Pink House

SLO Trip - Concert at Downtown Brew

Continuing from my last post about our trip to central coast California a few weeks ago:

Chase McBride of San Luis Obispo
playing his vintage Martin guitar on stage at Downtown Brew

Saturday evening Sean drove from San Francisco down to meet us in Paso Robles and then we all five drove down to SLO to have dinner and see Chase's band in concert. It was a fun evening.

We ate dinner on an outdoor patio at Firestone Grill in SLO, a casual eatery that is popular with the Cal Poly students. Good sandwiches (tri-tip is the house specialty) and onion rings. That kind of place. A good sampling of SLO.

From there we walked down a few blocks to Downtown Brew which was hosting the Showcase concert for the SLO New Times Music Awards. We met the owners of the DB, which have befriended Chase and were very friendly. They said they consider him "part of the DB family" now. Then we went in and found all the tables and chairs to be taken - so standing room only for us. There were six groups playing in the showcase and the Chase McBride band was second to last.

They did a great job and were followed by the Damon Castillo band which is also great. It was fun to meet the guys, see the young college-age fans (those who were still around in the summer), and hear the bands play. Chase, Austin the bassist, and Jonathan the drummer, did a great job. We met the parents of the other band members also. It was really great to hear some of the band's new songs which had a livelier sound than their first EP. They're hoping to begin recording their second CD this fall. I really like the new tunes.

When it came time for the awards announcement at the end of the evening, Chase's band won "Best Solo Artist" as selected by the judges, and the Damon Castillo band won "Best Band" as selected by the judges. They both won a package of prizes including brand new electric guitars, recording time at a studio, and other merchandise. Chase's band also won 2nd place in the "People's Choice" category which had been an online vote system on the local newspaper's website for the previous month. We were glad that we could be there for the evening.

It's was a bit surreal to remember moving Chase into his freshman dorm at Cal Poly just two summers ago, when he didn't know a single person there. And now, to be at one of his concerts, where he wins "People's Choice" award and gets to play at Downtown Brew (the top live-music bar in SLO). He's come a long way in just two years of college life in SLO. We're proud that he can balance his college program, have a social life, as well as continue to write music, rehearse and perform, as well as manage his music career. We met some of his friends as well as several of the kids who help sell his merch at his concerts, help him book shows, record and take photos at his concerts etc. We got to meet one gal has worked tirelessly to help promote his music for the last year. Just two years ago, Kev, and Chase, and I had walked around downtown, checking out Chase's new town the night before he started freshman orientation. Now he's definitely part of the community.

At the end of the night, the guys packed up with help from friends and went out with the band to celebrate, while us old folks drove back up to the comfort of our hotel at Paso Robles for the night. More fun tomorrow!

By the way - I've received some emails asking about Chase's music. Yes! he does have out a CD (his first EP) called "From the Mountains to the Sea". It is available on both iTunes and on Amazon as mp3 downloads. Just put "Chase McBride" into the search box on those sites and you will find it. If you're in Billings, we have some hard copies of the CD at our house - just give me a call and I'll get one to you.

It's been fun to run into Billings people in the past few weeks and have them tell us that their kids are playing Chase's CD "all the time" at their houses. Parents of Chase's high school friends, old teachers, even the doctor that I went to recently, all tell us that they're hearing Chase's music at their houses and love the sound! Apparently the kids in Billings West High Meistersingers (the choir Chase sang in in high school) are passing his music around this year as I heard from a parent at the grocery store. Fun!

Paso Robles - Wineries Galore

When our friends headed to San Luis Obispo (hereto further known as SLO) for the concert a couple of weeks ago, we also planned a day to visit some wineries in the Paso Robles area just 30 minutes north of SLO on Hwy 101. K and I have been here several times, exploring the back roads and tiny boutique-type wineries, but this time we had some friends to share it with which, of course, made it even more fun.

For those of you who have dreamed about going to Napa Valley area, I challenge you to try Paso Robles area instead. There are over 230 wineries in a small area that surrounds Hwy 101 in the Central Coast of California. There's the west side (prob my favorite) and the east side. There's the big guys and the small one-man operations too. Where else could you talk for an hour with the owner-winemaker-grape grower-bottle washer himself while you sampled his creations? Certainly not in Napa Valley. We've been there, done that, and didn't care for it. Giant tasting rooms with crowds elbowing each other to get a space at the bar, which are served by disinterested people who know nothing about what they're pouring. Paso Robles is a much different, personal, and adventurous experience! We compare Napa Valley touring to being in Disneyland on a very crowded day, while Paso Robles touring is like being on an exciting-and-laid-back-at-the-same-time adventure through the country backroads.

