Bringing the Drama

In 2007, a couple of friends and I went to the 1st and 2nd round NCAA games at the Arena. There are four games on Thursday. Two in the afternoon, and then two at night, with a 2 hour break in between. In 2007, we left our car parked near the Arena and wandered down to the Warehouse district where we ate an early dinner. Last Thursday, I thought the same plan would work again. I was with different people this year, but the overall goal would be the same; leave the car parked and walk to the WH district to eat.

After the 2nd game ended on Thursday, we left the Arena and walked down Girod St. I suggested Lucy’s to have the people with me see the place where Drew Brees led people in the pregame chant after the SUPER BOWL VICTORY PARADE. We walked and got to Lucy’s, and got our table. Our service was AWFUL. Our first waitress took our drink orders, then a few minutes later another waitress came and told us she was now going to be our waitress, and needed our drink orders. We basically had 10 minutes of our time wasted by this ridiculous waitress handoff. Why not go put the drink orders in at the bar, THEN hand off? So the new waitress takes our drink orders, then our food orders. A few minutes later, the same waitress comes back and says she lost our order and she needs it again. She had no idea what we had ordered just a few minutes earlier. Then the appetizer we ordered was still not at the table after 20 minutes, to which our waitress said “it’s not an appetizer, it’s a meal.” What? We talked about splitting it as an appetizer, she was there for the conversation. Everything happening caused tensions to run high at the table.

In the midst of this, I spotted who I thought was Mickey Loomis check out the tables in the dining area, then walk back to the bar. I did not get a really good look, so I couldn’t confirm. Then a few minutes later, Sean Payton, some other guys, and then Mickey Loomis walk past our table and sit down at a table in the back of the room. SEAN “I just coached the Saints to a Super Bowl Victory and am completely awesome” PAYTON! I was able to manage a feeble “Hey Coach” as he walked past, but I don’t think he heard me.

Sitting there was one of those moral dilemmas. I did not want to go bother them as they enjoyed their afternoon, but on the other hand, how many times do you get to have your picture taken with someone that awesome? The service disaster ended up having our entire table’s meals and drinks comp’d (first time that has ever happened for me). We learned this right when the actual food arrived, and I could hardly eat. All the waitress drama and we’re also in the room with Loomis and Payton. It may have helped that I had already had a bloody mary.

People were going over to the table with the famous dudes and getting their pictures taken, or saying “thank you” or whatever. I even saw some people bring their baby over. I didn’t see if they got Payton to kiss it or anything. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to have it happen more natural than that. I didn’t want to disturb them, I mean, they’re just there to drink some beer and talk. We were making plans to leave, but I wanted to finish my High Life before I left. I was kind of delaying leaving, so that maybe by some chance I had an opening to get a picture. If not, I thought I’d cross that bridge when I came to it, which probably meant interrupting them. As I’m staring at my beer having two or three swallows left, I hear Payton tell the other guys at the table he was having to go. I got my camera set, and as he came back by our table, I said “Coach, can I get a quick picture?” He replied “yeah, real quick”. BOOM!

I’ve been told I was blushing, and I probably was. I don’t remember if I shook his hand, or if he knew when I said “thanks” it was for more than the picture. I would have loved to have recounted how I felt when Tracy Porter made the game clinching INT, or how I appreciated him calling for the onsides kick in the SB, or how he let people touch the Lombardi. All I remember is I got my picture taken with Sean Payton, and it was awesome. WHO DAT!

(BTW, I don’t want to make Lucy’s out to be this horribly serviced place, it’s not. We just had some really bad waitresses. That was not my first time eating there, and won’t be my last.)

Back in 2003, I was planning a trip to Los Angeles to visit a friend who at the time was working out there. He currently is in grad school in Budapest, by way of China. I was still rather green when it came to ordering drinks in bars, and knew I wouldn’t be able to go to LA and order beer, I wanted to order something that sounded more sophisticated. My friend Dean at work told me about Maker’s and Sprite. It was genius. As a big fan of Swingers, we made a trip to the Dresden where I ordered the drink. It was easy to say and sounded classy. Ever since then I have usually kept a bottle of Maker’s Mark in my liquor cabinet. I had just bought a new bottle a couple of months ago, but bought a new one tonight. Behold, a special edition bottle with black and gold wax! Thank you Maker’s Mark! WHO DAT!

