And this is night two of my Mother Truckin' Birthday Weekend.

It all began with a pint of Guinness (in a Miller Lite glass? Blasphemy!) and our two favorite people in the whole wide world!

Dax and Michelle didn't make it out to the Friday night festivities but we had them all to ourselves on Saturday night. Our best RCPM friends and traveling buddies, we've done Texas, Colorado, Las Vegas and TWO Mexico trips with them since we met them two years ago! We don't get them out of the house as much as we'd like because they are very busy, highly successful and totally awesome parents to two energetic boys and three dogs, but when they do come out and play it is always a blast. 

We kicked of night two with dinner at The Abbey Inn, the restaurant above The Boiler Room and moved on over to Hooligans before heading back to The Boiler Room. The appetizers were great but the dinner was so-so. Dax got the Monte Cristo as seen here:

Here's a cute photo of me and Michael looking like a hoodlum at Hooligans.

The night before at The Aardvark I told Teal my friend and I were going to do our hair "Teal-style" for Saturday night's show. So just before we headed down to The Boiler Room Shell & I went to the ladies' room to get our cute little pig tails done for the night. See:

And here we are with Teal after the show!

So about the show. Two opening bands. Both quite good. I really like The Jungle Rockers but they looked like they stepped out of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. 

The Heelers were pretty rockin' too. I have no video as proof but you can check them out at their myspace and since they're from Denton, you can probably catch them live for yourself.

I will say though that it was hard to make it through this show. The weekend and AGE was definitely catching up with us this night. The Mother Truckers didn't hit the stage until close to midnight and it had already been a very long night for us. I was also disappointed a lot of people left after The Heelers' set. It's understandable that the hometown band brought more people out but I wish they would have stuck around to see what The Mother Truckers were all about. However, the awesome Tommy and Cheryl made the trip up to Denton to see them again so that made me very happy! I am glad we were able to come out and support our favorite Austin band for their two nights in North Texas. I know the band really appreciated our support too. I even got a birthday dedication! Josh gave the birthday girl a shout out and dedicated Alien Girl to me! Awwh that was so sweet.

I didn't really get much in the way of good photos or video but here's a little something:

     

I must say my Mother Truckin' Birthday Weekend rocked in every way possible.

And on Sunday (still not my birthday) we had cake from Swiss Pastry Shop with my family.

Monday I went back to work but took off early for birthday dinner and a movie at Movie Tavern. We saw Inception. It was fantastic.

Thanks to all my family, friends and my favorite band for four days of birthday fun! I love you all!!

I have been so busy the past few months things have pretty much been out of control. But I'm not really complaining I have had some good times with some good friends. And when I got back from my Austin/New Braunfels RCPM roadtrip I took a promotion at work and have been even busier since. I still need to go back and finish my Circus Mexicus recap, I still have tons of video footage and photos that haven't seen the light of day and I still haven't completely settled in to our new place (we moved in April) but I finally have some time this morning to post the first half of my birthday weekend pictures. Some of these showed up on Facebook yesterday but here's the official post.

My 34th was by far my best birthday ever. My birthday was actually on a Monday this year so I decided to take the entire weekend leading up to my birthday to celebrate. Lucky for me The Mother Truckers one of my favorite bands from Austin was playing both Friday and Saturday night in Dallas/Fort Worth. We kicked off my birthday weekend in Fort Worth with tacos, friends and family at Fuzzy's.

       

My friends Tami and Lee showed up, old friends Cheryl and Tommy came out and one of my favorite girlfriends from back in the day, Laura, came out too. She even brought a friend to join the fun. And apparently we didn't scare off our new RCPM friend Brian either because he came out to enjoy tacos and live music with us again. I know a lot of my friends wanted to be there and couldn't make it, but they were there in spirit. I was pleasantly surprised that my parents, my brother and niece and my aunts and uncles showed up too. My Uncle Celso from Toledo was even there. Fuzzy's was loud and crowded but the food is great and the beer is cheap I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Family didn't stay for the band but I am so glad they came out to enjoy tacos & celebrate with me.

After fish tacos, nachos and beer the rest of us headed next door to The Aardvark to hang out before the show.

                   

I loved hangin' out with old friends, new friends, catchin' up, drinkin' whiskey & sumthin...it's my new thing, getting my nails painted with mood nail polish (like a mood ring) in an atrocious shade of green by my new friend Cheryl. I chatted w/Teal of The Mother Truckers in the ladies room before the show and enjoyed a birthday shot of Jameson (that took me over the edge) w/Tommy and Josh of The Mother Truckers after the show.

The Mother Truckers rocked. They always do. I've seen them at least a dozen times in Austin and opening for that other band I am crazy about but it was nice to have my own personal rock show. The drew a pretty small crowd in Fort Worth so I was glad I could help them out and bring out a few more. I was a little disappointed in the setlist but since they just released a new CD (Van Tour--go get it now) they concentrated on the new stuff. One of these days I will get them to play "Put The Gun Down". It's my husband's song for me. You just gotta hear it to understand. Teal blew me away with "Keep It Simple", it's up there with her versions of "Love Me Like A Man" and "When I Get My Wings". I love her voice. I want to be her when I grow up...if I ever grow up. 

               

So yeah, the last shot of Jameson took me over the edge just ask my husband. I know there was some post show Waffle House in there somewhere, but overall I had the best night. I woke up the next morning ready to do it all over again. I always do. And I did.

