Monday, May 17, 2010

Weekend Worth Blogging About

I've been waiting for something to happen worth blogging about, and this weekend provided that in so many ways it's not even funny. (Actually, I've mostly not blogged because I'm lazy, but you don't know that. Except that now you do.)

The weekend was framed around road trip metal goodness, but wait! Before we get there, let's talk about Friday. I had Friday off (because of aforementioned road trip metal goodness), but I got up early anyway because I wanted to continue work on the garden box project my wife and I have been dabbling with. Power tools and wood! We were building three 1'x4'x5' raised garden boxes. Anyway, Dina and I worked on the project and got the first garden box finished, which was a major milestone, because I am largely inept with tools. Anyway, that took much of the morning, so I rushed through a shower and grabbed my stuff to head down to Rygar's for the first leg of road trip metal goodness.

The road trip was based around two things: a kick-ass metal lineup for a show in Fargo, ND (Valient Thorr, Baroness, Between the Buried and Me, and Mastodon); and hanging out with a bunch of friends. Four hours is a long drive, but worth it for those two things. Anyway, Rygar, T-Rav, and myself headed out from the cities en route to Moorhead, where we were going to spend the night at the Loopduke household. On the way we met up with Beener, and took his vehicle for the rest of the trip to Moorhead.

On the way I got to listen to lots of metal I hadn't heard before, which ruled. We arrived at Loop's and chilled out for a while until everyone else who was attending the show arrived, then we all headed out. The show was at a place called The Venue, and that was a surreal place to see a show. It looks like a huge pole barn on the outside, but inside it's a bit like a mall...there's a liquor store, a restaurant or two, a casino...oh, and a BIG CONCERT VENUE. The main room itself is pretty cool, lots of space, with a nice balcony area for drinking (it was an all-ages show). The strangest thing about the place, though, is that when we got there, we just parked and walked maybe 50 feet to the front door. For someone used to going to shows in the Twin Cities area, that was a mindbender.

The show was fantastic. I'm a metal fan, but haven't followed it too closely for a while, so I'm not familiar with today's bands. The first band was Valient Thorr. My friends who'd seen them play had told me about them before the show, but there's nothing like seeing them live. They (and particularly their lead singer, Valient Himself) are very entertaining live. Baroness was next, and was also great, but a stark contrast. A big part of Valient Thorr's show is the showmanship of Valient Himself, who talks a lot between songs. Baroness had none of that - it was all business. I was really impressed by them, especially their drummer, who was phenomenal. Next up was Between the Buried and Me, who I didn't like at all. I couldn't get into any kind of groove or flow with them, as they jumped from noodly keyboard stuff to LOUD SCREAMING WALL OF NOISE multiple times per song. Bleh. I mostly drank and chatted during their set. Then it was time for Mastodon, and they blew me away. I know some of their stuff, but not much of their new album, which they played end to end (with various other stuff afterward). We were down on the floor for these guys, about six or seven rows back. The floor was active, but not crazy, and it was a ton of fun.

After Mastodon was done, the magic of The Venue happened again. Poof - the floor was empty. It was weird. T-Rav and I hit the merch table then wandered outside, and it felt more like getting out of a movie theater than getting out of a metal show. We found our way back to the vehicle and drove back to Loop's place to cap off the night, which for me meant nodding off on the couch until I headed upstairs and passed out at about 2:30.

I woke up the next morning in pain. I had a cold hit me pretty hard and my nose was completely stuffed up; that on top of the dehydration hangover really sucked. I took some painkillers and drank as much water as I could stomach, but it took a long time to feel better. Loopduke generously made us some tasty eggs and bacon, and we headed for home. After we parted ways with Beener, I ended up taking some naps in the back of Rygar's car while listening to loud metal. It was awesome.

I got home and found that Dina's dad had come up and helped put together the remaining two garden boxes. We placed the boxes and filled them with a topsoil/compost/peat moss mixture, and put mulch around them. It looks really good. The rest of the day we spent putzing around the yard and playing outside with the kids.

On Sunday Dina's mom and aunt came over and they helped Dina plant a whole bunch of seeds and plants in the boxes. It should be a great garden! I mowed and did other outside stuff, and played with the kids (it's finally nice enough outside for squirtgun fights!).

We also got the fantastic news that Dina's sister had her baby on Sunday. I'm an uncle again! Congrats to them, and I'm looking forward to meeting little Sarah.

All in all, this was about as good a weekend as anyone could ask for.