1998 Called…

Subtitle: The One Where I Lose my Mind over How Much I Love 90s Music

I kind of geeked out when I saw that Ben Folds Five (Five!! not just Ben Folds), Guster and Barenaked Ladies would be touring together this summer. I love music. But I love 90s music most of all, and I especially love these three bands. If only Ani DiFranco had been thrown into the mix, it basically would have been a soundtrack to some of the most formative years of my life.

I mean, how many lyrics from a BF5 song made it into my AOL profile quotes section? “All I know is I've gotta be where my heart says I oughta be… It often makes no sense, in fact I never understand these things, I feel I love you, goodbye I love you, goodbye…”

Ugh. I mean, really. 1998 called and it wants you to come this concert and bring all your memories of your emo-for-no-reason 17 year old self there. It was even better that Anne + Locke could come with us, because they’re both huge BF5 and Guster fans and then one of my best friends from high school, who just so conveniently moved down to Columbia, SC after years of living in Michigan decided to make the trip up for it.

The icing on the cake though was that my sister-in-law saw me post a picture on Instagram of the tour poster and my comment that I really wanted to go and reached out to let me know she would get me tickets. It turns out her fiancé's sister used to be the website designer for the Barenaked Ladies. Not only did she get us tickets to the show, but also an opportunity for a meet and greet with the band! I’ve loved and listened to BNL since the days of Gordon and had seen them in concert in high school too, but Matt + I did feel a little out of our league with the diehard fans who were over the moon excited to meet the band. They were all super nice though (the band, that is) and we snapped a quick picture with them, got an autograph and headed back to our seats because BF5 was starting up.

All three bands put on great shows – I only wish Guster and BF5 had played longer! Guster is still as amazing as they were years ago, and I have no idea how Brian Rosenworcel’s hands are still intact after almost two decades of bongo drums. Incredible. They played a lot of their older stuff, like Satellite and Airport Song. Ben Folds Five was awesome – I am so happy that they are playing together again. He played a few newer songs, but plenty of older stuff too including Philosophy, Alice Childress, Brick, Narcolepsy, Underground and Army. (There were lots of happy cheers when Chick-Fil-A was mentioned during Army and also when Charlotte was mentioned during Brick, which I found a little weird given the context. But hey, it’s nice to have Ben back in his home state. Can we get him up to Winston pretty please??) I loved that he opened with Philosophy. And closed with Army. And any ballad that involves him hard jamming on the piano, like Underground. Sigh. I think I could have groupie potential.

I felt a little disappointed when BF5 was over, but Barenaked Ladies put on a seriously legit show. They are talented musicians but they are also performers. They know how to keep a crowd engaged. They sang all the favorites, like One Week, Pinch Me, and If I Had a Million Dollars. They also sang Brian Wilson and Yoko Ono which are two that I love from Gordon, and they had Brian R from Guster come back out to play. (If you’re ever listening to Brian Wilson and listen to the drum section at the end, just imagine how amazing that was with Thundergod going to town on it.) When they came back out, they played Old Apartment (looooove) and Alcohol and a cover of the Violent Femmes Blister in the Sun.

As a bonus, before the BNL set started, Anne and I had walked over to the restrooms and on our way out, realized that Guster was playing in a little corner off near the concession stands. Just standing under a tent with some amps and jamming out. A small crowd had formed, but we were able to push our way towards the front and see them. Definitely one of the highlights, seeing them up so close.

If you can’t tell by the excessive amount of positive adjectives I’ve used to describe this, it was a pretty awesome concert. I’ve always said that seeing Better than Ezra and Hootie & the Blowfish in one show together was my highlight of my concert going attendance, but this bumped that down to a #2 slot. It was a smaller, intimate venue which was perfect for these bands and all 3 sounded amazing and played a good mixture from across their music careers. It was also great weather and we were there with friends who loved these bands as much as we do. I don’t know if it can get much better than this!

Happy

I had an "I'm old" moment today.  I was purchasing my tickets to Sister Hazel online and thinking to myself "I can't believe they aren't sold out!  This is such a big show for Ziggy’s -  I would have thought Wake students would be buying them out!"

And then I realized: Sister Hazel had their biggest hit in 1997.  I was 15, and riding around in cars, singing to the radio at the top of my lungs, and that kind of music sticks with you for life.

Wake seniors? They were born in 1990.  They were 7. SEVEN.

Oh dear lord.  I don't feel like that much time has passed since the late 90s...and yet... and yet.

Anyways, despite my senior moment, and despite the fact that the band itself is getting quite senior themselves...they ROCKED.  Seriously, rocked.  They sang every single song I would have hoped to hear.And the brand new Ziggy's was fabulous.  And we celebrated cute Teri's birthday.  And friends and favorite-concert-buddies Kate and Charlie joined us..  And they sang "This Kind of Love" which my friend Karl had sang at our wedding and makes me all squishy and happy inside when I hear it.

And it was such a happy night.

One Last Fling Before the Ring

Sister’s Bachelorette Party in Charlotte, NC

Started off with a little Neti-pot action… pretty indicative of a wild weekend to be had, yes?

Getting our toenails all prettified at Polished.

Signing the wall at Polished.

The view from the Westin, our bachelorette party digs.

Presents!  What bride doesn’t love presents?

The night continued on at Crave Dessert Bar….

S’mores!  This is pretty much a genius idea…

And the rest of the night involved dancing, dancing, dancing….

Okay and some tweeting….

And our safe delivery home from Jack, the Charlotte EcoShuttle.

Okay, home with one pit stop.  Dancing makes you hungry.

Success: One Last Fling, and a fun night with best friends for the bride-to-be.

Chronicles of a Townie

How is it possible that 5 days can pass so slow, and 2 days oh so quickly?

It seems to happen with an alarming regularity.

Another weekend, come and gone.

We went out to eat Friday at a new restaurant called Bob's Big Gas Subs and Pub. I am obsessed with the building this restaurant is in. It's in one of my favorite parts of town - West End - and I've been watching crews come and renovate this former dilapadated service station into this beauty. I declared long ago I wanted it to be my future office, but I wasn't exactly picturing a pub and sub below... ... maybe more like a coffee shop that also served cupcakes and champagne. We'll have to work on that.

But in the meantime, until I can move in upstairs, subs and pubs will have to do.

I will say, it's the first place in Winston-Salem I've ever found Labatt Blue Light. Oh LBL, you somehow make me a teensy bit homesick.


And their sandwiches are quite tasty too. Strange combinations - apple, ham and goat cheese toasted. A pimiento cheese sandwich with bacon and avocado? Worth repeat visits.

After dinner, we went out to two watering holes- Tate's Craft Cocktails and Rec Billiards. Winston's night life has changed tremendously since we were here in college when I'm quite certain the only three choices we had were Burke St, Black Bear and Daytona's. I'm still not sure why we went to Daytona's - a complete hole in the wall without anywhere good to dance (a priority for my 21-yr-old self) and has since become a tractor and mower parts store.

Certainly a far cry from Tate's with cocktails that have more ingredients than most dinners I cook, comfy couches crowded around heaters and blankets outside, and old rugged high wooden bar inside.

Winston, you done grown up!

All the changes that we've seen in downtown over the last few years makes me excited to see what's to come in this city, as people keep finding new ways to use old buildings (like tobacco factories into apartment lofts) and the growing movement of a slow food culture, a night life and a walkable downtown. It makes me proud to be a resident here... going on 8 years! Seeing as how that's almost a third of my life, do I qualify for townie status?

If so, do I need to relocate to Burke St?