And this is my Franken-Pumpkin... all ready to go out on my porch tonight to welcome little trick-or-treaters!
I was inspired to create Franken-Pumpkin after getting an email to a pumpkin decorating event at Orchard Supply and Hardware (aka Osh) earlier this month. It was a "no carve" event and I thought it was BRILLIANT for many reasons:
I hate getting all those pumpkin innards everywhere.
I have very little patience for creating a perfectly carved pumpkin yet...
I'm a perfectionist
I have a TON of unused nails and screws and hooks and metal stuff in my garage, left by the previous owners who did my lovely remodel.
So this was perfect for me! Literally, the most time was spent digging through plastic bins looking for a variety of metal stuff...and that took about 7 minutes.
Then I took my hammer and knocked them into the pumpkin.
No mess to clean up and he's super cute! I think this is the first of MANY Franken-Pumpkins to come :)
Okay, first things first. I am not a biker. I do not ride motorcycles.. never have, never will.
However, I AM a huge Foo Fighters fan. So when it was announced that the Foos would be performing at the finale of the 32nd Annual Love Ride event at Castaic Lake -- a mere 30 minutes from my house -- there was no way I was not going to go see them and my favorite baby blue Gibson guitar on the planet. (Especially since riding a Harley there was not required for entry.)
So early this morning -- in order to beat the caravan of motorcycles cruising up the 5 North -- I headed for Castaic, and then waited and waited and listened to opening act Social Distortion and then waited some more before Dave Grohl -- still on crutches -- along with Taylor Hawkins, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Nate Mendel took the tiny stage in front of the lake and start rockin' out.... Taylor on a pink Andy Gibb-adorned drum kit, and Dave on a motorcycle-modified throne. (I love these guys!)
Since this was a special event, the band played around with their (shorter) set list, opening with "Learn to Fly" and "The Pretender."
Then they got into a pattern of a Foos song, a cover song, a Foos song, a cover song. The covers included Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down," David Bowie's "Under Pressure," and Tom Petty's "Breakdown"... enjoy a #snippet ((c) Dave Grohl, September 21, 2015) here:
Dave was his normal chatty self, still dropping f-bombs here and there, even with his 6-year-old daughter "Harps" dancing around on the side of the stage, with giant lime green headphones on. (He also informed the crowd he would be paying her in lots of jellybeans later for all the bad words he'd said.) Towards the end of the show, he also hilariously spotted a guy out "by that tree," dancing up a storm, doing the "sprinkler" and "running man." So, Dave Grohl being Dave Grohl, he pretty much stopped the show to call attention to him.... and then started calling out wacky dance-move requests.
While it was a shorter set than the Foos' normal 3-hours of awesomeness, and it was really hot when the sun wasn't behind a cloud, (and the bikers will complain that the event ran out of beer..whatevs), it was a super fun show! And best of all, it was for a great cause... all proceeds from the Love Ride go to the Wounded Warrior Project. Feel free to click that link and make a donation if you are so inclined :)
It's been a week since I had to say a sad goodbye to my sweet, loving, majestic Lucky boy, and I'm still so sad, especially today because a) it's been exactly a week since he passed and b) because I picked up his ashes tonight. I haven't I've cried as much as I have in the last week in a long, long time. :( I think part of the reason I'm so sad is because I had to make the decision to say goodbye. And while I know in my head it was the right thing to do so he wouldn't suffer, it still broke my heart. We'd been fighting his failing kidneys for four years, and he'd been such a strong fighter for so long. But after he developed asthma a month ago, and continued to lose weight, I sensed the end was near. Then last Sunday, he started vomiting a lot and his blood tests looked pretty bad when I took him to the vet. Late that night he had another asthma attack, and I knew his little body was failing him. The next morning, I called my dad to go with us to the vet... yet as we drove there, I was still hoping maybe they could just give him a shot for his asthma. But when the vet walked in, he informed me Lucky's white blood cell counts from the day before came back in the "terminal" stage for his kidney disease and I knew that was it.... yet I still made the vet show me the lab report so I could see the results with my own eyes.
He was the best cat ever for the 15 and a half years I got to be his "person," and I really miss seeing him sitting in the front window when I come home, and his nightly cuddles during TV time. I also miss him keeping the peace / acting as a silent yet all-knowing mediator between me and his crazy sister Lily -- my other cat I adopted just to be Lucky's friend, who hates all people, and who's been living in a donut bed under the dining room table for the last week... with the occasional dash to the litter box or her food bowl in the kitchen. And while that's not that out of the ordinary for her, I can tell she misses Lucky too.
When my grandma passed away earlier this year, I became acutely aware of certain things that were connected to her, like the cactus plants she'd given me as a little girl. When their pink cactus flowers started blooming this summer, right after her birthday, I felt like those flowers were her way of saying hello to me from one of my "happy places" -- my garden. So this weekend, I decided that would be a great way to remember Lucky... by planting something in his memory in my garden. I found this beautiful unique, red and white rose bush, and have planted it in the center of my corner garden. It's now Lucky's rose bush, and I will think of him every time it blooms, hopefully with a smile on my face, like the one I get when Granny's cactus flowers bloom.
Last weekend I spent three of four nights (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at my now most-attended EVER concert venue, the historic Hollywood Bowl.
Before and after the shows, I battled traffic, herds (yes, herds.. as in "mooo, mooove out of my way people!"), food and beverage lines so long I nearly starved one night (thanks for the organic strawberries Matt ;), and the elements of both rain and pot smoking 50 and 60-year-olds determined to relive their '80s youth via the return of "Diamond Dave."
But between all that, I saw three awesome, completely different musical extravaganzas that pretty much sum of the range of my musical library :)
Here's the scoop on Show #3:
October 4, 2015 -- Van Halen - Final Night of North American Tour
So I've loved Van Halen since about 1984 (the year and the album). But was too young to see them in concert then.
By the time I was (in 1992 and again in 1995), David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen hated each other, and "Diamond Dave" had been replaced by Sammy Hagar singing songs with lots of synthesizers like "Dreams" and "Right Now," which I also loved. (I play no favorites between Sammy and Dave.. they were two very different singers and Van Halen is two very different, yet both great, bands depending on who is singing lead. Please note: I do however agree that the whole Gary Cherone era was a joke, even though I loved him in Extreme.)
I've always regretted not getting to see the band with the showman antics of DLR. When they last got together a few years ago, the tour was cancelled almost as soon as it started. (There were rumors of fighting, but also Eddie's health took a bad turn.) So earlier this year when they went on Jimmy Kimmel and announced they were back together again (again) and were going on tour (again), I was not optimistic. I didn't buy tickets to their two shows at the Bowl when they went on sale in March because, quite honestly, I was pretty sure the tour would be cancelled waaaaaay before October.
However, as summer went on and they hadn't broken up yet, I started to wish I had tickets. Then one day I got (of all things) a Groupon offer for Van Halen tickets... for $35! Um, sign me up! I was even more excited when my seats that were supposed to be at the top of Bowl in section U, ended up in the middle of the Bowl in section L2. Thank you Groupon Rock Gods!
However, as the day of the show rolled around, so did these magnificent rain clouds....
And as the opening act (the amazingly awesome blues rocker Kenny Wayne Shepherd) played, a few tiny rain drops started falling on our heads.... please don't rain on my Van Halen concert I begged through social media hashtags and silent pleas to the weather gods. Miraculously, they all listened, and the sprinkles stopped and the show went on, allowing me to check "Van Halen with David Lee Roth" off of my Concert Bucket List! The band (Eddie, Alex + Eddie's son / my fellow Kings fan Wolfgang Van Halen) sounded awesome and tight, as one of the most excellent rock guitarists and rock drummers who've been playing together for 40+ years (plus the son / nephew who got their musical genes) should. Then there was David Lee Roth. When the crew was setting up after Kenny Wayne Shepherd, they were laying a lot of wood planks down on the stage. "What's that for?" I wondered. Well people, Diamond Dave (or "The Dean Martin of Rock-n-Roll" as my concert buddy Lisa dubbed him halfway through the show) needed a dance floor so he could slide around and "dance the night away"... in between changing his outfit about 20 times. ;) He was the true showman everyone paid to see, and even managed to replicate his high kicks from the "Panama" and "Jump" videos, at the mere age of 60! As for singing, well, let's just say he doesn't have the pipes that the previous singers on my Bowl "concert-palooza" (Simon Le Bon and Idina Menzel) have, but he probably never did, and when Eddie Van Halen is playing guitar, do you really care?
(Note: These videos aren't mine. Like at Duran Duran, I only had my camera phone. So instead of torturing you with bad video, I've found videos on YouTube from people with much better cameras and/or seats. Thanks to these people for uploading :)
Here's the set list, and then video (again, not mine) of the last three, most fun songs of the show. Enjoy! Being as this was the last show of the tour, these just may be the last songs Van Halen (with David Lee Roth) ever perform live :(
Last weekend I spent three of four nights (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at my now most-attended EVER concert venue, the historic Hollywood Bowl.
Before and after the shows, I battled traffic, herds (yes, herds.. as in "mooo, mooove out of my way people!"), food and beverage lines so long I nearly starved one night (thanks for the organic strawberries Matt ;), and the elements of both rain and pot smoking 50 and 60-year-olds determined to relive their '80s youth via the return of "Diamond Dave."
