Well hello there! Long time no blog. Without getting into it too much I will say that I have had a busy month. Not the best month to say the least but I did find some time to have some good times.
On June 12th my buddy Travis and I had plans to see The Book Of Mormon in Davenport Iowa. It's about a two and a half hour drive from Des Moines so first thing in the morning I made sure to walk Fonzie. There is a really cool pond a few miles from my house. It's super serene, especially at 7 AM. It looks like it a Bob Ross Painting come to life.
After a brisk mile and a half walk and picking up way to much poop for such a small dog I was back home and showered and sure in the car with Travis. Knowing the two of us I am sure we were joking and laughing at the stupidest things we could think of all the way there. The number of times I had to try and convince people that I was not a pot head is more times than it should but... but I am not a pot head.
We made it to Davenport and I have to say that is a beautiful city! I have only been there a few times to do stand up in what is admittedly cool venue. I had one of the best sets of my life and one of the worst. The first thing the two of us did was find a local pizza place, Vans. https://www.vanspizza.net
After a quick minute of looking over the menu I found a pizza called "The Big Marc" a pizza covered in ground beef, lettuce, pickles, and thousand Island dressing. I do like Thousand Island but wasn't to keen of it being on a pizza but if Vans goes to the trouble of creating and naming a pizza after me I have to try it! Ultimately it was great! I was very impressed and if I am in the area would try it again.
We still had about a hour to kill after lunch so we wandered around and found a barcade. It had all the classics, Pacman, skee ball (and my skee ball skills were on fire that day!), and even Mario Kart machine which I had never seen before. But the best part about this barcade was the two small rooms in the back. Little quite places with a leather couch and sit down Mrs Pacman. Perfect for a date "Bring me a two litter of Shasta" and then impress them with your old school gaming skills.
Next off was Book of Mormon. To say that this show was well received would be an understatement and I have been a fan of South Park for so long I used to record it for my buddy Ian in high school before his area had comedy central. That being said I was still wasn't sure if I would like the show. I mean would their humor really translate to Broadway? The show began and the songs were spectacular and then when one of the characters made a joke about having sex with a baby I knew that ok this is probably going to work. Sure enough it did! I had a great time and have listened to the song "Man Up" religiously.
On the way home it is next to impossible to not stop at the Worlds Largest Truck Stop. Travis and I joked as we pulled in, wondering "Why did they make this? The worlds largest? Do they sabotage and burn down other truck stops that try and become the new worlds largest?" I was more impressed with the worlds largest Pacman! Sadly I blew all my cash at the barcade and wasn't able to take advantage of it.
Through Iowa City we had to make a pit stop at Steak and Shake! This is the second post I have made and both of them reference Steak and Shake. It's just a coincidence and I am not looking for a sponsor but I mean that would be cool.
I said we could stop and check out the porno store. That would be good for a laugh. Travis agreed but kept on driving.
SIMPSONS TRIVIA
My friend JT sent me a message letting me know that a bar not far from where I worked was doing a Simpsons trivia night. I tried reaching out to a few friends that are into the show but they choice to have families and babies and didn't think about me or the possibility of a future Simpsons trivia night. I figured screw it, I didn't need no team. So I was planning on going on my own after I went to the gym.
Serendipity smiled on me and I left the gym and found a text on my phone from my buddy Eric. The singer of a cool punk band called Hold for Swank, https://www.facebook.com/holdforswank/ https://holdforswank.bandcamp.com/
Since his band names everyone of their albums after Simpsons lines I knew we would be a force to be reckoned with.
Overall it was pretty fun night, even though there was a few questions that the people running the trivia had the wrong answer for.
The entire crowd was quick to point out that wasn't correct. Like I said, it was a good time and here's the kicker. Eric and I got first place and we walked out with free beer growler!
MILLIE THE DUCK LIVE READING
At a school in a small town about 30 minutes from my house Kaylin did a live reading of her book Millie the Duck! I walked in to support her and she quickly told me "don't laugh, don't look at me." I could tell she was nervous and clearly wasn't expecting Uncle Marc to crash her reading. Watching her read reminded me of my first stand up days, I could tell she was nervous. She kind of read a little to fast but overall she did a great job and that skill with come with time. It was kind of fun watching her field questions from the crowd. I asked "Who is your favorite uncle?" she declined to answer.
FRANK TURNER
Later the same day I was in Kansas City to see one of my favorite musicians Frank Turner. As I said this was been a hard month and I really needed a night to have a fun and listen to music. We started out at a restaurant called Grinders http://grinderspizza.com/crossroads/the-menu/
My brother told me that they had huge slices of pizza and probably couldn't eat more than two. I was starving so I went for a slice and a South Philly Cheesesteak. Both were amazing but I could have eaten about 10 more slices of pizza.
We walked a few blocks to the venue and got our tickets and went inside.
He had three openers, some dude that I have heard on Frank Turner pandora, a band called the Mezingers, they were fun reminded me of one of those super popular pop punk bands from the early 2000s. I'd check them out, if that is your thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQBG7wAVWAA
Next came the band Lucero, I have known about these guys because my friend Will is a Lucero fanatic. It's like he is solely experiencing Beatles mania but for Lucero. They hit the stage and my friend James said "What are these guys? Alcoholic truck drivers?" then they started playing and he said " or meth dealing truck drivers?" Like their music, their look kind of refuses to be defined by a single genre, are they are rock country band? A country grunge act? It's hard to say but it it doesn't matter because as the show went on everyone was blown away. I can see why Will has such and obsession with Lucero.
I seem to have more to say about Lucero than I do the headliner, Frank Turner. This is the third time I have seen him live and he has been fantastic every time! This was my brother's first time seeing him and he said to me "I see why you like him. His lyrics are so optimistic." It's very true his music definitely picks me up.
If you haven't heard him check out the following songs
Get Better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB4Avdlz3lk
Recovery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1L5zJ2afLs
Be More Kind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwtAjv04pt8
Not only did I get a picture with the drummer from Lucero but I was also given a set list from Frank Turner's set!
Overall a great night!
