I Do Stuff…

Photo Gallery

For Christmas I got Nancy tickets to a comedy show at the DC Improv, but the show got canceled.  Not to be disappointed she finds out 311 is playing locally and wants to see them instead.  She has wanted to see them for a while, last year we missed the show at Jiffy Lube because we were in San Francisco for the weekend.  In hind sight the trip to California was worth missing 311.  This turned out to be the perfect gift for Nancy.  Later we found out Saundra is a big fan and her birthday was on the same day as the show, so we invited her up for the weekend and bought her ticket as a gift.

We got an early start to the venue as Sublime with Rome was opening and Nancy wanted to see them.  We already know that tailgating was not an option after hearing Jiffy Lube killed the idea for Buffett.  Even with plenty of time before the show, getting past security was a trip.  We read online we could bring water, snakes, blankets, and chairs into the venue.  Halfway to the gate we found out no blankets or chairs allowed in, there went our comfortable seat on the lawn.  When we finally made it to the entrance there were 6-7 lines, each stretching 200 feet.  Security was methodical in patting everyone down and searching all bags making getting in extremely slow going.  Give me a break.

By the time we got through security with a beer in hand Sublime with Rome was already on stage.  We found ourselves a spot on the lawn and enjoyed the rest of their set.  Little did we know it would be hotter than last Friday’s Sweeney Todd show if that was even possible.  7:30 and it was well over 90 degrees and humidity around 60%.  The beer was cold so it made it a little bearable.  The weather would have been more bearable if Sublime with Rome was better.  I remember listening to Sublime in the ’90′s before Bradley Nowell over dosed on heroin and they rocked.  The new incarnation of the band lacks the spark that made the original lineup so great.  The playing seemed force with no creativity.  I also felt their take on the songs just sucked, much to slow and melodic.  I was hoping for more energy which the band just didn’t delivery.

Fortunately after Sublime with Rome left the stage security personnel were handing out tickets.  Upon further investigation they were giving out pavilion seats to people on the lawn.  The 300 section, especially the far wings, where undersold for the show.  To make the pavilion look full they upgraded people from the lawn.  After a quick discussion we decided to pack up our gear and head in for a closer perspective and actual seats sense we couldn’t bring out own in.  The only down side was the tin roof trapped the heat and humidity, raising the temperature by several degrees under the pavilion.  Even after the sun went down and well into the 311 set it was hot.

By show time the pavilion finally started to fill in.  The pit and the lower sections were full, however even with free upgrades the 300 sections remained rather empty.  The lawn was pretty full, but only in the center.  In all it was over half full but I am sure much fewer tickets were sold than anticipated.

Nancy and Saundra loved the show and I was impressed.  I have heard a few of their songs over the years and recognized them when played.  I am not much of a rock fan but it was still a good show.  They would change the tempo often from fast to slow and back again keeping the audience engaged.  A couple of things struck me during the show, one was the drum solo Chad had.  Everyone left the stage and he kicked the shit out of the drums.  Slowly the roadies started wheeling out covered drums that the rest of the band played with Chad, forming a giant drum circle.  Really cool.  Later P-Nut had his own solo, sitting on the stage lip whaling on his bass.  Again, I was very impressed with his performance.  I know I don’t have much detail, it was a good show and I enjoyed it.  Most of my enjoyment came from watching Nancy and Saundra who are true 311 fans.

After the show ended we headed to the car and got out of the venue rather quickly which was unusual for the place.  On the way home I got pulled over for the usual sobriety check point, stupid and un-necessary.  For Buffett they even check you on the way into the show.  This past year this venue has gone down hill and I personally don’t want to see a show there again.  All forms of tailgating are banned, security is a bitch, they hassle you all the time, and getting into and out of the venue still sucks after 16 years.  Every show I have seen at Jiffy Lube, previously Nissan Pavilion, has been great.  Over the last few years the venue has killed the experience.  Way to go Live Nation.

