Journal

More iPod Stats, Top played Artists

RankPlay CountArtist
1 223 Less Than Jake
2 155 Andrew Bird
3 143 Coheed & Cambria
4 131 Matisyahu
5 123 Atmosphere
6 114 Beck
7 112 They Might Be Giants
8 107 Brother Ali
9 105 Collective Soul
10 104 Punchline
11 93 Various Artists
12 91 Weezer
13 85 Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire
14 84 Fall Out Boy
15 82 Johnny Cash
16 75 Smashing Pumpkins
17 75 Ween
18 67 Queens Of The Stone Age
19 65 Bjork
20 65 Reel Big Fish
21 63 Gorillaz
22 56 Radiohead
23 55 The Blues Brothers
24 55 Einar Steen-Nøkleberg
25 55 Ben Folds
26 53 Queen
27 51 Pink Floyd
28 49 The Beatles
29 49 Blink-182
30 47 B.B. King
31 45 The Beta Band
32 44 Simon & Garfunkel
33 43 Haley Bonar
34 42 The Mars Volta
35 41 Panic! At The Disco
36 41 Yellowcard
37 40 Ben Folds Five
38 39 Gym Class Heroes
39 39 The Chieftains
40 38 The Beach Boys
41 37 Tori Amos
42 35 Joe Satriani
43 33 Andrew Birds's Bowl Of Fire
44 32 My Chemical Romance
45 32 The Beastie Boys
46 31 Monty Python's Spamalot
47 31 The Rentals
48 30 Johnny Socko
49 30 MU330
50 29 The Cure

Top 25 Songs on my iPod

The top 25 played songs on my iPod.

 

Top 25 Most Played
TitleArtistAlbum
Girl Beck Guero
Champion (Remix) Brother Ali Champion EP
Forest Whitiker Brother Ali Shadows On The Sun
Shalom/Saalam Matisyahu Youth
Blah Blah Blah Brother Ali Shadows On The Sun
Wake Up Coheed & Cambria Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
The Willing Well II: Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness Coheed & Cambria Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
A Favor House Atlantic Coheed & Cambria In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Get Fly Atmosphere You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
Hell Yes Beck Guero
Rental Car Beck Guero
Loser Beck Mellow Gold
Late Night In Zion Matisyahu Youth
Ancient Lullaby Matisyahu Youth
Beverly Hills Weezer Make Believe
Happy Day Andrew Bird Fingerlings 2
Hockey Hair Atmosphere You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
Rockin' The Suburbs Ben Folds Rockin' The Suburbs
Air Ben Folds Five Whatever And Ever Amen [Bonus Tracks]
Keeping The Blade Coheed & Cambria Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
Gold Digger Kanye West Feat. Jamie Foxx Late Registration
Overrated (Everything Is) Less Than Jake In With The Out Crowd
Getting There Is Getting By Punchline Action
Master Fade Andrew Bird Fingerlings 2
Fake Palindromes Andrew Bird The Mysterious Production of Eggs

 

After Wedding Music

Wedding After
TitleArtistAlbum
McAllistrum's March The Chieftains The Celtic Harp
Calliope House-The Cowboy Song Various Artists Celtic Odyssey
Alasdair Mhic Cholla Ghasda Various Artists Celtic Odyssey
Da–s-Tro Fisel The Chieftains Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany
Heuliadenn Tonio� Breizh-Izel The Chieftains Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany
Jabadaw The Chieftains Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany
Studentersang (Vi f¾rdes med Lyst) Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Ho Astrid (Og hev' du set Aastrid) Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Halling fra ¯sterdalen Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Friluftsvise (Se Norges Blomsterdal!) Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Springdans fra Nummedal Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Gamle Norge (Der ligger et Land) Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Ciaccona Arianna Savall, Bjorn Kjellemyr, Guido Morini, Marco Ambrosini, Pedro Estevan & Rolf Lislevand Nuove Musiche
Planxty Burting (Live) The Chieftains The Celtic Harp
Sonny Brogan's Mazurkas (Live) The Chieftains The Celtic Harp
Rubina's Blue Sky Happiness Joe Satriani The Extremist

Pre-wedding music

So I meant to get this stuff up a while ago, but never got around to it, so here it is, the music that played before our wedding.

