Country, Rock, Birthdays, and a Very Lazy Beastly Morning (Scratch That... Day)

(First, let me start by saying I typed this all last night before the snow and ice hit but fell asleep before actually posting it)

Well, the weekend is over and it's now the next "work" week, although this one promises to be eventful as ice and snow make their way to our doorsteps here in North Texas. I am sure to have photos and stories from what may be the storm of the century... ha ha. But back to this past weekend's festivities...

It was one for which I could find no complaint. There were birthdays to celebrate, some live music to absorb, and some beautiful weather. It was in the 70s only days before we expected to get wind chills in the below zero range accompanied by sleet and snow. Brrr. I began the weekend by driving to Denton to meet some of my buddies at a friend's apartment to celebrate her birthday. We met and caught up as we waited for everyone to arrive and get ready and dressed in their western finest. It seemed that Michelob Ultra was the drink of choice for the pregame activities. After getting ready, we were off to Fort Worth to see the Josh Abbott Band at Billy Bob's Texas, the largest Honky Tonk in the world... only in Texas my friends, only in Texas. While I am not too familiar with Josh Abbott, I knew it would be a good night no matter what. I was in good company for the night, mostly old classmates from high school, and it was my first adventure to Billy Bob's. On top of that, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo was in progress, so upon arriving to the massive honky tonk we found a sea of boots and cowboy hats. I was a little overwhelmed at first. I had never seen that many people at a country music concert, although I  must admit I have not been to many. We waited in the will call line for what seemed to be quite some time. After the wait, we made our way into the bar. I was astounded. I had never imagined the bar would be so massive and so crowded. It almost felt like an indoor, all-country version of ACL Fest.  There were people everywhere and it was a challenge just to weave through the crowd in the pool table section to make it to the bathroom (yes people, there were massive designated sections throughout the bar for almost every kind of activity that you would imagine taking place in a honky tonk). After grabbing some beers, we made our way to the back room where the band was playing. It was even more packed, so we parked ourselves in front of the nearest bar and commenced to dancing, singing, and celebrating our friend's birthday. Here is a pic of me and the birthday girl:

As a pleasant surprise, we ran into some newlywed friends of ours as well as the new bride's sisters. 

I ran into them after the band had ended the show and we were pushed out of the concert area by security. Now I will admit that at this point I had been hanging by the bar for some time, and I could not seem to find the group I had come with. Thankfully, I ran into the newlyweds and sisters. They seemed to take care of me and assured me I could stay with them that night if necessary. Then, after attempting to convince them to take a pic together on a life sized bull,  a failed venture, and a pic I told them would go great in this post, and checking out the gift shop, I got a call from my ride. They had thought the bar was closing when we were pushed out of the concert area and had gone to the car and realized I was missing as they were ready to exit the parking lot. I thanked the newlyweds and sisters for taking care of me and dashed out to catch my ride back to Denton. We made a pit stop at Whataburger before arriving back to the apartment after a fun drive to munch and finish the Michelobs we had left behind in the fridge. Oh, and on the way back we saw the other car that accompanied us making an impromptu pit-stop on the side of I-35 for what we knew was most likely the purging of alcohol. Then it was crash time. We sprawled out on the couch and floor in the living room to sleep, although there was not much of that to speak of. It was like a high school reunion slumber party as we woke up about every two hours to talk and reminisce about old teachers, old friends, and fond memories. Finally, around 6 AM, I lay my head down on the pillow I was sharing with two of my friends on the floor and fell asleep. Our bodies were like the legs of the Isle of Man flag, the pillow and our heads the center. (I once met a pretty cool guy from the Isle of Man while staying at the India House Hostel in NOLA on a road trip with my brother)

The next day, we watched Tosh.O while waiting on those who had to work that morning to return so we could get some grub. After some good eats at Buffalo Wild Wings, their menu offers a great wrap,  and a stop at Plato's Closet, I made my way to Sachse to attend a party for my cousin's birthday. She was turning 29 on the 29th, definite grounds for celebration. It was beautiful weather and even more beautiful company as I got to see several of my cousins. I indulged in a couple of Shiner Bock draft beers courtesy of my cousin and her husband's homemade garage kegerator. Mmmmm, there is nothing like enjoying a Shiner on a sunny day while catching up with my cousins. The conversation was lively and full of laughs as always, not to mention several reminders that in our family, voices tend to carry. One topic of conversation was not necessarily family friendly, and leaving names out, we gave a pair of our cousins some homework. I'll just say the consensus was that intimacy of all sorts is always important in a healthy relationship... ha ha. That and the fact that certain acts must maintain a delicate balance for all involved parties. Now I am not sure how I managed to carry my camera in my jeans the entire time I was at the birthday cook out and have no pictures, but I assure you it was a gorgeous day and a great time. I got to see my cousins and view one particular cousin's amazing artwork in person.  He free handed some great Dr. Seuss inspired paintings on the walls in his daughter's play room. It was quite impressive. You can find some of his work on Etsy. After a few hours enjoying the deck and the company, I had to cut my time short and make my way back north and into Oklahoma. Oklahoma? you may ask, but it was to meet yet another group of friends to enjoy some more live music at WinStar. It was there that Joan Jett and the Blackhearts were playing (props to my friend who made the concert-going possible). The fun promised to never end that day. I made it just in time to walk into the Casino doors right after my friends, welcomed by a massive fountain and two pairs of dragons made of crystals hanging from the ceiling. We had entered the Beijing section of the massive Chikasaw Nation owned Casino. We then thanked and bid farewell to our Jillinski, AKA the woman who made sure we all made it back to Muenster safely that night after a ride in the Mollenkopf van. Then, after a quick stop at the bathroom, we made our way into the auditorium, grabbed our beers, and found our seats. Little to my knowledge, the opening act for Joan was Gin Blossoms. Talk about a 90s flashback! In case you don't know, here is one of their most popular songs:

