Dragon Boat...

Th big dragon display by the kids activity tents.

Kids activity tent. There was dragon scratch art, goofy glasses making, dragon masks, dragon coloring sheets, paper lantern making, and Chinese zodiac stamps with your fortune.

Some of the boat races. This was around 3pm when the clouds came in and it started to rain. No Fun!

Yesterday I worked a 5hr shift @ the Dragon Boat Festival for the museum. Thankfully this was the last Community Outreach for the summer. This year has been more than difficult getting people to sign up for shifts and when they don't sign up I have to work more. Community Outreaches can be real fun, but in the past I was only working a few shifts not running the whole deal. It's pretty stressful to be in charge of them. Luckily for me the Dragon Boat Festival is held at Sloan's Lake, the big lake/park right near our house, so I was able to walk right over instead try to find parking. The event seemed much bigger this year than in years passed. There were so many things going on, but of course the biggest attraction every year is the boat race. We brought Dragon Scratch art for the kids, but ran out before the 2nd day. We went back to our good old staple of goofy glasses which were also popular.

The results are in...

This is the only picture I have seen from the show. I haven't talked to Amber yet, hopefully she has more.

The UMS show was the best show the guys have ever played. Jesse was more than thrilled to report the craziness of the night to me by phone immediately following the set. Apparently they started their set and the 1st song was going really bad. Jesse turned around to look at Adam the guitarist and Adam said I'm out. His amp broke and that's why the song wasn't working. Jesse made some lame jokes to try to tame the crowd and a desperate plea to borrow someone else's amp, so they could finish their set. During the UMS the schedule is so tight you get exactly 30mins and that's it. By this point they had almost wasted 10minutes and they thought for sure people would start leaving. To the guys surprise another band lends them an amp and no one leave, in fact more people show up. They re-start their set and to Jesse's amazement the crowd is really in to it. He said he's never played a show like that before where the audience feeds off his energy and he feeds off theirs. He said everyone was dancing, screaming, and clapping along with him. There were a couple hundred people there 90% of whom none of the guys even knew. It quickly went from what would have been the worst show ever to the best show they've ever played and I'm totally kicking myself for not paying the $20 to go. Oh well! maybe next time. Their next big show is in August @ the Hi-Dives back yard Bar-B-Q in mid-August. None of us can wait! :)

*Don't just take our word for it. You be the judge and follow the 2 links in this blog to read about the show and to watch a short video of the show. The video is dark and the sound isn't the most ideal, but you can get a total feeling for the crowds energy that Jesse was talking about. Enjoy!

UMS & Hair cuts...

Jesse was all smiles getting ready for the big show.

Jesse and I showing off our haircuts before his big show. It's a big difference from the amount of hair we had on our heads @ Paddy's wedding on Thursday.

We were supposed to be showing off our haircuts, but the camera was zoomed in.

My new hair cut. She kept cutting and cutting & by the looks of the amount of hair on the floor I thought I should be bald, but miraculously I still have hair to spare.

So it's that time of year again... The Denver Post's Underground Music Showcase. The guys played last year, but had an early-ish time slot and the turn out left something to be desired. They did however play for the first time @ 3kings Tavern which turned out to be a pretty cool place and later in the night we ended up bumping into our neighbors Mary & Chris. It was a pretty fun night really. This year the guys were asked to play on Thursday night, but unfortunately that was Paddy & Fonda's wedding. Luckily the schedule wasn't set in stone, so they were able to switch it for a prime spot Saturday night (tonight) @ 8:45pm @ the Skylark Lounge. Tickets for the UMS are $20 which is a hell of a deal considering, but unfortunately we have been so busy that we had no time to check out other bands and the guys didn't get comp tickets, so Jesse told me not to spend $20 just to go see them. Since I go see them nearly every single time they play and I've been so busy that I haven't had much free time to relax lately I reluctantly agreed. I'm staying home tonight relaxing alone while he's out living his rock star fantasies. Every year @ UMS the bands are ranked by a local poll, last year the guys were number 140-ish this year they are number 80 exactly. Quite the jump in just one year and even more impressive they broke the top 100 in a list of over 300 local bands. I'm sure the guys will do great like they always do and I'm sad to be missing it. I've asked Amber, the guitar players girlfriend, to take some pictures for me. If I get any good ones I promise to post them later. Wish the guys good luck. This is another great venue for them and great way for them to make connections. They're really starting to arrive as a band. If they keep this up next year I will have to volunteer for UMS, so I can get a free pass & VIP access to be able to hang out with them.

