Cool cats..

  

hangin' in front of the liquor store in B-ton.  This picture has made the rounds on the internets and is awsome.  I did not take it.  Sorry.

Beach Week

A few weeks ago I spent a week at the beach with some of the best people in the world.  We played games (new game of the summer: Crokinole, played music, soaked in the sun, and solved the world's problems over a few cocktails and beers.  I spent loads of time skimboarding with Ry and searching for hermit crabs with Adi.  Now here are some photos to prove it happened.

 

Storytellers

I first saw Nico Case in a small bar in Fargo, ND.  I had heard of the New Pornographers and thought I'd check it out.  I was blown away by the show.  Both her and her opening act, Jim and Jennie and the Pine-tops, were phenomenal and both grew into the sound track of that summer of my life.  Fast forward 6 months and I had moved to Vermont and was working running lifts at Smugglers Notch.  Talking music with a fellow liftey, J, J, and the PTs came up and he informed me that Jennie grew up or lived in Elmore VT  and he had played with her as he was a banjo picker in a few local bluegrass bands, and it added up that more that one of their songs were obviously written about that part of VT.  Fast forward 10 years and Nico case is now lives in VT.  Who knew that that one show would hold so many connections to my future.

BTW Nico Case has  a new album out and it rocks.

Truth.

I love mid summer meals

They all seem to involve tomatoes.

Friday Tunes From a Week Ago

Rough Francis | Live Recording from Eric Sorenson on Vimeo.


ROUGH FRANCIS // NOT A NICE GUY from OKAY!! OKAY!! on Vimeo.

Rock the Boat

Now, I don't go to that many concerts these days, lets get that right out on the table to start (*disclaimer 1).  Now onto this past Friday night which found me in the rare circumstance of heading out on the town with the lovely T___. Where were we headed?  Well we were going to spend the evening...On a Boat!  And not just any pleasure cruse we were there to rock out.  Well I was; T___ was skeptical about the rocking part.  Regardless we were both psyched.  Who were we going to be rocking with?  Which bands were audacious enough to load up one of the Lake Champlain Ferries with their equipment, fans, and alcohol?  Didn't someone already try this, with checkered results?
 

Well local rock n' rollers Rough Francis and Waylon Speed got together to see what damage they could do.  Let me say that regardless of disclaimer 1 this was one of the top musical experiences I have ever had.  Both bands just blew me away and when you combine music played with skill and passion and put it on a boat at sundown the combination of visual, sensory, and auditory had me on a high for the whole weekend.

RF started things out and ran through material from both of their released albums.  They also recognized their roots and family in the band called Death who were holding court on the boat and absolutely tore the lid off of Death's song "Freakin' Out."

Then WS came out and while at first you might not think their country tinged rock would mesh with the punk of RF, I'm here to say that bunk and I'm not even sure why I mentioned it in the first place.  WS rocks with a twang at times that isn't unappealing but also turns the heavy knob up to 11 and snaps it off. 

After an amazing set WS announce that they wanted to bring RF up so both bands could collectively blow our asses off of the boat, and that's just what they did. Especially with the closer, which was announced by Bobby Hackney standing on the speaker tower and shouting, "Kick out the Jams, motherfucker!"  And they kicked it out for a good 10 minutes that still have my ears ringing and every one of my get-down muscles aching.

Really words cannot do the experience justice. So here are a few pictures that still don't do it justice but are better than me blabbering any longer and before I make a joke about being on a boat.

My heart's achin' for them things next to bacon.

Reminder: When you ride your bike over to a friend's house early in the morning to check on his chickens because he is on vacation, be sure to bring something to carry the eggs home in.

Note: in a pinch your saddlebag with tubes and patch kit will do.  You just need to not take the dirt options on the way home.

The kids have been loving the old Ballgames this summer.

Last year they went but cared more for the bouncy castle and inter-inning shenanigans by Champ, but this year they are enjoying the game.  Ry is even looking at stats and notices who has the most RBIs and knows who's on deck.  The still need to get up and walk around every 2 innings and the most frequent question I get is, "can we get Dippin' Dots?"  But it is progress.

Family Vaca 2013

A photo/mind dump of my vacation with my extended family- Beach Lake, PA 2013.  A lovely week with some of my most beloved.  A week that is packed so full I can't believe it was only a week but by the end of it I was left saying, " I can't believe it's over already!"  This year we did much the same as every year since I was born, but we also ventured afar a few days and saw some great gems in this neck of the woods.  Now for the photo dump and list.

• 3 Bears seen
• Eagles out the yin-yang
• GBH

Look another eagle

• Friendly competition
• half-ball
• quoits
• Olympic feats of strength

• Beverages
• Beer
• Gin and Tonic
• Bloody Caesar (ugh)
• Pool Side Loungin

• Pinochle
• Canoeing with my Sweetheart

• Kayaking on the lake with the kids

• Lake swimming
• 27 mile ride with the cousin (uphill both ways) (too hot to do more than one ride but it felt good to turn the tables and kick Sean's ass this year)
• Golf morning (9 holes best ball0 The only time i play golf all year) Followed by cold cut lunch and Gin and Tonics.
• Campfires
• The Echo
• Tubing down Skinners Falls
• Porkfest I, II, & III
• Ice cream
• Coffee on the Porch

• The kids first game of "Manhunt"
• Movies on a homemade outdoor screen
• Dinner with my Sweetheart at a cool Cafe
• Fun