bourbon's bday bash, currently nameless reunion, 3/1/08, middle earth, bradford, vt

last year the bourbon cowboy sent out a save the date for his 50th birthday blowout bash. then last month he changed the date to 3/1. :) one of his goals was to get a band we all used to go see in burlington, currently nameless, back together for a reunion. the band had played their last show in 2002 and bourbon wanted a special birthday present this year. so, currently nameless got back together, rehearsed, and played their first live show in 6 years at the bourbon cowboy's birthday bash.

oh yeah, and from friday night to saturday morning the northeast was subject to a winter "storm". and mr. kevin cahill's surprise party was on friday night-> i couldn't leave til saturday. so, saturday morning i went onto noaa.gov and tracked the forecast hour-by-hour between here at bradford and tried to figure out the perfect time to leave: it was supposed to stop snowing there around 6pm and the show started at 8pm. okay, so i was pretty much fucked... but most of the drive was awesome and quick, it got dark towards the end of massachusetts, and after brattleboro it started snowing again in squalls and the wind was blowing the snowbanks over the road which is always fun in the dark. oh, did i mention the frost heaves? i've never seen/felt them so bad. for you flatlanders, here is a description of a frost heave: http://www.vermontfrostheaves.com/article/view/9039/1/1291/ - i'm talking about the pavement ones which are not to be confused with the basketball team- who also claim to be a "bump in (the) road". anyways, they were rough on 91.

i pulled up to middle earth and had to change into my hiking boots before heading into the show (late) and catching the last 1 1/2 songs of the social club orchestra's set (bourbon was rockin' it out in one of his 14 bands). i saw eric d., reg, kathi, and josh keller! with long, flowing, beautiful rock n' roll locks! drew price, sara, bill, amy ligay, leeeza, cajun jim, mojo mark, bourbon cowboy! crazy. it was really awesome to see everyone again. i feel like between the nameless and the seapods shows i got to see soooo many people i haven't seen in years. totally awesome! oh and the birthday cake said, "happy birthday dave". who the fuck is dave? dave's not here, man.

annnnd nameless hit the stage 15 minutes early. they played 3 sets. i didn't keep a setlist and i haven't found any online yet... they played some old, some new (seriously) songs, some songs they forgot the words to, and actually... they ran out of songs that they still knew and could play, or else they might have played longer perhaps. someday i, stain resistant man, starbelly groove, st. alia, onion, ocheh, pickel barrel (kind of), you know and love all of these!
listen to some nameless: http://cdbaby.com/cd/nameless

they sounded amazing- really, music to my ears. i had forgotten how awesome they are. white soul with a 5 part harmony. funkalicious blues rock. spectacular! hard to believe they haven't played together in 6 years (okay, they practiced a little).

the band decided it would be silly to rehearse so much and only play one gig, so they'll be doing a handful of shows at some point soon, stay tuned to their myspace page for the info: http://www.myspace.com/therealcurrentlynameless

i was bourbon's designated driver for the evening, so you can imagine how fun that car ride was in the dark with icy/snowy roads and bourbon cowboy on the passenger side screaming, "HOLY FUCK IS THAT A DEER????" every 5 seconds.

the next day i headed up to stowe with sara... it was slightly windy and very cold and by the time we got up there in the afternoon there was a lot of ice forming taboot. oh yeah, northeast skiing, i had forgotten... :-P the snow supposedly has been great this year up in vt though, so i might have to go back after their next storm. i got to meet sara's kid, who has a fondness for beer and JAZZ HANDS! then saw my brother and sis-in-law who brought some juniors over to matt and amy's where i was staying, which is a frickin' awesome house in the middle of the woods (and cat-free). so cool. oh, their kid noah also seems to enjoy JAZZ HANDS!

hit burlington in the morning for breakfast with my sister in law and ate at magnolia bistro, vermont's first green certified restaurant. the menu was pretty awesome. i had the banana bread french toast. the bread itself was slightly drier than i would have hoped for, but still good. the coffee was awesome- vermont coffee co.'s mexican blend (i went to city market and bought some before taking off- holy fuck is this stuff good). and i drank way too much of it. colleen had 1 lemon and ricotta pancake and 1 coconut oatmeal pancake. the lemon one was interesting, very light, the lemon taste was almost so pure it had hints of garlic- i thought it'd be a little sweeter, it had a crepe-like texture. so weird. the oatmeal coconut pancake was definitely good. i might try the lime waffle in the future or maybe go crazy and not have a breakfast food at all (wild!).

oh, and i also hit the bern gallery. HA!

here are some pics of the weekend:

bourbon's bday weekend adventure