STLRaceChicks' Blog

We have these little critters all over our yard but we are not sure what they are. They do not have blue tails like the other skinks we have seen. Does anyone know if they are a different type of skink or some other reptile?

All I know is that they really like to drive our dog to distraction!

Last Thursday night, my pal Spring and I were supposed to go to a concert, but the nasty winter storm that pounded our area forced a postponement of the event until Monday night. Judging from the reaction of the crowd, and from our own experience, it was well worth the wait!

We were right in the middle of a really fun crowd at this concert. I’ve been to a lot of concerts over the years - from full-on rock and roll to contemporary Christian and everything in between – and this was one of the best-behaved audiences I have ever seen. There are times you get stuck with loud-mouthed drunks, or guys who spend the whole concert slobbering all over their girlfriends, or folks who think they know all the words and sing them really loud right in your ear, but can’t carry a tune. This was not one of those nights.

All around us were teens and early twenty-somethings who were just out to have a foot-stomping good time, and that’s what they did. No boozin’ it up or being obnoxious or anything like that. Instead, they were just downright friendly and we had a good time getting to know them. You guys know who you are, and you really made our night, so thanks! We enjoyed hanging out with you!

The musical groups were great. First up was Jason Michael Carroll, a guy I had never heard of until the day of the concert, but someone with a very impressive voice. His first release, “Alyssa Lies” is a very moving song about child abuse and he does a wonderful job with it. I loved the fact that it was just Jason singing, accompanied by two acoustic guitars, because I love acoustic guitars. That’s the one instrument I actually attempted to learn, and I even taught beginning lessons as one of my first jobs. That was back when every kid who came to me wanted to learn “Stairway to Heaven,” which really tells a lot about my age!

Jimmy Wayne was second up, and I had definitely heard his music before. His songs, “I Love You this Much” and “Paper Angels” are his trademarks. He appeared on the Laura Ingraham Show one morning and told the story behind “Paper Angels” which refers to the Angel Tree Program where kids in need are matched up with folks who provide them with a Christmas gift. It turns out that Jimmy and his sister had been recipients of Angel Tree gifts, which just goes to show that those gifts really do make a difference! Our family participates in this program every year through our church, and our paper angels are right here next to me to remind me to shop for them, but more importantly, to pray for them also. Jimmy did a beautiful job, not only sharing his music through his voice and just his own guitar, but sharing of himself as well. His cover of the Hall & Oates classic, “Sarah Smile” was another highlight of the evening, and things just kept getting better.

The third act of the night was Emerson Drive, and to me, they just stole the show. What a rockin’ great act they have! These guys jammed on songs like “I Should Be Sleeping,” “Good Man” and “Testify.” Wow! I was blown away. It amazes me how many great groups are out there where I sometimes know the songs, but don’t realize who does them. Being a huge music fan, it drives me crazy to think that I might not have paid much attention to them in the past, but I will be making up for that now. One of the best parts of their show was when their fiddle player left the stage and got right down in the crowd to play. He was a lot of fun to watch and it looked like he had as good a time as the fans did.

Last up was Jason Aldean and his band. We started out watching from our seats along the side and just a few rows up from the floor, but it was making Spring nuts that she couldn’t get closer to take pictures, so she went to see what she could do about that. A few minutes later, she came back with floor tickets in hand, having begged them off of someone who was leaving. Score! We made our way down to the floor, and found empty seats just a few rows away from the stage.

We had fun down on the floor, and Jason and the band rocked the house with their hits, some new material and then finished up with a couple of Guns ‘n Roses covers, which were really great. It’s a lot of fun for me to hear stuff like that at a country concert because I think there are a lot of folks just like me out there, who have a very diverse taste in music, and enjoy a good mix. The encore cover of Mellencamp’s “Little Pink Houses” was dead on too, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it.

All too soon the lights came up and it was time to go, and we still had an envelope of photos that we wanted to somehow get to Jason Aldean. We had tried before the concert by talking with one of the guys from the station, but his only advice was for us to “rush the stage.” We nixed that idea, although it did cross our minds several times near the end of the show. Just before we left, we saw this guy hand a drumstick to one of the fans who was still mingling along the stage, and so we decided to see if he could help us out. Spring approached him with the envelope, which contained three photos, a couple of GGR stickers and our business cards, and asked if he could get them to the band. He assured her that he would, so we are hoping that he followed through.

It was definitely a fun night and not really such a late one after all. We girls know how to have a good time, whether it’s at the races, a concert, or even just hanging out at the local craft store. Thanks to all the bands who re-arranged their schedules in order to perform. It was a blast!

I put three pages of photos up on our web site yesterday, a few of which are here on the Fox 2 Community page. Hope you like 'em!

Every year I add a few new CDs to our Christmas collection. This year I have purchased Third Day's Christmas Offerings and Brad Paisley's Christmas CD. Both are collections I would highly recommend.

Third Day's "Christmas Like a Child" is just one of the awesome songs on this CD, and my personal favorite, although they do a great job on the classics as well as all the originals.

Brad Paisley has a great mix with classic songs, originals and a fun little bit about the ridiculous-ness of being "politically correct" about Christmas. This is one should be mandatory for all ACLU employees! Be sure to share Penguin, James Penguin with your kids. It's destined to join the classics like Frosty and Rudolph.

So what's your recommendation for best NEW Christmas music?

We're pretty picky around our house when it comes to family movies, and to be honest, I've walked out of Blockbuster more times than I can count after finding nothing suitable on the shelves.

Tonight, thanks to a dollar and our local Redbox, we were entertained by an absolutely wonderful movie called "Akeelah and the Bee." My daughter and I had heard about this movie several months back and had it on our "To-Rent" list, so when she brought it home this evening, I was thrilled.

Akeelah and the Bee is the heartwarming and inspiring story of Akeelah Anderson, a young lady with a gift for words who is persuaded into participating in the school's spelling bee, which leads to more contests and more pressure. The end result left me pleasantly surprised and cheering with the crowd in the film.

It was so wonderful to find a movie that was not only clean enough for family viewing, but had such a positive storyline as well. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone. For the record, there were two episodes of mild language that I remember, but that's really the only caution I could give to parents of younger children. Our family loved it, and would definitely watch it again.