Rob and Carley

WHAT'S NEW

2010-01-03T23:52:00.025-06:00

As of January, 2010, we are no longer updating this blog. The main purpose of this blog now is to serve as a permanent record of our travels in Mexico and Guatemala in 2005 and 2006. There are also a bunch of pages documenting our early years of parenthood in Mississippi, which you can find here. However, to keep up with our latest activities, you'll have to friend us on Facebook.

OUR ADVENTURES SOUTH OF THE BORDER
(Winter 2005 - Summer 2006)

In the spring of 2005 we loaded up the car and the dog and left the USA for awhile. We spent 30 days driving through Mexico, checking out lots of cool sites along the way.

After crossing into Guatemala, we decided to settle in the city of Quetzaltenango (Xela), where we stayed for a little over a year.

The following links will help you to navigate our travels and adventures.

Leaving the USA

Truckin' - Our First Blog Post! (Jan 2005)

And They're Off!! Almost... (Feb 2005)

Leaving the USA! (Mar 2005)

Roadtrip Down Through Mexico: March 21 to April 20, 2005

Day 1: Monterrey

Days 2-3: Guanajuato

Days 4-6: Morelia and the Michoacán Countryside

Days 7-10: Uruapan, Volcanos and Colima

Days 11-14: The Michoacán Coast

Days 15-17: La Costa Grande - Zihuatanejo and Acapulco

Days 18-20: The Oaxaca Coast - Puerto Escondido and Mazunte

Days 21-22: The Oaxaca Mountains - San José Del Pacifico

Days 23-25: Oaxaca

Day 26: Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Capital of Chiapas

Day 27: San Cristóbal De Las Casas, the heart of Chiapas

Days 28-29: Ancient Mayan Ruins at Palenque

Days 29-30: Jungle Waterfalls in Chiapas

Impressions of Mexico

Living in Guatemala: April 20, 2005 to June 30, 2006

Overview of Guatemala

Living in Quetzaltenango (Xela)

Our Home in Xela: The Yoga House

Our Friends in Guatemala

Rob's Work in Guatemala

Rob's Volunteer Projects

Carley's Volunteer Project

Say What? Strange Sights in Guatemala

The Harsh Realities of Living in Guatemala

The Guatemalan Weight Loss Diet!

Hurricane Stan (Oct 2005)

Norcal Reunion in Guatemala

Goodbye to Guatemala

Places to See in Guatemala:

Side Trips Around Xela

Fuentes Georginas: Hot Springs Near Xela

Lake Atitlán: Our Favorite Weekend Getaway

San Marcos: Bohemian Getaway at Lake Atitlán

Antigua: Central America's Most Beautiful City

Jamtigua: Music Festival in Antigua

Guatemala City: The Capital

Volcán Santa María

Volcán Pacaya

Pacific Beach at Monterrico

Cobán: Coffee Town in the Mountains

Semuc Champey: Jungle Waterfalls

Finca Neuava Alianza: A Worker-Owned Coffee Cooperative

Copán: Mayan Ruins in Honduras

Lake Yojoa and Giant Waterfall in Honduras

Petén: Guatemala's Jungle Frontier

Tikal: Majestic Mayan Ruins

Guatemala's "Riviera": Río Dulce and Lago Izabal

Livingston: Guatemala's Caribbean Culture

Todos Santos: Indigenous Mountain Town

Lagos de Montebello: Beautiful Mexican Lakes

Random Camping Trip in Guatemala

Holidays in Guatemala:

Semana Santa: Holy Week and Easter in Guatemala

Huelga de Dolores: A Strange Guatemalan Pre-Easter Tradition

Independence Day (Sep 15)

Christmas in Guatemala

New Year's Eve in Guatemala

Roadtrip Back Up Through Mexico: July 1 to July 21, 2006

Yucatán: Caribbean Beaches

Yucatán: Mayan Ruins at Chichén Itzá

Yucatán: Valladolid and Mérida

On the Road in Mexico

Mexican Highlands: Orizaba

Mexico City

Mexico City: History

Mexico City: Anthropology Museum

Mexico City: Art Museums

Mexico City: Political Protest

MAJOR MILESTONES

Our Wedding (Oct 15, 2005)

Our "Southern Honeymoon"

Our San Francisco Wedding Party (Oct 22, 2005)

Our California Honeymoon

Pregnant (Spring and Summer or 2006)

2006 - BACK IN THE USA

Our New Home: Tupelo, Mississippi

Our New Baby Boy!! (Sep 9)

First Weeks of Family Life

Garaj Mahal in Memphis (Oct 17)

Happy Halloween

Trey Anastasio in Memphis (Nov 2)

Thanksgiving Roadtrip to Pennsylvania (Nov 25 to Dec 2)

Carley's Brother Barrett Engaged! (Dec 22)

Merry Christmas!

New Year's Eve with STS9 in Atlanta

2007 - OUR FIRST YEAR IN TUPELO

We Bought Our First House!

Rowan A-Growin'

Spring Break at the Beach near Destin, Florida (Mar 10-17)

Widespread Panic in Huntsville (Apr 14)

New Orleans Jazzfest (Apr 26-29)

Gumtree Art Festival (Mother's Day - May 13))

Rowan's Baptism (May 20)

Peter Rowan and Rowan Oak in Oxford (May 25)

Bonnaroo Music Festival (June 14-17)

Summer Vacation at the Beach in Florida (July 4th week)

Summer is Time for Picnics in the Park

Summer is Time for Backyard Parties

Al Green at Memphis Botanical Gardens (July 21)

Back to School (Aug 10)

Big Sam's Funky Nation in Oxford (Aug 31)

Rowan One Year Old!

Hangin' at the Hanna Cabana

College Football at Ole Miss (Sep 22)

Celebration of Cultures (Sep 29)

Willie Nelson in Tupelo (Nov 4)

Thanksgiving at the Beach in Florida (Nov 17 to 24)

Bear Creek Music Festival in Live Oak, Florida (Nov 18)

Holiday Roadtrip to Pennsylvania (Dec 22 to Jan 5)

Merry Christmas!

Rob's Hometown: Bangor, PA

Day Trips: Philadelphia and New York City

The Five-Day Roadtrip Back Home

2008 - ANOTHER YEAR IN TUPELO

Greyboy Allstars in Oxford (Feb 2)

Snowy Spring Break (Mar 8)

Bill Clinton in Tupelo (Mar 7)

Carley's Brother Got Married! (Apr 5)

Galactic in Oxford (Apr 18)

Beale Street Festival in Memphis (May 4)

Yikes! A Tornado! (May 8)

Summertime in the Backyard

City Stages Festival in Birmingham (June 13)

Staying Busy in June

The Big Roadtrip Out West (June 29 to July 18)

New Orleans

Houston

Austin

Tucson

Los Angeles

Santa Barbara

Pismo Beach

San Jose

Bonny Doon

Pacifica

Oakland

San Francisco

Walnut Creek

STS9 and Umphrey's McGee in Atlanta (The Debacle - Aug 1 and 2)

Rowan Almost 2 Years Old

Summertime Fun in the Park

Stanton Moore Trio in Oxford (Sep 4)

Rowan 2 Years Old! (Sep 9)

College Football at Ole Miss (Sep 20)

Celebration of Cultures (Sep 27)

College Football in Starkville (Oct 11)

Halloween 2008

Titans vs Packers in Nashville (Nov 2)

Election Day in St. Louis? (Nov 4)

Thanksgiving at the beach in Florida

Christmas 2008

New Year's Eve in Atlanta with STS9

2009 - THE YEAR OF BIG CHANGE!

Almost Two-And-A-Half

Forty! (Jan 8)

HOUSE FOR SALE

Happy Valentine 2009

Fun in the Snow

Winter Visitors

The Children's Museum of Memphis

The Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo

Rob's Job Teaching ESL in Pontotoc County

CARLEY'S NEW JOB at University of Mississippi

Umphrey's McGee in Memphis (March 28)

March Madness in Memphis (March 29)

Introducing Johnny Travers Hanna (April 10)

Happy Easter

Galactic in Oxford (April 15)

Wilco in Oxford (April 23)

Double Decker Festival (April 25)

Rowan's First School Musical (April 28)

Umphrey's McGee in New Orleans (May 1)

Umphrey's McGee in Oxford (May 2)

Fiesta on Chesta (May 30)

OUR NEW HOUSE

Bonnaroo Music Festival (June 11-14)

Weekend at the Beach (July 3-4)

Visit With Rob's Family in Pennsylvania (July 7-14)

The Land of Make Believe (July 13)

The Don Myers Memorial in Missouri (July 29-30)

Swimming at Sardis Lake (August 8)

Labor Day Getaway to Florence, AL (September 4-6)

Derek Trucks Band in Oxford (September 15)

Rowan's 3rd Birthday Party (September 19)

Carley's National Geographic Conference in Puerto Rico (September 22-26)

Allan's Wedding in Sonoma (October 2)

Rob's Visit to San Francisco (October 2-3)

NFL in Nashville - Titans vs Colts (October 11)

A lazy Sunday afternoon in Oxford

Football Saturday in Oxford (October 24)

Ween in Oxford (October 29)

STS9 in Birmingham (October 30)

Halloween

New Mastersounds at Proud Larry's (November 11)

Thanksgiving at the beach

Tupelo Christmas Parade (December 5)

Merry Christmas!

Galactic in New Orleans for New Year's Eve

NEW YEAR'S EVE IN NEW ORLEANS

2010-01-03T13:09:00.002-06:00

We have a long-running tradition of seeing live music on New Year's Eve. It's a perfect holiday for leaving Rowan with his MeMe and Papa and getting out of town for a couple of days. We had planned on making the trip to Miami to meet up with a bunch of friends to see Phish, but unfortunately that fell through when we found out we could only leave Rowan for 2 nights, which wouldn't be enough time to make the 15-hour drive and back. (No way were we ready to pay $900 for plane tickets.)

So, we settled on Plan B: Galactic at Tipitina's. Galactic is a long-time favorite of ours, and Rob had seen some excellent Galactic New Year's shows in San Francisco back in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

After an opening set by John Mooney and Bluesiana, Galactic took the stage around 11:45 and played 3 sets, finishing their encore around 3:30am.

Corey Henry sat in all night on the bone.

Mo' Money!

Big Freedia (a local sissy-rap artist) joined Galactic for one of several new tunes from their upcoming album.

It was good to see our friend Cathy, a local New Orleans music fanatic.

Despite our reverence for Tipitina's, it seems that local Galactic fans consider New Year's at Tip's to be "amateur night". And sure enough, the guy with the huge fuzzy hat proceeded to spill Carley's beer all over her moments after this photo was taken.

Settle down there Fess! You dropped your cigarette.

Happy New Year! (These weren't the bubbles we were hoping for.)

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CHRISTMAS 2009

2009-12-28T11:48:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Joy to the world!

We actually put up Christmas lights this year.

Our next-door neighbors' lights blew ours away. Our neighborhood had more lights than any other we saw anywhere this year, and they even had a judging. (The neighbors in the photo above won 3rd place.)

Santa's secret hiding spot

Mommy and Daddy got their biggest presents a few days early. Thanks Papa!

We had lots of Christmas parties to attend. Our favorite was the Autism Benefit that our friend Emily put on. It was good to hang out with our Tupelo crew!

Another favorite was the annual "How Come Christmas?" party, where every year we eat venison gumbo and hear Dr. Warriner's rendition of the obscure classic Christmas tale.

Rowan got his first stab at billiards.

"Can we go home now, MeMe?"

Christmas Eve turkey dinner at MeMe and Papa's house (with Emily and Lucas!)

Carley's special Christmas Eve nog.

We opened some presents on Christmas Eve so there would be room for Santa to leave all his presents.

Thanks Santa!

The best gift of all

The last ornament on the Advent Calendar

Bloody Mary Christmas morning, plus breakfast casserole

So many toys, and all day to play with them!

Rowan's friend Taylor came over for a late afternoon visit.

Bye bye Christmas! See you next year...

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CHRISTMAS PARADE

2009-12-06T14:36:00.000-06:00

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Tupelo has the biggest Christmas parade around, so we made the 45-minute drive to our old neighborhood and met up with Rowan's MeMe and his buddy Lucas.

We also met up with Henry, one of his new pals from the day-care in Oxford, and Henry's mom Elisabeth.

We had a great spot...

...and Rowan really got into it...for awhile.

Here they come!

There were big horses...

...and little horses,

and all kinds of floats sponsored by local businesses...

...including some tacky ones.

There were kids marching in pajamas...

...and kids riding in a tent.

Of course there were plenty of high school marching bands...

...including the Cougars of South Pontotoc, the rural school where Rob teaches about 35 minutes away.

There were solar-powered race-cars,

hoopers (Carley's favorite),

and even a cross-dresser!

Merry Christmas!

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THANKSGIVING AT THE BEACH

2009-11-27T10:59:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 to
Friday, November 27, 2009

For Thanksgiving week we loaded up the car for another 7-hour drive to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. We stayed at the same condo as last Thanksgiving...and the one before that.

"I'm ready to go swimming!"

The bike rental place across the street was convenient.

Thanksgiving "dinner" was at our usual spot, the excellent Cafe Thirty-A.

"Mmmmmm, turkey."

The weather was a bit chilly, but not too cold for a sunset walk on the beach with MeMe.

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NEW MASTERSOUNDS AT PROUD LARRY'S

2009-11-12T04:47:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, November 11

It was another musical treat in Oxford when the British funk-instrumental band New Mastersounds came to our favorite little live music venue, Proud Larry's. These guys a retro mix of old-school funk and soul jazz - all original music, but with a heaping scoop of James Brown sounds tossed into a Grant Green stew.

Guitarist Eddie Roberts is the star, fueling the dance party with lightning leads so buttery smooth and tasty.

Pete Shand on the funky bass!

Joe Tatton on the keys...

...and Simon Allen on the drums. Hey, it might not be the most original-sounding band on the planet, but you can't help but shake your hips when these guys are playing!

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HALLOWEEN 2009

2009-11-03T20:55:00.004-06:00

A few days before Halloween we made the jack-o-lantern.

Of course, most of this process involved sharp instruments and thus very little for Rowan to do, except occasionally come over and push out an eye or something.

Afterward we washed the seeds, and then roasted them with olive oil. Mmmmm!

Spoooooookeeeee! (Well, sorta)

On Halloween night, Rowan's day-care buddy Henry came over to trick-or-treat with us. We had met Henry and his parents at a day-care open house, and they were the only ones we really felt we'd really click with. Ah, the life of parents. Anyways it turned out to be a great night!

Out the door and off to see the neighbors!

Rowan only made it to one house before he ran back home to get his Hot Wheels. Needless to say, he was the only kid trick-or-treating on a Hot Wheels.

His favorite part was running into Taylor, the cute neighbor girl that he has a little crush on.

Trick-or-treating seems to be a big deal in our new neighborhood. What fun!

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STS9 IN BIRMINGHAM

2009-10-31T20:19:00.001-06:00

Friday, October 30, 2009

We really wanted to catch this show together, since it would probably be our only chance to see STS9 in 2009. Unfortunately, Carley had work obligations and couldn't make it, so Rob went solo and met up with our friend Clay outside the show.

It was my first time at the Alabama Theatre.

Really nice place!

It reminded me a lot of the Tabernacle in Atlanta, with its balconies and anterooms, but smaller, and with seats on the floor.

Nice bar!

The band had a totally new stage arrangement since I last saw them on New Years Eve 2008. Each band member was in a different position than before.

As you can tell from the photos, we had excellent seats - in the 2nd row!

Hunter crankin' out the Dirty Nine on Somesing.

Jeffrey in charge on Satori.

Murphy, Zach and Phipps find a nasty groove in Wika Chikana.

Overall they avoided their most recent material from the new album. The set did feature a few old-school nuggets that really hit the spot. The setlist was:

Beyond Right Now
New New 4 U U
F Word
Somesing
Satori
Wika Chikana
GLOgli
Empires
New SOMA
Tooth
Peaceblaster
Aimlessly

Encore:
Bigs >
Metameme
Circus

This is how close to the stage our seats were!

Clay getting down.

The lobby after the show.

The lobby from upstairs.

Mirrors on the ceiling!

Until next time...

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WEEN IN OXFORD

2009-10-30T16:43:00.000-06:00

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Yes, it was almost Halloween when Ween came to town! However it was just a regular old Ween show, which is to say, wildly eclectic and totally rocking.

Gene and Dean Ween (really Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo; their stage names were reportedly inspired by The Ramones) formed the band when they were in 8th grade in New Hope, PA, almost 25 years ago! Needless to say, they've aged quite a bit, especially Gener with his potbelly and grey hair. They've put out around a dozen albums, but never made any attempt at commercial success, relying on word-of-mouth to build a following.

The band is actually a 5-piece, with Glenn McClelland on keys, Dave Dreiwitz on bass, and Claude Coleman on drums, and their music combines eclectic pop and hard rock with irreverent lyrics about anything they can get a laugh out of.

We had a good spot in front of Deaner, where we could get the full effect of his distortion-laden, "face-melting" guitar solos.

The show was at the Lyric Theatre, which holds around a thousand people at full capacity. It was probably only half-full for Ween, but the crowd was totally fired up.

Our friend Jack joined us for the show. Jack and Rob have both been fans of Ween for a long time, but Carley's been slow to warm up to them. However, she really enjoyed them this time, despite the fact that they played her least favorite song ever, Spinal Meningitis.

Ween rarely plays covers, but we got one this time. The first song of the encore was the protest-era classic "Ohio" from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. In a way it was appropriate for them to cover Neil Young, since Deaner's lead guitar style is often reminiscent of Young's Crazy Horse sound. However the political nature of the lyrics seemed really out of place at a Ween show. Nevertheless it seemed to go over quite well with the unsuspecting audience.

They finished the encore with a jammed-out 15-minute version of "Fluffy".

After the final encore, Claude came out and paid respect to the enthusiastic crowd.

As with many of the bands we like to see, the band changes up the setlist from one night to the next. Here's what they played in Oxford:

Fiesta
Nan
Transdermal Celebration
Take Me Away
Marble Tulip Juicy Tree
Happy Colored Marbles
My Own Bare Hands
Baby Bitch
Learnin' to Love
Gabrielle
Woman and Man
Your Party
Bananas and Blow
HIV Song
Spinal Meningitis
I Don't Want It
Buckingham Green
Zoloft
Ice Castles>
Final Alarm
Roses are Free
Booze Me Up and Get Me High
The Mollusk
Ocean Man
Stroker Ace
You Fucked Up

Encore:
Ohio (the CSNY song)
Fluffy

A free recording of the show is currently available online at the Internet Archive.

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FOOTBALL SATURDAY IN OXFORD

2009-10-25T20:29:00.000-06:00

October 24, 2009

Oxford turns into Party Central on home-game Saturdays, when thousands of fans set up tailgate parties in The Grove, in the middle of the Ole Miss campus.

We were stoked to get a visit from Carley's brother Barrett and his wife Molly! We spent the morning tailgating with Molly's family, including Molly's sister-in-law Brandi, above right.

Uncle B taught Rowan how to kick field goals!

He also liked being the holder. Overall he had a great time at his first tailgate, especially yelling "oink!" at the Arkansas Razorback fans that were in town for the game.

After the game started, we stayed out in The Grove and met up with our friend Erik from Tupelo. His tailgate had a TV with satellite, so we got to watch the game with the comfort of food and ice chests at arm's reach. Ole Miss ended up hammering the Hogs, with a final score of 30-17.

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A LAZY SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN OXFORD

2009-10-19T05:03:00.003-06:00

October 18, 2009

One thing that can really make a town a nice place to live is the local city parks. Fortunately for us, we've found one really good one here in Oxford.

For starters, it's a great place for some tricycling.

And it's dog-friendly! Now if they just had a leash-free area so Kina could run...

A music break so Rowan could play some xylophone on the playground.

Mommy too!

A walk up the steep hill.

A ride up the long hill.

A short breather at the top...

...and Whee!! Down the other side of the hill. This path makes a nice loop around the park.

After all that tricycling, it was time for some refreshments. Main Squeeze is a favorite destination of ours, with the best smoothies and wraps that we know of anywhere in Mississippi.

Outdoor seating is nice.

Rowan enjoys his carrot, orange and apple juice smoothie, and his complementary dinosaur!

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DRIVING HOME ON THE NATCHEZ TRACE

2009-10-12T20:26:00.005-06:00

Monday, October 12, 2009

The 4-hour drive home from Nashville is just a little bit special when you take the Natchez Trace...nothing but 2 lanes and trees for hundreds and hundreds of miles. No traffic lights, no billboards, no houses, no stores...just the tranquility of nature. Some people don't like driving on the Trace due to the 50 MPH speed limit, but if you just set the cruise control and turn up the tunes, you've got the most stress-free driving you'll find anywhere.

Another nice thing about the Trace is the variety of low key roadside stops, from historical markers to short nature trails and waterfalls. They're all pretty well developed, with "trails" looking more like really steep sidewalks with rails.

On this trip we decided to stop for Jackson Falls, in the hills of south-central Tennessee.

Yeah, it's no Yosemite, but we don't even have waterfalls in Mississippi, so we'll take it!

Another road-side stop, this one in northeast Mississippi. We really only stopped here to use the bathroom.

At least he's not writing a ticket!

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SUNDAY NIGHT NFL IN MUSIC CITY

2009-10-12T07:17:00.006-06:00

October 11, 2009

Big thanks to Carley's dad for hooking us up with tickets in Nashville to see the Tennessee Titans play the Indianapolis Colts.

Not only that, but Carley's brother Barrett and his wife Molly flew up from Gainesville for the game! It was really great hanging out with them.

Tail-gating was in full swing as we approached the stadium.

This game is called "corn-hole". Seriously! Ya gotta love The South.

Since it was a Sunday night game, the NBC crew of Cris Collinsworth and Bob Costas was in town for a nationally-televised broadcast. Carley's dad got this photo, but we're still not quite sure of the whole story.

Unfortunately for the locals, there were no fireworks for the Titans, as they continued their losing streak against the Colts, losing 31-9 for an 0-5 record on the season. And this from a team that started off last year with a 13-0 record and nearly went to the Super Bowl!

Good thing for us that we're also Colts fans, and it was a treat watching Peyton Manning, one of the all-time great quarterbacks. (not shown in photo)

The next day morning we took a leisurely 4-hour drive home down the Natchez Trace.

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A VISIT TO SAN FRANCISCO

2009-10-10T04:12:00.007-06:00

October 2-3, 2009

Rob writes:

After Allan and Bernadette's wedding reception started to wind down a little, I caught a ride back to San Francisco for a Friday night in the city.

My first stop was Brian and Theresa's house, where I'd be sleeping the next couple of nights. The hospitality is second to none at Hotel Hayle. Brian even gave me a ride to the airport Sunday morning!

After dropping off my stuff, I headed over to the SOMA district to meet some friends and catch a late-night funk extravaganza at DNA Lounge. It was an all-star line-up of Eric Krasno (guitar - Soulive), Zigaboo Modeliste (drums - Meters), George Porter Jr. (bass - Meters) and Ivan Neville (keys).

The 3 New Orleans guys were the real heavyweights of the show, whereas Krasno's laid-back, jazzy guitar style didn't completely fit in.

Turns out this all-star show was really a 10th wedding anniversary for Erik and Nicole Keller.

Somewhere around 2:30am, Eric McFadden came out to jam on a few tunes. The man is an absolute beast on the guitar!

Still going strong, despite having been awake for over 24 hours (thanks to my early morning flight 2 time zones away). The show finally ended at exactly 3am.

Saturday was a very full day as well, thanks to the 9th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival - a weekend of free music in Golden Gate Park!

I had hardly walked in the gate when I ran into this crew! Definitely a treat.

My buddy John and I tried to find our way toward the Rooster Stage to find my friend Holly, but the crowd was huge. And this was just one of six stages!

Eventually we found Holly, a buddy of mine from my year in Guatemala.

Holly had a great picnic setup with wine and snacks, on a nice perch on the hill overlooking the stage.

The crowd just kept going up and over the hill.

I hung with Holly for awhile and saw an excellent set by Jorma Kaukonen, as well as an upbeat bluesy set by Boz Skaggs with his all-star band (pictured above).

Also caught part of a singer-songwriter circle with Allison Moorer, Dar Williams, Steve Earle, and Tom Morello. (Yes, THAT Tom Morello!)

Eventually I made it down from the hill to check out more of the festival.

At the Banjo Stage, the crowd was even bigger.

Fortunately, Steve and Beth had been out there since morning saving a spot. It was great to run into folks here, especially Lisa! (not pictured, unfortunately)

Molly!

Finally it was time to go, the sun setting behind me, the full moon rising in front, and a fierce Pacific wind at my back as I made my way down Fulton Street.

After an evening of superb wine and Thai food, Brian and I made our way over to one of the best little music "clubhouses" in the Bay Area, the Connecticut Yankee to meet up with some friends and check out the latest Garaj Mahal side-project, Levy's Love Lounge.

It was definitely one of the smaller audiences I've seen for live music at this place, but the good thing is that I knew almost half the people there! It was great seeing Ellen, Greg, Lexy, Jimmy, Bridget, Dave, and of course, Fritz!

And it was great listening to Alan Hertz (drums) and Eric Levy (keys) play together in that intense, mesmerizing jazz-fusion way that it seems only they can do.

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ALLAN'S WEDDING

2009-10-09T20:49:00.004-06:00

Friday, October 2, 2009

Rob flew out to San Francisco recently to for his buddy Allan's wedding to his sweetie Bernadette.

The wedding was actually in the beautiful wine country of Sonoma, at a sort of wine country galleria called Cornerstone Gardens. Allan's sister and brother had great things to say.

Jubilee, Eric and Lisa in the back row.

The reception was a great time to catch up with old friends - Lenny, Eric, Lisa, Rickie, and Taro.

Allan's brother Aaron (who flew in from Malaysia) with Jubilee and Tyler.

Tracy and Chappy!

At the dinner table with the ladies. Our table was named Rocktail Bay, after an incredible beach destination in South Africa where the newlyweds would be honeymooning.

The dance party got off to a quick start.

The hora!

Not sure what this dance is called.

Check out the rest of Rob's visit to San Francisco

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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CONFERENCE IN PUERTO RICO

2009-10-09T18:37:00.024-06:00

September 22-26, 2009

An all-expenses-paid business trip to Puerto Rico? Sure, why not? Thanks to Carley's job at Mississippi Geographic Alliance, she had the opportunity to attend the National Conference on Geography Education. It would have been great if Rob and Rowan could have gone too! Oh well, hopefully next time.

The conference was held in the hotel zone right on the beach in a touristy part of the capital, San Juan.

Carley's swanky hotel pool even had a swim-up bar. Too bad there was hardly ever a bartender here!

Carley's roommate for the week, Rebecca, who was here from Colorado to attend the conference.

Most of the week was spent in conferences all day long, but there was time to get out for a couple of excursions.

One excursion was a tour of Old San Juan.

This shot reminds me of San Francisco.

El Morro Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort has been used since the 1500s to guard Puerto Rico, and it was pretty cool to see the layers of construction from then, all the way up until WWII.

The structure at the top was an observation tower during WWII.

A sentry tower.

Carley's on the lookout!

Rebecca's on the lookout!

A view of the city from the fort.

Another excursion was a day trip to El Yunque rainforest.

p
The piping is part of an effort to preserve the Puerto Rican Parrot (how's that for alliteration!), considered a critically endangered species.

Do you see him?

Giant snail poo!

La Coca Waterfall.

The Spanish used to imprison virgin princesses here.

Never mind. It's an observation tower built by the Forest Service.

The view from the tower.

Later we stopped at a local bar before kayaking a bio-luminescent bay (of which I don't have pics but was absolutely incredible!)

Our cute geography student tour guide, Francisco, asked me for a salsa dance. Claro que si!

Typical Puerto Rican food included lots of seafood.

And fried plantains!

For dessert you could always buy ice cream on the beach!

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HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY ROWAN!

2009-09-20T11:49:00.003-06:00

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Rowan turned 3 years old on September 9th, but since that was in the middle of an extremely busy work-week, we waited until the weekend of the 19th to have his friends over for a blowout party.

Rowan helped get things ready as we prepared for guests to arrive.

We've had non-stop rain the past week, but thankfully, the let up for a day, and our backyard was filled with the sounds of laughter and play.

One of Rowan's birthday presents was a pirate-ship sandbox, and since the party coincidentally fell on International Talk Like A Pirate Day, we went for a full-on pirate theme.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you."

Even the birthday cake was a pirate ship!

It was a sweet treat seeing Harper and Anna Wyatt.

The ladies chilled out on the patio while the guys gathered in the living room for some SEC football...

...and the kids eventually got into just about everything in Rowan's room...including the crib. First it was Lucas...

...and then Rowan...

...and finally Harper.

Looks like it's time to retire the crib.

We haven't made many connections here in Oxford yet, so it was great to have our good friends make the trip from Starkville (Bill, Susan, Harper and Anna Wyatt) and Tupelo (Emily, Todd and Lucas; Tracye, Bart and Daniel; Jonathan, Niki and Ansley). Arrrrrr, mateys!

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DEREK TRUCKS BAND IN OXFORD

2009-09-20T09:30:00.006-06:00

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Now that we live in Oxford, it'll be much easier for us to pursue our passion for good live music. Being a college town, Oxford has quite a respectable music scene considering its size, especially in the fall and the spring.

Our first big show of the fall was guitar virtuoso Derek Trucks and his band at the Lyric Theatre. It was a huge treat getting to watch Derek up close as he demonstrated his incredible tone control, coaxing the smoothest, sweetest, purest sounds out of his guitar. Playing entirely without a pick and mostly with a slide, he thorougly captivated even the most casual listener with his soulful, melodic leads that alternately sang, roared, swooped and soared, plucked with such dexterity and precision that would-be guitarists in the audience could only shake their heads in disbelief.

(Note: the photo above was swiped off the Internet without permission.) The nephew of legendary Allman Brothers founding drummer Butch Trucks, Derek was a child prodigy, gaining notoriety and sitting in with big names like Buddy Guy and Bob Dylan while he was still a teenager. These days he plays lead in the current incarnation of the Allman Brothers, in addition to his critically acclaimed solo career.

Singer Mike Mattison is a great complement to Derek. His rich, soulful voice ranges from raspy baritone to smooth falsetto, and he delivers Derek's contemporary take on blues rock and R&B with class and style.

Rounding out the band was keyboardist and flutist Kofi Burbridge, as well as bassist Todd Smallie, drummer Yonrico Scott, and percussionist Count M'Butu. Their 2-hour show consisted entirely of original music, with Derek often delving deep into traditional blues stylings, yet always staying true to his distinctive musical vision. While we were mostly unfamiliar with his songs, we were thoroughly enthralled.

Our only complaint of the night was the totally wasted guy who was almost comical in his infringement of the personal space of everybody within a 10 foot radius of where he was whirling, jumping, swaying and hollering. Too many drugs, dude!

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LABOR DAY GETAWAY

2009-09-07T20:10:00.007-06:00

Labor Day for a lot of people brings to mind a trip to the beach, or maybe the lake. For others, Labor Day means it's time to head to The Playa to burn the man.

But for us, Labor Day makes us think of something like this:

Too many people and cops out on the road! So we usually stay home and take advantage of the local peace and solitude, watch some college football, and grill out on the patio. (And we certainly didn't take the photo above)

This year, however, a new plan emerged. A 2-hour drive through the countryside and up the Natchez Trace took us to your not-so-typical Labor Day desitination: Florence, Alabama.

More specifically, our destination was the Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa, where we spent a 2-night getaway with Carley's parents. And yes, we did get to eat dinner one night in the restaurant on top of that tower. (Alabama's only revolving restaurant!)

From our room we had a great view of the Wilson Dam spanning the Tennessee River.

However, this place was all about the pool, which was a kid's paradise!

Rowan was totally fired up about the water slide, even though he's not big enough to ride alone.

Again...

...and again...

...and again!

Every once in a while he'd insist on taking a dip in "Papa's bath".

When the pool got old, there was always the playground at nearby River Heritage Park.

But even the playground couldn't hold Rowan's attention for long, with the huge choreographed interactive music-fountain blasting out some classic rock-and-roll and Motown.

Twist and shout!

This turned out to be fun for all of us!

With this kind of entertainment for Rowan, plus the fact that it was the opening weekend of college football, there wasn't much motivation on our part to get out and see Florence. Rob never even left sight of the hotel, while Carley went out once for some shopping with her mom.

'Cause that's what Labor Day is all about! Ahhhhh.

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SWIMMING AT SARDIS LAKE

2009-08-09T20:18:00.010-06:00

Half an hour west of town is Sardis lake, a popular weekend recreation spot for Oxonians. (And yes, that is really what they call residents of Oxford!)

Sardis is a large man-made lake that was created by damming the Tallahatchie River during the Great Depression, as part of a flood control project.

We swam at a beach on the Lower Lake, which was created by dredging the river just below the large earthen Sardis Dam.

This was Rowan's first time in a lake, since swimming is prohibited in many of Mississippi's lakes. (water moccasins?)

It was so nice to have so much shallow water to explore, without all those big waves pummeling Rowan like at the beach in Florida.

Our friends Todd, Emily and Lucas came over from Tupelo to join us for the day.

Rowan and Lucas are best buddies, and as usual they were delighted to have so much time to play together.

"Look Mommy!" Yep, Lucas and family stayed with us in Oxford for a sleepover. Yay!

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THE DON MYERS MEMORIAL IN MISSOURI

2009-08-01T12:53:00.009-06:00

On Saturday the 25th of July, Carley got the call that her best friend Peachy's dad had been critically injured in a bicycle accident. A few days later, we found ourselves dropping everything, loading up the car, and making the 6-hour roadtrip to Rolla, Missouri.

Dr. Don Myers was a professor of engineering management at the local Missouri University of Science and Technology, and he was obviously well-loved and respected by a whole lot of people. Around 700 attended his visitation on Thursday the 30th, with hundreds lined up out the door of the church over the course of several hours. The eulogies at the memorial service Friday morning were tremendously stirring and inspiring, with story after story of Don's unequivocal generosity toward everyone he met and his relentless pursuit of a broad range of causes, from supporting young entrepeneurs to chairing various committees promoting social justice. Click here for a newspaper article with more info about Don Myers and a scholarship in his name.

Despite the circumstances, it was rewarding for Carley to be able to spend some time with Peachy. It was also good to catch up with some of Carley and Peachy's mutual friends from their days together at Vanderbilt and in San Francisco who had made the trip to be with Peachy during her mourning. Peachy herself drove in from Washington D.C., where she's been serving as the White House liaison to the Corporation for National and Community Service.

It was also good to meet little Cooper (15 months), here with his mom Brandi (Peachy's sister-in-law).

Rowan and Cooper loved playing together, despite the 18-month difference in age. Rowan was eager to teach Cooper about sharing the ball and tenacious in keeping him involved in a game of "catch". This photo is striking in the tangible way that it really captures how much Rowan has grown over the past year-and-a-half.

Our accommodations for the short two-night stay in Rolla couldn't have been better. We stayed in a guest bedroom at the Sowers, family friends who live in a beautiful house across the street from Peachy's mom. Big thanks to the Sowers for their generosity and hospitality!

As for Rolla itself, it was like a little slice of "Middle America". Despite the university and the location alongside I-44, Rolla really has a quaint small town feel, with its population about 16,000 and less than 3% black. There weren't even any Mexicans working at the local Mexican restaurant! Wierd. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast at Leonna's Kitchen (above left), which retained an odor of cigarrette smoke despite the no-smoking signs posted all over the walls.

This place has it all! Carley would probably have checked out a class here if we'd had more time.

Our favorite find in Rolla was the tiny Giddy Goat Coffee House. Their excellent selection of fair-trade organic coffees and teas and their unique delicious lunch plates, a cross between Midwest and Middle East, make Giddy Goat worth stopping if you're anywhere in the area!

The drive to Rolla was a solid 6 hours each way, taking us through the eastern Ozarks, the Arkansas delta, and the city of Memphis with its pile-ups of construction-induced traffic jams funded by Obama stimulus funds.

Along the way, we had to pass through some locales that come across as not-so-friendly, especially some of those dry hillbilly counties in northern Arkansas. The sign above was just outside Ravenden, Arkansas, across the road from a large confederate flag.

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THE LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE

2009-07-13T15:00:00.003-06:00

After almost a week at my Mom's house in East Bangor, it was time for Brandi, Rowan and me to get out for a little excitement.

Just about 10 miles over the state line into New Jersey is Land of Make Believe, a little amusement and water park designed especially for younger kids. Mom claims that both Brandi and I were here years ago when we were little kids, but neither of us remembers it.

Almost all the rides and slides are for kids 36 inches or taller, and Rowan is exactly 36 inches...just in time!

Rowan had never really been to an amusement park before, so all these rides were new to him. Needless to say, he was pretty stoked. New thrills around every corner!

For some rides he wanted Aunt Brandi to accompany him.

For other rides, it just had to be Daddy...even though Daddy could barely fit into this mini roller coaster!

Sometimes we had to wait in line for our turn...

...but it was always worth it!

There was also a little petting zoo with goats and sheep...

...and even a cow!

After an hour or so, it was time to change into our swimsuits for the main event:

The Pirate's Cove water park was dominated by this giant wading pool full of sights and slides, an aquatic paradise for toddlers.

Up on the pirate ship, there was just one place to go:

Back into the pool!

There were lots of other little water slides and fun stuff around the wading pool, including the Frog's Mouth (which Rowan went down several dozen times in a row!)...

...and the Turtle Fountain.

After thoroughly exploring the wading pool, we took a relaxing "river tube ride" around the park. We also checked out the "splash dungeon", which is chock-full of ways to get splashed, sprayed and soaked from every direction, including from the giant wooden bucket that you can see on top in the above photo.

Eventually it was time for the grand finale:

A couple of trips with Daddy down the big slides!

First we had to get our tube - a double-rider special with plenty of handles. Then it was time to wait in line on the stairs. And then...

Woohooooo!! (Notice that at least Rowan had his hands on the handles)

After a couple of trips down the slides, it was well into Rowan's usual nap time, so we changed back into dry clothes and headed back toward the exit.

Along the way we stopped at the "Dukes of Hazzard" ride for one more trip in the "General Lee".

And then another ride around the park on the choo-choo train, just to take it all in one more time. Rowan was fast asleep in the car seat less than 10 minutes later. Can you tell he had a good time?

For anyone with kids 3-10 years old, Land of Make Believe is a real good time, and at $20-23 per person, it's a pretty good value compared to most other amusement parks. Maybe in a few years we'll be ready for Disney World?

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A VISIT WITH GIGI AND BRANDI IN PENNSYLVANIA

2009-07-13T14:19:00.018-06:00

Tuesday, July 7 to Tuesday, July 14

One of the highlights of the summer for Rob was a trip with Rowan to Pennsylvania to see his mom and sister Brandi. Carley couldn't make it due to an overflowing plateful of responsibilities with her new job at Mississippi Geographic Alliance. Nevertheless, we made quite a time of it!

It was Rowan's first plane trip, and he had been talking nonstop about flying in a plane for at least a week now. In anticipation we got a toy plane and even watched plane videos on Youtube!

Rowan had no fear of take-off, landing or looking out the window during flight. After awhile, when there was nothing to look at but the tops of the clouds, he kept himself quietly entertained.

After a long day of travel, it was nice to finally arrive at GiGi's house! GiGi is Rowan's name for Rob's mom, and we hadn't seen her since Christmas 2007, over a year-and-a-half ago. She's been laid up the past 6 months with a torn-up ankle, and had yet another surgery the morning after we arrived...hopefully the last one!

Rowan quickly bonded with Brandi, who kept him entertained with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, balls and various other little amusements.

Another of Aunt Brandi's creative amusements. How fitting that Brandi's enrolled in a program for prospective elementary art teachers...she'll be a natural!

Best of all, GiGi has a pool in her backyard! Too bad she couldn't get in with us, thanks to her messed-up ankle.

The water temperature was a little cooler than comfortable (78 degrees F, but that's Pennsylvania for ya), so Rowan mostly stayed on the raft and ordered me and Brandi to play various games with him. Nevertheless, the pool was quite often the highlight of the day.

Sometimes we headed out for one of the local playgrounds.

Once we even did a little hike through the woods...

...to a pretty little waterfall.

The shallow pool was nice for hunting crawfish and salamanders, and for floating leaves like little boats downstream.

Overall, though, East Bangor doesn't have a lot going on. With a population of under 1000, it doesn't even have a store, let alone a traffic light. The photo above is East Bangor's main intersection around lunchtime.

A walk around East Bangor can take you past some seriously neglected properties!

And even remnants from the demolition derby?!

They sure don't seem to have any building codes around here!

East Bangor's got some nice little streets too, like the one that Rob's mom lives on. Just a short walk up the hill from the center of town, up to that tall house on the left...

...and voila! Once a serious fixer-upper, GiGi's house is beautiful these days, thanks to some major investments and extensive landscaping.

Here at the house, there was always fun to be had in the pool.

"Catch it with your HANDS, Rowan!"

There were always new discoveries to be made. And catching up. And reminiscing.

And there was plenty of good food to be grilled. (Daddy says corn-on-the-cob grills up really nice in the husk...just peel em off when they're done. Let em cool a few minutes before peeling!)

For the last full day of our visit, Rob and Brandi took Rowan to The Land Of Make Believe, a great little amusement and water park about 20 minutes away in New Jersey. Click here to check out The Land of Make Believe.

Finally it was time to head to the airport for the flight home, but not before one last attempt at a photo shoot. As it turned out, Rowan wasn't used to having his photo taken by an automated timer! Oh well.

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FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND AT THE BEACH

2009-07-05T19:18:00.004-06:00

Another holiday weekend, another trip to the Lovorns' favorite family seaside condo in Santa Rosa Beach.

Located on the Florida Panhandle just east of Destin, Santa Rosa Beach is upscale yet laid back, loaded with good restaurants and relatively free from the over-crowding in nearby Destin and Panama City.

The best part of the trip was seeing Carley's brother Barrett and his wife Molly!

Rowan was thrilled to see his Auntie Em.

Uncle B was lots of fun, too.

Who's excited to head down to the beach?

Playing in the waves with Papa was a special treat.

When we got tired of the waves and the sand, Papa was always down for some swim-time in the pool.

When it was time to eat, there were dozens of good restaurants to choose from. For lunch, some tasty fried crab-claws at the Back Porch hit the spot.

Rowan was having such a good time, he didn't even mind that MeMe (Carley's mom) hired a photographer to take at least a hundred photos of us all dressed in white and frolicking in the sunset.

Will this photo be on the Christmas card we send you? You just never know. Meanwhile, until next time...¡VIVA LA PLAYA!

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OUR NEW HOUSE!

2009-06-26T17:31:00.010-06:00

That's right, another brand new house! Why would we move again so soon, only two years after buying our first new house in Tupelo?

The main reason was that Carley started a new job at University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) earlier this year, and the commute to and from Tupelo was nearly 2 hours round-trip.

So, we moved to Oxford, which is right next to Ole Miss! Oxford is a small city (more like a big town) of about 19,000 people - half the size of Tupelo. It's been named by USA Today as one of the top six college towns in the nation, and it's included in "The Best 100 Small Towns in America".

Cultural life in Oxford centers around "The Square", Oxford's historic downtown where the landmark Lafayette County Courthouse sits in the middle of a large traffic circle, surrounded by boutique stores and locally-owned restaurants.

Being a college town, Oxford features a decent live music scene with half a dozen small and mid-size venues for nationally touring artists to play...

...including Proud Larry's, a very small and intimate room where we've seen some excellent concerts over the past few years.

Every year on the last Saturday of April, the downtown streets are closed, and stages and booths are set up for the annual Double Decker Music and Arts Festival.

Also here in Oxford is the former home of legendary southern literature great William Faulkner. The estate is named Rowan Oak, after a type of tree.

These days, Rowan Oak is a tourist site and national historic landmark, just about a mile from downtown Oxford. In addition to the legendary Faulkner, best-selling author John Grisham also owns a home here in Oxford.

Home prices are very high in downtown Oxford, so our house is in a newer subdivision out on the edge of town. We have practically no traffic at all passing in front of our house, thanks to our location at the end of a small cul-de-sac.

Much of our house is still full of boxes that need to be unpacked, but at least the kitchen is done! Our cute little breakfast nook works as a great dining room...

...which allowed us to convert the actual dining room into a very practical office.

Our back yard is bordered by lots of trees and a tiny creek runs behind it. We're planning to have a fence built to keep Kina in and any water snakes out. Meanwhile, Rowan's already feeling right at home with his swingset!

While our shady back patio is considerably smaller than the big wooden deck we had at the other house, it will still be quite comfortable for hosting friends for back yard parties. The housewarming party is tentatively scheduled for the end of July!

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BONNAROO 2009!

2009-06-18T00:18:00.001-06:00

Bonnaroo is tops when it comes to music festivals - one of the biggest gatherings in the country for a 4-day weekend full of live music and car-camping. Located in Manchester, TN, only 4 hours away from home for us, Bonnaroo consistently features some of the top touring acts in the country, plus all kinds of other types of music, including many of our favorite artists. We had a great time at Bonnaroo 2007 when The Police, Tool, and some of our favorites like STS9, Galactic and Ween played.

This year the line-up was really over the top, with Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Nine-Inch Nails, Beastie Boys, Wilco, David Byrne, Elvis Costello, Ben Harper, Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu (on stage in the photo above), Ani DiFranco, Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, Grace Potter, Robert Earl Keen, Merle Haggard, Del McCoury Band, Bela Fleck, Gov't Mule, moe., Toubab Krewe, and at least 50 other artists we'd never heard of, many from various sub-genres of indie rock. The music was spread out over 5 big stages and probably half a dozen smaller stages.

There's no way we could see all the artists we would have liked. Besides the fact that some of them were playing at the same time on different stages, the place is just so vast with so many people (at least 80,000!) that there's no way to get around quickly.

Right in the middle of everything was Centeroo, full of every kind of shopping and food you could ask for.

Yes, they even had a mini Whole Foods Market!

There was also a Brooer's Tent that featured 20 microbreweries from around the U.S., including a couple of excellent local breweries: Yazoo in Nashville and Good People in Birmingham.

With its outdoor seating, the Brooer's Tent was an excellent place to meet up with friends, including our good friends April and Paul from Tupelo.

Our campsite was about a mile away from the music, way off in one of the several large fields of tents that surround the festival.

Being able to camp right next to a fence was a big help for our friend Mike in finding us in the enormous campground, since he arrived a day after we did. Mike flew out from Los Angeles in full Lakers regalia and camped with us for the weekend. He could have watched the NBA Finals games in the Bonnaroo Cinema Tent, but Mike had to miss his beloved Lakers winning the championship because he sure wasn't going to miss that Phish show!

Large flags flew from points all over the campground, representing places far and wide all over the world. Of course, there were locals as well.

The first day of the Fest brought a few thunderstorms, and on Friday there were still some rather large mud puddles to maneuver around. Or not.

We eased into the music on Friday with the up-and-coming instrumental world-music ensemble Toubab Krewe. Based in Asheville, NC, these guys play a fusion of West African styles with a variety of guitar-based rock, including some reminiscent of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Definitely enjoyable, and we'd love to see them next time they come around Mississippi.

Next up was guitar maestra Kaki King. We were familiar with some of her earlier material, featuring a really folky acoustic guitar-based style. However her more recent material had a very distored electric-punk edge to it.

Her band was tight and they all played well, but ultimately Kaki King did not really win us over.

Next up was one of our perennial favorites, Galactic, on the big stage.

Much like their recent show in Oxford, Galactic had a couple of hotshot horn players with them, including trombonist extraordinaire Corey Henry. On trumpet this time was the up-and-coming New Orleans star Troy Andrews aka Trombone Shorty. (He actually plays trombone too.)

Galactic only played for about an hour, and everything they played was stuff we'd heard at the recent Oxford show, with lots of newer material and a couple of Balkan-style covers. Nevertheless, it was nice hearing Trombone Shorty's contributions, and we thought he was considerably better than Shamar Allen at the Oxford show. The setlist went like this:

Galactic
Friday 6/12/09

Boban (Balkan brass band tribute)
You Can't Fly If You're Too High (Rebirth Brass Band cover)
D-Boy (with huge trombone duel, Corey vs Shorty)
Tuff Love
FEMA (Galactic only, no guest horns)
Crazyhorse Mongoose
Technochek Collision (Slavic Soul Party cover)
From The Corner to The Block

As usual, Corey Henry wanted to get up close and personal with the audience.

Say What?

Not afraid to surf the crowd at Bonnaroo! The crowd was totally fired up by this point.

When they say "Get down", the crowd gets down...

...and when they say "Jump!"...

After Galactic, it was nice to have our brand new REI camping seats for holding onto our good spot and relaxing in the sun. We would be spending a lot of time in front of this stage over the next few days!

Next up was the legendary Rev. Al Green, who put on a great show.

Al played all his big hits except "Take Me To The River" and he carried roses with him everywhere he went.

After dark, the Beastie Boys took the stage and played a bunch of great stuff, alternating back and forth between their hip-hop and hardcore punk material. In the photo above, Mike D mans the kit during the headbanger "Heart Attack Man". Despite their age and the fact that they haven't toured much in recent years, The Beasties were tight and well-rehearsed, and everyone's voice sounded good.

Mix Master Mike demonstrated his impressive skills as the turntable man that makes so much of the Beastie Boys sound.

Here's what the Beasties played:

Beastie Boys
Friday 6/12/09

Biz Us Nuge
Time For Living
Super Disco Breakin
Sure Shot
No Sleep Til Brooklyn
Shake Your Rump
Gratitude
Sabrosa
Egg Raid
Body Movin
Pass The Mic
Root Down
Too Many Rappers
Paul Revere
Ricky's Theme
Something's Got To Give
Tough Guy
Remote Control
So Watcha Want

Encore
Intergalactic
3 MC's and 1 DJ
Country Mike
Heart Attack Man
Sabotage

Finally, somewhere around midnight, the moment we were waiting for...Phish took the stage!

Despite having seen lots of Phish shows, it had been more than 5 years since we'd last seen them. After their farewell tour in 2004, it seemed that Phish was finished. Fortunately, Trey went through rehab and seems to be playing much better now. It was fantastic to hear him so focused, with minimal flubbing, and the band was tighter than we'd heard them in more than 11 years!

It was also great to see the fantastic light show, synced to all the musical stops and starts and twists and turns, thanks to lighting engineer extraordinaire, Chris Kuroda.

How wonderful to hear those 4-part harmonies again, all those stylistically diverse and wonderfully quirky Phish songs! The band played a solid two-and-a-half hour set full of epic favorites, monstrous jams, and a few brand new songs:

Phish
Friday 6/12/09

Chalkdust Torture
Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan (new)
The Divided Sky
Possum
Down With Disease
Alaska (new)
Stash
Golgi Apparatus
The Wolfman's Brother
Kill Devil Falls (new) >
Free
Wading in the Velvet Sea
Harry Hood
Highway to Hell >
2001 >
You Enjoy Myself >
Wilson >
You Enjoy Myself

The "Wilson" in the middle of "You Enjoy Myself" was totally impromptu. At the beginning of the jam in "You Enjoy Myself", Trey inadvertently played something suggestive of the opening notes of "Wilson", and the crowd picked up on it immediately and chanted "Wilson!" Trey started giggling, then played the notes again to an even louder response. At this point there was no going back, and they charged into "Wilson", somehow finding a way to segue out of the end of it back into the jam from "You Enjoy Myself"! Awesome!

