KABOOM

Saturday night we went to KFOG's KABOOM to see the John Butler Trio. In years past we would go to KABOOM and enjoy all the musical acts and the fireworks. This year we were just interested in seeing JBT and we thought it would be fun to bring Annmarie to her first rock concert. KABOOM is typically laid back with your easy going Foghead crowd and there are always a lot of families. This year the same was true. It moved down to the Candlestick parking lot. Apparently the site it was previously held at, Pier 30/32, is no longer safe enough to handle all the people.
Bonnie joined us.
We snacked.

Danced
Snacked some more.
Danced some more.
Hung out on Dad's shoulders.
And it was windy.
But still a great time. JBT was awesome and we were home by 7:00 pm.

Outside Lands Music Festival

This weekend was the Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park. Typically, music festivals (or just festivals in general) and me don't get along. The crowds of unruly people that smell, smoke, push and have no sense of personal space drive me crazy. The inevitable heat (it's always hot at these things). The bathrooms or rather the lack of sanitary bathrooms, I just cringe at having to go into those blue beasts - yuck. Therefore, over the years I have limited my exposure to festivals in general and San Francisco loves festivals, seriously there is one for everything, Beer, Union Street, Oysters, etc, etc.

Anyway, when this years Outside Lands Music Festival was announced I made the conscious decision to go on Saturday. Long gone are the days of Jamie trying to convince me go "it'll be fun honey" is what he would say. He knows better now not to ask because I'll probably say "I'll pass". So when I told Jamie I wanted to go this year, he was like "really", he didn't believe me. And he waited a while before buying my ticket, because he didn't believe that I would go. And he was all "ok, I'll get you a ticket, but prepare yourself, this is a festival, ok, a festival, those things you don't like to go to anymore".

Well, something magical must of happened because I had an awesome time. Here's how it went down.

Here is a great aerial picture I got from the Outside Lands web page. I'm down there with approx 40,000 people and having a good time. Amazing. Jamie couldn't believe how well I was behaving. You can also see where I work in this photo. Pretty awesome, I have an incredible view at work.
We arrived early and met up with Bonnie. She scored an awesome spot on the lawn that we managed to keep through out the day, all eight and half hours of it.

Later that evening Jamie would post to his facebook - "Jamie is shakin it like a monkey baby", in reference to a DMB song. And I thought, aww he's my monkey man. Some of you will get this.

Ok, it's also a Twilight reference. Jamie of course just rolled his eyes when I told him this.

We watched Raphael do a fun Motown set. This is the guy from Tony Toni Tone.
Bonnie sported a bandana, she said it was keeping her cool. I thought she just wanted to re-live the 80's, which is coming back with a wicked vengeance. But that is another topic.

As far as weather goes it only gets to be really hot in S.F. a handful of days a year. Saturday, was one of those days. It was actually pretty hot at our place and Jamie was freaking out because he thought I might just lose it in the heat at the park. But there turned out to be nice ocean breeze that kept me comfortable.

We skipped out on seeing Jason Maraz and met up with some more friends in the Wine Haven tent. After tasting some wine we headed back to the lawn were some other friends were keeping our space. And on the way back, get this, I got carded. I was thrilled. The guy told me he wasn't passing any judgment, but everyone needed a wrist band. When I did give him my ID he started laughing.

Another thing that saved the day was Jamie was able to get into the VIP Visa Signature tent. This place was suh-weet and had incredible bathroom's set-up. Seriously, saved the day.

Most of us stuck around to see Black Eyes Peas. I don't care what people think about BEP, they were awesome. They got everyone grovin. Jamie left towards the end of their set, he said his ears were bleeding. Whatever. I saw him dancing.

After BEP my boyfriend Dave came on.
This guy Carter is always is smiling. It's great. He is a rock star, I mean, what is there to be mad about.

This was my 20th time seeing Dave and the 40th time for Jamie (holy crap, Jamie just counted these up and I can't believe I have seen him this many times...I thought maybe 12, but forgot about 4 Bridge School shows and some others).
This was interesting.
What a day. What a night. Everything came together. Good friends. Good vibes. Good Times!

Go Carefully Airstream Driver

No, we are not buying an airstream, nor are planning on driving one anywhere.

