Let the summer of music begin!

I promised a post on the happenings of last weekend. What better time than now to blog it out!



So, it all started up with Friday's trip to lovely Aragon Ballroom in Chicago to check out Death Cab for Cutie. This would be the first time the better half and I could see them for a full show. We did see them last year at a short set private event that was outstanding, as chronicled here. The place was sold out but we were able to get a spot with a decent view and saw a nice show. The lead singer was very energetic and they sounded great, although they only played about 90 minutes or so. Highlights included a bass-thumping extended version of I Will Possess Your Heart and a moving I Will Follow You Into the Dark. Lowlights included "that guy" and his special lady friend who spent the entire show cool-kidding it with their iPhones. Really? You had to go to a concert for that? Money well-spent my friend!

The next day was opening day of the soccer season, with a game bright and early at 9 am. The weather could not have been better, probably in the 60s at that early hour. Definitely better than last year's freeze fest in the galing winds. And the 5 year olds are a little further along that the 4 year olds from last year, although we still had a few tears and kids clinging to mom or dad. Must have been the hockey mask I was wearing. Tomorrow promises even better weather, what a good workout.

After soccer, we had a brief respite at home before embarking on another soccer adventure for kid #1. These were the first graders and they got annihilated. But it was a lot of running and more good exercise for me chasing them around. After the game, we headed over to C's 1st bday party, arriving a fashionable hour plus late. Happy bday bro, keep throwing that frosting on mom and dad. Directly after that, I packed up the monkeys and headed for home while the better half headed back to Chicago to House of Blues to check out Rocco DeLuca and the Burden. Apparently the crowd wasn't that great but the music was. Rocco is an artist on Jack Bauer's, pardon me, Kiefer Sutherland's record label and according to JTB the boy can shred the six string.

While that was going on, it was decided that hosting a sleepover with a few of the kids and a poker extravaganza with several of the fellas was a good idea. So we played until about 3 in the morning or so while the kids passed out from too much booze by 11 or so. Unfortunately, I got the unenviable task of getting up with all the rascals at 6:30 (the kids, not the poker players). After a long morning of fighting over Wii controllers, we packed up and headed to #2's 5th bday party at the neighborhood civic center. It was a lot of fun and included lots of gymnastics, rope climbing and riding down a hill in a padded barrel, and I'm not even making any of that up. We wrapped up by jacking the kids full of sugar with cake and fruit punch and a spirited game of duck duck goose.

Afterwards I grabbed a snooze and finished up my paper that I turned in on Monday night. Then dinner for #2's bday and followed that up with my trip out to Cali, complete with a lovely 4 hour delay on the return trip, sweet! And with that, here I sit, ready to start it all over again with soccer tomorrow and more homework. Greatly looking forward to next week's trip to see Flight of The Conchords and other upcoming shows I'll be sure to chronicle at some future date.

Other music notes - songs the better half and I are glued on right now include Pale Bride from Von Bondies (just missed their show a couple weeks back because of class!), Wolf Like Me by TV On the Radio although the whole fam agrees Scott Lucas' cover is better, the new Silversun Pickups CD, and Carolina Liar's I'm Not Over. And, oh yeah, I'm so freaking sick of U2, can you say overexposed? Sheesh.

Song lyric of the day "Wasn't all that great/back in the summer of boats" Local H

Until next time.

Ace

Valhalla

Look peeps, I usually am a good Ace and try to live right. But ever since my fascination with the Dude in Big Lebowski began, I cannot help but treat myself to the goodness that is the In N Out burger anytime I find myself in the western part of the great old US of A. I've even tried to justify how it's healthier than other fast food garbage. That, my friends, is classic denial. But I'm not going to lie. As I sit here in my lonely hotel room in a rather seedy area of beautiful San Francisco, I just finished polishing off a delicious cheeseburger, fries and strawberry shake from the old In N Out. And I wasn't even hungry. But when would I get another chance? Gotta strike while the iron is hot kid!

School update - paper has been submitted, except for the final page which I conveniently left on the printer. Oops. No biggie, the prof will get it via e-mail tomorrow. Not too encouraged with my coming grade though after my presentation Monday when the prof asked a question about something I didn't cover in the 20 page monolith. Oh well, what's done is done. As previously mentioned, I'm pretty sure a bad grade will equal a B at worst. Just a couple more things due in my other class and then I'm done until summer semester. Looks like 1 class this summer and 1 this fall, both being Lit classes which I've found I enjoy immensely more than awful stuff like Linguistics or Rhetoric.

Tons of stuff happened this weekend, I'll try to post about it before another weekend comes and goes!

Song lyric of the day "A Big Mac, a BLT / Quarter pounder with some cheese" Skee-Lo, the Burger Song. I'm not going to pretend I knew that one, had to google something for that topic...

Until next time.

Ace

Yeeeha!