But between all that, I saw three awesome, completely different musical extravaganzas that pretty much sum of the range of my musical library :)
Here's the scoop on Show #2:
October 3, 2015 -- Idina Menzel - Final Night of Her World Tour
Night #2 of Bowl "concert-palooza" was the Tony Award-Winning Idina Menzel, with my dear friend Jenny Z, who came down from Portland for the show, and her cousin Erin. This was the first time at the Bowl for both Idina and JZ (aww ;)
I was curious to see what songs she'd perform, as the only albums I own with Idina on them are the Broadway soundtracks to Rent (which I was lucky enough to actually see Idina and the rest of the original cast in onBroadway) and Wicked (which I've seen three times, but never with Idina.) She won her Tony Award for playing Elphaba in Wicked, in large part because she hit these notes eight times a week for months and months and months....
(Note: These videos aren't mine. Like at Duran Duran, I only had my camera phone. So instead of torturing you with bad video, I've found videos on YouTube from people with much better cameras and/or seats. Thanks to these people for uploading :)
Her set list covered the Broadway hits she made famous in Rent, Wicked and the just-closed-but-soon-to-be-on-National-tour If/Then. The show was very interactive and she was extremely humble for someone who has earned the right to be a Broadway diva if she wants.
She went into the audience looking for duet partners for Rent's "Take Me Or Leave Me" and found some really talented people who rose to her challenge. She also told a lot of stories.. some funny, some sad, such as the tragic story of how Rent's creator Jonathan Larson passed away just before seeing his brilliant musical open, then sang its beautifully poignant "No Day But Today" ....
The show also featured her interpretation of some rock hits such as The Police's "Roxanne," (which was part of her "prostitution medley" as she jokingly called it, along with "Love for Sale") and Radiohead's "Creep." And, of course, it had to include the song everyone under the age of 12 came to hear, "Let It Go," aka: the song that got Idina on the Oscars twice.. once to sing it and then a year later so John Travolta could apologize to her for royally screwing up her name. This was her final song before encore and she invited all the kids rush the stage and sing the end with her, which was super-cute.
Last weekend I spent three of four nights (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at my now most-attended EVER concert venue, the historic Hollywood Bowl.
Before and after the shows, I battled traffic, herds (yes, herds.. as in "mooo, mooove out of my way people!"), food and beverage lines so long I nearly starved one night (thanks for the organic strawberries Matt ;), and the elements of both rain and pot smoking 50 and 60-year-olds determined to relive their '80s youth via the return of "Diamond Dave."
But between all that, I saw three awesome, completely different musical extravaganzas that pretty much sum of the range of my musical library :)
Here's the scoop on Show #1:
October 1, 2015 -- Duran Duran "Paper Gods" Tour
To kick off my Bowl "concert-palooza," I went to the sold out Duran Duran concert Thursday night.
I don't think I've ever been to the Bowl when it's been completely sold out before. This is something I NEVER want to experience again (ie: this is the night I almost starved because the lines were insane and I had a minor claustrophobia attack going to the bathroom). But I powered through in order to relive my tweens, screaming for the first rock star named John I ever loved :)
------- Minor Sidebar ------
Because I meant to post this as a #tbt photo on the day of the D2 concert, but was too crazed and forgot, may I now present two-thirds of the one wall of the Shelton, CT bedroom my parents allowed my 13-year-old-self to put posters on... proving my former obsession with all things Duran Duran.. well mostly John Taylor ;) (Hey, I was only allowed to decorate one wall, so I picked the biggest one and used every inch of it! And now, looking at this eons later, I think this is where my OCD started... look how lined up everything [other than the two photos I just badly cropped together] is. That took planning people! :P)
------- Back to the Concert Stuff ------
The original JT and and his Duran Duran-mates performed a few songs from their new Paper Gods album and then so many of their hits (but not "Wild Boys" or "Save a Prayer" HELLO!?!?) that Simon LeBon checked in on the crowd halfway through the show to make sure we weren't starting to suffer from "hit fatigue."
Um, the answer to Simon's q, would be a no :)
(Forgive the crappy images.. only had my cell phone. But it still sounds awesome!)
In fact, I could've done without the few non-hits toward the end of this set list ("White Lines," "Danceophobia," "TMI") ....
.....in exchange for some "Wild Boys," "Save A Prayer" and "Is There Something I Should Know" (just for you Erin ;). Please, please tell me now why you would play those bleh songs instead of "Wild Boys" and "Save a Prayer" Simon, John, Nick and Roger?!?!
I'm kinda sad. D2, you're just lucky you ended with this...
PS: There were two opening acts, one of whom (Clean Bandit) we totally missed due to the traffic, lines, crowds of people trying to get to the Bowl by 6:30 on a Thursday. But we did get to see the funk-alicious Chic, featuring Nile Rogers, who helped write and produce "Paper Gods" in addition to a billion other hits, many of which they played. They were a pretty awesome surprise :)
PPS: For those who wanted to be there but couldn't be, YouTube just suggested this video of the complete concert to me. Those people had much better seats that I did. I hate them.
