One "Helluva" Show!

On March 19th, 2014 Frankie Ballard played the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA joined by opening act Joel Crouse. Both of these up and coming country artists were fantastic at entertaining the crowd.

The opening act, Joel Crouse, has had a few singles to country radio. He played his first single "If You Want Some" along with his current single "Why God Made Love Songs". In his short five to six song set, he played most of his original songs along with a cover medley. I was pretty impressed by Joel and hope to see him again sometime soon!

Videos of "Why God Made Love Songs" and "If You Want Some"

We've seen the main act Frankie Ballard a few times within the last year and it was great to see him back in the San Jose area! He performed with a full band and it was interesting for me to see since I've only seen him acoustically before. Frankie just put a new album out so he played a lot of songs off the new album including the title track (which I LOVE) called "Sunshine and Whiskey". 

In about the middle of the show, Frankie had a moment where he got distracted by a female fan in the front row that was exposing some cleavage....I would like to call these kind of moments "Frankie Moments" because it seems like at every show he says or does something totally random that is pretty hilarious. Of course he commented on how nice her cleavage was, then proceeded to try to throw a guitar pick and make it in. He unfortunately missed and it ended up in her purse on the stage. I just thought I would share that because I was doubled over in laughter at this point! Too funny Frankie! 

Frankie just recently topped the country charts this week with his song "Helluva Life". This was the second time in KRTY history that they could personally give back the condiment bottle he signed about four years ago when he played the rodeo club for the first time. Congrats Frankie! 

The Swon Brothers and Mallary Hope

On the night of March 5th, 2014 we saw Mallary Hope and The Swon Brothers both perform at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA! It was an amazing night of music and an amazing night to see both of these up and coming artists.

Dave and I mostly bought tickets to this show to see the opening act, Mallary Hope. We have seen Mallary many times but this was a first seeing her at the Rodeo Club. She opened her show singing one of the many songs she's written called Daughter Of The South. She then continued with a song she wrote called Georgia Peaches that was recorded by Lauren Alaina. Mallary then sang a song that was released to radio back in 2009 called Love Lives On. She had not played it in years and played it for us last night because KRTY has been playing it on the radio here. Mallary then got the crowd singing along with her to a bunch of cover songs that she called "Mallary Hope Karaoke". I got a pretty long video of that but she kept going after I stopped taping. You can probably hear me singing in the background and I apologize for how awful I sound! haha! 

Mallary closed her showing singing a Dixie Chicks song called Travelin' Soldier. Her sister and brother-in-law both serve in the US military and this song was a tribute to them and anyone else serving this country. 

Her set seemed way too short still for me and I hope to see her back in California soon! Just on a personal note, I really hope that Mallary gets the recognition she deserves in the years coming. She is currently an unsigned artist that is opening for the likes of Clint Black, Darius Rucker and Charlie Daniels just to name a few. She's played on the Grand Ole Opry numerous times. I'm still scratching my head wondering why she's not all over country radio at this moment. She has an amazing voice and songs that country radio desperately NEEDS. If you need a sampling of her music just to see that I'm not making this stuff up, she has many songs on her Soundcloud account. Go listen here: Mallary Hope's Soundcloud

Next up was The Swon Brothers! I actually watched them a little bit when they were on The Voice and thought they were great! The Swon Brothers did not win The Voice but did just recently sign a recording contract with Arista Records Nashville. They have not been around that long but I could tell that they have been performing in front of live audiences for quite some time. Colton and Zach had this undeniable stage presence that got the audience singing and dancing to many songs. They sang a lot of cover songs and a few from their album coming out sometime this year. They also announced that they were going to play the Grand Ole Opry for the first time on April 12th. 

They were greatly influenced by classic country and classic rock, doing covers of the late George Jones to a cover medley of Eagles songs. They also did a cover of  Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee" that I really enjoyed.

They played a song called "Songs That Said It All" that they wrote with Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood from Lady Antebellum.

The next to last song they played called "Later On" is currently a new single to country radio. Check it out! 

The Swon Brothers closed the show by bringing Mallary Hope back on stage to sing the song that got Blake Shelton to turn his chair around on The Voice. Here they are singing American Girl by Tom Petty:

Here's a picture of my boyfriend Dave and I with The Swon Brothers and Mallary Hope after the show! 

What a great night at the Rodeo Club and hope to see both of these artists back in the San Francisco bay area again soon! 

We are tonight!

Last night Dave and I went to check out Sam Hunt and Chase Rice at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA! It was our first time seeing both of these singer/songwriters that are pretty new to the country music scene. I wasn't sure how I was going to write this review but I'm going to do it anyway. I was very impressed with one of these artists and was kind of bored with the other.

The artist that really impressed me was Sam Hunt! He's got an interesting voice that I can tell has been influenced by not only country music but R&B as well. He did a medley of covers songs that included and older R&B song from the 90's called "This is How We Do It". I got a little video of that:

He's also written hit songs for Kenny Chesney (Come Over), Billy Currington (We Are Tonight) and Keith Urban (Cop Car). I was most excited to hear his version of Cop Car because I love Keith and loved hearing the song sang by the original songwriter. I got a little video of that, and also one of him singing his song recorded by Billy Currington! 

Sam Hunt also said that he has an album coming out later this year! I'm pretty excited for that after seeing him! While waiting for that release, you can check out his acoustic mixtape on soundcloud until then :) 

Sam Hunt SoundCloud Link

Next up was Chase Rice! I was excited to see Chase after hearing great things about him and his music. So needless to say, I had maybe some higher expectations. I hate writing negative reviews especially about an artist that I know had been getting a lot of hype and buzz about. I'm not sure what it was but Dave and I came to an agreement that he didn't seem to be very entertaining. This is just my opinion though and hopefully he changes my mind about him when we see him open for Dierks Bentley this summer! 

