Monday, December 18, 2006
MPLS weekend
We were in Minneapolis this weekend. We came to see
Joanna play at the 400 Bar, partly because we hadn't seen her in some time, and partly because her enticing email announcement mentioned a special surprise guest who had been nominated for a Grammy for song of the year. We waited in anticipation for Corinne Bailey Rae or James Blunt, but when the time came for Joanna to bring up her guest it turned out to be... Dan Wilson (of Semisonic)! The funny thing is that we woke up to a song of his that morning. He was nominated for writing the song "Not Ready to Make Nice" with the Dixie Chicks (Gary Louris of the Jayhawks also co-wrote some of the songs from their latest album). Anyway, it was a pretty good show. Jeremy Messersmith was the opening act, and he had some good acoustic songs, some using live loops of vocals and keyboard. Joanna was in top form, playing some good old songs and some good new songs, with Chris Koza on electric guitar. With Wilson and Messersmith she played "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and "All You Need Is Love", which the audience sang along with. We left before Coach Said Not To's set.
Photos.
We stayed with Shannon's friends Jessie and Katie not far from where the show was. We caught up with Jessie in the afternoon when we arrived, and with Katie late at night after we had come back from the show. Before the show we wandered around MPLS, eating calzones and going to Open Book and Big Brain Comics.
The next day we did a little shopping (where I found some good gifts) and had lunch and then went for chai at Dunn Brothers, where Joanna was working. Then we took off for home.
Friday, December 01, 2006
NaSoAlMo
Totally crashed and burned on the
NaSoAlMo project. I hang my head in shame.