(I divided the story into 2 parts, both parts will be posted today. Part II later this afternoon)

Last week, Bobby Hebert announced that there would actually be a Dress Parade to honor the late Buddy D and celebrate the Saints going to the Super Bowl. Later on in the week, I called my friend Jacob, who’s probably one of the only friends I have on the same level with the Saints. I asked him if he wanted to do the parade. I thought it’d be fun. We agreed. He called me Saturday, and we nailed down more plans and particulars. It was on.

Saturday night, I went to the local Goodwill to get a dress. I went through the entire rack of dresses and found two black dresses. They were pretty much the same style, so I was just going to try them both on and go with the one that fit the best. The tags were ripped off, so I had no idea what size the dresses were. It was obvious one fit better than the other, so I bought it. When I went up to the counter, the lady said “you must be going to a party”, to which I said “no, I’m going to be in the Dress Parade tomorrow.” The people around the counter laughed and encouraged me to have a good time. The dress was $5.43 total, not bad. I stopped off at the store and got a 12 pack of High Life cans, because I knew we’d need beer and I thought we’d get in trouble for having bottles. I was going to use a couple of the reusable shopping bags to split the beer between me and Jacob.

The next morning I went to early church and listened to another boring sermon. On my way home I stopped off at Academy and got some black soccer socks. I got home and threw on my dress. Since it was going to be cold, I put on my long sleeve compression shirt that I wear for running, and some compression shorts. Then I put on a long underwear shirt on and some boxers. I did not want to have to wear a coat or anything, I wanted to show off the dress!

We got downtown about 11:35 or so, and parked across the street from the Holiday Inn. We were having to wait for Jacob, and I had to go to the bathroom, so we walked across the street to the hotel. I walked into the waiting room type area, and walked past three guys who were just wearing long skirts over pants. LOSERS! That’s when I knew I had done the right thing, and the apprehension I was feeling disappeared. They saw me with everything on and I could tell from the look on their faces that they wished they had gone all out like I had. Yeah, I was working it. My sister nicknamed me Sassy Sally.

We walked over to the Dome to meet up with Jacob. There were so many guys out there, and more impressive was the number of people who came to watch.

We walked down the street doing the Who Dat! Chant, chanting Buddy D, Black and Gold Super Bowl, etc. It was amazing. The first block or so I must have said “this is awesome” 20 times. Everyone was laughing and yelling and waving. There were tons of people on both sides of the street taking video and/or pictures. It was crazy. Some of the guys took the dress wearing a little too far IMO. One guy readily admitted he was wearing a thong underneath. One guy took our picture, and then tells me “if you’d have shaved this morning, I’d be turned on”. I told him “I’m glad I didn’t!” The guys in makeup were also kind of weird.

When we made the turn onto Carondelet, there were still tons of people. It was almost as if the amount of people increased. I high fived a girl for wearing a Scott Fujita jersey. This one guy was filming and says “this is going on youtube”, so I got in the camera shot and yelled “What up! Youtube! Who Dat!” I have no idea if it’s actually anywhere yet, but I’m in a video somewhere for sure.

When we got to the Quarter, it almost became single file because of all the people on the sidewalks. These guys in front of us were just walking in jerseys and jeans, and I spoke loudly that they shouldn’t be in the parade. I don’t think they heard me. But really, we’re in dresses and you’re not, get out of our parade! Most importantly, we made it to the stage at the end of the parade and we had not run out of beer. Also, I wasn’t sure exactly where we were going, all I knew was we were following Bobby Hebert.

I knew there was going to be a hairy legs contest, so I didn’t wear stockings. I wanted to be able to enter the contest. The stage was set up in the street, and it was packed. We were in front of the stage, but it was just wall to wall people. I kept yelling for Bobby Hebert to come out, because he was our leader for the day, and I wanted to see him. I had not seen him all day. I booed a guy who was dancing on stage with a Mic Ultra. Finally, Bobby came out, and he appeared to feel very good. He said some pro Saints stuff, about how awesome it was that we all came out, that the Saints were going to the SB, life is awesome, whatever. Deke, his radio co-hort, was also there, but he didn’t have a dress. In fact, he was wearing a Bobby Hebert jersey. I think Deke’s an idiot, and his costume was just stupid. Fine, maybe you’re not man enough to wear a dress, but for crying out loud, do you have to wear the jersey of your radio partner like that? LAME!

