Javiermendoza.com

Written on a window at Shakespeare's Pizza.

Flashback to the AVE in Spain...

I found this picture on my cell phone. It's from our vacation to Spain in June '06. We took the AVE (high speed train) from Madrid to Toledo and Sevilla and Cordoba. Although, I'm not sure which trip this one was. Most likely to Toledo as that was our first foray onto the train system!

Gourmet Salad @ Home!

I made this delicious salad with spring mix, mandarin oranges, grapes, dried cherries, goat cheese, carrots, walnuts, and raspberry cabernet dressing.

Los Cabos! Yum!

Salsa!

Dinner at Mom's

Saturday night we headed to Mom's for a pork chop dinner! Normally, I wouldn't blog about it, but I thought, well why not?

We have no photographic evidence, so here's an image I found online.

Although truthfully, we had baked potato, green beans, and a recreation of a salad from Dewey's pizza (spring mix, feta cheese, grapes, and walnuts with a Raspberry Vinagrette, thank you). All yummy and wonderfully prepared by Mom (except for the salad). Add a glass of Merlot and voila, dinner is served. Thanks Mom!

Javi & the Band @ Old Rock House

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Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Great show! Smoky bar! You win some you lose some. This was another Live Feed Event, I'll talk more about the show on JavierTrueFans.com.

We headed out with the Jonezes on this night. Grabbed a fabulous pizza at Dewey's in Kirkwood! Goat cheese and sundried tomatoes...can't go wrong there!

Then we headed to the Old Rock House to catch the show. The opener was Dave Tamkin. I'm not a fan of the sound at this venue, but we ended up with a CD and I have to say this guy is pretty good. He's out of Chicago.

Javi and the band played a fine show. The crowd was receptive and supportive. We had to bail right after because the smoke was too bad. Unfortunately we missed hearing My Left Arm. I'll have to check them out online.

L-Too got some great shots at this show. Check them out!

Javi @ Old Rock House

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Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Dave Tamkin @ Old Rock House

This musician opened for Javier Mendoza @ the Live Feed Show @ The Old Rock House. Check out his website at www.davetamkin.com.

Galesburg, Illinois

So...LacubriousToo and I headed to Galesburg (brrr-ass-cold), Illinois for a Javi show and a chance to get outta dodge!

The drive was only 4 hours, which is just about my limit these days for travel by car.

We "blew" into town around 3pm, checked into Comfort Inn where we found our room to be a sweltering 98 degrees! The 120 degree temp difference between the minus 30 wind chill and that was a bit much.

We chilled for an hour or so, then headed our to find some dinner. We went to the Packinghouse, but ended up with appetizers and salad bar because we were pressed for time to get to the venue.

The Orpheum Theatre

We got to the venue at 6:30 (Thanks TomTom!) amid a brisk winter wind that practically blew us across the street. (Did I mention it was COLD!)

Javi had arranged for tickets so we hit the box office and were efficiently escorted to the correct seats...which happened to be in the middle of the theatre. We were lucky enough to get seated behind Jaime and Sue. Darrin overhead them discussing Javi and the band so he interupted to ask them if they would mind if he shot photos of the show between them and that if he got too annoying them should just let him know.

As fate would have it, Jaime worked at the Orpheum Theatre and he offered to go ask the manager is we could move down front for a better vantage point. While he was gone Sue mentioned that Jaime was her theatre student (she teaches at Carl Sandburg College) and had gotten to go backstage and meet the band.

Theatre Manager, Kate Francis, came by and said it would be no problem to move up to the handicapped seating area.

Check out that architecture!

The show started out with Kate introducing Javier and the band. This time the "band" was Carl Glad, Dave Aholt, Joe Pastor, and Eric Grossman.

The set was:

1. Blood in the Water


2. Part of History


3. Acorralado


4. Once in a Lifetime


5. Letter to You


6. Dime Luna


7. When You're Not Around


8. Waiting


9. Night in Cusco


10. Julianne


11. Rococo


12. Cordoba


13. Always There


14. Look Around


15. La Professional (encore)


16. We Wasted Our Time (encore)

You can read a bit more about the show highlights on my post to JavierTrueFans.com.