I'm On Top Of The World

Last night was kind of a spur of the moment concert night for Dave and I. We got tickets to see Imagine Dragons at the SAP center in San Jose! At first when I started liking them, I looked at tickets and there were hardly any good ones left. Then I was scheduled to work that night. I was then told that I didn't need to come in....so for fun, I looked at ticketmaster again last night and they had released some good seats on the side of the stage!

This is also the first time I think since we saw Train that we had been to a non-country concert! We got there right in the middle of one of the opening acts called Naked and Famous. I really liked their sound but I couldn't understand any of the words the woman lead singer was singing.

It was definitely a different vibe in the arena! There was a general admission crowd on the floor and a good mix of people from what I could see! Imagine Dragons put on one heck of a show! There were a lot of drums on the stage (of course) and the lead singer Dan was very energetic, making his way all around the stage. There were points in the show that him and the other band members would come up to the side stage right next to us. Right then and there, our seats were pretty close!!

                         When they played "On Top Of the World", balloons filled with confetti were released and they used drumsticks each time one came by to poke them and break them. I thought that was super cool!

A video of them singing "It's Time".

This next video really explains their love of drums. They did a cover of a classic rock song by Rush called Tom Sawyer. Correct me if I'm wrong, Dave told me the name and who it was by. I'm not that educated on my classic rock music :/

Of course I had to get a little video of them singing my favorite song by them called "On Top Of The World"! At the end of the video, Dan comes to our side of the stage again :)

Had a really great night! Really hope we can see them again!! 

When Life Gives You Lemons.....

Last night Dave and I went to our first concert of the year at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA to see country artist Austin Webb! We've seen him a couple times before but this was the first time also seeing him do a show by himself. He's an amazing singer/songwriter with such a soulful raspy voice. He also plays the harmonica which I think I don't see very often in country music anymore. He's got a pretty goofy personality that really showed through last night. During one of the songs he hid behind the curtains on the stage, that was pretty funny! This show was also done on the other side of the Rodeo Club. It's smaller and only holds about 450 people. It looked kind of like a banquet hall you could use for a wedding reception! I really liked how small and intimate it was though! Hope they have more acoustic shows over here!

Here is a clip of a song called "Lemonade" that he wrote. That's where I got the blog title ;)

He performed a song that he said he wrote when he was 15 or 16 that he sang on the opry for his debut. It's called "Even Angels Fall".

The last song I got video of is his current single called "Slip On By". He said the local radio station KRTY has spun this song the most since it's release. You could tell by the sold out crowd that people still listen to the radio and know who Austin is. It's always a great feeling when people in this town sing the song back to the artists, even newer ones like Austin! 

At the end of the show, trays of Fireball shots were being passed out from Austin. He came back out to do one more song after that for the encore called "Life Of The Party". What a great way to start off the year of concerts! Can't wait until the next one! 

Time to get more wine, Trader Joe's we go! (And more)

I just saw on yahoo.com that Epicurious.com wrote an article saying what their employees like to buy at Trader Joe's. I never really shopped at Trader Joe's before I moved from Illinois to California. I decided to try it one day because I heard they have some great cheap wines. To this day I still go for my wine but now other things start to appear in my cart other than wine! I've found a few other staple items that I go to Trader Joe's most often for now! Here is my list of top things I enjoy buying at Trader Joe's!

1. Wine (Duh)

I'm mostly into red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot so that's what I mostly buy. The Trader Joe's brand wine is amazing and mostly all under $5! I like to try a variety of these cheap wines that they have and it's such a bargain that I keep going back for more! 

2. Apple Banana Fruit Sauce Crushers

These are pouches that contain applesauce, great for lunchboxes since you don't need a spoon! This is my favorite flavor of these but they also have strawberry and I believe a normal applesauce flavor. 

3. Greek Yogurt Nonfat (Vanilla Bean)

I just recently started liking greek yogurt last year. My favorite brand is Oikos but I also tried that Trader Joe's brand greek yogurt and love the vanilla bean flavor! I also really like the blueberry and the honey ones. There are of course more flavors to explore but somehow I keep ending up with the vanilla bean ones! 

4. Parisan Carrots (frozen)

I just recently discovered these carrots while going through the frozen section one day and have to get them every time I go to TJ's now! I've never seen carrots like this before, they are round in shape and taste sweeter than normal carrots. A perfect side dish with dinner! 

5. Mini Hold The Cone Ice Cream Cones

These are perfect if you want to indulge in something sweet! They come in chocolate and vanilla flavors and are so tiny. Each cone is about 70 calories so you won't feel guilty if you have one of these. Just don't eat the whole box ;) 

6. Frozen Blueberries

These are great for smoothies and parfaits! I buy a bag of these and strawberries to make parfaits for my boyfriend Dave sometimes for breakfast. 

7. Dog Treats

My mom actually told me about these that she gets for her dog. My dogs seem to love them now too! And since they are all natural and made in America, they pass the test for my dogs! 

I'm sure there are more things that will pop up on this list to buy in the future. Do you shop at Trader Joe's? If so, what are your favorite things to buy? 

Here's to the new year!

Happy new year everyone! I was thinking of what my new years resolution would be for this year, and how this year could pan out. My resolutions that I could think of are more like goals with deadlines. At the end of this year I could finally get my associates degree and be able to move on next year to San Jose State! I would also really like to find internships for this summer and next spring since I would not be able to transfer to SJSU until fall of 2015. Both internships hopefully with a journalism background. Other than those things, of course I would like to continue going to a lot of concerts. More concerts=more concert blogs! So stay tuned for more here in 2014! Hope it's filled with joy and excitement for all! 

Do you have a new years resolution? If so, what is it that you hope to achieve this year?