(the exciting conclusion in part II)

Because I’ve suffered from severe writers’ block lately but I still want to document the awesome things that happened over the weekend of my triumphant return to Nashville after a 2 year absence, you get the incomplete sentences of the awesome and not so awesome:

- shared plane with inappropriate singer
- lady’s excitement over inappropriate singer
- beer shopping
- trip to recycling collection place
- Dagny!
- well, now don’t you feel horrible for parking where kids in wheelchairs are coming out?
- 2 for 1 High Life
- seeing friends from across the room in the Ryman, feeling like a rock star
- realizing God still chases after me, no matter how unintentionally I seem to run from Him
- sleeping late
- ridiculous federal job app
- meeting blog friend Mandy
- making it to Fido for the first time ever
- Miles!
- Jack White’s house!
- eating sushi for the 2nd time ever
- interesting shop talk
- Hank/Hank Jr mugs
- Jack White’s record studio/shop was closed
- picture of me with Andrew Jackson statue
- Grimey’s with drunk Santa and ‘drunk’ elf
- Saints/Cowboys!
- “chicken/taco/really good whatever it is officially called” soup
- Missed FG! Craziness!
- Saints sadness
- awesome sermon at church
- leading the youth group boys to a gift wrapping championship
- blue coast burrito
- 5 NFL games at once
- free airport wifi
- home

I’ve been hoping U2 would play in the Superdome for their 360 Tour, but thus far nothing has been scheduled. I guess they feel they played the South on their first leg of the tour this year. The new dates for next summer were nowhere really close. There were a couple of weekend shows though, so when the dates came out I had mentioned them to my friend Jacob. Denver and Miami were both on weekends, so the possibility of going to those shows was higher, as opposed to the shows on the first leg this year that were on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

This morning I went on U2’s page wondering if any other shows had been scheduled, and saw the Denver show was going on sale today. In fact, I realized it was going on sale 5 minutes from the time I saw the listing. Intrigued, I thought I’d see if I could pull field tickets, and if I got them, then I’d worry about buying them later. I really doubted I’d get them though, because they are always sold out when I’ve put in for them for every show. Of course, I’d never tried right when the tickets went on sale, but still, I did not hold out much hope at all. There are multiple levels of the fan club and they all have their own presale.

When the tickets went on sale, I put in for 2 field tickets and hit ‘submit’. The page loaded, and loaded, and loaded, then it loaded. FIELD TICKETS FOR U2! What was I supposed to do now? I called Jacob and told him what was happening, he told me to buy the tickets, and we’d figure things like a flight and all that later. I just needed the encouragement I guess, because that’s what I was thinking of doing anyway. Sometimes I just need someone confirming what I’m already thinking to put me over the edge to make a decision. After I cleared the YES I WANT THESE TICKETS page, it came to the billing stuff. I was wondering before I finalized the purchase, if the field seating for the show had different levels. There were two options for GA tickets for Denver. So I called the biggest U2 fan I know, Adriene, to ask her. She told me (this may not be an exact quote) “I’m not sure, but Susan bought me and Brandy GA tickets for Denver.” WHAT? THEY ARE GOING TOO? I told her “whoa, I am buying GA tickets for Denver! OMG! Okay, let me fill this billing stuff out!” I filled out the rest of the page and finished the purchase. I JUST BOUGHT FIELD TICKETS FOR U2!

I realized after buying them, life could be completely upside down in June. I could be living somewhere totally different, working a totally different job (I HOPE), Jacob may not even be the person going with me. Things could be altered massively from what they are right now. I will have Bono in Denver though, and for me next summer, that is enough.

I am filing this under WATCH THIS HAPPEN. Being obsessed about my blog’s stats, I checked in yesterday afternoon. I was seeing a ton from Facebook starting yesterday at 3 and new ones were popping up every minute or two. I don’t have anything about my blog on Facebook. I clicked on one of the incoming links and found the following:

WHAT? The talking oven found me! I’m a little disappointed that so few ‘liked’ it, I thought the costume came out pretty well. (BTW, if you don’t recognize some of the stuff on that FB page, it’s because I keep mine translated in Pirate)

If the talking oven really wants to help me out, he might try to re-open the Quiznos in Slidell, LA near Target that is now closed. As far as I know, one of his mute relatives is locked inside not being used. A toasty oven is a terrible thing to waste.

I’ve played fantasy football and basketball with a guy I knew from Jr High and High School since probably 1999. In our football league, I am the two time defending champ, this year going for the three peat. Yesterday before the Saints/Falcons game, I was down 60 points in my game (37-97) to this guy who was tied with me for first place in our division. Sixty points is a lot, even when you have 4 ‘players’ going for you (Colston, Shockey, Turner, Saints D). In my work league, I was also far behind (76-110), but I only had one guy playing and he was going to have to score 4 TDs and run for 150 yards for me to have a chance. Considering it was Pierre Thomas and the Saints use a RB by committee philosophy, that kind of performance was going to be near impossible. The 60 point deficit was at least possible, but not very likely.

Did I mention it was SAINTS VERSUS FALCONS ON MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL? I rushed home and was able to hit the gym, stop by the store, and make it home with 10 minutes to spare before kickoff. I was stoked. I even drank beer (only one) on a weeknight, which I haven’t done in a long time. I thought the Saints could win by two TDs rather easily, especially since the Falcons were coming off a beat down from the Cowboys. The game started off and the Falcons looked good. Their defense was tougher than I thought, because hadn’t they just given up 300+ to Tony Romo last week? The Saints battled back, and right before halftime got two quick scores, including a INT returned for a TD by the defense. They were up two TDs at the half, and miraculously I had gone from down 37 to 97 to down 79-97 in the fantasy game.

I was never really worried about the real game, ever. Even when the Falcons jumped out to the early lead, or when they made the Saints offense look bad. I had just watched the Saints come back from down 21 last week, and we were at home, surely they would find a way to win. This season’s team just feels different. The second half started and it was tight. ATL was driving down only 4 and I thought for sure they would get a score. Then, the Saints intercepted and killed the drive. They drove down for a TD to go up 11 late in the 4th quarter. With each fantastic catch on that drive by Shockey and Colston, I crept closer and closer to the fantasy win too. The Saints seemed to have the game locked up, but could I also pull out this fantasy football miracle?

The ensuing Falcons’ possession, I was down 94-97. Things worth 2 points are sacks, fumbles, or interceptions. Two sacks and I win! Then the Saints pass rush knocked the ball out of Matt Ryan’s hands and they recovered the fumble. That counted for a sack AND a fumble, four points, I went ahead 98-97! The refs then reviewed it and called it an incomplete pass. I hate that rule. It went back to 94-97 and the Falcons eventually kicked a FG which then made it 93-97 because the defense gave up more points. ARGH!

The onside kick comes, and all the Saints have to do is recover it and then kneel down. Then the backup TE kind of muffs the FALLING ON THE BALL thing and the Falcons recover. Down eight points with less than a minute left, this thing is over, even with the Falcons having the ball. The fantasy game was not over though! Two sacks ties it. The Saints then got a sack, it was 95-97! ONE sack, ONE interception, just ONE thing would tie the game. I was hollering at the television for something to happen! On 2nd down from midfield with 11 seconds left, Matt Ryan heaves it downfield and the Saints intercepted with 3 seconds left in the game. The fantasy game was tied 97-97! The Saints were officially SEVEN AND O! Life was good, and it was 1 am before I actually went to sleep.

This past weekend was so great, that in order to tell you about it, I’m going to break it up into two parts. Blog friend Mandy will appreciate this also as she is wont for something to read while she gets back into being at work, and not on vacation anymore. SaturDAY I went over to my sister’s to borrow her iPod so I could go run. I went for 7 miles in preparation for the HALF MARATHON next week. Everything went fine, and the weather was perfect. It’ll be great if the weather is like that for next Saturday.

After the run, I went and returned my sister’s iPod, and then went to the gas station closest to my house for a couple of bags of ice. My friend Megan has told me ice baths are awesome after a long run. I did try one after the TEN MILE run a couple of weeks ago but had only gotten one bag of ice. One bag didn’t really feel that cold, so Saturday I was getting two. I got out of my car and was checking the big cooler out front to make sure they had bags of ice. I hear “Hey neighbor!” and turn and see this guy who I didn’t recognize. I looked around at his car and it was the white truck that lives at the house around the corner from me. The guy always has Saints stuff out front on Sundays, and he keeps his yard really nice. I always pass and think the house is cool. I shook his hand with vigor going “oh yeah, you live in the house with all the Saints stuff!” He laughed and said “yeah man. You know, you never can tell how tall someone is if all you ever see them in is their car.” He was a little taller than me, but not much. We laughed, and he went inside. I went inside and bought my two bags of ice, and went back outside to grab them out of the cooler. My new neighbor friend was also getting ice, so after I put the bags in my car, I went back and introduced myself. He said his name was Marlon, and I mentioned the Saints stuff again, and he explained how he’s part of a group of 7 houses that rotate Saints parties every Sunday. This weekend it was at his house. So I told him that was cool, and we went our separate ways.

