Mark & Jess's Wedding

Friday, July 13th 2007:

Off we go to Mark & Jess's wedding weekend in St. Ignace, Michigan. A rather smooth, yet very expensive flight from Baltimore to Detroit to the Pellston Regional Airport, we arrive in the area on Friday around 1:30pm where we get picked up by the Top of the Hill taxi company to head to our hotel, the Kewadin Shores Casino & Hotel, as recommended by Bill, Mark's best man. The weather was beautiful, with blue, sunny skies, and the area was rather scenic.

We arrive at the casino and become members of their Northern Rewards Players Club to get a special discount on the room rate as well as get some tokens to play in their casino before actually checking in. The rooms were nice having a small balcony to walk out on. We were hoping to get a room with a view of Lake Huron, but we had a lovely view of the parking lot instead. We got there when housekeeping was cleaning up the rooms, and I snuck in one of the lake-view ones for a quick peek...definitely better than the parking lot.

We grab something to eat at the Horseshoe Bay Restaurant on the first floor, which was serving a buffet, before doing a bit more exploring around.

This is an unfinished walkway/backyard behind the hotel, with Lake Huron in view:


Lots of space for a casino:

but where are all the tables and slot machines?

With Diebold and the rest en route, driving from Detroit, we head off to the rehearsal picnic

where the gang comes together



After getting attacked by mosquitoes on our way to Geoff's car, we get back to the hotel to make some moolah off our free tokens. Brian, Geoff and Diebold "class it up" with suit coats even though the casino was in an oversized tent.




Some slots and shots, blackjack and quarters, belligerent behavior and free expression...



Saturday, July 14th 2007: Wedding Day

The sky was threatening showers, and it had already rained overnight/early morning, but the clouds occasionally parted and the sun shone through during key parts of the ceremony. It was amazing. Wish it could have been warmer though. Being by the lake almost guarantees a cool breeze.





So cute! The photo below was taken from their guest book which contained both old and recent photos of them with friends and family. We signed their book by a photo taken at Loren & Jason's wedding. There was also another photo from Halloween with Geoff and Brian dressed as Spiderman and Peter La Fleur (Dodgeball).

Each table had a cute cake that acted as the centerpiece.



The breeze did start kicking in, so we were rather grateful for the "walls with windows" that were placed during dinner.


We had a vanilla and strawberry cake, while the table next to us had a chocolate cake which we swapped. Brian was just dying to cut into it. The photo on the right shows both cakes. The icing was yummy and sweet, if not just a bit too much.

Mark and Jess's first dance:





Some dancing and handstands to warm up.



We watched the beautiful sunset over the horizon.





As we returned to the reception area, there were a bunch of other guests coming towards us, just missing the sun set. A lot of awww's were heard.

We shot some hoops - essentially horseshoe from whatever position we picked. Never thought I would play b-ball with heels on.


The band came up from Detroit and they played lots of Motown. We put in some requests for some Rick James - "Super Freak" (they did play "Give It to Me Baby"), "Twist and Shout", and "Shout" but unfortunately, none of them got played. Their encore was a song that nobody heard of. Oh well. But it was fun dancing nonetheless.








Brian gearing up for another night of slots back at the casino...

Diebold with a friend.

Just after this photo was taken, we literally had to run after the trolley which was leaving for the casino.

Back at the Northern Pines Lounge for more music and revelry



A defeated Diebold.

Sunday, July 15th 2007:

With Geoff and Brie doing a tour of Michigan, Geoff's home state, for the following week, they drove us across the bridge to Mackinaw City for some sights and treats as well as back to the tiny town of Pellston.

A Michigan staple, Superman flavor ice cream, although a bit wacky visually, was actually pretty tasty.



The Pellston Regional Airport, with the smallest conveyor belt I've ever seen, looks more like a lodge than and airport.

A little video on the Detroit-Wayne County International Airport (DTW) in Michigan:

Down the Shore - 2007

July 15th - 18th 2007:

We drive to Sea Isle City directly from the Baltimore airport after Mark & Jess's wedding. Some photos from the stay:

Lucy is no longer a mythical creature...

