B Sides R Hits 2 Me

In less than 24 hours we will be rockin' out to Tom Petty! We are totally ready! Outfits picked and plans made! We are taking off a half day tomorrow and all day Friday to celebrate Tom Petty in Tulsa! The limo arrives at 5pm to take us downtown Tulsa for some Spirits before the show.

All day today I filtered my iPod to play nothing but Tom Petty. It made me excited about what I wanted to post about today. B-sides!

What exactly is a B-side? Back when 45s were the thing, they were the secondary song on the other side of the "hit" record. You can touch up on your vinyl knowledge here. Let's face it...we are almost out of the CD era already and our hard drives are overflowing with digital music files. I guess now a B-side is kind of an antique, huh?

Tom Petty has been around long enough to have them. And if you are lucky to own it, he has one whole "album" dedicated to B-sides in his box set Playback. Disc 4 is called The Other Sides and it holds one of my favorite Tom Petty B-sides, Gator on the Lawn. This one reminds me of Marley. She loves to do a gator roll and she TOTALLY would steal a steak off the counter. To be completely honest, I have no idea what this song is really supposed to mean! It is just a funny, catchy tune. Catch it here!

Another fun song is Spike. I am not sure if it is officially considered a B-side, but it is on the album Southern Accents.

Music has such an effect on me. Hearing a certain song gives me butterflies in my tummy and I can feel the memory in my body. Tom Petty's music has been with me for so much of my life, so there are soooo many of his songs that have that strong effect. Music is what I collect, and I love to boast about the "pieces" that I have of his.

I also collect coffee mugs, but they are harder to store, and they don't create memories or make me feel nearly and good inside!

...Whatever You're Looking For

Ok, I know I said in my Favorite Album post that it was that album that really got me started on Tom Petty. But really, that was just the deal sealer.

Back in the day, when MTV played videos, I was permanently perched within sight. So when I found that my Grandparents had "The Cable" in Gramps' home office, you can only imagine my thrill! It was there that I first saw the video that would never be topped on my list. I don't know about you, but whenever I picture Tom Petty, The Madhatter pretty much always pops in my head. . They go hand in hand! This video is hauntingly good if you are a 12 year old. Or a 35 year old! It sucks me in every time I see it. Unfortunately, that is a rare occurrence anymore considering TV and music videos do not go hand in hand anymore.

Me and my girls as my groupies

I was bound and determined to be Tom Petty for one of my Halloween parties. But each year I had to pass because I could not find the perfect jacket. Until October of 2005 when I made my annual pre party shopping trip to Good Will. (Which by the way, is a fun place to seek for lost treasures as well as donate clothing and house ware items.) There seriously was a big spotlight on this Dark Purple jacket. It was exactly what I was looking for. Go figure the one and only time in my life I find a piece of clothing that is EXACTLY what I was looking for I was at Goodwill. See! Lost treasures! It was lost and I found it! What are the odds? I know, I am not really a dead ringer for Tom Petty. I'm not nearly thin enough. But that did not trouble me one bit. This was BY far my favorite Halloween costume to date.

Soooo....Here it is...My Favorite Tom Petty Video! Love it!

Thank You Tom Petty for making me love Alice in Wonderland!

Pssst...You can purchase this video @ iTunes if you like! You want it?

Hello CD Listeners...Favorite Album Goes To....

As hard as it is to pick one favorite of ANYTHING by Tom Petty, I am going to try for a few seconds. Full Moon Fever gets credit for favorite Tom Petty album. This is really the album that started it all for me. This was Tom's first solo album. I know that I had heard a lot of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' tunes growing up, but this one is what made me the freak that I am about his music. I remember my art teacher playing this album over and over my Sophmore year of high school. Although my memories are less than pleasant of said art teacher, I do have to hand it to him for having great taste in tunes. This album has been played front to back and back to front over and over and over for years! Pop it in and you are sure to be instantly happy!

Here is the track listing...let's see what we have...

1. Free Fallin' - We are all familiar with this one from our Friday commute home from work. We know we all crank this one and scream at the top of our lungs like Tom Cruise in Jerry McGuire. Don't even try to deny it. It is impossible to not belt this one out. Especially when you don't have an audience.

2. I Won't Back Down - This is always a good "In your face" kind of song. Not in a bad way, but it always gives me strength when I hear it. Makes me proud of my "strong personality", as one may say.

3. Love Is a Long Road

4. A Face in the Crowd

5. Runnin' Down a Dream - This one totally brings back memories. It reminds me of Homecoming of 1989 in DeForest (because it was played a lot that year) as well as the first time Troy and I were lucky enough to see Tom Petty in Madison, WI. We had just gotten word that we would be transferring for Troy's new job at 3M. We had floor seats on the end in the middle. Great view and a great show! They opened with this song, so now when it comes on I am instantly transported back to that concert. The opening guitar gives me the chills. I can still feel the huge smile on my face as he walked out on stage.

6. I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better - This one is a cover of the song by The Byrds. You know...I have to say I did not know this for a long time! I love learning new things, and this is one of them. I never knew credit was to be given to someone other than TP on this one. Thank You Internet!

7. Yer So Bad - A really fun song that I really wish I could play on the guitar. Still one of my goals in life. Probably waaay far off, but still on the list nonetheless!

8. Depending on You - An "open up your moon roof on your lunch hour and drive around" kind of song.

9. The Apartment Song

10. Alright for Now

11. A Mind with a Heart of Its Own

12. Zombie Zoo - Probably one of my all time faves. Sooo fun and definitely worthy of the repeat button!

Mid way through the album, on the CD version there is a fun spoken track of Tom Petty explaining that we need to give the people with cassette and record players a break since they have to turn it over before hearing Side B.

"Hello, CD listeners. We've come to the point in this album where those listening on cassette, or records, will have to stand up, or sit down, and turn over the record, or tape. In fairness to those listeners, we'll now take a few seconds before we begin side two...Thank you. Here's side two."

I know you already have this album in your collection. I mean, you are friends with me...so that is a given, right? If you don't, pretend you do, but go get it now! I will make it easy for you...HERE!

Oh My My!

In honor of this Thursday's full moon @ Autumn Equinox, I decided that I am going to take the next few days to write about none other than Tom Petty! Well, it turns out, we are heading down to the BOK Center on Thursday to see Tom himself as he stops by Tulsa to share his Mojo tour with us! As you may know, we were supposed to see Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers earlier this Spring in Dallas. After the front half of his tour got redirected to the end of the tour, he announced he would be adding Tulsa to his list of cities! SCORE! Believe me...I lost a lot of sleep in the weeks that led up to the announcement. It is incredibly hard to sleep with all of your fingers AND toes crossed. But in the end, they signed on to perform at the one year anniversary for the BOK Center. Since our Dallas tickets got changed to a Wednesday instead of a Saturday, it was going to mean more time off of work. We were eligible for a full refund due to the postponement. As much as it pained me to not attend both dates, we could save us some dough and make our Tulsa concert experience even better with that savings. We are going with a group of our great friends. Even renting a limo and taking the next day off of work so we can truly party like rock stars that night! We have sixth row...YES...6TH ROW seats. This will be the closest seats we have had for one of his shows. (BIG, HUGE grin....SMILE)

I don't even know how to express my pure excitement for this event. I am sure to be posting all of our Petty Pics on Facebook that night. Stay tuned for the one of Tom and I backstage after the show! Until then, I will be celebrating like no other fanatic by dedicating my blog to them for the days leading up to what will be FULL MOON FEVER!

Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea

We had a great day yesterday on our little Dallas excursion. We made it to Plano, TX at about 1pm. We thought we would locate the bookstore where Chelsea Handler's book signing would take place. We found upon arrival a line had already started to form. So we headed in to get a spot. We were told that Chelsea would only sign a copy of her latest book Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang and it had to be purchased at that store. I understand. I asked that since I already have a copy, could I purchase another one of her books. That was a big fat NO. My receipt had to show the purchase of that book. The girl at the register was even kind enough to let me know I might as well take my copy out to the car, but finally agreed to allow me to keep mine in my purse after what was probably my look of complete cunfusion and disgust. Forgive me for buying the book the day it came out! Heck if I was about to be punished for that. I was getting my first edition signed. Duh! I don't know what my obsession with the first edition is. But certain authors and books, I like to have for my collection. It's soley for my own enjoyment. Obviously I don't plan on raking in a MIL on my book collection. :)
So we sat in line for a couple hours but by the time Chelsea arrived, the line was wrapped around the upstairs of the store, down the stairs, all around the downstairs and out the door!



I got about 1.5 seconds to spend with her. And even that was a great experience. She said in her funny breaking Chelsea voice "Heeeeeeeeey Amber! How are you?!". To which I replied "I'm great!" and picked up my autographed copy off the table. I took a couple more pictures from behind the "camera line" and opened my book to observe what she wrote. I guess it was hard to write and smile and talk because the writing took a few moments to decipher. We finally decided that she wrote "Amber! Cheers! Chelsea". I'm cool with that!


After the book signing we decided it was time for a much deserved beer and sandwhich. After all, we had intended on eating before the book signing. But since we had never attended one before, we were not aware of the need to arrive extremely early!


We stopped in to a bar called Ringo's Pub and enjoyed a Guiness and Pub Burger. Wait, that's what I had. Troy had a Guiness and Pub Club. But anyway, it was a good way to refuel. We had another small task ahead. And that task was to find the American Girl Store. Even though we know it would be WAY more fun to go there with Mia, we thought we would at least map it out and make sure we were prepared when we do take Mia down there! Thank goodness for the GPS! We would have never found it otherwise!

But here we are! The store really smelled. I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that they have a bistro upstairs where you can bring your dolls for lunch. But it was less than pleasant. Just thought I'd mention that in case you are planning on going there and have a sensetive sniffer! We decided on picking up a few items to further spoil our daughter. That place is amazing.


By the time we finally got checked into our hotel, it was time to get ready to head to Chelsea's show in Grand Prairie. The hotel was a bust for us. We much prefer the Hotel Indigo where we stayed for Mat Kearney. We had to move rooms because our TV was posessed and would keep turning on and off! Weird! But we did have a great view from our room(s)!










The Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie was nice. We each had an overpriced, undersized drink and found our seats where for the next two hours we would enjoy some comedy with a side of everyone and their brother around us constantly getting up, coming and going at their leisure. Some people didn't even show up until the show was half over. Needless to say, I am becoming an old lady who finds it extremely rude to all us hard workin', loyal fans who pay a lot to attend these shows. I want to be able to enjoy every last laugh and I find I have a hard time doing so when I am constantly asked to stand up so some chick (who is obviously trying too hard with her jewel encrusted tube top) can shimmy through in front of me, all while trying not to spill her full Cosmo Martini all over.
Brad Wollack was Chelsea's opener. Here is a picture of him from the book signing.




He is pretty quirky on the round table discussion on Chelsea Lately. But I certainly would not pay to see him alone. He just seemed too scripted and just plain didn't make me laugh much.
When it was finally time for Miss Chelsea to take the stage, they showed a funny montage of funny clips from her show all set to a popular top 40 song by David Guetta. I am such a sucker for video montages. It ended up being my favorite part of the show! Her stand up was about an hour and it was indeed funny. But I find that she is more funny when she is interacting with other people, so I'm giving her stand up a 7. Kevin James has set the curve high for me. He is off the charts with his routine. Not to mention extremely clean. Chelsea has a bit of a dirtier set. But nothing too offensive. At least not to me.


