Fountains of Wayne @ The Depot

Last night was my first time attending a show at The Depot in Salt Lake City. The Depot is located in The Gateway and is acutally in the old Union Pacific building. If you've never been there, you're missing out. It's a great venue! If only every concert could be held there. (No I don't own stock.) What did I like? Well first of all it's clean. I know, it's a novel idea. Also the layout is great. Not a bad view of the stage from anywhere in the place. Of course we were front and center for Fountains of Wayne on August 21, 2007.

If you've never heard of Fountains of Wayne, you probably just don't realize that you have heard them. There "big hit" from their last album, Welcome Interstate Managers, was entitled "Stacy's Mom." See! I knew that you had heard them. Of course that is probably not one of their better songs. (Depending on who you ask, I suppose.) Prior to last night, I was always annoyed with bands who refuse to play their hit songs that fans always seems to want to hear. Last night I actually felt for FOW as they started playing Stacy's Mom and a horde of drunk girls belted out the song at the top of their lungs while dirty dancing with each other. Personally I could have forgone the song rather than have that image burned into my mind. I'm guessing that the girls were there to get drunk, oh and to hear that one song.

But if we ignore drunk girls, the show was great. Fountains of Wayne has lots of fun lyrics and upbeat "pop" tempos. Don't let "Stacy's Mom" keep you from giving them a listen. They've got several CDs all of which are great:

Here's a clip of Fountains of Wayne at The Depot singing Hey Julie:

Josh Rouse - Nashville

Here's my latest purchase from BMG, Nashville by Josh Rouse. Actually they mistakenly sent me Al Green's The Definitive Greatest Hits. Not really even close. Fortunately for me BMG is really good at righting their shipment mistakes. They are even letting me keep the incorrect shipment. (I can always use a good white elephant come Christmas time.)

All the tracks are available on iTunes:

1. It's the Nighttime
2. Winter in the Hamptons
3. Street Lights
4. Carolina
5. Middle School Frown
6. My Love Has Gone
7. Saturday
8. Sad Eyes
9. Why Won't You Tell Me What
10. Life

The Anatomy of Peace

So I just finished reading The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict by The Arbinger Institute. This the second of two books written by this institute. The first was Leadership and Self Deception: Getting Out of the Box. Now I've read both and I highly recommend them to anyone who either enjoys self-help books or who is interested in have more peace in their day to day lives. It's helped me.

Fruit Dip

Ingredients:

• 8 oz Softened Cream Cheese
• 8 oz Cool Whip
• 8 oz Marshmallow Creme
• Jello to taste (Optional)

Directions:

Combine cream cheese, cool whip, and marshmallow creme. Getting a good consistency is easiest when the cream cheese is soft. Add Jello to taste. Choose whatever flavor you like. I find that lime is one of my favorites. Refrigerate dip. It works best when you chill it over night. Serve with cut fruit. I like to use bananas, apples, strawberries, pears, and pineapple.