Hey all, the semester is nearly over and I am nearly done with my term paper. I will return to our regularly scheduled posting soon, including a huge music weekend coming up in a couple days! Hurray!

Song lyric of the day "Welcome back my friend to the show that never ends" Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Until next time.

Ace

Steer clear!

A belated congrats to R & N on successfully completing the arduous process of adopting a little girl from Russia, which happened around Christmas time. I can't wait to meet her!

The Great Fever of '09 has hit our house in full effect. It started with #1, who missed a whole week of school. 3 days later #2 & #3 got it, along with the better half. Thankfully this week is spring break for the kids from school so we've been ok on that front. Hopefully I won't manage to catch it, so far I've steered clear. I think my bout with something similar about a month ago immunized me!

Things are heating up class-wise. Fortunately, one of my instructors decided to ditch one of our assignments, leaving me with really just one short paper to write in the next couple weeks until the end of the semester, when there are a couple of things due. But that frees up time and space for me to work on my term paper, which I expect is going to be quite an effort. That's due in 3 1/2 weeks. I've written some but really need to dig in and get my research done. Where will I find the time?

One fun thing coming up this weekend, taking #1 & #2 to see the Chicago Bulls. We watch a lot of the games and they especially love the animated opener the Bulls do. It should be fun although I'm not expecting that we'll stay all that long. We'll see how it goes, I'm getting the cheapest possible tickets since I know we won't be watching the game much.

Song lyric of the day "Get down with the sickness" Disturbed

Until next time.

Ace

Cinema

I'm sad to say that spring break has come to an all-too-hasty close, capped off with a very fun St. Patrick's Day party this weekend. Time flies when everyone gets together and heckles a drummer who can't drum on Rock Band. Also managed a trip to Wrigleyville during the weekend where it was teeming with partyers all decked out in ridiculous green regalia. Good times!

One of the ways I wasted a lot of time during spring break was to watch some movies. The better half and I managed to head to the local multiplex and check out the buzz-y Slumdog Millionaire. With a movie that won so many Oscars, I expected it would be quite good. And I wasn't disappointed, this movie delivered. It may have gotten a little too triumphant in the end but it was a feel good movie, well-acted and it was extremely well-written, particularly the way that the story was told via flashback. Very cool.

Another excellent film I've wanted to see was Eagle Eye. This one was quite good also, extreme amounts of action and pretty smart. Billy Bob Thornton was really good in it (kinda reminded me of Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive remake) and Spielberg managed to avoid spoiling it in the end with an unnecessary love story, although he got very close. I think this was the first time I've seen Shia LeBouef or however you spell his name, he was okay. But I love how the trailer did not spoil this movie - too many do these days. This kept everything quite suspenseful for a good portion of the movie. I would highly recommend it if you're looking for action and suspense.

Finally, I got around to checking out Appaloosa, a western written and starred in by Ed Harris. Other actors in it were Viggo Mortenson, Jeremy Irons and the ever annoying Renee Zellweger. This one was okay although it was pretty predictable. There were definitely some cool moments in the movie, particularly a couple of shoot out scenes, but there was a little too much nonsense in it for my likings. Another cool thing was a song during the credits performed by Mr. Harris himself. The lyrics get a little silly at the end but actually a pretty cool song and he's got a nice singing voice. Who knew? This flic is probably best reserved for big western fans as it's really only kinda meh.

OK, enough of my Ebert routine.

Song lyric of the day "You can't pick the apple til the seed becomes the tree" You'll Never Leave My Heart, Ed Harris

Until next time.

Ace

Got jokes?

Here's an exchange that took place yesterday in House of Ace.

Kid #2: Mommy, want to hear a joke?

Mom: Sure.

Kid #2: Knock knock

Mom: Who's there?

Kid #2: Banana

Mom: Banana who

Kid #2: I played baseball with a strawberry.

The end.

Song lyric of the day "Everybody know / Strawberry strawberry is the neighborhood ho" NWA Dope Man

Until next time.

Ace

Book time!

“Let me introduce myself,” the figure spoke. His voice was soft, almost effeminate, but carried such an edge to it that it left no mistake as to who was in charge and what was about to happen. “I am your doom.”

The above is a brief excerpt from the new novel Dying Moon by Shawn Oetzel, who describes the book as "a crime drama/fantasy tale I like to describe as Terry Brooks meets CSI". Check it out peeps, this is good stuff. You can order your copy here.

In the meantime, I've been busying myself with a re-reading of the Hobbit, good material while I'm hitting the treadmill. I really think this will be an excellent movie. Unfortunately, it looks like it won't be out until 2012. I guess I'll have to wait but if Peter Jackson gives it the same treatment as the Lord of The Rings trilogy, we should be in for a spectacle.

Song lyric of the day "So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains" Led Zeppelin

Until next time.

Ace