Start time 8:58pm
01. Hive
02. All Mixed Up
03. You Wouldn’t Believe
04. Sunset In July
05. Jackpot
06. Champagne
07. Wild Nights
08. Beautiful Disaster
09. Don’t Let Me Down*
10. Applied Science
11. Weightless
12. Do You Right
13. Freak Out
14. Amber
BASS SOLO
15. Nutsymtom
16. Come Original
17. Beyond The Gray Sky
18. Time Bomb
19. What Was I Thinking
20. Creatures (For a While)
Set ends 10:26pm

encore:
starts 10:29pm
21. Omaha Stylee
22. Down
house lights 10:38

* Last played 3/11/2008

Big Top Tour, copyright Beanhammer

Labor Day weekend is here again and Buffett was playing his annual run at Jiffy Lube Live. Nancy and I planned months ago to attending when tickets went on sale and we coordinate with Dave and Mike from last year and we had extras so we invited Cassee and Chris who we went to Tom Petty with a few weeks ago.

We started the long day early with some pre-game at Dave’s house who fortunately live 5 minutes from the venue. He made margaritas while we sat out on the patio.  I would have loved to join everyone but I knew there would be police check points going to venue and decided to wait. We would be in the lots for hours so I was certain I would have my fill of drinks. We had several six packs of beer and a blender to make boat drinks.  We brought banana colada and Dave brought with him margarita stuff.  Then there was the food we all brought.  Nancy and I had buffalo chicken dip with some home made burgers.  Cassee brought some marinated chicken on a skewer that was soooo good.  Dave brought more dips and brats to be grilled.

We arrived at Jiffy Lube just before 3pm when the lots opened to the general public.  We found out that you could get in at noon for an extra $30, maybe next time.  As soon as we arrived we setup shelter, brought out the coolers and I fired up the grill.  It was a chaotic mess as everyone was running around doing their own thing without much direction.  After 10 minutes or so we had the canopy setup, chairs out, grilled started, beers cracked and a new addition to our setup, a porta pot for the ladies.  Nancy got a small changing tent and a camping toilet so she wouldn’t have to pee in the woods.

A couple of beer down and two dips killed I wanted a hamburger really bad so I fired up the grill again and started cooking.  From here on it was on like Donky Kong with me manning the grill cooking a ton of meat.  The burgers came out perfect with Cassee’s chicken bits up next, they were so good I couldn’t stop eating the bit size peaces of goodness.  As for the brats no on really ate those, but they certainly came in handy after the show, so I was glad I cooked them up.  To wash all this food down I must of had 4 beers and several mixed drinks.  We had some difficulties with the power convert for the car to power the blender.  Nancy tested the setup in her Jeep successfully but it didn’t work in my truck or any car we had with us.  Not sure why, only thing I can figure it our old ass cars couldn’t handle the current draw.  The blender was slow and wouldn’t run constantly but I got my banana colada and a vary strong margarita.

tailgating for Buffett at Jiffy Lube Labor Day weekend

For hours we just chilled in the lot eating, drinking, and smoking cigars.  I could not think of a better way to spend a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  The weather certainly was cooperating with us all day.  Hurricane Earl passed by a day earlier off the coast and brought with it 80 degree temps with a nice breeze all weekend long.  By showtime the temps dropped further give a nice crisp chill to the air.

All afternoon things were rolling along quite well till the pee incident!  The bathroom Nancy bought was strictly female only.  I was totally fine with this because I didn’t want anything to do with clean up.  As a man I could always find a tree, bush, or two cars to do my business.  As the day went on the rule got loosened so all the men started using it.

Nearing the end of our time in the lot Dave needed to make one last piss.  Things were going well till all of a sudden he walks out of the makeshift bathroom holding the bag of piss!  We couldn’t believe what had happened, nor did we know exactly what happened.  But we looked at the floor and it was covered in pee.  He begins to tell us when he opened the lid the bag of pee feel and despite his better judgment he quickly reached for it.  In the process, getting pee all over him and dumping half of the bags contents onto the tent floor.  Nancy’s saw this and almost went ballistic, she kept her cool but I could tell she was upset with the whole situation.  Her tent was ruined, but at least Dave was covered in pee as punishment.  To his credit he was very apologetic and immediately began to clean the mess.  We went through a whole roll of paper towels and a gallon of water cleaning it out.  All the contents used to weight down the tent and keep it from blowing away in the wind was written off as a loss, no one wanted pee covered anything.