 

Wedding Before
TitleArtistAlbum
Shalom/Saalam Matisyahu Youth
Wedding Day at Troldhaugen Edvard Grieg 25 Wedding Favorites
Hornpipe (Water Music) George Frideric Handel 25 Wedding Favorites
Johann Pachelbel, Canon Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Albinoni- Adagio - Pachelbel- Canon
Johann Sebastian Bach, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Albinoni- Adagio - Pachelbel- Canon
Air on the G String Bach Bach - Greatest Hits
Sleepers, Wake Bach Bach - Greatest Hits
Brandenburg Concerto 3 - Allegro Bach Bach - Greatest Hits
Sinfonia, from Cantata No. 29 ('We Thank Thee, Lord'), BWV 29 J.S. Bach - Michael Murray Organ Bach Organ Blaster
Prelude and Fugue in G Major ('Great'), BWV 541 J.S. Bach - Michael Murray Organ Bach Organ Blaster
Studentersang (Vi f¾rdes med Lyst) Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Ho Astrid (Og hev' du set Aastrid) Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Halling fra ¯sterdalen Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Friluftsvise (Se Norges Blomsterdal!) Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Springdans fra Nummedal Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Gamle Norge (Der ligger et Land) Einar Steen-N¿kleberg GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Prelude In C Stuart Hamm Kings Of Sleep
Sonata In D For Two Pianos Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Mozart For Your Mind
Swan Lake - Waltz Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Tchaikovsky's Greatest Hits
Four Seasons- Autumn- Guitar concerto in D - Adagio Antonio Vivaldi Vivaldi Greatest Hits

Bringing back memories

So we went to the Des Moines Community Orchestra's performance today. It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood. They started off with Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. I remember that we had a tape of this and would listen to the songs of the animals and dance like the animals with my brothers and sisters (we were very young).

They also played Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. Images of the Disney cartoon danced through my head.

They did a wonderful job. There were a few other selections (PDQ Bach (Beethoven/Schickele), Aaron Copland, George Kleinsinger), and they were good too. But I hadn't heard them before, so it was a new experience.

It was the most full I've ever seen one of their performances. Lots of kids. Most left before the second half, which is two bad.

Honeymoon day 7 (10/1/2006)

We were both getting tired of Disney. But luckily we had bought tickets earlier in the week to the House of Blues (Orlando) Gospel Brunch. Food, gospel music, good venue? How could it be bad? It wasn't, it was amazing. I was moved. I'm not really all that into the whole God thing, as most people know, but I was touched and I would have to say that if church was like this, I'd go once maybe twice a month. The food was good too...The cornbread muffins, which were laced with some peppers, were quite tasty. It was a mixture of Sunday Brunch type food, and southern comfort food (creole, bbq, etc). They had us get up, dance, clap our hands and do what the spirit moved us to do. It was something else.

Before and after, we went to the Disney arcade, called Disney Quest. They had classics there, and newer modern games, including some VR games...which...we tried...or at least tried to try. I don't know if it was the head gear or the vision or what, but most of the VR games made me feel like someone was stabbing me in the back of the head, so we avoided them. After we got tired of playing video games (and it got crowded, we called it an early day and went home to pack. We spent most of the rest of the day being lazy.

We did discover, however, that in all that we bought, we didn't have enough space in our luggage and carry ons to actually pack all of the things that we had. Even trimming the fat where we could, we still didn't have near enough room, so I wandered over to the gift shop and bought another suitcase...a nice disney one too *sigh* Oh well, we were able to bring back all the things, which is good.

We went to our final Dinner at the Maya Grill, and we were so full from brunch (even eating as late as we were), we didn't even make it through the main course before we had to throw in the towel.

We went back to the room and finished packing.

We took a paltry 18 photos on the 7th day.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

So last night, I headed home, ate some food, and then got picked up by Dave.

We then headed to get me some money, headed back to my house to pick up my forgotten ticket and then over to Dave's to pick up Jan.

We all then headed over to the Val Air Ballroom, and met up with Brandon and a few of his Friends.

We went in, sat down, and had a few beers and waited for the show to start.

Near that time we headed up towards where Brandon & Co were camped out. To my surprise, one of my past roomates was up there. Jake Froelich (sp?). It's been years since I've seen him.

Eventually Ween took the stage and they played very well together. Not necessarily the most planned or a steady stream of music, but certainly a very good very well played show. A lot of it seem very dream like, due to the use of the lights and the huge amount of smoke effect that they used. It was something. They covered a large range of the albums that I have, and a few songs that I didn't know. I had a good time.

