On With The Show

What an insane week. Still recovering after the insane show I went to Saturday, but we'll get back to that later. I taught Mia how to make a very basic tattoo stencil early this week, so she was tattooing herself as well as my in-laws. Silly kiddo. Tuesday, she had her very first bass guitar lesson. She was super excited. The morning of the lesson, she was pretty cranky and self-defeated about things so when I went to work, I was nervous she'd go to her lesson hating it. Luckily, I was wrong. Jill texted me that Mia had the BEST time and really likes her instructor. She learned quite a bit for her first day including technique and how to play with fingers. I was totally impressed when I got home from work when she showed me what she had learned. Well done kiddo! Since then, she's been practicing daily.

I had a great lesson Thursday with Micah and Gigi. This week, they re-created my infamous watermelon sketch and learned how to make colors pop on toned paper. Specifically, using white to blend and layer with the red to get that watermelon look. It took Gigi a couple tries to get it, but eventually she was okay with her final result. I really liked it but she wasn't digging it. I still have to work on her self-confidence. Her sister Micah NAILED the sketch. Totally proud. Really made the colors pop. I've got a week off from art lessons and next week I'll have a group lesson. It'll be intense and fun. It will also be a new challenge working with kids of similar skill level so I need to come up with a great lesson piece.

Saturday, I did some yard work, we ran to Trader's for groceries and later, my parents stopped over with their new puppy Simon. Such a cute dog! A bit later,  I drove to Cudahy for Dummerfest 2019. It was my first time going to this festival at this little arcade bar, but if they bring bands like The Lawrence Arms again in the future, I'll totally be back. The overall feel of this place was like a punk rock BBQ. Kids running around with over-sized band shirts, burgers/veggie burgers/brats for sale and plenty of beer. I rarely go to concerts anymore but tempt me with one of my all-time favorite band The Lawrence Arms and there is no way I'm missing it. I first saw them perform back in 2002 at the Plea for Peace show with a bunch of great acts. While waiting for my good buddy Jon to meet up with me, I watched some of the other 11 different acts that were performing throughout the day including Minneapolis's The Punchlines. Every song was a groan-worthy painfully funny joke. The singer would tell the joke, the crowd would laugh and they would start the song singing the joke. Really liked them. While watching a band inside, I ran into Brendan Kelly of TLA and he gave me a hug. He remembered me from a few years ago when he stopped in Madison with his side project, The Falcon.

Later outside, I told him how my daughter Mia just started playing bass and recently got into TLA. He was gracious enough to record a personal message to her giving her advice on learning how to play bass. Such an incredibly nice guy. Every time I've met him, he's the most down-to-earth guy and I hope when they release their new album, they tour and come around again. Mia really wanted a t-shirt from the show but when I showed her the video message this morning, she was beaming with a big smile from ear to ear. 

After her recorded the message, I ran into Chris, the other singer. I was really hoping I'd be lucky enough to talk to him. He was super friendly and we got to chat a while outside after a quick picture. Both guys signed an album for me as well. Wish I would have taken a better picture of myself with him, but oh well. I sadly didn't get to talk to Neil, their drummer. He was a bit elusive and was always in a conversation with someone or just not around. I met him several years ago when he toured with the Smoking Popes. 

Later, Jon finally arrived and we played a few arcade games before Direct Hit went on. Lippies played before them and they weren't too bad. Crowd really liked them as well. Direct Hit is a local group from Milwaukee and they were pretty solid. During sound check, the guitar player broke his string. After he replaced it, he broke it again. Talk about luck. When you're an up-and-coming band, you don't tour with multiple guitars so he just dealt with it and played  sans string.  

