New Year, new resolutions, blah blah...
Resolution 1: I'm back in the gym again. I went four times last week and am now planning to go at least three times this week. I have a lot of work to do - I'm basically back where I started when I first joined the gym in March '06 in terms of my fitness level and weight. However, I've proved I can do it before, I can do it again. I just need to stop taking such long breaks and basically suck it up and go, even when I don't feel like it. No more excuses.
Resolution 2: Blog more often. I have accounts here, at MySpace and my most recent addition, Facebook. But I've always liked LJ best for blogging purposes. It's more manageable, I can use an LJ client from my computer so I don't have to have the web page up in order to blog, and I have almost five years of blogging history here already (5 YEARS?!?!? EEK!!).
I have more resolutions but those concern work and training and all sorts of boring things that I have no doubt will send people to sleep.
So, for my first actual post of the year, I had started to write a review of 2007's concert highlights. That post is still in the works (most of my concert pictures are on the Mac at home) so look out for it over the next few says.
However, our first concert of 2008 was Hot Hot Heat and The Editors at Jannus Landing last Wednesday! These two fun bands and our newest cool bar discovery made for a great night out!
On Wednesday, Charles and I realised that we don't visit downtown St Pete nearly as much as we should. It's everything we'd want from a medium-sized city centre - cool bars, a nice selection of restaurants, and a great music venue that attracts up and coming bands that have made it big across the pond.
After a quick dinner at the Atlantic Bread Company (which is basically a Panera Bread) we headed to the Independent Bar to grab a quick beer before the concert. First thing I noticed was that it's very red and looks quite friendly. Trendy yet cozy. It also has one of the best beer selections I've ever seen in one bar. Seriously, if you love good beer, this place will be your heaven. If you like cheap domestics, then stay away. There's no Bud, no Miller, not even Heinekin or Stella. What they do have is a great selection of European and microbrews, on tap and in bottles. We took our spots at the bar, and I tucked into a nice big frothy mug of Hofbrau, followed by a mug of Golden Pheasant from Slovakia. Both were absolutely delicious.
Then it was time to head to the concert. It was my third visit out to Jannus Landing - my two previous concerts there had been Hard-Fi (which attracted maybe 200 people at the most) and VNV Nation (which was totally packed out). On Wednesday the crowd was somewhere in the middle - busy enough but not totally packed. We realized we'd spent too much time in the bar and had missed the first band, Louis XIV but we weren't too upset. Hot Hot Heat were probably 1/2 way into their very uptempo set. It became apparent that some of the crowd were there for Hot Hot Heat, quite a few left after their set was over. Drinking our $9 draught Grolsch, CHarles and I stayed towards the back of the crowd and soaked in the music. The Editors were very tight but not as energetic.
Since I don't know either band terribly well, I can't provide a detailed review, but I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. We finished it off with another drink at the Independent (a pilsner from Poland whose name escapes me) before heading back to the other side of the Bay.
Now we have a great incentive to make the trek over to St Pete a little more often. :)
*crossposted at http://www.myspace.com/tinalimey*
Resolution 2: Blog more often. I have accounts here, at MySpace and my most recent addition, Facebook. But I've always liked LJ best for blogging purposes. It's more manageable, I can use an LJ client from my computer so I don't have to have the web page up in order to blog, and I have almost five years of blogging history here already (5 YEARS?!?!? EEK!!).
I have more resolutions but those concern work and training and all sorts of boring things that I have no doubt will send people to sleep.
So, for my first actual post of the year, I had started to write a review of 2007's concert highlights. That post is still in the works (most of my concert pictures are on the Mac at home) so look out for it over the next few says.
However, our first concert of 2008 was Hot Hot Heat and The Editors at Jannus Landing last Wednesday! These two fun bands and our newest cool bar discovery made for a great night out!
On Wednesday, Charles and I realised that we don't visit downtown St Pete nearly as much as we should. It's everything we'd want from a medium-sized city centre - cool bars, a nice selection of restaurants, and a great music venue that attracts up and coming bands that have made it big across the pond.
After a quick dinner at the Atlantic Bread Company (which is basically a Panera Bread) we headed to the Independent Bar to grab a quick beer before the concert. First thing I noticed was that it's very red and looks quite friendly. Trendy yet cozy. It also has one of the best beer selections I've ever seen in one bar. Seriously, if you love good beer, this place will be your heaven. If you like cheap domestics, then stay away. There's no Bud, no Miller, not even Heinekin or Stella. What they do have is a great selection of European and microbrews, on tap and in bottles. We took our spots at the bar, and I tucked into a nice big frothy mug of Hofbrau, followed by a mug of Golden Pheasant from Slovakia. Both were absolutely delicious.
Then it was time to head to the concert. It was my third visit out to Jannus Landing - my two previous concerts there had been Hard-Fi (which attracted maybe 200 people at the most) and VNV Nation (which was totally packed out). On Wednesday the crowd was somewhere in the middle - busy enough but not totally packed. We realized we'd spent too much time in the bar and had missed the first band, Louis XIV but we weren't too upset. Hot Hot Heat were probably 1/2 way into their very uptempo set. It became apparent that some of the crowd were there for Hot Hot Heat, quite a few left after their set was over. Drinking our $9 draught Grolsch, CHarles and I stayed towards the back of the crowd and soaked in the music. The Editors were very tight but not as energetic.
Since I don't know either band terribly well, I can't provide a detailed review, but I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. We finished it off with another drink at the Independent (a pilsner from Poland whose name escapes me) before heading back to the other side of the Bay.
Now we have a great incentive to make the trek over to St Pete a little more often. :)
*crossposted at http://www.myspace.com/tinalimey*