Category Archives: Travel

Grant’s Tomb

This past trip to New York led Julie and I to Grant’s Tomb on the northwest side of Manhattan. As National Parks go this has to be the most low maintenance park in the country. There were three other people at the tomb while we were there and one of them was the Park Ranger. To say it was on a large scale would be an understatement. The entire building is basically one large room leading down to where Grant and his wife are held in these massive granite sarcophagi. The tomb is a little out of the way but well worth the trip if you’re in Manhattan looking to get off the beaten path.

Side Note:

* By far the most interesting part of the Tomb are the busts of Grant’s generals which sit on display around the sarcophagi. The one watching over Grant is of course William Tecumseh Sherman who once famously said:

“General Grant is a great general. I know him well. He stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk; and now, sir, we stand by each other always.”

** For those who wonder, Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States and more importantly the Defender Of The Union who won the Civil War.

San Francisco: Bridge School Benefit.

This past weekend I headed out to San Francisco for the Bridge School Benefit show with Jack & Eddie. Of course the weather was what one would expect when I travel to your city.* We had initially planned to attend both nights but considering the weather, personal wellness and Jack & Eddies’ pre-dawn flight on Monday we skipped out on the second day.

The way the Bridge School is setup is each group/performer has about 20 minutes on stage which usually translates to about four or five songs and then they break to reset the stage. The first band up when we got there was Modest Mouse which I’ve never seen before and I was really interested in how they were going to play their songs acoustic. They just rocked. Nothing more to it than that. We also got to see Billy Idol perform the closest thing he’ll ever get to an acoustic set. Needless to say it was amazing.** I think one of the first non Ice-T cd’s I have ever owned was Rebel Yell so there was a lot of fist pumping.

I thought Pearl Jam’s set was really good, a good portion of the songs I’ve never heard. This is the entire setlist: Last Kiss, Unthought Known, Santa Cruz, Nothingman, Dancing Barefoot, Better Man, Walk With Me, Just Breathe, and Black. Santa Cruz I guess is a song Eddie Vedder has done on his solo tour and Walk With Me is from Neil Young’s new album Le Noise. I thought those two were the best songs we heard all night.

Besides the rain and the $10 non-premium beers the only other complaint I have was Elvis Costello just dragging on his set. I last saw Elvis Costello back in Columbus when he toured for his ‘When I Was Cruel’ album. What he’s up to now is not for me.

Side Notes:

* Last time I went to San Francisco it was an unseasonal 90 degrees and I received one of the worst sunburns of my life. This time around it didn’t stop raining for more than an hour my entire trip. This is how I roll into your city, with blatant disregard for seasonal norms.

** The one issue with seeing a show like this with such a range of musicians is different people are in to different groups and they can be total assholes when some one they don’t care about is performing. In other words, don’t talk when Billy Idol sings.

Ohio Stadium: Ohio State – Miami

This past weekend I headed to Columbus for the Ohio State – Miami game. Outside of special teams mistakes the Buckeyes dominated the game. My brother managed to get me tickets one way or another in A Deck which were probably the best seats I’ve had at Ohio Stadium since I was a student. Of course I had to go through the archaic ‘Will Call’ system that OSU has setup. I guess it never dawned on me that 700 students would wait until the day before the Miami game to pick up their tickets and that the Ticket Office wouldn’t have separate lines for Student Tickets and everyone else.

Nevertheless it was a good time. We tailgated a little before the game, then headed over to the Varsity Club where Jack & Eddie pulled his weight to get a spot at the bar.