Seriously diverse and entertaining day!  More to come soon..

Stopped into the Comet Grill to meet with old friends and wish a surprise happy 50th birthday to our good friend Mark Federal.  I'm pretty sure he was surprised by the turnout, and then following THIS party, they were surprising him again at his other hangout - Fairview Grill!  I think somebody loves him :-)  Deservedly so.  Couldn't wish it for a nicer guy.

Following the Comet, we went to the Evening Muse for my regular Stephen Warwick & The Secondhand Stories appearance.  Stephen has been working on some new songs and I didn't/don't want to miss them live if at all possible.  Well, not only that, it could take a while before they are recorded, too, so these shows are the only chance to catch them.  That is until he surprises me with sneak peak audios in my mailbox.  His songs are amazing and they never disappoint.  Say it all the time, don't I?

We unfortunately missed hearing Sarah's performance.  However, much to OUR surprise, her accompanying boyfriend happened to be none other than Ward Hayden from Girls Guns & Glory!  We were thrilled to see him and luckily for us they had no place to stay so of course we opened the doors to Chez K and welcomed them.  Wow..they are two of the most pleasant, mild-mannered, calming people we've ever had stay..or even known.  I could've sat and talked with them all morning around the breakfast table. I look forward to their return.

We were originally going to go to The Red Lion as I had a coupon AND I heard they were the Browns Backers club to go in Charlotte.  However, after reading reviews on Yelp.com (thank you Yelp!), it turns out they show the Browns games only sometimes..depending on who comes into the bar or if they are expecting Panthers fans.  There's nothing wrong with having the Panthers game on as well, but DO NOT Promote yourself as a Browns Backers organization.  Luckily I heard about Strike City at EpiCentre.  Uptown, posh bowling alley..really?  Well, they ARE the official OSU Buckeyes club in Charlotte so..let's give it a shot.  We rode the Light Rail and had a (always) delicious brunch at Mert's first to fill us up on a decent meal.

Then we walked over to EpiCentre and were amazed at the HUGE bar/bowling area.  There were so many screens (over 50?!) playing every game on.  Unfortunately where we were seated was not going to work out well for viewing the Browns game but, ahh, we'd make the best of it.  After I asked the waitress if there was a better way to see the game, she directed us to the BACK ROOM where we met all the other Browns fans in our own private room!  It was awesome!  AND, I asked the waitress if one of the TVs turned to another game could be switched to the Panthers and they happily obliged.  The bonus was every time the Browns scored, they came around with free shots for everyone lol!  Stephen and the Browns Backers at Strike City rock!  Highly recommended.  We had a blast.

Another full day.  We purchased advance $10 tickets to Olde Mecklenburg Brewery's inaugural Mecktoberfest.  Having never been there before, I had no idea what to expect.  I have to say, it was not very well organized or didn't have a whole lot to offer.  The $10 got you tokens to use towards food & beer.  3 kinds of beer offered, and some Brats, Pretzels and bagged chips was about the extent of the food.  Sat outside listening to Hunter's Travesty playing some nice covers had a couple of beers & a pretzel, then we decided to move on. 

Eventually ended up back in the NoDa area, deciding on Revolution Pizza since I'd never been there before.  I liked my self-designed pizza, as did Jeff & Terri.  Good dinner..now let's go visit Seth Glier.

I've been very interested in seeing Seth since Don brought him one of his CDs from a previous visit I missed.  I listened to the CD quite often over the last few months, and got in touch with Seth to keep up to date with his shows.  I was really glad to hear he was coming back, and equally grateful to my cousin that they agreed to stop in to see him at the Muse even though they were getting quite tired.

Turns out, they loved him almost as much as I did!  He was SO impressive, and I couldn't believe it when I heard he was only 20 years old.  OMG folks..here's another one to pay attention to.  He's on a "green" tour right now and is very comfortable and well spoken on stage.  Not to mention his lyrics and songs are so mature and extremely well written.  Yeah, I'm quite impressed.  You might be too...

Seth Glier on MySpace

Cousin Terri & Jeff arrived..SO good to have them here.  Terri & I grew up together and were best friends through thick and thin.  We may not keep in touch too often, but we're still as close as ever. Her husband Jeff is a perfect blend in this 2 couple combination.  We had a great weekend together:

Ryan Bingham - ROCKED the sold out Evening Muse.  WOW.  We only caught 2 songs but wished we caught the whole show.  Not sure he'll be able to come back to the Muse, but hopefully you were one of the lucky ones to see him in that small room.  Outstanding.

Griffin House moved the crowd with his gorgeous songs as he always does. 

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band then got the room on its feet.

Super nice evening back and forth with our good friends Lea & Michele & Heather and SO many others this evening.  Crazy times lol. 

Fresh in the middle of their tour opening for Regina Spektor, and having played Radio City Music Hall the night before, Jupiter One were ready to rock out for their ever-growing fan base in Charlotte.  The crowd ATE THEM UP..crowding to the front of the stage to dance and sing along.  Big Bang TV gained some fans opening up with their high energy show, too.   Chilled w/the guys at the house after the show.  They were pretty exhausted.  Relaxed on Friday around the house, watching the Traveling Wilburys documentary (a MUST see btw.)  K, Dave, Zac & Pat are 4 of the greatest guys and we love having them around.  Do go see them while you can.  They are gaining popularity by leaps and bounds these days.

Visually stunning, mildly entertaining. :-)

OH gosh...tons of fun in East Atlanta and Decatur w/Eliot and then Josh (The Brilliant Inventions).  And then the Aquarium on Monday morning...more to follow...

OUTSTANDING!  The whole event from beginning to end was amazing.  Leave it to Disney.  We waited in line for close to 2 hours, but it went by so friendly and effortlessly.  Everyone around was in good spirits and excited to be there.  It was well worth the wait.  The train cars housed the costumes, the art, behind the scenes footage, AND artifacts from the Charles Dickens Museum in London.  Then we were treated to a 10 minute, 3-D trailer for the upcoming film.  It's going to knock your socks off folks!!!

We then toured around the grounds and buildings to see the history of transportation in this country and it was .. better than I EVER expected.  We were blown away by all the carts, bikes, cars, trains, settings, views, walk-throughs.  I can't recommend touring this facility (for FREE) as soon as you can.  Amazing!











 

We had a nice 4 hour dinner w/drinks, eating appetizers, sushi, rolls, lamp lollipops and everything else we could!  Great night with 2 dear friends we rarely get to see.