After the pee incident was cleaned up we started to dismantle Camp Buffett in preparation for the show.  In no time everything was put away and we were getting physced for the show.  I even put the grill into the bed of my truck so it wouldn’t get stolen this time.  We each grabbed one last beer and started to follow the hordes into the venue.  From our lot it took several minutes as we passed fellow concert goers still partying in the lots.  While walked Dave couldn’t wait for a bathroom so he stopped at a porta pot and we continued on.  When we finally got up to the gate the line were huge and moving very slowly.  We all finished out drink and just sat in line, nothing we could do.  While talking I see a flash of a blue Hawaiian shirt, I turn to look and it’s Dave weaseling his way into the venue, before us!  I tried to get his attention but he was focused on getting in and his next mission was getting beer.  We finally caught up to him in the beer line which I promptly cut in to help carry beer for everyone.

crowd getting into venue, copyright Beanhammer

Next up was the long walk up the back of the hill to get to the lawn.  I had a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other on my way to see Buffett perform, life is good.  When we made it to the top it was just before 8pm so the sold out lawn was just smashed with people.  I didn’t feel much like fighting the crowds so I lead my group to an open spot on the left side of the stage.  Surprisingly when 8pm hit there was an opening act, never caught the name and they only lasted a few minutes.  Finally the spectacle begins with a couple guys shooting t-shirts into the audience and the stage lights go crazy while slowly the band meanders on stage.

All I can really say for the show is it was great.  The set started off great with a good mix of new and old tunes, slow and fast.  The vibe from the audience was intense with everyone up on their feet dancing around.  Myself I never once sat down much to the chagrin of Nancy.  She rented a seat with Cassee and Dave and I would catch them several times during the show sitting down with Chris, I just couldn’t do it.  At one point we lost Mike for a while as he got another beer and meet up with some friends.  About the same time we lost Dave as well, not sure where he was or what he was doing but he was gone for a long time.  Probably chatting it up with others after a bathroom break.

We heard several of the classics that you want to hear including: Piece of Work, Volcano, Changes in Latitudes, Son of a Sailor, check out the set list below for more detail.  I was happy to hear two Grateful Dead cover that Jimmy is known to cover regularly; Brown Eyed Girl and Scarlet Begonias.  While in the lot I heard them sound check Scarlet Begonias so I was pretty certain it would make an appearance that night.  The party  went strong for over two hours with no set break.  Every time I have seen him before there was a set break after about an hour, not this time.  The band took a small break while Jimmy did a solo and vice versa when Nadirah sang Creola.

The show ended strong with Southern Cross and Magaritaville two hours after it started.  By this point we already lost Cassee and Chris and Dave and Nancy decided to bug out before the encore.  The two of them have gotten into the habit of leaving at the encore to grab a seat at the car and have another beer.  Mike and I were the only ones to stay to the bitter end, not till the houselights come on do I leave.  Because we stayed I got my Scarlet Begonias and the ever popular Fins.  For the second encore it was a Jimmy solo acoustic He Went to Paris.  Speaking of solo acoustic Jimmy at the beginning this summer released an album called Encores with nothing but Jimmy on acoustic guitar.  The album featured songs from the 2009 Summerzcool tour where he would play a song or two solo acoustic each night for the encore.  A great idea, I just have not gotten it yet.

Jimmy usually does some sort of weird location in January or February.  A small venue in a far flung part of the world.  Last year he played in Hawaii for two shows and we were fortunate enough to catch him at the Waikiki Shell in Honolulu.  We turned it into a week long Hawaiian vacation because of the show, what a fantastic trip.  I hope to do it again in early 2011, but we probably wont have the money because we are saving for our wedding.  Another fantastic Labor Day weekend with Buffett and some close friends.

