Party At The Grocery Store!

Being the wife of a gigging musician, especially one involved in as many different bands as my husband, there are many opportunities to go see him play. Sadly, I miss most of those due to my own hermit-issues and because I would have to make arrangements for someone to watch our child that late and our primary babysitter is my mother-in-law, who lives forty-five minutes away. Granted, I know she doesn't mind helping out from time to time (thank you super awesome wonderful MIL), but I hate asking her to make the drive out here just to hang out while the kiddo is sleeping and more often than not then have to drive back home ridiculously late (because she usually won't take us up on our offer to spend the night).

For special occasions of course, like the upcoming Holy Moly CD release show, I will definitely try to work things out. Baby Girl has a sleepover at Grandma's in the offing next month, for example. But not all of his gigs are the typical shows at bars or clubs that have no seating and don't start until ten or eleven or midnight.  So for the most part, I find myself looking for gigs at more family-friendly venues and at more reasonable hours to attend. When I can take Baby Girl along it has the added bonuses of her getting to see her daddy play, and it automatically gives me someone to talk to during the show--even if that someone doesn't really talk back (at least not in my language) yet.

Enter Central Market. If you are familiar with the place, you already know it's not your average grocery store. What you may not know is that throughout the spring and summer many of the stores often have live music on their patios in the evening. Usually this is to encourage people to come out for their various special events/cookouts or sponsored by local businesses and whatnot. Given the large number of groups that my husband plays with, he actually ends up playing quite a few Central Market gigs throughout the warm-weather seasons. Not all of them are at the Fort Worth store, but I have been trying to make it a habit to attend those that are, at least for the first set or first few songs, depending on the band's start time. Baby Girl and I head up there after her nap (sometimes ending naptime a little early), and we pick up dinner in the store (they have an excellent cafe area where you can get soup, salads, sandwiches, or many other pre-prepared meals that can be headed in their bay of microwaves and taken out to the patio to eat). Then we eat our meal and jam out to whichever group Hubby is playing with.

I know, I know, catching a show at the grocery store? It sounds crazy. But it is actually a total blast. They've got plenty of seating and if you get there early enough you can snag a seat in shade even. Behind the stage there is a pretty decent playground, too. I used to think that was really poor placement, but then I thought about it a little and realized it is actually perfect. All of the amps and speakers are aiming away from the kiddos, and their jubilant noises are behind the band and so covered up by music. Plus, this is a venue I can usually talk my best friends (Baby Girl's godparents) into visiting as well (like me, they prefer venues where you can actually sit down and shows that don't start technically the next morning). I've been known to take my current knitting or crochet project to these gigs as well (though usually not when I have Baby Girl with me). It's just all around good fun.

Last night Hubby had another one of these gigs, playing with a group he is in called Mills & Co. It was a great show, and the weather was extremely cooperative. Baby Girl danced in her chair for a bit and loved watching her daddy play, as always. I even sat with a whole table full of people I had never met before (other friends of the band) and managed to hold more than one intelligent conversation. I would definitely say a good time was had by all. Then we were all home by a little after seven-thirty and able to spend some quality family time watching The Adventures of Pete & Pete (Baby Girl's birthday present to Hubby earlier this week). A lovely evening all around.

She's been practicing her pouty faces of late.

That's a bit better.

Big ol' carton of fresh fruit for dinner!

Hubby doing his thing.

A man of many basses.

I can definitely think of worse ways to kick off a weekend!

Tuesday is Your Friend

Howdy, folks! 

Just a few quick reminders for you: 

There's a new episode of Stargate Universe on tonight! 

(Syfy @ 8 p.m. CST)

Caprica is finally back with new episodes right after Stargate!!

I will, of course, have my Stargate write-up for you tomorrow.  Speaking of Stargate, I found out today that there is a series of comic books out about the SG-1 character Vala Mal Doran (fabulously portrayed by Claudia Black).  It gives a glimpse into some of her back story, which, given that it's Vala, has got to be pretty interesting.  Geek With Curves did a write-up of the series here.  I so far have been able to stay away from the Stargate comic books (I know, I don't really know why either), but I think with this I might have to cave in.  It looks like the first four issues are out and a trade paperback collection of them is due out next month, so I went ahead and preordered it.  I will definitely let you know how it is. 

