Summer Concert Series

In what Tim is now calling the Summer of Rock, I put together a nice little stretch of Van Halen on Thursday, followed by the Wedding Singer musical and Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers on Saturday.

I'm going to skip talking about the Wedding Singer because it was lame and not worth it. On to Jimmy Buffett!

What a gorgeous night for a concert. Temps were moderate and there was supposed to be heavy storms, but they held off and allowed us to enjoy a concert that has to be held outdoors.

I've never been to a Buffett concert, and let me be cliche' and say it was quite the concert. I knew about half of the songs (Tami knew more). The seats were fantastic! Very close to the stage. The thing that blew me away the most was the crowd. Parrotheads are a devoted and fun bunch. There must have been hundreds of beach balls being bounced around the stadium and there was also no shortage of beverages in the house.

The true experience was to be in the parking lot before the show tailgating. We arrived too late to get the full experience (who knew there were two stadiums in Frisco? Oh, everybody? well, I'm sorry that I didn't know there was a difference between Dr. Pepper and Pizza Hut Parks), but the couple behind us started at noon and knew people who had gotten there at 8am. The only fun part about leaving the concert was watching severely inebriated parrotheads stumbling to their cars.

I truly enjoyed myself tonight and over the whole weekend.

A Van Halen review that is too in-depth for the readers of this blog

Finally, after 25 years of listening to Van Halen, after seeing Van Hagar five times and after waiting through a six week cancellation, I finally got to see the original Van Halen. Well, except for no Michael Anthony.

Here are some pictures from the concert.

First rant - The bass parts on Van Halen songs are not difficult. I have a hard time defending Michael Anthony's bass playing ability when it comes up in conversation, but he made his mark with two things:


Wolfgang Van Halen is a talented bass player, but there was definitely something missing from the show, and that was the showman, Michael Anthony. Wolf was technically very sound, but stood there like a tree. Zero stage presence. I know he's only 17, and I get that, but if Mad Mike was there, the energy level at the show would have been much higher. You always need a guy to chug a bottle of Jack to make the concert better. The good news was there was no need for a bass solo.

I told Tim, I can't believe (Van Halen) replaced their mediocre, fat bass player with a mediocre fat bass player.

Second rant - Who spends $150 on tickets (each) and then brings an eight-year-old girl to a Van Halen concert? I had four girls sitting behind me, giggling every time DLR said a cuss word, screaming at a pitch that only Buckley could hear, and generally just killing the vibe at the concert. Some concerts are family friendly and some are not. This was one that was not. So thank you guy who brought your eight-year-old, the adults really appreciate it.

Now some good times

Wow, what a show! For a hardcore VH fan, it had everything I could ask for. I truly believe that this is as close I'm ever going to get to a religious experience. I was absolutely giddy at times and jumping and shouting like...well, an eight-year-old girl. But I knew all the words, and could appreciate the music. I did that devil horns thing with my hands, which to my knowledge, may have been the first time for a concert. It might be entertaining to see an iso-cam on me during the concert.

When you look at the set list, they played all of their hits (Jump, Running With the Devil, Pretty Woman, etc.), but they also went deeper with Somebody Get Me a Doctor, So This is Love?, Romeo's Delight and Little Guitars. The only clunker song was Little Dreamer, which isn't popular and pretty much sucks.

A surprisingly cut and flamboyant David Lee Roth was exactly what I expected. Several years ago, Eddie Van Halen mentioned that he didn't want DLR to tour because he couldn't hit high notes anymore. That's true, but you know what? That's OK because you couldn't really hear him to begin with. And he's ancient. But he still had enough to carry the show and be the guy that runs around the stage having fun. He surprised me with a mini-guitar solo leading into Ice Cream Man.

Alex Van Halen really brought it. His solo was incredible, and as always, didn't overplay.

Eddie Van Halen moved off of my death list, but not by much. Technically, he played a flawless show. He looked engaged and glad to play. He had a couple of exchanges with DLR where they challenged each other with singing/guitar riffs. That was pretty cool. His guitar solo was also really, really good but it seemed short. He didn't move much around the stage, but that really didn't bother me. His overall grade for me would be a B.

Overall, I'm so glad I went. I would have regretted not seeing David Lee Roth and the chance to catch Van Halen one more time (probably). The seats were good, but I could have sat closer. It wasn't sold out, but the place definitely was full. You'll be happy to know that this will be my last VH post for awhile.

Here's the set list they played:

01. You Really Got Me
02. I'm the One
03. Runnin' With the Devil
04. Romeo Delight
05. Somebody Get Me a Doctor
06. Beautiful Girls
07. Dance the Night Away
08. Atomic Punk
09. Everybody Wants Some
10. So This Is Love?
11. Mean Street
12. Pretty Woman
13. Drum Solo
14. Unchained
15. I'll Wait
16. And the Cradle Will Rock
17. Hot for Teacher
18. Little Dreamer
19. Little Guitars
20. Jamie's Cryin'
21. Ice Cream Man
22. Panama
23. Guitar Solo
24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
25. 1984
26. Jump

More Puerto Vallarta pictures

These photos are courtesy of our friends Chuck and Barbie (their real names, at least that's what they told us). Click to see larger pictures.



Possibly a drunk person took this picture



Four happy folks (at least one hungover)



Shot in the pool



The swim-up bar



The island in the pool



Puerto Vallarta skyline



Shot from the beach



Same columns from the other side



View of pool from the room



Shot of resort at sunset

Mexico

(Careful, there are topless photos of Bill included)



We got back from Mexico on Thursday, and thank god we were not flying American. We looked into staying an extra day, but it just was not in the cards.


