacy gets a little red when she drinks :-)
I did get laid while I was there.......he he he he :-)
And the last of the "after" pictures....Can you tell who's been drinking and who hasn't?!?!?


OK guys.......I'm off to Florida to visit cousin John for a few days.....I'll be back with another blog full of goodies next week sometime!!!!!