Music and Light Show

Okay, I tried to post this yesterday, but it wouldn't play the video! Now I think it works....


.....the music really fit my mood yesterday, and actually most every work day! ;-)

Rock Show

Since I totally missed January Bloom Day (no blooms here & I was sick) and nothing's going on in the garden, I'm gonna give you the "rock show experience". This was January 12th in Milwaukee, the band is Metallica. If you've never been to a rock show, this is what it's like.......you gotta be dedicated fans to wait in sub-zero temps like this, and we are! The view from our seats in the "nose bleed" section (the tickets were won in a radio contest, so they were fine with us).

Some NBA pride going on here...I didn't realize that Kareem-Abdul Jabbar played for the Bucks. Heh, I was in first grade when he started for them in 1969.

Here's how steep it is looking down from our seats! Good thing I'm not drinking, I'd be afraid to take a header all the way down!

The stage setup is interesting...I like those coffin-shaped light banks! Well, this is the "Death Magnetic" Tour for their latest LP (I guess that's called "disc" now...boy am I old! :)

My partner in crime, giving us "concert cheese"...we both really dig metal music!

They even have some cool lights between the rows of seats!

Testing the "smoke machine"...the stadium is really full now! There were two warmup bands that were okay, but we want Metallica!

The lights go down! Dude here is showing his support with the flame of his lighter, and I was pleased to see that some people still do this. It was the thing in the 70's when I went to shows at the Notre Dame Athletic and Convocation Center (they call it the "Joyce Center" now, but I digress).

Wow, looks like a city! Very exciting...

....lights come on, the crowd is really roaring now....

...lasers! This is waaay cool! I haven't seen a decent laser light show at a concert since Kansas in the 70's!

Lots of different colors, too....

...oh wow, I'm really digging this! Still opening music and lasers, but no sign of the band yet... ...the lights get more intense, and there's James Hetfield on guitar!

Then they turned up the house lights to get a look at us! Very cool!

Hard to get good pictures on my camera from where we were sitting, and you're not supposed to take pictures anyway. I snuck in my camera though, risking being evicted. (In fact, I did get yelled at once, but luckily I got to stay.) Honestly, I don't see why I can't take pics with my little camera from way up here. It's not like I can sell them or anything! Now if I had an SLR with a foot-long lens, that's a different story.

Most of my close-ups looked like this...

...and of course my clearest shot is of the back of his head!
The sound quality was pretty darn good, especially for a sports arena...

.....and then came the pyrotechnics! I liked the layout of the stage, it really made all the seats "good ones", with a decent view. The guys really moved around and worked the whole area, too.

More pyro! I swear we even felt the heat from those flames in our seats! I don't know how the band didn't singe their hair!

Those cool coffin-shaped lights were lowered ominously over the stage several times as well for an appropriately menacing effect...

This is the "actual size" of the stage from where we were, but I don't mind. It's just so cool to be there, and often it seems the sound is better when you're farther away from the speakers, IMO.

I even got this video clip, and you can hear the audience singing along...the band really likes that!


Building up to the big "finish" with a guitar solo on his knees...

...and the crowd goes wild!

They say their "goodbyes", but the crowd cheers on and on...

...back for an encore! After the last song, these cool black Metallica "beach balls" fell from the ceiling! Nice touch! (Unfortunately, none came down above the "nose bleed" seats where we were...bummer!)

What a show!

The band told us, "We love you Milwaukee! You motherf***ing rock!" And of course, we do! ;-)

We hung around a bit as they tore down, I like to let the bulk of the crowd get a head start so we can mosey out later. Some people actually leave the show early to "beat the crowd", but this never made sense to me. I mean, I came for the show, not to get a head start driving home!

There's one of the light show operators riding down on a coffin light...I always thought it would be cool to be way up on the catwalks doing that stuff (except for the fact that I'm afraid of heights).
Okay, so the show was terrific, but the ride home was bloody hell! Along with the sub-zero temps, we have blowing and drifting snow...

.....drifting even worse as we get farther north...

....with a bonus "icy sheen" here and there, too. We passed four cars in the ditch, one was on its' side! So it wound up taking five hours for a three hour trip...

.....but look at my cool t-shirt!

