Yes I am alive.

Well, I have fallen out of the loop as far as blogs go for a very long time, so I decided today that I should write a blog. The most exciting concert event for me of the year has came and went and I am still wishing I was in my lawn chair in Austin watching some great bands play. Austin City Limits Festival was once again a great time, I even got to bring Kristen this year and that added to the experience. We both got to knock off Kanye West on our bucket list of people to see perform. All I can say it people can call him an A-hole all they want, but I have always loved Kanye and after seeing him live, he is an amazing performer. I got to see a lot of hip hop over the weekend, and I got to see one of my favorite rappers of all time Big Boi perform on Friday and the fact that he did a lot of Outkast songs made me very happy. Friday was probably the best day of ACL for the whole weekend.

The other top act I got to knock off the bucket list was My Morning Jacket and Iron and Wine. I love both of these bands and they didn't disappoint seeing them live on Saturday. Kristen and I also got to see Ray LaMontange on Friday and he was great. I have to give it up to Kristen, she should get some sort of wife of the year honor for going to ACL and having a bum foot the whole time. She also stuck with me on some of the bands I wanted to see that she could careless about. Of course that is why I love her, I got to races on the weekend with her, and she will go to a music festival with me. Somehow I feel she gets the better end of the deal, for the simple fact that while we are cheering for a band we don't know you can atleast drink alcohol, not the same at races cheering for people running completely sober on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Now I am plotting my next concert of the year, and on the horizon in December the two of us can knock someone else off the bucket list and that would be one rapper named Jay-Z. I think that this will probably be one of Kristen's Christmas presents that I am sure she will enjoy very much. Speaking of my bucket list of bands/musicians I want to see I feel this is an appropriate time to put this list down so everyone can see. Of course some of these bands I have seen, and will run at the chance to see them again.

1. Pearl Jam (seen them twice now and I will see them as long as I am alive, pardon the pun)
   
2. Arcade Fire
   
3. Arctic Monkeys
   
4. The Rolling Stones (seen them once and will see them again before they are gone.)
   
5. Kanye West
   
6. My Morning Jacket
   
7. Iron and Wine
   
8. Ray LaMontange
   
9. Jay-z
   
10. Phish (seen them twice now)
    
11. The Avett Brothers
    
12. Band of Horses
    
13. The Flaming Lips (best experience ever, got to be on stage with them)
    
14. Beastie Boys
    
15. Beck (saw him in college, would see him again)
    
16. The Roots (saw them with Beck, want to see them again)
    
17. Beirut
    
18. Ben Harper (have seen him way too many times, but amazing live)
    
19. Big Boi (now I just need to see him with Outkast)
    
20. The Black Crowes
    
21. The Black Keys (Have to see them again)
    
22. Bob Dylan
    
23. Bon Iver
    
24. Bruce Springsteen
    
25. Cake
    
26. Cold War Kids
    
27. Death Cab for Cutie
    
28. The Decemberists
    
29. Dinosaur Jr.
    
30. Eminem
    
31. Fleet Foxes
    
32. Foo Fighters (have seen them once, but have to see them again)
    
33. Red Hot Chili Peppers (seen them once, but have to see them again)
    
34. Frightened Rabbit
    
35. The Gaslight Anthem (seen them once, love to see them again)
    
36. Girltalk (seen him twice, go if you can)
    
37. Green Day
    
38. The Hold Steady (see them, will go again)
    
39. Ice Cube (saw him when he was still gangsta)
    
40. Jane's Addiction
    
41. Soundgarden
    
42. John Butler Trio
    
43. John Mayer (seen him, amazing on guitar)
    
44. The Strokes
    
45. The Killers
    
46. The Kills
    
47. Kings of Leon
    
48. Kiss
    
49. LCD Soundsystem (thank god I got to see them)
    
50. Lil Wayne
    
51. Lou Reed
    
52. Metallica
    
53. Metric
    
54. Mumford and Sons
    
55. Muse (amazing live, will go again)
    
56. The National (seen them, will go again)
    
57. Neil Young
    
58. Phoenix
    
59. Portugal. The Man (seen them, will go again)
    
60. Queens of the Stone Age
    
61. Radiohead
    
62. Smashing Pumpkins (seen them twice, broke up on stage last time I saw them)
    
63. Sonic Youth (saw the legends rip it up in Austin)
    
64. Spoon (seen them, will go again)
    
65. Tom Petty (seen him twice)
    
66. Weezer (saw them and I love them)
    
67. Wilco
    
68. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
    
69. 50 Cent
    
70. U2
    

Well, this is a still growing list as I find new bands every day. I have a lot of new music to write about next week, but I thought I would let the few of you that check this (1 person last time I looked at the tracker) know that I am alive and well.