CMA Fest 2011!!

Woohoo!! We're booked for CMA Fest 2011!! Just called and put our deposits down. We'll be staying downtown at the Doubletree next year. No more wasting time waiting for shuttles!! AND Missy is going with us! What fun!!! I'm not wishing my life away but I can't wait!

A bit of catching up ...

Well, we're on Day 6 of the second eye surgery for Peanut. As I suspected, he pulled some stitches out and part of the graft was loose, with eye fluid leaking out ... again. He needed immediate surgery ... again, to correct it. Would it surprise anyone for me to say I had a mini meltdown? It took everything I had to keep my emotions in control until I walked outside to the car. Poor Bob didn't know what to do. He wants to make it all better and fix it - he can't fix this, nor how I feel about it. I know all about feeling helpless to make someone you love feel better - it sucks.

Peanut would be ready to go home around 3pm. We had tickets to go see BB King that evening with Rick and Regina - 9th row seats. I had a "sitter" lined up to stay with Peanut that evening since Cari had to work. But now ... I couldn't leave him with someone else after surgery. Long story short, we elected to leave him at the hospital (they're connected with a 24 emergency care) until after the concert. I needed a night off. I hated leaving him there but I needed to get out of the house more. We were back to square one with the damn collar, more eye drops, continuous 24/7 supervision, etc.

The Bier Garden was our destination for dinner. I must say, the beer was awesome (I had two tall ones) but the food was just ok. Lukas Nelson opened for BB - I hadn't heard of him before and wish I still hadn't heard of him. I'm not a big blues person anyway but Bob has always loved BB King. I could handle the music fine, but when Lukas opened his mouth this Gawd Awful nasal whine escaped his vocal cords and it grated on what little was left of my last surviving nerve. It was pretty bad. Even Bob thought it was pretty bad. It got to the point that Regina and I just had to laugh - and boy did we laugh! We laughed 'til we cried. Not only did my arm get a workout that night (from lifting the beer to my lips) but so did my abs. Whew! Bob left his seat to find a restroom and get more water. He came back and told me our neighbors were standing outside the gate waiting for Lukas to leave the stage - they didn't want to hear him any better than they already could. LOL Need I say more? Before Lukas graced us with his absence, he informed us that he'd be back next week performing with his daddy. ?? OOOOHHHHHH! It all becomes crystal clear now! His daddy is Willie Nelson - can't stand him either. And Lukas has the same kind of voice, except his is worse. No lie, if you're on myspace you can go listen for yourself here.

Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day! Missy and Mom spontaneously dropped everything and came over to play. We always have the best time together - doing nothing. We had quite a few sessions of COL (crossing our legs) so we didn't POP (pee our pants)! And it's usually over really stupid stuff that later isn't even funny anymore! Missy and I picked up some fresh corn and tomatoes that afternoon. We had fresh tomato mozzarella paninis with fresh corn on the cob and cantaloupe. Soooo good! Later that evening we laughed some more - watching Jeff Dunham. That boy just ain't right.

I so needed that girl time and distraction from not being able to leave the house for over a week. Even though I've run a few errands and been to the gym a couple of time when Cari or Bob stayed with him, it's just knowing I can't pick up and go that's the worst. Cari and I haven't even started our shopping for her apartment and we move her in less than four weeks now. We can't go to dinner as a family, Cari and I can't go to lunch or the gym together. It's extremely frustrating. And yes, I know I have friends who would come sit with him so I could have a bit of freedom to go do something. But I have a really hard time with that. Peanut's my responsibility. I don't want anyone else having to deal with it. Everyone has a life and is busy - they don't need to spend their time coming to sit with my dog. So today we're on Day 6. He screwed it up last week on Day 7. I take him back for his recheck Monday - Day 10. I can't imagine the collar coming off then. If he did that kind of damage on Day 7 I just don't see his eye healing to the point that he can't hurt it again only three days later. On the other hand, I can't continue to monitor him 24/7 either. Most days I start out in a decent frame of mind, but by the evening I'm a grouch.

Cari's off to class this morning so I'm going to spend some time in my "studio" and get my beads out to make a candle bracelet for a birthday gift. Maybe I'll even finally make one for myself!

Later,

QB

Has it been that long?

Wow ... don't know where the summer has gone and why I haven't blogged in so long. As you can see I still haven't finished blogging (journaling) about CMA Fest. Will have to make time for that. Thank goodness I have notes to go by or I would be lost. Sigh ...

I also have pics of Morgan's birthday party to go through and print. It's just been a crazy summer. I must've had a premonition of that in spring. I took a leave of absence (LOL) from Bunco because I had a feeling it was going to be hard to fit in. That just wasn't like me - to not want to play Bunco. Life is always busy but you learn to make time for something important, right? Then in late May I decided I needed to let go of yet another "commitment" I loved - Stitch & Bitch on Fridays. We have been meeting on Friday mornings for about 4 years now and it's always been my therapy, my saving grace. I don't know why it's been so crazy this particular summer but it has. I've done very little knitting, no scrapping, no beading, very little reading, very little photography, etc. When Cari was in high school I always thought life would slow down (for me) as she got older. Apparently not!

Our trip to Nashville, getting ready for it and then recuperating from it, played its part in eating up some days, but we really haven't done much else this summer. Cari and I haven't even started shopping for her new apartment. And now with this thing with Peanut it's gotten nearly impossible. This "thing" with Peanut started on our return from Nashville. We could all tell he was out of sorts and just not right. Then again, it normally takes him a couple of days after spending time at Dad's since life is busier around there and he doesn't get as much time to rest. By Friday (we returned on Monday) he wasn't any better so I made an appointment with the vet for Monday. Immediately the vet noticed he was squinting one eye. Long story short (or shorter at least), he had an ulcer on his eye. He was put on eye drops 4x daily and an eye ointment 4x daily in addition to pain med and an oral antibiotic - with an appointment to be seen again in two days.

The fun begins ... Two days later the ulcer was no better and we were referred to an eye doctor. Surprisingly the specialist's office got us in on Friday. She prescribed three different types of eye drops (totaling 6x daily) and wanted to see him again in 10-14 days. Twelve days later the ulcer had eaten through his eye and it was full blown perforated. He needed surgery ... immediately. That was nine days ago. We go back this morning.

I can't begin to tell you how much fun we've had. We (it takes two of us) have now been putting drops in his eye for three and a half weeks now. He came home from surgery with the infamous cone and has had to be supervised 24/7, not even going outside alone. Even so I caught him Wednesday afternoon with his back paw up to his face and it looks like he's done something to his eye. I am so frustrated I'm ready to scream, cry, hit something, etc. We came so far and it looked like it was healing well - now it looks like crap again. Bob and I have tickets to go see BB King tonight. Cari has to work. We have to get a dog sitter to go to a concert. I just can't believe this.

I'm prepared to hear the worst at the vet this morning. But I'm just not sure what else can be done. Drops are not working. The cone isn't working. 24/7 supervision isn't working. I just can't continue to be chained to the house and put my life on hold indefinitely. It's not just the cost of surgery again, it's also putting a 14 year old dog through anesthesia again. I guess I'll find out this morning. Maybe it's not as bad as I think. Hopefully. I have been wrong before - once in a while.

"The Search" by Nora Roberts

Just finished Nora's latest, "The Search." I knew when I read the blip on her website I'd had to have the book as soon as it came out. There would be no waiting for this one to come out in paperback. It was soooo good! I've never read a bad Nora Roberts book, but I still have my favorites. This one will rank right up there with those (Blue Smoke, Birthright, Northern Lights). I breezed right through it - could've read it in 2 days if it wasn't for the distraction of dealing with Peanut's eye. When I'm thinking about the story while doing other things, that's one of the things that make a book irresistible for me. The story behind the mystery and romance was so interesting to me. Fiona (main character) leads a team of search and rescue dogs and does training as well. Of course there is a serial killer after her and a disgruntled wood worker who doesn't want to fall in love with her complicating the story. As always, the end (serial killer caught, they fall in love) is predictable but how they get there isn't. I loved it.

