It's the week between Christmas and New Year's. The best week of the year. This year has been a whirlwind of excitement, anxiety, jubilation, disappointment, frustration, and contentment.
The biggest event of the year is that we moved. We put our house on the market last fall (2016) but just missed the house-buying season. We took it off the market for the holidays, and listed it again on February 22nd. We accepted an offer on February 23rd after some-20 showings in two days. The market was hotter than a pistol, and we suddenly needed to find a house to buy.
Given the state of the housing market, it was hard to find the house we wanted. We ended up renting our old house from the buyer for two months until we found our dream home. While it's everything that we wanted in a house, it wasn't without its own headaches from the previous owners. We've settled in, righted the ship, and love our house (despite the occasional snake in the yard, or crushed in the garage door****).
I turned the big 4-0.
I saw some rock and roll.
1/19/17 - The Lumineers (with Andrew Bird and Margaret Glaspy)
Target CenterKelly and I took Megan to this show for her birthday (gave her the tix in 2016).
The openers were good, and The Lumineers who, used to playing smaller stages, had a great show in the arena. I liked them before the show, and even more after.
3/8/17 - Patti Smith performing her album Horses
Northrop AuditoriumI took my old man to this one for his birthday. He introduced me to Smith and the album Horses, which has made it's way into my top 10 albums of all time. Smith's voice was never better in spite of her 70 years. Her son was on the keyboard, and seeing The Godmother of Punk perform this meaningful album (to me, anyways) live made me (pardon the expression) feel all the feels.
Great show.
3/26/17 - Regina Spektor
The Palace TheaterHar Mar Superstar walked past me while I was in line waiting to get in. No story there, but a little brush with fame.
Spektor was great, but what stands out about the show to me is the sound in The Palace. I've never seen a live show with better sound, and I can't wait to see another one there.
7/30/17 - Guns n Roses
U.S Bank StadiumAn epic 3-hour show. GnR didn't disappoint, as they were known for in the 90s. Our seats were in the third deck on the side of the stage. After the first few songs, the sound was so bad (I leaned over to Megan and said "it sounds like fuck-pie up here") that we moved down to the first deck and found two open seats where we watched the rest of the show. I'll have to LOVE the band to see another show in The Vikings stadium, and I'll never sit up that high again.
9/2/17 - Phantogram with Lucius opening
A highlight day of 2017
My first show at the MN State Fair GrandstandThis was my second visit to the Fair this year, and because I had already been, I wasn't bound by a schedule. I did a free park-and-ride, saw Phantogram in an interview at The Current's booth, grazed on my favorite Fair foods, and it felt like the nicest day of the year.
I had seen Lucius once before at First Ave, and they're amazing. They had a great opening set (where they ate Sweet Martha cookies from a fan in front between songs).
Phantogram was electric. The new, big ferris wheel can be seen just beyond the concert grounds; and when it's lit up at night it looks absolutely spectacular.
It was a sight to see the state of the fairgrounds winding down at the end of the night.
10/29/17 Arcade Fire with The Breeders opening
Xcel Energy CenterI love The Breeders. They're touring, headlining almost every city, and they were stuck opening for Arcade Fire in MN. I wouldn't have gone to this show, but they were obviously having a hard time selling tickets. They sold some on the main deck for $18, so I went to see The Breeders, who played a mellow, shorter-opening set - in the near-dark
Arcade Fire came out to their boxing ring stage in a round (in the middle of the arena), and were fun. More fun was the Arcade Fire super-fan who danced to every song, never slowing down or missing a beat. He looked so much like Big Bother's Victor Arroyo that I thought it was him. Megan said to me "no one here is as happy as that guy is right now."
We watched a handful of songs, but were paying a babysitter, so we were home by about 10:30.
I read some books this year. Here's most of them in roughly chronological order.
Hide and Seek - P.S. Brown
The Drop – Dennis Lehane
Gone, Baby, Gone – Dennis Lehane
Maybe We’ll Have You Back – Fred Stoller
The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince – Mayte Garcia
The Dudes Abide (Kindle Single) – Alex Belth
Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales – Penn Jillette
Good Sam – Dete Meserve
The Joke Man: Bow To Stern – Jackie Martling
Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg – Todd Barry
The Couple Next Door – Shari Lapena
Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film – Patton Oswalt
I got this First Ave. coffee table book for Christmas that I highly recommend if you've ever been to the club (or if you like Prince, or music). It's hard to put down.
Album of the year: Courtney Barnett / Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice
Album of the year: Courtney Barnett / Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice
I discovered Spotify this year. I knew of it, but I really dug in and appreciated it for what a great service it is.
Looking ahead to 2018 - I was cast in a play (On Golden Pond). Rehearsals start just after the new year with dinner shows in February.
We're taking Ozzie to Disney World in the spring. Our first vacation in over three years.
Happy New Year!
****We live next door to a park with a marshy field beyond it. I know that snakes in MN are harmless, and more scared of us than we are of them, but I am petrified of them. Scared to death. Ozzie saw the first one in the back yard, and I saw it a few days later. One day while letting the dog out the garage's side door I noticed a black snake that had been smashed in the door jam. I had to have my cousin-in-law come over to remove it. It turned out that it wasn't dead.
On moving day I found a live frog hopping around under the furnace in the basement. What keeps me awake at night is: if that frog got in, snakes can get in. Ugh!! I pray that I never encounter one in the garden shed, because that will be my last visit to our garden shed.
