Mynee's Musings

Chris Daughtry

We saw Chris Daughtry at the Peabody Opera House (fka Kiel Opera House) last Wednesday.  It was a great concert.  This is the second time we've seen him in concert not counting the American Idol concert back in 2006.  He really should have won American Idol but he seems to be doing just fine without the title so I'm sure he's over it...hee hee hee.

The last time we saw a concert at Peabody was over 25 years ago and it was called Kiel Opera House back then.  I didn't remember which group we saw but Bill said it was REO Speedwagon.  It was probably 1982 or 1983 I think.  Anyway, the place was really run down back then but they've done a lot of renovations and it really looks nice.

I have a card to share here on Friday.  Be sure to check back then.

Stevie Nicks Texas Weekend

We spent a 4-day weekend in Texas, August 11 through 14.  I'll give you three guesses as to why and the first two don't count...hee hee hee.  Yes, Stevie Nicks was in Dallas and Houston.  Since she wasn't stopping in St. Louis on her current tour, we had to travel to see her.  It worked out great because we took a long weekend and were able to see her twice.  We went to Dallas and Houston back in June 2007 to see Stevie in concert and we actually stayed at the same hotels this time; The Adolphus in Dallas and Hotel Icon in Houston.  You can click here to see a recap of the 2007 trip. 

We arrived in Dallas on Thursday, August 11, just before 11:00 and we were checked in to our hotel and on our way to lunch by noon.  We ate at City Tavern, yummy appetizer platter and a few brews.  We then walked to Dealey Plaza to take a few pictures.  We didn't visit the Six Floor Museum  since we had visited there last time.  We then stopped by the Old Red Museum as well as a few shops.  We had reservations at 6:00pm at Blue Mesa Grill which is a Tex-Mex restaurant.  We decided to skip the appetizers since they had brought us a huge basket of chips and salsa.  Bill had the ribs and I had three taco; chicken, shredded pork and salmon.  Believe it or not, the shredded pork was my favorite closely followed by the chicken.  We drove back to our hotel and took a cab to the Belmont Hotel so that we could go to Bar Belmont because I had heard that they have a great view of downtown Dallas.  We probably should have just drove there instead of taking a cab because the cab driver didn't know where he was going even though the guy at our hotel gave him the address.  Ugh.  I had checked the map and knew it wasn't far so after riding around for about 10 minutes, Bill asked him if he knew where he was going.  He mumbled something about getting lost but he knew where he was.  The area we were driving through had a lot of boarded-up buildings and grafiti.  We finally got to the hotel and the cab ride was over $20 but he asked us for just $10, probably because he knew that we would have argued with him.  The return ride was only $9.  Anyway, the view was really cool.  It was a little hazy so the picture isn't perfect...

 
        

On Friday, we ate breakfast at the hotel and then walked to the Dallas Aquarium.  There were more "non-water" animals than I would have expected, like this one...

 
 
When we were walking to the aquarium, we saw West End Pub so we decided to eat lunch there.  After lunch, we did a little shopping and walking and then went back to the hotel before heading to dinner.  We decided to eat at BJ's Brewery in Arlington and then drove to Grand Prairie for the concert. 

The concert was at the Verizon Amphitheater which is an indoor venue.  Since it was pretty hot, I was glad to be in doors.  Here's a list of the songs she sang in Dallas... 

1. Stand Back
2. Secret Love
3. Dreams
4. Sorcerer
5. Moonlight
6. Gold Dust Woman
7. Soldiers Angel
8. Annabel Lee
9. For What It's Worth
10. Rhiannon
11. Landslide
12. Ghosts Are Gone
13. Leather and Lace
14. Edge of Seventeen
15. Love Is (Encore)

Stevie talked quite a bit between songs.  After she sang Sorcerer, she asked the people in the front rows to stop filming her because it was distracting.  They must have listened to her because I didn't see anyone filming her after this.   