All in all it was a great trip. We got to visit Dallas again and give ourselves even more experience to learn from for our next trip.
We were supposed to be heading back in May for Tom Petty, but that has since been postponed until September. So we may need to plan a little day in Dallas inbetween. Next time we will take Mia with us!
Here is a little treasure we captured on our way home...Just had to!

The Waiting...

I received some devastating news today. Tom Petty is postponing the first part of his tour due to the delay in his most recent album Mojo. What was going to be an awesome May Saturday in Dallas has been changed to a Tuesday in September. WhaaaaWhaaaa! There was one ray of light...and that is the fact that they backed up there previous statement about additional tour dates to be added...and they claim it is coming shortly! I am really crossing my fingers for Tulsa to be added so I can then get a refund on our Dallas tix. As much as I would TOTALLY go to both shows, being on a Tuesday in September isn't really going to work for me. We shall see what happens! Until then...we still get to go to Chelsea Handler next Saturday! The show is at 8pm so it should probably be about 2 hours long? (I'm guessing.) Then after that we are going to go downtown Dallas...probably go back to the House of Blues. There is going to be a band there that night called Green River Ordinance. They look pretty good. I checked them out on iTunes, YouTube and Playlist.com and it is totally a possibility for a good show. Here! You can check out one of their songs on YouTube. I could not resist picking the one that someone set to some Twilight clips. We don't know for sure what the night will bring after Chelsea Handler...we are certainly keeping our options open. I just hope we don't poop out and decide to call it an early night.

I am calling it an early night tonight since the Princess Strikers have an 8am game tomorrow! What!? Who's bringing the coffee?!!?

G'night Y'all!

Counting Down to LAUGHS!

OK Kids! So you know we are going to see Chelsea Handler in 31 days 12 hours and 24 minutes.

I am half way through her new book Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. I really thought I would be finished by now since I had six days to do nothing but lay in bed (surgery last week...no need for the gory details...I'm OK and on the mend). Apparently I underestimated the power of pain pills and was either nauseated or sleeping the whole time. Anyway...back to the book...IT IS FUNNY. I mean at first it is "OMG, are you kidding me?" funny. But keep reading...as you go you can just hear her sarcastic voice in your mind. I had the pleasure of reading Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea via an audio book which was narrated by Chelsea Handler herself. I wasn't being lazy, I just listened to it in the car and I do enough things in the car, I don't need to pick up a book as well. That one is hilarious as well ESPECIALLY when you get to listen to her the whole time! I have My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands, which I hear is equally as funny. But I bought the audio version so I could enjoy the wit of her voice telling me the story again, only this one was narrated by someone else and it does the book no justice. So I am leaving this one to read the old fashioned way.

I really, really hope to have my copy of her latest book signed at her show in 31 days 12 hours and 12 minutes. I hear that there is a book signing at midnight after the show. Sorry friends, if I am privileged enough to a) be still awake long enough to wait in a book signing line and b) able to find said book signing, I will be hanging on to my 1st Edition copy. You're gonna have to get your own copy! Did I mention that her tour is sponsored by Belvedere Vodka? What!? I'm just sayin'! :O)

I am posting a funny video clip from Chelsea Lately below. It is the clip from where she is giving employee reviews. Here she is reviewing John Caparulo. (You may remember him from Last Comic Standing)

Enjoy your little giggle for the evening...and get the above mentioned books!!

(Also, here is a direct link in case you prefer to watch it on her site...click here)

The volume on the embedded video is really low.

DALLAS! MY KIND OF TOWN!

This Spring is starting to take shape for us! Well, I should say for Troy and I. I am starting to feel guilty. We have two things planned for ourselves this spring that involve weekends in Dallas.