Anywhos. We spent Saturday, while Chase and his band were rehearsing for their concert, visiting a few of our favorite places so that Dave and Sara could see what we're so excited about. We started at Jada on the westside. Seriously awesome place with FRIENDLY servers and you get gourmet cheese courses with each sample. We were there, when they opened the gates at 10 a.m. I know. Embarrassing, except we had so many places to go and so little time. These winery tasting rooms are only open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a tasting room license. So, counting driving time and lunch, you have to plan your route carefully.

And then there was Denner right next door. With their fancy new building, it would have been hard to drive right past it. So we went on it and checked out their beautiful new patio, garden, and picnic area. Gorgeous! Some places you want to visit because of the wine itself, others because of their beautiful buildings and gardens, others because of their lovely and unique setting, others because of their special tours. They each have something unique to offer.

From there it was off to Cass on the east side - quite a drive through winding roads, but worth getting there. We sat on the patio there where we were served  a gourmet lunch while we sampled. A relaxing break overlooking their vineyards.

From Cass we drove even further out east, until we finally arrive at Chateau Margene, which is actually a family farm/vineyard. Here, owner and winemaker, Mike Mooney, works his precise magic from planting, growing, irrigated, and then harvesting, pressing, blending, and aging to create really special wines under his own label. Kev has wanted to visit here for 3 years and finally made it. The tasting room is nothing special - a tiny square. But it's all about the wine. And pouring samples behind the counter was Mike himself, and so Kev and Dave got to chat with him...in detail...about the wine-making process.

After that we were all too pooped to go further. (Calcareous was on our list just to see the amazing VIEW from the hilltop location on the westside!)  But instead we headed back to the hotel to rest up for Chase's concert that night. Bottles were carefully transported in coolers and then kept in our hotel rooms. No hot cars for them.

More about SLO, the concert, the beach, and Justin tomorrow!

How to Road Trip 101

Finally, I'm getting around to posting a bit about our trip to California last week. Been busier than usual with family visits, class homework, work for students, errands and tasks. About to begin a busy weekend too.

HOW TO ROAD TRIP 101

1) Consult a Map

 

This is just about my favorite photo from the entire road trip! We had a bad case of dueling navigator systems, as you can see! This was in the Sacramento area where we were unfortunate to hit about 4 pm on a Friday. Kevin had on our Tahoe navigator system which just shows basically "the way to go" and has a female voice call out instructions. The ultimate back-seat driver! Dave, on the other hand, brought his fancy dance hand-held Gramin which offered the options of "fastest, shortest, and most direct" routes on any given area. All across Nevada there were NO choices. But once we got into Northern California, his system offered lots of choices.

I, on the other and better hand, had Google Maps loaded on my Blackberry, and once I clicked on the "Traffic" option, MY navigator showed which route was showing the fastest moving TRAFFIC FLOW. It had red routes (totally stopped), yellow routes (slow going), and green routes (clear sailing). So, in my opinion, my navigator system trumped their's. Of course. I'm sure the satellites were going crazy for how many GPS signals were going in and out of our car.

2) Stop to Enjoy the Scenery Along the Way

We were lucky enough to be able to overnight in Twin Falls, Idaho at Kevin's brother's house. Who can object to a view like this? After driving through Montana, Idaho, and faced with the mind-numbing challenge of driving across Nevada the following day, it was a relief to be able to stay overnight in such a lovely setting. The Snake River Canyon overlooking Blue Lakes Country Club.

3) Stock Up on Nutritional Snacks

Since we'd been so good driving in the car and behaved ourselves all day long, we rewarded ourselves by going out for a nice dinner at Blue Lakes Country Club. And even had the most-butter-rich-Bananas Foster-known-to-man for dessert. We had to fortify ourselves for the extra lllllooooonnnnnggg drive through Nevada the following day.

4) Bring some Entertainment to Keep Yourself Alert

Our good friends, Dave and Sara, agreed (or rather asked) to come along with us. This made the trip so much more FUN than if just Kevin and I would have gone alone. I would definitely recommend bringing along some fun friends to keep things light when the road gets long. They did a great job of this too. Even Dave. :)

Actually Sara and I watched an entire Showtime mini-series on DVD on the DVR player in the back of the Tahoe while the guys drove for 42 of the 44 hours in the car. The Tudors was kind of a naughty, but it did indeed keep us entertained. But since it was also historical, based on the life of Henry the 8th, I considered it "educational" too. The guys in the front seat had a good time listening to the commentary and warnings that I would call out from time to time. "No! Stop! Get him out! He's stuck!" Don't even go there.

5) Stop for Recreational Breaks Along the Way

Unfortunately, we didn't do this enough and Kevin's back ended up going out big time after spending 44 hours in the sitting position of a Tahoe seat over the course of six days. Oh well, next time we'll bring the golf clubs and spend more time at courses along the way. That will make the trip even more bearable.

That's it for road trip instructions! More on winery touring in a couple of days!

