Barenaked Ladies singer arrested on drug charges

After my 4th of July party last weekend, I headed up to Des Moines to attend 80/35, the city’s first annual music festival.  Although some critics have expressed concern that the festival circuit is in danger of becoming over-saturated, I thought it was awesome that the city decided to put something on with decent headliners.  The city of Des Moines, like many small to mid-sized cities, has been going through a downtown facelift.  Judging from what I’ve seen the past couple of times I’ve been there, the city is really starting to gain a personality of its own.

The setup of the festival was a little funky compared to the way most are run.  Your ticket basically got you access to two stages — one that featured dance/techno artists and another that featured the bigger-named bands.  Aside from that, there were a handful of stages in the street that everyone had access to for free.   I imagine that this was because they wanted to drum up interest with it being the first year.  Here was a view from the main stage:

Ingrid Michaelson

The first performer we saw was Ingrid Michaelson.  I didn’t know much of her music, but she kind of reminded me a little of Regina Spektor.  You could tell she was having fun, and I liked her music alright.  I’ll have to check it out a some of her music now that I’ve seen her live.

Andrew Bird

Most of the friends I was with had never really heard of Andrew Bird before so I was interested to see what they though of him.   I’ve let it be known many times on this blog that I have a bit of an Andrew Bird man crush, and seeing him this time didn’t change that one bit.  He’s fascinating to watch live, and my friends were hooked instantly.

The Flaming Lips

Like with Andrew Bird, I couldn’t wait to see what my friends thought of The Flaming Lips live.  Nothing can really describe what it’s like.  You just have to be there to witness the insane fun in all its glory.  The greatest part of the festival was that, unlike going to a large festival like Austin City Limits or Lollapalooza, it was fairly easy to get up close to the bands.  It was the closest I’ve been to the Lips, and I was super close to getting to touch Wayne’s hamster ball at the beginning of the set. Here’s a video I took of it.

They opened with “Race for the Prize”, and the crowd was instantly turned into giddy children with huge smiles across their faces. Here’s a video I took of it (please pardon my voice in it!).

About halfway though the show, Wayne Coyne spoke of how, on the day of our country’s independence, we are currently stuck in a war that is preventing our troops from being home with their families and friends.  He then took out a toy trumpet that was pre-programmed to play “Taps”, and played it back for everyone as a tribute to the soldiers.  It was a moment of silence that was moving regardless of one’s political beliefs.  The thing I love most about Flaming Lips shows is that everyone in the crowd comes together in a positive way.  Here’s a video of a sing-a-long Wayne led to “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”.

It was a great show.  They even played a cover of “The Song Remains the Same” which was pretty amazing in itself.  There were women who were only body paint that were walking around the festival (one even sold me a beer at one point in the night), and they joined the band during the Zep cover.

They’re just a fan band and, of course, Wayne is the man.

Although the first day was a shorter day compared to what the scheduled on Saturday, it was still a pretty great time.

Being that I have lived in my house for over three months now, I figured I was plenty overdue to have a housewarming party.  I couldn’t think of a better way to do it then to throw a BBQ party at my place to celebrate the 4th of July.  The only catch was that people had to dress up to show their true American pride.  Being that most of the people I am friends with aren’t from Kansas City, I was afraid not many people would even be around to attend.  Luckily, there was a decent showing, and it was a pretty good time.
There was a ton of food and games of bocce ball and bags in the back yard.

There were also plenty of patriotic decorations around the house.  Even President Bush showed up to celebrate.  His hat read, “Love All. Serve All.” He truly is a man of his word!

There were dance-offs…

And there were sparklers…

If there is one thing I learned that night, it’s that full-grown adults still love to wave around sparklers and spell their names in the dark.  Hilarious.

After it got late, we migrated to The Brooksider to continue the festivities.  The only downside to this was that no headbands, hats, or sunglasses were allowed to be worn.  You also had to wear shirts with sleeves which proved to be especially problematic to my buddy Andrew who was forced to change out of his “America Rocks!” shirt before going out.  As for me, I still wore the shades until I was forced to take them off because I love my country even though The Brooksider apparently doesn’t.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut.  I’m not really sure what kind of factors influenced my longing for the career, but I was pretty dead-set on it for quite some time.  Then, I happened to watch part of the movie The Right Stuff when it was on t.v. one night and, after watching multiple crashes and failed missions, I decided that I was going to do something much more logical with my life instead…become a pro athlete!  I obviously had a vivid imagine imagination back in the day.  Maybe I was more delusional than imaginative, but that’s besides the point.

Anyway, apparently there is a McDonalds in Hartford, CT that looks like this:

Pretty weird, right?  It just looks like some space shuttle sitting on top of a McDonald’s play area.

If you look closer, though, you see this:

Not only has my childhood dream been realized, but they even gave me a Grey’s Anatomy-esque nickname, too.

(A big thanks to Erin for emailing me these pictures today.  Pretty awesome.)

While I was looking forward to participating in Waldo Crawldo last weekend, I was also pretty darn pumped to go out and celebrate the first night bars in Kansas City, MO were smoke-free. It was pretty awesome, I must say.  In fact, there were several moments throughout the night when my friends turned to each other and made a comment about how great it was.  It was pretty odd to be able to take a deep, clean breath in the normally smokey sports bars, breweries and dives.

I took time out this past Spring to vote for a smoking ban in area bars and restaurants.  Since it passed by a fairly narrow margin, the ban has been one of the more divisive issues in Kansas City.  Here are what seem to be the common arguments against the smoking ban and why I disagree with them:

Bar owners should be able to run their business the way they want.  It should be up to them to allow smoking or not.

I’m all for owners being given rights to do what they want, but this is a matter of public health and safety.  Bars and restaurants are inspected frequently to make sure they meet health codes.  If a building had high radon levels, kitchen was full of rusty utensils, or cleaning supplies were consistently dirty, the bar would be be fined or shut down for health code violations.  Believe it or not, you can get in trouble for simply leaving an ice scoop in with the ice behind the bar.  If something that simple in considered a health hazard, it only makes sense for secondhand smoke to be eliminated.

Casinos were exempt from the ban which is unfair.

This one is unfair.  Lobbyists shouldn’t have that much control over something like this.  I don’t hang out in casinos, though, so it doesn’t really impact me either way.  I have no problem with gambling or anything.  I just would rather spend my time elsewhere.  I’m surely not going to vote against a smoking ban because places I rarely ever visit can still smoke even though the places I do frequent will help my breathing.

A Smoking ban will hurt business for local restaurant and bar owners.

Places will adjust in due time.  Bars that will close down are those that were already going through some problems.  When I lived downtown, I went to The Quaff and Tanners more than just about any place in town, and I rarely ever saw Tanner’s full.  In fact, the place was pretty dead on weekends more often than not, and that was before the Power and Light District was built.  It’s sad to hear it’s closing down, but I’m not surprised by it.  Plus, if you want to point the finger at the P&L for dealing Tanner’s its death blow, it should be noted that the P&L was smoke-free from day one.  Obviously, having a smoking ban hasn’t negatively impacted one of the most popular bar areas in town.

If people can drink as much as they want in bars, smokers should be able to smoke as much as they want in bars, as well.

If there was no such thing as secondhand smoke I would agree with this argument.  That isn’t the case, though.  Me having a beer doesn’t negatively impact your health in any way.  If cigarettes worked that way, you could chain smoke all you wanted and I wouldn’t care.  Just don’t try to kiss me after doing it, though.  A dry-heaving Bradical is not a good sight.

Kansas City is is forcing bars and restaurants to create smoking areas even though many of them don’t have room for them outside. 

While I do feel for bar owners about this one, I find this argument incredibly naive.  Anyone who says this clearly hasn’t been outside of Kansas City in a long time.  Almost every single large city in the US has already banned smoking from bars.  Kansas City is WAY behind on this compared to other areas around the country.  And you know what?  It’s worked out fine.  When I visit friends in other parts of the US, they just go outside to smoke without even thinking about it.  It’s not a big deal at all to them.  If a congested area like Manhattan can find ways to accommodate smokers outside bars, I’m pretty sure Kansas City can do the same.

Cigar bars are almost certainly going to have to close their doors.

One of my favorite bars in Kansas City is the Cigar Box, and I’d hate to see something happen to that place even though I really do believe the place could do just fine without even having cigars.  It isn’t uncommon for bars in cities with smoking bans to create “private memberships” that allow smoking in their place.  It’s a loophole to get around the law (although I haven’t exactly read the exact wording with the ban, I can’t imagine KC is any different), and I can see it working just fine.

Non-smokers just need to deal with it.  Bars are smokey and they always have been.

Listen, I have asthma.  When I’m around smoke, I notice it.  It’s really annoying to watch someone ruin their perfectly fine lungs while I have to take an inhaler twice a day just to breathe normally.  Would I make someone with liver problems to periodically drink sips of my alcoholic beverage when I’m out socializing?  Absolutely not.  If there was anything I was doing that I knew was harming anyone else there was no way I would consider doing it around that person.  Smokers should have the same mentality…and be grateful smoking wasn’t banned completely like on airplanes.

So yeah, I’m glad bars are smoke-free. I think it’s something that will increase overall health with people my age.  I would love for someone to put together a convincing argument to try to understand their point of view, but I just can’t see how anyone would think allowing smoking in bars would make sense.

My favorite comedians are those who are able to not only laugh but make you think, as well.  George was one of the best at that.  There is a good friend of mine who was in the fraternity with me in college, and George Carlin happened to be his great half uncle.  According to him, Mr. Carlin was his grandfather’s half brother.  Once in college, he told me a story once about visiting George Carlin with his family before one of his shows.  My buddy was just a little kid at the time and asked him why he sweared so much. His response: “I don’t f%cking know!”

He was one of the greats.

I participated in Waldo Crawldo for the first time last night.  I’d been told that it was a lot of fun and, I didn’t want to pass it up considering I now live pretty close to the area. When you sign up, they give you a pass with seven different bars on it.  There are people standing outside of each bar to mark off your pass, and you could enter your completed card to win different prizes.  Though the event seemed a tad unorganized, I liked the structure of how it was run.  The premise of the pub crawl was to encourage patrons to check out different local spots around the area.  It was just a fun, laid-back way to have fun in the Waldo area.

The participating bars were 75th St. Brewery, Kennedy’s, Bobby Bakers, Waldo Bar, Waldo Tap Room, Tanner’s, and Lew’s. I’m a big fan of every one of these places because they’re all just very chill and aren’t the least bit pretentious.  What really stuck out to me, though, is how happy and friendly everyone on the crawl was.  My friends and I have all talked at one time or another of how Kansas City, despite being a Midwestern city, isn’t the easiest place to meet new people. A big reason for this, I believe, is because most people who live in KC grew up here, went to college around here (i.e. KU, MU, and K-State), and then returned back home.  In doing so, they end up keeping the same circle of friends from both and, thus, don’t feel the need to branch outside of their already-established cliques.  Waldo Crawldo was far from this case, I found, as everyone was socializing and out to have a good time.  To be honest, it made me even happier with my decision to move where I did because the people my age just seem very cool.

Waldo Crawldo was definitely not without its fair share of people watching, though.  My personal favorite was a random guy who showed up with a giant camera and acted like he was with a news station.  He’d walk into each bar, prop the thing on his shoulder with the light turned on, and the crowd would act up because they thought it was going to be on t.v.  My group was onto this guy, though, and knew he was faking it.  I talked to him for a while and he confessed everything to me.  It was kind of funny but also pretty darn weird.  I mean, the dude showed up by himself to a pub crawl with a giant camera.  He also let me take his fancy equipment for a test drive.

Attire was also interesting to check out.  Some were dressed up, most were pretty casual, and a few individuals looked like they had just come from mowing their lawn.  Some, however, wore red glittering belts to match their sparkling shoes.  And by “some” I mean one.

Overall, Waldo Crawldo was a blast, and I can’t wait to do it again in the fall for the Falldo Waldo Crawldo.

I went with a few friends to my very first fashion show this weekend. No, I wasn’t there to model some hot man-panties for all to see. I was merely a spectator at the West 18th St. Fashion Show on Saturday night. I never really thought I’d find myself standing around watching fashion nonstop for an hour and a half, but I was told that I would also be attending an “after-party” following the event thanks to a hookup of my friend Rachel. Having drinks with models at a party sounded like a pretty spectacular way to spend an evening so I was in without hesitation. Little did I know, the party plans fell through, but it was still a good time anyway.

The event took place on (you guessed it) 18th St. in the Crossroads District. The stage area was outside and took up an entire block. It sounds like that would be plenty of room for a fashion show, but it was actually packed pretty full with people. The emcee came out and spoke about how they’re looking to move to a new venue farther north but need to raise $50,000 to do so. I’m guessing that this means they’re going to try to build some sort of fashion dome or something. Anyway, the show got underway to the scene of a couple dozen people of all shapes and sizes dancing around in swimwear.

The beginning seemed a little unorganized as the models just kind of danced around while looking at each other and laughing. The woman in front of me turned to her boyfriend and said, “Maybe they could spend that $50,000 on some new swimsuits.” Ouch! Nevertheless, the show began and it was better than the start of the show.

I don’t know a ton about what fashion shows are like, but I knew two things for sure: 1) there would probably be some female eye candy throughout the evening and 2) there would likely be a lot of freaky, weird clothes.  The former was hard to really tell most of the time because of the makeup, but the latter was on full display.

That’s right, the dude is wearing a peacock outfit. I cannot imagine a scenario where this would pass as acceptable.

Hey, Guys!  What’s going on?  What do you mean what am I wearing?  Oh this?  I’m just getting comfortable.  You know, just another night at Hoopers.  Any of you guys want to play some shuffleboard?  No?

One person also wore a hat that looked like it belonged to the Tin Man.

The kids were pretty darn cute, too.  That is, when they weren’t being lead out hand-in-hand by an adult in a giant horse’s head.

Not all the clothes were bizarre, though.  There were some cool things, as well.  My favorite group was by a designer who created clothes that could change into other clothes.  It was like the Transformers!  Well, except for the fact that a pair of slacks turned into a skirt and not a firetruck…

The show ended up being a really good time.  Sure, it was a little odd at times, but it was great to do something different for a change.  It’s always good when there are things going on during the weekend that aren’t centered around just going to the bar.  I say that because I’m, like, really cultured and stuff.

Afterwords, our group went out to The Cigar Box for a little bit and ended up at Grinders for the remainder of the night.  Somehow, our friend Ashley told us that everyone thinks that her bird looks like a banana peel.  Not knowing how that could be the case, she decided to draw it on a napkin, and soon we each took turns drawing our own birds.

I easily had the worst drawing of the four of us.  It’s not even close.  My bird looks like some freak mutation.  And it looks like it has four legs.  Mine is on the bottom right.

Needless to say, a night that began with artsy concepts ended with something that was anything but.

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