Surfs Up

On Saturday we had our first annual company outing. The event was in Malibu at the Malibu Makos surfing school. The entire family went out and we had a good time, eventhough it was overcast.

Darian and I suited up, my first wetsuit experience :-(, found a surf instructor and headed into the Pacific. The water was extremely cold. I figured it was in the mid 60s but later heard someone over the PA state that it was a chilling 59 degrees. As you walked into the water your feet numbed, and then when the first wave hit your body it knocked the wind out of you. Or at least it did for me. The surf guy told me dive into the water, get used to it before you try to surf. That helped a little bit but it still was extremely cold, even with the wetsuit.

I think I ended up trying for about 30 minutes. I was able to ride a wave in fairly easily if I stayed on my knees. Hopping up to a standing position never happened for me. I did get up on one leg with one knee down a couple of times.

Darian was doing a little better than me. She didn't tire as quickly and nearly got up several times. She attempted about 30 minutes like me, and then went back out a couple of hours later for another 30-45 minutes.

Who would have thought as little as a couple of months back that we we would have been surfing in Malibu...

It was a good thing it was overcast because Jacki got fairly burnt on her neck, the only area exposed, and my farmers tan turned into a tank top tan with slightly reddened arms. I still tan fairly easily but I've got a long way to go before I'm as dark as I was a child.

A Motley weekend

Last weekend definitely didn't work out as planned. Jacki, Darian and I had plans to fly back to Atlanta so Darian and I could see Motley Crue. I had purchased the platinum experience that entitled us to some nice extras (tour program, guitar picks, VIP room access) and some once in a lifetime pieces (meet and greet the band, photo with the band). Almost identical to the KISS experience I did a few years back.

Needless to say Darian and I were excited, especially after sitting on these tickets for over 6 months. We recently moved to LA and even made a special trip back to Atlanta to see the Crue. Of course we saw friends in Atlanta but the Crue was the primary driver for this trip.

The day started as planned. Wake up at an ungodly hour to catch a 6am flight to Atlanta. We got up, made the flight and arrived in Atlanta. Since I brought my Stick To Your Guns / Toast of the Town 45 and the new cd for autographs we decided to go to Best Buy and let Darian get something she could also get signed. She ended up going for the new cd as well.

Then about 2pm at lunch we get a call from Fanfire. They called to tell us the meet and greet was off. No explanation and all they offered was refunding the platinum package, and not even refund of the tickets. I was pissed but what could you do. We tried to call a couple of other people at Fanfire and they ignored our calls. I did get hold of the lady we were supposed to call in an emergency situation and she could have cared less that I had flown 2500 miles to see the but the ticket. The consolation prize, an autographed pic of the band.

We were told our tickets would be at will call so Darian and I left for the venue. Since we knew which hotel they were staying at we did a drive by. A small number of fans were outside so we decided to hang around to try to get an autograph. Normally I wouldn't do this but since the meet and greet was cancelled without explanation I figured why not.

First out was Nikki. He came out with his family and as a result didn't acknowledge the crowd. Next out was Vince and his wife. He had to walk through the crowd and it looked like he was going to just breeze by, but as he got to the first person he held out his hand, waited for a marker and then began to sign everyone's items. I finally got signature number 2 on the 45 (the first was from Tommy back in '86). He didn't talk but the crowd thought he was very cool for stopping and signing considering Nikki didn't even look at us.

Next out was Mick. He looked so frail. It took the crowds breath away seeing him walked slouched over to his bus. Crowd was very respectful and didn't walk over to him. As he got on the bus the security guy waved for us to come over and Mick signed for only one person and then went onto the bus.

We had a Tommy sighting but he quickly darted from the cab into the hotel avoiding the crowd altogther. For a fan friendly band I was extremely disappointed. Considering the meet and greet was cancelled they could have spent 2-3 minutes signing for the 10 people in front of the hotel.

After the minor disappointment we headed to the venue. Went by will call and discovered the promised guitar picks were not present, nor was the autographed photo. Made a couple of phone calls to fanfire and did not receive any response, just endless voice mail boxes.

Got inside the venue and at least our seats were good. We had 2nd row center with the elusive Ticketmaster 1x on the ticket. Darian and I noticed that the stage set up was for the Crue and had no gear for the opening bands. Sure enough The Exies, and Sum 41, 2 bands Darian really wanted to see had been removed from the tour. Just another in a day full of disappointments.

We ended up talking to other platinum ticket holders, and found out some of them weren't even notified about the cancelled meet and greet. They found out at the venue. And many of them had driven long distances to come to the show. A couple of groups we had talked to had driven 6 hours plus. The explanation they were provided was a scheduling conflict. This wouldn't be a problem if Darian and I hadn't seen all the guys at the hotel an hour before. They were all at the venue by 5:30 in plenty of time for a meet and greet.

The next minor disappointment was the show started 40 minutes late. Very small in the grand scheme of things.

The show finally started and other than a rough Too Fast For Love where Vince's vocals weren't in sync with the song the band sounded great.

Shout at the Devil
Too Fast For Love
Ten Seconds to Love
Red Hot (Nikki threatened to play a country song at this point)
On With The Show
Looks that Kill
Louder than Hell
Live Wire ....

And then during Live Wire Vince tore a muscle in his leg. Darian saw it happened and I saw him stumble off the stage. The band were still in the first verse of the song and played the song out as an instrumental. By the time they got to the end breaks you could tell the band didn't know what was going on. At this point Darian told me, she didn't think he was coming back.

The curtain then dropped and an announcement came on saying there would be a 10 minute intermission.

An hour later Tommy, Nikki, and Mick came out and announced Vince ripped a muscle and the show was cancelled.

End of show. 2500 miles, no meet and greet, no opening bands, missing platinum items, delayed show, and a 35 minute concert.

All I can say is the rest of my weekend was much better.

Photos taken with a Treo 650.

We're not in Kansas anymore

Well I just was, I'm in Missouri now. Here for a business meeting tomorrow morning. Living in Atlanta I became spoiled by doing day trips to most of the US. I could fly in early morning, get to a destination before business hours and catch the last flight of the day back to Atlanta. In Los Angeles you can't get there in time so you have to fly out the night before.

A little scare with my baggage tonight. The plane was packed so by the time I boarded, I'm one of the last since its Southwest and the board by the time you arrive, they made me gate check my luggage. They claimed there was no room, although when I walked back and found a seat there was plenty of luggage room. I got to the baggage claim and the sent the last bag out notice and there was no sign of my bag. Fortunately I was able to get someone in service to call the plane before they left and they found my bag.

Nothing like some drama on a business trip.

My new TV

After living without the Runco projector in Atlanta I decided to make the plunge and upgrade our TV as we moved to Santa Monica. I purchased a Samsung HL-R5688W. After doing a little research on Cnet's shopper site and checking out a few of the HDTVs in stores around LA I decided on this model.

It is one of the first DLP sets to display the full 1080i HD resolution. I'm watching progressive DVD displayed for the first time and the picture is amazing. The HD Tivo and my high end SACD/DVD player are finally getting used to its full extent. I can't wait to try out the HD adapter I purchased for the Xbox a couple of years ago.

My Dad

Can you believe it. He checks out of the hospital on Saturday and he is already back at work.

A few days in...

We have mostly gotten the house in order now. We had our first Ikea experience. I was a bit overwhelmed. So many people and then Darian got sick. The best part was the cinnamon rolls. We ended up leaving with a bookcase for my cds, a couple of cabinets for the bathrooms, a wardrobe, and a desk for Darian that will fit in her room.

The weekend has been spent emptying boxes, probably only 10 left, and building furniture.

The bad news for the week is I found out my dad had a minor heart attack. Although there isn't really such thing as a "minor heartattack". I'll give him a call tomorrow to see how he's doing. He was supposed to get out of the hospital last night. Came as a surprise considering he went through a bypass about 3 years ago and had been given an excellent bill of health ever since.

I'll probably go to Houston to see him mid September.

Dave Matthews Band

We saw Dave Matthews Band a week ago. This was our first concert in the Los Angeles area after relocating from Atlanta.

Saturday Aug 27 2005
Home Depot Center

Everyday
Don’t Drink the Water
American Baby Intro
Dream Girl
Grey Street
Hunger For The Great Light
Say Goodbye
Bartender
American Baby
Out Of My Hands
Smooth Rider
Dancing Nancies
Granny
Too Much
Louisiana Bayou *
__________________

Best of Whats Around
Two Step

Show Notes:
* Robert Randolph

Back online

The Dave Blog is back online again. Turns out Verizon won't let me host my own server on their residential DSL so I'm using imagelinkusa to host my home domain once again.

I'll get the apps back online soon but at least the blog entries are back online.

LA Day 1

We got into LA yesterday around 10am. We thought it would be a nice relaxed day. A little lunch, go by the new place, and maybe start working on preparing on life in California.

The beginning part of the day went as planned. Made it to our house in Santa Monica. Our landlord, Michel, was there fixing up the last remaining items and then we were off to lunch. After lunch we went by Darian's new high school to start the enrollment process. That is when the stress started.

First we were off to the clinic to get Darian's shots updated, they were closed by the time we got there. Then off to the gas company to get a utility bill. I had forgetten about getting gas service turned on so we had to call a number. Set up the gas service. Then pay a nominal amount so we could have a reciept to prove our residency in Santa Monica.

Then off to the DMV. We forgot our birth certificates so back to the house then back to the DMV. Then the shocker. California has a written test. Unnecessary stress the first day in the city, but we had to have it prior to completing Darian's registration. Fortuntaely both Jacki and I passed and now have California drivers licenses.

The rest of the day was spent booking a hotel, grocery shopping and at the end of the night Darian and I went the Cheesecake Factory while Jacki remained at the hotel to get some rest.

Darian geeked out when we were waiting to get seated for dinner because she saw the drummer of AFI walking down the street.

Hopefully today will be less chaotic.

Kings Of Leon

Just got back Kings Of Leon. They played a fantastic show.

Opening band 1: The Helio Sequence. Two guys, drums and guitar/harmonica playing to backing tracks. Not bad but not something I'd see myself listening to.

Opening band 2: Secret Machines. These guys played too long. Some of the songs had their moments and then they'd go into these almost dirge like slow spacy music. Not good. And they played well over an hour longer than they needed to. Their set must have been 2 hours and was much longer than KOL.

KOL: They rocked. Last time I saw them, and heard them for the first time, was at Bonnaroo 2004. On the way to the show Darian said she wanted to hear Molly's Chambers. She got it as the opening song in their set. They played a strong 75 minute set.

It was Jacki's birthday so I was glad she enjoyed their set.

Darian scored a setlist after the show.

Under Contract

Our house is under contract. It turns out the second offer we received was better both financially and the buyer looked stronger with his loan approval status and downpayment.

On the market for 5 days and under contract. And they want to close August 31st so no more house payments!!!

House Offers

We just received news that we've already received one offer on the house and that another realtor has said we will have another offer in by Thursday morning. Less than a week and two offers. Sure beats the 6 months it took us to sell in Austin.

Real Estate Caravan

Today the real estate caravan, where realtors come to check out our house, is under way. I've had Darian with me at work all day since the caravan occured midday.

I'm assuming it went well because we've already received two calls that realtors are showing their clients our house this afternoon. So hopefully after one day of showings we will receive an offer. I can always hope!

We also received a proof of our flyer, it looks great. Click to download the flyer.

Santa Monica

We are moving to Santa Monica. On Friday Jacki and Darian flew out, saw 6 places and decided the little house in Santa Monica would work. We now have an address and in approximately one week we will have a California address.

This will be a lifestyle adjustment, going from a 2800 sf house w/ basement to a 1300 sf house with a small garage. The weather is great, the landlord is nice, and I think this will be a good move for us.

Considering how some of the schools are doing in a our current area I'm excited that Darian will be on track at a good high school.

Our house is now on the market for $364,900 in Smyrna. The realtor caravan starts tomorrow.

Current plan is for movers to pack us on Friday, ship out on Monday and we fly out Monday night or Tuesday morning to Los Angeles.

House For Sale

It looks like our house will be for sale this week in Smyrna. Jacki has done an incredible job getting things in order and interviewing the various realtors. She chose a realtor on Friday and we are hopeful it will be on the market early this week.

Tomorrow we begin the immense amount of paperwork with the relocation company. So far the inspections have been completed and after meeting with our friend Troy we found out all things required for repairs by the relocation company is extremely minor. All the fixes should be in place by Thursday.

This upcoming week our mission is to find a place to live. I'll be looking at some places Monday when I get back to LA but after talked with Jacki and Darian I think they are pretty set on living in Santa Monica. My goal will be to find several places in Santa Monica that could work so we can begin the plan for our final move.

Its hard to believe in less than a month we will be living in LA but we have no idea where.

4 weeks to go

Its a done deal. We are moving to Los Angeles in 4 weeks. Still not sure where we will live so I'm flying Jacki and Darian out in a couple of weeks so we can find a place to live.

Overrall I'm pretty excited. The life getting interrupted part isn't any fun, but I think the move to LA will be good for us. Another new place, and we are already getting back in touch with old friends and making new ones.

This weekend we are going through the closets trying to decide what gets trashed and what will go with us on the move. Something that will be very different in comparison from our previous move is that we will be downsizing instead if upsizing like we did coming to Atlanta. From Austin we went from a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath house to a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath house with a full basement. Now we are looking at going from a 4/3.5 to a 2/2 if we're lucky, and of course nearly zero storage.

This will defintely be a life change.

The Who - Indecency Scandal

The Live 8 broadcast of The Who's "Who Are You " is the impetus for the Parents Television Council asking the FCC to levy a fine to the ABC stations that broadcast the performance during the Live 8 highlight show.

Once again this seems extreme, and doesn't better society in any way. The song is 25+ years old and has been played uncensored on the radio since its original debut. Also the reference is so subtle that on first listen you likely wouldn't catch it, meaning the parents group was familiar with the song prior to the airing.

I did notice when watching the ABC broadcast that they didn't censor The Who's performance, although they did censor Pink Floyd's "Money". And interestingly enough MTV and VH1 did censor The Who on first airing.

I really hate seeing this type of stuff.

Dave Matthews Band

Jacki and I saw Dave Matthews Band last night in Atlanta. Not the best set list I've seen from them but they did play Say Goodbye which is right up there with one of my all time favorite DMB tunes. I got trapped trying get drinks so I missed Stolen... through ... Smooth Rider.

I hadn't seen DMB since 2002 so it was a nice treat to see Carter on drums again. He played this amazing psuedo-solo at the end of You Might Die Trying. It wasn't perfect and he even got Stefan off beat at one point, but it looked like they were having a ton of fun.

Much to Jacki's disliking Trey from Phish came out and played on a couple of tunes. His solo on Jimi Thing was amazing. Great guitar tone and a very tasteful solo. However Lousiana Bayou was too drawn out and was very strange to finish the main set with.

And then the world's longest encore break. It had to have been at least 10 minutes.

All in all a good night.

One Sweet World
Dream Girl
Don’t Drink the Water
Hunger For The Great Light
Dancing Nancies
Say Goodbye
#34
Time Of The Season
Granny
Stolen Away On 55th & 3rd
American Baby
Smooth Rider
Stand Up
Jimi Thing *
Louisiana Bayou *

__________________

You Might Die Trying
What You Are

Show Notes:
* Trey Anastasio

LA

I spent the last couple of weeks in Los Angeles for work and will be headed back out for a few days again tomorrow. On the trip out I saw Morgan Rose the drummer of Sevendust on my plane. I'm pretty sure it was him, it looked like he had freshly dyed black hair. Didn't get to talk to him, so I'll have to catch him on the next flight out :-)

I flew Jacki out for the first weekend I was in LA. This was her first time out so she was pretty excited. Minutes of being in town we checked into the hotel The Orlando. Then it was off to see our good friend Dean Truitt play at the world famous Viper Room on Sunset Strip. He was playing with Jason Falkner, and this was the new band's debut performance with Jason. Jason long ago played lead guitar for Jellyfish. It was a great show. Before the show Jacki and I went to the Rainbow with Dean and I had my second close encounter with David Spade. Turns out he was at the table we were seated at just before we got there.

Friday we went and found the Duran Duran and KISS stars on Hollywood Blvd. Saturday and Sunday we spent checking out different areas, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, W. Hollywood, Bel-Air, and Culver City. There is an extremely good chance we will be relocated out to the Los Angeles in a few months so we wanted to get an idea of how far or should I say how little our money will go out there. We've pretty much determined it will be very hard to buy in these areas but renting is probably a good option. We just have to make sure we get Darian into a good school. We saw Dean a couple of times over the weekend and had a nice dinner with him Sunday night.

LA was a comfortable 68 degrees most of the weekend. The ongoing joke was when it was 67 it was cold and when it reached 69 it was hot. Ironically Jacki's fair skin got a little burnt when we ate some Mexican food on the patio of a restaurant in Santa Monica.

Jacki flew out Monday, and it turned out I had meetings in Kansas City Tuesday so we ended up flying out about the same time. Back to LA Tuesday night and work work work.

I saw Dean again Thursday night and flew back home on Friday.

Studio Day 34/35/36/37

Yes, I haven't been great at keeping the days in the studio up to date. Over the past 6 weeks the band hasn't spent much time together as an entire unit. We also haven't progressed much since mid April. Some of the recent happenings include Mike V working on guitar parts for all of the tracks. This past Tuesday I spent some time working with him on guitars for Lonely One.

Last night was the first night in probably 4 weeks or more where the entire band was in the studio to work on recording. Katie worked on vocals for All About You. It took the better part of 3 hours, but Mike V had some great feedback and we are hopeful that on listen back we have a vocal track the entire band is pleased with.

We continue to progress, albeit slowly.

Vocals and guitars are primarly what is left. We will need to touch up a few other things including bass on one track, and maybe some drums and percussive effects.