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Houston on Saturday morning and checked in to our hotel around 2:30.  We decided to walk down to Minute Maid Park (aka the juice box) because I wanted to take a few pictures even though I hate the Astros...hee hee hee.  We then drove to The Woodlands to eat dinner at Jasper's.  Oh my goodness, was it ever good.  The blue cheese potato chips were super yummy and the warm baked potato salad was sooooo good.  Bill thought I was goofy but I had to take a picture... 

 

Bill had the ribs which he said were excellent and I had the crab cakes which were equally as good.  The concert was at The Woodland Pavillion which was just about 1/2 mile from the restaurant.  The set list for the show in Houston was the same except she did not sing Sorcerer.  She also didn't talk as much between songs, I think because she was having voice issues (according to her).  Her singing still was great though.

After breakfast at the hotel on Sunday, we drove back to Dallas, stopping at Buc-ee's on the way.  They have fabulous bathrooms...hee hee hee!  It was a great trip.   

American Idol 2011 Tour

We went to the American Idol concert at Scottrade last night.  We've attended two other Idol concerts; one in 2006 and one in 2008.  The concert was great and everyone sang and danced really well.  They all appear to genuinely like each other too.   

Here's the set list...

Pia Toscano, Lauren Alaina, Thia Megia, Naima Adedapo, and Haley Reinhart – "Born This Way" (Lady Gaga)
Pia Toscano – "Empire State of Mind" (Jay-Z and Alicia Keys)
Pia Toscano and Stefano Langone – "California King Bed" by (Rihanna)
Paul McDonald – "Maggie May" (Rod Stewart)
Thia Megia – "Who Says" (Selena Gomez & the Scene)
Pia Toscano, Thia Megia, Haley Reinhart & Naima Adedapo – "Tightrope" (Janelle Monáe)
Stefano Langone – "Grenade" (Bruno Mars)
Stefano Langone and the Ladies of the Tour - "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" (Usher)
Stefano Langone, Paul McDonald, James Durbin, Jacob Lusk, Casey Abrams - "Animal" (Neon Trees)
Naima Adedapo – "On the Floor" (Jennifer Lopez)
Pia Toscano – "This Time" (Pia Toscano)
Lauren Alaina, Pia Toscano and Thia Megia – "Firework" (Katy Perry)
Casey Abrams – "Smooth" (Rob Thomas and Santana)
Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart – "Moanin'"
Casey Abrams – "Harder to Breathe" (Maroon 5)
All (Except Scotty McCreery) - "Forget You!" (Cee Lo Green)
INTERMISSION
Lauren Alaina - "Flat on the Floor" (Katrina Elam)
Lauren Alaina - "Like My Mother Does" (Kristy Lee Cook)
Lauren Alaina, Haley Reinhart, Stefano Langone, and Thia Megia — "If I Die Young" (The Band Perry)
James Durbin - "Sweet Child o' Mine" (Guns N' Roses)
James Durbin - "Uprising" (Muse)
Jacob Lusk — "Never Too Much" (Luther Vandross)
Jacob Lusk, Stefano Langone, Pia Toscano, Thia Megia - "You're All I Need to Get By" (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell)
Haley Reinhart — "The House of the Rising Sun" (Traditional)
Haley Reinhart — "Bennie and the Jets" (Elton John)
Scotty McCreery — "Your Man" by (Josh Turner)
Scotty McCreery — "Are You Going to Kiss Me Or Not" by (Thompson Square)
Scotty McCreery — "I Love You This Big" (Scotty McCreery)
Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina — "When You Say Nothing at All" (Keith Whitley)
Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Thia Megia, Pia Toscano and Haley Reinhart — "Gone" (Montgomery Gentry)
Group Medley – James & Lauren — "Here I Go Again" (Whitesnake), Paul, Haley & Casey — "Faithfully" (Journey), Stefano, Naima, Thia, & Jacob — "Walk This Way" (Aerosmith), all — "Any Way You Want It/Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin" (Journey)

My favorites are Scotty, Haley and James and I am planning to buy their CD's when they're released.  I might buy Naima's too, especially if it has songs similar in style to "On the Floor".  Oh my , that girl can dance!

We ate at Square One before the concert.  It's the start of Craft Beer week so we figured it was appropriate.  :)  We're planning to visit Six Row on Thursday when they tap their Peppered DIPA.

Yes, I know I promised to post cards last week but I never got around to it;  this week, I promise.  ;) 

 

Kid Rock

We saw Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Saturday.  We've seen Sheryl Crow several times before but this was our first Kid Rock concert and we really enjoyed it.  Although we did see a few kids in the audience, I definitely don't think it's "family' entertainment.  His language is a little, ok a lot, rough but the songs are great.  Here's the set list.

1. American Bad Ass
2. God Bless Saturday
3. You Never Met a **** Quite Like Me
4. Lowlife / Keep Your Hands to Yourself
5. Cocky
6. Slow My Roll
7. Detroit Rider / Cowboy / Lay it on me
8. Care
9. Somebody's Gotta Feel This / Fist of Rage / I Am the Bullgod / Forever / Sugar
10. Sugar
11. Flyin' High
12. Purple Sky
13. *** you one more time / Half your age / ***** Forty
14. So Hott
15. Love The One You're With
16. Picture
17. Instrument Jam / La Grange / Cat Scratch Fever
18. So Hott
19. Bawitdaba

Encore:

1. All Summer Long
2. Only God Knows Why
3. Born Free

Sheryl opened the show and sang the following songs:

1. Our Love Is Fading
2. A Change Would Do You Good
3. Steve McQueen
4. My Favorite Mistake
5. All I Wanna Do
6. If It Makes You Happy
7. Everyday Is A Winding Road
8. Soak Up The Sun
9. Peaceful Feeling
10. I Shall Believe

We ate dinner at Trailhead before the show.  They've added some new items to their menu, one of them being a bacon, lettuce tomato and avacado sandwich which was really tasty.  We each had a red ale and a brown ale.

It was very hot Saturday, 96 degrees with a heat index of 105.  It's been even hotter this week with temps of 100 and I'm sure that Friday night at the Muny will be steamy but we'll survive.  ;)

 

   

Chris Daughtry

We saw Chris Daughtry at Chaifetz Arena on Tuesday night.  We saw him on the American Idol tour in August of 2006 (you can my read my post here) and we've been waiting for him to return to St. Louis ever since.  Well, it was definitely worth the wait as the concert was great! 

We at dinner at Kota Grill before the concert.  It's a new restaurant on Grand directly across from the Fox Theater.  There is an outdoor patio and, since the weather was so nice, we decided to dine al fresco.  We started with the tortilla crusted pepperjack cheese and then Bill had the fish tacos with the smoked chili potato salad and I had the blackened tilapia and the andouille jambalaya.  The food was delicious and we will definitely dine there again.

Halloween and a Concert

We saw Rob Thomas in concert at the Fox on Halloween.  The entire band wore costumes; the guitar player was dressed as Slash, the drummer word a blond wig (not sure who he was supposed to be), the keyboard player was a surgeon, the two backup singers were a German barmaid and a cat, the bass player was a viking (complete with the helmut with the horns) and the other guitar player was a farmer.  Rob was dressed as a Thriller era Michael Jackson.  He wore a wig and THE red jacket, and a sparkly glove and socks.  Too funny.  During the 3rd or 4th song, Rob stopped singing and had some guy removed.  He apparently didn't like Rob's costume.  I'm not a fan of Michael Jackson the person, however, you can't deny that he was a talented musician. 

Anyway, here are the cards I made for Halloween (in order listed: Josh, Amanda, Sarah, Mom & Dad and Lisa & Randy):

  
  
  

Ingredients:

Ink - by @Stampin' Up 

Card stock - by @Stampin' Up

Images - by @Stampin' Up

Accessories- Top Note die and silver cord by Stampin' Up, rhinestones by Papertrey Ink, Cricut Cartridge 

In other news, I changed my mind and am rooting for the Phillies to win the World Series.  Well, not really but I figured that since every team I've rooted for during this series has lost, I'll root for the Phillies to ensure a Yankee victory...hee hee hee.  It seems to be working! 

