november 2009 - milwaukee, wisconsin

i've been a lot of places throughout the united states but one place i had never been was milwaukee, wi....in fact, i had never even been to wisconsin. boy, was i SURPRISINGLY impressed! i've never been a huge fan of the midwestern part of our country but milwaukee is different. i absolutely fell in love with this city and hope to return in the future.
milwaukee was so nice and clean, everyone was friendly, there was meat (my fave food) everywhere, and in everything...even shots (gross), and everything is SO CHEAP!!!
so, here's how my milwaukee trip went down. panic was playing there for 3 nights...a fri, sat, and sun. i was planning on going to charleston the following weekend and had already committed to that so i didn't really think i could pull off making the mke trip...although i REALLY wanted to! my good friend ray is from there and he wanted me to see where he was from. kelly and brian were also going to be there and had just informed me that they weren't going to make nye in atlanta so i didn't know when the next time i would see them would be so....
saturday morning i jumped on a plane to chicago (all flights until later in the day were sold out to mke from nashville), got the chicago around 11am, then hopped on a coach usa bus from the midway airport in chicago to go to mke...crazy! i got to mke around 2-2:30pm....it was surprise to most there (except for one person)! i walked into the hotel, totally pulled off the surprise, we had a GREAT weekend. went to the shows saturday and sunday night...the pabst theatre is AWESOME!!!! so tiny...it felt like we were right over the band in our front row balcony seats! the shows were ridiculous...as they always seem to be in mke. me, thad, and bradsher even did a lil' bit of gambling at the potawatomi casino saturday night. i had the entire next week off of work for thanksgiving break so monday i went back to chicago with kelly and brian and stayed with them for a couple of days....then home for thanksgiving....for 12hrs...more on that later...

11/21/09 Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI

1: Big Wooly Mammoth > Henry Parsons Died, C. Brown, Goodpeople > Use Me*, Crazy, The Last Straw > You Got Yours, Wondering > Porch Song

2: Time Zones > Stop-Go > Cream Puff War > Stop-Go, Mercy > Imitation Leather Shoes > Bowlegged Woman, Driving Song > Love Tractor > Drums > Jam > Driving Song, B of D, North

E: May Your Glass Be Filled > No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature

* with Ryan Bishop on percussion [JB on his grandfather's guitar for 'May Your Glass Be Filled']

11/22/09 Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI

1: Let's Get The Show On The Road, Tall Boy, Conrad, Aunt Avis > Rebirtha > Already Fried > Flicker > I'm Not Alone, Solid Rock, Give

2: Last Dance, Radio Child, Smoking Factory, Walkin' (For Your Love) > Under The Radar Jam, Morning Dew > Tie Your Shoes > I Walk On Guilded Splinters > Blackout Blues, Pilgrims > Junior

E: All Time Low, Dream Song

downtown mke at night.

"venice of the u.s" - milwaukee river runs through the city - beautiful.

historic third ward.

view of sklyine from lake michigan.

me and thad.

megan, kelly, jane, and me.

november 2009 - the great outdoors

soon after i returned from austin i went camping on the collins river. it was some MUCH needed time away from all the madness...with some close friends from home.

our campsite

tara cooking chili and hot dogs over the campfire

early morning canoe ride

tricks AND treats - halloween - austin, tx

it has been MONTHS since i've updated this thing...i'm going to get better at it...i've just a had SO MUCH going on!

i think i left off in ROCKtober, which is always a great month! i carried the "ROCK" part on over to november this year!!!!

the last weekend of ROCKtober i went to austin, tx for halloween. man, do i love that town!!! not only do i have a lot of good friends that live there...it's just a great place to visit! i flew down on thurs. am...ray and i were on the same flight. we had fun with the broken down bench at the airport...

when we got to austin sam picked us up and we went and met mr. john flynn for lunch at his restaurant...great sandwiches and drinks to start off the afternoon! always good to see flynn...love him!
next we headed over to gt and lexi's place to hang for a bit before we went to waterloo records for the patterson hood solo.

me, sam, and gt

after the patterson solo>back to lexi and gt's to get ready for the drive-by truckers show at stubb's. the truckers show was lots of fun...first time to see everyone in a long time...in one of my favorite cities...seing one of my favorite bands!

the next day we all went to lunch at shoal creek saloon...pretty tasty, nice weather...perfect for patio seating! here's a shot of all the ladies at lunch...

after lunch we went back to erica and mcnatt's to nap and get ready for the 1st night's show. we got to austin city music hall pretty early bc we weren't for sure how getting in was going to be. there were different color tickets, different entrances, etc...
the show was good the first night. they opened with lawyers, guns, and money bc the last show of last tour (houston, tx) they closed with it and totally mutilated it. they wanted to make it up to the tx folks and do it right so they opened with it this night...pretty cool.

10/30/09 Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX

1: Lawyers, Guns, And Money, Action Man, Pleas > Love Tractor, Tickle the Truth, You Should Be Glad, Blight, Little Kin, Dyin' Man, Fishwater > Cream Puff War > Fishwater
2: Tall Boy > Jam > Space Wrangler, Three Candles, Disco > Arleen > I'm Not Alone > Impossible > Machine > Barstools and Dreamers > Climb To Safety
E: Chest Fever, Ophelia, The Shape I'm In
['Safety Dance' rap during 'Climb To Safety'; Last 'The Shape I'm In' - 09/30/95, 1196 shows]

the next afternoon we went to the green mesquite for lunch...more nice weather...more patio seating...which is always a bonus...especially at the very end of october!

back to eric and mcnatt's to get into our halloween costumes>off to the halloween show!

10/31/09 Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX

1: Waitin' For The Bus > Chilly Water > Rock > Chilly Water, Trouble, Gimme > You Got Yours, Give, Mama Told Me Not To Come > Red Beans
2: Come As You Are > Bowlegged Woman, The Last Straw, Holden Oversoul > Jam > Vampire Blues, Imitation Leather Shoes > Drums > Bust It Big > Pigeons, Lake Of Fire > Henry Parsons Died
E: The Masquerade, Postcard, Flat Foot Flewzy
[Only 'Come As You Are', Only 'Lake Of Fire', Only 'The Masquerade', Only 'Waitin' For The Bus']

stage - halloween night

robin, me, and shay

me and bradsher

sam, me, and boswell

lexi

erica

the most special part of this whole trip is that we got to meet miss lucy nash clough! ebeth had this bundle of joy early in the morning on the 30th. we stayed an extra day in austin just to meet her. i got her the onsie she has on in these pics...bc she is the newest edition of the crushettes.

miss lucy nash clough - posing already!