Wine, Women & Song...(and cheese-steak, garlic fries, and beer)

I had an excellent first week on "My Plan", followed by two days of gluttonous hedonism. But hey, it's all about balance, right? I "assumed" my body would be quick to forgive my transgressions considering I've been so kind to it of late, but lo the wrath of a coddled intestinal tract has been none too pleasant! I've been feeling a bit "unsettled" since last night. Was it worth it? Oh yeah!

It all started Friday night (shortly after I hit "publish" for my last blog post bragging about how kind eared I am, and how awesome and sun-shiney everything has been this week). First up - a girl's night out/concert in the park. What's a little wine and cheese and some good Latin sounds? It sounded innocent enough. But this particular group of women, who were once girls together, hanging out amidst the throes of adolescent rebellion, couldn't just call it a night after the relatively innocuous concert in the park (where in typical fashion, more wine was spilled than drank). So we meandered down the street to the Pleasanton Brewery where we got our 80's rock on with "Set in Stone"; a very fun, talented and "authentic" sounding 80's metal band. They played Montrose, Dio, Ratt, you know....all the good stuff! Of course the three of us with the least amount of decorum and self consciousness threw ourselves out on the dance floor like only good, middle aged groupies would. Good times. I did have the presence of mind to remember that I had an early morning run the next day. So by 11pm, I polished off my last beer, wiped the sweat off my face and walked home happy and nostalgic, but by no means embarrassed by my camo cargo pant & flip flop ensemble OR my stellar groupie performance on the dance floor. Yeah...I still rock! (I'm pretty sure).

The next morning came a bit too fast, and I ran a bit too slow and not nearly as far as I think I should have (a mere 2.8 miles, part of it walking). Ok - lesson learned. But no time to beat myself up over that. I had a Dave Matthews concert to attend!

Rob and I picked Laura up and headed over to Mountain View. We weren't sitting with Laura so we wanted to get there nice and early to hang out together, have some dinner and drinks, and do some proper people watching before Dave came on. We actually spotted our "collective first" instance of a woman wearing a booty enhancement product. NOT a good look. As Laura, obviously and undertandably perplexed (as we all were), scrutinized this bizarre "butt shelf", she commented "It's pretty obvious she didn't get that by doing squats or lunges." It was just weird. Ladies...flat can still be fly. Don't do that please.

Anyway - concert venue food, while not the healthiest, sure goes down easy with those giant $12 beers! At least they sell Lagunitas IPA. So garlic fries, Philly cheese steak, a small fortune in beer, followed by a mandatory "after concert" fourth meal at Jack in the Box, culminated in a night of stomach cramps, heartburn and fervent prayers and promises to "never do that again!".

But what a fun weekend! And it's not like I'm going to be doing that again any time soon....at least not until next weekend when we head up to Bend - land of the Harris BBQ and micro brewery. Bring it!

For anyone interested, here is the DMB set list from last night and my brief and non-expert review:

Last Stop - Not a great start. An experimental jam/jazz session gone terribly awry and off key
Seek Up - Awesome (after a slightly too long and manic intro)
One Sweet World - Steeped in awesomness!!
Stay Or Leave - Beautiful rendition of one of my faves. Sang it through and felt it. Thanks Dave!
Crush - A nice song, if over played. Very much appreciated by the ladies judging by all the one handed "soulful-white-girl-raise-the-roof" single hand in the air thing.
Seven - Oh, HELLO! This song is HOT and one of my FAVORITE Groogrux tracks. HOT!
Pantala Naga Pampa - I don't remember this one...I was still cooling off from the last song.
Rapunzel - Beautiful...perfection.
Digging a Ditch - Not my favorite so I went to the bathroom here...
#41 - CRAP! My favorite and I'm in the beer line. If that's not karma...
Write A Song - This song went largely unnoticed by me on the Groogrux album. Not anymore!
Spaceman - Love this song and it was performed...you guessed it...AWESOMELY!
Corn Bread - Another good 'un.
Jimi Thing - It's just not a DMB concert without a little JT.
Shake Me Like a Monkey - My FAVORITE performance of the evening!
You and Me - Except for this one. I cried, we held and sang to each other and I told everyone around who would listen (and yelled really loud if they wouldn't) that this was the song I walked down the aisle too! awwwwww........
Time Bomb - This was good (there was only one "not good" song and that was the first one)
All Along The Watchtower - Carter BLEW up the stage as did the horn section. Wow! A treat. The opening act came out to join the DMB and suddenly there were 5 people in the brass section where before there were two. They had some kind of "blow off". Rashawn Ross (DMB trumpet) took them to SCHOOL, and the new sax player, Jeff Coffin (replacing the late LeRoi Moore) showed what he was made of....lot's of soul and some serious lung power.

Encore:
Sister - beautiful...moving....I have to pee again.
Black Jack - I'll hold it. This is what I'm talking about! New song....awesome!
Two Step - Such a great song from Under the Table and Dreaming. One of my all time favorite albums. Great way to end the show. We were instantly bummed that we opted not to go TWO nights this year. : (

THANK YOU DAVE!

Addendum: Butch Taylor is not touring with them this year (keyboards), he was missed. All right Tim Reynolds....you a'ight. And I completely forgot to mention Boyd "must have sold his soul to the devil" Tinsley - classically trained violinist who now uses his strings for evil (not really...but not classical). He brings tears to my eyes at every show!