ahhh
Such a good weekend with amazing people...
Aubrey and Sierra came to visit me from Michigan and we kicked off the festivities on Thursday. We were going to head to the comedy club that just opened in downtown Naperville with some CCC folks, but didn't make it in time. We ended up going to Max and Erma's for din din, and then I drove them around a little bit, showing them some of the town. It's funny seeing people's reaction to downtown Naperville who aren't from around here. People just really enjoy it....and yet, I guess since I've lived here most of my life, I just don't see it in any special way. But I'm happy they liked it....Then we headed to rent a movie....picked up the Weather Man (which is billed as a comedy, but is kind of a depressing and awkward movie) and watched it before conking out for the night.
Friday, we decided to go walk around in downtown Naperville. Looked around in a couple stores, and then walked down the Riverwalk a ways....came back to hang out at Barnes and Noble for a while, and just chill...and then me and Aubs decided we wanted a Cookie Dough Creations creation. After that, just came back to the house, had Barone's for dinner, and then headed to Wheaton College for one of the best live performances I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing....
The Audition played a good set. It was especially weird seeing Danny (the lead singer) playing for so many people. The sound mix was terrible though...Then Lovedrug played. A very different sounding band. Very atmospheric if I had to describe it. They were good though.
Then Mae hit the stage. Amazing. For playing in a large chapel auditorium with poor acoustics, their mix and their sound was dead on perfect. You could hear every individual instrument, and that is so important for a band like Mae, since they have so much melodic stuff going on all at once from all the different guys. They played almost the entire Everglow album and played a lot of songs from Destination: Beautiful. Even played the jazzy jam one from Destination: B-sides. I saw a short set of them once this past summer at Warped Tour and got to hang out with them afterwards and chat....and they were so good then. But Friday night, they blew me away. Put on such a good performance and sounded so good. It's a bold statement, but they are the best live band I've ever seen, and probably my favorite band of all time. I know...that's huge. Love it. A multi-sensory aesthetic experience it was.
After Mae finished their 2 song encore, we headed out...and were greeted by a very drunk Lovedrug lead guitarist. He was wasted, and was hugging everybody and sad to say, was kind of making a fool of himself. Ah well. Funny stuff.
Came back from the concert and just crashed. Saturday, my other friend Jenny (who was visiting one of her friends at Olivet Nazarene) came back up here, and we all headed over to Wheaton College again to see Sierra's friend Austin at his lacrosse game. Stayed for a part of the game; they were winning 8-0 before the first quarter was even finished...so we headed to Potbelly's in Danada for lunch. Came back, met up with Austin and hung at Wheaton for a little bit. We were going to head into Chicago for the rest of the day, but nobody was really feeling it, so we just stuck around the area, and hung out. Sierra hung out with Austin for a little while, and I took Jenny and Aubs to the 6:30 service at the Yellow Box. And they got to meet Tim and Troy, which was cool too. They enjoyed the service, which was great.
After that, we headed to Braconi's for dinner. Had some good laughs, some hilarious quotes, some drawing on the paper tablemats, and some of the best stuffed pizza you can get around here. After that, just came back and hung out here....watched Brad and Meg's wedding DVD, and then headed to bed. Said our goodbyes then too, cuz I had to work early in the morning for the NNHS service and they had to leave early as well to get back on the road.
Had such a good time with them, and am already missing them a lot. Good times and great oldies.
And that's my weekend summary.
Now back to reality.
Aubrey and Sierra came to visit me from Michigan and we kicked off the festivities on Thursday. We were going to head to the comedy club that just opened in downtown Naperville with some CCC folks, but didn't make it in time. We ended up going to Max and Erma's for din din, and then I drove them around a little bit, showing them some of the town. It's funny seeing people's reaction to downtown Naperville who aren't from around here. People just really enjoy it....and yet, I guess since I've lived here most of my life, I just don't see it in any special way. But I'm happy they liked it....Then we headed to rent a movie....picked up the Weather Man (which is billed as a comedy, but is kind of a depressing and awkward movie) and watched it before conking out for the night.
Friday, we decided to go walk around in downtown Naperville. Looked around in a couple stores, and then walked down the Riverwalk a ways....came back to hang out at Barnes and Noble for a while, and just chill...and then me and Aubs decided we wanted a Cookie Dough Creations creation. After that, just came back to the house, had Barone's for dinner, and then headed to Wheaton College for one of the best live performances I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing....
The Audition played a good set. It was especially weird seeing Danny (the lead singer) playing for so many people. The sound mix was terrible though...Then Lovedrug played. A very different sounding band. Very atmospheric if I had to describe it. They were good though.
Then Mae hit the stage. Amazing. For playing in a large chapel auditorium with poor acoustics, their mix and their sound was dead on perfect. You could hear every individual instrument, and that is so important for a band like Mae, since they have so much melodic stuff going on all at once from all the different guys. They played almost the entire Everglow album and played a lot of songs from Destination: Beautiful. Even played the jazzy jam one from Destination: B-sides. I saw a short set of them once this past summer at Warped Tour and got to hang out with them afterwards and chat....and they were so good then. But Friday night, they blew me away. Put on such a good performance and sounded so good. It's a bold statement, but they are the best live band I've ever seen, and probably my favorite band of all time. I know...that's huge. Love it. A multi-sensory aesthetic experience it was.
After Mae finished their 2 song encore, we headed out...and were greeted by a very drunk Lovedrug lead guitarist. He was wasted, and was hugging everybody and sad to say, was kind of making a fool of himself. Ah well. Funny stuff.
Came back from the concert and just crashed. Saturday, my other friend Jenny (who was visiting one of her friends at Olivet Nazarene) came back up here, and we all headed over to Wheaton College again to see Sierra's friend Austin at his lacrosse game. Stayed for a part of the game; they were winning 8-0 before the first quarter was even finished...so we headed to Potbelly's in Danada for lunch. Came back, met up with Austin and hung at Wheaton for a little bit. We were going to head into Chicago for the rest of the day, but nobody was really feeling it, so we just stuck around the area, and hung out. Sierra hung out with Austin for a little while, and I took Jenny and Aubs to the 6:30 service at the Yellow Box. And they got to meet Tim and Troy, which was cool too. They enjoyed the service, which was great.
After that, we headed to Braconi's for dinner. Had some good laughs, some hilarious quotes, some drawing on the paper tablemats, and some of the best stuffed pizza you can get around here. After that, just came back and hung out here....watched Brad and Meg's wedding DVD, and then headed to bed. Said our goodbyes then too, cuz I had to work early in the morning for the NNHS service and they had to leave early as well to get back on the road.
Had such a good time with them, and am already missing them a lot. Good times and great oldies.
And that's my weekend summary.
Now back to reality.