I and Love and You

Tonight we saw The Avett Brothers at the Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham!  They were so good!!!  It was like a mix between a rock concert, a country concert, a pop concert and a bluegrass concert all in one.  We loved them!   All of the instruments were amazing.

Highlight #1 of the evening:

Tortugas Pizza in Hoover

If you research on the internet for “best pizza in Birmingham,” Tortugas keeps coming up high on every list. We ate here once before when we were living in Birmingham and loved it – the only downside is that the Chicago deep dish (the one that we like) takes so long to bake.  So we called as soon as we left Tuscaloosa and asked them to get it ready for us.

It was very good! The Chicago style pizza has a really thick, crunchy crust and cheese underneath the tomatoes (fork + knife mandatory!).  And the tomatoes are so tangy and awesome and perfect.  It is hard to eat more than one slice because it is just so thick.

Two very disappointing triple-shot skinny lattes were consumed on the way to the concert.  You know, for the caffeine. We are not as young as we once were and the concert didn’t start until 8 pm. Haha!

The picture on the left is of a statue of a steel worker in downtown, right outside the Birmingham Museum of Art.  I’ve been meaning to go to the museum for the past several years but have never made it down there. (10!!!  For the past 10 years!  I have lived in Alabama for 10 years now! Oh my goodness!)

We actually heard a rumor that they would not be selling alcohol at the concert and we were pretty excited about that.  Drunk rednecks tend to be the most obnoxious people in the world.  Plus, it never fails that we are *always* sitting at the end of the aisle and have to get up & down all night long to let said rednecks in and out while making their beer runs & taking bathroom breaks.  We were actually little bit disappointed to find out that they were serving alcohol (St. Patrick’s Day, after all) AND we were were on an aisle seat, of course. (And had to get up and down several times and one guy stepped on my foot, right on my blistered toe!)

But it wasn’t too bad.  We were actually on the front row of seats because the floor level was standing only.  We got there, sat down, and simultaneously expressed our disbelief about why people would want to stand up the whole time.  Clearly we’re total party animals.  In fact, Brent actually said “I wish these arm rests would raise up so I could lay down.”  AT A CONCERT.

But the actual concert was so good. I really had no idea how “rock” they would be.  I imagined that it would be more mellow. They came out singing “Head Full of Doubt” which is one of my favorite songs ever and the first song I ever heard of theirs. Of course I have made Brent listen to it several times in the car. So after that song was over, we were one song in and Brent had already heard all of the songs he knew of theirs! He said “Okay, let’s go!” Ha ha! He definitely changed his mind though, and he better not think I didn’t see him dancing just a little bit in his seat. “I and Love and You” was second best.  They were all good – even the songs I didn’t know.  I have been to concerts before where the artists played new music or songs I didn’t know and I just always kind of waited them out. But not tonight!  Every song was really, really good.  Their voices and the instruments are just incredible – and I know I always say that when I go to a concert, but you really can’t tell (or trust) what some one sounds like on a CD or the radio.  The real deal is (usually) so much better (except the Civil Wars, who sound equally as perfect on CD and in person) – I’m not sure why I am always so pleasantly surprised at the artist’s voices.  One of my favorites tonight was “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.”  I just love old Southern gospel.

But to get back to the drunk people, oh they were funny.  There are few things in life funnier than watching drunk rednecks dance, especially the older women (not senior citizens, but those who are in their late 40’s – early 60’s - the oldest women who typically attend concerts) who are always wearing a skirt that is a bit too short and some sort of animal print) or the middle aged men, who typically wear a thick gold chain and have on way too much cologne. By the way: Dear stocky white redneck guy in his mid-to-late thirties wearing denim shorts and dancing/convulsing like a banshee tonight: Did the fact that you were flipping the bird with both hands at the stage while you were dancing mean that you really like the show or really hated it?!  Very confusing for those of us who were watching you the entire time.

So, all in all it was a GREAT concert!  I would definitely see them again!  I know Brent is just so happy that I have broadened his musical horizons.  We have been to 6 shows in the past 10 months:

• James Taylor
• Bama Rising
• Randy Travis
• The Civil Wars
• Bryan Adams
• The Avett Brothers

And with that, I will leave you with this:

Nothing wrong with a little iPhone love!

Bama Rising 2011

The Bama Rising benefit concert was held on June 14th at the BJCC.

It was awesome.  And I swear I didn’t go looking that bad.  The lighting is bad in the arena; just ask Kourtney.  I promise I wore makeup.

Note: These pics were taken when we were sitting in the wrong seats.  We got confused and parked ourselves in row “H” when we were actually row “J.” Still, we had fantastic seats!

Nineteen acts, five hours and thirty minutes of good music.  I mean, I never thought that I would get to see the COMMODORES live. Never! They were a last-minute addition to the line-up and they were so good.  We had a great time.

Other highlights:

The line-up included: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bo Bice, Taylor Hicks, Alabama, Dierks Bentley, Rodney Atkins, Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Luke Bryan, David Nail, Sheryl Crow, Kelli Pickler, Ashton Shepherd, the Commodores, Jake Owen, Brad Paisley, Little Big Town, Montgomery Gentry and Darius Rucker.  Can you even believe that line-up? 

Christen’s Top 10 Highlights (in no order):

1. “Brick House” by the Commodores

2. “Anyway” by Martina McBride & everyone cheered after the first line

3. “If It Makes You Happy” by Sheryl Crow – sounded GREAT live!