I got home and did the ice bath thing, and I’m not sure even two bags was cold enough. I keep reading about how it’s supposed to hurt by being so cold, so I think maybe I’m not getting the water cold enough. I might try 3 on Saturday after the HALF MARATHON. Anyway, I started watching the Clemson/Miami game and it was great, at first. I was watching and saw Miami score to make it 10-7 with less than a minute to play in the first half. When that happens, you’re always kind of going “you know, it’d be really cool if they returned the kickoff for a TD.” That’s exactly what happened! CJ Spiller returned the kick for a TD and Clemson had the lead with 40 something seconds left. Crazy.

The second half started, and then I started making dinner. I was watching the game in my bedroom, and walking back and forth to the kitchen. I started noticing when I’d be watching the game, something bad would happen. When I’d come back from being out of the room, they’d be showing a replay of a good play for Clemson. This happened 2 or 3 times, so after Kyle Parker threw the INT in the end zone when Clemson was almost assured a FG to tie the game in the 4th quarter, I had had enough. Obviously by me watching the game live, something was happening to the team. I had to stop watching, I couldn’t take it anymore. I left the room and went back to the kitchen, then got on the computer and didn’t keep track of the game. After a while I figured it might be over, so I went to check and saw the game was going into OT. I left the room again and hoped they’d find a way to win in OT. About 5 or 10 minutes later my dad called and says “How about that game???” I told him I had quit watching it, the whole story about me thinking I was bad luck. He told me they won in OT with a TD pass. Awesome. I felt a little validated.

I was able to watch the end of the game more than a few times on ESPN360 before I started watching the LSU/Auburn game. I couldn’t believe it. I had thought Clemson had a shot at winning the game before, but they were so inconsistent I had no idea what would happen. I knew Clemson had the players to matchup with Miami, but had no idea if they’d actually make the plays. I realized also after the game that I’d get to email my friend Nick (from work, who now lives in FL) who went to the U, who had trash talked after Clemson lost to GT. I told him just wait until October 24th and we’ll see. We did see. I emailed him this morning.

I talked to my friend Bill after the game too, and told him about the superstitious activity of the 2nd half. I also told him that I’m glad I ended up not going to the game, because obviously being in the stadium would have been the ultimate jinx and Clemson would have lost 52-7 or something. Being down in Miami for the Clemson game and then the Saints game the next day would have been awesome, but not having anyone to go with and it being expensive made the decision not to go rather easy (and a little sad in retrospect). C’est la vie!

This past weekend I went up to North Carolina for a wedding. I was flying, and had probably waited a little too long to book my flight, so I had to get a crazy flight time going to NC. My flight Friday was 6 am. SIX IN THE MORNING! It was on US Airways, an airline I had never flown before but my friend Kari had, and she’s had issues. I figured the 6 am flight was the first of the day, it wouldn’t be delayed, and I was not checking a bag. What could possibly go wrong?

I set my alarm for 3:35 am so I could wake up and have time. I packed almost everything the night before, so getting the final things together wasn’t a big deal. I left my house at 4:25 to make the 45 or so minute trip to the airport. There was no one on the road for obvious reasons, but the whole time I was nervous about making it on time because of that one time 3 years ago when I was late for a flight. I couldn’t be late for this flight. I made it to the airport about 5:15, plenty of time. I parked the car, walked in the terminal, checked in, and made it back to the gate by 5:30. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt because NC was actually cold, so I was a bit warm standing there. At 5:35 am, the guy at the gate comes on the intercom and says “Ladies and gentlemen, the crew got in late last night, so they’re still resting and we’ll start boarding once they get here.” WHAT?!? The 6 am flight is delayed? It’s the first flight of the day! Also, the crew had a late night, so they might be tired? GREAT! We waited until about 6 am, and the crew finally walked up. Freaking slackers, I had woken up at 3:35 and did my part to make it to the gate on time, the crew on the other hand did not.