The Mighty Smashing Pumpkins Release Zeitgeist

I was one of the relatively "few" lucky people who struck gold on Friday, July 6th at around 10:07am. Having heard the huge announcement on the radio just a couple days earlier that the Smashing Pumpkins would be performing a secret show at the 9:30 club the day their new album, Zeitgeist, goes on sale, I was truly ecstatic! Although James Iha (and D'arcy Wretzky) would not be part of the band and thereby not making it a true Smashing Pumpkins reunion, but a Zwan-ish collaboration, I was still excited to see Billy and Jimmy perform live again (we did see them, Zwan, open for Coldplay in December 2003 at the Orpheum in Boston).



The tickets were being sold only on tickets.com, which had this awful queuing system that essentially put you in line, refreshing every 30 seconds on its own accord, until you get through. I was in panic mode, as probably the rest of the SP fan base in the DC area was, as the result would be truly random and uncertain. The minutes ticked away, and I was truly helpless, and then suddenly, the page refreshed to a new look, a look that allowed me to buy tickets! It was such a relief! Just a few minutes later, the show was sold out, with many angry fans defeated and unsatisfied.

Tuesday, July 10th 2007: 9:30 club

With all the hubub this show has caused, we probably should have gotten there earlier, as we normally would have, but getting out the door just took too long for me. Brian even got home earlier than usual so we could leave early. Oh well. No surprise, when we got there, the line was gigantic and went around the block.





Those in front were lucky enough to pose as supporters and protestors for the return of SP. They also got a bunch of free things - t-shirts, buttons, stickers, mini-flags, serenaded by a barbershop dressed quartet among other things.


The band pulls up in a classic Le Baron, "secret service" and all in tail.


hi Jimmy!




Once we get inside, I make my way to the merch table and buy a t-shirt. Then wanting to be in the mix of things, unlike at Rooney's concert, I found a semi-decent area on the floor just near the speakers on the left. Thank goodness we brought our earplugs, otherwise we would be deaf or wouldn't be standing so close to the stage. Anyone standing near us that didn't have earplugs would pretty much be subjected to ringing ears for several days.

The Revolution opens for them. Interesting sound and frontwoman, but I just wanted SP to start the show already.




The waiting was unbearable as the time goes by, thinking the band would be out by 9:30pm. It's around 9:50 when the quartet comes out and sings before introducing SP.



An annoying drunk man actually took this picture of me:

Annoying because he kept yelling to what sounded like disgust, and essentially disrupting some of the earlier songs. He finally ended up keeping his big mouth shut. Maybe he just went back to the bar since I didn't hear him much later in the show.

Can't believe it's been seven years since their last album, the year when Brian, Henry and I along with Jeff and Scott from APL (that's Ammirati Puris Lintas) saw them at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC on April 25th, 2000. Being on the floor and in the crowd reminded me of that fun time way back when.

Some of the Billy's banter included disbelief on performing with Bon Jovi at Live Earth, saying "yeah" a few times to fill in dead air, announcing that "I'm having one of those I-don't-wanna-play-music moments", and holding a rant session where a couple people yelled "Where's James Iha?!" or just "James Iha!" and "Freebird!"



I did manage to make my way to the front row, when a tall man and his daughter left (I totally knew it would happen eventually since they did not have earplugs). Near the end of the show, the security in front handed out bottled water those in the front row to share with others since it was so freaking hot in there. I was handed one first and took a nice sip before handing it to a teenager next to me who stood pretty still until they performed "Cherub Rock". The bottle came back to me not too long afterwards, since the other folks didn't want to take a sip from a communal container, and I handed it to Brian who was an arms-length and at the 8 o'clock position behind me.



I thought it was an overall solid show, even though I really prefer the "classics" over the new material. I enjoyed the acoustic set they stuck in the middle, especially "Thirty-Three". I'll have to add that to my list of songs to learn.

Unfortunately, the show was not without faults, as their classic hits "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" and "Zero" didn't shine quite as brightly as they should have, and we REALLY could have done without the second encore "Gossamer" which was an excruciating 27-minute-long song! It definitely killed the audience's spirit, especially since the show ended up being 3 hours long!! which is insanely too long. Maybe I wouldn't have minded so much if it consisted of just classic songs. But it was just too painfully drawn out at the end.

Some recorded material:



Billy thanking the audience at the end. We missed the last metro train by an hour - not like in Boston where the T ends at 1am, which we would have barely made. But we did get a glimpse into some of the neighborhoods while sitting in a cab on our way back home.

Setlist, as taken from the SP website:




It wasn't a flawless show, but it was still worth being a couple of the lucky ones to get to go see them.