Isakov - Ritter

A few notes about a concert attended by CPG, PJr, PJ, me at the new-ish Musical Instrument Museum in north Phoenix on January 20, 2014.

CPG, PJr, Isakov + band; lobby post-concert.

1.  We went to see the lead-in group - Gregory Alan Isakov - previously had seen him at Crescent Ballroom, like his stuff quite a bit.  But they were quite constrained in their lead-in role, or something - not that many songs, didn't really get going.  Perhaps we missed their banjo guy, who was absent.



2.  It turned out that the headliner - Josh Ritter (@joshritter) - something of a throw-in from our perspective - puts on an absolutely great show.  Very talented, great personality, side-men were strong - surprisingly enjoyable based on the limited amount of his work that I had checked out via YouTube.

3.  If I had to pick someone to carry a full show - probably Ritter.  If I had to pick five best songs - Isakov.

4.  MIM is a great venue, but not sure I loved it for this kind of show.  And the crowd skewed pretty old.

5.  Still:  we enjoyed muchly.

6.  Above clip = <1 minute of "Amsterdam."  Below clip = 1:10 from an encore (audio level a bit lower because they had come out from behind the mike).

 

Thank you, Phoenix! See you tomorrow, LA. pic.twitter.com/Ap53f5zNDN
— Josh Ritter (@joshritter) January 21, 2014

K; 5K; etc.

We had the good fortune to host Kerry over an extended holiday break (she returned to VA on Monday) - many enjoyable experiences over the course of a month as she spent most of her time here at 11419.  Though with plenty of stopovers down at 706.  Since I "work" from home, so to speak, I had the unique opportunity for a very relaxed set of chats throughout each day she spent at 11419.  Which is a good way to hang out with a fine and interesting daughter.  (And she treated me to lunch at Richardson's one fine afternoon!)

Getting into our pre-race routine.  Preparation is paramount in these things.  Note the spiffy official shirts.

Having become something of a runner in the last couple years, K had suggested that we enter a race or fun run or whatever during her visit.  So some of us (PJ, NOC, POC, CPG, K, PJr and me) did just that - a 5K on Saturday evening (January 18) with a course that wound its way through the Phoenix Zoo.  This was a great setting for a jog, as the holiday "Zoo Lights" display was still going.  And some exotic-sounding birds caw-cawed at us along the route!

Mental preparations continue for the rigorous run facing us.

Me with the gold medalist.

Three of us ran, more or less:  K, PJ and me.  The others walked part of the course, and provided moral support, if that's the correct term, as only they could.  (Side note:  PJ had fallen off her training a teensy bit in late autumn 2013 with travel, job change and what-not - but found a phone app named "Couch to 5K" that she used to marvelous effect (even if its starting point was designed for situations far more dire than hers).  POC appropriately rewarded her success with a fabulous gold medal.)

Me 'n K at Richardson's.  (Yes, of course we both lunched on the chili relleno platter.)

Now:  back to normal, or whatever passes for normal around here.

Did it really only take two minutes to capture the best family photo of 2014?

It's obviously pretty early in the year, but still:  how great is this picture?  (Yes, click-to-enlarge it.)


Dispositive evidence of the two-minutes-past-midnight photo-capture time can be gleaned from the digital clock on the mantel (clearly visible beyond the Haag-girls-fueled shenanigans in the foreground of the photo).  As anyone who's visited St. Joe has learned via EMG:  that particular clock is super-accurate based on atomic or nuclear or somesuch shmancy technology.

I'll let Grandma set the scene:

A Belated Happy New Year to All,    We are sending the picture of our New Years Eve Party.  Don’t you wish you could have been here?  I am standing there with the telephone in my hand.  We were talking to Carol, and wanted to let her hear what was going on here. . . The 4 merry-makers are on the floor having a great time.  It looks like a huge mess.  However when it was over, everything was cleaned up, and the confetti was put back in a bag for next year.  At midnight Grandpa shot his gun out the deck door.  We don’t know if anyone heard it.   For the occasion Alison made some glasses for me and Barb.  She attached mine to my regular glasses.  Alison made the year 2014 out of cutout letters, and then taped them to the top of our glasses.  She also added a horse to show that 2014 is the year of the horse in China.  Grandpa weighed the confetti, and said it weighed 2 pounds.  The same stuff has been used at least 3 years over and over again.    We went to Mass at 6:30 on New Years Eve.  Later in the evening we had a fondue treat that Barb and the girls put together.   We also had a non-alcoholic drink.  We hope that 2014 is a good year for all.

Initial thoughts:

1.  How was this captured?  Pure luck with a timer or remote control?

2.  Did Grandpa have time to blast his gun at midnight, and then leap into this photo at 12:02a?  Seems like a tight timetable - isn't he still recovering from multi-car wreckery?

3.  Can I buy glasses like those somewhere online?

4.  Used confetti.

EMG turns 85

Undaunted by some unsought excitement toward the end of his 85th year, my dad is celebrating the start of his 86th year today.  As I write every January 3rd:  I'm lucky to have a great dad.

While I'd happily repeat some of the details about why I feel that way, I thought instead that I'd revisit some movie-star comparisons that have been made over the years.

Exhibit 1:  Tyrone Power was a bit ahead of our time, but we repeatedly heard over the years that EMG often was compared to Tyrone back in the day - perhaps because of photos like these (click to enlarge):

EMG high school graduation photo on left; two views of Tyrone at right.

Exhibit 2:  Moving ahead a generation (or two) - our children often cited the similarities between EMG and George Clooney - perhaps in part because of the way Clooney was outfitted in the wondrous O Brother, Where Art Thou?:

EMG (with CPG as wing man) faces off with two Clooney views.

Hey Dad - happy #85 - with love from your son.

Tweets

New year, new (at least for me) social media - I'm going to start occasional tweets.

Content TBD; my general concept is that I will tweet the same type of comments about things I read or otherwise run across as I would make to folks if I was sitting in the same room (or walking around, or whatever) with them; meaning likely topics will include sports, public policy, low-IQ tech stuff, books, music, food & drink, random ideas, who knows what.  A positive difference:  the 140-character limit should discourage rambling.  (Longer stuff, diary-style entries, book summaries, trip reports, look-backs, etc. will continue on the various blogs per usual.)

So far I have two followers (CPG and EPG).  Quality over quantity, right?

My very first tweet (with attached photo) is embedded below (after today you'll have to go to twitter.com to find them).

My Twitter user name (if that's the right term) on Twitter:  @PaulGales1.

Follow button:

Follow @PaulGales1

Now that I understand social media better: time to start tweeting! (Photo via D. Cornelius.) pic.twitter.com/OCJ70CBB6s
— Paul Gales (@PaulGales1) January 2, 2014