Give me two weeks.

For those who don't know, I'm moving to Hoover, AL (just outside Bham) at the end of July. I turned in my two week notice at work today. My last day should be July 10th, barring any unforseen circumstances. My plan as of now is to use the last 2 weeks of the month to organize my things and move periodically. We'll see how that goes. I am truly going to miss living in Tuscaloosa, but I have passed up too many opportunities in the last few years to let this one go. I am not sure where I'll end up working at this point. Sometimes you just have to take a chance.

Dax Riggs played at Bottletree 6/26/09. The entire set was just his voice and acoustic guitar. I enjoyed the set immensely and thought he did an incredible job of holding the (mostly drunk) crowd's attention without a full band. He played lots of covers, including (but not limited to) The Stones, Scott Walker, The Misfits, and Fred Neil.

The next day, my future roommate and I went to Atlanta to see the Red Sox play the Braves. It was my first live MLB experience and I had a great time. I've always enjoyed the game of baseball (If only I had taken better care of the baseball cards I collected as a kid) and I wish I wouldn't have waited so long to check out a Major League game, but I guess that is what happens when you don't have a team to align yourself with. When it comes to professional sports, I tend to follow single players more than I do the teams themselves. The Sox won 1-0, and it was an exciting game despite the low score. I thought Chipper Jones or David Ortiz might hit some homers, but the pitching was far too strong on both sides. We're already talking about going back to Turner Field in August when the Phillies are in town. Hopefully that will work out.

Marta:
The Game:


River/Beach weekend coming up....should be epic.

This Crooked Line

I took a day off work yesterday and went to see Elvis Costello play with his new backing band, The Sugarcanes, at the Ryman in Nashville, TN. This was my 3rd time seeing Elvis live, and just like the previous two shows, it was great. I had an unbelieveable seat (as pictured above) and the sound was perfect, which seems to be the standard for the Ryman. Elvis must be eschewing Rock 'N Roll time these days, because he took the stage at 7:37pm with an advertised start time of 7:30pm. I appreciated the gesture since I always arrive to shows early. The bluegrass/roots style of the new record translated incredibly well in the live setting. The set list was comprised of most of the tracks from Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane, rearranged versions of classics ("Blame It On Cain", "Brilliant Mistake", "Every Day I Write The Book", "Little Palaces", "Indoor Fireworks", "American Without Tears", "Alison", "What's So Funny..."), and covers of "Friend Of The Devil", "Femme Fatale", and "The Race Is On". I certainly never thought I'd hear Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground, and George Jones covers all in one set. The show ran close to three hours, and at the end I still wanted more. The drive back seemed like it would never end. I got in a good 2 and a half hour nap before arriving at work this morning. That kind of drive in one night probably sounds crazy to most people, but great shows are worth the effort.

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I've seen several other shows since I last updated, including The Avett Brothers, Wilco, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and Bon Iver. Those were all enjoyable. I also went down to Foley/Gulf Shores to visit The Mann's, which is always a good time. It looks like I'll be back down twice in July. It's good to have things to look forward to. Perhaps the updates will be less sporadic in the coming weeks.