Friday Fun – Pizza, Friends and Live Music

I’m a week late in posting this.  But better late than never, right??  Well, last Friday night my favorite band, The Delta Saints, was playing at Barley’s.  I had been looking forward to this night for two months!!!

Our friends Kara and Remington  joined us for some pizza and beer before the music started.

Their pizza is so good.  Definitely one of the best in town.  Hubby and I split the Greek.

And split a pitcher of the Sam Adams Winter Lager.  YUM!!

The band didn’t start til almost 11:15pm.  Which is really late for this old timer.  Good thing I drank a Red Bull before dinner!!  🙂

I absolutely adore their music.  His voice, their sound, the lyrics, the harmonica, the bass, the drums.  So much talent in one band.  I seriously can’t get enough.

And live?  They ROCK!!  If I could quit my job, follow them around and become a groupie, I totally would.

If anyone is keeping track, this makes the fourth show we’ve seen of theirs.  We were introduced to them in Feb, 2012 when they opened for The Dirty Guv’nahs.  Then they did a free concert in Market Square in October when they opened for The Black Cadillacs.  It was there they told us about the CD release party at Exit/In in Nashville, so we had to go.  And finally, back in Knoxville at Barley’s.  I’m not sure when I’ll see them again.  Looks like all of the Spring tour dates are in Europe.  Hmmmm…. wonder how I can work that out!?!  🙂

Their latest album, Death Letter Jubilee, was just realeased.  (Of course, I’ve had my copy since Nov 30th when I purchased it at the CD release party in Nashville.  It hasn’t left my CD player since.  Actually, that’s not true.  There was a week or two there that I swapped it out for the previous album, Bird Called Angola.  But I have seriously been blasting the Saints religiously for the last 2 months).

I’m not sure I even have a favorite song anymore.  I love them all.

Especially the title track, Death Letter Jubilee.  Check out their new music video HERE.

They played for a good 2+ hours.  We didn’t get home til after 2 o’clock in the morning.  And I was totally wired.

If they come to a city near you, I highly recommend you go see them now.  Do it soon while they are still playing in small venues.  These guys are going to be huge.

Question of the Day:  What band have you seen the most?  And if you could be a groupie, who would you follow around??

Weekly Photo Challenge: Illumination

From WordPress:  IN A NEW POST CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PICTURE THAT MEANS ILLUMINATION TO YOU.

If you’ve read my blog for more than a week, you’ve probably guessed that we like live music.  More specifically, we like seeing our favorite bands play live!

Right now, our favorite bands are The Delta Saints and The Dirty Guv’nahs.  Here are a few of my favorites from the shows we attended in 2012:

(all of which include an impressive light show)!!

Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Dirty Guvs @ The Bijou in February, 2012

As a matter of fact, it was this show at the Bijou where we were first introduced to The Delta Saints.  They were the opening band and they blew us away.  They are so amazing.  You need to check them out!!  We’ve been following them ever since.

The Dirty Guvs @ their CD release party in Market Square – August 2012

Delta Saints opening for the Black Cadillacs – free concert in Market Square, Oct 2012

Love love love them!!!

Market Square, October 2012

The Black Cadillacs put on a good show too.  And incidentally, they opened for The Delta Saints at their CD Release party at the Exit/In in Nashville on Nov 30th.

The Delta Saints at their CD Release party at the Exit/In on Nov 30th.

The Dirty Guv’nahs at the Tennessee Theatre on New Years Eve

And one of my favorite shows of the year was the New Years Eve concert.  We were introduced to a new band, A Thousand Horses.  Might have to start listening to them too.  They were really good.

New to The Daily Post? Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, you’re invited to get involved in our Weekly Photo Challenge to help you meet your blogging goals and give you another way to take part in Post a Day / Post a Week. Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

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Happy New Year!!

Hubby and I were lucky enough to get a date night on New Years Eve.  One of our favorite local bands, The Dirty Guv’nahs, was playing a concert in downtown Knoxville.  We scored the tickets months ago when they first went on sale.

And I was feeling pretty good after finishing my last working for 2012 …. a 4.2 mile run at Lakeshore Park.  I was so excited that they closed our offices early – at 2:30.  It meant I had time to get in a quick run.  It was only 37 degrees outside, but it didn’t feel that cold.  And I warmed up fast.

Hubby dropped the kids off at my Mom’s house while I was getting ready.  We had a hard time deciding what to do for dinner.  Too many good options – Downtown Grill and Brewery, Crown and Goose, Nama, etc.  But we decided on Sunspot for a few reasons:  one – the beers on tap, and two – hubby found a the description of a burger on their website.  It had egg, bacon, avocado, and more wonderful goodness on top.  It sounded like the perfect burger!

Unfortunately, that burger was LAST week’s special and therefore no longer available.  😦

So instead, hubby ordered the Steak Tacos and I got a Salmon BLT.  And LOTS of fries.  LOL  I haven’t had fries in a really long time … they were SOOOO yummy!!!!

Here’s a close up of the Salmon BLT.  It was uh-may-zing!!!  Oh my goodness.  I would go back tomorrow just to get another Salmon BLT.  Although, I’m pretty sure I can recreate this at home.  It’s just blackened salmon with bacon, lettuce and tomato.  The aioli sauce might take a little trial and error, but I think I’m up for the challenge.  🙂

After our bellies were completely full, we headed downtown.

(Not the best downtown shot I’ve ever taken of the lights on Gay Street, but it gives you an idea.)

This is the HISTORIC Tennessee Theatre.  It’s a gorgeous venue.  Recently renovated, too.

There were 2 opening acts.  The first was a singer/ songwriter Neal Carpenter, who is from Nashville.  I gathered that he knows the Guvs from University of Tennessee, which is where they all went.  I was impressed by Neil’s songs.  The lyrics were really good.

James and Chris (from the Dirty Guvs) joined him on stage for his last song.

The second opener was a band called A Thousand Horses.  I’d never heard of them before, but they totally killed it.  They rocked the house.  While I wasn’t cazy about all the long beards I saw, I was super impressed by their stage presence.

Finally, around 10:30 the Guvs finally took the stage.

(Followed by a phone call from my Mom telling us that Lucy has a fever.  Great.  Good thing we packed the Tylenol just in case.  A fever is not an emergency.  I am not leaving a concert because of a FEVER.)

Back to the concert.  Our seats were in the center section, 6 rows back.   Pretty. Darn. Good.

The funny thing was … we could hear the people behind us talking.  The guy had never heard of the Guvs.  Really?!?  Why would you come to a special concert on New Years Eve to hear a band you don’t know play??  Furthermore, we purchased our tickets the first day they went on sale, months ago.  I imagine to get the seats behind us, they had to do the same.  So he’s had tickets for over 2 months now …  he couldn’t have looked them up in that time to see if he liked them before coming to a concert?!?  People are weird.

I kept waiting for the song ‘Brown Little Bird’ but they never played it.  😦   Instead, they played a few songs that weren’t theirs, like Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bruce Springsteen.  They were great covers, don’t get me wrong.  But here’s how I feel about going to a concert …  I paid money to come hear you sing YOUR songs, not other people’s songs.  Is that silly?  Am I the only one that feels that way?

To answer the question from the Daily Post about where I was at the stroke of midnight:

My phone died at some point so I had no idea what time it was.  They were in the middle of playing a song, stopped, and we counted down the 10 seconds to midnight.  There was no ball dropping, no fireworks (except for my kiss with hubby), it was mostly non-eventful as they went on playing their song afterwards.  But that was fine with me …  there was no where else I would rather be than with my hubby listening to the Dirty Guv’nahs play live!

They played til 12:30am.  It was an awesome show!!  My ears are still ringing!

So, tell me – what did YOU do for New Year’s Eve??

Busy, but Fun Weekend!

My husband and I try to go on a date night at least once a month.  Sometimes it’s hard to get away and other times everything just falls into place.  This was one of those weekends where it simply fell into place.  Not just one, but TWO date nights in the same weekend!!

On Friday night, we went to see a free concert downtown.  Not just any free concert – it just so happened to be one of our favorite bands!  The Dirty Guv’nahs!  It was actually a CD release party for their 3rd album, Somewhere Beneath these Southern Skies.

Never heard of them?  I’m not surprised.  They are a local band, but they are growing in popularity all over the country.  Please check them out.  I believe they will be huge one day!!

Before the Dirty Guvs went on at 8pm, there were 2 opening bands – Black Cadillacs and Moon Taxi.

One of my favorite songs from their new album is:  3000 Miles.  I also love Temptation, Don’t Give Up on Me, and This Is My Heart.  Actually, I love the whole CD.  You should download it.  🙂

Baby We Were Young is probably one of the more (locally) well-known songs.  The official music video is fun because it features a couple of the popular news anchors of a local TV station.

More good songs:  Blue Rose Stroll  and  Wide Awake  and We’ll Be The Light.  One of my very favorites from the second album is It’s Dangerous.  (And I was actually in the bathroom when they played it.  Dang it.)

(Make sure you click all the links above to watch their music videos.  Or you can go to the website here to listen to all of their songs).

We had so much fun at the concert.  I was worried because the forecast called for rain all day, but the rain held off til the very last song when it just sprinkled for a few minutes.

Then, on Saturday night, I scored some (free) tickets to the annual Feast with the Beasts event at the Knoxville Zoo.  It’s an adults-only party where food and drink vendors line the paths at the zoo.  The ticket gets you all the food and alcoholic drink you want… or until the vendors run out of food, which some of the good ones did.

Map

This picture shows me eating a salad from Panera.  From the most part, I was pretty good all evening.  I easily passed up the chips and queso from Moe’s, I passed up the donuts from Krispy Kreme, and I even passed up the pizza from Papa Murphy’s (which is a little shocking because I do love pizza so much).  Our very favorite booth was giving out barbecued salmon.  Oh. My. Word.  It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  It was a tiny little piece, though.  So we had to go back for seconds, thirds, fifths, eighths… I don’t know how many we had, but it was a lot.

Margaritas!!!!

The red pandas are definitely my favorite animal at the zoo.  Just look at that fuzzy little face.  SO cute.  I just want to take him home with me!

What a crowd!

Just to give you an idea of how crowded it was.  It was packed.  You had to stand in line for most any booth.  The good ones, at least.

The hubs

Rhinos

Belly Dancers

I kept wondering, though, why belly dancers don’t have nice bellies.  Oops.  Was that rude?  I apologize.  But if you are using all those ab muscles to shake your hips….

Anyway.

Another note: I apologize for the picture quality.  All pictures in this post were taken with my phone (Samsung Mesmerize), so they are not that great.  I just didn’t want to have to carry my DSLR around with me all night, especially when I knew my hands would be full of plates and cups.

If that sounds like a full weekend, it was.  But it’s not over yet.  Sunday was not a rest day for us.  We had friends coming over (with their kids) at 4:30.  So as soon as we woke up on Sunday, we had to get the house cleaned and ready for company.  I had to hit the grocery store, as there was nothing left in our fridge.  I stocked up on TONS of fresh veggies and lean meats.  So we’ll be eating well this week.  And I hope to have a fun recipe or two for you.  I’ve been pondering a few things I want to try.  I hope it works out.

I’m off to get ready for a new week!  Have a good one.