Al gore

Some good one liners from the former VP and a massive standing O (as you might expect in this situation). I haven't heard him speak much before but he's talking pretty fast tonight. Slow down Al!

Its one big party here...

Save for the fact that there's no beer sales. :( people were really fired up when Cheryl crow and Stevie wonder came out but gov. Richardson drew the biggest applause so far. Although now that I typed that, Stevie is playing 'signed sealed delivered' and the crowd's going nuts.

Also, all 70,000 people must be doing what I'm doing right now because email/internet has been real spotty.

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My battery died

I was on my phone literally all day and then left for this and of course my phone was out of power and died. Luckily Erin has plenty of juice left if hers so you won't be without this riveting play by play analysis. :)
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Stevie wonder

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Cheryl crow

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We're 'special' :)

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We're in our seats!

Just north of south stands - section 135

Security line in the tent

Outside East side of stadium

Trying to find our security line

Almost there...

Will we ever get there?

Sitting (standing actually) on a bus waiting to get through traffic downtown. Its pretty stacked up - we're around 15th and wazee - nowhere near Invesco yet. Talking with Erin and Clara (our wonderful friend who sorted us out on the cred's) and enjoying it knowing that we'll be there soon enough! Our badges are supposed to get us on the 1st level too. Hope that's true!

Headed to Invesco....

A friend just called with 2 extra VIP credentials for Obama's speech at Invesco tonight - so Erin and I are headed out! watch for more updates tonight.....pretty cool to be a part of history being made!

A perfect night at Red Rocks.....

I had to share this view we had on the most perfect night for a concert. Red Rocks is a magical place inn any case but tonight was exceptional! If you haven't checked out My Morning Jacket you don't know what you're misssing! Black Keys played an awesome opening set too.

It begins.....

4 days till the convention starts and it appears the madness is descending already...there is a tent at the corner near the office selling Obama souvenirs and then there's this 40 ft MSNBC banner on the Kacey building across the parking lot at the Pepsi Center....should be an interesting week!

I guess you could say I have the bug....just 2 weeks after climbing my first 14'er (and really, my first mountain of any real significance) I summited Hauge's Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday with my friends Steve and Marty (l to r in the group photo). Don't be fooled by the mid-13K elevation - this is no 'walk in the park' (well, techically I guess it is) as it is ~15 miles round trip and a punishing 5,000 feet of vertical (up, and then down again!). The physical exercise, the fresh air, the mind-boggling natural beauty, and especially the reward of reaching the summit make all the aches and pains I'm feeling today well worth it. The last 1000 feet or so of the ascent was a lot more work (and a little hairier) than we'd expected; but I'll never forget pulling myself over the edge and onto the top of the mountain - what a feeling!

It may not technically be the 'roof of the world' but it sure feels like it at 14,271 ft above sea level! Depsite having spent all but 2.5 years of my life in CO, I have never climbed, hiked, or otherwise ascended a 14'er. That streak ended today when I climbed Quandary Peak outside of Breckenridge, thus accomplishing one of the goals I set for myself this summer and affording me an awe-inspiring view. Class 1 (read: least technically demanding) rating to the contrary, this was still a pretty physically demanding hike and I was glad I'm in pretty good shape already. Even so I was stopping every 30 or 40 steps for the last hundred yards or so but MAN was it amazing once we got up to the top! We hung out with a family of goats who were munching on some vegetation (what little there is 3000 feet above timberline), ate some lunch and then high-tailed it back down once the weather turned. I've definitely got the bug now - I'm already thinking of my next ascent!

More music

Wow, a post every 4 1/2 months; I am ON FIRE.

This year I'm trying to keep track of my favorite new bands/albums as I go rather than wait till the end of the year (and inevitably forgetting about some). Here's what's been doing it for me through the first 4 1/2 months of 2008 - rather than review each one (things are pretty busy around here!), I linked them to Amazon or emusic so you can hear them for yourself. It's well worth the time!