Finally, it was Lawrence Arms time. After a lengthy sound check, they finally took the stage with the Laverne and Shirley theme blasting through the speakers. It was an insanely amazing set with the crowd going off to every song. Set list was as follows in no particular order:
Slowest Drink
Devil's Takin Names
Great Lakes
Like a Record Player
You Are Here
Seventeener
Acheron River
Beautiful Things (encore)
Cut it up
Recovering The Opposable Thumb
Margaret
100 Resolutions
Brickwall Views
Intransit
Drunk Mouth/Kitchen Smile
The Revisionist
On With The Show
Alert The Audience!
Chapter 13: The Hero Appears
 Ramblin' Boys of Pleasure

 I hope I'm not missing anything. It was an awesome night. I still can't believe it happened. TLA played in a weird town to hundreds of people in a packed arcade and it couldn't have been a better night. If they would have played my favorite song "Turnstyles" it would have been magical. Alas, they didn't but it didn't matter. I was lucky to give one more "thank you" to Chris after the show before heading out. We had a blast and  it will go down as one of my all-time favorite shows. One of the best things about being a part of the punk community both as a musician and fan, is that some of the really amazing acts play little hole in the wall places or intimate venues that give you access to meeting band members. You feel this connection when the band is a foot or two in front of you. You don't get that hundreds of feet watching a screen in an arena. There are no pits or stage diving. For me personally, I wanna be right up there with the fans. The ones sweating, singing and feeling every note and lyric. It's a magical experience that took me back to my youth. The drive home was ridiculous after Jon and I said our goodbyes. Just thinking about the night and how lucky I truly am to have discovered this band so long ago. I was so excited the next morning to talk to Mia about it, show her the video and give her a button I was given from the tour manager. I couldn't snag a set list but that's all good. I brought a TLA shirt themed for the Milwaukee stint with a cheese head and Chicago sausage. The tour manager said it was stupid but the fans all bought them. Today, I painfully am recovering and remembering that my age. Voice took a bit to come back but eventually it did at work. This week, Mia's got bass lessons, hang with some old friends and a vet visit for Remi. Jill's birthday is this week so we're taking her out for dinner. That's all for now, thanks for reading!!

End of the Year, End of an Era

Well the school year has come to a close for 2nd grade. To me, it went unbelievably quick. The other day, Mia and I counted that she made NINE new friends this year. Crazy. She learned so much this year and has really developed her creative writing. Man, she had a ton of spelling tests which actually have been great with getting those words spelled correctly. Luckily this year, we didn't really have any bad bullying issues for a change and hope it'll continue for 3rd grade.

Thursday, I had a dual art lesson with students Micah and Gigi. They've been itching to do some painting so we worked on a water colour/pencil piece of a koi fish. The girls did fantastic and are looking forward to their next lesson. Mia painted as well and did an awesome drawing of a unicorn. I wish I could just do this for a living. Oh well. I'm looking forward to a busy Summer teaching more kids art and hope they all have fun. I'm going to work on this week getting an updated logo for Thrill Factory and promoting the lessons. Gigi wrote the sweetest letter on why my art lessons are so great. Thanks kid!

Friday was a half day for the diva. Sort of a pointless day but she had a surprise visit from her original 2nd grade teacher which put the biggest smile on her face. Honestly, we couldn't have had a better teacher for her. I traditionally brought Remi to pick her up and just about every kid ran up to give him some love. He of course didn't mind :) Mia said goodbye to some friends before we walked home. Later, she went to Stone Fire with Jill and her Grandparents. When I got home from work, there was a huge unicorn she won.

On my break Friday night, it was officially announced that Eden Hazard signed for Real Madrid. An end to an era. They have been rumoring almost his entire career as a Blue that he would leave for Madrid one day. The Prince will be painfully missed at Chelsea and has left an incredible legacy and huge shoes to fill.  His 7 years were fantastic and we all have some great memories of some of his incredible goals. He was a great servant to the club and always gave his best. He never dove and penned a great "farewell" letter. Couldn't have been any classier. Mia and I will miss watching him tare apart defense and scorch the keeper's net. Despite leaving for a club I loath, I wish him luck and hope he's treated well in Spain. Maybe he'll come back to the Bridge one day...Pictured is the shot I got of him when I saw Chelsea take on Inter several years ago when he took a PK and got the 2nd goal of the match.

