Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Aug 9/08

The show was fantastic sonically & visually and Tom Petty connected well to the Winnipeg audience.
The shot above you can see the cool backdrop (U2 videobeads) and the cubes that projected video or images. A very cool stage set-up from my perspective. The Steve Winwood set seemed to lag somewhat compared to Tom Petty and although the musicianship was top-knotch - Winwood didn't seem to connect as well to the crowd. He just doesn't have the long-term radio hits that TP & H have.
I love this shot - I find that my little point&shoot digital works better with more light projected - especially white light. It was great to have two songs with Winwood joining Petty (The Heartbreakers are probably the best backing band you could ever have - eg. Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash) - a lot more energy than when he was with his band. All in all a great rockin' show that Winnipeg loved!
Here's the setlist:

1.　You Wreck Me
2.　Listen To Her Heart
3.　I Won't Back Down
4.　Even The Losers
5.　Free Fallin'
6.　Mary Jane's Last Dance
7.　End of the Line
8.　Can't Find Way Back Home (with Steve Winwood)
9.　Gimme Some Lovin' (with Steve Winwood)
10.　Saving Grace
11.　Breakdown
12.　Honey Bee
13.　Learning to Fly
14.　Don't Come Around Here No More
15.　Refugee
- encore -
1.　Runnin' Down A Dream
2.　Mystic Eyes
3.　American Girl

A shot of Wendy, Mandy, Sarah, and the crowd at the show!

Recap of Birthday

I worked for most of the morning - so much prep ahead yet but had set aside the afternoon for my daughter Aimee's birthday. We had "A"-shaped pancakes for breakfast thanks to the creativity of Wendy and the plan was unveiled to AJ that we would be going to Tinkertown & she could bring along her friend Piper. Aimee was so stoked! We spent almost 3 hours enjoying an assortment of rides and Zach actually went on a few as well. I'm not sure why they insist playing that crappy country pop stuff - pretty annoying music. It was a cooker too - 28 degrees C. We of course snacked on the famous donuts & some ice cream treats. Then it was off to Applebee's - Aimee's favorite restaurant! Nothing fancy for the girls - grilled cheese but I enjoyed the Lime Chicken & Wen had some Chicken Fettuccine. We followed that with a driveby to get a castle cakepan at a store, then off to ToysRUs for a birthday gift and party supplies. Wen will host a "princess" party next week for Aimee & some of her friends - this week just slipped away on us and we weren't able to get it all going. So there ya have it 08.08.08 - a great day for a birthday escape!

08.08.08

Interesting numerical date today - start of the Olympics in Beijing and also my daughter Aimee's birthday! Lots planned for today!

Anything's Possible!

The Vacation Is Over - Sort Of

Well it's back to work as of today after another couple weeks of holidays - most spent at Star Lake. I managed to squeeze in a great mtn bike ride in Ingolf with Pat for a couple hours - around 20kms I'm guessing and although I haven't ridden as much as I'd like - most of my rides have been good.

I've done some road-riding with my buddy Paul as well and actually did a 40km "Magic" Loop today. I hope to get in some more riding before the semester picks up in September - I made some adjustments to my mtn bike that have helped make it a better ride as well.

So what have we done as a family over the past number of weeks? We did a trip out to Edmonton/Calgary/Banff to visit friends/family/mountains which was pretty epic. The kids especially enjoyed the view from on top of the mountain we "gondala'd up" and hopefully gave them a good taste of future hiking trips up mountains.

We've done some work to our house - including a couple garage sales to help us simplify and simply get rid of some accumulated stuff. We still have more of that to do though - hard getting rid of possessions - not sure why though? It seems as soon as one gets rid of something we tend to replace it. It's the classic "fill-the-box-you-have" phenomenon that I see played out in rooms, houses, and even hard-drives!

I think spending time at Star Lake or in our backyard have been the most family-oriented & relaxing though. Amazing how the "great outdoors" does that - recharges you!