They definitely got the women in the crowd primed for Joan. I was slightly surprised to see so many middle-aged women jumping and hollering along to their show, but it made for a fun atmosphere. After catching the tail end of their set, we made our second beer and bathroom runs and settled in for Joan's arrival on stage. While waiting in line for beer, I managed to see several girls most likely around my age looking very much like Kristen Stewart from when she portrayed Joan in the movie "The Runaways."  Now mind you, I am no Kristen Stewart fan, her constant hand to hair swoops in the few movies I have seen her in are quite annoying (I have not and will not watch Twilight, I'll stick to True Blood, but she did pull off a fairly convincing Joan):

After finding our seats once again, not that we actually set in them much, Joan Jett... Joan freaking Jett... J-E-T-T JOAN JOAN  JETT entered the room. (By the way, she made it clear she is a Packers fan that night). Now I am no Joan fanatic, but I know most of her songs and was pretty pumped to see her live.  After all, she is a bit of a rock icon and I was surprised that after years on the road and her fair share of drug, sex, and rock 'n' roll (I've always wanted to legitimately use that phrase in a published sentence),  that she still sounded quite good. I mean, I have somewhat recently seen Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan live and (music gods  and Manna forgive me) was not too impressed by their raw voices. Joan on the other hand sounded like she is still on top of her game. I know their respective ages are quite different and that in 20 to 30 years she will most likely sound very different, but still, I was impressed. (Please do not infer from this that I lack respect for Willie or Bob... I do not in any sense of the word. I was just expecting Joan to sound a little more worn like them.)

But, I digress. Where were we? Oh yes, Joan. She came out on stage and proceeded to rock the entire room. I split time during the show between the two groups of seating we had (half of us on the left side of the center aisle and half of us on the right). I did not sit or stand motionless at any time during her set. Here are a couple of poorly recorded videos to give you a preview:

"Bad Reputation"

                  

I was pretty wrapped up in the show at the time so I did not get a recording of "Crimson and Clover," but it does happen to be one of my favorites, and as an added plus I was next to my GB and Cheryl at the time it was played. Joan sang all of her classics and after coming back on stage for an encore, she left us with her cover of "Everyday People" by Sly & The Family Stone. A great song to end our night with her. Several minutes after her final exit from the stage and after cheers from the crowd subdued, our Joan crew gathered to make our exit from the auditorium, but not without a photo courtesy of a not-so-tech-savvy security guy:

 

To say the least, it was a rough crowd, but a great one at that... ha ha. After grabbing just one more drink, we grabbed our DD, sweet Jillinski, and a big thank you to her for getting us home... hm hum... to Tony's safely. Yes, after indulging our ears at WinStar, we indulged our sense for some hometown fun at Tony's Tavern. Now I know I have mentioned Tony's in just about every post so far and here is the reason why: there are two things you can always find there: buckets of beer and buds of old:

My short time at Tony's that night served as the perfect CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CH CHERRY BOMB to top off my rockin' sundae of a weekend. All in all, I added to the earnings of Michelob, Bud, Miller, Shiner, and of course Natty, in the respective order in which they were consumed. My Sunday was pretty lazy. It was spent lying on my good friend's couch watching informative shows on The History Channel. We watched several episodes of "Ax Men," in which we found our favorite character to be Shelby the Swamp Man:

I would pay money to spend a week on the bayou with this guy. He is pretty much amazing, AKA his shit is float! (This is a saying you may hear often from me. I am somewhat trying to start a new trend to replace the saying "he/it is solid."  When you say someone's shit is float, you are saying they are the shit,  as in their shit is so much the shit, that you can't flush it because it is so float that it resists the flush). I highly encourage you to adopt the phrase and to tune into "Ax Men." I am now officially addicted to the show. We then indulged ourselves in some viewing of "The Big Lebowski," a favorite movie of mine. For those of you who are familiar with The Dude, I am sipping on a White Russian as I type this post, and I say to you, "forget about the f***ing toe!"

After a long and eventful weekend, I called it quits and came home Monday afternoon to rest up in order to be able to enjoy the coming winter storm in true Muenster fashion, AKA snow day road. That post is something to look forward to, you and me alike. For those of you who may not know, I am a bit of a weather freak, and in my excitement it is likely I will see little sleep tonight. 

With that, I say goodnight. It should be interesting to experience a thunder snow/sleet storm tonight and tomorrow, and I look forward to creating some more stories to share with you. Until then, I leave you with this song that was shared with me by the recent birthday girl: my cousin: