Almost a whole year. I’m a slacker.
Ok. Just like the Counting Crows have been hanging around this town, it’s been “way way way too long” since I’ve put a major update on this blog! So many things have happened. Continental Drifters. Hawaii. Disney World. Mardi Gras. Rose accepting a job in Florida. Wanee. Jazz Fest. And that just gets us through the first 5 months of this year! I’ll reserve from June forward for the next post, cuz there’s already way too much I’m putting in this one, and I’m even cutting back on that.
We set up this web site initially for our wedding, and then converted it to a blog to track our adventures, sort of a journal type thing. So let me do my best to keep that up.
So, as Billy Eichner from Billy on the Street would say, “And away…..we…..GO!”
Let’s start this off with our trip with the Continental Drifters reunion. For those of you who don’t know, and you should, the Continental Drifters were an AWESOME band in the 90s/early 2000s. Kind of a supergroup, some may say. Susan Cowsill. Vicki Peterson. Peter Holsapple. Ray Ganucheau. Mark Walton. Carlo Nuccio. Gary Eaton. Danny McGough. Russ Broussard. Robert Mache. Well, they did a reunion in New Orleans, then 2 shows in California. Jeff decided to go to the California shows too, and threw in a Dr. Ken taping. Little did he know Nate & Nanci would be there, and a trip to Disneyland was also thrown into the mix. Oh yeah, AND The Dan Band. At the Roxy. What an intimate show.
From California in September to Hawaii last October. Here’s a bunch of pictures from that, besides the awesome street art I added in the last post to keep it from being too stale.
One of the major things Jeff insisted on, a tour of Kualoa Ranch, where a lot of Lost was shot, as well as the newest King Kong movie, and the ATV scene from Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. OH yeah, and also some of Jurassic World. You know. The stuff that wasn’t shot at Jazzland. 🙂
Don’t worry, we survived our run-ins with polar bears and a t-rex, so we went to a Luau and a beach and spent some time with Jeff’s parents.
After we were done being tourists, we went to Molokai to hang out with Rose’s parents.
Go figure, Jeff had some beer. He thinks this should be a promotional shot for Kona Brewing, even though it wasn’t shot on the big island.
There’s a pool at the Krupka home on Molokai. There are huge pictures of turtles and dolphins on the bottom and sides of the pool. They look real. Jeff wanted to take a picture with one. In this picture…yes. That’s his foot. This isn’t a reshoot of the Nirvana cover.
In January we did the Disney World Half Marathon as part of Jeff’s 40th birthday celebration. We did a whole 4 days at the park, staying on the grounds with the dining plan and everything. It was heaven (for Jeff, of course. It was fun for Rose too, but I’m pretty sure Jeff is the only one who would describe it as “heaven”).
Before you knew it, it was time for Mardi Gras.
Jeff was Mitch Landrieu, the mayor of New Orleans (note the Robert E. Lee statue), and Rose was a flamingo. We will be cleaning up pink boa feathers for the rest of our lives, and then some.
After Mardi Gras, we went to see Mute Math. If you don’t know who they are, you should.
Rose finally decided she had worked 24/7/365 enough, and decided to take a job in Florida working every other week, so we had a surprise going way party for her at the bulldog. A lot of people showed up. It was awesome. She claimed she knew something was up, but I don’t believe her.
Then we moved most of our stuff to Florida. In a 26′ Penske van. FYI, if you ever rent a truck from HOME DEPOT (or anywhere, really, but I ALL CAPS’ED them because this time was their fault) and the DEF light comes on, DO NOT mess around. Make sure they fill that up, or you’ll have to sit at a (the only) gas station between New Orleans East and Slidell for an hour and a half for them to come fill you up. We only used, maybe, 1/4 of the DEF tank the whole trip, so that tells you how lazy they were at refilling the thing, cuz it was basically on E when we got it. But we got it filled up and everything was fine after that. Pulled out of Slidell around 1, pulled into Jupiter around 3am.
I was there for a week or so, then came home in time for the St. Patrick’s day parades, and caught an awesome Harry Lee bobble head, because I knew who it was. Then for the first time in forever I went to French Quarter Fest, but only because Susan Cowsill was playing.
I like Mardi Gras so much I painted the old bench that came with the condo Mardi Gras colors.
Then it was time for Wanee Festival. Always a fun time. I love that I went from “stealth” recordings with a minidisc to making money multitracking, mixing, and selling live concert recordings. If you are interested in any…www.munckmusic.com.
After that was over, since it’s halfway between New Orleans and Jupiter, of course I went to Jupiter. Rose and I spent a few days together doing awesome things before coming home for Jazz Fest.
Daisy had to make sure Rose’s Jazz Fest hat fit right.
Now, some random Jazz Fest pictures that I won’t give any descriptions or tell any stories about because they’re just not necessary:
Now some I’d like to tell a quick line or two about:
I am single-handedly responsible for signing Mystikal. I did that one for me.
We ran into Russ Broussard too.
Just in case you’re working security at the Acura stage and don’t know who the Red Hot Chili Peppers are:
Tuesday in between was the annual Threadheads Patry. Definitely a fun time you should try to check out if you haven’t already.
This is the information Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns send in advance. Best. Tech info. Ever.
Kelcy Mae and Alexandra Scott happened to be playing at the record store across the street too!
This is one of my favorite pictures at Jazz Fest in a while. Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road Show.
It rained a lot at Jazz Fest this year. I finally got use out of my rain boots.
I also got to see MyFriendApril and Darren & Shannon this year.
Good times.
Well, I think that’s enough to digest for now. More to come!
