Almost everyone who knows me knows that I am a Genesis fan of gigantic proportions. Like huge. And I came across a show review this morning that made me smile and I wanted to share it. I was particularly excited to hear about all the older songs they are playing this time around, especially ending the show with my favorite “Carpet Crawlers”. What I wouldn’t do to see that! Unfortunately I cannot afford tickets this time around, so I’m just not thinking about it. But you can believe that if Peter ever re-joined them for a tour, I would be giving you a review first-hand because that is a show I wouldn’t miss.

If you like Genesis, you’ll enjoy this article. Of course, I may be the only one, but whatever.

Genesis balances progressive, pop-rock eras

By Frank Scheck Wed Sep 26, 7:18 PM ET

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - No, it wasn’t the reunion including Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett that fans have long dreamed about, but the show featuring the most commercially successful incarnation of Genesis doesn’t disappoint.

The set list for the aptly named Turn It On Again tour, the band’s first in more than 15 years, is a canny mixture of prog-rock favorites and hits from its hugely commercial pop-rock era. While neither segment of their constituency is likely to be completely satisfied, the program seems a reasonable compromise that shows off the band’s many strengths.

Certainly, the core trio of singer-drummer Phil Collins, guitarist Mike Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks (augmented by longtime compatriots Chester Thompson on drums and Daryl Stuermer on bass and guitar) offers the fans plenty of value for the extravagant ticket prices they shelled out. Delivering a strenuous set that lasts more than 2-1/2 hours, the band doesn’t seem to have lost a step.

Collins remains an ever-engaging and theatrical frontman, clowning with the crowd and still possessing a powerful singing voice and drum chops that are frequently displayed. Rutherford remains an amazingly precise guitarist, while Banks’ assured keyboards provide the complicated textures that keep the long instrumental passages from becoming tedious. The music was well complemented by an extravagant video and light show that clearly wasn’t done on the cheap.

Many of the bigger hits, as well as everything from Collins’ prodigious solo career, were ignored (no “Abacab,” thankfully). But the old fans were treated to early numbers, some dating as far back as “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” days, including “In the Cage,” “Cinema Show,” “Afterglow,” “Firth of Fifth” and “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe).” And they were no doubt particularly pleased by the closing number, “Carpet Crawlers.”

But the pop fans weren’t left out, with the band delivering strong renditions of “Throwing It All Way,” “No Son of Mine” “Turn It On Again,” “Invisible Touch” and “Land of Confusion,” among others. While “Hold on My Heart” showed the band at its treacly worst, such numbers as the supremely creepy “Mama” (with close-ups of Collins’ face illuminated to supremely spooky effect) and a nicely slowed-down version of “Follow You Follow Me” more than compensated.

Genesis hits the Hollywood Bowl on October 12 and 13.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Tonight I’m going to see the Beastie Boys at the Riv in Chicago, which should be interesting, fun and tiring (in that order).  I’ve only seen them once before and it was back in 1996.  I had tickets, like a lot of other people, to see them come around with RATM until that tour was canceled and Rage decided to split up shortly after.  I believe that was 1997-1998ish. So it’s been a good 10 years and I’m interested in seeing them perform and hearing some new stuff. Plus I’m going with Loree, so that always proves to be fun no matter what we’re doing.  I’m sure we’ll also be talking about our possibly February trip to Trinidad & Tobago.

In other news, I’ve sprained and broken my ankle; along with pulling a tendon to boot.  So I’m waddling around in an air-cast for the next 3-4 weeks until my next appointment.  Then they will see how it is doing and start physical therapy if it’s healing good.  I don’t really know WHAT I did to injure it, it just started hurting and swelling one day.  Then it got to the point where I couldn’t barely put any weight on it, so I finally went and got it checked out. The break is a fracture that has possibly been there for years and might not be something recent.  Because of all the gymnastics I did when I was younger, this doesn’t surprise me.  Yet the fracture is still contributing to the pain.  So let’s hope it all get fixed this time so this doesn’t happen another 10 years down the road.  Who needs it?

But on a lighter note, my husband and I are finally going back to Colorado for a much needed vacation over Thanksgiving.  It’s been about a year since we’ve been and we’ve spent the better part of that year being bitter that we could not move there. It will be hard to go back and even tougher to leave it behind again.  But we will own property there someday and we REALLY could use a mini vacation right now.  A mini honeymoon even?  Perhaps.

Hopefully I won’t be hobbling around by then and can do some hiking.

Have a great week everyone.

This post is written and posted by Joy’s geek husband JAe.  

This afternoon my coworker and I were at best buy picking up some modems after a t1 dispatch. While there I noticed that they had a Western Digital 1 Terabyte Network Storage device marked down from 449.99…….to 89.99. YES. A brand
name 1 TB NAS device for under a hundo.

For the uninitiated this is a little white box that holds TONS of stuff and you can access it from anywhere on the internet.

After running all possible scenerios through my head, is it the right SKU, is it the same one, I consulted the boss (my wife) and she gracefully approved my purchase. At this point the lovely purple box enters the realm of our yellow shopping cart.

