"One day we will both feel good"

Father's Day was sad. My Mom's dad is dying, and it's sad to watch. I hurt for him mostly because you can see his sadness. He has the hope of heaven and praise the Lord for that. He says he will miss the people here and is sad to leave them behind, but grateful for the promise of the afterlife. He was/is a great man. A great athlete, businessman and family man. The turmoil in Iran this week reminds me that my Grandpa used to do business in Iran for John Deere. Before retiring, he was "Managing Director of Operations Latin America, Australia and the Far East." I wonder how they fit that on a business card...he traveled the world with John Deere and moved his family to Heidelberg, Germany. My mom lived there for 8 years or so. He retired young and soon devoted his life to studying the Bible, devouring the writings of Martin Luther. He loved to study and discuss the scriptues even more than he loved discussing politics. I miss him already. His body is a shell of what it once was breaking down more every day even while containing the spirit and mind that continue to function. Ease his pain.

"Just around the riverbend"

It just dawned on me that I've been going to Dave Matthews Band shows for 10 years now. I'm glad I squeezed the Cincinnati show in last night since I might not make either Deer Creek show this summer. (maybe Friday night, but doubtful) I've missed a year or two over the past decade, but also caught two shows last summer, so it's got to be getting close to ten shows. They've never disappointed and last night was no exception despite about 30 minutes of hard rain at the beginning of the show and another 20 during Jimi Thing. It was Killers-esque as far as rain goes. Couldn't have been much wetter. The lawn was a giant mud pile by the end of the show.

And the Hyatt comforter I snagged after last year's Dave show was put to good use covering up puked-up spaghetti about 6 feet from where Charlie and I were standing. I knew that blanket would come in handy.

The setlist in general didn't blow me away last night, but #41, The Stone, Grey Street and Everyday are all among my most favorite "non-radio single" songs, so that was like jackpot. I think what I'm getting at was Ants Marching and Halloween were the two moments when the crowd exploded...sometimes you'll see three or four of those during a show. That being said, the Big Whiskey songs were awesome live. They were rocking out. Seven was a great live song, and I hadn't really cared for it on CD. Overall amazing show as always.

Tuesday Jun 16 2009 Riverbend Music Center

Shake Me Like a Monkey
Funny The Way It Is
Stay Or Leave
Dive In
The Stone
Anyone Seen The Bridge
Too Much (Fake)
Ants Marching
Lying In the Hands of God
Why I Am
Lie In Our Graves
So Damn Lucky
Seven
Jimi Thing
Squirm
You and Me
Everyday
#41
Grey Street

Alligator Pie
Halloween

"Drinkin Big Whiskey while we dance and sing"

• Currently watching: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia -- what a great show
• Getting ready to: Do a little work
• Looking forward to: Friday -- anybody up for Dinner and the new Michael Cera flick Year One?
• Headed to: DMB in Cincinnati on Tuesday night -- looking forward to hearing some of Big Whiskey live
• Enjoyed: Saturday night out with Rogers
• Did not enjoy: Breaking the blender by leaving a spoon in it when trying to make a caramel/coffee shake
• Thinking: The Lakers are going to close it out tonight

"The TV's playing it"

Well I hustled home after The Taking of Pelham 123 -- or as I like to call it the movie where John Travolta says f#$k a bunch to show how tough he is -- to reserve facebook.com/berg for myself. I had no such luck as names must be at least 5 characters, so I settled for facebook.com/theberg, which makes me feel special. So much more special than myspace.com/androsenberg or twitter.com/mindofberg or even andyrose.blogspot. I've got all my little virtual spaces carved out for myself. Come and visit me anytime. Prowl around when I'm not home. Just be sure to leave a note.

The movie was OK. Nothing too special, but entertaining enough. My only regret is I didn't get a chance to play pop-a-shot before it started.

"When you gonna put me in a song?"

