… Followed by a very good one. Here is the beginning of “Furr” at the Blitzen Trapper show we went to last Friday; terrible in quality and not complete, since I am not one of those people who can really enjoy a concert while videotaping it. But they were fantastic! Go see ‘em!

And here is the real video. Much better than mine.

Last night we went and saw Kings of Leon at the Billy Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. To sum up? These guys are AMAZING. Pure and simple, they put on one hell of a rock show. It was me and Jason’s first time seeing them live, my brother and his girlfriend’s second time. I love experiencing the energy of a live show and I’m rarely disappointed (Except for a 311 show I saw one time. It was so boring I actually fell asleep.) and this is one band you have to see live. I’ve been listening to them pretty much daily for the last couple of years, and I love it when I see a band live and they prove just how awesome they are! They have a great dynamic and charisma just oozes off the stage. My brother noticed a girl near us who was sitting on her boyfriend’s shoulders when Caleb looked at her and winked and the chick just about melted into the floor. Can’t say I blame her.

We ended up being about 10-15 feet from the stage for about 3/4 of the show, which was amazing… until it wasn’t. People were pushing and it was really crowded and after standing up and dancing for 3 hours I decided a seat up in the nosebleeds would do me just fine. (I have no problem admitting I’m getting old.) Jason and I left the youngsters and went upstairs to enjoy the last couple songs and the encore. Oh and to completely dash any ideas I had of being some really cool hipster, I also fell down the stairs. (Beer everywhere + wearing shoes I’m not used to + natural clumsiness = dangerous combination.)

They are touring again in August… they’ll be in Sacramento. Who’s up for it?

… or at least the people at HBO must think so. I’ve been reading Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels for a few years now and just finished one last night. Since I’m pretty compulsive about reading an entire series and knowing what happens with all “my” characters, after a rather weepy weekend (and morning) I decided to treat myself to the latest book this evening. I was surprised to see it has been made into a television series on HBO. I’ll have to rent the series on DVD when it comes out, but I hope its as good as the books!

While I was there, I decided to look for another beloved series: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. Have I raved about this series yet? If not, I should have. And you should definitely be reading it. Hands down, these are my favorite mystery novels, ever. So funny and sweet and touching and ultimately positive, they are just wonderful.

And if you haven’t read a good uberfantasy series in awhile, may I suggest J.V. Jones Sword of Shadows series? Really, really good epic fantasy from a fantastic female writer.

Oh, also? Jason and I are currently battling over Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. I got about 3/4 of the way through it before he stole it from me and began reading it. Normally that is a crime punishable by death, but I was so happy to see him reading I decided just to beat him a bit for it. See, I’m really a very good wife.

So, read any good books lately?