Set 1 (start 8:18pm)
01. Nobody From Nowhere
02. Piece of Work
03. Knees of My Heart
04. Wings
05. It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere (w/ Mac)
06. Bama Breeze
07. Windows on the World
08. Volcano
09. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
10. Where the Boat Leaves From (Zac Brown Band cover)
11. On Particular Harbour
12. Brown Eyed Girl
13. Brahma Fear (solo acoustic)
14. Why Don’t We Get Drunk (Jimmy and Mac)
15. It’s My Job (Jimmy and Mac)
16. Mexico
17. Creola (Nadirah on vocals)
18. Gypsies in the Palace
19. Son of a Son of a Sailor
20. Come Monday
21. Cheeseburger in Paradise
22. A Pirate Looks at Forty
23. Back Where I come From (Jimmy and Mac)
24. Woman Goin’ Crazy on Caroline Street
25. Southern Cross
26. Margaritaville
set ends at 10:17pm

Encore 1 (starts at 10:21pm)
27. Scarlet Begonias
28. Fins
encore 1 ends at 10:29pm

Encore 2 (starts at 10:31pm)
29. He Went to Paris (solo acoustic)
encore 2 ends at 10:35pm

Notes:
Sonny Landreth was a guest for this show
Brahma Fear was last played November 20th 1999 in East Hampton, NY
It’s My Job was last played November 3rd 2007 in Tampa, FL

Mr. Cool aka Tom Petty, copyright Sam Jones

Nancy used some of her United Miles points to purchase tickets to the Tom Petty show at Jiffy Lube Live.  We got a “deal” on the lawn tickets.  The price was only $41 with no service or shipping charges tacked on.  I have listened to Tom Petty for years but never thought about going to see him live, this would be an experience.

We got some friends to come along and we planned the whole afternoon, the only wild card was the weather but we planned accordingly.  We go to Cassie and Chris’s house early to load up her Escape, it was the only vehicle that would accommodate all of us and our crap for tailgating.  We had a canopy, chairs, a small grill and most importantly a huge cooler filled with beer.  Packed we were ready to roll to the venue to arrive just after 4 o’clock when the lots opened.  Funny thing is on the way we had to pass a sobriety check point.  People that needed to pre-pre-game should have been caught.  There was plenty of time in the lots to drink all the beer you wanted to be drunk when you walked in for the show.  No need to drink at home and drive to the venue.

When we got in the lots were just starting to fill up and we got a spot right next to the venue entrance.  This would be great for walking to the show, but hell on earth when we wanted to leave.  There was a threat of rain all day and the first thing when you are tailgating or camping is setting up shelter.  After we popped the canopy it was smooth sailing from then on.  We got the chairs and cool out and cracked open our first beer.  The next few hours we spent hanging out, drinking, and eating some perfectly grilled hot dogs and brats.  There is nothing better than brats and beer on a summer afternoon.  Even the weather cooperated with us.  I keep checking the skies hoping it wouldn’t rain.  It was a little breeze with temps in the mid to upper 70′s the whole day.  The cloud cover actually helped to block the sun and make things that much cooler.  In fact the only problem we had was deciding where to pee.  They never have enough porta johns at the venue and the lines are incredible long for those they do have.  We all opted for the short walk to the woods when we had to go, just needed to watch out for cops and number twos.

tailgating before the show

As 7 o’clock approached I was itching to get inside, I wanted to see Crosby, Stills, and Nash (CSN).  Unfortunately Cassie, Chris and Nancy had no idea who they were.  I am an old hippie so of course I know who they are.  When we got into the venue it was another pee break, beer time, and then finding a spot on the lawn.  By the time we got to the top of the lawn it was pretty full and spots were at a premium, as CSN were already on stage.  Crap.  We fortunately found a good spot some ways down from the top of the lawn.  By good I mean we had some kick ass people around us.  There was a group of three woman to my back right and a family of four right in front.  The woman and Nancy had my back and wanted to kick the shit out of anyone that walked between our two plots, some had the gall to stand on my rain jacked.  You should have seen them, Nancy and these three ladies were get ready to go ballistic.  The family in front of us had two kids and this was their first concert, the father was really excited and proud about this.