It appears that only a select number of people will actually get the title of this post. As I talked to people about a concert I was going to on Friday night, people had no idea who I was talking about and I was not the only person that experienced this phenomena. The same was true for Bonnie and Jamie. So, let me tell you about a very talented band that goes by the name - Gomez. “They're English” Bonnie would say, but people still didn’t get it. We can give credit to "The Double" for introducing us to Gomez. The Double took Jamie to see them 2 years ago in Austin, and he was sold. Now for the past 2 years he has been playing their music often and saying "honey, we gotta go see them when they come to town".

Let me put it this way, there are not a lot of bands that compel me to go out on a Friday night, at the Fillmore (standing room only), with the band going on stage at 10:00pm. That’s typically my bed time. (However, Jamie thinks the Fillmore is the best place ever). Well, Gomez would be one of those bands for me. The others would include; Coldplay, although I passed up going to their concert, because it was on a Monday night and I have already seen them. Dave Matthews, but unlike my husband, seeing them once a year is enough for me. Sting, he’ll always do it for me. And maybe one or two others.

I’m a little surprised that more people are not familiar with Gomez. Maybe it’s because they have three vocalists in the band and that confuses people. Or people don’t listen to KFOG all day like I do. Or maybe it’s because they haven’t been played on Grey’s Anatomy...oh wait...scratch that last part. But thankfully they haven’t caught onto the masses like the Fray have. Because going to see a band you really like play in your town in a small venue for under $40 is a good thing. While I like the Fray, Gomez is HELLA better.

About the evening. After dinner at Dosa and three glasses of prosecco (who do I think I am?) later, I was armed with a comfy gap tee and running shoes to stand on my feet and watch Gomez. While I didn’t recognize some of their older music, I was able to get my groove on to, Airstream Driver, Girl Shaped Love Drug and Get Myself Arrested. And loved hearing Notice, one of my favorites. The crowd for the most part behaved themselves from where we were standing (which was very close to the stage). I took two breaks to get some air and was exhausted by the end of the evening. I enjoyed the show and thought it was worth sacrificing some sleep.

Fortunately, the next day I took a nap which got me back on track.

A birthday party, cooking club and a concert.

Annmarie and Jamie went to Owen’s 3rd birthday party and I had the house to myself for 4 and 1/2 hours! Amazing.

I was able to prepare for cooking club, relax and shower in peace. I also got to read Twilight for a bit.

Yes, I’m reading Twilight. I gave into the mainstream obsession. I think I may be hooked!

Annmarie was very excited for Owen’s party!

Cooking Club

As many of you know I belong to a cooking club. A cooking club blog is forthcoming, but I’ll go a ahead and post my recipe. The theme for this cooking club - Secret Ingredient: Ginger! As always CC was great fun. I made Indonesian Carrot Soup.

Recipe:

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
4 whole cloves garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 large Spanish onion, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, sliced
3 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
2 teaspoons ground yellow curry powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup sherry
1/2 cup honey
2 cans coconut milk (16 oz each)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

-Heat a stockpot over medium heat-high heat. Add the olive oil, garlic, ginger, onion, celery, and carrots. Sauté for 10 minutes. Add the curry, coriander, cumin, red pepper flakes, stock, and sherry. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 35 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the honey, coconut milk, cilantro, salt and pepper. Puree the soup in the pot using a hand blender or working in batches with a regular blender until smooth.

Makes 10 to 12 servings

A concert

After cooking club, Bonnie, Jamie and I headed to to see Michael Franti & Spearhead at the Fox Theater in Oakland. It was an interesting show. Let's just say it was half cool half wack.

Jamie's Notes:
This was only the second show at the newly remodeled Fox, after Another Planet Entertainment put in $80 million in improvements...and it shows. With lots of room to move around on the main floor, AC being pumped through the many floor vents, and plenty of beverage lines with bartenders who kept the drinks flowing quickly, APE went all out on this venue. This is now easily the premiere place in the Bay Area to see a show.

Anyway, back to the show. The opening act, ALO, put on a surprisingly entertaining set, and at 45 minutes did not overstay their welcome. During the short set change I ran into a friend from high school who I had not seen in 15 years (and took me a couple minutes to remember who she was). After heading back to the bar for a quick refill, the house lights dimmed, but instead of Michael Franti taking the stage, one of his backup singers came out and performed an atrocious 4 song set to a prerecorded dance beats. Oh dear God, it was so very bad. I don't think I heard one person clap between songs. Not sure why Michael Franti would allow for this to essentially ruin his show...I was probably about 5 minutes from walking out altogether...but finally she got lost and the band came on to rock the house. Opening with one of my favorite songs of his "Everybody Ona Move", the entire room started jumping up shaking the floor. Sure, now that I'm in my flippin' mid-30's, I haven't jumped up and down at a show in quite a while now, but have to admit it...I jumped and it was pretty damn fun. The band put on a pretty good set from then on out, despite that pretty large mistep that almost ruined the entire thing. Angela had to take a time-out from standing and posted up against the side wall away from all the people for awhile. I kept getting the "I'm tired, lets go home nudge", but managed to negotiate enough to stay through the rest of the set, and still managed to get home shortly after midnight.

