Fireworks and Doobie Brothers

Thank you 10th century China for inventing fireworks, they are amazing. Fireworks turn everyone into a kid. It doesn't matter how old you are, as soon as the fireworks start everyone stares slack jawed up into the night sky.

4th of July 2009 - Jackson, WY

Here in Alaska we have fireworks in the summer, but they are somewhat of a disappointment, it doesn't ever get dark enough to make them look really cool and, for at least the past 2 summers, it's been raining on the 4th of July so they get lost in the clouds anyway. Not that that stops me from watching them.  We also have winter time fireworks, obviously, and according to my reports, (I'm always out of town) they are much cooler. No pun intended. Last winter the city lifted the fireworks ban (for the public) in Anchorage and apparently everyone and their brother went out and got fireworks. They city was lit up like...well, the 4th of July (in places it gets dark enough to be lit up)

Midnight 4th of July  2010 - Seward, AK

There is one instance of fireworks that I particularly remember. It was 4th of July, I was 10ish and my family and I went to watch the fireworks. At that time, they would shoot the fireworks off barges in the river, so we were down on the riverfront somewhere in Aurora. For those of you not lucky enough to have ever been in the Midwest in the middle of summer, there are a lot of thunderstorms. As the storm was rolling in the fireworks were just starting. It was an amazing mix of lightning and pyrotechnics. Everyone knows you shouldn't be out in an open field when there is lightning afoot, but it was so cool looking that nobody left.

The hot jam of the week is Black Water by the Doobie Brothers. I've always had a little bit of a hard time taking the Doobie Brothers seriously. Mostly because they chose to call themselves the Doobie Brothers. In 1970. A little cliche, if you ask me.

There is one reason I love this song: the a capella part at the end. I'm a sucker for a good a capella sing along and this one is great. AND it's good to clap along with. Clapping and a capella sing alongs? Hot jam for sure.

This video is from February 2011 when Doobie Brothers made their Grand Ole Opry debut. Not the best example of the sweet a capella section but it's still pretty great. If you want to listen to the original version, you can hear it here

Small Towns and 3Oh!3

Apologies for the delayed post, summer time is busy around here!

This week's favorite thing was inspired by my recent trip to Seldovia, AK for 4th of July. I love small towns and Seldovia definitely fits the bill. The year-round population is a little over 250 and it's only accessible by boat (although it's not an island, there just aren't any roads that go there.) I had a fabulous time. There are no stoplights, people mostly get around by 4-wheeler and everyone waves at everyone.

Did I mention it's also beautiful?

I think holidays in small towns are particularly amazing. Seldovia's 4th of July celebration included events such as a hula hoop contest (where I took 3rd place), fish toss, pie eating, rubber ducky races, canoe jousting, log rolling, tug of war, and a survival suit relay (which my team won!)

Canoe Jousting

This is a survival suit

Speaking of small town celebrations, my grandparents live in a small town in central IL and it features an amazing summer time festival called Old Settlers. There's carnival rides and games and pie and elephant ears and music and a parade and all sorts of other amazing things. When I was little we always went down to visit for Old Settlers and one of my favorite parts (besides the carnival) was the parade. My family would go claim a good spot along the parade route, watch the whole thing, then as soon as the last candy-tossing float went by, my sister and I would take off through the backyards and meet the beginning of the parade on the next block. Double parade viewing = double candy. Pure genius.

This week's hot jam is I'm Not Your Boyfriend Baby by 3Oh!3. 3Oh!3 manages to combine 3 genres of music into one song and still make it sound amazing. There's a little something for everyone. You like rap? Got it. Emo? That too. Techno? It's in there. Okay, maybe not something for everyone, but at least a lot of people.

This song is probably NSFW, unless your boss is down with some F-bombs.