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

The Houghs' 900th Episode: A Monster Mash

Welcome to this blog's 900th installment, folks - the Hough's 6th Annual Halloween Costume Party.

Behold the Kid Zone - primed for party-time chaos.

This year was a true return-to-form - a costume party with nearly sixty people in attendance.  Last year our plans were mixed up a bit, since the Saturday fell on Halloween itself, which meant we had to merge our party with the Johnson family's annual Trick-or-Treating, driveway grill fest.  Due to spiking Covid numbers, an outdoor affair last year worked out rather well, all things considered, but it definitely didn't feel the same.  We were grateful that this year, once again, we were able to hold our party the way we usually did - with a huge spread of food on hand, everyone in costumes, etc.

All those streamers would be torn down within an hour.

So instead of writing too much more about this - because you guys all know how we roll with these annual Halloween parties of ours by now - I'll leave you to enjoy a crap-load of pics from this year's Hough Halloween Party.

Behold. . .

Kris' spooky-yet-delicious seven-layer taco dip.

Kris and I spent a couple hours in the kitchen prepping for this damn party.  Not my favorite thing in the world, I'll tell ya that much.

A kid staple: mummy dogs.  I had to hand-wrap these, and I was not good at it.  By far the low point for me this evening.

We went with a '90s theme this year, but of course our kids didn't want anything to do with that so we didn't really have a family 'theme' this year.  Kris wanted to do a Clueless group costume, so she dressed up as Brittney Murphy's character from the movie, Tae, while I played the part of her high school pot-head, skateboarding boyfriend.

The Larsons, as the Addams Family.  They showed up an hour early to help us finish setting everything up.

The Colliers.  They showed up about the same time as the Bos Fam, with Ryan dressed up as Dale Earnhardt Sr (he even shaved off everything but his mustache for the role) and Mees as Dionne, another character from Clueless (she got to be the black chick from the movie because she felt that, as the Asian in the group, she was the closest thing.)  No idea what their kids are.

Mitch and Kelli as Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski from Saved By the Bell.

The Fab Five

Grazing in the kitchen

Mitch set up a deep-frying station in our garage so he could crisp up some of the smoked wings Erik brought.  A time-consuming process, but they were sooooo good.

The Nadgaudas.

The Johnsons.  Courtney went as Alicia Silverstone's character from Clueless (the main character), and Erik was her boyfriend, Paul Rudd.

The Holty Family (I guess her kids didn't get the memo about dressing up.)

Some of the kid spread in the basement.

The Sheahan Family as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Say what you will about this group of ours, we're never short on food. . .

Brad as Mario

Trina (one of Kris' coworkers) and her husband, Eric.

The Griffin Family.  Lonnie Big Balls and LJ dressed up in Space Jam jerseys, while Stephanie and Alivia suited up in Beanie Baby outfits.

Cluckfest at the kitchen table.

Never short on meat around these parts. . .

Wives and lemon shots, assembled.

The dads, as usual, stuck to the Study

The likeness is uncanny. . .

The Dads

The 'cast' of Clueless.

(Their attempt at the pic above.)

Kelli, Amy, Trina, and Alicia

Mitch and Morgan

The womenfolk entertained themselves with random party games in the living room for most of the evening, per the usual.

The Three Amigas - Ella, Abby and Sophie - wanted a few posed pictures in front of the backdrop. . .

Like this one, where they took turns being the happy one in the middle being flanked by the other two giving the middler person a WTF look.  I don't know, kids are weird. . .

Kris and Danielle

Stephanie, Susan, Trina and Courtney playing Heads Up

Mitch the Drink Master, being festive.

Causing mischief in Abby's room

Alayna and her friends Ava, Gabby and Christina - all too cool to hang out with the younger kids in the basement - hung out in her room most of the night.  I set up a TV and Fire Stick in her room (temporarily, of course) to keep them busy.

My neighbor across the street, Kyle (at right) dropped in towards the end of the night to say hi. 

Brad, Erik and Teagan.

(I let Tom borrow my wig for a hot minute.)

Towards the end of the evening, as people started to leave, some of the dads drifted into the living room to hang out and play some games. . .

Kris and the Larsons.

The girls had some roses sitting in a vase (leftover from their Orchestra Concert a few days ago) so we couldn't resist getting this pic from the movie.

The Barden Family

Rylan, Christina, Alayna, Gabby and Elson

- Brian