New Years Eve 2007/ New Years Day 2008

By sunrise, everyone was gone and I spent the day preparing for New Year's Eve, stocking up on some beer and some mixers, cleaning, and just relaxing. Which was just what I needed before the big night ahead.

When it was finally time to leave the house, I saw Matt through the window at Bleu Boheme, so I had to say hi and have one of his delicious vodka mojitos, which was the perfect drink to start my night. Poor Matt, however, was slammed while simultaneously being hit on by every guy at the bar, so I finished my drink and promised to come by again later.

After the drink, it was Ken Club time. The bar was packed because the band side wasn't open yet, but I made my way over there after procuring a drink, because Brett wanted me to take pics of the room. I've been saying how Bodie has been fixing up the bar lately. He started on the bar side with the floors and replacing the vinyl along the bar, a couple weeks ago he had new booths put in the band room, and he's working on the floors at the moment, but I was so stunned at how pretty the room looked since over the prior week, he'd painted it a warm shade of red. I got to taking pics right away.

The bar was still a little too crowded, so a friend and I decided to go back to Bleu Boheme for another drink there. I guess the time was passing faster than I thought. I didn't realize we'd take so long, so I'm sorry we ended up missing Get Back Loretta entirely. Vitro had canceled because the drummer was stuck in a midwest snowstorm, so we arrived in time to see Microphone Mike who pretty much kicks ass on stage, schtick or not.






I didn't bust out the camera too much during the show, but there was a lovely midnight toast, then Transfer hit the stage and brought it down. I thought it was funny how many people were racing to be somewhere else after midnight, like there was this frenzy to get somewhere better. I, on the other hand, was exactly where I wanted to be.

Transfer played pretty much right up until last call, and afterward the band and a bunch of friends came over to my cozy apartment where we drank for a bit. Then everyone headed off to Black Box, but I opted to stay home. Todd came over from the bar as everyone was leaving and we chilled out for a bit watching tv. He had to work at the bar in the morning, so we crashed out and he was off to work a few hours later. The result of my late night was a chill out day. I woke up early and cleaned up the house a bit, then crawled right back into bed.

Later, my parents picked me up and we went to PB to hang with my sis and bro, and of course, Johanna, who was all giggles. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the end of one great year and to start off another.

Happy New Year, Party People

Thursday: Bleu Boheme, Bluefoot, Casbah, Pink Elephant

Thursday night when I got home after the casino, and after finishing off the day at work, my car died. Not completely, but it was overheating, so I had to deal with it. By the time that was taken care of, Adam was on his way since we'd made plans to go to dinner at Bleu Bohome before going out.

Dinner was perfect; I'm really liking that place a lot. Matt, from Emery Byrd, is a bartender there and made some killer drinks. One was like a mojito but with vodka instead of rum, and the other was like a capirinha but the sweetness was offset with fresh lime juice. They were delicious. Dinner was excellent as well.

From there, we went to Bluefoot to get our Christmas compilation CDs. If anyone didn't get a copy, let me know. It's so good and I'm so impressed how Peter worked to pull it all together. Hopefully they can pull it off again next year and get even more contributors. I like the traditional Christmas covers, but am especially into the originals by Drew Andrews, The Soft Places, Dr Robert Kent and Microphone Mike are all definitely making it on my Christmas mixes in the future.

After that we went to the Casbah and caught about half of Reeve Oliver's set though I didn't pull out the camera at all. Then when they finished, we were off to Pink Elephant. A long night, for sure, but a nice way to ease into the weekend...Friday was a half day at work, so I had my projects to focus on but when there were done, it was into the weekend, kicking off with a glass of champagne with my coworkers.

Saturday Recap Pt. 1: John Vanderslice, Bleu Boheme

Saturday I opted to not head with my parents to PB for a day with Johanna because there was no telling how long we'd be there and I didn't really wanna sit at my sister's watching baseball all day. Or fighting over who gets to hold the baby. Instead, I chilled around the house and went to John Vanderslice's in-store performance at m-Theory. I find the weekend in-stores to be 2-3 times more crowded than weeknights, and since this was his only performance in SD (though he'll be at the Casbah in September), there were a lot of people there. I wasn't even sure if I was a fan, but after reading Northwest Blog I am glad I went. He is not only a great vocalist, kinda reminding me of the Decemberists, but he was funny and cordial throughout the set. He saw how packed the place was and kept inviting people forward, asking that people come sit up front and whatnot. In between songs, he had some DVDs that Erik had given him to give away to the crowd. It was funny hearing him sell "Border Cop", starring Telly Savalas, all the while reading the copy on the back of the DVD with false enthusiasm that had the room cracking up.





He played a full set. He forgot the words of a song and at one point asked for a teleprompter. "No really, can someone head to Best Buy and get me one? I don't know how many YouTube videos are out there of me forgetting my own lyrics, but I know its...a lot" Nobody in the crowd seemed to mind.





After the show he invited people to come talk to him and to have him sign stuff. I was outside hanging with Daye and Larry then decided I would find whoever got the setlist and see if I could take a picture, and surprisingly, it was still sitting there on the floor, and he was happy to sign it for me.


John Vanderslice Setlist, M-Theory, 8/4/07

After, I was gonna head home, but was waiting for Scott and Sophie to get out of their movie, so instead I hung out with Larry and Daye for a beer and some chips and salsa at Jimmy Carter's. Their salsa is excellent, if you haven't been, I highly recommend it. They finally called, so I headed back to Kensington. They had stalled at a bookstore and bought a lot of used books so they got to my house through the front gate at the same time I got there through the back.

They wanted to treat me to a celebratory unemployment dinner and since Sophie is French and spent many summers there growing up, and since we're always down to try new restaurants, it worked out well.

We got there at 4:45 and were told the restaurant opens at 5, so we sat at a table on the patio until it hit 5 and finally they came and offered us beverages. It was a little weird to me...yeah, they had to get stuff ready, but seems like 15 minutes wouldn't have killed them to get us drinks. Oh well. It was nice to sit on the patio for dinner, as Sophie mentioned, it seems San Diego should have a lot more patio seating than we do. Plus, it faces east, so there was no harsh light from the sun setting in the west.

When we did get to ordering, I was more than happy with all courses of my food. We had a charcouterie plate with some prociutto, pate, salami, etc., they both had salads while I opted for the french onion soup (so good!), and I took some dinner pictures...


Sophie had chicken roasted in a clay bowl, Scott had the Salmon over potatoes and ratatouille cooked in parchment, and I had the black mussels in a saffron broth. My mussels were delicious and they gave me so many of them. Yum. For dessert, Scott and I each ordered the Mousse au chocolat (which was simultaneously light and rich) and Sophie had the apple tart with creme fraiche. All in all, I would recommend Bleu Boheme as any kinks in service
will likely be worked out in time.

I'm more of a late night dinner person, but it was nice to have it all early and still have time to pre-nap before going out on Saturday night. Big thanks again to Scott and Sophie for the great dinner. It had been too long since we'd hung out outside of a bar.