BoDeans in Orlando?!

I (shamefully) discovered that the BoDeans released a new record in early March of 2008. I should have noticed it earlier. I suppose that one excuse is that WXRT doesn't reach central Florida. Although, that defense evaporates upon inspection as XRT offers a live stream of their broadcast.

I used up some bandwidth and was soon basking in what a friend's son calls "Wisconsin Music". Indeed.

The next logical step was to see if I could catch a show. This lead to the discovery of the Orlando House of Blues show on 28 March.

The show was quite good. Sammy sported a full, grey beard and missed some high notes and a lyric or two. Kurt's lead guitar was as effective as I've ever heard him. They did a full set after two local bands, finishing well after midnight. They included four or five from the new record as well as a smattering from each record in the discography.

The crowd was smaller than I expected but I neglected to one thing into account: the show was in Orlando not Chicago. This was the first time that I had seen "the guys" outside of the midwest. I was able to be stand at the very front, right up against the barrier. There were many vacationing cheeseheads in the crowd who, at the beginning of the show, were more worried about the basketball game than the openers.

BoDeans still have a crisp sound, tight harmonies and know how to work the crowd. The played some favorites but opened up with the first song from the new record. I missed my prediction of the opener. My pick "Idaho" was number two on the set list. Too bad Ed wasn't there--being off by one earns at least a domestic.

'Twas a very good night. I chatted with a couple of "long-time-fans" and we noted the crowd was full of people our age. There were some 20-somethings there for the three-chord opener Megaphone. They dispersed afterwards and made room for those of us who remember that vinyl is for something other than bad lawn furniture.

Hello World

So, I spend _way_ too much time at my computer. Perhaps I should spend some of that time exploring something besides e-mail, data and code. I'll try exercising the parts of my brain necessary to support a blog.

The girls are coming over this weekend. KC plays with the all-county orchestra concert on Friday night--I'll pick her up afterwards. Too bad that I can't make this one, I'll be home tucking everyone into bed.

I'm headed off to Miami next week and Minneapolis the week after. There has to be something said about visiting those two cities in that order so late in the winter.

This is my second trip to Minneapolis in a few weeks. I got lucky and saw Garrison Keillor while there. He finished the News From Lake Woebegon segment with:

Some luck lies not in getting what you have or what you thought you wanted,
but in getting what you have now,
which once you have it,
you may be smart enough to realize
was what you would have wanted had you known in the first place.

Right said Fred . . . erm . . . Garrison.