 

No Doubt

We saw No Doubt at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater with Lisa and Randy last night.  The concert was great and I knew more songs than I thought I would.  Gwen Stefani's voice is amazing and oh my goodness, she's in such great shape.  Not many people could run around the stage for over 90 minutes while singing and then do 10 push-ups; guy push-ups, not girly push-ups. 

Bedouin Soundclash opened the show followed by Paramore.  I had never heard of either one of these groups before.  While I probably wouldn't buy their CD's, they were good, just not my style.  There were a lot of little kids (read 16 and under) who absolutely lost their minds when Paramore took the stage.  Oh my goodness...I felt so old, although the beer guy did card me and didn't card my baby sister!

Busy day tomorrow...St. Louis Bread Company, Fan Fest, City Garden, Blueberry Hill, Muny.  Stay tuned for deets.

Back From Nashville

We drove to Nashville on Thursday specifically to hear some wonderful music.  No, not country music.  Neither one of us likes country, especially the twangy stuff.  We actually went to see a Fleetwood Mac concert.  We left Thursday morning at about 8:00 and arrived in Nashville at 1:30.  Not bad considering we stopped twice for a bathroom break and a soda. 

We stayed at the Marriot Renaissance Hotel.  We checked in and then headed to Big River Grill & Brewing for a light lunch.  We had the asiago artichoke crab dip and crab cakes.  We also had a few brews.  Bill had the nut brown and the pilsner and I had the red ale and the maibock.  We then walked around and checked out the shops.  We headed back to the hotel to relax for an hour or so and then we drove to Blackstone Brewing.  I had the cajun pasta which was wonderful and Bill had the ribs which he said were the best he has had in a long time.  I had the IPA, Bill had the nut brown and then we both had a St. Charles Porter for dessert.  We then drove back to the hotel and walked to Big River again for an Iron Horse Stout which we enjoyed while sitting on their covered outdoor patio.  It was a little warm but there were ceiling fans plus a little bit of a breeze so it was very nice.

Yesterday morning, we ate breakfast at our hotel and then drove to the Grand Ole Opry.  As I mentioned, we are not fans of country music but I figured that since we were in Nashville, we had to visit the Grand Ole Opry.  We really enjoyed it.  We learned a lot about the history of the Opry and we were able to go backstage to see the dressing rooms as well as stand on the stage itself.  After the tour, we went to the Opryland Hotel to eat lunch at Cascades, a wonderful seafood restaurant.  We had the crab soup which was absolutely yummy.  I then had the blackened grouper sandwich with a wonderful Cajun roumalade with capers and roasted corn and Bill had the turkey club.  After lunch, we walked around and visited all of the little shops, stopping for ice cream at one point.  After shopping, we drove back to the hotel and relaxed in the hotel bar for about an hour, enjoying a local brew by Yazoo Brewing.  We then headed to Big River Grill & Brewing for dinner.  Since we had eaten a late lunch, we weren't extremely hungry so we ordered the Southwest Egg Rolls and salads; Bill had the Caesar and I had the Cobb...yummy!  I had a red ale and a nut brown and Bill had a nut brown ale.  We then walked to the Sommet Center for the concert.  Yes, it was the same concert that we saw here in St. Louis and then in Kansas City three days later.  My oldest niece said, "That's just silly."  Hee hee hee...yeah, I guess it is silly but it was a great concert and we really enjoyed it.  Afterward, we walked back to Big River for a final Iron Horse Stout.  

We were on the road this morning by about 7:45 am and we arrived home at 1:00 pm.  We had a great time but it's always nice to be back home.

