Monday, July 23, 2007

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, July 21, 2007

I have seen around 20 live shows in my 29 years of life...and this is easily in my Top 5. My friend who joined me has multiple times the number of shows under my belt...and she also listed it in her Top 5. A month ago, I only knew Ryan Adams as a secondary obsession on the Poltz boards that I avoided to not jump on the bandwagon. Now, I'm asking to drive it! I haven't had such excitement for something new in a really long time. I can't tell you how much I love this music. Because it is...MUSIC. The man can sing and the band can play and it is all beautiful.

We got in line after some yummy Thai food and it was already down the block. We got asked about a dozen times who we were waiting to see, and almost everyone heard us wrong and said 'Bryan Adams? He sucks' and would walk on. One girl echoed our sentiment though and said "Him...really...here?" He played for 2.5 hours, and actually PLAYED THE GUITAR. Ryan had hurt his hand in a skateboarding accident before the tour and hasn't been playing. There have been a lot of complaints about the tour, short sets, mellow sets, etc. We had none of it. It was incredible and you could obviously see that they were enjoying themselves. They work so well together!

We had an incredible spot, and in general met interesting people. We had the twins that train all the Lady Vols and their Dad in front of us, and they rocked our socks and were ripped! There was an evil twin and a good twin, and they were really funny and made the pre-show a bit more entertaining. Then it felt like a Poltz look alike contest! There was this guy "Stripes" who was a Sean Carey look alike who we enjoyed greatly, he was a bit of a character, and my gaydar was off because when he mentioned his gf, I was surprised! We had "The Odd Couple" on the other side with another Sean Carey look alike, and then the guy that elbowed his way in and looked like the love child of Paul and Matt the Electrician, all the while with a Piano player that looked like AJ Croce. I was in an "elective bitch" mood and kept calling the guy that pushed in a Dick. I guess I felt safe, as I am usually anti-confrontation. I was also a bitch to the "hippie girl" who was "looking for her sister" and then stayed and kept flopping her dreads in Pixy's face, asking her if she was going to stay to not take up so much space, since we had been there the whole show. I disliked the LA girls behind me who kept bumping me and calling me "Santa Cruz" even though they were trying to be friendly, they were just a bit obnoxious and also weren't there when the show started. Our modge podge group successfully defended it's space and enjoyed the show.

I also took incredible pictures!

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

He's just so cute!

Ryan Muthafuckin' Adams

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

AND ROCK AND FUCKING ROLL!

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Relive the Show, now on Archive.org!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Luce in Palo Alto, July 10, 2007

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It was a lot of fun! There were a lot of people there, and the Buscycle...this thing you have to help pedal to ride.

Roadtrip Pics: 1300 Miles in 4 Days

Santa Cruz - Santa Ana -
Julian - Escondido -
Oceanside - Escondido - Pala - Escondido -
Julian - Seacliff - Santa Cruz

Lake Henshaw Lake Henshaw

I loved the "Cow Beach" and "Like Moo" cracked me up on this entrance to the lake.

Lake Henshaw Lake Henshaw

The Lake was so dry compared to last time.

Turkeys! Turkeys!

Then I saw turkeys! There were at least ten of them just walking along.

Escondido Sunset Escondido Sunset

The sunset on Saturday was beautiful.

Oceanside Harbor
We spent Sunday afternoon tooling around the coast of Oceanside.

Road Tripper! Lake Henshaw

Time to head home...and by the lake again.

Seacliff, CA Me in Seacliff

Seacliff, CA Mmm Gorillapod

But it's not a trip to San Diego without a stop on the 101 at Seacliff.

It's good to be home!

4th of July at Twin Lakes Beach

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Explosions everywhere...under flood lights. That's what those big bright white spots are. For safety I guess. There were a lot of people there. We met some really nice cops that day, and enjoyed a great day on the beach, BBQing after and walking down to see the chaos to end the evening. It's really amusing to me for all the checking they do to keep fireworks off the beach, they just stand by after dark while the crowd forms and the spectacle begins. We only watched for 10 minutes and then I had to ride my bike home (it was cold) but I snagged these fews shots while we were standing there. I like the bottom one because you can see the reflection of the fireworks above in the little lagoon down below. It was a really good holiday and a busy few days of friends and fun, but it was so needed. My summer just picks up momentum from here, so I am glad to have a tidier house and a day to just relax. Yay.

Seymour Discovery Center at Long Marine Lab

Seymour Center, Long Marine Lab

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