I have a man crush on Ben Kweller

Jami and I agree that we went to the best concert we've ever been to. We've actually been to one of Ben's concerts before (2 years ago to the day) but that was the day after Jami was diagnosed with MS so that put quite a damper on things.
There were two opening bands, both local. The first one was the Furs. They were a respectably good band. The second one was excellent: Neon Trees. We knew we were in for a treat when the lead singer came out before they started and was checking to see how far the mic cord would go, and doing some deep leg stretches to warm up. The music was in the same genre as the Killers. The front man was in the mold of Mic Jagger or Bono as far as being able to entertain and engage the audience. We were standing right in the front against the stage so the proximity helped too. It also led to being showered with sweat and spit occasionally. Anyway, while you may not have heard of them before, I think they're going to be nationally well-known very soon.



Then came Ben. We love his music anyway but to be so close and watch him at work was quite the experience. If you get a chance to see him, I highly recommend it. He and his band have great timing, are very clean in their performance (not many mistakes), and you can tell they're enjoying themselves up there.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the taste of the concert. To see more photos and video from the concert go here.

Books are neat

I just discovered this amazing place I thought I'd pass on to both of you who read this blog, in case you're not aware of it either. You can go and borrow books, DVDs, and use the internet - all for free! They call it a "li-bra-ry." Jami and I both just read books on our cruise last week (she read "To Kill a Mockingbird;" I read "Into Thin Air") and we both realized we wanted to and should do more reading and less watching of reality TV shows.
I haven't owned a public library card for probably 14 years. Don't get me wrong, I've been in college libraries more hours than I want to think about in the last 10 years. And my office at my elementary school is right next to the library. But I haven't used a library other than for research in a long time. So Jami and I went and got me a card (she's already got one somewhere) and we decided we want to read...books. Most of the non-school-related books I've read the last few years I get by borrowing from someone (usually mom's personal bookstore). With such a vast number of options of books to check out I was stumped. First I looked up Obama's books...both checked out. Lance Armstrong's books? Checked out. I searched through the list of various award winners and didn't see anything that hooked me. So I just did it the old fashioned way...I wandered through the library looking at the titles and authors' names on the spines to see if anything tickled my fancy (what the crap kind of saying is that anyway?!). Jami soon found me in the children's section and re-directed me to the grown-up books. I looked over a couple shelves of Stephen King (too scary). I perused a line of Hemmingway (too smart). I strolled through a row of sports books (too junior high book reporty). I then came across a book titled "City of God" by Michael Jahn and recalled that there was a foreign movie a few years ago that came about that looked really good (I think it might have been nominated for some Oscars) and I figured it must have been based on this book. So I took my book and card to the check-out counter and the lady said it was due back in a month. Jami got Memoirs of a Geisha (I like that one) and Entre Dos Lunas, an adolescent fictional book in Spanish (after our cruise Jami decided she wants to learn Spanish. She's also bought a couple pocket-size books on verbs and vocabulary and we've sat down and had a couple grammar lessons).
We went home and both started our books. After about 5 short chapters I realized this was not the same City of God as the movie. The movie takes place in Brazil and is about war amongst lower class people in Rio de Janeiro. The book is, as it says on the cover of the book, "A Lieutenant Bill Donovan Mystery" which takes place in Hell's Kitchen, New York city. I guess I should have looked at it a little more closely. Well, I'll just add it to the extensive list of books that I've started and not finished (which is larger than the list of books I've read cover-to-cover) and go back in a couple days and try to get Audacity of Hope or Blink (Malcolm Gladwell). Well at least I get credit for trying right?