Funniest line of the trip goes to Tami at the airport. The maximum weight for the luggage is 50 lbs (or a $50 fine). Our suitcase weighed 52 lbs until Tami goes "Towel rack Homer". This is in reference to an old Simpsons episode:


The luggage actually weighed 48 lbs once I pulled my fat stomach off of it.



The resort was fantastic. Best place we've stayed in bar none. The restaurants at the resort all had great food, except there was little actual Mexican food. Great Italian food for some reason. The booze was plentiful and free...not a good combination. We took a trip to a Mexican water park where we got to hang with two sea lions, Pepe and Lulu. The swimming with dolphins is so played out. We were the only two hanging with the lions. Did I mention the booze was free?


Wish we could have stayed longer.

Off until at least Friday

I'm flying to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico until Thursday. When I get back, I'll post pictures of the trip. Until then, enjoys these links:

Cousins of Ron Mexico
Ron Mexico
"The Mexican"
James Taylor in Concert - Mexico
The Night of the Iguana (this is where we are staying)
Van Halen
The White House

Memories of childhood Easter

*Warning to Molly* You may be offended, and I may end up going to hell.

Easter is such a weird holiday. I'm not very religious, but growing up catholic it was quite the experience for the Carrs.

First there was Ash Wednesday. I never understood why they put ashes on your forehead. And later in life, it was always awkward to have the one guy at work with the ashes on, and not everybody knows why.

Lent - I never was able to give up anything for forty days. Unless it was something I didn't like to do in the first place. Then it was easier.

Stations of the Cross - This would actually be a good name for a band. I had to double-check, but we did this on Fridays during lent. I thought it was multiple times. I'm not sure why we did that either. You would think all my time in catholic school, I would remember something. We also couldn't eat meat on Fridays.

Palm Sunday - The Sunday before Easter. We got a palm then put it behind a crucifix. Was this the really long mass? I think it went on for almost two hours.

Holy Thursday - This was always fun when I was an altar boy. The priest washed your feet, in remembrance of the Last Supper.

Good Friday - Always a holiday from school, but it was a solemn day in the Carr house. It was highlighted by walking to the church for Mass. About three miles. Dad wouldn't let us talk, and I also remember one year him getting pissed when we played a Prince tape later in the day.

Easter Sunday - You know for the life of me, I can't remember what we would do for Easter. I guess we searched for eggs, but I only remember that because we would find candy later in the year. I'm positive we went to church, but can't remember that either. Plus, Dad died on Easter, so all of those memories are associated with Easter as well.

I'd like to enjoy Easter more, but I prefer Thanksgiving.

Mom?

Police say former "Gilligan's Island" actress, Dawn Wells, had 4 half-smoked joints in car

I am a guitar god

Tami and I have a rule in the house that if we see something on TV, we can buy it, no questions asked. It's a weird rule, but it works for us.

Anyway, I've wanted a guitar for a long time, so I bought one off of HSN. It showed up yesterday, and I broke it out.

I've successfully tuned it, however my left fingers are actually sore from playing. I can play two chords so far, so I got that going for me. Lets hope that my miniscule musical ability will come in handy at some point.

Congrats to Evan!

Tim, Molly, Tami and myself were all lifeguards and good swimmers, but Evan takes the cake. As a sophomore, he has qualified for the Regional Finals in the 100 Fly. He swam it in under 59 seconds. To put that in perspective, if this were 1960, he would hold the world record.

Way to go!

Buckley is a booze hound

Buckley likes alcohol. I'm not proud of it (wink, wink) but he will follow around a glass of wine or a bottle of beer like he's in a trance. Don't leave your glass around him. Atali took these pictures of him.

Once again, Shelby is in the background not paying attention to anything or anybody.

New Orleans

There are no pictures of the trip (probably a good thing) because I had the battery backwards in the camera. That's my college degree hard at work...

Highlights:


Cat's Meow (It never disappoints)

Another bar that played great soul music (the white boy sax player was awesome)

The fact you could walk down Bourbon and listen to 8-10 live bands playing within a 5 block area.

Walking to Cafe Du Monde to get Tami beignets

The incredible food down there. I could live on red beans and rice, gumbo and shrimp

For some reason, every time I go to a casino, I am convinced that this is the time I make a killing. I'm sure everybody feels that way, but I really thought this was the time. 20 minutes later I'm down $60 and I want to cry.

Tami feeling sick that we thought a hospital visit was in order, than five minutes later she was fine and back on track.

The relatively easy flight (except I didn't know you had to take out your toiletries in your carry-on). Props to Tami for convincing me not to check baggage and carry everything on.

Overall, a great trip and I can't wait to get back!

Defeated

Why did I add this picture? Tim was soooo proud about how many chips he had, he had to take a picture. Well, he didn't take a picture at the end of the night because all of Evan's and Tim's chips were at my end of the table.

More later....

Victory is mine!

P.S. Tim still owes me $20.

Devil Dog

Atali took this picture a while back, but I swear he is not possessed. Click on it to see it bigger.

Tim, other things I'm looking forward to

Thanks Tim, now I know you and Molly have read my site. Yeah!

Yes, I am absolutely looking forward to the concert. Just ask Tami. However, I can't start ramping up until a month before the concert when I will break out the old CDs and listen to them nonstop until right before the concert. It's my fourth time seeing VH, but my first with DLR.

NEW ORLEANS!

What may become an annual trip, (doubtful) Tami and I will be making a birthday trip to the Big Easy. I love the food, the drinks, the atmosphere, and Cat's Meow . Make sure to check the live webcam to see if you can pick us out of the stumbling crowd.

CAMPING!

I'm also pumped about the Carr boys going camping at Possum Kingdom. I'm looking forward to building a campfire large enough to counter the forecast. Friday low: 28, Saturday low: 34. Woohoo!