Chase McBride Band wins awards!

Aaahh! I really have too much to do right now. Catching up from our short vacation, finishing up some work for clients, study homework for the class I'm taking, and cleaning up the house for my mom's visit. I'm going to pick up my mom from the airport in just a couple of hours. But in the meantime...

The main reason we took a quick road trip to California last week was to see Chase perform in an awards concert. The SLO New Times Music Awards sponsors an annual competition for local music and then hosts a concert with the top six musicians (3 bands and 3 solo artists) to perform at Downtown Brew in SLO. At the end of the concert they announce the winners of the Reader's Choice awards and the "Best Band" and "Best Solo Artist" which are selected by judges.

The concert was fun - Chase performed for 30 minutes with his drummer and bassist. I really liked some of the new songs - a bit more upbeat.

 Chase won 1st place for best new Solo Artist!

And they won 2nd place in the Reader's Choice awards!

It was fun. Check out Chase's band page and mySpace music page by googling "Chase McBride". Easy. We got to meet some of the people who are involved in helping promote his band, sell his merch, host concerts etc.

And Chase won a brand new guitar!

A fun night - more on the rest of the trip later. Gotta go.

 

Summer Road Trip!

What summer would be complete without some sort of road trip?

Tomorrow morning bright and early, we're hitting the road with another couple, heading to California. The main purpose is to attend an awards concert that our younger son, Chase, is performing in, but we also intend to have a little fun along the way.

We'll be hanging out at Pismo Beach, seeing the concert in San Luis Obispo, and visiting a few wineries in Paso Robles.

For the stuck-in-the-car portion of the trip (four long days worth) we've got movies to watch on the DVD player, books on my Kindle, FM Radio to listen to, I-pods with music, playing cards, and perhaps I'll throw in knitting project. Still, four people in the car is more interesting than two people in the car. The bad part is driving across...Nevada. Blahsville.

I will be taking photos and report back here when I return. Lots of prep and packing today.

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And also, just to keep you occupied whilst I'm away:

I LOVE reading a few good cooking/dining blogs and especially those centered in Seattle and Portland. This week I discovered a new one, Wright's Eats, a young couple from Seattle, and to my delight they posted an incredible entry about a weekend in Portland, sampling some of the best food around. It's so awesome with great photos too! check it out here: Portland Food Rampage

Another Summer Quilt: "Concert in the Park"

Even though I made this quilt about 3 or 4 years ago, I had never photographed it or blogged about it (when I had my original blog 3 or 4 years ago). So, since I received so many nice emails and comments from readers when I posted about my new summer quilt a month or so ago, I decided to go ahead and post some more quilt photos.

 

Does that photo make you dizzy because it's at an angle? Sorry! Here's another one just in case:

As you can see, this is a simple log cabin, made with wide strips (cut 2 1/2") and the center square is 3 1/2" cut. Start with the center square and begin sewing on strips clockwise, until you have three strips on each side to make a square block about 15" big. Simple! Quick and easy.

This simple log cabin pattern (cut wider strips than traditionally) is a GREAT way to use up your fabric scraps as well. I love putting together different fabrics: prints and colors, and this pattern is all about play with color and pattern. As you can see I used a wide variety of fabrics, but stuck with yellows for the center square, and blues and greens for the outer strips. This inspired me to name the quilt "Concert in the Park" because it reminds me of going to an outdoor concert on a summer day: the green of the grass, the blue of the sky, and the warm yellow sun. In fact, I keep this quilt in the trunk of my car in the summer.....and literally use it to spread out on when we go to "concerts in the park". Nifty.

When I made this one many moons ago, I actually went through my two large bags of fabric scraps (accumulated over about 8 years of quilting) and sorted scraps of fabric into three piles: COOLS (blues and green seen here), WARMS (pinks, reds, and oranges which I also made identical to this quilt), and DARKS (browns, navy, maroons, black prints which I still have to sew together). I then went through the piles and cut them into 2 1/2' strips - something that's a good project while you watch a movie. Mindless. Then it's just a matter of sewing strips (I like to do it assembly line style where you're working on several blocks at the same time) and pressing seams open. Soon you've got a stack of 20 large blocks and sewn together in rows, that will be the perfect size for a picnic quilt.

To finish it, I just used a simple large-scale stippling quilting design, using a varigated green thread. The backing was a simple (on sale!) green speckled fabric (don't even notice those grass stains if there are any!), and finished with a striped fabric for the binding. I love using a striped fabric for the binding because I think it creates a nice little "frame" for the quilt, and it's much more interesting than just a plain solid binding. Adding an interesting binding on my quilts is a signature of mine.

 

This quilt has already attended two concerts in the park this summer alone and behaved stunningly. My friend was nice enough to wear matching toenail polish (turqoise!) and so I just had to photograph her feet too. Dandy!