We got on the plane and I put my stuff away. I had an aisle seat, which I don’t normally get, but they ended up being pretty nice. Everyone straps in and the pilot comes on and gives us some line about the FAA regulating how much sleep a crew gets each night, and they had to get their allotted rest, blah blah blah. So then he says “but don’t worry, we’re going to make it to Charlotte on time, watch this happen!” I thought to myself “he just said ‘watch this happen’”, and looked around to see if anyone else had heard it. I didn’t see anyone notice, because it was 6:15 and I guess everyone was still tired.

I tried to get some sleep, and did get some, but a whiny toddler in the back decided to make it difficult for everyone on board. Sedatives people, sedatives! We did in fact get to Charlotte on time. I did watch it happen. Maybe the pilot wasn’t so bad after all. I still didn’t forget them strolling in late though.

The connection flight to Greensboro was supposed to take off at 9:45 to arrive at 10:40 am. I had arranged for my friend Brandi to pick me up. There were some pre wedding activities she was having to do, so when I heard the connection was delayed 15 minutes, I texted her. Then we sat on the tarmac in a line of planes for another 15 minutes, so I got my phone out, turned it on, and texted her to tell her “we’re still sitting on the runway, I’ll call you when I land.” I thought for sure there was no way we’d make it to Greensboro on time after being delayed half an hour. The pilot didn’t tell us to watch anything, but assured us he’d try to get us to Greensboro on time.

I dozed off and the next thing I know we’re landing. I turned on my phone to check the time and it was 10:41. We were only 1 minute late after leaving half an hour late. How does this happen? Of course, the insanity of this happening caused me to have to chill at the airport for Brandi, which was fine because I was able to read in my grad school book and play in the arcade. They have Ms Pac Man and Galaga machines in the Greensboro airport, and they are only 25 cents! I’m pretty good at those games, so it occupied a lot of time. In fact, I gave one of my four tokens (seriously they had a TOKEN machine) to a guy that walked in right after Brandi texted me because I had no idea how long it would take her to get to the airport, and I didn’t want to make her wait with the excuse “hold on, I’m playing Ms Pac Man.”

Incidentally, this story allowed “watch this happen” to become one of the lines of the weekend. So to the pilot on the NOLA to Charlotte leg of my trip Friday, thank you. US Airways though, you suck, and btw, your $25 one way bag fees are a complete joke.

I had bought a ticket for Voodoo Fest back in July before the lineups were announced in hopes that they’d have a lineup that approached ACL Fest. I really wanted to go to ACL Fest, but tickets sold out in record time, much to my and my friends’ dismay. So over the summer, the Voodoo tickets came out and they were cheap, so I figured “they will probably get most of the bands ACL gets, so the lineup will probably be really good.” The 2007 weekend was one of the best concert weekends of my life, so it’s not as if Voodoo has a bad track record. Then it was announced the promoter was most excited about Kiss being one of the headliners. Uh oh. The tickets went up a couple of times, then finally the full lineup got announced. Exactly one band is on the entire bill that I would be excited to see, Flaming Lips. Otherwise, the lineup is complete garbage IMO.

I decided to sell my ticket, so I asked around some friends and had a couple of leads, but nothing turned out. So I decided to post an ad on Craigslist, which is something I had never done before. I posted the ad on Sunday night right before I went to bed. I expected it to take a week to find someone to buy the ticket, and I wasn’t even sure if I’d get my full asking price. The next day, I had 3 emails by lunch time.

I got home Monday and called the guy who emailed me first, and he asked if I could meet him Wednesday. I asked him if cash would be okay for him and he said it would be. He told me he owned a local furniture shop, so I looked him up and sure enough there he was. He was legit. I was surprised at how easy everything had gone. I pulled the ad Tuesday at lunch, and went and met him today at his shop after work. We exchanged some small talk while he got the money, then I ended the conversation with “Have a great time!” to which he said “I’ll see you there!” I didn’t want to get into it, so I smiled and left with my money. I got what I paid back, plus $7.

The money will now go into my general concert fund where I’m going to have to pay for tickets already bought or soon to be bought for A Fine Frenzy, Switchfoot, Swell Season, Star Wars live, Kelly Clarkson, and maybe Eisley. All those in the next couple of months! It’s crazy how many shows I’ve been to this year and are still upcoming. Usually bands like to skip NOLA and go straight from ATL to Houston, but not this year. I think shows like I went to Saturday benefited from ACL Fest. I’m not complaining! I’m still keeping my all time list current, and my record for shows in one year is 23. Looks like 2009 is going to be a record breaker.