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No band practice today as Jenn sliced her finger open at work (nothing too bad) so we decided to call it off so we both could rest. My resting consists of this (I also fixed a name on the giglist and added Saturday’s gig info to it) and basically just sitting around listening to music.
As I mentioned the other day, Julie’s best friends Jenny & Cherish came into town for a visit and their yearly “girlie jam”. They arrived Thursday afternoon (after some lame flight delays at DFW) and after walking around UNC campus a bit they met me after work and we headed to Top of the Hill. A pint each happened and then we proceeded down the street to Carolina Brewery for dinner. Dinner was great since they have their Spring menu out; their seasonal stuff is always the best. I was hoping to catch Don’s set at the Cave, but the timing didn’t work out right. At home we hung out and watched silly youtube videos all night (hooray for Benny Lava!).
Friday the three of them headed to Wilmington so I had the evening to myself. It was nice to just chill, diary-ize, catch up on Metalocalypse episodes and especially to practice as long as I wanted to.
While waiting for the girls on Saturday I ran some errands and did some mild cleaning for the party. The original intent was for to Protean Mean to have a “real” gig scheduled that night since J & C wanted to see us play, but that didn’t happen so we just had a house party and PM rocked it. Party attendees: Jenny, Cherish, me, Julie, Jenn, Eric, Brooke, Travis & Don (Lizzi was sick, unfortunately). Once everyone arrived and was settled in we crowded into the music room and Protean Mean entertained the guests. We played through our whole set, including a debut of U2’s One. That song was something we hadn’t practiced that much. I knew that Jenn “knew” it, so I suggested we play it a few days before. We pretty much learned our parts separately so when we played it for everyone it was the first time we’d really played it together. It wasn’t bad. I thought we did a decent version of it. Passable. Overall it was a really good gig. I thought we played well and I thought Jenn did a great job on her vocals and guitar playing. It was a nice and relaxed gig for us and since it was for only our friends we didn’t have to worry about any of the BS of “performing”. Everyone really loved it. Jenny was especially happy at our version of She Waits By the Sea as she’d seen it played many times in 3 Penny Opera.
Once the gig ended we caught the end of the Carolina/Kansas slaughter game before settling down for the rest of the night - where laughter was definitely the most common outburst. We all had a great time hanging out and enjoying all of the great cheese, wine, beer & cheesecake that was brought by everyone. A great night with some of my best friends in the world.
Sunday I got up relatively early and took Jenny to the airport. It was sad to see her go, but I know she wanted to get back to her young daughter. The rest of the day we just chilled and watched a few movies. We finally watched the Simpsons movie - overall it was good, not amazing, but clearly better that what they’ve been putting out the past few years. Dinner was spent at the Mellow Mushroom for some awesome pizza before I retired for the night (Julie and Cherish watched The Namesake, they said it was good).
Monday I took the first half of the day off and we hit Elmo’s for lunch/breakfast (I just LOVE their biscuits and gravy! Soooooo goooooood.) before I rolled into work and Julie took Cherish to the airport.
It was a really great weekend and I’m so glad that we had some friends visit from out of town. I really hope that some other friends will find their way out here (and not just stay in Texas all the time) for a visit. Julie and I get a couple weeks break before we host Julie’s parents in a few weeks. Following that, we head to Austin for Granny’s 95th birthday. I’m really excited for that.
Oop, there’s a yawn. I’m gonna head to bed now.
NP - (ipod with shuffle) Umphrey’s McGee > Alice in Chains > Journey > Zappa > Zappa > Poison > Stevie Ray Vaughan > Thievery Corporation > Lovemongers > Phish
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