NO SHOES ON THE CARPET!

So if you remember, one of my goals for this year was to read two books per month.  I can say for certain that I have not done that but I have been reading and I have some books queued up to read.  Here’s what I have so far…..

Books I’ve Read

• The Gunslinger (Dark Tower series book1) – by Stephen King
• Cross by James Patterson – after reading this, I decided I was going to read all fo the alex cross books in order.  There are a bunch of them.
• Utterly Monkey by Nick Laird
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• The Broker by John Grisham

Books to Read

• Step on a Crack by James Patterson (currently reading)
• Alex Cross Series of books – 12 books
• The Raw Shark Tales by Steven Hall
• Then We Came to an End by Joshua Ferris
• Claption: the Autobiography by Eric Clapton
• The Innocent Man by John Grisham
• An Air That Kills:  How the Asbestos Poisoning of Libby, Montana, Uncovered a Scandel by Andrew Schneider

I’m sure there are plenty of other books to read but thats all I have so far.  Open for suggestions though.

She wasn’t my first choice but she was my second. I was close and had 2 of my 3 picks in the finals. Richard seemed a little scatterbrained in the finale and that clearly transferred to the food. I was a little nervous through most of the show because Bitch, ugh I mean Lisa, seemed to impress teh judges with almost every course.  But in the end, a true chef won.  Its probably a good thing though that a woman won.  I mean, if another guy would win, they would have to adjust the prize structure so that a woman would get something.  Right Kim?

This year has been a good year for live music, probably the best year since 2003. Concerts in the past couple of years have been limited due to budgetary constraints and STL just wasn’t bringing in the bands like it use to. It almost seems like Riverport/UMB Pavilion/Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre or whatever its called these days just doesn’t bring in the big bands like it use to. It may have something to do with Livenation now controlling the line up. Looking at the lineup this year, the bulk of the shows are either country acts or ol’ school bands, which can be ok but generally not my cup of tea.

Anyways, this years I’ve cut the constraints and have been to some really good shows. The first show of the year was back on February 1; G.Love and Special Show played the Pageant. In case you don’t know, the Pageant is the best place to see a show in St. Louis. This was my first G Love show and will definitely not be the last. G Love put out a lot of energy and the crowd was amped. He played new stuff, he played old stuff. It was good.

The next show wouldn’t come for three months and was the one show that I was skeptical about. Radiohead took the VWA stage on May 14. I’ve never been a huge Radiohead fan and had never seen them play live. After enjoying In Rainbows and knowing that Bob and Jen were big fans, I decided that it was worth the money to see the show. The show was good but not great, in my opinion. Bob disagrees. The opening act, however, was the worst thing that I’ve heard in a long time. I’d rather listen to the Sunset Theory before that band again. The Sunset Theory, ha.

Two days later on May 16, Wilco played the Pageant. Actually, they played three nights straight and sold out every show. Again, this was another fan that I’ve never seen live and didn’t know much of their stuff. Bob fixed that by “lending” me the bulk of Wilco’s collection so that I can study up. After listening to everything, I was amazed that I hadn’t caught on to the greatness that is Wilco before. The show was awesome. We each had a short list of our favorites that we wanted to hear and Wilco played a few from each list. The triple encore put the show over the top.

Then, finally, my 2nd most anticipated show this year!! Anybody who knows me knows that I’m of course talking about the Dave Matthews Band playing Busch Stadium on June 7th. DMB has been my one constant show for a while now, the one band that I’ll go see no matter what. So being that I’m a warehouse member, I was able to order my tickets in advance. However, I was only able to get seats in section 144, not bad but not great. When tickets went on sale to the general public, I attempted to get better seats through ticketmaster. I did. I was able to get seats on the field. On the outfield of Busch Stadium. They were incredible. After last year’s mellow show in KC that I didn’t really care for, I was hoping DMB would pull out the stops tonight. And they did. DMB, joined by Tim Reynolds, put on the best DMB show I have seen to date. Added to that greatness, was the arch in the background, lit up in all its glory. Then, we were able to turn around and see 30,o00 fans packed to the top row looking down, rocking down, on us. This was without a doubt the best show of the year, so far.

Then, last night, was another first show experience. The Raconteurs played the Pageant to a sold out crowd. This was another show that I was really looking forward to because I knew it was going to kick ass. Its just not in Jack White to not kick ass. And on that note, I must say that Jack White is near-God status. Any project he works on is a success (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Loretta Lynn, Cold Mountain).  I hadn’t listened to their debut album Broken Boy Soldiers  am am a big fan of their follow-up Consolers for the Lonely.  The Raconteurs are not the White Stripes and they are two different types of Rock but both rock hard.

The rest of the year looks good to with a few more shows on the schedule.  Shows I’m going to:

• July 18 O.A.R
• Aug 30 Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge in Seattle
• Aug 31 Bumbershoot – interested in seeing The Black Keys, Jakob Dylan, Stone Temple Pilots, Zach Galifinakis, and TI
• Late December El Monstero, although this show is not on the calendar yet, it will be and I will be there.

Shows that would be cool to see

• Other live on the levee shows – OneRepublic, Black Crowes, Umphrey’s McGee, and Rusted Root
• Alice Cooper at the Pageant on August 7
• Coldplay in KC on Nov 13

The restrooms on my floor give you the choice when drying your hands of using either the traditional, but wasteful, paper towels or the energy efficient, save the trees, hand dryer.  However, I do not particularly care for the hand dryer as it takes far too long to dry and I am a man always on the go.  I want to be earth friendly but I also want to be in and out.  So I have come up with a way to use the paper towels and be earth friendly without wasting my time.  After washing my hands, I will use the paper towels.  However, as I am drying my hands with the paper towels, I simultaneously hold my hands under the hand dryer.  This way, as my hands dry, so will the towels.  Then, I shove the dried towels back into the dispenser so that they can be reused.

I’m happy, the earth is happy, problem solved.