Tunes By the Tridge

'Sup, folks.

One of the cool things this little town or ours does during the summer is provide free, open-air concerts to the masses every week. This 'Bread and Circus' management approach by the municipal powers that be definitely screams 'Midland,' but it's appreciated - we make an effort to head downtown every Thursday for Tunes By the Tridge to check out the week's musical act(s).

Some are definitely better than others - the 'Bro Country' acts are usually abysmal (like, comically bad) - but the last two weeks we've gotten lucky. Kris' favorite night of the summer, by far, is Dueling Pianos, which usually kicks off the summer program, so it was mandatory that we head downtown for that one. Our local friend group are big proponents of this weekly outing, so we usually have four or five families on hand to hang out with down there. Each night we pack up a cooler and some camping chairs and stake out a space on the grass, then proceed to hang out for a couple hours while traveling troubadours play for our amusement.

Today's post highlights the last two weeks' concerts, which were both pretty cool. We're kinda busy the next two Thursdays, so we may not get back around to Tunes By the Tridge until July - have to play it by ear.

Anyway, here you go, kids - enjoy.

Thursday, June 6th: Dueling Pianos

The weather has been pretty solid the first stretch of June, and the night we came out for Dueling Pianos was no different - no rain, high 70s (a little overcast for my liking - no bronzing to be had - but decent enough.) Turnout for this inaugural concert is usually pretty high, and so it came to no surprise that it was pretty packed down there.

Erik and I had a Masonic funeral to attend for an old brother who had passed away, and so we weren't rolling in until, like, 7:30pm or so, but Kris, the Colliers, and all the kids were able to get down there and snag a spot for our group.

By the time we finally got there, the two dueling pianists - and an accompanying drummer this year, a first - were in the middle of busting out pop standards.

This one was a song made popular from the cheesy movie Dolphin Tale that Abby was obsessed with back when she was super little (and that we consequently checked out one Spring Break back when we lived in Florida.)

Kris and Melanie

Abby and Ella, taking advantage of the local food trucks that always come out for Tunes By the Tridge.

Alayna brought along her friend Amelia for the evening (always keep the kids out of our hair if they bring along friends to wander around with.)

Lonnie Big Balls (at left) rolled in with his fam about a half an hour after we first got there.

The jams keep coming. . .

Two idiots, fighting over a balloon apparently.

This vid definitely sums it up what it's like down by the Tridge on nights like this.

Yours Truly, Stephanie and Lonnie, Erik, and the Colliers, Ryan and Mees.

Jesus Christ, this kid really likes her balloon. . .

Frickin' kid enjoys stealing my hat off my head when I'm least expecting it. . .

The show ended around 9pm, and people began to wander off back towards their cars. Our group, however, continued to sit around, having drinks and hanging out. 

Meanwhile, Abby and Ella were still running around downtown and snapping off glamour pics for their social media accounts (I assume.)

Not sure why The H Hotel is such a point of interest for these two, but whatever. . .

Yeah. . .  we're those people.

The girls took turns taking pics in a tree at the end of the night on our way back to the cars (when we finally got everybody motivated enough to leave.)

Thursday, June 13th: 90's

The following week was warmer, sunnier, and we were actually able to get down there right when it started.

Abby was kind of in a funk when we first got there, but fortunately she snapped out of it after awhile.

Mitch came out this time around (sans Kelli, though.)

Turnout this week was even heavier than last week, on account of the marginally nicer weather, but since we were able to get down there earlier we were able to get decent seats (and parking.)

At one point, some of the dads wanted to grab some drinks downtown, so as we were walking down Main Street we spotted this random cat inside the abandoned floor of the Larkin Building (which houses my Masonic Lodge up on the third floor, if you'll remember.) This floor used to be Oscar's, one of Midland's old bars downtown, but the owner sold it years ago, and it's been empty since. This cat - Weezy, I guess - must be such a regular that whoever is caretaking this empty floor made the cat it's own sign.

Just look at how much fun Abby is having. . .

Chucks and Concerts.

The Cannonball favorite: The 0.5 Forced Perspective

Some Kings of the Hill: Collier, Erik and Mitch

And, like last time, Abby and Ella had to get a few pics for their social media nonsense on the way out of there (courtesy of the Cannonball.)

Teens are so edgy. . .

Kris, Mees and Courtney, mid-gossip.

Closing down Tunes By the Tridge, just like last week. Gotta wonder if we're pissing anyone off by doing this every week. . .

Once again, on the steps of The H Hotel. 

And, in closing, here we have Samson and Watson, who were totally fine with resuming couch time once we had gotten home and started watching some TV before turning in for the night.

- Brian

A Spring Fling

Hey, America.

I get a lot of anxiety over all these trivial events my kids participate in through the community.  Whether it's a school play, a soccer game, a church program, etc. - I stress over getting a good seat, having the right lens on my camera, and whether or not I have enough battery on my phone to video record everything in the event I need to.

Now, the last couple times my kids have been in a musical at their school (a play, a concert, whatever the hell you call these things), I've arrived early in order to sit relatively close to the front of the assembled crowd in the gym.  I always find myself sitting in the second row, towards the middle of the aisle, which, as it is, is a pretty decent vantage point considering that the first row is always reserved for teachers and classroom aides.

At least it should be.

Here we have a great shot of the back of Jabba's head. . .

The bane of my existence are those people (see here) that waddle in late, and help themselves to an empty seat right in the very front row.  Frequently teachers are needed elsewhere and don't utilize their reserved seats, subsequently leaving a few empty seats, so these latecomers come in and plop themselves down DIRECTLY IN FRONT of those of us who were smart enough to arrive early and nab supposedly good seats.

I guess I was raised differently, but if I came in late to my kid's school thingy, and was forced to pick a seat in the very front row, I would NOT pick the seat directly in front of the guy holding an SLR and three different camera lenses.  Call me crazy, but that guy's there to take pictures.

Also, I'd be more careful about the food I eat - you gotta take care of yourself.

Anyway, here's my kid's stupid school thingy:

Alayna and her friend, Alaina.  The 3rd grade classrooms came into the gym to watch the 1st grade performance.  I had wanted to take a half-day for these concerts, but Abby's was at 10:30am, and Alayna's was at 2:30pm. . . which meant I was forced to take a full day off of work.

First Graders (Abby's in the front row, all the way to the right.)

Abby's BFFF (the extra 'F' stands for 'fairy,' so I'm told), Larkin, and Jackson, our neighbor from down the street.

After the concert, Kris and I ran a few errands before returning to the school for the Third Grade concert in the afternoon. . .

Warming up

Our seats were about the same as last time, except for this concert Alayna was at the opposite end of the stands, a few rows back.

Some genius decided it'd be a good idea to block Alayna and her two friends - both of whom are just about as short as Alayna is herself - with a bunch of monster-children that are nearly my height.  The result was that we got a pretty solid look at Alayna's forehead for the duration of the concert.  Which, as you can imagine, was pretty rewarding.  Definitely worth taking the time off of work.

Alayna and her crew, walking back to class, following the program.

Nice job, forehead.

- Brian