The smoke from the wildfire in eastern North Carolina reached Raleigh this morning. I could smell it the moment I stepped outside. There’s a visible haze in the air, too.
As if the air here hasn’t been bad enough lately. Bah.
June 2008
I can hear you, can you hear me? R.E.M. visits Raleigh
Here’s your official MT.Net #remnc review:
It takes an exceptional band to drag me out to Walnut Creek Amphitheatre. With its $6 per-person parking fees, $11 beers, TicketMaster headaches, Gestapo-like security checks, and in-your-face advertisements, the place screams corporate rock. No matter if my seats are reserved or on the lawn I always feel a little dirty after a show there. Fortunately, R.E.M. is one band worth seeing.
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R.E.M.’s Raleigh set list
The band posted the set list from last night’s show. I love all the oldies that were played, especially Sitting Still, when Mitch Easter and Don Dixon joined in. Michael Stipe was just beaming at the end of that song.
Later tonight I’ll post more of my thoughts on the show.
#remnc
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Hey man, watch this!
My watch slid off my arm as I was biking to work this morning. Right there on the home stretch, too, where I was starting to feel light as a feather. I immediately fetched the bulk of it but the clasp couldn’t be found after two passes over the scene of the crime.
During last night’s show I felt the clasp working loose but simply put it back in place. Must have been all that clapping I did.
I hope this isn’t a sign of the kind of day to expect. At least it isn’t quite as hot today.
Update: I found the clasp! It was closer to the curb than I’d expected. I’d been going out to look on occasion today, hoping that the sun’s changing light angles would make it stand out. Sure enough it did.
The clasp is really no worse for the wear, surprisingly. A few extra scratches but nothing to worry about. It will be a good day after all.
Back from the R.E.M. show
I’m now back from the R.E.M. show and I have to say I enjoyed it. Its been a long time since I went to a concert and enjoyed every single band that played. The opening acts, The National and Modest Mouse, were awesome as was R.E.M. themselves.
#remnc
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R.E.M. at RDU
…or more correctly, R.E.M. plays Raleigh’s Walnut Creek-Hardee’s-Alltel-Time Warner Music Pavilion tonight.
I’m going to bring my camera to the show in the hopes I can get some pics, as the R.E.M. forum seems to encourage this. I called the Ampitheatre number and was told cameras weren’t allowed, but was finally told I could bring it and take my chances. We’ll see. The worst that can happen is I have to hike back to my car. No biggie.
Look for some blogging entries (appropriately tagged #remnc) afterward!
Cluster balloonist Jonathan Trappe drifts by
World-famous chair-balloonist Jonathan Trappe just checked into MT.Net and offered a quick report of his recent flight. He also provided a link to his website, where you’ll see the thorough preparation he put into his flight.
Thanks for stopping by, Jonathan, and congratulations!
Sunday’s fatal car wreck
Lee Wilson, Raleigh Fire Department’s semi-official photographer, just posted his photographs of the fatal Mustang accident that occurred at 2:30 Sunday morning near the bowling alley on Capital Boulevard. This is the accident where the driver was exceeding 105 MPH when his car left the road, hit a tree, and split in two.
I’m amazed that ANYONE walked away from that, but the odds are that all three might be alive if they’d been wearing seatbelts. That and if they were not driving 105 MPH.
Truman
I’ve become addicted to PBS’s American Experience series profiling the Presidents. Last night was the second part of their program on Harry Truman and it didn’t disappoint.
I knew of some of the important things Truman accomplished but the program really put them into perspective for me. Here was a guy who had been a farmer and a failed small businessman that was chosen to be Vice President. Less than three months later, he becomes President and has to pull himself up by the bootstraps as Roosevelt had basically ignored him.
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Easley’s fist bumps
Barack Obama made a visit to Raleigh yesterday, kicking off a nationwide series of talks on the economy. The Progressive Pulse blog taunted Mike Easley for jumping on the Obama bandwagon late. I don’t think we should be so tough on him, however. You see, Easley was on the Obama bandwagon all along.
See that fist bump in the photo above? As evidenced by this poor display of fist bumpiness, Easley knew that whatever candidate he threw his support behind in the primary would become instantly unhip, consequently dooming Hillary Clinton. Fortunately, Obama has plenty of extra hipness to make up for Easley’s deficit.
Brilliantly played, Governor!