4. “Country Girl” by Luke Bryan

5. “Sweet Home Alabama” by Bo Bice

6. “Dixieland Delight” by Alabama (and all of Alabama’s performances)

7. Actually seeing Alabama, Sheryl Crow, Darius Rucker & Martina McBride perform live

8. “Boondocks” by Little Big Town (and the blonde afro, obviously)

9. “Suds in the Bucket” by Sara Evans

10. The Blind Boys of Alabama singing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “The House of the Rising Sun”

Brent’s Top 10 Highlights:

1. The Commodores

2. the t-shirts & diet coke in souvenir cups

3. being in relatively close physical proximity to some one who used to date Lance Armstrong

4. Kelli Pickler (she said “Let me hear a cheer from the Alabama ladies!”  And Brent, overcome and mesmerized by  her beauty,  yelled “Wooooohooo!”)

5. Realizing that the Commodores weren’t showing footage from 70s concerts on the screen….they just still really look like that

6. Montgomery Gentry’s American flag leather jacket that said “Try to burn this one”

7. Realizing that Sara Evans & Martina McBride are two separate people

8. All of the athletes/ESPN presenters

9. Whoopie Goldberg’s video message  All of Alabama’s songs

10. eating at Nikki’s West on the way there

The concert was over at 1 am(!) & we were back home by 2 am (!), in bed by 2:30 am.  Long night, but soooo worth it!  I have already downloaded several of the songs to my ipod…looks like country music is making a comeback in our household! ha!

James Taylor Concert

Back in February, when I found out that James Taylor was coming to Birmingham, I knew I wanted to go. James Taylor and his music has a special significance to me & Brent in that his greatest hits CD was the (decoy) gift Brent gave me on my 22nd birthday, June 29, 2002, which was also the day he proposed on one knee with a princess cut diamond ring at Coolidge Park in Chattanooga.  But that morning, when I opened the CD – that I had not specifically asked for, by the way -- I was a little surprised that he had picked out such a great gift for me that I had not asked for, not even really realized I wanted. (This has been a continuing theme over the past 9 years.)  I thought “Wow, he really knows me.”  Fast forward to our 5-year anniversary trip to Hawaii, sitting outside one evening at a restaurant with live music, listening to a Hawaiian guy with a really smooth, sweet voice cover all of James’ greatest hits.  I think we sat there for hours just listening to this guy sing & then tipped him really good because we loved it so much.

So, anyway, I think fondly of Brent and our marriage any time I hear James Taylor, even though Brent remembers neither of those stories. Whatever. When I asked Brent if he would take me to the concert as a gift for our 8th (8th?!) anniversary, I told him that: 1. James Taylor has sentimental value to us as a couple and 2. he would be able to redeem himself in that the last concert he will have been to will NOT be New Kids on the Block. (Yes, you read that correctly, and I think this is really too major for parenthesis, but the only concert Brent had ever been to, before tonight, was a New Kids on the Block concert in Atlanta when he was a little boy.) He quickly snorted & said: “Do you really think James Taylor is that much cooler than NKOTB?” And then he said:  “Do you think there will be marijuana there?” Dear Lord.  I assured him probably not, and that we would probably be the youngest people there by about 20 years. (Side note: I was actually wrong about this assumption because all of the 50 year old men had 20-something dates. ???)  He agreed to go, because he’s sweet and he likes to make me happy and I like to let him make me happy.

As soon as we got the tickets, I put my two JT CDs in Brent’s CD player in the Explorer so he could learn some of the songs.  He must not have been listening, though, because the morning of the concert, he asked “So, what all does James Taylor sing?”  Good grief.  I should mention that he is not a big pop/rock fan – more of a classic country guy, for sure.  I lied and told him “Layla” just to see if he knew the difference and he did, so he scored a point there that he lost again when I heard him singing “Sweet Baby James” to the tune of “Sweet Caroline.”

So, since he was really not too excited about the concert and especially the fact that  1. the tickets were expensive, 2. I had a major fiasco with the ticket broker on the day of the concert that was not resolved until 3 pm (Stub Hub – will NOT use them again, & 3. the show started at 8 pm (!) in Birmingham (!!) on a Tuesday (!!!) night (in other words, it started at the exact time we would need to leave to get in bed on time), I let him pick where we would eat.  Of course, he chose Niki’s West, which is arguably the best restaurant for country cooking in Birmingham and maybe the entire state of Alabama. So after a well-rounded meal of catfish, fried green tomatoes, squash, rolls & lemon meringue pie, we headed to the BJCC.

(Above is Brent’s plate, after the fact.)

The concert was fantastic!  James still sounds great and he’s actually a funny guy.  He told stories about most all of the songs and about his life and although I know it was all rehearsed, it didn’t really seem like it. He played all of his greatest hits, but my favorites of the night were “Fire & Rain” (one of my top 10 favorite songs ever & interestingly, the only song he did not tell the story about), “Steamroller” (awesome!!!), and “Sweet Baby James” (obviously).  During intermission, Brent went out for drinks (the concert hall was SO stuffy & hot) and brought me back a shirt as a surprise – my first concert shirt!  Woo hoo!  He thought I was embarrassed of it, but I was really excited!  Sadly, my Droid pics of the concert did not turn out, except for this one:

We got home late, but it was SO worth it & even Brent said he enjoyed it.  So much so, in fact, that I didn’t even really have to convince him to go with me we to the Bama Rising concert next month. Of course, I’m sure this has more to do with the once-in-a-lifetime lineup!! I’m really looking forward to it!

Pics from Birmingham this afternoon on my Droid.  Tuscaloosa is home for now, but I do love (and miss) this city!

And a new blog tag is born: “music” !!