Part of the show for me was certainly the crowd around me. I have found that there are few things funnier then stoned people trying to hid the fact that they are smoking weed. Holding your hands over the joint so people can't see it, In my opinion, looks more suspicious...but what do I know. I saw pipes, one hitters, and several joints. But the crown of the night was the couple near me that made out...and not just kisses mind you, during the ENTIRE show. I suspect they were on somthing...

After they came on for an encore, and after they said good night (but before most of the band finished), I was too hot and wanted to head out.

I found Dave and Jan near the back and we waited for a bit longer (of them doing a phish style repetive music type thing) and then We headed home.

You know it's hot in a place, when it's cooler outside then the inside...and the city is under a heat advisory.

I got home a bit before midnight, and took a shower and went to bed.

Great Show, Wanted to see wheen for 10 years or so...so It's cool.

Radiohead

Best.
Show.
Ever.

at least that I've been to.

So I figured why go to Chicago just for the show, why not go and hang out for a bit. So I left got some water, stopped at La Mie for a bit of Mocha and headed out on the road. I remembered at the gas station that I had forgotten my camera, but I thought about it and I didn't think I'd really need it.

I made a few stops, Just past Iowa City (potty and more water), at the Dekalb Oasis (potty, lunch, gas (not that I really needed it, just didn't want to find Gas in Chicago). I ate Subway...the Dekalb Oasis has gotten much better the McDonalds and gas station that I remember. They even had a Starbucks there. I was thinking maybe I could stop there on my way back.

So then I headed into the Chi-town. I don't remember if I've ever mentioned that I was an adopted Chicagoian. I was adopted by a group of guys that lived on my floor in college that I played poker with. Traffic wasn't to bad, certainly worse then Des Moines, except for at the very worst times.

It was pretty much a straight shot in and after I figured out where I was parking (apprently for almost $20) I got out, figured out where the venue was and started wandering around Michigan Ave. After wandering up and down the street for a while, I decided some indoors would be fun, so I walked up to The Art Institute of Chicago and went through the vast majority of the collection. I think I missed part of it though... It was fun they had a lot of stuff that I have seen before (in pictures) and it was interesting. I would've like to go when I have more time to actually spend more time. They had a whole lot of religious paintings, and etc. It was interesting.

At around 5 I was getting Hungry, so I headed to find some place to eat. I ended up at The Artist's Cafe. I had a beer (anchor steam) and a ruben. The sandwhich was ok, nothing special. I was kind of annoyed with the pay as soon as I got my meal, and having to pay in cash (they only accepted AmEx).

Afterwards I Chatted with Shannon (I did when I got there too) and then ended up getting this Fruit Smoothie at this smoothie/sushi place right on the block of the venue. It was actully the best thing I had that day. I saw a lot of people lining up. So I decided to get in line too. But which line? There were 3 lines. One for regular tickets, one for tickets for those who bought through the fan club and one for "premium" will call tickets. The last one was my line. But there was a bit of confusion, since, several people that were in the line I was in, were turned away and told to get in another line.

The check in process was a bit silly. I needed my ID, the order number from ticketmaster and the credit card that I bought the ticket with. So it was a long line, but it went pretty quickly.

The Auditorium Theater was very cool. The lightbulbs were even cool. Lots of reliefs, lots of decorations, 4 levels of seats (I think), box seats. I was in row F and had a great view of the stage. I really wished I had brought the camera (not that it was actually allowed in the theater), not for just the theater but the other things I had seen that day.

So the theater wasn't half full yet and the lights dimmed. The Black Keys. A drummer and a guitar playeer. The music was interesting and good in a way. But by the end of their set I was starting to get bored, cause a lot of it was sounding the same.

So they left the stage and the crowd's anticipation grew. After a while the crowd would cheer for Radiohead at every pause in the music playing. It was kind of silly.

When they finally took the stage, a huge roar came up and they started right into it.

It was a mixture of older stuff (most of their albums being represented) and the stuff that will be coming out soon enough. It was interesting and I was just amazed...and I mean AMAZED as to how well they sounded and played together.

The stage was setup in a way to allow for many changing of instruments on the stage (including mini drum sets, pianos, guitars and etc). And they also had many lights and on the backdrop of the stage, they had about 10 trapazoidal screens that were being projected on. It's quite interesting what they did. They had cameras all over the stage, and so they might show a video of Thom Yorke broken up across the screens, singing. And they would have effects added to it. So things like inverted colors, or orange tints or dots or etc. At points you could see the drummer on two screens and Yorke on some others or the like. It worked.

The lights were amazing, being both, well timed and matching the speed and the intensity of the music.

After 2 encores, the show ended and I raced out of the theater. There were a few songs that I would've liked to hear, but all and all they covered the bases pretty well. I called Shannon when I got in the car, but the reception was pretty bad (since I was under Michigan Ave). So I told her the plan (I'd call if I was going to sleep somewhere before I got home). So I headed out of Chicago. The traffic leaving was pretty bad, until I got into the western suburbs. Then it calmed down quite a bit.

I stopped at the Dekalb Oasis, but Starbucks wasn't open, so I got a big pepsi and a water and continued on. I called my parent's house and left a message (around 11) and said I might be stopping by if I needed to sleep.

I drove on, traffic was very light and I rarely had to wait to pass anyone.

When I was on the East Side of Iowa City...or at least close to the East Side, I got a call back from Joseph to say it was ok, but I was doing fine (and by the end of the call I was passing the I-380 Exit anyways).

40 miles or so out of Des Moines, I was starting to wonder if I was gonna run out of gas (even if the light wasn't off) and I was kind of hungry and wanted something. So I saw this Kum & Go and noticed something. In Illinois premium is 92 octane, while Iowa's is 91. And it must of helped, cause on the Tank of gas from the Dekalb Oasis to Chicago and back to wherever I was off of I-80, I got Just over 33 MPG (again my car is supposed to get 29 MPG on the highway) and this was going 80 most of the way.

I pulled into my driveway at around 3:45 and I was pretty exausted, eyes dry and just kind of mentally losing it.

So I went upstairs, brushed my teeth, took my pills (since I didn't think I'd be up early enough to actually take it in the morning, and crawled into bed.

Anyways, I've been wanting to see Radiohead for around 12 years and now I have had the chance and I couldn't be more happy about it.

Wedding Plans ramp up again

It's good to have my girl back again. After the long time working for her test, it's done and Shannon's stress level is back to a more normal level.

To celebrate, since Shannon wanted a malt, we headed down to Drake Diner for dinner. I love that place. Good food. Good price. Her malt was good and my shake was good too.

Afterwards we went to Nacho Libre. The reviews that I had read were rather mixed. Either people loved it, or hated it, which sounds like Napolean Dynamite. I laughed and I thought parts were stupid...pretty much just like the previous movie. So I'm mixed but I'd probably watch it again.

Saturday, we lounged around for a good part of the morning, and then when we were ready, we headed over to University Photo and dropped off a few slides and photographs to get resized. Not to bad a price. I'm sure if I wanted to deal with my old scanner, I could probably have done it myself, but when it comes down to it, I'm not even sure that scanner works, or that I even have it anymore...

Anyways, we went grocery shopping, got home and started working on invitations.

We've gotten them designed and test printed and it's all good. And maybe, just maybe, if we do it right, we'll be able to get the maps, response card and invite in there and still remain under an ounce (thus not having to add extra postage). Shannon scanned through the stamps and foud a couple of designs that we wanted to use. So we ordered oh around 200 Stamps for around 70$. Initially when I've thought about ordered just single books of stamps, they were a little obnoxious on the price, but when you buy a lot, it's not so bad to pay $1 for shipping and handling.

Shannon talked to her mom a bit and while she was doign that I investigaged M&M prices. So we ended up getting 5 pounds of pink M&Ms, 5 Pounds of White, and 5 Pounds of Silver. Then we added a couple of custom printed M&Ms, and got 2 pounds (4 8oz bags) of a mix of Pink and White with our names on them and then another 2 pounds of a mix of dark pink and silver. So I cannot believe that we ordered 19 pounds of M&Ms or how much we paid for them, but they'll make a nice give away. We will have to have a M&M packing party (no eating of the wedding M&Ms).

Today we plan on checking and finalizing directions and maps and get the final weight of the invitation...then maybe start printing.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Chicago to see Radiohead. My seat is pretty good, but I'll miss not having company. I think a big part of the fun of going to a concert is going with someone else. But I'm not missing the show. 6 hours there and and another 6 on the way back, probably puts me home (depending on the show's end time) at 5 in the morning on Tuesday. Good thing I took Tuesday off too.