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Johnny Marr

Last night we went to see Johnny Marr and his band perform at the Majestic Theater, in Dallas.

The Majestic is a great venue. There’s not a bad seat in the house, and it’s a classic-looking oldschool performance hall.

That stage during Johnny Marr performance.
  Johnny Marr, September 30 2024 Dallas, Majestic Theater.

The sound was great. Johnny and his bad were great as well. My wife was lucky enough to see the Smiths play Dallas at the Bronco Bowl back in the late 1980s. This is the closest I will come. Yes, we have seen Morrissey a couple of times, but frankly I don’t like his solo material, and he’s annoying. Johnny Marr played three or four Smiths songs, and his versions of the songs are all really good. Obviously the guitar sounds similar, but the rest of the band is very different.

A fantastic show.

The opening band, James, is not really my thing. Kinda hippy stuff. A lot of the crowd really liked them though, so it’s fine.

So at risk of repeating myself, probably my favorite things to do is listen to music with my wife and going to see shows with her. The Smiths are certainly one of her top 5 bands, and are high on my list as well. She saw them many years ago, before we started dating. Being there with her to hear Johnny Marr play some of those songs meant a lot to me. It’s times like that when we feel like we are in our early 20s again. I wish I could have shared that Smiths show with her, so this was a big deal.

Stage at a Johnny Marr performance in Dallas Texas
Johnny Marr, September 30 2024 Dallas, Majestic Theater.
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Ditch Skating

End-over to frontside fakie 360

Here are a couple of videos from a ditch session in Austin last weekend. I had a good time down there. This ditch is pretty gnarly, and I only skate it about once a year, so I don’t exactly have a lot of lines. Rather than going all the way down the ditch and having to walk back up the hill, this year, I just dropped in, did a trick on the face wall, and then popped back out. It was fun.

End-over to backside fakie 360
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StupidFest Day 2 and Beyond

Well, StupidFest day 2 began with the traditional breakfast of weirdos as Casa Maria. Seeking not to have diarrhea the rest of the day once we go into the heat, I ate a plain American breakfast of pancakes and eggs.

First stop after that was the annual curb grinding fest at Stelmo school’s parking lot. Second was Zombie Baby ditch. We had a fun session there, which took us to well after noon. I got a couple of good tricks on video for next year’s NeverWas video. Then we went to another ditch spot, for more antics.

We capped off the evening with the premier of the NeverWas 8 video at Carjack’s amazing home in the hills west of Austin. Pizza, video, and good company. Lots of fun.

 

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StupidFest 2024 Day 1

Spent most of the day eating food with friends. Seriously. Had breakfast with my friend Jack, who I’ve not seen in quite a few years. It was great to spend a few hours with him. Then had a late lunch with my friend Patrick.  Finished the day at my friend Jason’s house for a cookout with a bunch of the skaters.

It was really hot today, and I just didn’t handle the heat very well. Poor planning on my part, really. At too much breakfast, then the heat really made me feel like shit. Still, I had a good day. It was so good to catch up.

One really cool thing that happened — my friend Shane, who I met at StupidFest a couple of years ago, told me he enjoys the blog! That really made me happy!

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Catching Up

I’ve not been posting a lot here, other than pictures of Riley and Lefty. I’m fine. Just been busy with reading, gaming, and aikido. The date of December 14 has been set for my Nidan (2nd degree black belt) test. I must admit the Imposter Syndrome is strong in me. I know enough to know that I’m not really that good, but as one of my fellow Shodans said, black belt – at least the first one – is really a beginner’s belt. It shows that you know enough that you can really start learning.

My aikido studies were put on hold during the pandemic and post-pandemic years. I’m glad my teacher still thinks I’m ready.  Since returning to practice in January of this year my agility and overall fitness are back where they should be and I’ve lost 15 pounds. Now, I’ll be turning 60 next month, and I have to admit that practicing three times a week is rougher at 60 than it was at 50, but it’s not too bad. I enjoy it. Just a bit tired on the days after practice.

I haven’t been skating much at all. Not for lack of interest, but simply from lack of time and of course the accursed summer heat. It is just too hot in the summer. I’ll skate up to about 90 degrees F in the evening, but not higher. Also it doesn’t help that my beloved freestyle practice spot by the public library has been demolished and is now a 10′ deep hole, due to the total rebuilding of that complex.

But really, in addition to all that, I’ve spent the last 1.5 years taking a look at my priorities and making adjustments. I like being at home in the evenings, with my wife and our dog and cat. Reading, watching movies, listening to music, working on gaming stuff. It has taken a while to really get used to not running around like a lunatic all my waking hours, going from one thing to another.

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Yesterday’s listening

Had some time free for listening to music and sitting in my chair yesterday. So that’s what I did. Let me once again emphasize the pleasure of having a nice stereo. And a good music collection.

Posted this from the mobile WordPress app on my phone. Worked pretty well.

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Echo and the Bunnymen

We went to see Echo and the Bunnymen last night in Dallas.

It was awesome.

Going to shows with my wife is one of my great joys in life. That she and I share so many musical preferences is one of the others. While we stood there “on the floor” of this show next to our friend John and Tina, with all the other middle-aged fans, my feet did hurt, but other than that I felt like we were in our early 20s again. I always feel like that with her at shows.

Echo and the Bunny Men on stage

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Road Trip With Dog

A couple of weeks ago we took Riley on his first road trip. We went down to Austin. The plan was to spend the night.

He was really good in the car, and overall he did great on the trip. He did not care for the hotel. I guess he could hear everything in the building. It kept him very agitated. While my wife went to an event he and I spent time out by the pool and took an evening walk at St. Edwards University, where everyone wanted to meet him. This dog is a people magnet, and he loves everyone.

We end up coming home late Thursday night, as it was clear the hotel wasn’t going to work for him (or us). The drunken party by the pool didn’t help things.  Lesson learned.

But overall I had a good time. It’s always fun to be on the road with my wife.  We talk and laugh and it’s always so fun. I love being on the road with her, and while traveling with Riley was a new challenge, it went well. Just needs a little fine tuning.

He is me and him on a wildflower trail near our hotel.

man and dog

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Reading Update

The reading project is going pretty well. About to finish book #8 for the year.

https://bloftin2sf.blog/read-in-2024/

Looking at more recent science fiction, it is nearly impossible to find a good standalone novel. Everything seems to be part of a massive series, or a trilogy of books that are all 600 pages long. There are a few that look good, but I can’t keep a whole bunch of series straight in my mind at the same time. So while some of the older standalone novels are a bit rough around the edges in a lot of ways, I think I’ll stick to them between reading the two series I’ve been working on.