Life Changing New Porn.

...ographers. Haha. Sorry I had to go there. Just for the record, this post is in no way about about porn. It's all about these guys:

The New Pornographers (there name is a reference to when rock and roll music was dubbed "the new pornography" by some crusty square) I was just trying to be funny and use whatever means I could think of to get someone to actually read this. Anyway, moving on...

My friends and I made the trek back to Salt Lake for week 4 of the Twilight Concert Series. We've made it somewhat of a tradition to stop at Wendy's before the show. Emily and Kasie were super excited about their kid's meal toys.

We had a few minutes to kill, so I gave Spencer his own personal concert of our favorite Chuck Berry song.

Here is a pic of the stage at Pioneer Park.

The opening band, The Dodos. They were quite impressive.

My sister Shalane and my cousin Cristy joined us at the show this week. Yay! (You can tell who got the attractive genes in our family. Not me.) They elected to stay in their blanket spot while me and my friends went up closer for the main event. They thought it would give them a better chance of getting hit on.

The girls and I pose in our sweet spot. Spencer was supposed to be in this picture...

...and he was a little sad about not making it in the shot.

More gratuitous shots of ourselves...

I'm trying to show off my New Pornographers shirt here but didn't get the right angle going. Spencer is obviously the more accomplished shirt model.

And here is the band we have all been waiting for...

Notice the guy with the dark, bushy hair with his back facing the audience? That's Dan Bejar, one of the (four) lead singers in New Pornographers. He finally came on stage during the band's second song and went back stage during half the songs only to return with a full cup of beer. If he was onstage and not singing, he spent the entire time doing exactly what he is above, not looking at us.

Neko Case and Carl Newman, two more of the band's singers.

I'm pretty much in love with Neko Case. (mostly for her voice) I told her I loved her about a million times during the show. (Mostly in my head)

I had to take a picture of the guy playing the cello in background because he made a lot of weird faces while he was playing. Unfortunately, I took a picture of him during the one moment he wasn't making a weird face.

Here is Kathyrn Calder, the fourth singer in the band. What a revelation she was.

She even played the accordion!

Now that you've made it to the end of the post, you are probably wondering, was it any good. I say unto you, YES! I've been waiting to see these guys live for years and they lived up to the hype, surpassed the hype, and ran back to the hype and punched it in the face like Ronnie did in season one of Jersey Shore. They played 24 songs, each one full of energy. The talents of each member of this super-group gelled together perfectly giving the audience a euphoric trip into musical ecstasy. This will easily rank among the top 10 concerts I have ever attended. Good porn indeed. :)

The Day Has Finally Arrived

The New Pornographers have been one of my favorite bands for years and it has long been my dream to see them perform live. Tonight that dream becomes a reality

Congratulations...

...on being the best potato chips I have ever had.

Heck Yes I Went To The Justin Bieber Concert!

Many of you know me as a die-hard concert attendee. I've seen everyone from Aerosmith to Passion Pit. Last week alone I saw Ben Folds, Girl Talk, Memory Tapes, and the great Sir Paul McCartney. But none of these concerts has provided such a wide variety of insults and jealousy via my friends then when I attended the Justin Bieber concert last Saturday. I must admit, I went partly because I wanted a fun night with my friends, partly because I wanted to experience what it is like to watch a concert with thousand of screaming teenage girls (really, I did), and partly because I like the kid's music. So here you go. Bieber Fever in pictures!

Bieber Venue (The "new" Maverik Center)

My Bieber companions (Lyndsay, Maddie, and Maddie's bro Stockton)

pre-Bieber meal (Club Costa)

Bieber Swag

Bieber fans (and a Bieber thumbs up!)

a few more Bieber fans (possibly more Bieber thumbs up too)

Bieber Countdown Clock

Bieber Entrance (Loudest. Scream. Ever. I'm. Not. Kidding. Really. It. Hurt.)

Bieber Dance Move

Bieber Close-Up

Bieber Striptease (Just the jacket, folks.)

Bieber acoustic set on a heart-shaped contraption hanging over the audience while wearing something that, from our vantage point, looked exactly like long underwear

Bieber Serenade

Bieber fake climb a fake building

Bieber Backup Dancers

Bieber Matchy Matchy

Bieber Lazers!!!

Bieberfetti!

Bieber Hearing Loss

Paper Badge Approved

A: Nebraska!

The answer to last week's mystery question has finally been revealed. (Sorry for my lateness. The bad part about going on awesome trips is having to work every single day once I come home.) I know what you are thinking. You went on a vacation to Nebraska? You know what I have to say to that? You're dang right I went on a vacation to Nebraska! It was epic!

This is me with Shealynn and Sarah as we prepared to take off on our adventure. Sarah is from Nebraska and invited Shealynn and I to visit her home state. The passenger seat in Sarah's car is very, very conducive to napping. I usually don't sleep in cars, but I found a way to fall asleep in that seat many times.

The Shimmy Tunnel.

This is the 2nd most exciting thing about driving through Wyoming on I-15.

Also, there are only two exciting things on I-15 in Wyoming.

The Kool-Aid elf who guided us on our tour of the Kool-Aid Museum. (Yeah, Nebraska is sounding cooler already isn't it?) This was also the last picture I was able to take before my camera kicked the bucket for the rest of the trip. Sadly, this means no pictures of my two Runza visits or my magical experience with fireflies. Quite the shame.

The Sky-Fari @ the Omaha Zoo. Your move, Hogle.

The Sky-Fari allows you to ride "on top" of giraffes. ;)

My life is going to have a hard time getting cooler than this.

Besides the Sky-Fari, the Omaha Zoo has a Desert Dome, Aquarium, and the Rainforest-thing that you see above.

After the zoo, we made our way to watch the College World Series. This was a pretty special year to go, as it was the very last year it was played in historic Rosenblatt Stadium. Now you are kicking yourself for not planning your Nebraska trip sooner, aren't you? Too late, buddy. Too too late.

The first game we watched was TCU vs. UCLA. It was probably in the nineties, temperature wise, but it felt like it was much hotter. I drank at least seven bottles of water, applied a few pounds of sunscreen, and Sarah's sister almost died. Besides that, it was a lot of fun.

We came back later in the evening to watch South Carolina play Clemson. The weather was so much better, and without the sun, you could actually watch the game.

Me, Sarah's sis Sam (alive!), Sarah, and Shealynn after the game. We are a little bruised and battered from our long day in the sun, but we are still a happy bunch. And why are we so happy? Because we are in Nebraska. And Nebraska is awesome. Deal with it.