42nd Annual CMA Awards

Country Music had its big night last night and as you can imagine at "Casa de cheer_dad y big red" the tv was tuned in for the duration. Admittedly, my wife is the bigger country music fan, whereas I waffle among many different kinds of music. Okay, I'm fickle... My iPod is a real mish-mash of jazz, soundtracks, country, rock, pop, and even some metal. (No friggin' RAP though!) I'm talking about "music" here. But I digress, back to the CMA's!

The show was hosted by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, both of whom were showered with awards throughout the evening themselves, in addition to their presenting and performing duties. Carrie took down the Female Vocalist of the Year and Brad garnered the Male Vocalist of the Year.




My wife of course took great pride in the fact that her man Kenny Chesney took down the coveted Entertainer of the Year accolades for the 3rd year in a row, and 4th time overall. She called it before the envelope was opened, stating, "he's the only one who can fill up the stadiums!" Chesney was truly humbled again by the award and exuded gratitude upon receiving the award which was presented to him by the lovely Shania Twain. She remarked when she took the stage that it was good to be back and that we would be seeing a lot more of her. Perhaps this suggests a return to the country music scene for Shania following her split from Jeff "Mutt" Lange. As I said in a previous post... what an idiot! Despite the reasonings for her return, it's nice to see her back in the spotlight.

Some other not surprising awards throughout the night. Rascal Flatts took home Vocal Group of the Year, Sugarland took Duo of the Year and front lady Jennifer Nettles also took home top honors for Song of the Year for "Stay." I really like the song, and her heartfelt performance of the song in the simplistic video is absolutely stunning. (I do really wish she would return to her long hair though.) : )

An appearance I can always do without is Nicole Kidman. I like to hear Keith Urban perform but something about his missus really annoys me. Is she never out in the sun, with that pasty complexion, and I keep waiting for the fangs to come out and for her to lunge at Keith's neck. Okay, I'll quit now...


A surprise appearance for me to see was Darius Rucker (former Hootie and the Blowfish frontman) performing at the CMA's. I hadn't realized that he'd crossed over, and didn't realize he was the artist that sang this song “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” until he performed it live last night. Very good performance.

If you missed the CMA's you can check out all that happened and see a lot of pics and clips over at http://www.cmaawards.com/2008/.

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Zihuatanejo

Never should you feel in the workplace like you are in a life and death struggle. Loathing the idea of coming to work is one thing, but fear? I mean, c'mon. The crap that Bear faces on Man vs. Wild should not be the ruler against which we have to measure our level of intensity against in the office. Office politics, deadlines, mandates... these are not equivalents to making one misstep and plunging to your doom. Over the past year or two I've developed a mentality that I'm not incredibly pleased with. The Us vs Them, Worker vs Management thought process has invaded. But it didn't get there on its own. It had help. Miserable, self-serving, self-important people and attitudes from the top, with statements like we're doing what's best for the organization not the employees and then turning around and following that up with bullshit speeches like "our people are our most valuable resource." You know what, gimme a fuckin' break. Advance your career on your own damn time... I've got work to do! This is NOT a life or death struggle or a fight or flight scenario. It's a job... it pays the bills. You show up you do it well, you go home and get back to LIFE. Work is NOT life! The accumulation of wealth and power should not be the ultimate objective of one's life!

Sorry there's just been that little rant boiling up inside me, now for a while. I just think there ought to be something else to shoot for. There was a a song by The Godfathers called "Birth, School, Work, Death" that I liked back in my post modern/alternative rock phase in college, (circa 1988,) that summed it all up a little like this:

Yeah I been high and I been low
And I don't know where to go
I'm living on the never never never
This time it's gonna be forever
I'll live and die don't ask me why
I wanna go to paradise
And I don't need your sympathy
There's nothing in this world for me
Birth, school, work, death
Birth, school, work, death

No, don't start emailing, calling and linking me to a damn suicide hotline, I'm a little more level-headed than that (most days.)


I guess this notion that I had about reading that Jimmy Buffett book "A Salty Piece of Land" and getting my "island chill" on, is having a bit of an effect. It's conjured up a lot of pleasing/relaxing imagery in contrast to the daily grind. I keep dreaming about the final scene from Shawshank Redemption in which Red finds his old friend Andy on a beach, Zihuatanejo on the coast of Mexico. The place looks peaceful. The kinda place where your hair will bleach white from the sun, and you'll turn the color of a Chicken McNugget. To quote another song, this time Big Red's leading man Kenny Chesney, "the sun and the sand and a drink in my hand, with no bottom..."

Is it too late to take up sailing... and switch to island time? In a bit of a mood...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Kenny Chesney concert weekend.

Like I said more than a couple days ago, the weekend was sizing itself up to be very busy, and a whole lotta fun. It did not disappoint! The collection of misfits pictured there to the left crammed themselves into a few vehicles and departed Parkersburg, West by-god Virginia and headed for Cleveland, Ohio for a stadium concert. The billing included Kenny Chesney (who my wife will eventually leave me for) Leanne Rhimes, Sammy Hagar, Gary Allan, and Keith Urban. The concert and the company were phenomenal! Take a look at some of the additional debauchery which took place.





Keith Urban pictured here on the bigscreen put on a great show, and my wife has added him to the list of replacements should the Mrs. Chesney thing not work out for her...





A crew indeed! At this point in the concert, clothing had not yet become optional.





Kenny lights up the night. I cease to exist to Big Red! : )




Who am I kidding, here's the happy couple, looking a little bleary eyed but having a ball with several thousand of our closest friends.

We spent the night at a hotel before crawling out of bed the next morning and heading home. It should also be noted that Frank and Chris both came along, but neither attended the concert itself and opted to hang in the parking lot tailgating their asses off for the duration. Chris recalls from the count of beer can tabs that he downed 29 beers, not counting the ones we had on the restaurant and various other libations throughout the day. I must say that when the concert let out and we headed back to the vehicle we found hot dogs and bratwurst waiting on the grill. Nothing has ever tasted so good.

I can definitely say we'll do this again, this was a great time. I'll add also that it blew the trip to Pittsburgh for last year's concert all to hell! Cleveland was easier to get in and out of. No 3-hour sit in traffic this time around. Hope everyone else had as good a time as we did. See you all back at work real soon.




When asked if he was having a good time, JR responded as such... oh and who knew he was SUCH a Cleveland Browns Fan!




Big Red and Nikki help exemplify the catch-phrase for the night, abbreviated as L.L...

I'll leave it at that!

Regards,

cheer_dad

A long weekend approaches

Last night was Whitney's school variety show (which was quite good!) Tonight Cole has baseball vs one the Vienna teams down at the Tri-C Fields. Tomorrow night baseball again vs one of the Belpre Teams, this one being held AT Belpre's fields. I don't particularly like playing there, but I'll get over it. Tonight, after the game, I'll be heading to the Eagles for Drawing Night. I think I'll be joined by JR and Chris. I may also have the mother-in-law, wife, and some visiting members of the family, in from Baltimore. Nothing like a little alcohol and slot machines to bring a clan together. : ) I'll be taking a few hours off from work tomorrow to get the lawn tended to before the weekend gets here. Why, you ask? A group of us... primarily NDPT'ers are heading to Cleveland, OH first thing Saturday morning. Big Red has got a group all fired up to head off to another Kenny Chesney stadium concert. Yeah, just us and several thousand total strangers. Drinkin', singin', partyin', just your basic redneck free-for-all. I'll do my best to make you all proud. I think I may even have a shot at winning the battle against the accursed Jack Daniels this time. I'm planning a sneak attack... and I've enlisted a few allies to help fight the good fight. Incidentally, we WILL be staying the night... at a hotel in walking (stumbling) distance of the stadium. For those among you who might question the drunk driving aspect of the adventure. I can't say anything as for my chances of avoiding public intoxication. Probably aren't good for all involved. So, as you can see folks, I've got a busy time coming my way. If my words appear to be a little slurred for the next several days in the blog, you'll understand. I'm thankful that Monday is Memorial Day, and that I have the following day off from work as well. I have a feeling I'm going to be needing the rest.

Don't forget folks... the WSOP 2008 begins in 8 DAYS. Are ya ready for some Pokah?!?!

Regards,

cheer_dad