LadybugLoUCKs: June 2009

When I came across Jamie Cullum concert tickets, I thought, "I have to go!!!!!"

Not only is he one of my favorite artists (that a good friend introduced me to about 3 years ago), but he is a British jazz pianist whom usually tours in Europe. So the fact that he was coming to Aspen, and Aspen alone, meant it was a no-brainer.

To justify the expense, we decided it would be our way of celebrating our 5 year anniversary...

one week early :)

We left work a little early on thursday, dropped off Cooper with my mom and sister, and headed off to Aspen, Colorado.

We arrived right before he came on stage and we were comfortably sitting in the middle back area. After a few songs, I noticed some open seating up in front and since the audience seemed layed back and there were no ticket checkers in sight.... I thought, I'm going to move up closer for a minute and take a few up-close pictures. I found two seats in the second row that no one had taken. After I took a couple pics, Jamie Cullum was getting comfortable with the audience and chatting about his "good for the throat" beverage ;) To prove it, he walked to the front of the stage, pointed in my direction, said "here, come take it" .....I looked around and no one was budging, so I thought.... ok, what the heck, I'll go up. Any excuse to meet the guy. And so he gave me his beer, the crowd cheered and Jamie Cullum said "kiss kiss" to me and in the European fashion, we kissed on the cheek. I walked back to my seat and waved Cameron to come down and join me.

The front was way more fun!

A couple songs later, Jamie moved down into the audience with his band-mates. He said, "Do whatever you want. If anyone has a problem with it, tell them to come to me." (in his british accent) And with that, everyone started moving closer.... including me.

This was my favorite part of the evening. He sang with no microphone and everyone cozied up to enjoy the music more personally.

He sang a few songs here, and also stepped back to let the other guys jamm it out on their intruments..... savvy jazz style. I was right behind the bass guy. It was sweet!

As he ran back up on stage, everyone in the aisles followed him right up to the very front of the stage. I'm telling you..... it was so awesome!!! Such a comfortable and relaxed, no rules environment.

No rules in fact, that as it was getting a little crowded up front, I decided to just scoot up on stage and take a seat (where I could breathe and enjoy the show a little better). Just as I did that (gasp)... Jamie, in the middle of his song, says "that's ok. come on up guys. get comfortable"..... and so several more followed my lead. I was literally 3 feet from him. Prime spot for really emersing yourself in awesome-ness of live music. I love live music. I got some great shots too, of course. But mostly I concentrated on soaking in the moment. It was a rare one.

This shot above is my favorite from the night! (zero modification, zero zoom)

He wasn't tired folks... just really into the music :)

Here is some of his stuff. You should check it out:

These are the Days half way thru this music video, his performance personality comes out. maybe you can get a taste of what I saw.

Gran Torino I'm pretty sure he said this song was nominated for a Golden Globe.

What a Difference a Day Makes a cover and live version of an old jazz classic. half way thru- some sweet piano skills.

Frontin' there are so many good ones. i can't pick. this one jams

All I have to say is......

definately my favorite concert EVER! (and I've been to many)

Sorry Buble, you just got bumped.... (but only a little).

After the concert, we drove to Glenwood Springs for the rest of our trip.

So this is how the next day went......

We slept in!!!!!

We took our time getting ready and with our late start, ventured out to find some lunch.

..... we had some of the best sandwiches ever....mmm.

After walking around a bit, we ventured over to

Soiled Groin. I mean..... Sacred Groin. I mean Sacred Grounds. Don't Ask. It's just how I kept reading the sign out front. Cameron kept laughing at me.

Outside the cafe, we were relaxing on the patio... this friendly looking girl had a bag of kittens. Yes. A bag of kittens. Well, actually, a cat carrier with a mommy cat and 4 three-week old kitties. She let me hold one of them. Kayla is her name. We got to talking and it turns out that she, and a group of guys she was with, all randomly met up in Glenwood on their hitch-hiking journey to Rainbow, New Mexico, and then to California. They were all from different places.... Vermont, Indiana, Connecticut. There were about 8 people coming and going with whatever food they could find. I'm telling you.... these were real-life-modern-day Jack Kerouac On the Road free-spirit characters, whom Cameron and I chilled with for about an hour. Very cool people. At first site, they just look like local hippies. Who would have guessed their story?!? I sorta envy their adventure.

Afterward, we ventured over to the Strawberry Days fair.

ordered the best fresh squeezed lemonade I ever had.... and walked around.

the coolest petty zoo I ever saw. there was even a huge rabbit and a huge turtle.

mmmm...... roasted nuts :)

lots of cool artwork

and jewelry

and of course, what is a fair without kettle corn and the cute old couple makin and sellin it.

By this time, we needed to get out of the heat. So we drove to the closest movie theater..... Carbondale, and saw The Proposal. Can I say Hil-ar-i-ous!!!?!!!! I laughed so hard, and I'm a tough one to please with comedies.

Cam and I don't get to go to the movie theaters very much anymore, so it was nice!

On our way back, we goofed off to some jammin tunes.... had all the windows down of course. It was a beautiful time of day.

As we were driving back, I spotted this really REALLY cool white fallen tree that had a lot of character. So we stopped. I had to get a picture. hehe.

bein goofs again. well Cameron mostly.

heart........................................fire

superman................................peace

We lingered for awhile and watched the sunset. It had also occured to us how slow the day was going..... in a good way..... especially with our late start. Couldn't have been better for not planning anything and going with the flow.

wishing flower anyone?

We finally hit the road again, and headed back for some grub. We walked around the main part of town till we found the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub. It was sooooo good!

With perfect timing, we finished our food, changed into our swimsuits and jotted over to the infamous Glenwood Hot Springs for a last minute evening dip (at a discounted rate). It was a perfect amount of time (the last hour) because Cameron gets all pruny so fast anyway.