spectacular tunes

On 7/25 Kirby and I saw Stanley Jordan at the Strathmore. I've seen Stanley a few times and am always amazed, but this time he went a step further. He played both guitar and piano at the same time. One hand on the guitar playing his tapping style, and the other on the piano. And its not as if he was playing the same thing, he was playing two different complementary parts. Then he would switch hands. The guy is unbelievable.

Then on 8/1 I found a ticket to the sold out world premier performance of the BSO playing the Dead Symphony # 6. I've got a few albums of orchestras playing Led Zepplin, The Doors, and Pink Floyd and was very excited to see this live. Being a world premier didn't hurt. The composer was there and lots of VIPs like Jerry Garcia's wife. A short description:

Dead Symphony No. 6—the No. 6 signifies that it is Johnson’s Sixth Symphony—dedicates separate movements to Grateful Dead hits "Saint Stephen," "Here Comes Sunshine," "Mountains of the Moon," "Blues for Allah," "Sugar Magnolia," "To Lay Me Down," "If I Had the World to Give," "Stella Blue," "Bird Songs" and "China Doll." The work also features a symphonic jam session during "Stella Blue.” In keeping with The Dead's performance style, Pro Video Group of Baltimore will recreate a psychedelic video display behind the orchestra during this performance.

VP no more :(

The prime contractor at work decided they wanted our mobile computing project and told us they are taking it over. They want me and the team of course because they have no one to do the work themselves. Officially its because Robie isn't around and they need someone with gray hair to run the program. But in reality we know that miss VP of Sales needs a technology project to attempt to sell her wares. So they killed my company and offered us jobs. We were damn close to being ready to pitch our own thing but we weren't fast enough. JPR Wood Consulting is no more. My current employer is Innovative Solutions Group (ISG).

RIP

Mid-Ohio 2008

Justin and I made our annual trip to Mid-Ohio this year to see the IRL, ALMS, World Challenge GT and Touring, and GT3 Cup. Good stuff! Kevin joined us this time. Unfortunately Justin's dad couldn't make it so we were rolling in style in the luxury RV. The weather was about perfect. The racing was exciting. We spoke with Randy Pobst as usual (Justin's wife's mother's cousin). King Rat had someone renting a SRT-4 and we touched base with them. It was nice to see the combined IRL series in person. Next year the IRL may not come back to Mid-Ohio with all the CART tracks competing for the series.

Pics & videos

Garnet ghost town

Tucked away in the mountains of Montana beyond the paved roads are the remnants of a mining town that people started populating in the 1800's. In 1912 a fire burnt down half the town and it was never rebuilt. It's now managed by the BLM. Robie and I tried to go there in February one year but we wisely turned around on the snow covered dirt roads. I had fun this time sliding around in my rental Legacy. Unfortunately I didn't have time for the short hike to the mine.

Pics & video

Fire on the Mountain

While in Missoula working on the thin client project with Don Winter of the National Park Service (Mt Rainier) we spotted a fire on the mountain. We left MTDC to go to the Lolo Creek Steak House and it was hard to miss the column of smoke. Apparently some boys set pages of a phone book on fire and the grass caught. It was pretty much contained by midnight of that day but was still smoldering for another day or so. We thought about asking if they needed us to deploy a thin client kit. Instead we added to the public gawking and drove as close as we could.

Pics & videos

summer lapse

So I pretty much took the summer off on posting updates. I'd like to give it another go and see if I can't keep up on it like I did the first few months. So unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I'm going to zip through the whole summer with a ton of short posts. I'll even do it in real time by back dating (cuz today is 9/13). Hope you enjoyed your summer as well...

Allagash and Dogfish Head in Missoula!

As I headed to a happenin’ downtown spot in good ol’ Missoula I came across a place that seemed to have a decent wine and beer selection so I stepped inside. It is quite a mix of crap in there. It appears to be a deli, perhaps a bakery, somewhat a grocer, with a decent wine selection, and holy crap do that have sweet beer. I’ve been going to Missoula for a few years now for work and what a bitch I haven’t found this place earlier. Not only do they have the best selection around of regional brews, but they also shocked me with a few familiars. They had bottles of Dogfish Head's Red & White, Black & Blue, and Chateau Jiahu! I have serious trouble finding Red & White on the east coast (Dogfish Head is a Delaware brewery for you non-beer geeks). I had no idea Dogfish Head distributed out to Montana. Not only that but it was a few dollars cheaper out here in the middle of nowhere than in DC! Of course I bought a bottle. They also had one Allagash bottle; the Interlude. Apparently it is the first in the oak aged series. I haven’t seen that around DC at all.

I’ll be stopping by Worden's at least once a visit to Missoula. Lots of new fine regional beers to sample.

I still love that Big Sky IPA though.