Standing in line still debating upon wether or not the stellar cashier was going to ring my golden purchase up properly; I thought back to my days as a best buy employee hating every aspect of the organization. The cashier rings up my purchase without a blink and probably wonders why these two nerds in front of her are almost jumping for joy. “Is it marked down or something?”, she states with a “Wow…You are huge friggin geeks.” look in her eyes. We say “uhhh…ya, a little bit.” She shrugs and places the object of our excitement in my yellow best buy bag.

After getting back to the office and parading around my fabulous purchase to the flabbergasted eyes of our staff, Another coworker runs out to pick one up for him and one for someone in tech support. A Sales guy also makes the journey to find one tucked away behind another model, probably by a sneaky 14 year old, who had to run home to steal money from his mothers purse. Best Buy Crystal Lake is now sold out of $89 Western Digital 1 TB NAS devices.

This obviously leaves many of my nerdy coworkers in a drooling state. It looks like this. O_o

We called the Algonquin store to see if they would price match. As the lovely woman on the phone put it, “They went on clearance this morning at $269.99″. When we persist her to price match the NAS she consults her manager. As her
manager runs to call the other store, she calmly returns to the phone.

“I’ve checked our database and it appears that the Crystal Lake store is the only store in the district that is not selling those at 269.99. My manager is calling the store and has stated that we cannot approve your price match.”

Score one for the consumer.

I’m proud to post that my brother has had his very first novel published!  He has been working on it for the better part of the last 10 years - the manuscript being one of the only things he grabbed and took with him when he evacuated the Katrina devastation.  When he left his home, he wasn’t expecting the situation to be as bad as it was and they only grabbed a few personal things, about 3 days worth of clothes, and their cat.  Subsequently, they were kept out for months and lost nearly everything to the flood.

I’ve yet to read the novel and I should be receiving my copy soon, but I wanted to let my readers know that I can pretty much guarantee that they will not be disappointed if they pick it up.  I am that confident in my brother’s writing talents.  He has had several short stories published throughout the years and he’s an English teacher.  He holds two (yes, 2) Masters degrees, in English and Latin and he’s a tested genius.  Can anyone tell that I am proud of him?

We have always been close - he is my big brother and we share the same birthday.  I was his birthday present when he was 9. 

If any of you happen to pick up “Tiny Clubs” please let me know what you think, I’m dying to hear.

I found this while Stumbling and I don’t know WHERE it is, but it’s beautiful and I want to go there!

Click on the image for a larger picture, or do the panoramic shot movement yourself here.

This is our dog Eko.  or Wecko as Tyler likes to call him.  He’s a lab/retriever mix and he’ll be 2yrs old in November.  I rescued him last November and he was a present to my husband for his birthday.  When he was almost 1 he was found on the side of the road in Ohio and taken to a kill shelter.  A lab rescue outfit here in IL drove to Ohio to pick him up before they could dispose of him.  He was brought here and I adopted him 1 day later.  We named him Eko in memory of Mr. Eko from the show LOST.
He’s a wonderfully happy, dumb dog.  He loves everyone and is the happiest dog I’ve ever known.

He use to have long hair (retriever hair) but we had him shaved this summer and he looks much better with it short.

We love the Wecko.

Before : Long Hair

After : Short Hair

I have been meaning to post pictures from our trip to Colorado for a LONG time. I’ve had some up on Flickr for a while, but they really don’t do it justice, so I wanted to post some more.

This was a trip my husband and I took in November of last year (2006) and we stayed in Fort Collins, traveling to Estes Park through Loveland. Fort Collins is in the northern region of Colorado, only a couple of hours from Wyoming. It is set to the east of the Rocky Mountains near what is called the “Foothills”, otherwise known as the Front Range of the Rockies. Ftc is also the home of CSU and is far more than just a college town. It’s a beautiful city that we have grown to love and consider a second home.

During our trip, we were talking with some very nice local Indian folks (American Indian) and they suggested that if we wanted to go closer to the mountains (which we did!) that we check out Estes Park, which is about an hour + drive from Fort Collins. Estes Park is the portrait of a mountain town and also houses the Stanley Hotel - where the movie “The Shining” was shot all those years ago. It is just as impressive and creepy as you would imagine - although it’s a grand, beautiful hotel. Estes Park is a wonderful town nestled in the Rockies, at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The people are friendly, they have cool little shops and it is just an amazing place.

So I wanted to share some of my photos with you, I’m in no way a photographer and some were taken from inside the car. But they are beautiful nonetheless and Colorado is a wonderful place to go and experience.

The view driving from the Denver airport to Fort Collins

Driving up into the foothills to check out the views and Horsetooth Reservoir

Fort Collins - from partway up the foothills.

Horsetooth Reservoir - this place is seriously so tranquil and beautiful

More rocks driving up the foothills

Driving past Loveland up to Estes Park - so many evergreens! Remember, this is November.

This is a small lake that we saw from the road to Estes Park. I didn’t even touch this up at all, that is how blue that water was.

The Rocky Mountains from Estes Park. It was so sunny it was hard to get a good photo. This is about 9K feet elevation.

Small stream behind a shopping center in Estes Park. Already freezing over - and that is a Christmas decoration set in the trees.

The Stanley Hotel. Sits up on a hill above the rest of Estes Park, it is very impressive. There was a wedding going on when we stopped to check it out.