ISSA GOTDAMN WEEKEEEEEND THREAD

[Matt]

Worked all Friday and Saturday but Sunday was so slow I just fucking slept because sleep fucking rules when you get old.

So much this.

[IggytheBorg]

Weekend FULL OF WIN coming to a close here. My wife spent the weekend with some friends at a cabin in the Poconos. Friday night, after a dinner of ginormous hand formed cheeseburgers, I went to Cardkingdom.com with the Boy, and we both shortened our MTG card wish lists a bit. After he went to bed, dad drank a beer and smoked a cigar. Saturday, took the Boy and saw Suicide Squad 3D at 10 AM, went to my buddy'c comic store and shortened the wish list even further, had lunch at a favorite pizza place, then hooked up with the husbands of two of the friends the wife went away with. Kids swam in the pool, dads drank beer and smoked cigars. Wimmin folk came home, and we ordered Chinese take out. Restaurant screwed up and gave us an extra bag of food somebody else ordered, so we ate like Chinese emperors. I also made cherry vodka soaked, chocolate and sugar dipped maraschino cherries that were good as hell. Hung late into the night and drank and smoked some more. Today, did a bunch of long neglected work around the house, made BLT's for lunch, and a very good fried chicken recipe for dinner. Ended the evening watching the Olympics with the wife and kid (one of my favorite things). The ONLY thing that could have made it better would have been if those cigars I ordered had come in.

[Timothy225]

Nice, Iggy!

[BillyG]

Sounds like a damn nice weekend, Ig. We went to the other distillery in town, were not impressed, but learned some things. Then cooked a new corn mash and set it to ferment.

[Matt]

Iggy was definitely, most definitely, doing it right.

We went to the Uptown Art Fair on Friday night and Saturday. We found some stuff we liked on Friday and confirmed the dimensions on Saturday morning. We went back on Saturday afternoon and bought what we needed and now...after some hanging...my wife's office is fully decorated. When another piece that we ordered comes in, our bedroom will be set.

[Timothy225]

So, Jen and I went to see the Go-Gos Farewell Tour Sunday at the Stone Pony Summerstage in Asbury Park on Sunday. Had Kaya Stewart (daughter of Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics) as the opening act, followed by Best Coast (the main reason I wanted to go see this show), and the Go-Gos bringing down the house (the main reason Jen and her sister wanted to go).

Asbury Park's changed DRAMATICALLY since my club/bar hopping days. It's cleaned up, lots of cool places to check out (breweries, pinball museums, galleries, bowling alleys with live rock acts, great restaurants, etc.) and lots of history to immerse yourself in. Plus, always a chance you may run into Bruce and assorted members of the E Street Band on any given day.

The Pony's got their shit wired tight when it comes to shows. Show started at 5 PM, and that's when they hustled the crowd in. Jen, her sister and I got right up to the stage just in time to see young Miss Stewart on her first tour (her set started precisely at 6 PM)...



Nice, short, set (hey, the kid's just getting started and her first album dropped this week). Some decent potential, songs were abit too pop-py for me, but with a little polishing, she's on her way. She was engaging and enthused to be there, and the audience responded in kind.

Also, her bassist was a nice slice of hotness. Decent chops, cute and had a bit of personality - can easily see her doing her own thing someday. I commented to Jen about her, and she mentioned that "you realize, she's probably old enough to be our daughter, right?"



Jen was feeling a bit ill because of the heat (upper 90's, but it felt like 110! Woot!), so her sister (a managing nurse) took her to the soundboard/light show control tower to cool off - right across from the outdoor bar. They told me to stay where I was so I could catch...



... Best Coast, my current musical infatuation. Love this band (special tip of the hat to Jake for cluing me in on these guys). Great set, got the crowd jumping, and looked to be having a lot of fun onstage. Best part of the whole night - Bethany Cosentino brings up a 10 year old girl named Mia from the crowd, introduced her as Best Coast's biggest fan in NJ, and had her play tambourine during the song "Boyfriend". To say this kid was having the time of her life is an understatement - you can see her eyes were lit up like the sun because she was on stage with her heroes and all her dreams were coming true. And the band was giving hr brand new dreams, too. Plus the set list, guitar picks, a meet & greet backstage, etc. And the band was shaving fun doing it. Best Coast is truly a class act.



Finally, the Go-Gos! I had to look for Jen and her sister after Best Coast's set ended to make sure all was well, and met up with them by the soundboard. It was SO much cooler there, even though I had to give up the choice viewing spot (also, gave me an excuse to get away from Mr. I'm Over 50 And I Still Need To Be A Frat Guy, who was sucking down Silver Bullets and whooping like an ass during Best Coast's set. Fuck that guy. ), hence the long distance shot from my phone here.

38 years and the ladies haven't lost a beat. Though Kathy Valentine wasn't there (she just had a court case against them settled out of court, so, yeah, she was a no-show), the rest of the band was and they delivered. They even reached back to their pre-MTV days with a bunch of their punk tunes (oh, yes, children, the Go-Gos were absolutely part of the LA punk scene in days of yore - a fact hammered home by my favorite Go-Go, Jane Wiedlin, when she introduced the song Fun With Ropes as "Here's a song about BONDAGE!!!!" Oh, you dyed electric blue-haired minx! Lo, for I may swoon! ).

Great night, early wrap-up, too - the Summerstage closes around 10 on Sunday nights, and the Go-Gos wrapped up their set around 9:30 or so. Plenty of time for me and Jen to hang with her sister at her place, until my brother-in-law and my niece got back. Great night, really want to do this again and SOON.

Since the lot of you couldn't be arsed to be here, what with all y'all living elsewhere and shit, I found this on the YouTubes. Enjoy!

[JLynnCarr]

It was an awesome night.

As Tim said, I felt a bit sick, due to the heat and a few other factors. I didn't mind being further back as the bass was contributing to everything.

Except for drunk frat guy, the crowd was pretty decent. There were a few questionable outfits, though. We had one major throwback to the sixties complete with psychedelic dress, go go boots and a tambourine (which she used copiously throughout the show. Glad we weren't near her as I might've decked her.). People watching during young Ms. Stewart's show and in between sets was a fun occupation and kept me entirely amused.

My sister and I had a blast singing along with the Go-Go's songs we did know and it was encouraged by the band as the performance was being simulcast on Sirius. Jane Wiedlin in my hero as she is as awesome as ever!

[BillyG]

That sounds like a pretty good way to spend a weekend!

[Timothy225]

It was, Bill, it was! You ever make it out here, me, Iggy and Jen will road trip your ass to Asbury Park so you may partake of the awesome.

[IggytheBorg]

Word.

[BillyG]

I really do want to see Asbury.

[Matt]

Damn! That'd be one hell of a fun show to see!

[gravedigger]

Seeing your favorite band up on (or close to) the rail is always a good time. That's awesome, Tim!

[Timothy225]

Thanks, Grave! Very rare I get to do stuff like that, even back in the day.

Matt, it was a shit ton of fun. The staff at the Pony definitely has their act together - everything ran like clockwork and all and sundry had a great time. Could stand to see more shows at the place in the near future.

[JLynnCarr]

Well, the staff at the Pony has had many years to get it right, too. After all, it is a Jersey icon.

Another place in Asbury that any gamer would have to see is the Silverball Museum. It has pinball machines and classic video games.

My sister took my niece there and took a pic of the niece playing Ms. Pac-Man.