Black Mountain - In the Future
The Ravonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Pete and the Pirates - Little Death
The Whitsundays - The Whitsundays
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
Eric Lau - New Territories
Black Keys - Attack & Release
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Foals - Antidotes
Panic at the Disco - Pretty. Odd.
Hysterics - Hysterics

New Year, New List

I know I have been a total slacker about updating this thing, and after all that talk about how I was going to mobile blog whatever came into my head, wine food music blah blah blah....and then it turned out that my wife was the one to actually follow through on that (read hers here). Well, I'm going to be better this year. Really. Or maybe not, we'll see. In the meantime, here's my list of essential albums from 2007 (Bon Savants was actually mid-Dec 2006 but I'm not letting 2 weeks stop it from getting in. It's my list so I make the rules).

This is the list I've been keeping. Tier I is sort of a "damn this CD is good and indispensible; I can't imagine not having that album" Tier 2 has some albums that in theory might end up in that level but probably not, but I still really liked them.

There's also a couple other albums from 2007 I picked up today on emusic but they're on the quiet/mellow side and hard to tell if I like them at work volumes. Have to have a run on the headphones to figure those out but whatever; this list is already long enough.....

My favorite album by a mile:
The National - Boxer

Tier I

Interpol - Our Love to Admire
Film School - Hideout
Sloan - Never Hear the End of It
BRMC - Baby 81
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
The Cave Singers - Invitation Songs
Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
Matthew Dear - Asa Breed
Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water is Life
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Oxford Collapse - A Good Ground
Warm in the Wake - American Prehistoric

Tier 2

The Ponys - Turn the Lights Out
Celebration - The Modern Tribe
White Stripes - Icky Thump
Emma Pollock - watch the fireworks
MIA - Kala
Rebekah Higgs - Rebekah Higgs
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down the Mountain
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Caribou - Andorra
Bon Savants - Post Rock Defends the Nation
The Rakes - Ten New Messages
The Mother Hips - Kiss the Crystal Flake
Kathy Diamond - Miss Diamond to You
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Caribou - Andorra
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Acadamy
Pela - Anytown Graffiti
International Karate - More of what we've heard before

I felt like this was overall a really good year for music. Felt like Indie has started to permeate the mainstream a bit too which can't be a bad thing. I've also noticed a lot of world/int'l styles creeping into otherwise 'normal' music and other genre-blurring, as well as a return to a 60's and 70's classic rock sound that is hitting a great note.

new mix for the holidays

As you may or may not know, each year I put together a compilation of some of my favorite tracks by some of my favorite artists of the last year. I try to make most of the tracks stuff that was released in that year but there are always a few exceptions, and always for good reason (i.e. Joy Division - Atmosphere; since I was listening to a LOT of JD this year when Control came out). It's obviously not comprehensive since I pick up 10-15 new cds each month but it captures some of the best of what's out there right now (IMO) and really is just meant to be a celebration of good music!

download it by right click/save as'ing here

dj joey b
this is ridiculous
december 2007

01. Sloan - Flying High Again
02. Sloan - Who Taught You to Live Like That
03. Spoon - Don't You Evah
04. Howling Bells - Blessed Night
05. The National - Fake Empire
06. Black Lips - O Katrina!
07. Film School - Sick Hipster Nursed By Suicide Girl
08. LCD Soundsystem - Us V Them
09. Phoenix Foundation - Going Fishing
10. Bon Savants - Between the Moon and the Ocean
11. Radiohead - Reckoner
12. Matthew Dear - Shy
13. The White Stripes - I'm Slowly Turning Into You
14. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - American X
15. The National - Apartment Story
16. Yeasayer - Worms
17. Frightened Rabbit - Behave!
18. Joy Division - Atmosphere

Jake is even smarter than I thought

Graduating at the age of 7, thus saving everyone lots of money! :)