 

Kansas City

We drove to Kansas City on Friday to see Fleetwood Mac at The Sprint Center which is right next to the Power & Light District.  The Power & Light District is an 8 block area of restaurants and bars...too cool.  I think this is exactly the type of thing that we need in St. Louis, perhaps in Ballpark Village.  You know, Ballpark Village; the remaining footprint of old Busch Stadium that was supposed to be finished by the All-Star Game in July.  Grrr...

We arrived in Kansas City at around 12:30pm on Friday, checked into the hotel (Hilton President) and then headed to the Power and Light District were we ate lunch at McFadden's.  We had coconut shrimp and southwest egg rolls along with a couple Boulevard brews.  Since the InBev takeover of Anheuser Busch, Boulevard is now the largest Missouri based brewer with Schlafly holding the distinction of the largest St. Louis brewer.  After lunch, we walked around a little and then headed to Boulevard Brewing for our 3:00pm brewery tour.   The brewery is just about 1 1/2 miles from downtown.  Friday is their "cleaning day" so they weren't actually brewing but we were able to walk through the entire brewery and the guide explained the brewing process.  We could smell the grains in the air, much like when I brew at home but on a much larger scale...hee hee hee.  We also saw the bottling line and then proceeded to the tasting room!  We're very familiar with their brews so we chose to taste the new ones that aren't available to the public such as Tank 7 and the Golden Ale.  I also had to have the Bully Porter which is one of my favorites.  Keep in mind these were just 3 oz pours, not full bottles!  We were still able to drive back to the hotel.  In keeping with the beer theme, we then ate dinner at Gordon Biersch.  We started with the artichokes and then I had the cajun pasta and Bill had the NY steak sandwich.  Oh yeah, we had a few beers too.  We then walked to the Spring Center and saw the concert.  Yes, it was the exact same concert we saw on Tuesday.  My 13 year old niece said, "That's dumb."  She cracks me up.  Also, when the waitress at Gordon Biersch found out that we specifically drove to Kansas City to see the same concert we had seen here 3 days earlier, she said, "Oh, you're one of those."  Hee hee hee...Anyway, after the concert, we had a few beers in the Power & Light District and then called it a night.

On Saturday, we drove to the Truman Library after breakfast.  Yes, I actually set foot inside.  Can you believe it?  I figured that in the spirit of bipartisanship, it was the least I could do.  Actually, it was very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Harry was from Missouri, you know, so he can't be all that bad.  His 125th birthday was Friday and they had a 125 foot long birthday cake for the visitors.  We each enjoyed a piece in honor of his birthday.  After the library, we ate lunch at Raglan Road which is an Irish pub in the Power & Light District.  Bill had the stout braised rib appetizer and salad and I had the Raglan burger.  We then headed to The Flying Saucerfor dessert...beer.  They have over 225 beers from around the world.  We then went to the hotel and relaxed for a little while before going back to The Power & Light District.  We ate dinner at Vinino where I had the Mediterranean pasta and Bill had a flat-bread margherita pizza.  We then headed back to The Flying Saucer for another beer.  Wow, it sounds like all we did was drink beer and eat...hee hee hee.

We drove back Sunday morning and were home around noon.  We really enjoyed Kansas City and are hoping to go back again soon.

  

Fleetwood Mac

We saw Fleetwood Mac at Scottrade Center Tuesday night.  It was over 2 1/2 hours of great music.  They sang many of their hits including Go Your Own Way, Dreams, Gypsy, Rhiannon, Gold Dust Woman, Tusk, etc.  They even sang "Stand Back" (Stevie solo song) and Go Insane (Lindsey solo song).  

We've seen Fleetwood Mac in concert numerous times, including 8 times during the summer of 2003 which we fondly refer to as "The Summer of Fleetwood Mac."  We saw them in Nashville, St. Paul (twice), San Antonio, Houston, St. Louis, Las Vegas, and Biloxi.  Now that I think of it, I've seen Fleetwood Mac more times than I've seen Captain & Tennille! 

We'll be seeing Fleetwood Mac two more times during this current tour.  Stay tuned!