Friday - CMA Fest

After not turning off the light until 3am, we slept late - until 10:00am! It was close to 11:30 by the time we made it downtown and we had missed breakfast, so we grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor and headed to Riverfront for Chris Young's show at 12:45. We knew it would be crowded - and hot - and it was both. We claimed a spot and someone walked by with these huge cups of fresh lemonade - it sounded and smelled so good that we had to have some. Nanny's Fresh Squeezed Lemonade - yummm! It's the best lemonade I've ever had.

Chris took the stage and stole our hearts. Again, since we don't listen to the radio much we tend to miss the new artists unless we just stumble across them. Chris has two albums and they were both in Cari's iTunes wish list. After seeing him buying them was a given. He's just a cutie pie! We're both fans for life now.

After his set we were ready for some cool air and food and we had our sights set on Hard Rock Cafe. The line to get in took about 30 minutes but at least it was under a tent so we, at least, had some shade. By the time we got our table, it was smokin' outside. Sitting in a real chair somewhere cool was heaven! Eating healthy went out the window too. As we looked at the menu, their hamburgers jumped off the pages at us. I was amazed to read that all their hamburger are 10 oz. Wow ... really? They did have a "baby" one that was only 6 oz - that's the one we both chose. Of course, we ordered fries to go with our burgers - and they were really good too! LOL

Rested, cooled off and tummies full we set off to the Convention Center. As we made our way through the streets we heard what sounded like Chris Young singing live again, so we followed the sound. Sure enough he was under a tent with just his guitar performing for a small crowd. Needless to say, we got much closer to him this time. When he finished we were informed that tomorrow was his birthday, so everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him. It was wonderful.

Once again we headed to the Convention Center. There wasn't much going on - Trent Tomlinson and the Zac Brown Band were set up signing autographs but that was about it. I did manage to pull a Greased Lightning canvas bag out at their booth though - nice bags! And we joined the Chris Young Street Team, which simply means they may call on us to promote him if/when he comes to town. That's pretty cool though! Oh, we also bought his two cds at his booth too. Good music!

Upon leaving the hall there was an A cappella group called Memphis Beat performing. You know us - we love that kind of thing. So we stopped and listened to the end, which was only 2-3 songs.

It was about time for Mark Wills to come on the Chevy stage, which is right across the street from the hall so we headed in that direction.  He's another artist was have some old stuff from but nothing new. It was still fun to see him perform songs from years ago though.

Emily West was next on the schedule for Chevy stage. We had no clue who she was but didn't have anything better to do and were able to grab some good seats right up front, so we stayed. She was quite entertaining and has a really good voice. She favors Faith Hill and even sounds a bit like her. Can't remember when her cd comes out but I'm sure we'll be on the lookout for it.

Since we ended up having to take a taxi to LP Field last night, Cari and I decided to get there early tonight. After Emily West's set we stood in line for the shuttle and were there by 6:00pm - the gates didn't open until 6:30pm. So we waited some more, and watched the line get longer by the minute. We were hot, tired and desperately needed water. Any other time we'd have seen six different vendors on the corner selling water, but we couldn't find any tonight.

We went through the same gate as last night but the security guard tonight was on a power trip. Remember those plastic Starbucks cups we bought? She saw mine in my bag and told me I'd have to throw it out, that I couldn't take it inside. ??? She actually told me to take it back to my car. Uh huh, my car's in Virginia Beach you idiot! She pushed me to the side and ignored me, continuing to check bags from those behind me. After a couple of minutes, Cari and I walked away out of her sight, repacked our bags and went in through another gate ... with no problems at all. How crazy, ridiculous is that?

By the time we actually made it inside the gate, we were dying of thirst - and a little hungry. So we stopped to get some water and a pretzel on the way to our seats. That's when I spied the "Blue Moon" sign!! Woohooo! You know after the Nazi guard I needed a beer! Aw man, it went down like silk! LOL Good stuff! We chatted with the people around us until the show started. The Band Perry sang our National Anthem and we then witnessed one of the lamest flyovers I've ever seen. One lone jet. Hmm, that was impressive - NOT! Guess that's result of living close to two bases and having jets fly over us constantly.

Julianne Hough opened tonight's show. Actually her music is ok but her performance was a bit much for me. First of all her skirt was way too short, and the way she gyrated on stage you'd think she was pole dancing. It was bad. We weren't the only ones with this opinion because Cari and I heard others commented on it later. She didn't impress me much.

Josh Turner was next. Cari and I ended up standing in line for pizza most of his set. We could watch him on the TV at the vendor counter but we missed most of it. He is a pretty man, and his voice is incredibly deep.

I've never been much of a fan of Miranda Lambert. Some of her stuff is ok but I can do without most of it. She just isn't my style. Cari and I should've waited until her set to get our pizza so we would've seen Josh. Oh well, live and learn.

 Every time I've seen Keith I've walked away happy. I/we have always loved his music and it's been an enjoyable journey watching him grow as an entertainer. The best thing about a Keith concert is when he gets lost in his guitar. You can tell by watching him that everyone and everything else just disappears for him. It's a magical moment. Even though it was getting late and it had been a really long day, he had most of us up on our feet, clapping and singing to the top of our lungs. Nothing like it. He opened with "Days Go By," and went directly into "Sweet Thing," "I'm In" and closed with "A Little Help From My Friends."

 I haven't seen Reba in years. Cari had never seen her before and we were pretty excited! Reba never fails to please the fans. The only negative I can say about her is I was disappointed she only sang five songs. We were all itching to hear more! She opened with "I Want a Cowboy," and dove right in with "Strange," "Keep On Lovin' You," "Consider Me Gone" and closed with "Fancy." She really did leave us wanting more. :)

There was a "Special Guest" on the line up to close for tonight. Cari and I were so hoping it would be Kenny, or Garth, or George Straight or Sugarland, or ... you get my drift. We had been hearing rumors it was gonna be Kid Rock. Are you kidding me? Really? We had already decided it if was him we were leaving after Reba. That's exactly what we did. Apparently loads of others were of the same opinion because about two thirds of the stadium emptied after Reba. There was a line on the steps just to leave our seats. There were lines to catch a shuttle. The cars were lined up to get out of the parking lot. It really looked as if the concert was over. For the minority that remained, they said he did a good show. Whatever. Kid Rock is not my thing and I, personally, do not believe he has any place at a major concert (especially closing the show) at a country music festival. He is not country, not recognized as country and not played on country radio. It was still midnight before we got back to our room. I was so pissed about it I wrote on CMA Fest's Facebook wall sharing my opinion of their lack of intelligence choosing Kid Rock as our "Special Guest."

Tomorrow's another day ... :)

G'nite!

Thursday

We caught the shuttle to downtown about 8:30 this morning. It was one of the few times we didn't have to wait very long for it. After several more stops we were finally on our way. Becky and her mom were sitting in front of us and we started talking - yeah, I know, imagine that. This was her second year at the festival and I was glad to meet someone to show us the ropes, so to speak. We hung around with them for a couple of hours before going off to explore on our own. On the way to Riverfront (main daytime stage) Cari and I were snapping pictures left and right. These cardboard cutouts were just begging for us to pose with them.

There was a long line to get into Riverfront park. The Judds were already playing by the time we got in, but we did see most of their show. Wynonna announced that they are going to be touring again in the fall. This will be their first tour in ten years! The photo line that is supposed to go by the front of the stage was a joke - nobody moved. And it was hot - really hot. The good and bad news about that is that today was forecast to be the coolest of the four day festival. That's really not good for me. You know how I am about heat - and humidity. UGH! Not good.

There was about a 15 minute lag to reset the stage for Clay Walker's performance. Cari and I were thrilled when we discovered he would be here. We haven't seen him in years - I'm thinking it was the late 90's when we saw him at the Hampton Coliseum. His new cd came out Tuesday (6/8) - of course we love it. Seeing so many people sing his old hits was wonderful!

 Love and Theft took the stage next. To be honest, we just discovered this group a couple of weeks ago. We don't listen to the radio very often so we miss the new artists quite often unless we just happen across them. After going to iTunes and listening to their cd, we knew we wanted to see them. I'm thinking they are quickly going to become one of our favorites.

It was getting to close to lunch-time so we headed to the Convention Center where Fan Fair Hall was being held, hoping they'd have food - plus it was air-conditioned! On the way there we heard Jaron (and the Long Road to Love) on Chevy stage, so we stopped. He closed with his new single, "Pray for You." I can't even begin to imagine his delight when the crowd sang the chorus. It was pretty cool. Finally we made our to the Convention Center where we discovered, to our dismay, about the only food they had to offer was Quiznos. Ugh. One of the security guards made our day when she said there was a Panera right across the street, so we turned right around and out the door again. LOL It was after 1pm by then and we were pretty hungry.

Even though I really like to eat at local dives and joints when I travel, sometimes a familiar "face" is pretty comforting. That's exactly how Cari and I felt about Panera at that point. We lucked out on getting a table (it was majorly crowded) and thoroughly enjoyed sitting in a cool, comfortable environment for lunch. Rested and tummies full we headed back over to FFH for the second time. Not really sure what we'd find, it was like a treasure hunt looking for "stars" signing autographs. I have to confess, it was pretty cool. We had a ball snapping photos real stars and cardboard cutouts. Everyone was handing out free stuff and we loaded up on all kinds of paraphernalia - including new music! Just what we need, more new artists and new cds to buy.

 Kix Brooks

The Judds

Ty Herndon

Jo Dee Messina

Farm Boy

Mindy McCready

Diamond Rio

Reba

Love and Theft

Mark Wills

Danny Gokey

Jason Aldean

Done with FFH for the day we left the Convention Center and spotted a Starbucks next door. Exhausted and with aching feet we made a bee line for a frappucino! I'd been wanting to buy one of their plastic refillable cold cups and decided this was the perfect time. It was SO good! And sitting down on those comfortable couches ... man it was heaven!

By now it was time to figure out what we're doing for dinner. Jack's BBQ was suggested for lunch so we thought we try it for dinner since we ended up at Panera for lunch. The line was out the door - so we kept walking to find something else. Well all the lines were out the doors, so we ended up going back to Jack's. It took about 45 minutes to get our food but it was worth the wait. And that Blue Moon was the perfect thing to wash down that BBQ.

Once again rested and full, we made our way back to the Convention Center to stand in line for the shuttle ... and stand in line, and stand in line, and stand in line ... We saw very few buses in the hour we stood there, and a couple of those went on by us because they were already full. By 7:35 we're starting to think we may need to take a taxi to the stadium or we'd miss the opening performance by Danny. Others were starting to get the same idea so flagging down a taxi wasn't as easy as you may think. After about 10 minutes we managed to get one to stop and went in with a group of four to split the fare. We made it to LP around 7:50, just in time to find out seats before the Oakridge Boys sang the national anthem. Melissa Peterman (host of CMT's "The Singing Bee" and Reba's BFF on her show) was our emcee for the night. The crowd roared when informed that every artist was performing for free and that all proceeds were going to Flood Relief. This was the first time in the festival's history it was sold out. How cool is that?

Of course Danny was awesome and we're so happy for him. He sang our favorite songs off the album and it just made Cari's day. If she didn't see anyone else tonight, she could go home happy. 

Alan Jackson was up next. I have always been a fan of Alan the man, but his music doesn't move me like it does some. Don't get me wrong, I do like some of his stuff but am not crazy about all of it. He was so funny though. I don't think I've ever seen him share so much personal stuff and so relaxed on stage before. He'd sing a song and then tell a story, sing another one that would lead into another story. It was moving to see the gratitude he still has for the fans after 20 years. "I'm honored to still be a part of the festival," he told us. At some point he got up to get another guitar (or something - I can't remember) and said, "Whew! It's hotter than a hoochie coochie out here!" I think we laughed for 5 minutes over that one. Most memorable line of the night! Alan was enjoying himself so much that he really didn't want to leave the stage. There was a 30 minute window for each artist, plus the stage had to be changed in between each one. Alan was up there for at least 45 minutes ...

 ... then it was Tim's turn. The last time we saw Tim we weren't impressed. Maybe he just had an off night that night. He certainly wasn't in good form. His energy level wasn't high at all and I remember thinking that what he was giving us that night was no more than you can hear on his albums. Well he was pumped up tonight. He opened with "Where the Green Grass Grows," and the fans almost drowned him out. It was so very cool! He, too, didn't want to leave the stage and went over. Ask anyone if they cared, I think not!

Jason Aldean was next on the line-up and whenever we've seen him in the past he's been a high energy performer. Tonight was no different and the fans were delighted to welcome him and sing to the top of their lungs with him. I know I've used this word way too much in this post but it was awesome!!

Excitement escalated with the anticipation of Lady Antebellum coming on! Their latest single, "Need You Now," really took of on the charts and propelled them as favorites on numerous iPods. I've been a Lady A fan since their first release, "I Run to You," but the first time I saw the video for "Need You Now" I loved it! They did an acoustic version of this at a flood relief fund-raiser at the Ryman that was aired on GAC and it was incredible! Other hits performed included, "Love Don't Live Here Anymore," "American Honey," and "Our Kind of Love."

Surprised with a beautiful display of fireworks between Lady A's set and Carrie Underwood taking the stage, Cari and I had our cameras out attempting to capture the bursts of color. Cari managed to capture the one below that depicts a smiley face, although it looks a bit evil here - LOL:

It was nearly midnight by the time Carrie took the stage. You'd never know it by her performance, she was fabulous and pumped up! As much as we completely enjoyed her, Cari and I were too tired to get up and dance, clap and sing. We both pretty much sat in our seats and sang softly. You could tell we weren't alone in our exhaustion because as I looked around that's what most of us were doing. I saw Carrie soon after she won American Idol years ago and can saw without hesitation her stage presence has improved dramatically - and her voice? Wow ... It was about 12:30am when she took her final bow - and we were dragging.

The stadium had already started to empty out before Carrie's performance just because it was so late, but the majority of us hung in there. It took us another hour before catching a shuttle back to our room and we were starving. Between the heat, lack of food and just being exhausted we weren't feeling great. The hotel didn't have much to choose from in their "market" either - candy, chips, drinks and hot pockets. It was Thursday night at 1:45; I knew we wouldn't find anything open for delivery but called several places anyway. We ended up back down in the lobby getting hot pockets just to put something in our stomachs. When you're that hungry just about anything is better than nothing. It was 3am before we got to bed. Talk about a huge kick-off to the four-day festival!

... and tomorrow is another day!

We made it!

After a very early start this morning (got up at 5am) we finally arrived here (Nashville) about 12:15 this afternoon. It was after 1:30 by the time we got to our hotel and Cari and I were both exhausted. Of course our second winds kicked in and we muddled through the rest of the afternoon. It was like Christmas opening our CMA Festival box once we got to our room! Included was a special iTunes card for 24 free songs - so you know we immediately had to power up our laptops and get those new, free songs! I managed to get unpacked this afternoon too but not much else. Didn't get a nap, but I'm hoping that'll just make me sleep better tonight.

We met Mike and Sandi for dinner. What a special treat! We met years ago through Forefront church and ended up losing touch after they moved to Nashville in 2004. Sandi found me through Facebook a while back and we immediately planned to meet for dinner in between concerts. It was wonderful to catch up with them - they're an awesome welcoming committee!!

Back in our room now, in my pjs ready to settle in for an early night. Tomorrow's gonna come early and gonna be a L-O-N-G day. We have a plan though. I printed out tons of stuff yesterday and Cari and I went through the lists on the plane this morning. We have a plan. No clue if that plan will happen but we gotta start somewhere!

Hoping to have some fun pics to post tomorrow!
G'night!

Country Throwdown!!

As soon as Cari saw that The Lost Trailers would be performing at Country Throwdown she simply had to go. Tickets had recently gone on sale so we got great seats - Orchestra Center Row E. We just had to wait for two months. The Lost Trailers opened for Phil Vassar about four years ago and Cari fell head over heels for Ryder Lee, the lead singer. They were scheduled as an opening act for someone else (can't remember who) in the fall, but the show was canceled because of a hurricane. Cari was extremely disappointed. It was more than a year later we finally got to see them again. That was over a year ago now. So come hell or high water, she was seeing them at Throwdown. It was only 95-97 degrees yesterday. I don't do heat - at least I don't do it well. Normally, I would've balked big time at going to a concert in nearly 100 degree weather, but since we're leaving for Nashville in three days I figured I may as well get used to it. It was bad, but not as bad as it could've been I guess. Part of the time there was a decent breeze and that helped. I also took my little spray water bottle fan thingy. It helped too. But honestly, the only thing that helps in that kind of heat and humidity is air-conditioning.

The Lost Trailers were scheduled to perform at 2:30, so we got there around 2:00. As we sat there, and sat there, and sat there some more we finally heard they were running an hour being - pretty unusual for a country concert. They're usually very punctual. And I was amazed at how empty the place was. I don't know if it was the heat that kept people away or what, but I don't think I've ever seen it that empty before. Finally at 3:30 they took the stage and they were, as always, fabulous!! We loved every minute of their set and were close enough to make eye contact. It was awesome! Cari, of course, knew every word to every song.

After their set Ryder announced they'd be signing autographs at the Merchandise Booth. Needless to say, we immediately got up and proceeded to find the Merchandise Booth and get in line. We each bought a group photo and got it personalized, then got our photos taken with Ryder and Stokes.

 

Walking back to our seats to wait for the next act, Cari was floating on clouds. Not only had she gotten Ryder's autograph yet again, but she got to hug him this time and get a picture with him too! She could've gone home right then and there and been perfectly happy.

As we found new seats (it was General Admission until 7pm) to wait for the next act, we melted - no literally. Good Gawd it was hot! Finally the next act came on. I didn't even know who they were, never heard of 'em. It was Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses. ?? The first thing that really got to me was the volume on their amps was turned up WAY too high. They were twice as loud as anyone else. The base drum actually hurt my internal organs. It was crazy. I didn't care for the "music" either, but could've tolerated it much easier had the volume been at an acceptable level. I was never so glad to have a band get off the stage. I sure hope to never see them again. I have no idea why they were at a Country Throwdown. There was nothing country about this band. I may not have known who they were when they took the stage, but I certainly will never forget them now.

Finally, they quit and left the stage. Thank you God. Seriously, thank you. It was that bad. The Eli Young Band was next and we, at least, had heard of them and like a lot of their music. They were good and I'm sure we'll be getting more of their music. (Note: There's something about Eli Young that really reminds me of Wayne Newton.)

Jack Ingram was next. I've seen Jack before and he does a great show, so I was really looking forward to this. He did not disappoint. He was awesome!! Jack is so energetic and into audience participation the time just flies.

When he sang "Barefoot and Crazy" he took his boots off and put them on the mic. It was pretty damn cool to see him running around the stage singing his butt off barefoot.

Jack ended his set by coming down from the stage and getting in the audience for a little more up close and personal. We loved it. He really seems very gracious and humble about his success - and acknowledges that he wouldn't be where he is without the fans. It was cool. Next up, Eric Church ...

... not sure what we were expecting from Eric Church, but it wasn't what we got. He didn't do much for me or Cari. We had listened to his music on iTunes and liked a lot of it but after seeing him perform - not so much. His music and songs are still basically ok, but Eric himself has issues! He comes across as an angry man trying to get his point across and wanting approval for his views. There's a lot of pounding on his chest with his fists, shaking his hands, screaming at the end of a phrase, etc. Anyway, just a little over the top for me. Seeing this concert certainly wouldn't make me wanna go out and buy his CD.

Oh, I almost forgot ... in between bands they had new and upcoming singer/songwriters on the corner of the stage with just their guitars singing some of their songs. This one chick started singing and Cari and I immediately looked at each other with raised eyebrows. We thought it must be some kind of joke. After 20-30 seconds we started to realize that, no, this was just her. I tell you - honestly - the chick sounded like one of the Chipettes of Alvin and the Chipmunks!!! Seriously! It was CRAZY! I know we were rude because we couldn't help but laugh ... and you know my laugh. Enough said.

As hot as it was and as hungry as we were, we sort of considered leaving early. But after sitting through all of that and to be so close to Little Big Town performing, I was determined to make it. Let me just say it was worth it. The were SO, SO good. I'm glad we stayed - it was worth it. :)

So that was it - we were done. Tired, hot, hungry, thirsty and exhausted, we left early - before Montgomery Gentry came on. I would've liked to see them, but under the circumstances, going home sounded better.

All in all it was a good day. A couple of hiccups make it more interesting I guess but it was mostly good. Tomorrow Brooke comes in and the circus begins! LOL