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Last Friday I was talking with a co-worker about my weekend plans. I told her I was traveling back to the Cackalack for my Mom's XXth birthday (I am not allowed to reveal her true age on the interwbs, obvs.) and that my Dad was going to surprise her with a trip to the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. "How very....Southern," she replied.

And she is right, but ask any of my friends from college and they'll undoubtedly tell you I was the least Southern Southerner there ever was. Which is not to say I don't have a few redneck tendencies (I do), but I hate NASCAR. Actually, that may be a little harsh, but I really don't care for it at all. But after riding along for three laps around the speedway on Saturday, I have a better understanding and appreciation for it.

First of all, the three laps on the 1.5 mile long quad-oval track go by very, very quickly at 160 mph. The g-forces on the banked curves are pretty incredible, more powerful than any roller coaster you've been on. We took the first turn high and easy, but on the second lap, the driver gunned it and we stayed low. Wow. Coming out of that turn and hugging the wall was pretty intense. We were only a few inches from the wall in the straightaway and I'd be lying if I didn't think about what would happen with one wrong turn of the steering wheel.

I can only imagine what it must be like coming off that turn in a group of cars, three wide. We didn't "race" and of the other cars out on the track, they all kept in order, one after the other. But it was still one of the wildest things I've ever done. Good idea, Dad! The track itself was immense. It holds 167,000 people on race days. It's like a small city. I just might have to go to a race one of these days and see what that is like. But I'll have to brush up on my Talladega Nights quotes first.

[mp3] Radiohead | Killer Cars

Full photo set after the jump.

So spoke our tour guide at the Sam Adams Brewery on Friday. He was talking about the special Brewmaster Blend of Stout pictured above, but he might as well have been talking about the weekend in Boston that Ms. Smith and I just had.

To be honest, we were just happy to get up there in the first place. We took the 9 a.m. flight out of Dulles so we arrived up North before the snow did. While we were waiting for our bags, we learned that the flights scheduled to arrive after us had all been canceled. And with good reason; it snowed from noon until after 10 p.m., leaving between 8 and 10 inches of snow on the ground. But we had no problems getting around town - if anything, it just made the city more picturesque.

I've been to Boston plenty, but this was easily my best trip yet. We had a great hotel - smack dab on the MIT campus -, a great neighborhood, great food and drink and no shortage of things to do. It all culminated with the Super Furry Animals show Saturday night, which was - for the record - my 30th (!!!!) Super Furry Animals gig. I too recoiled in horror after reading the previous sentence.

The gig was great, a loose and informal affair in front of a sell-out audience. The Paradise is a great room, although it has a funny shape. It's very wide, but not very deep. The sides of the club have risers and balconies, so the best view is generally from the sides of the stage. But the sound was superb, as was the vibe from the crowd.

A few hours before the gig, I got an email from David, a reader of the leafblower who wanted to buy me a pint at the gig. After doing so, I bought the next round and insisted he come backstage after the gig to meet the band. We made our way backstage as the last strains of ":Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy" faded into the night and I introduced him to everyone and we hung out well into the early morning, drinking beer and talking football and whatnot. The recent injury to Eduardo was a big point of conversation, as was the band's Conan O'Brien taping today. We had two sides arguing for specific songs - myself and the crew on one side and the band on the other. Add in the 37 Stella's I drank andyou can see where this is going.

Anyways, before I knew it, the driver started up the tour bus, which meant it was my time to head back to the hotel, officially ending my Super Furry road trip of 2008. I think this tour has been really good for the band. They stripped down their show to the bare essentials, letting their songs speak for themselves and from the feedback I've heard, the reception has been entirely positive. Another ilb reader, Joyce from NYC, emailed me this morning to say last night's show in NYC was the best he'd seen the band do in over six years.

I think it's easy to get caught up in the "show" aspect of the last few tours, and I definitely missed the video of head-banging Ozzy during "Receptacle for the Respectable," but I think this tour (and album) are a reboot of sorts for the band, and it's done the trick. You don't need Yeti costumes when you write perfect pop songs and this tour reminded everyone of that.