Ideal Fathers not just for post punkers...

Our good Friend Matt aka DJ Soup got an awesome write up on Westword backbeat for remixing the Ideal Fathers' songs. He's still in the process of remixing all 4 songs from their EP, but once he's done he hopes to get them and the chiptunes remix Mike King made released on another EP. Soup is currently DJ clubs all around Denver and he occasionally busts out one of his funky dance remixes of the Fathers' songs. Unbeknownst to the local clubbers they're shaking it to a remix of an up and coming post punk band. Recently the guys made friends with a local rap group who said they really dug the Ideal Fathers's beats. I believe they are all in talks about possibly collaborating on some songs. Ideal Fathers not just for post punk fans, they span the music genres. Who knows where you'll hear them next?

Thursday Weddings...

Jesse and I at the Reception.

Jesse channeling Cliff Powell and pretending to chew my ear off.

Jesse, Matt, and the other guy that sat at our table all enjoying a drink and some good conversation.

Adam snapping a picture of me snapping a picture of him and Amber enjoying the salad.

Apparently Thursday Wedding are all the rage or maybe it's just a Denver thing. I've known several couples who in recent months have gotten married on the Thursday evening. I guess it makes sense if it's a local wedding. I'm sure you save a bunch on booking venues for Thursday evenings instead of the prime spots Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays. Last night we attended one such wedding. The wedding of Jesse's former band mate Paddy & his now wife Fonda. It was a lovely wedding held @ Hudson Garden & Event Center in Littleton, Co. They were married in Monet's garden. A lovely little garden in the center of lilly ponds. The only down fall to this was the sun set blazing in Paddy's eyes (I would have worn sun glasses if I were him) and the bugs... Oh the bugs! I kept looking down to find mosquitoes biting me. YUCK! The one think I love about Denver is our lack of bugs (it's normally too dry for them). Anyhow we survived the short ceremony and walked our way through the gardens to the big tent that held the reception. An open bar meant Jesse and the guys were really enjoying themselves and those of you who know Jesse know he gets very talkative when drunk and sappy. Amber and I were watching them cut the cake and have their first dance when the next thing I know Jesse is professing his love for me and telling me he wants to marry me someday if my family & I will have him at least that's what I could make out through the tears. I turned around and gave him a hug and said Boy are you sure drunk. I'm sure we will get around to getting married someday, but neither of us are in a hurry. We're enjoying things just the way they are for now.

Failing @ Nintendo is not an option...

Check out Tuesdays surprise write up on bassist Mike King's Nintendo mix of Failing @ Friendly is not an Option. If you are a lover of old Nintendo games, a fan of Ideal Fathers, or just curious about the song check it out on their myspace page. It's well worth the listen. No vocals so Jesse is left out, but the tune still lends it self to some pretty sweet dance moves. Way to go Mike King! :)

Night out...

The front of Le Central where we had our dinner date.

Le Central is a very ornate building on the corner of Lincoln St in Denver.

Posing for a picture together too bad Jesse is all serious. I demand a redo.

That's better except I don't care for how my vest is all bunched up.

So we finally got our night out. We met up with Adam & Amber @ Le Central "The Affordable French Restaurant" as they call themselves. Neither of us had ever eaten there before, but we were willing to give it a try. Jesse ordered a seafood buffet or sorts, not really a buffet, but his meal included shrimp, scallops, and mussels. I tried mussels for the 1st time ever and I actually liked them although I didn't care for the looks of them. My meal was some sort of beef in red wine sauce with mushrooms on pasta all things I love and it was divine. After dinner we headed down to the Pavilions on 16th street to see the new Harry Potter movie. The showing started @ 10:20pm which means we didn't get out of the theater until just after 1:00am. I enjoyed the movie and I think Jesse did too, because he kept asking me questions through out the showing. By the end of the movie I was exhausted to say the least. It had been a long day for us both. I couldn't stop yawning the whole way home. When we got back to the apartment we were trying to be as quite as possible, so as not to disturb any of our neighbors. It was so quiet and dark everywhere... funny that it took us walking into our apartment and attempting to turn on the light before we realized out that the power was out in the whole neighborhood. We grabbed our 1 flash light lamp and headed to bed. Who knows how long the power had been out? Apparently right after the movie started a big storm rolled in and while we were in the theater and the tornado sirens even went off. We missed all the excitement. The power did come back on 6hrs after we got home. I know this because when it did come back on all the lights that Jesse had attempted to turn on when we got home came on in a blaze and woke me from a dead sleep. Not a pleasant experience at all. Who needs sleep anyway right?