It was a fantastic show, check out more of L-Too's photos below...

After the show, we hit a local bar. (Did I mention the smoking ban in Illinois?) Can you say "breathing easy"? I can!

Anyhow, it turns out the theatre manager, Kate was once (20 years ago) a member of Mr.Wizard, a cover band from St. Louis! We also learned a bit more about the history of the Orpheum Theater, built in 1916.

We finally wrapped it up and headed out into the bitter cold, and agreed to meet Javi and the gang for breakfast at the Cafe & Creperie. Yum!

L-Too and I drove around Galesburg a bit the next day to check out the college, and some of the older buildings...then we headed back home.

Thanks again to my Bro' on Pup Patrol!

Javi & Band @ The Orpheum

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Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Javi @ The Orpheum Theatre

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Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Los Cabos and Planning the Weekend

Tonight we met up with another set of friends. I haven't worked up a "blog pseudonym" for them yet. They may have to make some suggestions.

Anyhoo, we enjoyed another dinner with them, this time at Los Cabos. We caught up on the last two weeks and chatted about: Movies, Music, Vegas, "How to give flowers and mean it" ahem, and also this:

Also, I can not believe that I have found someone who has seen more John Cusack movies than I! I am truly ashamed to call myself a fan. I may have to reevaluate my level of comittment to the cause, truly.

On the plus side, I found people who A) Have heard of the movie "Better Off Dead" and 2) Will admit they like it!

Anyhow, another pleasant ending to a rather hectic week!

As far as planning the weekend. MrLacubrious has that all TCO. We're driving to Galesburg, IL. to catch a Javi show. It's a 4+ hour drive, so we're staying over. My dear, sweet, bro has agreed to dog sit, yet again. I don't know what I would do without him! The dogs are big fans too. I think they like the shake up of the caretakers every once in a while.

Choco L'Art & Bowling

The entire Lacubrious Crew plus 2 met up for dinner and bowling tonight. It was the 2nd annual Javier True Fans Dinner & Bowling Classic. You may recall the first annual event where MrsJonez kicked butt at Oasis Lanes. This year was an upset as Javier sweeped the frames and won against everyone. I think he was motivated greatly after betting against each person individually and on different terms. All in all, it was fun and I was not lowest score! Thanks Kristina!

Prior to bowling we had a primer at the Jonez' house, where BlueFrost picked us all up in the Green Machine. We headed over to Choco L'Art in Washington to check out their dinner offerings and martinis.

Everyone else tried a martini, I opted for a glass of merlot, but after trying the espresso martini wished I'd gone for that...yum!

The food was decent, everyone had something different. I really enjoyed the atmoshpere, and we were able to talk even with 7 of us at the table. A very pleasant evening and great prelude to bowling.

After bowling, javi headed home and the rest of us crashed at the Jonez's, ate cheese and crackers, and chilled a bit before heading home....around 2-ish.

Can't wait for next year's event!

JavierTrueFans.com

UPGRADE!!!

Yes! So I signed up for my account on JavierTrueFans.com and my dear friend BlueFrost, upgraded my account so I can make posts to the site!

Now we have a place to park our show reviews, Javier news, and other Javier 411.

Also, Javier himself said he would link to the site once we get some more content online.

Amazing...

Promises, Promises...

So my commitment to post once a week is not working out so well.

Regardless, I'm pushing on and posting what and when I can.

LacubriousToo and I are immersed in our classes. I'm taking an online class in freelance magazine writing, and work has been crazy busy lately. So with all of that we are left with little free time.

That's not saying we are all work and no play. We've managed a couple of dinners out with friends or family. And we've worked our way through our wine stash. I see a trip to Luka's Liquor in our future!

We also have a social event tomorrow night with the entire LacubriousCrew - bowling and what-not. So that will be a welcome break from work.

and IT'S FRIDAY!!!