Neil Young is the coolest man who has ever lived.....(circa Oct 2003)

Before blogging, I guess people just wrote stories. Well, here is a story Jamie wrote back in 2003 that I thought I would post to the blog. It has all the makings of a good blog, it rambles on and on and probably contains way to much information. But I like the story, so here goes:

Neil Young is the coolest man who has ever lived. Don’t believe me? Ok, let me explain…

9:30 am Saturday morning. I roll out of bed, slightly hungover from drinking at the Lingba Lounge up the street from my house the night before. Friends Mike and Vanessa were in town from San Diego, so we were out late doing a bit of drinking and catching up. A red fruity drink served in a bowl and lit on fire is the apparent culprit for my current headache and grogginess.

However, the hangover quickly subsides from the excitement of knowing today was the day of the Bridge School Benefit concert that Neil Young puts on every year. For those of you who are not familiar with this, the Bridge show is always one of the most popular concert events in the Bay Area each October. I go every year, no matter what artist is playing, because no matter what, it is always a great time to sit outside on a cool October afternoon and listen to some great acoustic music.

Apparently most music fans in Northern California (and around the West Coast in general) tend to agree with me, since this is typically, by far, the hardest ticket to get in town. Lawn seats are easy to come by, but Reserved seating is definitely a scarce commodity, and literally, sells out within seconds every year. I happened to get lucky, and scored some Reserved 200 level seats a few days before the show. Not great seats, but at least not on the lawn, which really sucks at Shoreline. I just need to pick up the tickets at the Shoreline Amphitheatre Will-Call before the show.

Noon. Today is the nicest day in San Francisco, perhaps ever. High 80’s, clear skies. We drive out to the Beach Chalet Restaurant in Ocean Beach for breakfast and Bloody Marys. You can see for miles across the ocean. October is always a great month in SF, but I feel like I am in friggin’ San Diego. After breakfast, we drive around the coast some more just to enjoy this weather.

3:30. We realize we have to stop enjoying the weather and head off to Shoreline.

4:30 Angela and I arrive at the Will-Call office at about 4:30. Give my name to the lady at the Will-Call desk, who shuffles through the ticket envelopes several times, apparently having trouble finding my order. Finally, finding the envelope, I sign for the tickets and glance at the seat location while walking away, wanted to make sure they did not“screw me” by giving me tickets other than the ones I ordered…

Section 102, Row BBB, Seats 1-2.

I rub my eyes a bit, adjust my contacts and look back down at the tickets.

Section 102, Row BBB, Seats 1-2.

I suddenly break out into a cold sweat and the heart starts beating faster. This cannot be right. Am I actually looking at this? These DEFINITELY are not my tickets. They can’t be. The lady must have accidentally pulled the wrong envelope and gave me the wrong tickets. After all, I have a hard name to pronounce and most people usually lose interest in deciphering the spelling or pronouncement after the first 3 letters. Anyways, I don’t stick around to find out and get the hell out of there.

So, by the way, 102 BBB is the Holy Grail of all Shoreline tickets. Front row, dead fucking center. Until now, I didn’t think these things really even existed. I have gone to MANY shows at Shoreline over the years, and it is by far, one of the hardest places to get good tickets to for any quality act. Especially for this show. My favorite show of the year. And I’ve always heard of these “upgrade” things, where unsuspecting fans get upgraded from crappy seats to the front row, but until now, I just thought it was a myth. Something overzealous fans make up to make others jealous.

I walk over and show them to Angela. “BBB she asks…isn’t that the second row.” Nope. The front row. “But how?” I don’t know and don’t really care at this point. I’ve got em though.

We nervously hurry inside the Amphitheatre, still wondering if they will actually work. Whether these things are actually real.

Score…inside.