Definately worth it, don't you think? :)

What's That Man Holding In His Hand?He Looks A Lot Like A Guy I Knew Way Back WhenIts Silly Willy With Philly BandCould Be . . . . . Oo-Ee . . . . . .
What's That Man Movin' Cross The Stage?It Looks A Lot Like The One Used By Jimmy PageIts Like A Relic From A Different AgeCould Be . . . . . Oo-Ee . . . . . .
If There's Rock ShowAt The ConcertgebowThey're Got Long HairAt The Madison SquareYou've Got Rock And RollAt The Hollywood Bowl,We'll Be There . . . . . . Oo Yeah . . . . . . .
The Lights Go Down - They're Back In Town O.K.Behind The Stacks You Glimpse An AxeThe Tension Mounts You Score An Ounce Ole!Temperatures Rise As You See The White Of Their Eyes
If There's Rock ShowAt The ConcertgebowYou're Got Long HairAt The Madison SquareThey've Got Rock And RollAt The Hollywood Bowl,We'll Be There . . . . . . Oo Yeah . . . . . . .
In My Green Metal Suit I'm Preparing To Shoot Up The CityAnd The Ring At The End Of My Nose Makes Me Look Rather PrettyIts A Pity There's Nobody Here To Witness The EndSave For My Dear Old Friend And Confidante - Madamoiselle Kitty
What's That Man Movin' To And Fro?That Decibel Meter Doesn't Seem To Be Reading Low.But They Was Louder At The RainbowCould Be . . . . . Oo-Ee . . . . . .
If There's Rock ShowAt The ConcertgebowThey're Got Long HairAt The Madison SquareYou Got Rock And RollAt The Hollywood Bowl,We'll Be There . . . . . . Oo Yeah . . . . . . .
If There's Rock Show . . . . . . .
If There's Rock Show . . . . . . .
If There's Rock Show . . . . . . .

"Rock Show" by McCartney and Wings

Rock on, garden peeps!

Winter's on the Scene

Snow has finally arrived up here, taking longer than many locations farther south. First it was just a dusting about a week ago...

....looking rather decorative on my bamboo....
...then we got the first "named" snowstorm. (Our local forecasters like to name snowstorms like hurricanes. I think it's dorky, but to each his own :)

Sure thing, during the day and afternoon we got more....


...making the night noisy with crunching snow, yet quiet and peaceful too.

All my stuff looks cool covered in snow, IMO...

...as well as less "cluttered and junky" as my mom would say. (However I like it all, and since I'm the boss around here then mine is the last word on the subject!)

The snow brought my third cardinal sighting in all these years too...he's the red blur on the fence there. (I took this through the window and didn't get a second shot.) I just don't understand why I don't see more of these birds in my yard, but I have plenty of other kinds hanging around so whatever.
Bentley has his favorite winter spot mapped out! Seems his fur coat doesn't help as much as I'd expect it to.I decided to try and make my own wreath this year, since I have so many of the materials at hand right outside my door. I started with a wire frame from a purchased wreath I'd bought a few years ago, add some greenery...

....I used an assortment of conifer cuttings...

...then bent the wire thingys to hold it all down.

Add some red twigs from local willows...

....add some more coniferous greenery to hide the wire thingys, and some artemesia sprays...

...then some high bush cranberry branches (with berries, of course). Not too bad! Let's hang it on the door...

....looks pretty, but there's a thin spot on the right side...

...add more greenery...there! It could probably use a couple pinecones too, but I don't mind it without them, either. What do you think?

In houseplant news, my dicentra scandens 'Athens Yellow' looked very lush when I brought it in this fall. I was hoping it might not die back as usual, and just keep on blooming...
...however this was not the case.

But like clockwork, it sprang back to life after a dormancy of about a month. Now if I can get the cats to leave it alone, it should be well on its way for next summer camp on the porch.

I discovered a new "design element" for my home, courtesy of my feline room mates. See, I wanted a blanket rack for my throw blankets to keep them from becoming "cat hair blankets". But when I looked online and in catalogs, the cheapest I could find was $50, which I'm just not willing to pay. Then I noticed this ladder in the garage...I had cut it in half to keep my mom from continuing to use it, cuz' it's super old and dangerous. (She's still mad at me about it, too.) Well I think it works just fine for a blanket rack...

.....and after Bentley checks it out... ...it gets his approval for a chin rest!

The waterways still have open places, so it's too early for ice fishing...

....but never too early to peruse garden catalogs. I got three more the other day!

But my biggest winter news to date? I'm going to see Metallica!!! My friend won tickets from a radio contest to see them in January in Milwaukee, and I get to go too! YAY!!

So bring on the snow I say! Yay winter! Woot, woot! *~<];-)