Saturday we kept pretty damn busy. Because of the beautiful weather, we went to the zoo. We had a quick picnic before wandering around. Mia, Jill and myself were laughing hard at this duck that was flying and skidding across the water several times. Super cute. Mia enjoyed snapping pictures of the flamingos, giraffes, birds and otters. The red panda area was closed for some reason. The weather was too warm anyway for the critters to be out. Bummer.

Later, Mia and I picked up some food and went to the Torrent game. The girls played their heart out and got the big win 1-0. Mia had the best time cheering them on and pounding my drum. I sincerely love that she has this excitement for soccer (football) Whether it's watching the Torrent men/women's team, or our beloved Chelsea FC, it's something we get to enjoy together. Normally, we stick around for her to kick the ball about, but we had to go home and pick up Jill to go see Secret Life of Pets 2.

The movie ended up being pretty good and better than I expected. The girls crashed when we got home. Today, we did some grocery shopping before I went to work. This week, possibly some art lessons, hopefully some park visits with the diva and she's got her final rehearsal and recital this weekend. Crazy she's almost done with her dance career and ready to move on to other things. She's stated she wants to focus on her soccer and snowboarding skills, but has shown some interest in the girls running club and the newspaper club. Till then, we've got plenty of Summer to enjoy, although I think I speak for all of us that we wish we were heading back to Hawaii like last year. Oh well. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Never Stop

Evening folks. Hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend and the good weather. Thursday was my triumphant return to my private art lessons. My students Micah and Gigi were excited to start up again and did really well on their daisy mixed media sketch. A friend of Micah's also joined. She's got some work to do, confidence-wise but if she decides to continue with the art, she'll totally get there. and I'll do my very best to get her skills sharpened. Later, we cut grass till it got dark. Friday was Hot Dog Day at Mia's school. The last few days, the weather is absolutely beautiful but sadly for the first time in ten years (apparently) the outdoor part of the event was cancelled. We walked in the rain to the school and ended up having lunch with Mia in the art room. We walked back to her room and said our goodbyes before heading out. Despite the lousy weather, she enjoyed our company. When I got home from work, Mia, my sister in law Ashley and Jill were chilling eating unicorn-themed treats and watching My Little Pony.

Saturday, Mia had dance class. Jill and I did some shopping before picking up the diva. For the first time in her three years, she was holding back some years describing it as the worst dance class ever. The dance director did some adjustments to Mia's style and kept requesting she smile while she dance and it was enough for Mia to really dislike the whole dance class. I don't know if it's just that Mia doesn't like constructive criticism but man, was she upset. We talked to her and explained why she was trying to give her advice and to give your last performance everything you got and do your best to smile and be happy. Hopefully, that will work. Just a few weeks left of dance before the recital.

The rest of our Saturday, we spent cleaning the garage and getting some things ready for a future garage sale. While Jill and I worked on the garage, Mia befriended a tiny baby mouse we found. The little creature's eyes weren't even open but it was still alive. She made the mouse a nest, gave it water and tried to keep her relaxed and alive. It was nice to get the entire garage in order and I look forward to selling all the extra crap this Summer. We hung out the rest of evening and had sushi and watched a movie. Sunday, nothing major before I went to work.

Today, we decided last-minute to visit the zoo. The weather wasn't too bad for Mia to see her favorite red pandas. Luckily, it was decent enough for the two furry buddies to be hanging outside napping. We checked out the new elephant and dino exhibit, got a rare glimpse of the snow leopard and a family photo with some giraffes before calling it a day. When I have to work, we always have to cut the visit short, plus it was starting to rain. Bummer. It was quite the painful week at work, but I'm back at the grind looking for a better job. Can't give up on this. Can't stop.

This week, possibly another art lesson, Chelsea plays for the Europa final against Arsenal, job hunting and hopefully better weather? Who knows. Man, if this is Hazard's last game, I certainly hope he pulls off this win for the Blues. The team won't be the same without him. That's all for now, thanks for reading!