Steve Martin, Earl Scruggs, Jypsie, and Scott H. Biram

So this past Saturday Tiff and I went to Nashville to see the Steve Martin playing banjo at the Ryman. It was a super sweet awesome time. Here's the Cliff's Notes version of the night.

We got to the Ryman at 7:30 on the nose, just in time to see the opening act start. The opener was some guy who played banjo for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for 40+ years. He was good, but talked way too much. His jokes were not funny, plus he basically spoke with the mic in his mouth so we couldn't understand half the things he was saying.

Then Steve and his band came out. They were great! Steve Martin is an excellent banjo player, and a better song writer. I know you've heard King Tut, but he's got some non-funny songs that will blow you away. Go right now and download his song - "Daddy Played Banjo" and you'll see what I'm saying.

Here's them playing part of "The Orange Blossom Special," the most famous of all blue grass songs:

They were shooting the show for television so you'll get a chance to see it if you keep you're eyes open and you're DVR on. For the encore, they played a song with EARL friggin SCRUGGS! Who's basically the father of modern blue grass. If you lay in bed at night listening to Nicklecreek, you owe Earl Scruggs.

After that, we hit Broadway looking for a nice place to sit and listen to some more music. One of Tiff's favorite bands right now is Jypsi. It's a four person band made up of one brother and his three sisters. They're great, if you're into hippy blue grass country. That's just Tiff's speed. Here's Jypsi playing on some TV show.

So we're sitting there listening to Jypsi, and one of my favorite singer/song writers, Scott H. Biram, comes walking in. You've never heard of him, and he's prob not your style. But I think he's awesome. Tiff gasses me up to go and talk to him, and it didn't take much convincing, so I rolled on over to where he was sitting, and just stuck my hand out and said, "Scott?" He nodded, and I said "My wife Tiffany and I have seen you three times in Birmingham, and we think you're music is great."

That was followed by an hour long talk between the three of us. We talked about where he learned to yodel, the guy he used to tour with named "Joe Buck Yourself." (Which incidentally happened to be the reason he stopped at this place in the first place. Joe Buck was the owner's ex-husband.)

Here's Scott playing one of my favorites:

All in all it was a GREAT music night that neither of us will forget in a long time.

YES!

For years I have waited for this moment.
Soak it up.
Click on the image for a larger view.

The Important #3.

Ok here's the condensed version:

Tiff and I are going to get STEVE a "stimulation" collar. By stimulation I mean "shock."

These are perfectly safe, and do not harm the dog at all.

It's like a 400 yard leash, and this is important for two of reasons: a) STEVE is faster than me and b) STEVE is very curious.

If STEVE's not on the leash, and smells/finds something that interest him, both a) and b) combine to render me helpless. So we're getting the "stimulation" leash to serve as a reminder how important it is to do what you're told right when you're told. Parents everywhere get jealous.

Anyway...Blah, blah, blah, blah....

In my preparation for this purchase I found the users manual for the collar we're going to get. I made it all the way to page 4 before I started laughing at this:

Now, what's funny is the fact that they thought they needed to put this part in the book. Which leads me to believe that there are people out there that might put one of these collars on their dog, push the button, and watch their dog flip out screaming and panicking. Then they'd say, "seems to be working just fine."

People.

-----

On a side note: Does anybody actually read my blog? Affirm me, please.

Alan and the Doghouse

So apparently online advertisements are much better than broadcast.

Here's two of my favorites:

Alan


Beware of the doghouse

Dudes at the bookstore.

So today I went to the bookstore to waste some time before seeing Zombieland with Kinsley. I was in the magazine section just looking, and I overheard a conversation that was taking place behind me on one of the benches. I took out my phone, turned on the camera and stuck it behind me and recorded the the conversation. I was going to upload the video and share it with all of you but then I realized that's probably an invasion of privacy, so I decided to not. But the conversation was funny.

Two 17(ish) year old dudes, David, and Afro-Dude. I know David's name cause Afro-Dude said it. Obviously I didn't catch Afro-Man's name, so I gave him the name Afro-Dude because of his doo. These guys were scene-sters with tight girl pants, bad hair doos, and poor posture. Afro-man was wearing a Beastie Boys shirt that he no doubt got at Target. They were looking at some magazine about rock music, and providing commentary. Here's the dialog.

Afro-Dude (AD):

Whoa! Thrice, they have a new album? I used to really like them in...you know...tha day.

David:

I thought they were Twice, I guess they got a new member.

They both chuckle. AD turns the page.

David:

(Sarcastically) Who's Aerosmith?

AD:

Some group of guys, apparently.

David:

Some group. Yeah.

AD:

Some...Some...Some, apparently musical group. I've never heard of 'em.

David:

Yeah me either.

AD turns the page and spots a new ad.

AD:

The Blood Brothers? I miss the Blood Brothers.

AD's phone rings on the bench beside him. He answers.

AD:

Hello....Yo....

David gets up and walks off. They were obviously waiting on the call.

AD:

(on the phone) Me and David are sitting at the bookstore being bored as poopie.

AD gets up.

-------------------

From the looks of it, these guys have decent taste in music. They made fun of Aerosmith, so that's something. And AD's use of the word poopie leads me to believe they might be "good" kids, seeing as most high school kids never miss an opp to drop a cuss word when they think no adults are listening.