Night two is here!

This has been a great spring/summer for live music. Just the other day I shared my new love for American Aquarium a band I first heard when they opened for Roger Clyne. Did you know there's another band I saw open for Roger Clyne the very next night in Oklahoma City that totally hooked me? 

Sons of Bill.

I'd actually heard these guys a few weeks before on Mountain Stage thanks to KXT, the new NPR music station in DFW (if you are in the North Texas area and appreciate good music you need to be listening to this station). I loved what I heard on Mountain Stage but didn't even realize it was the same band until just before they started performing. They were incredible on stage at Wormy Dog and left with many new fans, including me. So, imagine my excitement when I learned they would be in my hometown on my husband's and my anniversary!

At the Randy Rogers Band Stockyard Stampede

 behind Billy Bob's in Fort Worth, TX

where we claimed the only mud free spot.

Happy Anniversary to us...

9 YEARS!

So back to Sons of Bill,

I fell in love with these guys immediately but honestly haven't listened to their CDs as much as I've listened to American Aquarium (who also happen to be good friends of Sons of Bill and toured with them recently), but that's simply because the American Aquarium CDs are great driving music and I've mostly been listening to CDs in my car because I haven't updated my iPod in forever). But seeing Sons of Bill twice in concert now, I also realized their albums do not do them justice. These guys are a live band with an incredible energy and a passion to perform.

The band is made up of three brothers:

Sam

James

and Abe

and their two good friends

Seth (the most rockin'-est bass player ever)

and Todd

After Sons of Bill we enjoyed some Cooper's BBQ.

We intended to head back to the Stockyard Stampede for performances by Everclear, MC Hammer & of course Randy Rogers Band after stopping in to work to check on the dogs but plans changed and we never made it back out there. But at least we got to see Sons of Bill and I can't wait to see them again and again!

I am an American Aquarium drinker...

So that's from the Wilco song "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" and the namesake of my new favorite band. American Aquarium.

We first experienced American Aquarium a few weeks ago as the first of two opening bands at the RCPM Boiler Room show in Denton. We heard their brief soundcheck and thought they sounded pretty good. Once they got on stage for their set, we were quite impressed. In fact, I feel bad that Lauren and I were making fun of the two girls on the front row who were singing along to all the songs. 

We noticed they were the only ones in audience that knew all the words. American Aquarium is their Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, I guess. We just didn't know what those girls already knew. Because these guys rocked!

This is the first song that really stuck out that night:

Rattlesnake

She's got the kisses of a thousand angels
And the bite of a rattlesnake 

and...

I Hope He Breaks Your Heart

But after listening to their Dances For The Lonely and Small Town Hymns albums for two weeks straight, I I love all their songs!

Earlier this week they were back in Fort Worth for a Monday night show at Woody's Tavern. There were maybe 7 people there. I mean it was a Monday night in Fort Worth...but these guys rocked and even played my request Katherine Belle. It felt like our own personal concert. After the show we chatted with the incredibly nice (and cute) bass player Bill.

         

I don't know how to write a music review, I just know what I like and I LOVE them. So here's some video I took and you can judge for yourself:

Friday, three generations of The Beatles fans in my family enjoyed The Ultimate Tribute at House of Blues in Dallas.

and Ringo!

     

We then wandered around the parks and checked out different displays before claiming our spots on the lawn the Gin Blossoms and REO Speedwagon concert later. My brother and his daughter Kiki met up with us and we did our best to hold a square of grass for our friends Daniel and Tanya and Tanya's parents.

Gin Blossoms kicked of the show right at 7 and sounded great. I've always loved the band but this was my first time to see them live. It's kinda cool that Scotty Johnson was a Peacemaker for awhile before I started following RCPM.

     

We all sang and danced along (see Kiki could hardly stand still).

They performed all their top hits and a few new songs. They informed us a new album should be out later this year or early next year.
Of course, the main event of the night was REO Speedwagon and we discovered the Mayor of Farmers Branch is a huge REO fan.

         

They too did all their hits and a few others I didn't really know but enjoyed just the same. They only disappointment was their failure to play "In My Dreams".

After the incredible REO show there were fireworks!

     

Great way to kick of a Memorial Day Weekend & summer.

My husband celebrated his 39th (gasp!) birthday on Saturday but we started early with the Zane Lamprey's Drinking Made Easy Comedy Tour at HOB Friday night.

One of Zane's buses:

Michael getting Steve McKenna'd

and sporting his new "Drinking Made Easy" T-shirt this evil looking wife bought him

A rather large Pleepleus on stage (take a drink!)

No photos of Zane or Steve on stage :(

BUT BUT BUT we got our photos taken with everyone after the show :)

Photos we'll probably never see :(

We hit Cheesecake Factory after the show for some birthday cheesecake & got a room ;)

Saturday we spent the RAINFREE! day at Wildflower Arts & Music Festival in Richardson. Bands, Michael Jackson Tribute, good beer and good meat--seriously good meat on a stick and the Beers of the World Tent had a great variety of beers for us to enjoy all day.

Smooching on the lawn by the Metro PCS stage

Shiny Happy People

Our friends Dax and Shell (no photos boo hoo) joined us later in the evening too. Good times, good times.

Happy Birthday Pumpkin!

and FINALLY got to see her live in Dallas last Fall (yes I do go to other concerts). And yes, I am several months behind on updating videos.

Clips from the show

The Way I Am

Mexican Food!

-rp