A Picture Of Nectar

Life two months before our baby is born. Life on the road with our new baby.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Waiting...



As you can probably tell, it has been a little while since I have written. Here is why. Well, you know what? My life is in limbo now. We were supposed to close on our house last week and it got held up. We still don't know when we are going to close. So, I have that going on. My wife has felt like she is going to have our baby every day and nothing so far. Her due date is May 29, but who knows when the baby is going to come. I hope that Eli comes out soon. We are in limbo and have not done a lot of packing because we don't know when we are going to move. Every day is like a big adventure and a waiting game. We both are just waiting for things to happen. We are having the baby, closing on our new house, moving to our new house, painting the house, setting up the house, and trying to plan our Phish tour. It is nuts around here.

I have been watching our kids for the last year and a half and now that my wife is home on maternity leave, she is doing most of everything for the kids. This gives me a lot of free time. I haven't had much time to look for a job until now. I want to go back to work, but things are so hectic right now that it just isn't the time to do it. I would like to find a job where I can work at home, like legal writing or something.

Now, onto our Phish tour. I am still looking for both nights of Saratoga and Saturday night of Merriweather. Both stubhub.com and seatgeek.com are showing very expensive pavilion seats. I am not really into paying $125 for a decent seat. On the other hand, it doesn't look like prices are coming down. Seatgeek.com has a forecaster that predicts that prices for seats are going to decrease. I would be willing to pay $75 per ticket, but not $125. Maybe we can wing it and find tickets at the show. I don't like doing that. The only time, though, that I have ever been shut out of is the Dead at Red Rocks in 1985. I had to sit on the hill and listen to the music from outside the venue. That really blew. But, it looks like there are a lot of tickets to be had. One way to find tickets is to get on Ticketmaster a few days before the show. They always release tickets. This will be my last resort. I am hoping that we can get tickets resolved.

I have our routes mapped out and our two days of travel time from here to Hartford are going to be rough. I am not looking all that forward to driving that far and only hope that my wife and Eli are going to be okay and comfortable during the trip. I am going to be fine, just because I have my tunes. I have a 160 gig iPod and am loading it with a bunch of new stuff, especially those remasters that I got from Phishauds.com. I am really into the late 90's lately, so I have a bunch of stuff to check out while I am on the road. I am also hoping that Mr. Miner at PhishThoughts.com puts out an on the road song list for the Summer Tour. Once we get to Hartford, the driving is not bad at all. The only trip that we are unsure of is the drive from Columbia to Canandaigua, NY. We are not sure if we are going to that show yet and will probably decide while we are at the shows. If the band is playing as well as I plan them to, then I will try to entice my wife to go. But, she is probably going to want to go anyway. We will just see.

Now that the weather is getting warm, it reminds me of those hot, sultry days that I have spent going to concerts in amphitheatres all over the country. I wish that Phish had some shows inside, like Knoxville last year. It is so nasty when the temperature is in the 90's and the sun is beaming down on you. I am not sure about you, but I just don't like being that hot. You drink to try to cool yourself down and then end up having to go to the bathroom during the show. Miserable. Many of you probably love the heat and being outdoors. I can understand that, but for me, I like indoor shows better. The acoustics are better and it feels more intimate. But, I can hope that things are relatively cool in mid-June in the Northeast. It has been a while since I have traveled that far.

I hope that all of you are getting your plans ready and not waiting til the last minute to make your hotel reservations. I know how glad I am to have everything done, except for finding a few tickets.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I just can't wait to get back on the road again

Lots of things are happening in my house right now. My wife, who was due May 29, thinks that the baby is coming any day now. She has been having hot flashes, contractions, and her body is telling her that the baby will not make it until the end of the month.

Here's the thing: if the baby is born earlier, then it will make moving even harder. We are closing on our house next week, but won't take possession until the 30th. So, we have some time to pack our things. It is really hectic because the girls are finishing up school and we have Lexi's graduation, Lizzie's moving up from a girl scout to a brownie, two birthday parties, the house to paint and exterminate, moving, and getting ready for baby Eli. It is a daunting list, I won't lie. I hope that we can get through it without a lot of dissent or anger, but it is hard to be that controlled by all of these things and not get upset.