After a good night's sleep, thanks to overcast morning skies that kept the tent from heating up until after 10am, we made our way back to the big field at the main stage. Here we caught an excellent set of Wilco, who sounded much better than at their recent show in Oxford, thanks to Bonnaroo's multi-million dollar sound system. Highlights from Wilco's set included "Impossible Germany", "Hummingbird", "Hate It Here", and an epic version of "Walken". Here's the whole setlist:

Wilco
Saturday 6/13/09

Heart
Company
Handshake Drugs
Bull Black
Face
One Wing
Pot Kettle
Seeds
Shot
At Least
Jesus
Impossible Germany
Cali Stars
Misunderstand
Spiders
Hummingbird
You Never Know
Late Greats
Hate It Here
Walken
I'm the Man
Kingpin
Monday
Outtasite
Hoodoo

Another act we caught Saturday afternoon on the main stage was Rodrigo y Gabriela. This duo from Mexico City play a fusion of traditional flamenco with a dose of Metallica. In fact, they even do a few Metallica covers, including "Orion" from the "Master of Puppets" album. They're both incredible guitar players, with Rodrigo playing most of the lead guitar, and Gabriela playing everything else.

Gabriela's guitar-playing simply must be witnessed to be believed. She creates such a dense tapestry of rhythm with her various hand techniques, including a variety of drum sounds that she gets from slapping the guitar body.

The headliner Saturday night was the legendary Bruce Springsteen, and he played a 3-hour set. We sat at the back of the field and rested for most of his set, but took no photos.

Later that night we witnessed the final Nine-Inch Nails concert ever in the United States, as Trent Reznor announced that he's hanging it up after they finish their tour of Europe and Asia this summer. They played a long set of their unique angry electronic post-industrial dance music that finished around 3:30am. Meanwhile we missed a reportedly epic night of Upstate New York-based jamband moe that went until 6am, with several appearances by Grace Potter.

On the final day of Bonnaroo, we again slept past 10am thanks to cool overcast morning skies, then made it over for an afternoon of R&B and hip-hop with sets by Erykah Badu and Snoop Dogg. It would have been a great afternoon for a glass of gin and juice, as Snoop made sure to play the hit song about his favorite drink. (That big metal thing on Snoop's hand in the photo above is actually a giant ring that spells out "Snoop" in diamonds!)

And finally, to close out Bonnaroo, Phish was back to put on a full two-set show on Sunday night.

How many other bands get Bruce Springsteen to sit in with them? At the end of the first set, Trey announced that he saw his first concert when he was 8 years old and was blown away by the energy, the performance, everything about it. He'd been disappointed after that to learn that not all concerts were so exciting. Turns out that Trey's first concert was a Bruce Springsteen show, and he acknowledged The Boss as a life-long hero as he welcomed him to the stage.

Bruce stayed out and played 3 songs with Phish, including "Mustang Sally" as well as his own "Bobby Jean" and "Glory Days".

Trey and Bruce got into a few back-and-forth jams, but ultimately Trey played circles around Bruce and cranked out some seriously smoking solos, especially on "Glory Days".

Overall it was another epic Phish show, and we are so glad that Phish is back...REALLY BACK! They are seriously playing better than they have in a really long time, and we look forward to seeing more of them as soon as possible.

Phish
Sunday 6/14/09

Set I:
AC/DC Bag
NICU
Gotta Jiboo
Punch You In The Eye
Sparkle
Bathtub Gin
Character Zero >
Tweezer >
The Horse >
Silent In The Morning
Run Like an Antelope
* Mustang Sally
* Bobby Jean
* Glory Days

Set II
Rock and Roll >
Light (new) >
46 Days
Limb By Limb
Farmhouse
Backward Down the Number Line (new)
Prince Caspian
First Tube

Encore
Suzy Greenberg
Tweezer Reprise

Monday morning we rolled out of the Bonnaroo campground around 9am, more than satisfied as we set off on the 4-hour drive back to pick up Rowan and move into our new house. Ahh, life is good!

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FIESTA ON CHESTA

2009-05-31T16:23:00.001-06:00

Saturday, May 30

To celebrate our final days in our awesome house on Chester Avenue, we invited our closest friends for a going-away party, fiesta style.

Of course Rowan's best buddy Lucas was there.

Bonnie also brought a newcomer. Here's...

Johnny! Less than 2 months old, he wasn't ready to play with Rowan, but he had a good time just the same.

Rowan's other pal Ansley came over to play too.

It was a perfect day to bust out the pool.

It doesn't get any better than this!

Our Mexican theme included tacos and top-shelf Margaritas, thanks to Rob's buddy Mike who brought us a case of Patron for Rob's 40th birthday. And instead of that sugary store-bought Margarita mix, we made them the old-fashioned way, with Triple Sec and lots and lots of fresh-squeezed limes. ¡Que rico!

¡Ay-ay-ay! Home-made margaritas are quite strong!

Our favorite party game Apples to Apples made a late-night appearance.

It's been a wonderful two years here on Chester Avenue in Tupelo, and we've had a lot of really good times here. We'll definitely miss our awesome back yard, but it's time to move on. Thanks to Carley's new job at the University of Mississippi, we'll soon be moving into a great new house in Oxford! And since it's only 45 minutes away, we'll still get to see our excellent Tupelo friends. Look for a house-warming party later this summer!

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AN EDUCATIONAL TRIP TO THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA

2009-05-24T16:03:00.001-06:00

indian mound

on top of the levee

B.B. King Museum

King Museum inside

King museum masks

Crossroads

Dockery Farms

Birthplace of the blues?

Milkshake River

Fannie Lou Hamer 1

Fannie Lou Hamer 2

UMPHREY'S MCGEE IN OXFORD

2009-05-03T20:00:00.023-06:00

Saturday, May 2

There aren't too many bands that give us the chance to see them 3 times in less than 5 weeks, so it's really nice that one of them is our favorite, Umphrey's McGee.

Less than 18 hours after Rob saw Umphrey's play late night in New Orleans, we met up with our friends Paul, Bart, Tracye and Nikki to see them at the Lyric Theatre in Oxford.

The crowd at The Lyric was much more agreeable than the one at the recent Wilco show that Rob attended with Paul and Bart, which was over-filled and over-drunk.

It was nice to see that the band's new stage arrangement seems to be permanent, with Joel Cummings having relocated his keyboards from stage-left to stage-right. Perhaps the most tangible result of this is to put Brendan at center-stage, instead of his former position at the far-right. This works out really well, since Brendan is pretty much the heart and soul of the band.

As usual, the band put on a killer show, though maybe not quite as high up the scale as their recent March 28 show in Memphis.

They kicked things off with "Jazz Odyssey", which is not really a song but rather a sort of groove-based improv at the beginning of a set. This dropped smoothly into the Umphrey's classic chestnut "August", which quickly spawned a huge jam that ranged from dark, swirling psychedelia through some high-energy, Iron Maiden-style guitar harmonics-jamming and finally back into some dreamy Pink Floyd-like improv. They were already in full-on mind-melt mode! The jam eventually segued slickly into the old-school Umphrey's rocker "Resolution", which was also quite a remarkable version, featuring a full-on instrumental rendition of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" that started right after the first verse and built into another exhilarating jam. Eventually "Resolution" was resolved with a second verse and a wonderfully hip-shaking outro that had Ryan, Joel and Jake laying down some enormously funky licks. You could practically tell that these guys had just come from New Orleans the night before! The segue from the funk-breakdown back into the finale of "August" was absolutely spot-on, and Brendan wrapped up the "August" sandwich with a gorgeous, mellifluous climax. Whew!

Next up was some more dirty funk with "The Fuzz", a tongue-in-cheek lament on police persecution that kept the crowd moving and grooving. This sequed into a nicely done cover of Pink Floyd's "Time/Breathe Reprise", featuring one of Jake's striking David Gilmour impressions on lead guitar. Joel kept the "Dark Side" flow going with the piano intro to "Great Gig in the Sky", including the spoken word parts, but it was just a tease as the song never fully materialized.

Instead it was time for the deep, rootsy reggae of "FF". Written to sound as if it could be a Bob Marley cover, "FF" features Brendan yearning for the carefree days of childhood, as well as another excursion led by Ryan and Joel into goopy, dripping funkiness. In typical Umphrey's fashion, the outro jam quickly left behind the reggae groove and shifted into a climactic techno-rock jam that built and built on top of the unmistakable riff from Ozzy Osbourne's classic "Crazy Train". Finally, the "Crazy Train" riff deconstructed into the opening notes of the prog-epic "Bridgeless", which capped off the first set with a huge crescendo.

The second set got off to a seriously hard-rocking start with "Der Bluten Kat", which is comprised of several distinct sections and generally features close to 20 minutes of furious jamming at the end. This version took a wonderfully psychedelic-tinged detour into the Sgt. Pepper-esque "Made To Measure" from the new Mantis CD, before explosively returning to the raging conclusion of "Der Bluten Kat".

Then it was time to lighten the mood with another foray into reggae, though the breezy "Partyin' Peeps" yielded yet another big jam with yet another frenetic crescendo.

The meat of the second set arrived in the form of the heady, proggish, mostly instrumental "JaJunk", a lurching, mid-tempo guitar piece that seems to summon the best aspects of the bands Television and King Crimson. An angular techno-ish jam emerged and gradually led away from the "JaJunk" themes and eventually into "Slacker", Brendan's ode to counterculture individualism in the face of a judgmental society.

The radio-friendly "Intention's Clear" provided an excellent showcase of the band's unique pop sensibilities and complex dual-guitar attack, though they kept this version rather succinct, quickly devolving into another booty-shaking funk jam full of head-spinning syncopations between the crunching guitars, smooth organ and sneaky rhythm section. A familiar theme developed, and sure enough the funk jam morphed into the funk instrumental "Professor Wormbog". This song usually features a little silly section at the end of the head, such as the a capella "Zoom zoom zoom zaya" from the Boyz II Men song "Motownphilly" that they dropped into the 3/28/09 Memphis version we saw a couple months ago. This time all the instruments dropped out except Joel on the piano, tickling the ivories to that oh-so-familiar lush piano intro to Motley Crue's classic skating rink ballad, "Home Sweet Home". Sure enough they did the whole song, Jake on the vocals and contributing an absolutely blistering solo that blew away any guitar solo you'd hear at an actual Motley Crue show. Then, right back into the reprise of "Professor Wormbog", which surprisingly ended the set. Of course we'd forgotten about Oxford's midnight curfew on Saturdays. (You can't be selling alcohol at all on Sunday around here!)

For the encore they picked up right in the middle of the epic "JaJunk", which was unfinished from the second set, taking us on another wild prog ride and into another blazing guitar solo meltdown-crescendo, before leaving us once again pumping our fists and gasping for air. But of course, that's what we came for!

In summary, here's how it went down:

Sat, May 2nd, 2009
The Lyric
Oxford, Mississippi

Set I:
Jazz Odyssey >
August >
Resolution (with Norwegian Wood jam) >
August
The Fuzz >
Time >
Breathe reprise
Great Gig in the Sky tease
FF (with Crazy Train jam) >
Bridgeless

Set II:
Der Bluten Kat >
Made to Measure >
Der Bluten Kat
Partyin' Peeps
JaJunk >
Slacker
Intentions Clear >
Professor Wormbog >
Home Sweet Home >
Professor Wormbog

Encore:
JaJunk (reprise)

As usual, Umphrey's McGee's trusty live download site has a crispy-sounding copy of the show available for download.

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UMPHREY'S MCGEE IN NEW ORLEANS

2009-05-03T19:58:00.007-06:00

Friday, May 1

Rob writes:

With the recent crowning of Umphrey's McGee as our favorite band, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet up with some old friends at one of their concerts in New Orleans. So, I left school Friday afternoon at 3pm and drove straight down to the Crescent City, arriving at Ninja Sushi around 9:30 to meet up with Mike and some of his diving buddies.

Mike's a long time friend, and we both visited New Orleans for the first time together in 1996 to see Phish at Jazz Fest. (We weren't so into the rest of the festival back in those days.) How ironic that here we were again, in New Orleans to see a hard-rocking jam-band in the middle of Jazz Fest, pretty much blowing off the rest of the festival.

It was also great to get a groove on with Greg and Ellen from San Francisco.

Long-time readers may recognize Ellen as the MC at our San Francisco wedding party back in 2005.

As for the band, they were in fine form, as usual. With this being a "late night" show during the 2nd weekend of Jazz Fest, the music started really late (2:15am) and ended really early (5:15am). That's how we roll in New Orleans!

This show featured a notable change in the band's stage arrangement. Traditionally, Joel (the keyboard player) has always been on the left side of the stage, but now he's moved over to the right side, leaving Jake all alone to the left.

Brendan is now more center-stage, instead of to the far right like he used to be. This new arrangement has a certain logic to it, since Brendan is the main singer/songwriter and pretty much the heart and soul of the band.

As usual, Jake and Brendan blew up some furious dual-guitar crescendos.

With this having been such a festive late-night show, I'll make no attempt at a review, other than to mention that they played 2 covers I'd never heard them do before: "That's All" by the Phil Collins version of Genesis, and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" by the Rolling Stones.

Fri, May 1st, 2009
House of Blues
New Orleans, Louisiana

Set I
Gulf Stream >
Andy's Last Beer >
The Triple Wide* >
That's All (Genesis) >
Turn and Run
Smell the Mitten**
Much Obliged$ >
The Floor

Set II
#Miss Tinkle's Overture
Hangover ->
Soul Food II >
Hangover
Cemetery Walk >
Cemetery Walk II
Push the Pig$$
All in Time

Encore:
Can't You Hear Me Knocking (Rolling Stones)

Notes:
* with Baba O'Riley jams
** with Stairway to Heaven tease
$ with Young Lust and Voodoo Chile teases
# with Gz & Hustlas jam, playing along with PA music
$$ with Immigrant Song intro and Miss Tinkle's Overture teases

=======================================================

The next morning after a few hours sleep, I hit the road without seeing any more of New Orleans, during one of my favorite music festivals. Why would I do that? Umphrey's McGee was playing again the next night in my new hometown, Oxford, and I sure wasn't going to miss that!

Check out the Oxford show.

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ROWAN'S FIRST SCHOOL MUSICAL

2009-04-28T19:51:00.011-06:00

Tuesday, April 28

We were hoping to get some good photos from Rowan's first performance in a school musical program...but, we didn't.

With the dim lighting in the church and the location of our seats, this was the best photo we could get. (Or maybe we just need a new camera?)

Rowan goes to pre-school two days a week at First United Method Church, where Carley's parents are members.

All the kids at the pre-school performed in the musical, which had a Mother Goose theme. Rowan's class (the youngest) were supposedly dressed as spiders. Rowan was a total ham, of course, showing no signs of stage-fright and dancing around like a natural. Anybody who's spent some time around Rowan knows how much he likes to have an audience!

After Rowan's performance, he came and sat with us through the rest of the program.

Reading the hymnal book was more interesting than watching the other kids.

Clapping is always fun though!

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DOUBLE DECKER FESTIVAL

2009-04-25T22:03:00.010-06:00

Saturday, April 25

The last Saturday in April always seems to be beautiful, a perfect time to close off the main streets in downtown Oxford and set up a little festival: a bunch of booths selling food from local restaurants, some more booths featuring the works of local artists and craftsmen, and a couple of outdoor stages for live music. This year was the 14th annual Double Decker Festival, and we are already looking forward to the next one!

Carley had to work most of the day down in Jackson, but the boys had a good afternoon checking out the action.

We arrived to the high energy New Orleans soul-funk of the up-and-coming horn maestro, Trombone Shorty (aka Troy Andrews).

Shorty alternated between trumpet and trombone, entertaining the crowd with a mix of originals and covers.

By the end, he had the crowd really jumping with his cover of the New Orleans classic "When the Saints Go Marching In".

Carley arrived a little after 6pm, just in time to catch an old favorite and Rob's musical highlight of the festival, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe.

The side-stage position gave Rowan plenty of room to practice his funky dance moves without having his view of the band blocked by all the grown-ups.

The last time we saw saxman extraordinaire Karl Denson was about a year ago with Greyboy Allstars.

In Tiny Universe, Karl's style is pretty similar, but he does a lot more singing, and the covers are a little more varied, including the Buddy Miles classic "Power of Soul" from Jimi Hendrix's "Band of Gypsies".

It's always a treat to hear Brian Jordan on the guitar, with his uncanny ability to play both "smooth" and "dirty" at the same time.

After Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, it was time to fill up on some festival food.

After Carley and Rowan left (it was already past Rowan's bedtime!), Rob met up with Jack (blue and red Ole Miss cap) and his friends Joel, Kimberly and William for musical headliner, Robert Randolph and the Family Band.

Robert Randolph burst on to the New York music scene in 2002 with his gospel and soul-influenced party-funk and rock-and-roll and his incendiary chops on the pedal steel guitar. Before long he was a big name at festivals all over the country.

