I went to go see The Raconteurs tonight at the Uptown Theater.  It was my second time seeing the band, but it was the first time I’d seen them on their own outside of a festival environment.  The first time I saw them (at Austin City Limits in ‘06), though, I was really impressed so my expectations were pretty high this time around.  Even with high expectations, though, they still found a way to rock my face off.

The main attraction of The Raconteurs is Jack White, the frontman of the White Stripes.  I, as well as many music fans, consider him to be somewhat of a living legend, and I was pretty pumped to get to see him again.  I’ve also became a big fan of their other singer, Brendan Benson, back in college when he was releasing music as a singer/songwriter.   Luckily, I have some pretty die-hard friends (Rachel, props to you) who got there right as the doors opened so I was about five people from Mr. White and Mr. Benson the entire night.  Needless to say, I was pretty giddy.

These guys completely rocked it from the get-go and never stopped.  What I found interesting was how comfortable Jack White seemed to be just being another member of the band.  When I saw the White Stripes a while ago, he was one of the craziest frontmen I’d ever seen.  With his band, though, he lets other people take center stage.  You’d think someone as popular as he would try to steal the spotlight, but he only did it when it was his turn to shine (most notably on their bluesier songs which is where he’s always been best). There is also not a shortage of man-love between the two frontmen.  Both from Detroit, their friendship was pretty well-known long before The Raconteurs was ever thought of, and Jack White would sometimes even play covers of Benson’s songs during White Stripes shows.  You can tell they have fun putting their energy together on stage.

The only negative thing about the otherwise amazing show was the crowd.  It’s been a while since I’ve been at a larger rock show where half the audience is comprised of teenage idiots.  Tonight definitely was that, and it was obvious that a) many of them decided that getting drunk for the very first time would be a good idea for the show and b) going to a rock show and starting a most pit would be, like, totally awesome. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in a crowd that really gets into things, but these kids were pushing, throwing elbows, and just being flat out annoying for a large part of the show.  It’s never fun trying to watch a good band when you are having to pay attention to how you stand so you don’t get pushed over.  That being said, it was a great night of loud music.

I took a couple of videos during the show, as well.  Here they are:

“Top Yourself”:

The end of “Rich Kid Blues”:

Unlike many of my friends here, I have never been to a Kansas City T-Bones game before.  They always talk of how much fun (and cheap) the games are, but I’ve always felt that it would be more worth my money to spend a few extra bucks to see major league games that actually count instead.  One of my favorite sites out there, Deadspin, wrote this past week about how the T-Bones were going to throw a “Michael Vick Welcome to the Neighborhood” night in May.  Vick is in prison nearby in Leavenworth and features for the event, according to the write-up, were possibly going to include:

- The T-Bones  wearing black and white striped jerseys, and the visiting Gary South Shore Rail Cats wearing bright orange jumpsuit replica jerseys.

- Dog-themed music like “Who Let the Dogs Out” during the game.

- Players and/or coaches being introduced while wearing shackles.

- Relief pitchers to be shuttled from the bullpen via paddy wagon.

- On-field dog parade.

- Prison siren to celebrate runs scored by home team.

- Free tickets for fans who bring a picture of themselves with their dog.

I immediately sent the information out to friends asking who wanted to go and marked off my calendar a full month and a half in advance for the event.  This was one spectacle I was not going to miss.

Enter the lame, overly-dramatic animal crazies and race mongers…

The T-Bones have now canceled plans for a Michael Vick night because of pressure from local animal activists and… wait for it… wait for it… the NAACP!  That’s right, we all know that the reason that Vick was prosecuted was because of his race and not because he was responsible for the torture, rape, and murder of innocent dogs.  Keep up that credibility, NAACP.  As for the animal activists, please lighten up.  If done right, this event could not only allow for public ridicule towards a man who treated animals cruelly, but it could also be done to raise awareness at the same time.  Instead, the animal rights folks decided to whine about it and demand it not happen.  Just to clarify: an event ridiculing a horrible man who abused animals is wrong, but PETA naming Jenna Jamison as their spokesperson is totally fine.  That makes total sense.  I’m sure going from Pamela Anderson to the biggest whore on Whore Island is only going to help your credibility.  But I digress…

If there is a silver lining to the T-Bone changes, it’s that Deadspin posted a link to one Kristy Winfrey, author of a blog called The Animal Advocate, a site that talks about animal cruelty despite the fact that the banner to the page features several of her cat victims she’s dressed up in costume.  She was quoted in USA Today that she thinks it’s people making a joke of it all.  Winfrey, who likely finished dead last in the voting of “Best Sense of Humor” in her high school superlatives, has not been a fan of the comments people have been making on her site as a result of her outrage.  She’s disabled comments, but the comments from Deadspin are hilarious.  My favorite comments include:

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Oooh, she’s going to HATE Crazy Cat Lady Night on August 20.

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Have you ever tried cat-fighting?
Michael Vick | 04.18.08 - 4:24 pm |

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Folks, remember to spay and neuter your crazy cat lady bloggers.
Bob Barker | 04.18.08 - 4:40 pm | #

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Gravatar HOW DO YOU MAKE A CAT FLOAT? A GLASS OF ROOT BEER AND TWO SCOOPS OF CAT.
ZOOKEEPER STEVE | 04.18.08 - 4:44 pm | #

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And that’s not even counting the comments that are posted on her blog under the “Recent Comments” section.  Hilarious.

As for me, I won’t be attending the newfangled “Animal Awareness Night”.  Seriously, talk about a drastic change from awesomeness to extreme mediocrity.  I can’t help but wonder how many other people are out there that are like me and will now pass up the opportunity to take part in a fun event.  Way to shoot yourself in the foot, animal activists.  I guess I’ll have to wait until June 20th for Mullet Night to go to my first T-Bones game.

This past weekend was our annual reunion of friends from high school.  We’ve always referred to it as Best Weekend Ever and it has never failed to live up to its name.  In the past, we’ve held our little gathering in Chicago where we all get tickets to sit in the bleachers at a Cubs game. This year, though, we decided on a change of scenery and everyone (TWELVE of us!) migrated to Kansas City for BWE3.

This year’s BWE was centered around competition which, because of the weather, didn’t really end up happening like we wanted.  The first competition was a game of basketball.  The catch, though, was that you had to dress up for it.  I sacrificed doing it up properly so I could keep warm in the 40 degree weather, but others had no shame.  Here are a couple of examples:

Mike’s parents live in Shawnee and have a basketball court in their housing complex area so we all headed out there for the showdown.  What followed was an ugly game of basketball reminiscent of our days on the playground in school.  We even played a game of Knockout to see who got the ball first.  The game lasted almost two hours which, while a lot of fun, had a large majority of us sucking cold wind for a while. 

After eating and showering, everyone headed over to my place where the weekend festivities officially began.  We all hung out at my place, had some beers, ate some Minsky’s, and kicked it to some music before going out.  Nic, Scott, and Matt even shaved their beards into some gross mustaches.

We decided that the last thing we wanted to do is go to pretentious bars so we first headed to Westport to kick things off.  Kelly’s was a hit, as expected, and we went to Dark Horse for a while before our group split off.  Some wanted to go to Harpo’s across the street while others thought boogying at The Levee sounded like a good time.  The Levee was a pretty awesome time although I apparently missed a pretty amazing spectacle at Harpo’s.  Our friend Nick apparently got up on a stool, climbed up onto a small ledge on the wall, shimmied over to a deer head hanging on the wall, and proceeded to start kissing it.  According to my friends, the entire bar just went silent and stared at him, and the bouncers were too busy laughing to care to kick him out.  Amazing. 

Saturday was supposed to have been a whiffleball competition but, with weather in the 40s again, we decided to forgo it.  Instead, we headed off to my favorite BBQ joint, Oklahoma Joe’s, for some authentic KC BBQ.  As expected, it rocked everyone’s world.  We then got back in time to clean up and get ready for our limo to drive us around and take us to the Royals game.

The ride was pretty great as we drove around the Plaza, Westport, and P&L District.  While on the Plaza, we saw one of the most amazing mullets ever.

When in Westport, we stopped in Harpo’s just to get a visual of Nick’s little makeout partner from the previous night.  Impressive.

We made a point to get to the stadium early because it was Billy Butler Powder Blue Jersey Night.  Unfortunately, arriving at 4:45 for a 6:10 game wasn’t early enough because every single jersey was already gone.  I, being the KC native of the group, was pretty bummed about it.  There are a bunch already being sold on Ebay so it’s good to know people were big enough fans to spend $20 on a ticket, leave the game, and then just make a few bucks back on it.  Anyway, the stadium was horribly cold to the point that half of our group decided to leave halfway through the game.  The highlight, though, was that Nic was able to participate in one of the games in between innings.  The game is probably the lamest competition on all of professional sports.  Three people hold up a sign with either 1, 2, or 3 on it while three lawnmowers race around on the huge video screen.  It’s like the hot dog race without the irony.  Anyway, Nic was chosen as the #1 signholder.

Sadly, his mower came in 3rd place so he didn’t win anything.

The rest of the evening was spent at Charlie Hoopers which is probably the closest bar to my house.  And with that, BWE3 commenced.

Man, it feels like forever since I’ve written on this thing.  That’s probably because it’s BEEN forever since I’ve written on this thing.  I have my reasons, though.  The most important being the culmination of things relating to moving residences and getting settled.  My transformation to a full-blown homeowner arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I can honestly say that it, coupled with having to travel out of town a little during the week, has practically consumed my life.  Oh yeah, and I haven’t had internet until Sunday so that cut into the ol’ blogging time.

Aside from having to paint a couple of rooms and getting a few things in order, I am pretty settled for the most part.  In the meantime, I will say that I’ve already learned a ton about homeowner stuff (i.e. how boilers work, how to hook up washer and dryers, the intricacies of steam radiator heat, etc.).  I’ve also spent a good deal of money on initial home stuff (i.e. fridge, washer and dryer, lawnmower, bed, patio furniture, home security system, etc.).

Now, though, I feel like life is returning to normal.  I’m done with moving, I won’t be traveling as often, and I finally have an internet connection again.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading back to Kansas City in time to go to the Spoon show.  Not only will Spoon be playing but my favorite new band from last year, the White Rabbits, are opening for them so I’m pretty pumped for it.