What is most pressing is that I have yet to complete an Eli Birthing play list. I am going to try to get it done today, but I don't know how many songs to include, so I have to rely on my wife because she does not want to hear certain songs, like the Tweezer>California Love>Tweezer from 07.15.98. She wants less high energy jams, but can handle certain jams, especially if she knows that I like them.

Also, we have to get ready for our trip to the East Coast. We are leaving a couple of days before Hartford, because it is a 14 hour trip with an infant on board. We have to pack once we get our things unpacked at the new house. I have made a partial list and have started buying baby things that are road trip sized. I have a bunch. I bought 4 emergency ponchos in case we encounter rain like Deer Creek last year. Well, I hope that I don't encounter rain anywhere close to Deer Creek. That was insane! We have to get a big cooler for our essentials because we plan to make food on the road, rather than going out to eat every meal. I hope that the vendors have some better food this year, as last year was a big "okay."

But, we will be out of town from the 15th until either the 28th or the 30th. It depends on if I can convince my wife to go to Canandaigua. We both want to go, but it might be too much to be gone for that long with our son. Actually, I wonder if the Hartford trip is not too much for him. But, as I have made my decision, I will stick with it and trust that things will work out well. Everyone said it would be easier to get tickets this year, but that hasn't been my experience for SPAC or for MPP N1. I don't have tickets yet and don't want to pay scalpers $100 for a pavilion seat. But, with Hartford before SPAC and a whole week before Merriweather, I should be able to find tickets. I hope that i can find them. It is unfortunate that many of the shows aren't full because scalpers bought up the tickets and the supply is higher than the demand. In my case, that is not true, but I am just not willing to pay the piper (haha, sorry).

Well, thanks for reading. I will be discussing our logistics as we continue to paln things and I will definitely post pictures of Eli from his stay in the hospital and his first few days at home. I am getting ready for Summer, hope you are too!!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day + Countdown to Tour


I am wishing all of you mothers out there a very happy Mother's Day. I hope that you had a great day spending time with your family, children, parents. I made breakfast in bed for my wife and then made the kids breakfast, too. We had a really chill day, not doing much of anything. My best friend, Anthony, came over and I gave him his belated birthday present. It was the red Phish shirt with a huge yellowjacket on the back in an explosion of flowers, grass, weeds. The Phish icon is orange and blue. I think that he really liked it.

Today, my wife took our oldest daughter, Lizzie, to buy a new bike. It is a 20" Mongoose in a dirty rose color. Anthony and I put the training wheels on it. Even with the training wheels, the bike looks sweet. I am going to have to teach her how to ride without training wheels and she has a fear of getting hurt. It will not be easy and will require a lot of patience. I hope that I can find it within me to be able to teach her. I still remember my dad teaching me how to ride and I know that if I can teach Lizzie it will be an important memory for her.

For dinner, I went to my brother and sister-in-law's house. We met my parents over there. I was asked to bring a salad. It had baby greens, baby cucumbers, etc. and Maytag blue cheese. That is the funk. If you have never had it but like blue cheese, then you need to rush out and get some. Maytag is the Phish of cheeses. I have had Cabrales from Spain, but it is too rich and not as palatable. I know a little about food, as I am a trained chef and went to the Culinary Institute of America. I do not cook much at all anymore; suffering from burnout. The restaurant business is one of the toughest industries and it took a lot out of me. I even developed carpal tunnel in both hands. But cooking was years ago. Anyway, we had a great dinner and it was awesome being able to celebrate with three of the most important women in my life. We had red velvet cake for dessert. I didn't eat it. I just don't get down with a red cake. It just looks terrible and I am not a fan of cream cheese or cream cheese icing either. Now that the kids are all tucked in, it is really nice spending time with my wife, even though we are both focused on our computers. We have always been comfortable doing anything together, even in complete silence. I am lucky we have a relationship like that. There is nothing worse than uncomfortable silence.

Okay, so I am feeling a lot like I did before Hampton last year. When I found out that I had actually gotten Hampton tickets, it did not really sink it at first. I was very excited and somewhat anxious about the shows. I was still into DMB and not really sure whether I would enjoy the shows. After all, I had seen Phish 25 times in 1992 and 1993, but had not really listened to them much since then, but I had seen Trey a number of times. In order to prepare for the shows, I downloaded a bunch of Phish shows and started listening. I liked almost all that I heard. There are some tunes that just didn't do it for me and they still don't. But, it was so hard trying to familiarize myself with their songs in time to be able to recognize most of the songs. Sure, I knew hundreds of them, but Phish is so hard to predict. That is one of the greatest things about the band. The Grateful Dead and DMB had both become very predictable and did not really take a lot of risks. This is especially true of the Dead.

This year, I don't feel nearly as anxious about the shows. I am very excited, but it really hasn't sunk in that we are going to 10 shows in a row with our newborn son. He is not due until May 29 and we are also moving into our new house the first week of June. That is nuts. Then, we are supposed to drive to Hartford and start the festivities.

I hope that we are doing an okay thing taking Eli with us to the shows. I posted about my idea on Phantasy Tour and people blasted me so bad that the post got taken down. I am an educated person, having both a BA in Economics and a law degree. I am a fairly accomplished person and do not think that I made the decision lightly or selfishly. It was not an easy thing to discuss with my wife because we both want our baby to be safe, but we also don't want to miss tour. I think that Eliz was very determined that we could see the band and that Eli would be just fine. Maybe you think this is a bad idea and that nothing good comes out of it. I understand that opinion. Maybe you think that I am being selfish and that there is no place for a newborn at a Phish show. I understand that too. I also know that once the child is about 6 months or a year old, it is much harder to take a child than when he is a newborn.

However you feel, that is your right. I am writing this blog for the purpose of talking about our experiences of life on the road with Eli, both good and bad. The days that loom before Hartford (and maybe even the first night of the tour, Chicago, if we are lucky) are so full of energy and the unknown feeling that comes with having your first child. At the same time, I must manage my feelings about seeing Phish. I am getting so psyched. Unlike Hampton, I sort of know what to expect and I am totally pumped to see Phish burn up the stage like they did in Hampton, all summer, all fall.

I will devote my next post to talking about my excitement and about the details of our trip up East. I really just wanted to wish all of the wonderful women in the world Happy Mother's Day and to thank them for all that they contribute to my world.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

American Idol and Phish 3D reviews

Well, I hate to admit this. I am an American Idol junkie. I had never seen the show at all before this season and if it was not for the insane amount of insults and critiques at the beginning (along with some amazing responses), I probably wouldn't have gotten so addicted to the show. When I first turned it on, I could not really deal with how much Randy interrupts someone and says "Wait, wait, no, no, no, Yo." "Yo." I am a big fan of Ellen and think that she fits in pretty well. She gives very insightful critiques and is very positive about the entire process. Now, to the final two. Well, as for Kara, she and Simon seems awfully close this year. There is a lot of touching looking, but I have nothing to compare it to. It seems like he is into her a lot. Kara has her moments where she seems right on and moments when she acts like she just woke up and she is a freshman in college. Her open advances toward Casey are sickening. Grow up and don't make it any more of a popularity contest than it already is.

It is clear that most people respect Simon's comments to the nth degree. On the one hand, he is very insightful, which gives constructive criticism, and he is also very straight-forward and up front about his feelings. On the other hand, people love to hate him and send up loud boos to express their disdain for his opinions. I think that Simon tells it like it is. Most of the time, he is right on track. I am not sure how he would rate some music that is already being released, such as new bands like Lady Antebellum or The Killers. He may love music, but he spends most of the time dogging out whoever is in front of him.

That is it about Idol. I am hooked on the show. I am 45 and was actually texting my brother on our iPhones about who was going to go home and who was staying. That is a far cry from our usual texts about family or killer Phish songs. I mean, that is sinking low, texting about Idol. I am ashamed. Oh well, flog me if you will.

Now, to the real review of Phish 3D. I took my wife, Eliz, my kids, Lizzie and Lexi. We went to the 650 showing, rather than the 1000pm showing, which would keep the girls up past midnight. They even took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, just to prepare for the evening. We went to dinner before and were catching a movie. Let's go out to dinner and see a Phish movie! There were no other people in the theater as "AC/DC Bag" broke out as the first song of 3D. During "AC/DC Bag," about 6 people stumbled into the theater. They seemed to be big fans, too.

Overall, 3D was not really that much 3D. I took my glasses off a couple times and didn't notice any difference than when the glasses were on. I would think that the glowsticks would come flying off the screen. The balloons were something of a spectacle. They looked like they were flying in front of the camera. That was really cool. The filming of 3D seemed more like an afterthought than what I expected. I expected to be blown away, something bigger than "The Clifford Ball." Clifford Ball was an intimate, incredible look into the band. It displayed Phish at their finest. I expected to see Festival 8 in all of its glory. I do not really understand their song selection. They played "Stealing Time" and "Undermind," which are not really great songs, imho. I did think that things got going during "Tweezer > Maze" and "Mike's Song." The band did not cut the songs short and let the band show its colors in jamming out "Tweezer." The "Maze" did not disappoint either. The thing is that one could not really see Chris Kuroda's work with the lights and the producer only briefly showed the bubble or burple. When they focused on the bubble, it was floating out into the crowd and one could tell that it was one wicked spectacle.

The "Mike's" was great, deep jamming and exploratory guitar playing. Cactus was kicking it on the bass, but again, it was not really in 3D. It was a great version, and maybe it was that we were with our kids and the theater was empty, but things just seemed sort of reserved and it felt very produced and not real, like being at a show. I wished that we had gotten to see what proceeded the "Mike's," but the band then switched to its acoustic segment of 3D. The band played many songs acoustic, but nothing topped "The Curtain" acoustic. It was great to see the band unplugged because I have not had a chance to see them play acoustic at all in 2009. It was certainly a treat. It did not even seem crowded at Indio for the acoustic show, as there appeared to be lots of open space up front. Again, I really didn't understand why I was wearing 3D glasses at all. Especially during the acoustic set, there was not much difference between wearing the glasses and not. Neither of my daughters seemed all that interested in the acoustic set except for maybe "Wilson." I could tell that they were starting to fade and both of them slept through most of the rest of the show, except for Lexi. She woke up for "Suzy Greenberg."

The band, after getting through several acoustic numbers, switched to the Halloween part of the show where the band cloaks itself in a musicial costume. Last year, the band covered the Rolling Stones' "Exile On Main Street." For the movie, the band chose well-known covers to show. I would hope that one day, Phish releases all three nights of Festival 8 in 3D and in 2D. That would be great. It would be amazing to have that much Phish 3.0. The band looked great during the 10 minute "Loving Cup." One could tell that Trey was having a great time with Sharon Jones and the horns section. As the band made its final 3D debut with "Suzy Greenberg," it really blew the doors off of this version. It was obvious that all members of the band were having a blast--a sure sign of a good show. Closing out the movie was "Tweezer Reprise." It was a long intro and had a great energy.

All in all, I would have to say that watching Phish 3D in an empty theater had a big effect of the way I viewed the movie, but the movie still left me wanting more. I am sure that my kids have no place at a Phish show for a number of years. They can't hang that long, aside from the seediness of the environment. They just can't stay up that late. I am so glad that I got to share this time with them by showing my favorite band in 3D. For anyone who has not seen it, "Phish 3D" is worth seeing. It does not measure up to some of the other Phish video that I have seen, but I still would have liked to see more of Festival 8 and maybe a different song selection.

Sorry my posting took so long to materialize...