Once we got settled in and CSN played a few well known songs everyone in the group realized who they were.  They might not know the songs off the top of their heads, but they know the rhythm and beats for certain.   As the show wined on they already played for 75 minutes with no sign of stopping. Their song catalog is wide and varied over their 40 year carrier.   I know them mostly for their great harmony from their early years, but they certainly busted out some solid rock ballads to mix things up.  They got the crowd to sing along several times during the performance and it was great.  Usually opening acts have a hard time drawing the crowd in, but CSN had over 80% of attending crowd dancing in their seats when they started their set.

1. Woodstock
2. Military Madness*
3. Long Time Gone
4. Bluebird@
5. Deja Vu
6. Long May You Run
7. Ruby Tuesday#
8. Our House
9. Southern Cross
10. Chicago
11. Almost Cut My Hair
12. Wooden Ships
    encore 1:
13. For What It’s Worth@
14. Love the One You’re With
    encore 2:
15. Teach Your Children

*Grahm Nash cover
@ Buffalo Springfield cover
#Rolling Stones cover

Tom Petty@Jiffy Lube Live

After a 30 minute intermission with a break for beer and bathrooms we settled in for the main attraction of the night, Tom Petty.  When the band walked on stage the audience erupted with excitement.  As Tom hit his first note the full glory of their stage setup came to light.  They had huge monitors to display various graphics during the performance, one that was showering falling diamonds which was really cool.  He started the set off rather slowly, working in some old classics before getting into some very familiar songs the crowd just ate up.  Right in the middle of the set he played a repertoire from his latest album Mojo.  Here I think he lost the crowd a little, he certainly he lost me.  There are only a few songs from the new album I dig, fortunately he played Running Man’s Bible and I Should Have Known It which I like.  After I Should Have Known It was played we were rolling again with the classics.

The set alone was an solid 90 minutes of kick ass booty shacking music.  Much to the dismay of Nancy I didn’t much feel like dancing, but I certainly was swaying to the beats.  I was feeling the vibe from the crowd as was Tom Petty that night.  For the encore he played two more classics everyone loves to hear and throw in a second cover, Carol, by Chuck Berry.  After reviewing several other set lists from the current tour the Chuck Berry cover was certainly something special that night.  As the band walked off stage and before the house lights came on we started to head back to the car.  I couldn’t figure out why we were leaving so early, leaving is such a nightmare.  If you don’t leave before the encore break you are going to be there a while.  Once we got back to the car, again I was shocked, we piled into the car and got in line with everyone else.  Unfortunately my grill didn’t make it.  I left it outside to cool off a little more and someone absconded with it.  I would like to think it was the clean up crew and not a fan, Chris was highly upset it was missing, I was the only one who was not bummed.  RIP little Charbroil Grill, you served me well over the last few years, I will miss you.

The weather that night turned out to be perfect for an outdoor show.  We tailgated our asses off before the show and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves for Tom Petty.  Throw in Crosby, Stills and Nash for an opening act and the musical talent that night was top notch.  Everyone was surprised by how well CSN played.  They wanted to tailgate a little longer, but everyone was glad we headed in to catch the majority of their performance.  On the way back to the card we talked about the upcoming Jimmy Buffett show which we are all looking forward to as well.  Can’t wait for that one!

show starts  at 9:01pm
1. Listen to her Hearts
2. You Don’t Know How it Feels
3. Won’t Back Down
4. Free Fallen
5. Oh Well#
6. Marry Jane’s Last Dance
7. Kings Highway
8. Break Down
9. Jefferson Jericho Blues
10. Good Enough
11. Running Man’s Bible
12. I Should Have Known It
13. Learning to Fly
14. Don’t Come Around Here No More
15. Refugee
set ends at 10:24

encore starts at 10:29
16. Runnin’ Down a Dream
17. Carol*
18. American Girl
house lights on at 10:45

Notes:
# Fleetwood Mac cover
* Chuck Berry cover