I feel like I've been tired all week, so I should keep this brief, finish up my work and go to bed. Problem is Game 4 of the NBA Finals probably won't be over until a bit after midnight. We'll see.

Good news: I got accepted into the IU MBA program. In a few months I'll be a Hoosier, and my cousin will let me yell, "Yeah we got em" when the Hoosiers when a basketball game next year.

Currently listening to: Big Whiskey and the GruGrux King - DMB and City of Black & White - Mat Kearney

Currently watching: Funhouse - 80's slasher

I've decided that I can most easily rank my favorite groups based on my concert-going behavior. That being said, my favorite bands based on the fact that I will always try to go see them when they come around locally are:

• Better Than Ezra
• Dave Matthews Band
• Coldplay
• The Killers

No surprises there...not necessarily in that order. The next phase would be those bands that I would want to go see or have seen before, but I might not try to go everytime. I'll need to think about who falls into that category. I think it's pretty big.

My nephew Preston got his first baseball bat today. He was a new year's baby so is 2.5 years old and a very small little man. Rogers and I got him some extra small baseball pants that I think are going to be pretty cute.

"Punch right through my chest"

Well with Coldplay kicking it off on Friday, the weekend was good. Saturday brought the BFFC*, which was a great time of eating, socializing, enjoying Hillbilly Golf and suffering through neverending games of Cornhole. Followed immediately by the Hangover, which was pretty darn funny, but I had inflated expectations so not sure if it was the funniest movie I've seen this year (I Love You Man was classic). That being said, I was laughing throughout and especially enjoyed Allen...who wouldn't.

Today Rogers and I went to Life Church for the third time, before heading to Anderson to play my Rosenberg Grandparents in a game of Canasta. A come-from-behind victory...I saw my Grandpa cheating one time, but he's getting close to 90, so you can't hold that against him. When I'm that old, I'm probably going to be cheating in games all the time. My game-playing adversaries...you've been warned.

For a couple of ha-ha's go to www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

*Berg's First Fishers' Cookout

"Now my feet won't touch the ground"

As the sun went down, Coldplay started to get into their groove. They left the stage for a mini-stage about halfway back in the pavillion, so Jason and I made a move to position ourselves closely for the mini-lawn stage they looked to be headed to next. We were about 20 feet from the stage, and I had Shannon's camera ready to snap some close up pictures. Jason took a quick bathroom break, and as soon as he left a middle-aged woman walked up and said "Are you here with anyone?" -- "Yes" -- "Would you like my tickets? I'm leaving." -- "Sure, are they pavillion?" -- "Yes, they're row L." -- "Thank you" -- I immediately dart back to our spot on the lawn, hand Sharp her camera and grab Rogers' hand. As the Hardest Part and then Viva La Vida play, we Nick and Norah'd our way up to the front, ultimately landing about 4 rows back. from the stage. Section C, Row L, Seats 3 and 4. We were 10 feet from Chris Martin when he danced around with his Chinese-Dragon Mask on during "Lost."

It was surreal. Confetti was flying. The last five songs were amazing. Since we didn't have a camera, fortunately, I have some memorabilia to prove we didn't just head home early.

"Tell me who makes these rules"

It was an OK birthday...work was OK, Rogers got me a sweet TMNT ice cream cake, and dinner at Cancun was great.

Unfortunately, the day was marred with the acquisition of 75+ holes in the side of our house due to hail. Hopefully, the roof is not also damaged.

So it was an OK, yet costly birthday -- hopefully not more than our $1,000 deductible. At least we didn't have car damage also.

"This face keeps getting older everyday"

I was five 21 years ago this upcoming June 2. Strange. I think 26 will be a good year. I still have a bunch of resolutions to chalk off my list in 2009 for starters. Oddly my parents and my sister both had kids when they were 25. I guess I dodged that one this past year. Someday.

To ring in the new age, it's time to laugh a bit at Conan's first night in his new gig, which will start any minute.