Good Vibrations

I don't know how much more Americana you get then The Beach Boys.

Yes. I may be biased. If you know Carl Knoch, my father, you can understand why. The Beach Boys were my very first concert at Merriweather Pavillions in Columbia, MD. I was 5-years-old and enjoyed the view from my father's shoulders.

Another....my dad, obviously, a huge Beach Boys fan - wouldn't allow us to listen to the Beach Boys on our way to Stone Harbor for the annual Knoch family beach trip - until we could smell the ocean. I remember every year, rolling down the window, sniffing as hard as Gordon - trying to get just one whiff of saltwater in the air so I could tell him, "Dad, it's time."

More? Ok. Depends on who you ask - but my dad and I are convinced that my first official word was Ba-Ba-Ba because of Barbara Ann - you know, the one to take your hand who's got you rockin' and rollin' who made you take a chance when you were lookin' for romance.

Last one. I promise. 'God Only Knows' has been on every single love mix c.d./playlist I've ever made a boyfriend. Did you date me? Then you know it's true. It's one of the greatest love songs ever written (next to 'Escape' - the Pina Colada song) - that and 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' - which, wouldn't you know it - is another song by the Beach Boys.

Obviously - these boys from California have been a huge influence on my life, so you can understand my excitement when I found out that they were performing at Colorado Remembers - a free concert on the 10th Anniversary of September 11th at Civic Center Park (five blocks from my place). I immediately shared on Facebook (I know, shocking) that I was so excited to re-live my first concert at age 28. My new friend, Jennie, responded with a "we're so going!"

Leading up to this date - I watched a ton of September 11th specials. The 'Dateline' with Tom Brokaw - tears - so many tears. We all spent the weekend talking about where we were, who we were with and how we couldn't believe that it had been ten years. By the time the actual date of September 11th rolled around on Sunday - I was ready for a celebration of life. Thankfully, this celebration happened to be led by the Beach Boys.

Jennie and I danced our butts off to Sloop John B, Be True To Your School, Help Me Rhonda, Surfin' USA, I Get Around, Kokomo and, of course, Good Vibrations. And thanks to Mike Love and co. - we were, indeed, feelin' those Good Vibrations on a day that certainly needed a little California sunshine.

Drive.

My undying love for Ryan Gosling is no secret but even I have to admit when I saw the trailer for 'Drive' I was like 'Hmm - fast and furious?' but at the same time - I knew that my boy does not sign on to a bad movie.

Fast forward to this past week as the buzz started to build around 'Drive.' 97% on Rotten Tomatoes as of Friday. