Practice, Amy's; Double Dave's, Best Buy; Benjy's, Gnarls Barkley
I'm in Waco for Christmas vacation. One might think this would give me a chance to catch up on blogging, but old friends and new toys are both around. Still, I'll see what I can do.
9/12
I'd been craving Amy's Ice Cream for quite a while, so post-band practice, I rang Cindy up and asked her to join me.
I was excited because I had read on their web site that Amy's had a "call list"; that is you could sign up to be notified whenever your favorite flavors were available. Shiner and Guiness ice cream, here I come. Sadly, upon arriving at the establishment, they couldn't even find the list, which gives a pretty good indication of how dedicated they are to keeping their customers informed.
Still, good ice cream is good ice cream. My favorite ice creams there are the ones that contain alcohol, as they only further prove my theory that alcohol makes just about any food better. This time around I opted for "tequila sunrise", an orangy ice cream with a nice touch of that sweet, sweet agave-based liquor. Cindy had something chocolatey...
9/13
Will gave me a ride and we made a comic store run before grabbing some dinner. He and I seem to be on a Double Dave's kick, as we hit up the buffet there. Not the best pizza in the world, but always enjoyable.
The price had dropped $150 or so on my TV, so I made a trip up to Best Buy to get the difference taken off the balance I owed them. Sadly, they evaluated the price after my $100 cable service discount, as opposed to before, so I only got $50, but fifty bucks is fifty bucks.
9/14
Dan was wonderful enough to point out to me weeks ago that the hot new R&B/gospel/hip hop sensation that is Gnarls Barkely (which would be Cee Lo and DJ Dangermouse, with their powers combined Captain Planet-style) were being featured in a free show sponsored by Scion. Now I'm not the biggest Scion fan, seeing as how Toyota's idea of a "youth brand" is to make underpowered cheap cars rather than reasonably-priced fun-to-drive cars (well, the xA and xB fit into the former category, although the tC is more the latter, and I shouldn't fault it just because I didn't fit comfortably in it). But far be it from me to complain about a company that, in their quest for the young demographic, hires a hot new R&B/gospel/hip hop sensation to play a free show.
The only minor catch was online registration, which I had done for Cindy and I weeks before. Although Dan and Kristin decided not to use their registration, Char and Angela had both registered and were joining us for the show.
There was a bit of a panic in that registration had closed, and that they had registered more people than could actually attend. They were handing out tickets starting at 4:00, which would guarantee entry, so we managed to slip out of our respective labs early and Char picked us up in his souped-up Volvo. It was hot outside, but the Scion people had free water for us, which was nice, while we waited for 4:00 to come to collect our tickets.
After that, Char dropped us off at Cindy's car, we dropped by our respective apartments for quick showers and changes of clothes, and then met up at Benjy's (well, actually the Lounge at Benjoy's which for some reason is listed sepparately on Citysearch) for some happy-hour-priced appetizers and drinks, which is the only way we could really afford to go there anyway (unless Zaina was workiing and hooked us up, which is something we should probably investigate).
Gin was a featured liquor, so I opted for a gimlet, and I believe we had crab cakes and a barbacoa-over-polenta-over-salad sort of thing. Good, but still fairly expensive. Still, nice place, good time.
After that, on to the Warehouse for the show. A hip hop act opened up; apparently the guy had collaborated with Kanye West in some fashion. I enjoyed it; despite my tendency to find hip hop a little samey after a song or two, the live setting seems to offer enough stimulation to prevent "hip hop fatigue".
Eventually, Gnarls Barkley came out in their jammies. In addition to the soulful Cee Lo and "white-friendly" (thanks, Pithcfork) Danger Mouse, there was a full complement of strings, backup singers, guitars, and keyboards. The show was great, hitting every song from the album. We were far enough up front that the Warehouse's shitty acoustics didn't cause problems. The full band was exactly the treatment a live veresion of Danger Mouse's tracks deserved.
What a great show. Thanks, Toyota.
9/12
I'd been craving Amy's Ice Cream for quite a while, so post-band practice, I rang Cindy up and asked her to join me.
I was excited because I had read on their web site that Amy's had a "call list"; that is you could sign up to be notified whenever your favorite flavors were available. Shiner and Guiness ice cream, here I come. Sadly, upon arriving at the establishment, they couldn't even find the list, which gives a pretty good indication of how dedicated they are to keeping their customers informed.
Still, good ice cream is good ice cream. My favorite ice creams there are the ones that contain alcohol, as they only further prove my theory that alcohol makes just about any food better. This time around I opted for "tequila sunrise", an orangy ice cream with a nice touch of that sweet, sweet agave-based liquor. Cindy had something chocolatey...
9/13
Will gave me a ride and we made a comic store run before grabbing some dinner. He and I seem to be on a Double Dave's kick, as we hit up the buffet there. Not the best pizza in the world, but always enjoyable.
The price had dropped $150 or so on my TV, so I made a trip up to Best Buy to get the difference taken off the balance I owed them. Sadly, they evaluated the price after my $100 cable service discount, as opposed to before, so I only got $50, but fifty bucks is fifty bucks.
9/14
Dan was wonderful enough to point out to me weeks ago that the hot new R&B/gospel/hip hop sensation that is Gnarls Barkely (which would be Cee Lo and DJ Dangermouse, with their powers combined Captain Planet-style) were being featured in a free show sponsored by Scion. Now I'm not the biggest Scion fan, seeing as how Toyota's idea of a "youth brand" is to make underpowered cheap cars rather than reasonably-priced fun-to-drive cars (well, the xA and xB fit into the former category, although the tC is more the latter, and I shouldn't fault it just because I didn't fit comfortably in it). But far be it from me to complain about a company that, in their quest for the young demographic, hires a hot new R&B/gospel/hip hop sensation to play a free show.
The only minor catch was online registration, which I had done for Cindy and I weeks before. Although Dan and Kristin decided not to use their registration, Char and Angela had both registered and were joining us for the show.
There was a bit of a panic in that registration had closed, and that they had registered more people than could actually attend. They were handing out tickets starting at 4:00, which would guarantee entry, so we managed to slip out of our respective labs early and Char picked us up in his souped-up Volvo. It was hot outside, but the Scion people had free water for us, which was nice, while we waited for 4:00 to come to collect our tickets.
After that, Char dropped us off at Cindy's car, we dropped by our respective apartments for quick showers and changes of clothes, and then met up at Benjy's (well, actually the Lounge at Benjoy's which for some reason is listed sepparately on Citysearch) for some happy-hour-priced appetizers and drinks, which is the only way we could really afford to go there anyway (unless Zaina was workiing and hooked us up, which is something we should probably investigate).
Gin was a featured liquor, so I opted for a gimlet, and I believe we had crab cakes and a barbacoa-over-polenta-over-salad sort of thing. Good, but still fairly expensive. Still, nice place, good time.
After that, on to the Warehouse for the show. A hip hop act opened up; apparently the guy had collaborated with Kanye West in some fashion. I enjoyed it; despite my tendency to find hip hop a little samey after a song or two, the live setting seems to offer enough stimulation to prevent "hip hop fatigue".
Eventually, Gnarls Barkley came out in their jammies. In addition to the soulful Cee Lo and "white-friendly" (thanks, Pithcfork) Danger Mouse, there was a full complement of strings, backup singers, guitars, and keyboards. The show was great, hitting every song from the album. We were far enough up front that the Warehouse's shitty acoustics didn't cause problems. The full band was exactly the treatment a live veresion of Danger Mouse's tracks deserved.
What a great show. Thanks, Toyota.
Labels: band, bars, concerts, electronics, restaurants
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 11:04 PM
