Summer Days

So yeah, it's hot here. Every day. Really though, I've lived in this great state for quite a few decades now and this isn't far from the norm. Hot, humid as hell, no rain... welcome to Summer in the south. It hasn't kept me from my (sweaty) morning runs or going to the ballgames or the lake, all of which keep moving right along. We've been to the lake about every weekend for at least 1 day.


Indoors, I've got some good shows on the calendar coming up too. Tomorrow night is Sevendust with Adelitas Way and Seven Day Sonnet here in Little Rock. I'm not even sure what time this is for me seeing Sevendust, but I think around 6? Maybe 7. I love Sevendust. Looking foward to them once again. We've got tickets in hand for 2 upcoming Keith Urban shows as well, in Nashville and Jonesboro, both in August. In September we have tickets already to see Journey, Night Ranger and Foreigner over in Memphis. That's 3 of my very favorite "classic rock" bands, or whatever genre you put them in I guess. I have all of their new CDs and play them regularly so I'm not going to exactly say they're out of date for my tastes, although I spent many a night cruising dirt roads around my hometown while I was growing up listening to these 3.

Lots of good new music out lately. I've been spending a lot of time checking out the new CDs from Queensryche, Burn Halo, Theory of a Deadman, Pop Evil, Limp Bizkit, Bad Meets Evil and Egypt Central. So much good stuff out lately it's almost hard to keep up.

Upcoming road trips... I'll be in Jackson, MS in 2 weeks for Top of the Hops, yet another beer festival. Hey, I like beer, sue me. After that we'll have a long weekend in Nashville to start August and we'll end the month with a week in Galveston. Plenty of good beers to be found I'm sure. Here's what I look like when we find a good beer store on the travels where I can build my own six-pack (or 3):


Yeah, a kid in a candy store indeed. Replace the word "candy" with "beer" and replace the word "kid" with... well, you can just leave that word I guess. All of the great purchases pay off with beer tastings with my beer brethren coming over and also just smaller tastings like the other night when my lovely best beer buddy and I tried all 4 Tin Mill beers we'd picked up in Missouri with some cajun grilled shrimp and boudin sausage. Very nice evening. Our last big group tasting was this past Friday night. Check out this bad ass line-up:

* Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
* Dupont Bière de Miel (Biologique)
* Weston Brew Labs #1 IPA
* Weston Brew Labs Prototype Stout
* Southern Tier Iniquity Black Ale
* Dogfish Head Red & White
* Surly Bender
* Surly Coffee Bender
* Broederlijke Liefde
* Lakefront Bridge Burner
* Southern Tier Mokah

Yeah, that's a damn good tasting. Several new favorites there that I'll be seeking regularly, love the Surly Coffee Bender but especially that Southern Tier Mokah. Oh man, it's a big ole imperial stout that's chocolately sweet, creamy and smooth. One of my all-time favs I think. I'll let you know after I find about 5 or 6 more bottles.

And I have finally returned to the theaters after a long layoff! Yay me! I've been 2 weekends in a row actually to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I'm going to try to keep the momentum up and catch Captain America: The First Avenger this coming weekend and Cowboys and Aliens after that. Maybe I'm back in the groove?

That's about it in my world I guess. Cheers.