Tuesday, December 18, 2007

And #21 for Newcastle United...

But as much as I like wreckless Camaro action, soccer has been making a comeback in my life. When I joined my first traveling team as a young boy, I was given a jersey with the #21 on the back that would stick with me for the rest of my career. Since our indoor team, Shepherd's Hook, got sponsored by B & L Sheet Metal & Roofing, I now have another #21 soccer jersey. Our team hasn't done that well, but my skills got me some recognition. It just so happened that a Newcastle United scout thought I could play some pro ball. Here's a picture of my debut in St. James Park, U.K. My mom will be able to confirm this because no one else gets so intense while playing that he always has his mouth wide open. Amazing. Our next game is on Sunday, December 23 at 2:00 P.M. on Greenwich Mean Time, which is about 9 A.M. Eastern Time. Check it out.

Posted by Lane at 23:06:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Snow Donuts


The snow has finally come. This is the time of year I'm really beginning to miss my Camaro. Most would remember the days of cruising by the beach with the T-tops down, but I reminisce of donuts in the parking lot of Jackson Elementary after first snow. There is definitely some invincibility complex left in me. But I'm especially saddened as my Accord has a donut on it as a result of the glass I ran over parking in front of Jade's place. But she and her roomies are now converted Losties so we'll have a little bit more to share over Christmas break, like Season 3.

Posted by Lane at 22:32:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday, December 15, 2007

aMAEzing!

It's not everyday that one of your favorite rock bands comes to a small venue in your town 3 minutes from your house. So Wednesday night when I found out that MAE was playing a show at Rhino's in an hour or so with some friends' band, I was psyched. It'd been a good while since I was at a rock show, and my air guitar skills were getting a little rusty, if that's possible.

I already had dinner plans at Fazoli's with my good friend Jon Gibson, who will be serving our country overseas in a short while, so I couldn't make it to see the first band. Second in the lineup was husband&wife, consisting of Mike Adams, Tim Felton, Will Rose, who I've met throughout my years in Bloomington, and another guy, Bryant Fox. I arrived mid-set and was able to enjoy their "Indie/Big Beat/Hard House" music, especially a song called "Class War". This was some very good stuff from a cool local band, and a great way to get ready for the Multisensory Aesthetic Experience I was about to have.

A little over a year ago I was able to see MAE perform The Everglow at The Metro in Chicago, which was a great concert based on their critically acclaimed sophomore album. With much anticipation awaiting their third full-length release, Singularity hit stores in mid-August. It didn't take me long to pick it up and rock out to songs like "Brink of Disaster", "Crazy 8's", and my personal favorite, "Just Let Go". Overall, it was a strong effort following a stellar masterpiece.

While husband&wife broke down their equipment my excitement grew. It's rare that you get to see such a good band in such a small venue with 75 in attendance.

The roadies finished their work, the lights dimmed, and crowd turned their attention to the stage. After leaving us in anticipation for a few minutes, MAE came out and opened up with Dave singing, "I, I had a dream. Just you and me. And it was all that I want it to be. And so much more cause we could soar. No gravitity to keep me on the floor..." This set the course of the rest of the concert, a rockin' dream with MAE, myself, and a few others. They rocked out with some tunes from all 4 records (one consisted of B-sides and acoustics), slowed things down with a few acoustic songs, and even took my request for "Someone Else's Arms" to finish off a great rock show. Okay, they probably already planned to end with that song, but I'm sure it helped their confidence that I was yelling for them to play it.

After the concert I got to talk with the band as they were hanging out with the crowd. During the concert Dave shared that "Just Let Go" is his favorite off the new album so I struck up a conversation with him in light of our common tastes. The whole band was very humble and cool to give us a show and talk with a bunch of kids that showed up at a last minute concert that filled the gap in their touring schedule. With my neck still sore and a bit of energy still lingering, I must say that I had the wonderful Multisensory Aesthetic Experience that is MAE.

Posted by Lane at 11:41:25 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Nightly News

It was 65 degrees in Bloomington today. At 9:00 P.M. That's right, nine o'clock in the evening on Tuesday, December 11th.  Simply amazing! It was one of those days that brings back all sorts of memories and feelings. I think days like today open us up in some way because they are so unusual. I mean, mid-60's in the middle of December. So in light of the wonderful weather I took my sister to a few special places of mine on the outskirts of Bloomington.  But if I share them with you they wouldn't be so meaningful to me.  Sorry.

In media news, the WGA is still on strike. Some of you might be asking what that means. Well, that means that the 16 episode Season 4 of LOST has been cut to only 8 episodes. The writers are on strike and rightly so. I totally support them, even if it means being left with a huge cliff-hanger at the end of March. Season 4 starts in February, which is the same month that Jack Johnson is releasing his long-awaited album, SLEEP THROUGH THE STATIC.
The record will be released on February 5th, two days before my birthday. Wasn't I born in such a sweet month? What's even better is that I won't have to wait until then to dig deeper into LOST. Season 3 was released on DVD today and is accordingly on my Christmas Wish List. No, seriously. My mom emailed yesterday asking for it again. How cool is my mom?

I'm excited to see some friends at home for Christmas break. But for tonight, I enjoyed the fellowship of Bloomingtonians. The white elephante party, yes, elephante, was a heartbreaker. After losing my chocolate-covered bacon to Bob, who is a Jew and bacon's not kosher, I picked up a half dozen packs of Mentident. However, I later lost the gum and obtained two plush stockings, a bundle of pencils, and a piece of limited edition Cinnamon Spiced Almond Ghirardelli chocolate. Not bad. But I used it to lure Jake in so that I could steal his wife's copy of Napoleaon Dynamite. This plan back fired as she took the stockings and such from Jake and he then made the final vote for Pedro. As for me, I took back my stockings and was finally safe from being looted.

Well, that's all the randomness I have for tonight. In some ways I think this sounded like the nightly news. I hit the weather, the media, the strike, and local events. This is Lane Bowman signing off.

Posted by Lane at 01:18:32 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |