The show was filmed at The Factory in Franklin, TN. Kristi and I had standing room only tickets in the balcony above the stage. That was pretty cool to be close to the stage but also looking out over the crowd. It was really hot up there, but definitely worth it.

The amazing part is how well these guys sounded together. They’re both great guitar players, and I loved every song they performed. Some songs had to be done twice, and I was happy that one of those was one of my favorites, “Til Summer Comes Around.” They were also pretty funny together. There were a lot of jokes about how hot it was (“Tonight I Wanna Fry”) and how often the makeup girls had to come up on the stage. It was a really fun night, and I can’t wait to see what all makes it on the show. Maybe you’ll see Kristi and me in the audience. Well, if we had enough “energy” that is..right Kristi?

Keith’s Set:
1. If Ever I Could Love
2. ‘Til Summer Comes Around (2)
3. Tonight I Wanna Cry (2)
4. Sweet Thing

John’s Set:
1. Perfectly Lonely (2)
2. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
3. Say
4. Gravity
5. Faith

‘Til Summer Comes Around by Keith Urban

If you haven’t guessed by now, the movie I’m talking about is New Moon. I’m making an event out of it — some friends are coming over to eat Italiano, watch Twilight and then go to the theater. At the time I was planning this, I thought it would be easier for everyone to get together on Saturday. Now I realize the rest of the world will get to see the movie a day before we do. What was I thinking?

So to get you (and me) through the next 5 days, I offer 5 things to occupy your time:

1. Go to party one superstore to stare at the life-size Edward Cullen. Maybe take a picture with it.
2. Record all the talkshows this week and count how many times Taylor says he put on 30 pounds of muscle, Kristen refuses to say if she and Rob are together, and Rob says something goofy in a very hot British accent.
3. Continue your “research” using google images to decide if you are Team Edward or Team Jacob.
4. Watch the 3728 clips that are posted on YouTube and then wonder why you need to go see the movie since you’ve pretty much seen it all now.
5. Re-read the book. Or if you are Diana and Lisa, read it for the first time. (And you might want to start with the first one. You’ll probably have to use some vacation time to finish by Saturday.)

Does anyone else have New Moon plans?

Possibility by Lykke-Li

Last Tuesday, I bought cradlesong by Rob Thomas. Now I may be a little biased, but I think it’s awesome. So far, my favorites are … well it would be easier to say that I usually skip over “Gasoline” and “Snowblind.” Neither are bad songs, but I’m usually in a hurry to get to my two favorite songs: “Give me the meltdown” and “Wonderful”.

After the jump, Rob in hi def, new bsb and a pop quiz….

I also picked up the “Rob Thomas: Live at Red Rocks” dvd last week. Since I’m probably not going to see him on this tour, this helps relive the shows I did go to for his last cd. I think I would go to each date on his tour if I could. I love watching him and hearing the stories behind some of the songs. I even bought the Blu-Ray version of this. Rob Thomas in hi-def!! woohoo!

At work today, itunes entertained me by picking some bsb songs to play. It’s funny to think how I used to know everything that was going on with them, and now I’m so out of the loop. I did some searching and found that they’re working on a new cd and 10 songs were recently leaked. Now, I’ve only listened to them once but so far I’m not really impressed. They’re doing more R&B — kind of like NKOTB’s new stuff. Somehow Nick singing about his “shorty” doesn’t give me the same feeling as the old backstreet boys music that I obsessed over. Maybe it will grow on me. There is one song that I liked called “Bigger.” It’s supposedly written by Max Martin which comes as no surprise. Anyway, I’ll definitely buy it when it comes out, but I’m secretly hoping the cd will not have some of these songs on it.

Now for the pop quiz if you’ve read this far. In the RT section of this fairly long post, I mentioned that I bought the blu-ray version of his dvd. My blu-ray collection is fairly small. I currently own 7, but I’ve only purchased 2 one being the RT one. Who can name the other movie that I thought was worthy of purchasing?

Still ain’t over you by Rob Thomas

Tonight, there are fireworks at the Corvette museum and tomorrow at WKU. How many times will Kristi and I say “Is that it? Is that the end? Oh, you’ll know when it’s over.“?

On Saturday, Kristi and I are going to see Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and some other people at LP Field in Nashville. I think we have some decent seats so you can expect some pictures next week. It starts at 3:30 so I’m taking plenty of sunscreen. I don’t want to come back with raccoon eyes! We’ve got our fingers crossed that Uncle Kracker does NOT make a surprise appearance. That’s one way to ruin our concert experience. Another way is rain.

To prepare for Saturday, I’ve listened to Kenny’s song “Better As a Memory” a million times. I think it’s the best song he’s had in a long time. I love the words, music, and he sounds great. It may not top “What I need to do”, but it comes close. I grin now every time I get to the line that says “pretty good on a lonely night.” Last night, the song came on the radio and my mom’s response to that line was “I bet he is”.

What are your 4th of July plans?

Better as a Memory by Kenny Chesney

I spent Wednesday finishing my Christmas shopping and gift wrapping. Thursday, I did some “spring” cleaning and then Kristi and I went to see Daughtry in Nashville. It was a really good show. I think he did all of the songs from the cd. Our seats weren’t the greatest but they were not as bad as I thought “limited view” seats would be. Click here to see my pictures.

Today, I lost 5 pounds at least…..of hair! I finally went and got it cut. My hair had gotten so long it was driving me crazy. Plus, I somehow never got around to getting my “fall” color. So today I got a bunch chopped off and a new fall/winter color. Let me know what you think in the comments (and by that I mean only if you like it. Keep any negative comments to yourself ).

Used To by Daughtry

Words cannot express how good the concert was. He played for almost 3 hours! There was a huge screen at the back of the stage so we could see everything even though we were not in the best seats. There was also a little stage in the middle of the floor – that’s where I got my best pictures. He sang almost all of my favorite songs, and Martina Mcbride came out and sang “Broken Wing” near the end of the show. Except for the rude woman that kept telling me to sit down and Kristi losing her voice, it was a great concert experience. Click here to see my pictures.

Also, something to add to my tips on concert going that i posted a while back: Always check the time that the parking garage closes. You never know when a concert might run a little late, and that moment of realizing you might be stranded is not fun.

Tonight is our Kelly Clarkson concert at the Ryman. Hopefully Kristi is saving her voice today so that she can help belt out “Since you’ve been gone”.

I Told You So by Keith Urban

One difference in these new songs is that they were written by the band. Generally all of their other songs were written by lead singer Rob Thomas. I’ve read some reviews that people can tell a difference but to me it just sounds like the same mb20. And that’s a good thing – great music, awesome lyrics, and the fact that each album is a little better than the one before it.

How Far We’ve Come, I’ll Believe You When, All Your Reasons, If I Fall are pop-y, uptempo songs that are great for turning up loud while driving with your windows down or dancing around your bedroom (not that I do either of those). I know these will be great in concert. These Hard Times and Can’t Let You Go are ballads. These Hard Times is the best track on the cd, or at least the one I keep playing over and over.

The greatest hits cd contains all of their singles from Long Day to Bright Lights. Nothing new for me here except that it’s a good way to see how their sound has changed over the years.

The good: All Your Reasons is so fun to sing along with. I love the lyric “Turn my cartwheels into headstands.” Rob’s voice sounds amazing on These Hard Times. Again, great lyrics with “Keeping me hypnotized, the power behind your eyes.”

The bad: If I have to pick something, it would be the 2 cd package. I would rather have it all on one cd. But that’s more annoying to me than anything bad.

The Anna Nalick Scale of Longevity: 5 for the new disc, 3 for the greatest hits one. I would be more likely to get out the older cds to listen to the non-released songs as well.

Listen to Exile on Mainstream

Thursday, Kristi and I drove to Nashville for the opening night of the Nashville Film Festival to see Rob Thomas’s “My Secret Record”. We were excited about the movie and the thought that Rob might be in the theater with us. We were surprised to find that this festival is a pretty big deal and that there was a red carpet set up for the arrival of the “celebrities.” I’m using quotes because other than Rob and his wife Marisol, I recognized only one other person – Kimberly Williams Paisley (actress & wife of country singer Brad Paisley). After seeing the red carpet and all the people standing around, I was glad I had brought my new camera and Sharpie marker just in case.

Kristi and I had fun watching people arrive and taking pictures. At some point, Matchbox Twenty guitarist Kyle Cook was behind us. So off I went with my Sharpie, but he started walking away just as I said “hey Kyle….” I got some good pictures of Rob and Kristi tried getting him to sign something at the door of the theater, but again no luck. No big deal; we were ready to watch the film. I would have been happy to come home and find this picture of Rob and me on nashtown.com:

So we went in the lobby and see Kyle again. This time he did sign my book and Kristi got a picture of him signing it:

I would have been happy to come home with Kyle’s autograph, but it didn’t end there as Rob Thomas himself was standing right behind us. I now have Rob’s autograph and this amazing picture:

If you would like to see this glorious picture in person, feel free to stop by my desk at work on Monday. I told Kristi this may replace the picture I have from her wedding. She said that was ok because she may replace the wedding picture in her office with this too!

In case you’re wondering, the film was really good.

Streetcorner Symphony by Rob Thomas

The title of today’s post comes from a song on Christina Aguilera’s new double cd Back to Basics. I’ve been listening to the cd for about a week, and I think it’s going to have to grow on me. I definitely like the first cd better than the second. Girlfriend can sang, but a lot of the songs just sound the same to me.

I’ve also listened to some of Jessica Simpson’s new songs. 1. She can’t sing. 2. She seems to be obsessed with this 80s sound. 3. Listening to her sing “You spin me round” makes me want to cry.

In other bad music news, I finally got to see Kenny’s new NINE minute video. You can watch it here or just read my summary:

Minutes 1 – 5: Kenny looking moody (aka trying to act), some guys speaking in Spanish with subtitles you can barely see but it doesn’t matter
Minutes 5 -9: Kenny singing, a love scene with Kenny sans hat, Kenny reunited with the girl.

The song’s not bad, but when the video was over I was thinking that is 9 minutes of my life I’ll never get back. (Actually, 18 because I watched it again with Kristi on Saturday. Maybe she’ll leave a comment to share what she said Kenny looks like in his big love scene.) Jason, you should do a video for your song. I bet yours would be better in half the time. And, judging by the comments in my last post, you have a lot of fans!

It’s only Tuesday and I’m already looking to the weekend. I’m in decorator mode and will be painting a bathroom and hallway in my house this weekend. I’m taking off Friday to get started before Kristi comes over on Saturday to help if LL Cool E lets her. Woohoo – three day weekend!

Slow Down Baby by Christina Aguilera

I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys