Rave: Jax (Mpls)

On Friday, twelve (12) of us descended upon the unsuspecting servers at Jax. I had never heard of Jax, didn't know a thing about Jax, hadn't a clue to what to expect from Jax. After we parked, walking towards Jax, it looks like any other nice restaurant. Hell, even inside it looks like a lovely place. But step outside onto the patio on an evening like the one we had, and holy cow, are you in for a surprise. I had no idea, in the middle of the city, there would be this lovely, garden, complete with a small waterfall...very sweet.

Normally, you think of groups six (6) or more at a restaurant, you think cold food, bad service, etc... But not at Jax. The servers were lovely & attentive. The food was yummy and fresh. The atmosphere was friendly and even, under the proper setting, quite romantic. And, might I add, there was quite the good looking crowd; everyone looked nice, but no one was overly dressed, trying too hard, or looked uncomfortable. Now, all of this doesn't come cheap (not that it should) but be prepared for entrees between $25-50. Is the food worth that? Hell yeah. Would I go back? In a heartbeat. Should you go? Absolutely.

The Surreal Life - Part III

Ok, I'll admit it. I bought another People Magazine. (I really need to stop this.) But, my excuse is they misplaced a flight attendant on my flight home. Therefore, I had some time to kill in the terminal before they found an attendant to allow us to board. Yeah, that's the story I'm sticking to. Sounds pretty good, right. Points for originality?

So, I'm flipping through and it turns out that the kids' vet is shared by Penelope Cruz.

Yeah, we're cool. We're chic. We're Hollywood. Or rather, I should say that Ms. Cruz shares our FABULOUS taste in animal hospitals.

Indiana Jones

So one of my favorite people on the planet is a globe-trotting archeologist. Like Indiana Jones, during the school year, he teaches eager young minds and during the summer he goes on glamorous digs, unearthing treasures and bedding exotic women. I know he reads my blog since he dropped me a line while frolicking on the white sand beaches of Cyprus...laughing at my meager Minneapolis adventures.

I just wanted to give him a shout-out...keep the post cards coming so I can live the glamorous life vicariously through you.

Jeremy spoke in class today

but not at the Pearl Jam concert.

Yes, you can hate me. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to score tickets to the free Pearl Jam show at the Henry Fonda last night. I didn't win them, work for them, ask for them or really even think about them.

"Wanna go see Pearl Jam?"

"Sure. No one else wants to go?"

"I already asked ----, and she's going to Warped Tour."

"Cool, I'm in."

So yeah. I rule.

I was once at the Fonda for an office Christmas party, which came in handy since that taught me the layout of the place so I didn't look like a total idiot (my usual music style). Its a great old venue. Its pretty small, three levels: 1st level, is well, lobby, potties, restaurant/bar, and the actual stage & floor of the theater; 2nd level is an outdoor patio, handy for VIP smokers, also complete with potties; 3rd level is the balcony with actual chairs to sit in to watch the show. And, for this particular performance you had to have the handy VIP writstband or badge to get up to the 3rd floor to actually sit down. (Yes, you can continue to hate me.) So, that was nice.

We got there in the middle of Sonic Youth's set. (Don't blame me; traffic was HORRID last night and I was stuck at work late. You really should have seen what I wore...litterally the first shirt, pair of jeans and shoes I saw. I was 15 seconds away from wearing my work clothes.) Sonic Youth was cool but not exactly our sound so we got to know the two bars there and to chat with our ticket benefactor.

Around 9 (when PJ was scheduled to go on) we wandered up to the balcony and scored seats right in front of the sound booth. Shockingly, PJ only went on 10 minutes late and played a really strong set...definately how I remembered them. And, as I remembered them, they played a few songs at the end that lost the crowd. One thing I didn't remember were Eddie's smoke breaks during the concert.

Yeah, do a guitar solo, I need a cigarette. Cool, thanks.

Sings a few more songs...

Yeah, now you do a drum solo or something, I need another break.

So, that sort of broke the crazy vibe the concert had.

We wandered downstairs to enjoy the end of the show on the floor. Its interesting to see how my age group has, well, aged. The stupid frat boys can now enjoy alcohol *at* the venue as opposed to boozing it up before they get in. And, now those stupid frat boys make all sorts of money and have all sorts of connections. Obviously there were the uber-cool music people there as well as the I'm-so-lucky-to-be-here KROQ winners. So that was fun to watch.

They played a few more songs & were "done." A quick smoke break (this time off stage) and they returned, played a song and then played a song with...Tim Robbins?. Now before you think I'm making fun of him, you need to know that he's been a personal crush of mine for YEARS (Shawshank, The Player) but I wondered how many of the KROQ kids actually knew who he was. Tim was lead vocals on an X song and played a wee bit of guitar. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty psyched if my dad walked up on that stage with PJ....and that's how it felt when he was up there.

"Damn, Dad's cool!"

Tim left the stage & PJ played a few other songs...but really the "encore" wasn't a huge thrill. Again, don't get me wrong, it was a great show, but I (and most of the rest of the crowd who opted to leave early) lost the vibe.

All in all, a strong show as a great venue.

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned

Headed out to Petco Park on Sunday for a game - SD vs. SF. Wow, two teams I couldn't care less about. (Mental note: when going to a random ball park for a game, try to pick a game where you actually care about at least one of teams, or maybe a player or something.)

Things I dug:

1. The scene: I love that they used downtown in their planning. I feel like Cleveland tried to ignore their location when building the ball park, but in San Diego they really used the backdrop to their advantage, giving the park a very cool, unique feel. My favorite part was their use of one of an old brick building; instead of tearing it down, they gutted it and left the facade. (I'll attach a picture when I think of it....Don't hold your breath.)

2. The possibilities: There are a bunch of condos going up right outside of the park which will have KILLER views of the games. I'm not even into baseball and I think that would be an awesome feature to your condo. I'd be in for that.

3. The location: Easy to walk to from anywhere in downtown, trolley runs right there, pedicabs to take you wherever you need to go in downtown (if you're too lazy to walk), etc... That's my one issue with Chavez Ravine; once you're there, you're trapped. If traffic sucks, dig in, you're not going anywhere. And, there's nowhere to kill a wee bit of time before traffic eases. In downtown SD, you have so much to do and see if you don't want to jump in your car immediately.

A few issues I have with the stadium:

1. No enough women's restrooms. There were two little boys rooms for every little girls' room.

2. The hot dogs are vicious...seriously, they fight for their survival: first, they're not very good, trying to sway you from eating them; and second, when you're almost done eating them, they attack you, making a final run for freedom....mustard everywhere, quite a gruesome scene.

3. You need a treasure map to find your seats. Ok, we've been to quite a few baseball games; between us we have 2 college degrees not to mention possess various certificates and other problem-solving skills and it still took us way too long to find our section.

All in all, I dug the Petco and would definitely return.

3rd Time's a Charm

Well, there were tons of fireworks on the 4th...first witnessed over Culver High and then in the Culver-Palms Methodist Church parking lot.

Little black car got hit again by someone who tried to drive away after hitting me; and yes, as per our usual routine, I went chasing after the person who hit my car. Only this time it was a wee bit different: little black car wasn't moving; the driver wasn't drunk; and I went running after them on foot since this happened in the parking lot. (Holiday traffic didn't allow much of a speedy getaway.)

So yeah, fireworks ensued and little black car will be visiting her friends at Holmes Body Shop once again for all necessary repairs. The front bumper has only been replaced twice...what's a third time between friends?