Speaking of Stargate reading material, I don't know if you are familiar with the Stargate novels that Fandemonium has been putting out, but they are mostly pretty fantastic.  They've got a pretty good batch of writers who are familiar enough with the shows and their mythology that usually each book feels just like its own stand alone episode.  There are a few hit or miss moments here or there sometimes--usually when someone doesn't get a character quite right or an author that is clearly much more familiar with SG-1 takes a stab at an Atlantis story and doesn't quite get all of the Pegasus nuances down.  But still, I highly recommend these books for anyone who misses SG-1 or Atlantis and is looking for new adventures of a better quality (or with less, um, monkey business) than fan fiction.  Which isn't to say I don't love me some Stargate fan fiction, but these are better, trust me. 

My only really big bone of contention with these books is that they have got some serious kinks going on in their marketing/distribution system.  See, in order to keep up enthusiasm in between book releases, they'll go ahead and announce new titles well before they have finished the publication process.  They'll even have them up for preorder on Amazon.  This is cool and all, except that when there are delays, you're sitting there waiting for your book that you preordered and it doesn't come for another month or three or twelve.  The SGA title Brimstone, for example, was initially slated to come out in March or May of 2008, and I preordered it on Amazon two days before its scheduled release date.  But apparently there was some sort of glitch in the approval process, and well, you know what, it still hasn't come out.  I tend to hop on Amazon once or twice a year and just preorder any of the new books that they have showing available--but after all of the delays from the last batch I swore to myself that I would never do that again.  I would just wait until each book was actually in stock to order it. But, I am kind of addicted to preordering, and also, apparently, a masochist.  So  after I finished the most recent stack of Stargate books in my reading pile, I went ahead and preordered all of the ones that were available to preorder.  Sigh.  So, when I got three emails today from Amazon telling me that there had been a delay in my order and that some items would be arriving later than originally expected, was I surprised?  Not really.  I can't even be mad about it any more, but still.  I wish they could get their act together, because honestly, that have a really good thing going. 

On the bright side, it isn't as if I don't have plenty to read while I wait for those to finally come out, do I?

Read us, Cori, please--before the dragon gets to us!

And that's just my pile of books to read.  And despite my attempts to whittle my way through it, it keeps getting bigger.  I keep saying, oh, no, I won't buy any more books, but really, how can you not buy more books if you're a bibliophile?  I am lucky that my husband is not only a patient man, but also an understanding one who happens to have the same problem.  Man, and those Outlander books?  When I get to those, I'm going to have to reread the first three in the series first anyway, because I haven't read them since the start of 2009, and I'll need to refresh my memory.  AND I'll have to take a break in whatever I am reading next month when the new Wheel of Time book comes out, because that is an immediate must-read, of course.  And I guess I shouldn't complain too much about the lack of Stargate books, because fourth and fifth down from the top on the right are actually two more Stargate books.  Hmm.  Time to stop complaining, Cori. 

Right, moving on.  So, it's Tuesday, yay!  That means a new webisode of The Guild, huzzah!  Sadly, it's the season finale, but that just means that Felicia Day and crew are hard at work on making a new season now, so I am trying to not be too sad about the end of season four.  It's not that hard, because today's episode was AWESOME.  Check it out here. 

There's also a new webisode of Legend of Neil.  For those of you unfamiliar with that series, it follows slacker Neil who is "magically" transported into the original The Legend of Zelda game.  It is not for the easily offended, but I for one find it extremely hilarious.  It manages to make fun of video games and video gamers in a loving way that you realize is really a tribute to us and an acknowledgment of how far video games have come since the original Zelda. The current season is actually the last--but I am okay with that.  I think American show makers have a lot to learn about just telling a story and ending it where appropriate, rather than stretching it out as long as possible.  I would rather have three outstanding seasons of this series than six or eight mediocre seasons.  You can check out the newest episode here.  Kill Link!


And, lastly, I shall close with...crochet!  Yay!  This past Saturday my husband and I attended the wedding of one of the guys he is in a band with (Holy Moly, they are awesome, check them out), and so of course I made the happy couple a blanket for their wedding present.  Instead of going with an actual blanket pattern this time, I went to my pattern book and picked out a cool stitch pattern and used that.  The stitch I picked out is called Diamond Mesh, and I would love to give you a link to it, but I can't, because my copy of the pattern is a photocopy from a pattern book and I don't know what pattern book it came from.  Boo me, I know.  But, here is what the stitch looks like:

Diamond Mesh

And here is the entire blanket:

Diamond Mesh Blanket by Cori (2010)

And that's all I've got for you.  Enjoy your Tuesdays!  Oh, and if you're looking for something to watch before Stargate and Caprica, there's a new episode of Glee on Fox.  It looks like they are doing their version of Only the Good Die Young, which is one of my top five favorite songs of all time, yay!