There's something about Oxford and sorority girls onstage.

Folks were even dancing on the roof of Proud Larry's, which is the best place in town for indoor live music.

After the outdoor music was done, we walked over to Rooster's to catch a local blues band.

Kenny Brown is a really nice guy from a nearby rural county, and he spent many years playing with local Mississippi blues legend R.L. Burnside. Kenny capped off our night with his Johnny Winter look and his interpretations of classic blues and blue-rock songs, including a medley of "Bad to the Bone" and "I'm a Man". It was a full day of enjoyable music indeed...not bad for a little town like Oxford!

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WILCO IN OXFORD

2009-04-25T21:09:00.011-06:00

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Rob writes:

A couple of buddies of mine here in Tupelo, Paul and Todd, who both have good taste in music, have been really talking up this band Wilco. Now, I've always known about Wilco, and I even saw them play at Mountain Aire Music Festival about 10 years ago. Back then, they were a relatively new band, playing rather straightforward alt-country - not exactly my cup of tea, but not bad. Singer Jeff Tweedy's heartfelt lyrics were good, but I wasn't really impressed with the singing or musicianship.

These days, Wilco is a whole new band...literally! Tweedy's pretty much replaced the entire band except bassist John Stirratt, and the Wilco sound has evolved significantly. Still based in the country-tinged alt-rock genre, Wilco's recent material features powerful, proggish sort of structures with intertwining electric guitar soundscapes that stimulate the mind and transcend definition. This heady guitar style comes mostly from Tweedy's fascination with the 70s early punk-rock band Television, a band I've also recently started to get into. Wilco's 2002 album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" is considered their most defining album, and their most recent release "Sky Blue Sky" has some absolutely captivating material as well.

Guitar maestro Nels Cline (left) joined the band in 2004 and really heated up their sound, especially in concert.

Nels is an uncanny talent with an incredible range of style, and he had a notable solo career before joining Wilco. He played the San Francisco Bay Area regularly when I lived out there from 2000 to 2005, and I remember him blowing my mind when he played with Stephen Perkins in the excellent jazz-punk-improv band Banyan, on my 36th birthday. To see him with Wilco, pushing the boundaries with his angular, crafty leads, was a real treat.

So, what would a Wilco show be like? Well, in this particular case, they played the Lyric Theatre, which holds around 1400 people. Wilco's a seriously popular band these days, and they've even won a couple of Grammys, so needless to say, the show sold out the morning that tickets went on sale.

The result was a very crowded room with lots of people (especially college students) who seem to go to concerts for all the wrong reasons: drinking heavily and flirting. So, we were surrounded by drunken frat boys alternately whooping, hollering, and trying to put the moves on the numerous Mississippi sorority girls in their cute little dresses and high heels.

To make matters worse, the sound engineer didn't do such a good job, and the sound was pretty muddy. With a band like Wilco, you want to be able to clearly hear the vocals and lead guitar, and that just wasn't happening.

Despite these problems, we thought the band put on a great show, playing a mix of both older and newer songs (though nothing from their upcoming album to be released this summer). It seems that Wilco has a number of fan-favorite songs they play at just about every show, and "Impossible Germany" and "Handshake Drugs" got big receptions.

For the encore, they brought out the opening band, Hawk and a Hacksaw, to jam with them on a couple songs.

Hawk and a Hacksaw are an acoustic quartet from Albuquerque that play a folky style of Eastern European gypsy music. Their music was nice, but not as engaging as we would have liked, and they did not really try to connect their traditional style with any more modern forms of music.

A couple days later, an acquaintance of mine mentioned that her friend attended the Wilco show and said that "it sucked" and that "Tweedy needs to shut up and play". Wow. She was referring to two instances during the show when, between songs, Tweedy made comments admonishing certain members of the crowd for constantly chatting throughout the show...comments like "I know 90% of you are really into this, but I just don't get the other 10% that spend $30 on a sold out show to just talk at the bar."

Now, at the time, my crew (Todd, Paul and Bart) really appreciated the comments, since we were just trying to listen to the music, and a number of people were really getting on our nerves. And, in the past, I've been quick to rush to the defense of musicians who chastise audience members for disrespectful behavior. BUT...there's a fine line here. Comments like these are always bound to disappoint and even offend a segment of the audience, and I suppose a band like Wilco, with their Grammys and popularity, should have a level of professionalism where that's not necessary.

Or, should they?

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GALACTIC AND FRIENDS IN OXFORD

2009-04-18T14:23:00.031-06:00

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

(For the setlist, scroll to the bottom)

They're back! One good thing about living down in the South is that Galactic comes around pretty often, and we've been able to see them several times since we moved here.

Saxman Ben Ellman is the de facto frontman for the band since they became an instrumental quintet following the Fall 2004 departure of singer Theryl "The Houseman" DeClouet. Ben's blasting and blistering style brings the fiery heat to any Galactic performance.

Virtuoso drummer Stanton Moore has already left quite a legacy, with his various funky/jazzy side projects and his critically acclaimed solo albums, not to mention his collaborations with heavy metal luminaries such as Corrosion of Conformity and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. In Galactic he lays down his uniquely rockin' funky beats with earth-shattering power and explosiveness. It's hard to imagine anyone being able to keep still when Stanton's playing.

Keyboardist Rich Vogel is the soul of Galactic, delivering his smooth, bubbling Hammond B3 organ solos with a cool and classy restraint that sublimely offsets the bombastic fury of Ben and Stanton.

Bassist Rob Mercurio ("Bobby Mac") holds it all together, staying firmly in the pocket with his clever, solid basslines that reflect his decidedly non-funky D.C. roots.

Guitarist Jeff Raines rounds things out with his raw, unpretentious electric guitar work that summons the gritty sounds of both New Orleans and the Mississippi delta. Jeff's not a virtuoso by any stretch, and he is often criticized for his somewhat minimalist technique. However, it's worth noting that Jeff and Rob played together in a punk band before moving from D.C. to New Orleans and starting Galactic, which seems to be significant factor in forging Galactic's distinctive sound.

A typical Galactic show is a smashing good time, but in recent years they've made a point of bringing special guests on tour with them to expand their sound in new directions. The past couple tours featured various MCs rapping as the band explored the realm of hip-hop. For this tour, they've once again moved in a new direction, bringing a couple of virtuoso horn players to delve deeper into the soundscape of modern New Orleans.

Trumpeter Shamarr Allen is an up-and-coming New Orleans hotshot with a burgeoning solo career after doing stints with various New Orleans greats such as Rebirth Brass Band and Harry Connick, Jr.

Trombonist Corey Henry of the legendary Rebirth Brass Band plays with his own brand of intensity. Both Corey and Shamarr have that "all eyes on me" sort of stage presence that comes from extreme passion and confidence.

After a short opening set by Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs (above), Galactic came out around 9:45 for one long 2-hour set and an encore. The setlist featured very little of their older material and plenty of the newer stuff, including a couple of brand new songs.

The first couple songs were just Galactic without the guest horn players. They started off by shaking the house with a concise, pile-driving "Moil" and then kicking back into the easy groove of "Linthead".

And then it was really showtime.

To kick off the first triple-horn segment of the show, they launched into a raucous, soaring version of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band's "Blackbird Special", featuring a uber-climactic three-way round-robin horn solo that had the crowd literally screaming for more.

Next up, the old Jimmy McGriff soul-funk tune "Chris Cross" featured Rich Vogel laying down layer upon layer of Hammond B3 sweetness, while the guest horns pushed the energy up just one more little notch.

Next up was "D-Boy", a title track from one of Corey Henry's other projects, the New Birth Brass Band. New Birth puts a modern twist on New Orleans brass-band music, and "D-Boy" is a far cry from the traditional second-line styles of Rebirth and Dirty Dozen, with its bubbling rhythm and bouncy low-end piano line making it sounding more like music to some kind of dark-alley action-spy video game. Corey and Shamarr floored the crowd with an epic trombone-sax duel on this one.

"Tuff Love" followed, a slower-tempo number with a cascading horn line and nasty guitar riff that conjures up images of a fancy low-rider cruising the streets of Vegas in the 1970s. Shamarr delivered a huge trumpet solo.

Then came "Teknochek Collision", another in Galactic's collection of Balkan-style covers, thanks to Ben Ellman's fascination with eastern European stylings. This one comes from a relatively new group from New York City called Slavic Soul Party. You can hear "Teknochek Collision" on their website - recently it was the second song in the site's audio mix. Needless to say, the horns had a field day with this one, and this wrapped up the first triple-horn segment of the show at the one-hour mark.

As is typical these days, Ben left the stage with Shamarr and Corey, and the stripped-down Galactic quartet played a brand new song called "Sagg Shootin' His Arrow". A high-energy number with a hyperactive bassline, "Sagg" has that Grant Green sort of soul-jazz feel to it...except for the part where it doesn't. Well, that's Galactic for you! (correction: This song is actually a cover of an old Jimmy Smith song. I should have Googled it first!)

Ben returned to the stage for a slamming "Doublewide", one of the band's most unique and quintessential songs. Unfortunately this was the shortest version we've ever heard, as it seems like they've decided the composition can stand on its own with no real soloing of any kind. It segued directly into a rockin' cover of Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", as it typically does these days, with Rich playing Robert Plant's vocal parts on the Hammond B3. Then came another new song, "Saltbaked", reportedly penned by Jeff Raines. A typically muscular Galactic-style funk-rock number, "Saltbaked" was not particularly memorable on first listen.

And then...it was showtime again. Enter Shamarr and Corey for the climactic home stretch.

First up was another new song in the Galactic rotation, labeled "Boban" on the stage setlist. This title likely refers to Boban Markovic, a musical giant in Balkan brass band music. It's not clear if this song is a cover of a Boban Markovic song, or if it's a new Galactic song written as a tribute. Either way it has that Eastern European flair, and this version featured another fierce round-robin horn crescendo.

Finally it was time for some of that classic old-school Galactic-style jazzy funk, with the title track to their second album, "Crazyhorse Mongoose". This song gains some serious power with the addition of the extra horns, and it was almost like hearing it in a whole new way. Corey Henry got the spotlight for this one, and he tried to put his own kind of crazy in "Crazyhorse", climbing down from the stage and trekking through the crowd blasting an extended trombone solo all the way back to the bar.

I guess he wanted to make sure the people at the bar get their money's worth!

Shamarr, meanwhile, made sure the girls in the front get lots of attention. At one point he traded sunglasses with a girl up front, and in the photo above, he borrows another girl's camera and snaps a bunch of shots from the stage, including this one of him posing with the owner of the camera.

Back to the music...after the craziness of Crazyhorse subsided, the rumbling thunder and wailing fury of the "Garbage Truck" brought yet another sonic assault. One of Galactic's heaviest songs (thanks to that rhythm section), "Garbage Truck" also received a significant lift from the extra horns, and the raw, pulverizing power had enthusiastic fans jumping up and down, headbanging and pumping fists like it was a heavy metal show or something.

Finally, to cap off the set, Shamarr and Corey grabbed the mics for a rousing version of the title track to Galactic's most recent album, the hip-hop flavored "From the Corner to the Block". And that's where things got really crazy!

Seriously!

After Corey returned to the stage, "From the Corner to the Block" still going strong, Shamarr started the chant, "All the ladies on the stage! All the ladies on the stage!"

And you can imagine what happened next...

The drunkest girls don't care who sees them dirty-dancing!

Clearly Shamarr and Corey relish all the female attention.

The energy level was just about as high as you could get at this point.

This celebratory, blowout version of "From the Corner to the Block" probably went on 15 minutes, as the musicians reveled in the festive atmosphere and close-up female attention.

For the encore, they brought out a couple guys from Shamarr's band (who opened the show) to play trombone and trumpet on the slamming New Orleans brass band song, "Buckit Like A Horse".

Needless to say, we had an awesome time, and Galactic remains one of our top 5 favorite bands. We haven't been able to find a recording of the show yet, but there are several recent Galactic shows available for free bittorrent download on the Galactic page at Etree.

To recap, here's the setlist from 4/15/09 at the Lyric Theatre in Oxford, Mississippi:

Moil
Linthead
*Blackbird Special
*Chris Cross
*D-Boy
*Tuff Love
*Teknochek Collision
Sagg Shootin' His Arrow
Doublewide (no solos) >
Whole Lotta Love
Saltbaked (new)
*Boban
*Crazyhorse Mongoose
*Garbage Truck
*From The Corner To The Block

Encore:
*%Buckit Like A Horse

Special guests:
*with Shamarr Allen and Corey Henry on trumpet and trombone
%with members of Shamarr Allen's Underdawgs on trumpet and trombone

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HAPPY EASTER

2009-04-12T03:58:00.000-06:00

This year Rowan learned how to dye Easter eggs.

Ooooh!

Ahhhh.

Dressed up for church on Easter morning.

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JOHNNY TRAVERS HANNA

2009-04-11T16:03:00.004-06:00

Friday, April 10, 2009

Introducing the newest member of our crew...HEEEEeeeereee's JOHNNY!! Weighing in at 7 lbs. 12 ounces, Johnny was born at 9:55am on April 10, 2009, here in Tupelo.

Big congratulations to our good friends Bonnie and Josh!

And, welcome to the parent club!

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MARCH MADNESS IN MEMPHIS

2009-04-04T03:35:00.011-06:00

Sunday, March 29, 2009

College basketball mania peaks every year in late March and early April, as the NCAA tournament showcases the 64 best teams in arenas all across the country. This year we got some nearby action, with the "Sweet 16" portion of the tournament coming to Memphis. Big thanks to Carley's dad, who hooked up Rob with a pair of tickets to see the Sunday afternoon game between two of the top teams in the country, the North Carolina Tarheels (powder blue) and the Oklahoma Sooners (red).

The FedEx Forum (seen from our parking garage) is less than 10 years old, and it's modern design makes it a nice place to see a game. It's downtown location is only one block from Beale Street, which also works out rather nicely.

Rob made the 2-hour drive to Memphis with his good friend Paul. This was our second trip to Memphis in the past 24 hours, since we'd just rode up the night before for an awesome Umphrey's McGee show.

The southern approach into Memphis takes one through some interesting neighborhoods indeed!

Finally we arrived at Beale Street to a happy scene, with people from all over milling about and enjoying the spring afternoon.

A blues band (behind the statue) played in a small park on one side of the street. Cliche? Sure, why not?

Nearby, a little sidewalk-bar sold large tasty beers in plastic to-go cups.

Not many towns let you get away with that!

Once we got inside, we found our seats in the lower section and sort of behind the basket. These turned out to be great seats! Carley's dad had even better seats: about the same level, but in the Oklahoma fan section. (the sea of red in the photo)

The Villanova gorilla stuck around for this highly anticipated match-up, despite his own team's exit from the tournament two days earlier. He (or she?) was definitely rooting for Carolina.

The game was dominated by North Carolina, who have been one of the top teams in college basketball over the past 5 years, and who ended up winning this year's national championship. In the photo above, their superstar forward Tyler Hansbrough made a free throw.

He was matched up against Oklahoma's superstar forward, Blake Griffin, who you can see trying hopelessly to defend Hansbrough with the ball under the basket.

Though it was an awesome match-up, North Carolina was just too good - in fact, possibly one of the best college basketball teams ever - and went on to win by a score of 72-60.

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UMPHREY'S MCGEE IN MEMPHIS

2009-04-04T03:29:00.039-06:00

Saturday, March 28, 2009

(Logo used without permission)

It's official: Umphrey's McGee is now our favorite band. This Chicago-based band has been in our top five for a few years now, but they've finally grabbed the lead with their recent mind-crusher of a show in Memphis.

(Photo of Umphrey's singing the National Anthem at Wrigley Field used without permission)

Umphrey's McGee has an endlessly captivating style that fuses pop-rock melodies, pulverizing heavy metal riffs, and epic prog-rock excursions with adventurous improvisational tendencies. Yeah, it's flashy and in-your-face, but these boys back it up with jaw-dropping talent and precision. (No flubs here!)

According to Wikipedia: "Though the band's approach to their live performances has much in common with Phish and the Grateful Dead (ever-changing setlists, constant improvisation, two sets per night, open-taping policy), they are much more influenced musically by progressive rock bands such as King Crimson, Yes, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Frank Zappa, and Genesis, as well as heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden. The band also identifies The Police, The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin as primary influences."

(Photo used without permission)

Meet the cast of characters (from left to right):

Joel Cummins (keyboards, vocals) - the suave classical music student with the lyrical sense of humor
Jake Cininger (guitar, vocals) - singer-songwriter, classical guitar wizard and metal afficiondo
Kris Myers (drums, vocals) - joined the band in 2003 with a masters degree in jazz drumming from DePaul
Ryan Stasik (bass) - the man with the endless collection of hats
Andy Farag (percussion)
Brendan Bayliss (guitar, vocals) - primary singer-songwriter, the heart and soul of the band, and a heck of a guitar-player

For the show in Memphis, we were about 50 feet back from the stage, yet this is about the best photo we could get. (It might be time for a new camera?)

A highlight of any Umphrey's show is when Jake and Brendan face off in a guitar duel. This can happen in just about any song, but usually just once or twice a show.

It's funny to see the soloists lean toward each other during their respective solos, and then lean back while the other one is soloing.

These guys definitely like to ham it up sometimes!

Some of the Memphis fans were hamming it up too! At one point near the end of the show, the band gave these guys props for still wearing the imperial helmets.

The show was our first in the spacious new Minglewood Hall, located in the up-and-coming local entertainment scene in the Midtown area of Memphis, away from all the tourist craziness of Beale Street. Here you can read an article about how the hall was named after the famous song "New Minglewood Blues" that the Grateful Dead used to cover, and about how the president of the company that launched the venue used to sell grilled cheese sandwiches at Dead shows.

They definitely put a lot of money into this place, and it was quite comfortable with ample bar space, enormous bathrooms and the latest technology in LED concert-hall lighting.

The capacity is listed at 1500 people, but it seemed like they could get up to 2000 people in here if they wanted to.

In addition to a couple of very strong covers of classics by The Who and Rush, the setlist included plenty of our favorite Umphrey's nuggets, both old and new:

Set I
All in Time >
The Fussy Dutchman
Rocker (part II)
Nemo
Professor Wormbog
Spires (unfinished) >
The Triple Wide

Set II
Turn and Run
Bridgeless >
Eminence Front >
Bridgeless
August
Search 4
The Fuzz >
Soul Food II >
Got Your Milk (Right Here)

Encore:
YYZ >
All In Time (reprise)

Download this show from the UMlive archive
Listen to some recent tracks and check out some Youtube clips at the Umphrey's McGee Myspace Page

The show started off with a bang...literally...as they hammered us a few times with the one-chord opening to "All in Time". Possibly their quintessential song, "All in Time" has it all, with catchy pop-rock melodies set to Iron Maiden-style guitar harmonics and a frantic tempo, interspersed with crushing Metallica-style riffs in the chorus, and a huge jam section in the middle. This time they never returned from the jam section (the reprise would come at the end of the show), and after several manic crescendos of the "All in Time" jam, they veered into "The Fussy Dutchman", one of their bristling classical-prog instrumental pieces. By the time "Fussy Dutchman" slammed to an end, the crowd was fully whipped into a frenzy.

Next up was "Rocker part II", one of their darker pieces of music, a really cool amalgam of metal, fusion and indy rock. This was a pretty straightforward version, which is to say, awesome.

"Nemo" really shows off the band's pop-rock sensibilities, stripped of the prog and heavy metal influence that marks so much of their material. It has a seductive melody that is suggestive of Dave Matthews Band (but more rocking), and it might just be their most radio-friendly song. This version featured an "Earth Hour" jam in recognition of the globally recognized event to turn off non-essential electric devices to raise awareness of global warming and the need for energy conservation. Instead of an "Earth Hour", however, the band played a mellow "Earth Minute" jam with all the stage lights turned off. This jam was nothing like a typical "Nemo" jam, but it built with intertwining guitar leads to a typically explosive crescendo...and then a super-tight stop-on-a-dime...a 2-second pause...and right back into that catchy "Nemo" guitar riff that gets stuck in your head for days. No matter how much these guys like to explore, they do like things to be resolved.

The instrumental Professor Wormbog was up next. While most of their vocal songs fall into some kind of prog-rock category, most of their instrumentals venture into other musical styles, and Professor Wormbog is no exception, with its muscular funk-rock and jazzy piano interludes. This version featured a short vocal bridge - "Zoom zoom zoom zaya...", etc - set to the melody of one of the vocal bridges in, of all things, Boyz II Men's "Motownphilly"! The slow-burning guitar improv that emerged from the bridge was all Umphrey's, though, and the jam peaked superbly before dropping back into the super-tight funk to close it out.

Next up was Spires, a dark dirge from the new "Mantis" album, reminiscent of the grunge of Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. Powerful heavy metal riffs gave way to hard-hitting prog in this succinct track. They left off the usual melancholy ending to Spires, and instead dropped seamlessly from grungey power chords into the smooth and loungey sounding techno-house grooves of the instrumental "The Triple Wide", a Joel Cummins number that featured him working the crowd into a hot and sweaty dancing frenzy with some wild and crazy moog-soloing to close out the first set.

The second set opened with "Turn and Run", another grunge-influenced number from the new "Mantis" album. The brooding but catchy melody really grows on you, and this song features a couple of nice twists and turns, including a head-banging moog solo. Finally Jake sent it off with a scorching solo that seemed to channel Eddie Van Halen at his finest (and I mean that in the best possible way...and I'm not referring to that finger-tapping thing he does).

Next it was time to delve back into some epic prog-rock, and "Bridgeless" was just what the doctor ordered. This turned out to be a massive version of "Bridgeless", sandwiched around a cover of the early 80's hit from The Who, "Eminence Front". "Bridgeless" opened with its complex, classical guitar prog passage, reminiscent of early 70's Yes, before settling into the driving, mechanical-sounding guitar chords that define the song's lyrical verses. After some more soaring prog-classical excursions, Joel devolved the chord structure of the song into a repetitive keyboard progression that eventually morphed into the signature looping piano refrain of "Eminence Front". This was a big surprise for us, since we'd never heard of them playing anything by the Who before...but then again, Umphrey's has been known to bust out a wide range of classic rock covers, from Steely Dan to Smashing Pumpkins to Paul McCartney and Wings. Jake took the lead in this song, convincingly singing Pete Townsend's vocal parts ("It's a put-on!!") with a passion, and then delivering an absolutely blistering Townsend-influenced guitar solo. Eventually, the repetitive guitar refrain of Eminence Front morphed back into more familiar territory, and the mechanical guitar chords and final verse of "Bridgeless" reprised even as Joel continued the timeless keyboard part from "Eminince Front". Finally, after yet another flight of classical-prog fancy, a frenetic improv developed into one of Jake and Brendan's signature guitar duels that upped the ante higher and higher to an absolutely explosive crescendo. Wow!! After that section of the show, we just stood there looking at each other with eyes bulging, shaking our heads in disbelief.

They really needed to cool things off a little bit after that, and "August" was a nice choice. Another mid-tempo radio-friendly number, this one has more of a heartland, Midwest hippie-rock sort of feel to it, heavy on the African percussion and gentle guitar tones. Nevertheless, for this performance, the band devolved the middle section into a mechanical-sounding arpeggio'd progression that quickly bore absolutely no resemblance to the song. This riff wound itself through various tempo changes and textures and up and down several crescendos, until suddenly they took a sharp left turn and bam!...we were right back into the yearning optimism of "August". Once again they had transformed a familiar chestnut into something completely unrecognizable and back again, all with a nifty cleverness and creativity far beyond the average jamband.

As we moved deep into the second set, the prog-heavy "Search 4" made a welcome appearance. Darkness ensued as the band channeled equal parts Tool and King Crimson through a complicated syncopation of classical piano and pounding metal riffs, overlayed with a sulky melody. Yet another ravaging guitar climax had us wondering if these guys could ever get worn out!

The party really got rolling with the off-beat funkiness of "The Fuzz", a song from the band's early repertoire that featured Kris on the tongue-in-cheek R&B falsetto vocals and Ryan with the rubber effect on the bass (a la Bootsy Collins). Not surprisingly, "The Fuzz" morphed seamlessly into the P-Funkiness of the party instrumental "Soul Food II" that had the crowd yelling out, "We want the Umph! Gotta have that Umph!" to the melody of the famous Parliament Funkadelic song. The funk went on just long enough to get things really moving on the dance floor, and then they started speeding up the funk rhythm like a wind-up toy until BAM!...the slamming intro to "Got Your Milk (Right Here)" a hilarious song with Frank Zappa-style sarcastic lyrics, set to a balls-to-the-wall fusion of upbeat, melodic post-punk riff-rocking and ska. With Jake and Joel trading off lyrics like "She is searching for her cellular phone"..."She wants to call her Daddy!", this was a fun way to close out a tremendous second set.

The encore brought us the second cover of the night, a super-tight rendition of Rush's archetypal instrumental "YYZ" that Umphrey's has played in concert dozens of times. As usual they finished "YYZ" with the final 10 seconds of "The Spirit of Radio" (another Rush classic), and then took yet another crazy left turn, as from within the crashing final chord of the Rush cover emerged the familiar vocal melody of "All in Time", the song they'd left unfinished at the beginning of the 1st set. The reprise was no throway, either, with another strong jam that built from a reggae-tinged whisper into yet another frenzied crescendo. Are these guys aliens?!

In our crew of four, three of us (Paul, Carley and Rob) were already fans of the band and had heard them dozens of times. Nevertheless, all three of us were blown away to a whole new level by this show. As for the other member of our crew, James had seen them at a festival once before, but he was far more impressed with them this time around.

Lucky for us, Umphrey's is coming back through our area in less than six weeks. On Saturday, May 2, they'll play even closer to our house, only 45 minutes away at the Lyric Theatre in Oxford. You know where we'll be!

Check out the Umphrey's McGee show we saw in Live Oak, Florida, on 11/18/2007.
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THE TUPELO BUFFALO PARK

2009-03-22T07:52:00.005-06:00

Saturday, March 21

We couldn't get out of town for Spring Break this year, since Carley had just started her new job only 4 weeks earlier, so we tried to find some fun little excursions around town.

Along with the Elvis birthplace museum, the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo (pictured above; photo used without permission) is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area. We've often seen the buffalo grazing in the big meadow across from the local airport as we drive past, but we'd never gone in to check it out before.

Much of the park is like a small zoo, and we walked around a path checking out the variety of animals in their undersized cages and pens. Rowan was especially impressed with the giraffes!

We were allowed to feed some of the animals, and these giraffes were especially fun, with their giant tongues! To "heighten" the experience, the park provides an elevated feeding platform where we could be more on their level.

Besides the llamas and emus above, some other animals we perused included everything from barnyard goats and horses to a lion, a tiger, a bear, a couple of monkeys, some noisy parrots, and even some kangaroos. We never did get up close to the buffalo, as we would have needed to take a half-hour bus ride through the safari section of the park. It was all a bit overwhelming for Rowan, who started losing interest as soon as we got to animals that we weren't allowed to feed.

He was much more interested in playing peek-a-boo inside the teepee!

Rowan's first pony ride really brightened his day, and he seemed awestruck as the animal under him walked around the circle like a miniature live carousel.

It's a good bet that we'll be back sometime again when Rowan is older and better able to appreciate some of what he's seeing. Meanwhile, we may decide to put off that trip to the Memphis Zoo for a little while.

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A TRIP TO THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF MEMPHIS

2009-03-19T11:51:00.002-06:00

Saturday, March 14

It's always nice to get out of town for the day, especially if we can go someplace with stimulation and exercise for Rowan. We got all that and more at the Children's Museum of Memphis.

The museum is designed to be engaging and fun as well as educational for kids of all ages. There are really cool interactive displays of cars, jet planes, and even home construction, all of which were way over Rowan's head at this point.

Instead, Rowan would have spent hours catching plastic "fish" floating downstream, if we'd let him. Lucas (left) was also comletely enthralled by "the stream", and this was a good place for us to chat with Emily and Tood for a little while.

Lucas's favorite spot in the whole museum was the "Kiddie Disco".

Rowan, on the other hand, wore himself out going down the big tube-slide over and over again.

Rowan also liked getting to play dentist, since he's already so good at brushing his own teeth.

He especially loved playing fireman!

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CARLEY'S NEW JOB AT UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI

2009-03-19T11:35:00.009-06:00

Job changes are usually big news, and this one was really exciting! In February, Carley wrapped up her previous job as the director of El Centro and started a new job as the assistant director at the Mississippi Geographic Alliance.

MGA is a network of teachers and geographers who work to promote geography education in the state of Mississippi and to increase the scope and amount of geography content in K-12 education. The organization receives funding and guidance from National Geographic, publishers of one of the finest magazines on the planet, among other things.

MGA is located in the Public Policy Leadership Department of the Lott Leadership Institute (named after the famous Republican senator from Mississippi) at University of Mississippi. Carley is excited to be working on the Ole Miss campus, the alma mater of so many of her friends and family.

Ole Miss is in the town of Oxford (pictured above), about 50 minutes west of our home in Tupelo, which is why we've had our house on the market since early February. So far the commute has been alright, but far from convenient for either of us, and we'll both be more relaxed after we relocate to Oxford. Oxford is a beautiful town with lots more to do for folks like us than Tupelo offers, including a relatively vibrant music scene.

MGA, which has been around for more than 20 years, is currently in a period of resurgence and expansion, and Carley was hired, in part, to assist the Executive Director with organizational development initiatives and to identify and develop strategic partnerships.

One of her tasks will be to assist with the professional development workshops that MGA provides to current and prospective teachers. She's already been busy with this facet of her job, as this recent pre-service workshop (above) had her spending a Friday and Saturday in Jackson (the state capitol). This workshop fell on the first week of her job, and it was a great opportunity to meet several of MGA's "teacher consultants," many of whom have been with MGA since its inception.

Far more exciting, however, was her recent business trip to the nation's capitol.

The destination was the National Geographic headquarters (pictured above; the building in the reflection is also part of National Geographic) for the annual Alliance Network conference.

Much of her time was spent in long sessions and conferences with fellow geography advocates (most of whom are university professors), swapping strategies and discussing the National Geographic Education Foundation's ambitious new goal to scale-up geographic education in the country.

However, she did get out for some excitement, lobbying on Capitol Hill for the Teaching Geography is Fundamental act (TGIF, HR1240, S?). In the photo above, she and her boss David (3rd from left)and her National Geographic liasion Allison (far right) met with Travis Childers (2nd from left), the new Democratic U.S. representative for Mississippi's 1st congressional district. The meeting was a success, by the way, as Childers signed on as a co-sponsor of the legislation. Mississippi's Thad Cochran is expected to introduce the legislation in the Senate (along with Senator Chris Dodd) any day now.

Carley couldn't stop chuckling after seeing the Senate Hair Care Salon (above) in one of the tunnels below the Senate office buildings and had to go back to snap a photo before she left.

Needless to say, it's been an interesting and exciting first month for Carley at her new job, and we're pretty sure there will be plenty more interesting things to report in the future, including a September conference in Puerto Rico that Rob is hoping to join in on.

Meanwhile...

What's Rob doing at work these days?

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ROB'S JOB TEACHING ESL IN SOUTH PONTOTOC COUNTY

2009-03-19T11:30:00.005-06:00

After some disheartening situations in his first year as a public school teacher last year at the local Tupelo High School, Rob has had a wonderful year as the ESL teacher at the one of the K-12 schools in neighboring Pontotoc County.

Pontotoc County is a much more rural district, and the elementary, middle and high schools are located together on the same site. This gives the school much more of a down-home family sort of feel than Tupelo, and the urban-gang culture that afflicts so many schools these days is practically non-existent here. Even better, the principal here is a really great principal, which makes for a great environment for everybody, teachers and students alike.

Rob's job here is to provide ESL (English as a Second Language) tutorial classes to all of the ELL (English Language Learner) students in grades K-12. Most of his time is spent in the elementary school, where he provides inclusion (in the regular classroom) services for some grades and pull-out (small groups in the ESL classroom, pictured above) services for other grades. The middle and high-school kids come as one group from each school for a tutorial/study hall class in the middle of the day. Overall, Rob works with about 45 students throughout the day, most of whom come from Spanish-speaking families.

Rob's classroom is in the back of the school, in the left half of this doublewide classroom-trailer. It might sound kind of ghetto, but because of extreme space limitations due to local population growth (they really need to build a new school!), there was really no place else to move the ESL classroom when they had to add another kindergarten room to meet demand. And in fact, the classroom is really pretty nice and spacious inside, so we aren't complaining at all.

Rob says: "Working here is a really rewarding experience on many levels. It's especially rewarding knowing that I'm helping to make an important positive impact on such wonderful kids who are facing educational challenges due to their situations. Every day I catch myself smiling in delight over something one of my kids has said or done, or over something that I've just learned. And I've learned so much at this job about working with kids of all different ages, and especially about all the different aspects of teaching children to read. I think this will help me to be a better father and mentor to Rowan, which may be the most rewarding part of all."

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WINTER VISITORS

2009-03-10T07:10:00.001-06:00

For some reason, we don't get a lot of visitors here. It's as if northern Mississippi is not at the top of the list of vacation spots for most people! Well, we may not have a lot in the way of local tourist attractions (unless you're really into Elvis), but we do have a good time when our friends come to visit!

A SURPRISE VISIT FROM MIKE

To help celebrate Rob's 40th birthday, Rob's long-time but rarely seen friend Mike made the 7-hour drive up from southwest Louisiana where he works deep-sea diving on oil rigs. Mike and Rob became good friends almost 15 years ago in Arizona, but they've only seen each other a handful of times in the last 10 years.

Mike brought quite the classy gift! This gift might take a while to finish off, since we rarely get into the tequila zone in our "old age".

A VISIT FROM PEACHY

Rowan's godmother Peachy came to visit at the end of January! Peachy is Carley's best friend from college, and she was on her way back to Austin, Texas, after a year-and-a-half working on Barack Obama's presidential campaign. (Long-time readers will remember our visit with Peachy in South Carolina last winter.) We all enjoyed having her for the weekend, and we wish her the best in her next endeavor, whatever it may turn out to be!

