Twenty-Seven Years & Still Going Strong

So the birthday celebration was a success. Seeing as most everyone has coupled off these days, it gets harder and harder to get the whole crew together. But they all made it out for my special day and we had a fabulous time. It was Chris and Em (the newlyweds), Bo and Lisa (the about-to-be-weds), Jag, Julie, Tom, and my sis, Holly. (Ciaobella was video-conferenced in.) We started off at Mirror for dinner and drinks. The Blueberry Martinis and Mojitos flowed nicely. And, as usual, the food rocked.

After gift opening and photo shoots (sorry, not my camera...who knows when I'll get the pics), we headed down to the old standby, The Red Door. From then on out, the night was sort of a blur, but we had a damn good time.

Just as the crowd thinned out a bit, I got a text message from this guy informing me that The High Dials show at The Basement was "bad f*cking ass" and I needed to get there. Perfect timing as all the non-music lovers had left, so I whizzed Tom and Alan out the door and we raced over to catch the end of the show.

Turns out "bad f*cking ass" was an understatement. Holy crap. Now, I know it wasn't just the few drinks I had in me that made them sound so good. The dude busted out a sitar...yes, a sitar...and sat in the middle of the stage and just jammed. It was crazy. Total George Harrison. The band followed right behind him and the energy in the room was incredible. Enough to get some serious groove on. I'm buying the record this week. Grimey's, everybody. The High Dials: War of the Wakening Phantoms.

So anyway, I spent the majority of today (my actual birthday) recovering from the madness of Saturday night. I was proud, though, because I kept my promise to myself and still made it to church. My family joined me and then we hit up the famous Loveless Cafe for some good ol' Southern cookin'. Mmmm. Good times were had by all and I don't feel a day older than, well...let's just say I still feel Young At Heart. And I plan on keeping that attitude until I'm 105.

*****

Sidenote: Catch another great show Wednesday night at The Basement. Newton Dominey with Dawn Kinnard and Strays Don't Sleep. 7p, $5.