Bands, naps and movies.

Good weekend. The Greatest American Heroes were way fun on Friday, as was Carousel Lounge. I now understand the Stella phenomenon. Go Stella - it's your birthday (but we'll pretend you stopped having them). I'd never seen GAH, but Jules said they had changed lead singers. The new guy had a good voice and lots of personality. He seemed to really be enjoying himself, which adds to the fun the audience has, I think. There was lots of dancing and crowd participation. All in all, a lot of fun and we'll have to go see them again!

There was an opening band on when Julia and I got there. They're called Blue Diamond Shine, and they're best described as alternative country - kind of in the Chris Isaak or Roy Orbison vein, though the lead singer, John Stark, isn't as strong of a singer as either of those. His voice has that unsteady quality that people seem to like, though, in that kind of music, so I guess it works. John approached Jules and I halfway through the Heroes set and asked if he could trade us a couple of Blue Diamond Shine CDs for some of the Captain Morgan's we had at our table. We, of course, said that sounded like a fair trade, and he hung out with us the rest of the evening. Nice guy. We'll have to make it out to some BDS gigs. I listened to the CD this weekend, and it's got some gems. Thanks, John!

Saturday I could not sleep in like I'd hoped to. I've been ruined by this getting up at 6 a.m. every day during the week. I can hardly ever sleep late now on the weekends. But I made up for it with a nice nap later that afternoon! If only we Americans would adopt the concept of siesta. I could live with a nap everyday around 2 or 3. Oh, and the European model of 6 weeks of vacation every year. I could live with that, too. Aside from my nap, Saturday was a nice day of watching movies, working out, puttering around the house (fighting the ants) and just generally taking it easy. I was in bed early that night, and happy about it.

Sunday was "Talladega Nights" at the Alamo! It was definitely funny, though some in our group were a little disappointed. They didn't think it was as funny as some of his previous stuff. Alamo played a bunch of Will Ferrell clips, though, before the movie that were hilarious - SNL skits and talk show appearances and the like. They played the cow bell skit - best ever. Gary Cole was too funny as Ricky's dad. That guy picks the best roles! He must have a great sense of humor. I first found Gary luv in the late 80s when he was in a TV show called "Midnight Caller." That was a serious show, but I got a big crush on him. When he started showing up in comedy roles in the 90s (Mike Brady in "The Brady Bunch Movie" was the first one where I saw him do comedy), I just found a whole new way to like him. "Uh, yeah...we're gonna need you to go ahead and come on in on Saturday, mkay?"

Hey...now that Treasure Hunters is over, what am I supposed to do on Monday nights?