A VISIT FROM EDDIE AND MATT

At the beginning of March, our friend Eddie (right) and his son Matt dropped in for a visit on their roadtrip across the country. Longtime readers of this blog may remember that Eddie was one of our roommates in Guatemala about 4 years ago. At that time, Eddie had been teaching English in various countries around the world for the previous five years. His most recent travels that brought him through Mississippi will have him settling with Matt in Asheville, North Carolina, after the past few years in New Mexico, Arizona and California. We all had a good weekend sharing travel stories and musical finds, and we wish them the best as they start a new chapter in Asheville!

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FUN IN THE SNOW

2009-03-01T10:59:00.004-06:00

Sunday, March 1, 2009

March came in like a lion this year!

We don't usually get much snow here in Mississippi, so when we do, we take advantage of it!

Rowan loved learning all about the finer points of snowballs,...

...especially throwing them at us!

Meanwhile, from the other side of the country is a shot of Rowan's cousin Adrianna enjoying the snow outside of Tucson, Arizona. (They don't get much snow there either!) We don't get to see much of Adrianna since she lives so far away, but Rowan loved hanging out with her last summer when we visited Rob's brother Chris on our big road trip.

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HAPPY VALENTINE 2009

2009-02-15T12:41:00.007-06:00

Saturday, February 14

Valentine's Day started with a trip to the mall, where Elmo was making a special appearance. Usually we hate going to the mall, but Rowan was so stoked to see Elmo that it was worth it!

Also at the mall was a carousel ride. Horsies! More fun for Rowan!

Later that afternoon was the Valentine piñata party. Back in the fall, Carley spent hours making piñatas as part of a fund-raising effort for El Centro, and this one was conveniently left over. Unfortunately, Rowan's best friends Lucas and Ansley were both home sick and couldn't come.

No worries...more treats for Rowan!

Happy Valentine's Day to our little sweetheart!

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ALMOST TWO-AND-A-HALF

2009-02-01T10:13:00.008-06:00

At 2 years and 4 months, Rowan is gaining new skills at quite a rapid pace. He often speaks in complete sentences, he's in the process of learning the alphabet, and he counts to 10 with ease. He's also becoming adept at puzzles and playing catch, and he even plays the harmonica. Most of the time he's an absolute joy to be around, full of charm and good cheer.

Of course he loves the playground.

He really dug hanging with Daddy at Chuck E CHeeze. Daddy, on the other hand, was not a big fan, but we made it out okay in the end.

Hanging with Bob the Builder at Chuck E Cheeze.

After so much action, Rowan needs a nap! Usually he naps in his crib for a couple of hours after lunch, but this particular morning he was too tired to even make it to lunchtime!

Bath time is even more fun when Rowan's friends Lucas and Ashley join in!

Too much excitement!

At night before bed, Rowan loves sitting down with Mommy or Daddy for 20 or 30 minutes of book-reading. These days his favorite is Dr. Seuss's "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish", and he's even begun memorizing his favorite parts.

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FORTY

2009-01-11T09:53:00.003-06:00

It was just another ordinary Thursday, the day that Rob turned 40 years old. The alarm went off at 5:30 and a typically action-packed day at school led to a nice but low-key dinner with Carley's parents.

The real celebration came on Saturday the 10th, when a group of friends showed up bearing gifts and we all headed out to the Kyoto Japanese restaurant for a hibachi/sushi dinner. (Rowan stayed home with the babysitter.) Afterward, the gang came back to the house for a bonfire party. The whole thing was a surprise to Rob, who really had no idea that anything was planned.

The biggest surprise was the appearance of Rob's long-time but rarely seen friend Mike, who made the 7-hour drive up from southwest Louisiana where he works deep-sea diving on oil rigs. Mike and Rob became good friends almost 15 years ago in Arizona, but they've only seen each other a handful of times in the last 10 years.

Mike brought quite the classy gift! This gift might take a while to finish off, since we rarely get into the tequila zone in our "old age".

So how does it feel to be forty? "Just a little bit older, and maybe even a little wiser."

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NEW YEARS EVE 2008

2009-01-02T07:08:00.011-06:00

Just like we did for New Years Eve 2006, we rang in the new year with a couple nights of our favorite band, STS9.

And as we wrote two years ago, STS9 plays instrumental jazzy electronica, intertwining a variety of beats (hip-hop, house, break, dub) with live guitar, piano, bass and drums to form a sonic tapestry of psychedelic, highly danceable music. These days most of the band members use laptops to incorporate a variety of pre-recorded samples into their music, especially with some of the newer songs.

The setting was downtown Atlanta, a little more than 4 hours from home.

Downtown Atlanta is a respectable destination these days, thanks to 15 years of revitalization. The CNN Center, the Georgia Dome and the world famous aquarium draw in visitors year-round.

Despite the attractions and the abundance of hotel rooms, however, the restaurant selection is pretty weak compared to other parts of Atlanta, and the downtown area is generally lacking in overall charm. The Olympic Centennial Park in these photos is the exception, providing some nice ambience for chilling outdoors.

A half mile from our hotel was the Georgia Dome, where football fans converged on New Years Eve for a major college bowl match-up between the LSU Tigers and the hometown Georgia Tech Yellowjackets.

Our destination, however, was the much smaller and more stately Tabernacle, a gorgeous 100 year old church that was converted to a top-notch music venue in conjunction with the 1996 Olympics.

The interior now features an eye-catching paint job, providing a festive ambience.

The 4-story building has several balconies and a pair of winding staircases.

On the upper levels, rooms that were formerly chambers now serve as cozy lounges, complete with couches and large screens for viewing the show in complete comfort.

The actual concert takes place in the former sanctuary, where up to 2600 people gather under under the giant chandelier.

We opted for seats near the front-center of the first balcony, where we had a nice view of the action. The only obstruction was the overhanging upper balcony, which partially blocks the sound from the PA system.

It was great to hang out with Jimmy, an old friend from our days in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jimmy runs STS9's live download site and has been known to travel far and wide to see these guys.

Our seats provided a great view of the band's simple but powerful light show.

To the side of the stage, a pair of artists painted their reaction to the music.

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...Happy New Year!!

Hugs, kisses and schwirl every where you look.

The music finally came to an end around 1:30am on New Years Day, and just about everybody seemed satisfied and pleased with the shows. We sure were!

While the band played four consecutive nights of music with no songs repeated, we only saw the final two nights. Here are the setlists:

Tuesday 12/30/2008
ABCs
Inspire Strikes Back
GLOgli
1103
The Spectacle
Dem Be
STS9
Kamuy
Tooth
Empires >
Empires Remix >
(Ambient Interlude)
The New Soma
Equinox
Mobsters>
EB

Encore:
From Now On

Download the 12/30/2008 show here

Wednesday 12/31/2008
Set 1:
Twilight
Really Wut?
Beyond Right Now
Bigs >
Metameme
The Rabble
Looking Back On Earth
Orbital

Set 2:
Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist
(countdown/Happy New Year)
Peaceblaster '68 >
Peaceblaster '08
The Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature
Evasive Maneuvers >
Surreality >
Evasive Maneuvers
New New 4 U U
Hubble
EHM

Encore:
What Is Love?
We'll Meet In Our Dreams >
Circus >
We'll Meet In Our Dreams

Download the 12/31/2008 show here

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CHRISTMAS 2008

2008-12-26T09:19:00.012-06:00

This Christmas figured to be the one where Rowan would really begin to "get it". He can identify Santa, Rudolph and Frosty, and he can say "Merry Christmas". He knows what Christmas trees are, so we decided to go out and get a real one for the first time.

As always, Tupelo featured their annual Christmas parade the first weekend in December.

And as always, Rowan loved it!

He loved it even though he had to bundle up in hat and mittens to brave the freezing cold temperatures.

Like most kids, he really likes Christmas lights, and we all enjoyed this over-the-top display in the tiny town of Cotton Plant, about half an hour from Tupelo.

The Cotton Plant Christmas display is a relatively recent phenomenom, started a couple of years ago by Steven and Christy Paul, a mid-30s couple with a couple of kids. Now it has grown to be the biggest display in northern Mississippi, with over 300 inflatable decorations. Plus they've opened up their property to the public so that gawkers can walk or drive through the labyrinth of Christmas craziness.

Of course around these parts, college football is celebrated almost as reverently as Christmas itself, especially when it comes to the rival Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Christmas is also party season for us, and we got things started in Ripley with the Elliott clan, featuring Carley's mom's brother Charlie (left), sister Betty (center, sitting next to her husband Gary), and brother Bobby (center, standing).

Carley's mom with sister Betty and sister-in-law Anne.

Rowan especially loved playing with all his cousins.

They seemed to enjoy Rowan just as much as he enjoyed them!

A few days later we got together with some Lovorn family friends for their annual solstice party. This party was a big event with at least 50 people and a huge bonfire more than 10 feet tall. Here we caught up with Carley's brother Barrett and his wife Molly, whom we rarely see now that they live in Gainesville, Florida.

We wrapped up the party circuit with the annual "How Come Christmas?" party with more Lovorn family friends.

Here at the Warriners' house, the kids and grown-ups all gathered together in the living room for the annual reading of the long-lost Christmas story after which the party is named.

Thanks to Mr. Warriner and his family for the turkey gumbo and holiday cheer!

Finally it was Christmas Eve, and we got to open all those presents that were under the tree at MeMe and Papa's house! At this point Rowan had already gotten a new pair of rain boots from his Papa, and he insisted on wearing them at all times over the next couple of days.

On Christmas morning, Carley's parents, Barrett and Molly all came to our house bright and early to see what Santa had brought for Rowan.

In addition to a big talking Elmo and a toy vacuum cleaner, he got lots of puzzles, books, and toy cars and trucks, plus some cool new clothes and even some Tennessee Titans NFL gear.

Later that day we went back to MeMe and Papa's house for Christmas "dinner" (actually lunch) - turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potatoes and more. Here Rowan got to play with his buddy Vince.

Looking over the presents at the end of a long Christmas Day...

...and the next day...and the next...

Merry Christmas!

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THANKSGIVING AT THE BEACH

2008-12-07T07:22:00.003-06:00

Wednesday, November 26, 2008 to
Saturday, November 29, 2008

Once again, Carley's parents treated us to a holiday respite at their favorite beach spot on the Florida panhandle, Santa Rosa Beach. Since moving to Mississippi a couple years ago, we've been lucky enough to spend several holiday breaks at this vacation getaway near Destin, about an hour east of Pensacola, including last Thanksgiving, as well as Fourth of July 2007 and Spring Break 2007.

With both Rob and Carley's mom working as teachers in the public school system, and Carley and her dad being their own bosses at work, it's relatively easy for us all to get away a few times a year for some relaxing vacation time together. We definitely give thanks for that!

Like last year, Thanksgiving Dinner was once again at the fantastic Cafe Thirty-A. Rowan enjoyed his "kid-size" turkey dinner, which was far more than he could finish. You can imagine what the regular turkey dinner plate looked like!

He especially loved his dessert - ice cream!

We enjoyed decent weather with high temperatures in the low 70s, so there was plenty of fun to be had on the beach!

Yes, life is good.

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STS9 IN OXFORD

2008-11-09T15:04:00.004-06:00

Lyric Theatre
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The night after the election, Rob rode over to nearby Oxford with a crew of friends for our favorite band, STS9. A fusion of electronica, jazz, and industrial rock, this all instrumental band originally from Georgia has been a constant theme in our lives ever since we met each other at one of their concerts 5 years ago. Unfortunately, Carley couldn't make it to this show because she had a stomach virus when she got back home from St. Louis. :-(

Like most STS9 shows these days, they played a lot of their newer material, as well as a handful of classics such as What Is Love, And Some Are Angels and Moonsocket. The trend lately has been a deep, dark, dirty style of improvisation, and tonight was no exception. Bring on the DIRTY NINE!

Tooth
Moon Socket
Arigato
...And Some Are Angels
Abcees
Lo Swaga
118
Dem Be
The New Soma
Open E >
(ambient interlude)
Crystal Instrument
Yes~No
Rent
Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist

Encore:
What Is Love?

The show took place at the brand new Lyric Theatre, which just opened a few months ago. A medium-sized venue with a nice balcony, The Lyric was a great place for an STS9 show, with excellent sound and plenty of room for people to get down to the nasty grooves. It seemed like at least 1000 people were in attendance, and the crowd was fired up and enthusiastic from the start. After the show, there was an exuberant buzz in the air as the crowd spilled into the street, and the police had a bit of a time clearing things out so that traffic could flow. What a wonderful Wednesday night!

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ELECTION DAY IN SAINT LOUIS

2008-11-04T14:46:00.006-06:00

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

As the election got closer and closer, we thought often about our friend Peachy (Carley's best friend from college and Rowan's godmomma), who has spent the past year working on Barack Obama's presidential campaign. When we last saw her in early January, she was running a regional campaign office in Greenville, South Carolina. However, since the summer, she's been in St. Louis serving as Obama's state field director for her home-state of Missouri.

Carley and her dad heeded the call for "all hands on deck" on election day, and they made the 6-hour drive to St. Louis on Monday afternoon. Rob stayed home with Rowan and anxiously watched the news until that glorious moment at 10pm CST on Tuesday evening.

Carley didn't actually get to see Peachy, but that was alright since they were there to work. Peachy was in an undisclosed location with the rest of the campaign's top brass, but they did get to check out her operation and work the phone banks on Monday night.

This guy, Sam, was from Australia and had been in the U.S. for three months volunteering for the Obama campaign. I guess the rest of the world was fed up with us making poor decisions!

Carley and her dad were at their staging location by 5:00am and at the polls by 5:30. This is the line at 5:30 in the morning that wrapped around the building and down the block.

Jean, our polling place captain, was part of the Ward 18 crew along with her daughter Yolanda, the spunky Sharese, our legal observer Iliana and Vera, founder of Justice Watch/Color of Justice-St. Louis (www.justiceforreggie.com - go sign the petition!)

Carley talks to a voter about his rights.

Inside our polling place.

Our polling place was a high school. The students above couldn't vote but they made their opinions known.

The lady above doing curbside voting was 100 years old. This was probably the biggest tearjerker of Carley's day. Just think, she couldn't even vote until she was nearly 60, and she got to vote for a black man - and he WON!!!

Carley and Ward 18 Democratic chairwoman Carla at 7:30pm, after a long day at the polls.

Carley and Rob shared happy tears over the phone later that night when the results came in. We are so excited that the majority of our compatriots recognized a great leader in Barack Obama, and we are ready to work for change over the next 4 (and hopefully 8) years!! YES WE DID!!!!

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NFL FOOTBALL IN NASHVILLE

2008-11-02T14:53:00.001-06:00

Green Bay Packers @ Tennessee Titans
Sunday, November 2, 2008

A couple days after Halloween, we made the 3-1/2 hour drive to Nashville for some more football.

This time it was the Green Bay Packers (and their distinctively clad fans, with cheeseheads and all things yellow) in town for a matchup with the undefeated Tennessee Titans.

The Titans won the game in overtime, 19-16.

We made the trip with Carley's good friend from high school, Nikki, and her husband Jonathan. They have a daughter about 6 months younger than Rowan, and they live just up the street from us now, so we look forward to spending more time with them.

Big thanks to Carley's dad, who hooked us up with excellent seats in the Club section!!

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HALLOWEEN 2008

2008-10-31T14:39:00.000-06:00

Boo!! (Heh heh) Our pumpkin was probably not very popular with our neighbors. Here in ultra-conservative Mississippi, it is rare to see anybody openly supporting Barack Obama. Oh well!

This year we tried to get Rowan in the Halloween spirit by visiting a local "pumpkin patch" at the Tupelo Buffalo Park. We went on a "hay ride"...

...and explored a giant hay-bale maze.

After finding our way out of the maze, we wandered into the pumpkin "patch", which was just a field where they'd dumped a bunch of pumpkins.

All the pumpkins were too big for Rowan to carry!

His favorite part of the day was jumping around in the inflatable "bouncy room" (or whatever those things are called).

He also got a kick out of feeding the baby goats.

Rob had the distinct pleasure of visiting yet another "pumpkin patch", this time as a chaperone with one of the Kindergarten classes at the school where he works.

Unlike the Tupelo "pumpkin patch", this one had a real pumpkin patch, where you had to break the pumpkins off the vines. Even better, these were little kid-size pumpkins.

On Halloween night, Rowan was dressed as his favorite cartoon character, Curious George. However he absolutely refused to put the headpiece on, so this is the best picture we could get. He might be a little too young for this stuff, since he didn't seem to get the idea that he was supposed to be George. Nevertheless, he got to do some trick-or-treating for the first time ever!

Rob and Carley also made costumes this year. Plus, we had a little skit that went like this:

Main Street: Can I have some money?

Wall Street: Get your own money.

Main Street: But your $700 billion bailout hasn't trickled down to me yet.

Wall Street: You need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

Main Street: But I don't have any bootstraps.

Etcetera...

Happy Halloween!!

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SATURDAY IN STARKVILLE

2008-10-12T13:34:00.006-06:00

October 11, 2008

Another nearby destination for us is Starkville, the other big college town around these parts. Home to Mississippi State University, it's only about an hour-and-ten minutes south of us. Although it's a little farther away than the University of Mississippi in Oxford, a trip to Starkville has the advantage that we get to hang with Susan, Carley's best friend from childhood.

Susan and her husband Bill both graduated from MSU, and they liked Starkville so much that they've never left. Bill has since started 2 different software ventures, and they have a great circle of friends here, several of whom teach classes at the university. We enjoyed spending the day with them and their adorable daughters Harper (4) and Anna Wyatt (1).

The highlight of the day was a home football game against Carley's alma mater, the 14th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores. The game ended in a 17-14 upset victory for the home team, much to the delight of the maroon-clad Bulldog faithful.

Susan & Bill's tailgate crew had a strategic setup away from the crowds around the stadium, with plenty of room for kids to play, and even an electrical outlet to plug in the TV.

The crew included several other pre-schoolers for Rowan to hang out with, and he had a blast.

There was all kinds of fun to be had!

There was also a great little spread of food and drinks for everyone to enjoy.

Rowan's favorite part was getting to know Harper, who is just as sweet as can be.

For the actual game, we met up with Carley's dad, who had hooked us up with awesome seats in his friend's skybox. The skybox was the perfect game-time environment for a 2-year-old, since there was a big room behind the seats for him to roam around and explore, instead of having to stay in the same seat for the whole game.

Of course, the first thing he did was fall asleep! He was pretty wiped out from a busy morning of tailgating.

After a nap and change of clothes, Rowan was ready to hang with his Papa and enjoy the luxuries of the skybox.

Eventually he came down to the seats to check out the commotion and the view.

There's always quite a commotion at Mississippi State games, thanks to the fired-up fans and their tradition of ringing cowbells to cheer on their Bulldogs. The relentless clanging makes for a loud and festive environment, and Rowan had never seen anything quite like this before.

He got into it for a little while...

...but ultimately he spent most of his time back up in the skybox, "cheering" and entertaining himself with pom-poms, miniature cowbells and the like.

After the game, we went back to Susan and Bill's house for an enjoyable dinner party with 2 other couples. The grown-ups had lasagna and wine, while Rowan and Harper had a smorgasbord of treats at the kitchen counter.

Harper was so pleased to have Rowan sleep over that she was happy to share her bath with him.

We were all a little groggy on Sunday morning, but after such a great Saturday, who could complain? We definitely need to do this more often!

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A CELEBRATION OF CULTURES

2008-09-28T11:58:00.003-06:00

Saturday, September 27, 2008

In what's gotten to be a yearly tradition for us here in Tupelo, the 3rd annual Celebration of Cultures was an inspiring day of music, dance, crafts and food from around the world.

It was also an opportunity for Carley to promote her non-profit organization El Centro, and for her to do some networking in the community.

To start the ceremonies, Carley and some of the kids from El Centro's after-school program recited the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish, while onlookers could read the Spanish version of the Pledge that she had printed on flyers.

A crowd gathered in the shade for the musical entertainment that was to follow.

A mariachi band performed for some traditional Mexican dancing.

The mariachi band stayed on for some fun with the kids, including a rendition of the Chicken Dance.

A local dance troop performed an "Aztec dance", accompanied only by a single drum.

All in all, it was another beautiful day in the park!

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL AT OLE MISS

2008-09-28T11:33:00.001-06:00

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Here in the south, college football is a really big deal. Three of the last five national champion teams are from the Southeast Conference, and the tailgate parties around here are legendary.

On a recent Saturday we made the 45-minute drive to Oxford for an evening game. Carley's alma mater Vanderbilt was in town to face the resurgent Ole Miss Rebels, and Carley's dad had scored us some excellent seats. To the disappointment of most of the crowd, Vanderbilt knocked off Ole Miss by a score of 23-17.

Our good friends Josh and Bonnie joined us for the game. Big thanks to Bonnie for being designated driver!

After the game we strolled past the Gertrude Ford Performing Arts Center, which was already in full splendor for the upcoming presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain next week.

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TWO YEARS OLD!

2008-09-13T13:41:00.009-06:00

Hard to believe, but he's not a baby anymore...not even a toddler! Our little "pre-schooler" turned 2 years old on Tuesday, September 9. Since that's a schoolday for all of us, we celebrated on Saturday the 6th.

A bunch of friends came over to celebrate with him.

Cupcakes were a new experience for Rowan, since sweets with lots of sugar are few and far between.

Mmmmmm!

Happy Birthday, Rowan!

Rowan got a sandbox for his birthday! This space next to our shed used to be a carport where the previous owner of our house kept his four-wheelers, but we finally got the idea to make a practical use of the space!

The swings and slide were also a big hit with Rowan's friends, as usual.

However, we might need to look into getting a bigger "pool"?

The kids didn't seem to mind.

Of course, Rowan's favorite part of the party was getting to hangout with his best buddy Lucas, who was also celebrating his birthday! Lucas is just 2 weeks older than Rowan.

Another one of Rowan's new friends is Ansley, who lives just up the street from us.

Ansley turned one year old earlier this summer, and her mom is Niki, one of Carley's good friends from high school.

With the festive occasion and great weather, it was really a great day for everyone who came!

Who da man?

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STANTON MOORE TRIO

2008-09-07T10:50:00.006-06:00

Oxford, Mississippi
Thursday, September 4, 2008

On a recent Thursday night we shelled out 50 bucks for a babysitter so we could enjoy some top-notch live music in nearby Oxford. The event for this evening was the Stanton Moore Trio, at the intimate Proud Larry's, our favorite music venue in Mississippi.

Stanton Moore has established quite a name for himself as the virtuoso drummer of the modern New Orleans funk-rock band Galactic, a band that's been in our top 5 for years. Regular readers will recall that we saw Galactic twice last spring, in Oxford and Birmingham. However, in addition to Galactic, Stanton has been prolific in his contributions to the music scene, collaborating with other bands and forming several other bands of his own.

With his Trio, Stanton teams up with keyboardist Robert Walter and guitarist Will Bernard, virtuosos in their own right.

The result is a modern take on the funk-jazz genre with a New Orleans twist that satisifies on so many levels; most jazz lovers would be impressed with the spectacular improvisational solos, while even the most casual music lovers are entertained with the upbeat, highly danceable grooves. It's a bit like going to see a jazz show where the audience stands and dances instead of sitting. To get a taste of this infectious instrumental music, click here to go to Stanton's website, where you can listen to several of the tunes from his new CD.

Robert Walter is particularly impressive on the organ, playing all the keyboard solos with his right hand while simultaneously playing all the bass lines with his left (there is no bass guitarist in the band). Robert got his start in the San Diego-based Greyboy Allstars, whom we saw here at Proud Larry's last February. Robert also led his own jazz-funk instrumental band, 20th Congress, for nearly a decade; however, they are currently on hiatus since Robert has relocated to New Orleans.

As for Will Bernard, he's also led his own jazz-rock instrumental band Motherbug for nearly a decade, and he got his start in the San Francisco Bay Area with Peter Apfelbaum's Hieroglyphics Ensemble.

The show featured mostly tunes from the Trio's two CDs, with a few exceptions. A local trombone player sat in for a traditional New Orleans song, and The Trio closed the 2nd set with a medley that included The Meters' "Li'l Ol' Money Maker" and Led Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times".

We had thought about leaving the show early so we wouldn't be too exhausted for work the next morning (Friday), but the music was too good and we couldn't drag ourselves away! So, we finally made it home around 2am and got about 4 hours sleep. It was worth it!

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SUMMERTIME FUN IN THE PARK

2008-09-07T10:30:00.006-06:00

Just like last summer, one of our favorite weekend activities here in Mississippi is getting together with friends for afternoon picnics in the park.

On a recent Saturday we headed 45 minutes north toward the Appalachian foothills, near the Alabama and Tennessee state lines, to Tishomingo State Park, to meet up with our good friends Emily, Todd and Lucas.

A tasty spread of good food and wine on a shady picnic table kept the grown-ups feeling comfortable, and the disc-golf course situated next to our picnic site provided a leisurely workout for the guys. (note the basket in the background) Meanwhile, there were all sorts of things for Lucas and Rowan to do.

Reading a book is always a good idea!

Disc golf anyone?

Or maybe disc-golf wrestling!

The slide on this playground is much taller than Rowan's slide in our backyard!

Whee!

Spin round and round and then fall down!

Rowan is ready for football season!

On a different day we checked out the new splash park at Veteran's Memorial Park in Tupelo.

The various fountains and sprayers have buttons you can press to activate them. With this new splash park, plus its close proximity to home and its excellent disc-golf course, Veteran's Park might be our favorite park around.

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ALMOST TWO

2008-08-16T16:49:00.003-06:00

Believe it or not, Rowan is almost 2 years old already! Like a typical two-year-old, he's decided he should be able to do anything a grown-up can do, such as...

...wearing Daddy's shoes, and even...

..."reading" grown-up books...

...brushing his own teeth!

He's also starting to put together short phrases and complete sentences, and he can put on his own shoes. He can also climb up the drawer handles onto the kitchen counter, so we've got our hands full keeping him out of danger.

Check out Rowan's birthday.
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THE ATLANTA DEBACLE

2008-08-03T10:53:00.006-06:00

Friday, August 1 - Saturday, August 2

All summer we had been looking forward to this weekend. Our 2 favorite bands, STS9 and Umphrey's McGee, had teamed up for a co-headline summer tour, and they were closing out the tour with 2 nights in Atlanta - only four-and-a-half hours away!

We had reserved a room at a sweet bed-and-breakfast called Sugar Magnolia. (Despite the Grateful Dead song of the same name, there didn't seem to be any intent to link the place to the band or their legacy.)

The place was in a beautiful residential neighborhood about 5 minutes east of downtown.

The neighborhood where we stayed, Inman Park, was minutes away from the funky Little Five Points neighborhood, so we had all kinds of good restaurants and shopping nearby. Not only that, we were only a five-minute drive from the concert at Masquerade Music Park.

Unfortunately, however, sometimes things can go very wrong. The first signs of trouble were already brewing in the photo above, at about 7pm on Saturday evening. The show was about to start, but so was a wicked thunderstorm.

Soon we were all completely soaked, as lightning flashed all around us and high winds ripped tarps off the stage.

We toughed out the storm and even managed to keep the rainwater out of our beers. We had a good spot near the stage and we weren't going to lose it!

Meanwhile...

The storm turned out to be particularly severe, and trees had been blown down on power lines all over eastern Atlanta. Up to 140,000 people were without power, including us. The power in our area didn't come back on until around 8:30 Sunday morning, so the concert (the grand finale of the summer tour) was cancelled.

Ironically, the tree in the photo above was in the front yard of the Sugar Magnolia Bed-and-Breakfast where we were staying. (Notice all of the stretched and broken power lines!)

To add insult to injury, the power utility guys showed up in the middle of the night with bucket trucks and chain saws to cut up the tree, keeping Rob up for several hours.

Not only was Saturday night a disaster, but we also missed Umphrey's McGee's set on Friday evening because Rob's new teaching position at Pontotoc County School District required him to be at school that day until 3pm for his first day on the job. We left home at 3:45pm, but with the time zone change, we didn't arrive at the show until 9pm.

At least we got to see a solid STS9 set on Friday night, focusing largely on their new Peaceblaster album, but also featuring a couple of our favorite old-school classics, Circus and Tap-In.

One a Day
Beyond Right Now
Rent
Circus
Metameme
Tap-In
118
EHM
Shock Doctrine
Peaceblaster '68 >
Peaceblaster '08

Needless to say, the weekend was disappointing. In 20 years of seeing hundreds of concerts, we've never had anything like that happen! Hopefully we can go another 20 years without such a debacle?

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ROADTRIP 2008

2008-07-19T21:29:00.002-06:00

GOIN' OUT WEST

In the midst of another surge in gasoline prices (we paid up to $4.79 a gallon in California!), what on earth would make us want tow this U-Haul trailer all the way across the country and back?

Well, besides the opportunity to visit with friends and family, there was all that stuff we left in a storage shed in California about three-and-a-half years ago, before we moved to Guatemala. Over the last few years, the monthly storage fee just about doubled, so we figured it was time to put an end to that situation.

The ultimate destination: our storage shed up by the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mission accomplished! The stuff all fit with plenty of space to spare.

Meanwhile, we had Rowan and Kina for over 5000 miles of highway (around $1600 in gas!). And how do you suppose they did? Well, Kina's never a problem - just about the best travel dog you could imagine. As for Rowan, he got hooked on DVDs: Elmo, Barney, Word-World, etc.

He also got hooked on snacks - all day long! He mostly ate healthy food, but in the photo above, he'd managed to reach one of Daddy's snacks.

And, inevitably he would nap. Sometimes with his hand down his pants.

He generally enjoyed eating in the dozens of restaurants we patronized, and as usual, he would often try to befriend the waitresses and other customers with his cute-as-can-be antics.

And, whenever he got the chance, he explored. Perhaps we could all benefit from taking more time to explore?

For the first week, we drove the I-10 corridor from New Orleans to Los Angeles, visiting friends and family in Texas and Arizona and doing a little camping in the desert. We stopped for visits in:

New Orleans
Houston
Austin
Tucson
Los Angeles

The second week, we drove up the central California coast and spent 4 days in our former home, the San Francisco Bay Area. We stopped to visit in:

Santa Barbara
Pismo Beach
San Jose
Bonny Doon
Pacifica
Oakland
San Francisco
Walnut Creek

Finally, after loading our stuff out of the storage shed, we spent the third week in Road Warrior mode, driving long days and pushing the farthest limits of toddler carseat-tolerance. After spending the first 16 nights of the trip in our friends' and family's guest rooms or the tent, we spent the final 4 nights in Motel 6's along the I-40 corridor.

We've put together a photo-log of the trip, including some of the beautiful places we visited, as well as friends and family and, of course, lots of pictures of Rowan. Click here to start at the beginning of the trip.

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! AND THE DRIVE HOME...

2008-07-18T09:42:00.009-06:00

Tracy, California

After a lovely homemade breakfast at Eric and Jubilee's house, we drove an hour out into the San Joaquin Valley to get to our storage shed in Tracy.

As it turned out, getting the shed open was the hard part. Only months after we'd stowed our stuff there prior to heading down to Central America, we got a phone call from the management saying our shed had been broken into. Sure enough, the few electronic items we'd stored were stolen. Worse than that, the managment responded by putting 2 new locks on the door, neither of which we could find the key to!

The end result of all this was that the new manager had to cut the locks off with a special tool and it took almost an hour to get them off. Fortunately, once the locks were off, we were able to load everything from the shed to the trailer in only about 20 minutes.

"Ready to roll!!"

The Road Home

Anxious now to be home again, we took the most direct route from the Bay Area back to Tupelo. This mostly consisted of the I-40 corridor from Barstow to Memphis, places where we don't really know anybody.

After spending the first 16 nights of the trip in "guest rooms" or the tent, we spent the final 4 nights in Motel 6's, where we enjoyed swimming pools and wireless Internet, but occasionally had to hide out in the bathroom or under the covers until Rowan fell asleep!

We stopped in northeast Arizona for a brief scenic detour through Petrified Forest National park.

These petrified logs are more like giant crystals now, after spending hundreds of millions of years under an ancient ocean. The trees died some 225 million years ago. It really boggles the mind to think about such a long time!

Getting caught taking even the smallest sliver of petrified wood brings a fine of $325, so we had to keep an eye on our little rock-hound to make sure he didn't stuff any in his pockets!

We figure Rowan will really love this place if we bring him back in about 7 or 8 years. For now he was more than content being in charge of Kina's leash!

The high desert landscapes are almost otherworldly in this region.

As we passed these awesome multi-colored layered rock formations, we made our way into...

text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_jnwjglwWc6o/SIvuo8W5xgI/AAAAAAAABVU/qcAhmjuAziA/s400/littlepainteddesert.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227534179657958914" />...the badlands of the Painted Desert.

Actually this was as close as we got to the really dramatic landscapes; the previous photo is from the Painted Desert page on Wikipedia, since Rowan had just fallen asleep in the carseat and we didn't want to wake him up to go exploring. Besides, we had too much driving to do to dally around, so soon enough we were back on I-40 heading east.

As we rolled into New Mexico, the roadside scenery ranged from impressive...

...to sublime...

...to downright cheesy.

In the western highlands of Gallup, New Mexico, the downtown buildings are adorned with modern murals celebrating Native American culture.

Here in Gallup we enjoyed an excellent lunch before heading east toward Texas and Oklahoma.

Once we left New Mexico, the rugged desert lanscape quickly changed to endless flat plains of north Texas, with very little to see except occasional fences and cattle. (No trees for miles!) And just as dramatic as the change in geography was the cultural shift as we entered the Bible Belt, with this giant 19-story roadside cross to greet us. Located in Groom, Texas (just east of Amarillo), it supposedly claims to be the largest cross in the western hemisphere. (It's not.)

Also in Groom were this blown-out roadsign and leaning water tower, giving the appearance of a sort of modern-day ghost town. At least it broke up the endless monotony of flat, wide-open pasture plains.

At this point of the trip, we pretty much stopped taking photos, except for at one of the Arkansas rest areas we stopped at on our final day of driving.

At 6pm on Friday, July 18, we pulled into our driveway in Tupelo - 21 days after we'd left the morning of June 28. After over 5000 miles of highway (around $1600 in gas!) and a treasure trove of travel memories, we began the arduous process of unloading and unpacking the 30+ boxes of our long-lost stuff.

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