Angie Windheim

Joe has been taking drum lessons from Randy Sage in Newberg since February 2009. He’s getting sooo good.

It must be the week of youtube.  Ben’s guitar instructor, Myron LeRoy, who has a very creative sense of humor, has posted a new “Christmas Classic.” Myron’s recently gotten into animating songs through the help of a friend, and his latest features Eddie the Elf going a little nuts with a Nerf gun on Christmas Eve.  It’s not Silent Night, but it just might rival Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.

Dave Mathews Band moves me. Whether the lyrics bring emotion or the music behind them gets me dancing…I’m moved. With their latest release, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, they did it again. I can’t get enough of “Funny the Way it is” or “You and Me” or “Grux” and my kids love “Alligator Pie.”   I wasn’t sure what to expect with this release, but is a wonderful tribute to their fallen band mate, Leroi Moore.  We were at one of the first concerts they played after he died (in fact, we were worried they’d cancel the show at the Gorge because they had cancelled several before that). It was an amazing show. They played their hearts out.  I’m disappointed to not be making the trek to the Gorge this year. I would love to hear the new stuff live. But, we go every other year to their annual 3-day stop for Labor Day Weekend and this isn’t the year to go. It’s such a good time. One of the best parties you’ll ever go to.  Just make sure you plan to camp in the big field, get to the show in time for an amazing sunset, and be ready to stay up all night 🙂  Here are a few pics to give you an idea of the setting.

Imagine the stress of having Coldplay tickets in your hand, but not knowing if you can actually make it the concert…  Two of my boys were in district play-off baseball games Friday night and were putting our night out at serious risk. We even tried to sell the tickets, but luckily no one took us up on that spectacular opportunity.  And, luckily, both boys won their games in timely fashion and we were off to the concert.

We are big Coldplay fans. We have all of their CDs. We know all of their songs (and probably all of the words).  The concert was fantastic. Coldplay puts on an excellent, very engaging show. Lots of audience interaction, including a fantastic acoustic set where they came out and visited us poor folks in the general admission lawn seating.  That set included a tribute to Michael Jackson with a cover of Billy Jean.  Very well done. Chris Martin can hit those high notes 🙂  Not sure what my favorite song was. I have too many. Their closing set included “The Scientist” which I LOVE!!!

So, being such huge fans, the concert couldn’t disappoint. That being said, I think the Clark County Amphitheater is my absolute least favorite place to see a concert. We’ve had stellar seats in the reserved section before and it that was pretty good, but then why be in an amphitheater when you are under a cover and can’t see beyond the stage. Sitting in the lawn is a totally lame experience. The sounds is not good, not loud enough, and you can’t see a dang thing. We couldn’t even see the big screens until it got really dark and you could easily hold a conversation during the conert. That’s just wrong! I joked with my friend that if you took the binoculars and focused on the big screen, it was like you were really at a concert.  I’ll never be excited to go that venue, but now I know that I will absolutely not sit in the lawn. Pay the money, honey.  You’ve either gotta be close or not go.  It’s such a different experience than the Gorge Amphitheater. That one rocks no matter wear you sit.

Music is the #1 hobby for my boys. Whether they are listening and shopping iTunes, creating songs on Garage Band, watching American Idol, coming up with new dance moves, playing Guitar Hero or actually playing an instrument, music is HUGE for the Windheims.   In shopping around for lessons, I ended up finding a couple of gems at the Newberg Music Company.  Myron LeRoy is fine tuning Ben’s pretty amazing skills at the electric guitar and Randy Sage has got Joe drumming and sounding pretty impressive after only 3 months.  Both instructors are relaxed, good humored and keep the kids on a great path to learning their instruments.  You can reach them through Newberg Music at 503-537-2196 

Myron just finished a fun little project for a song he wrote 30 years ago when mechanical bulls were all the rage. An amateur video animator put together a YouTube video for Ain’t No Way.  The white-haired singer in the video is a pretty great likeness for Myron himself 🙂  This project led to a professional animator creating a project around some of Myron’s songs and a screenplay he wrote.  That will take some time to finish up, but you can check out the early ideas at Fishin’ Blog  Pretty neat stuff!

I have resisted the temptation of American Idol for seven seasons.  Much to Brian’s dismay, I finally broke and am so hooked this season it’s silly! And, the best part is I dragged my boys along with me. Brian routinely comments that I’m ruining my kids…he’s half joking 🙂  Oh well. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a singer.  I sang all of the time and would fantasize that maybe someday someone would hear me and whisk me off to stardom 🙂  So, now I’ve got three boys who are hooked on music, taking drum lessons, taking guitar lessons, etc.  It only made sense to fuel the fire with American Idol.  I didn’t have them watch the early rounds where people are awful and embarrass themselves and are ripped apart by the judges. That part is scary! We started with the 36 that became the Top 13.  Very fun.  The boys are 100% behind Adam.  They’ve even bought his iTunes songs from the show.  I’m definitely a fan, but I do like Kris, Danny and Allison, too.  And Matt’s not far behind.

So cool. The new U2 release, “No Line on the Horizon,” is fun listening. Really different in some ways and just good ol’ U2 in other ways.  “Get on Your Boots,” “No Line on the Horizon,” and “Stand Up Comedy” have all hit my work out playlist.  “Get on Your Boots” reminds me of the boost I’d get on the treadmill when “Vertigo” first came out.  From the mellow to the hyper tunes, U2 sounds like they’re having a blast with this CD and it’s contagious for the listener.

Man, I love concerts!  Last night Brian and I caught Spoon’s fantastic show at the Crystal Ballroom. They really rocked the house. Spoon’s music just has the best rhythms and the whole sound is very fun. And, the lead singer, Britt Daniel, lives in Portland which raises the overall coolness factor by at least 10. You could tell the band was happy to be back on stage after a 4 month break from performing. The energy was contagious.

Brian and I have been Spoon fans for awhile. We own their last two CDs and the band played a lot of our favorites. After the show, we both looked at each other and said, “we need more. We need the ‘Fitted Shirt’ song,” from an earlier CD.  We’re just going to buy the whole CD 🙂  Spoon also tested out some great new songs on the crowd, so we’ll have to buy that as well when it come out.  I think we’ll also purchase some tunes from the opening band, Everest. They were goooood.

The Crystal Ballroom is a venue that buzzes your whole body. Serious. You can literally “feel” the music jolt through you from your toes to your tip of your nose. Of course, I always have a little panic that the bouncy floor is indeed going to give way and we’ll all be on the morning news as the “McMennamin’s Mishap.”  But that place has been standing for a long, long time and will continue to house some spectacular shows. If you haven’t been there, what’s wrong with you???  Go! And, grab dinner at Henry’s Tavern before hand. Heavenly gorgonzola fries, fantasy worthy pot stickers, over 100 beers on tap, etc.  I also tried the Black Butte Porter BBQ beef, caramelized onion and blue cheese pizza. Wow!  I think it would be fun to go with friends and just order a bunch of stuff so you could sample as much as possible without exploding.