5:00. Neil Young takes the stage as we walk down to our seats. We start walking down the stairs, farther and farther, until there is no where else to go except to Neil’s guitar. As we sit down, the security guy reads our tickets, sits down and leaves us alone. They’re legit. Surely I thought he’d be looking for some Corporate VIP or celebrity that was supposed to have these seats, and I figured that Shoreline would realize their mistake and we’d get kicked out any second. But I realized all the people sitting in the first 2 rows were kind of laughing at us, and looked quite a bit younger than the “VIP-type” folks I expected down there. Turns out, that they had all had similar crappy tickets way in the back, and when they picked them up at Will-Call, they had the same thing happen…free upgrades straight to the first 2 rows…courtesy of Neil Young. My guess is that it is Neil’s way of keeping these tickets out of the hands of scalpers, and giving them to unsuspecting folks who had just come out to hear some good music. Nice strategy.

After finally settling down a bit, I take a few swigs of my beer and enjoy the rest of the show. I have seen many of my favorite artists at this show in the past, including The Who, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and the Dave Matthews Band. The lineup this year is not quite as star packed as in prior years, consisting of Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Willie Nelson, Pearl Jam, Incubus, Counting Crows, Indigo Girls, Wilco and Dashboard Confessional. But still pretty solid.

So the first row. About 15 feet directly in front of the center microphone. You can see, well, pretty much everything. Sweat stains on Adam Duritz’s shirt, steam coming out of the cups of tea that Eddie Vedder and Graham Nash were drinking, one of the Indigo Girls spitting all over her microphone, the hole in Willie Nelson’s guitar (more later). Ok, so maybe a little close for some of those things. But the best part…there is a security guard sitting right on the aisle who…get this…stops anyone from walking in front of you to block your view. Un-fucking-believable.

All bands put in good sets. Overall, was not too impressed with Incubus or Dashboard, but the rest were great, and the sound, as it usually is at Bridge School, was incredible. I actually was very impressed by the Counting Crows, who I have never been very crazy about. However live, they put in a great set and seemed to be pretty talented guys.

9:00, Pearl Jam takes the stage. Eddie Vedder is blonde…WTF??? While Pearl Jam is probably my favorite band at the show, I had looked most forward to seeing Willie Nelson, since I had never seen him before…and…well, he was Willie Nelson. Pearl Jam had just played an interesting set prior to Willie, busting out a hoard of cover songs including Masters of War by Dylan and a Ramones tune, but only 2 of their own songs, Daughter and Black, which are played at Bridge every single time they are there, as well as a new one. Just being able to be that close to watch Mike McCready’s, one of my all-time guitar heroes, fingerwork on the fretboards was great, especially considering I am trying to learn the guitar, and obviously have a long way to go.

About 10:00, Willie Nelson takes the stage, playing a guitar that looked like it was about 60 years old, with a hole in the front of it that was not supposed to be there. So after playing most of his solo acoustic set including all his old favorites: Crazy, Ain’t it Funny How Time Slips Away, On the Road Again, and Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys, we give him a standing ovation in the front row, along with the rest of the 22,000 people behind us.

Then…Willie smiles at us, takes off his hat, and flings it RIGHT FUCKING AT US!!!! It seemed to be headed a bit more towards my beautiful girlfriend Angela, but then, like Deion Sanders back in the day, like the overzealous fan in Chicago at Game 6 of the NLCS, I… reach over, and…INTERCEPTED!! Then, Willie looks down at me like “What the fuck…that was supposed to go to her,” looking in Angela’s direction. Yeah, I would be a little worried if Willie had intended it for me instead of some cutie sitting in the front row, so obviously, I hand her the hat and put it on her head. But still crazy nonetheless. Willie Nelson’s hat! Kind of like catching a bullet from the Alamo…a genuine piece of American History. Angela is convinced that her Grandma, a huge Willie Nelson fan, was looking down from above, so obviously some divine intervention was involved.

Midnight. The set closes out with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young playing the Buffalo Springfield classic “For What It’s Worth” and then closing out with “Teach Your Children” with the rest of the performers on stage singing along.

Unbelievable day. I am still wondering if it actually happened or if it was just something I dreamed up. But there is a big black cowboy hat sitting on my bookshelf telling me it was all real. Years of getting screwed by Ticketmaster and Shoreline comes back to reward me in a big way by the Karma Gods. All together, I’d say it was a pretty damn good day. So as you see, Neil Young is, now, the coolest man who ever walked the face of the earth.

Jamie de Uriarte
Oct 27, 2003