On the good news front, there is a possibility of another US tour towards the tail end of the year, which is both exciting and frustrating. Exciting because, hey, more shows! Frustrating because I will either be on my honeymoon or out of vacation days. :)

I'm not sure if the Conan taping will air tonight or another day, so check your local TV listings. Gruff said the band were supposed to do Conan at the start of the tour but they decided not to do it because of the strike. This will be the band's second appearance on Conan, the first came back when the band was promoting Rings Around The World. Here's the mp3:

[mp3] Super Furry Animals | (Drawing) Rings Around The World (live on Conan O'Brien)

Even though my big project at work has yet to officially launch (next week, hopefully) it appears as though I am through the worst of it. And by worst of it, I mean working 31 out of the last 33 days (as of the end of last week). I let out one helluva an exhale on Friday night while I was on the plane back from Orlando. I think it's safe to say that no one needed this three day weekend more than I did.

So what did I do with my time off?

• Spent some QT with the future Mrs. Leafblower.


• Reacquainted myself with Mr. Pink. Reacquainted Mr. Pink with the laser pointer.


• Ran some errands, did some laundry. Exciting!


• Ate at Ruth's Chris (food was excellent, the service not so much).


• Watched the slam dunk contest, which was pretty amazing. Although the first two dunks by Gerald and Dwight Howard were the best. That cupcake stunt blew my mind.


• Slept in every day.


• On Guto's recommendation, watched Once in a Lifetime with utter amazement.


• Wanted to go snowboarding but when the temps hit the high 60's yesterday, headed to the National Zoo instead (hence the photo).


• Had a blast at the drag queen brunch at Perry's in Adams Morgan.


• Bought a new pair of adidas.

So yeah, not too shabby. I'm still digging out from my time away (I have 200 things saved in my Bloglines that I wanted to post about or mention), but hopefully I'll be back up to speed soon.

For the first time in three weeks, I had a day off yesterday! Praise to Jeebus!

So what did I do with my precious time off? Well, I went and saw some robots.

And some art:

And some (entirely unfulfilling and somewhat boring) rock:

More rock tonight before I travel to Orlando tomorrow!

I'm a bit late on this but I would be remiss if I failed to go on record about how fucking awesome Buffalo Tom was last Friday night. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give the show a 15. Seriously. They destroyed my low expectations and put on what will definitely end up being one of the best shows I will see in 2008.

I can't for the life of me remember the last time I saw them play. I'm guessing 1997ish, which put Friday night's show at about 10 years overdue. But it was like they never left. Everything from Let Me Come Over and Big Red Letter Day sounded as vibrant and fresh as the first time I heard those songs. And the newer songs sounded right at home besides these "classics."

The best part of the show was how much fun the band was having on stage. Yes, to an extent this show was a trip down memory lane, but it was a welcome one. It was clear Bill, Chris and Tom were playing these songs because they love them and were happy to be performing them again. Their energy was infectious and the crowd more than reciprocated. They even took requests. The only (minor) downer was Chris's sore throat, which kept the band performing "Three Easy Pieces," one of the songs I was most looking forward to hearing. But he sucked it up for "Late At Night," so it's hard to complain about that.

Setlist: [via the BTMB]
Staples / CC and Callas / Sodajerk / Thrown / Summer / Treehouse / Mineral / You'll Never Catch Him / Kitchen Door / Scottish Windows / Tangerine / Velvet Roof / I'm Allowed / Bottom of the Rain / Late at Night / Taillights Fade
Encore:
Late At Night / Frozen Lake / Birdbrain / Wiser

I have serious doubts if I will see a better show this year. It was that good.

[mp3] Buffalo Tom | Larry (live)

Also, I finally saw Cloverfield last night. I liked it, but it felt like I was watching someone play a video game. I have some serious issues with the last 20 minutes of the movie, but overal...thumbs up.

**UPDATE** - Pygs In a Blanket nails one of my complaints.

Finally, Robbers on High Street have canceled their show at DC9 tonight.