First, April 24^th we are going to see Chelsea Handler (our favorite female comedian) at the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie. Last Fall we made our very first trip to Dallas for a night to see Mat Kearney at the Dallas House of Blues. We had a BLAST! We were supposed to see Chelsea Handler in Vegas last fall, but the dates didn’t work out, so you can imagine my excitement when she announced her Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang Tour promoting her new book due out this Spring. I jumped all over that and got us two tickets. Troy and I don’t get to do a whole lot on our own, which is fine, but it will be nice to have a night to do something less Disney. J

Sooooo….. we are excited, watching the calendar pages fly by…when all of the sudden…Tom Petty hits me up on Facebook! Well, his Facebook page hit me up on Facebook announcing his 2010 tour AND the fact that he is releasing a new CD this Spring! Now, I like the rest of you thought that the two times that I got to see Tom were the only two in my life. I thought the next time I got to see him, he would be waiting at those pearly gates for me someday in Heaven. But NO! To my surprise…I will get to partake in (at least) one more concert given by this FREAKIN’ AWESOME PERFORMER. Troy and I have gotten to see him twice now, as I mentioned before. But I have a feeling this will be the BEST! The last time we saw him was in Vegas, at the Hard Rock. It was so awesome. Very small venue. But unfortunately, I had the Shingles and was on pain pills. Boooooo! So, yes, it was soooo great, but could have been soooo much better.

I will keep you all posted! I go online tomorrow morning at 10am with my little presale code in hand. I’m scoping out some GOOD seats…Fingers Crossed!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday today the kids could dress up as a Dr. Seuss character. Mia was Max the dog from How The Grinch Stole Christmas. They ate Green Eggs and Ham for lunch. Yummy!

Dallas Bound!

Well...I guess I knew that our trip to Vegas this year would probably not be happening. So I snagged us two tickets to The Fabulous Mat Kearney show at the House of Blues Dallas. I am sick with excitement. For some reason when I REALLY like a singer, I get overly excited when an opportunity arises to see them live. My Tulsa friends can back me on this from when I jump up and down with excitement to see William Joseph Band. They are local and fabulous. But enough about that...we are talking Dallas right now.
So Troy and I recruited Don and Juney to stay with Mia and all the mutts. :). We are on our own for the day. It is exciting, but seems strange because we always have the whiner, I mean Mia with us. That is a joke. But true. Love ya Mia! :)
We are staying a mile away from the House of Blues at a boutique hotel called Hotel Indigo. I have no idea if it is a decent place since this will be our first time in Dallas. At this point, it could be a dive and I would not care. I am just that excited. I am really hopeful that they will have autographs after the concert. We were in such a hurry to get on the road that I forgot my camera. I doubt my trusty iPhone camera will take good pix inside the House of Blues, so I'm scoping out anywhere on the way that might carry a disposable camera. Leave it to me to forget something that important. I mean, seriously, how do I expect to have my picture taken with Mat if I don't have a camera!? Doiation MINUS. Mom, you and Uncle Bobby will appreciate that one.
More to come as the day goes on...Stay Tuned!

William Joesph Band

A little over a year ago, we were at The Riverwalk in Jenks on a Sunday afternoon. We were enjoying a margarita and were pleasantly surprised to find this awesome singer performing. Just one guy and a guitar and microphone. We were instantly fans of his mellow voice and chill music.
We downloaded both of his CDs from his website and from there he quickly rose in the ranks on our playlists.
Recently, William Joseph added a guitar, bass and drums and formed The William Joseph Band. They are currently touring small bars, coffee shops and bookstore type establishments. We were thrilled to find out that he was playing just down the street in Jenks on Friday. So we grabbed a few friends and went to watch them. They were everything I remembered and we were not disappointed one bit! We sat and watched him in awe of his talent.

It was a wonderful night hanging with our friends and listening to one of our favorite singers. All weekend I keep thinking that this could have been the best night we have had in over a year!
Thanks to our friends for going with us! It means a lot. Hopefully you are fans now as well!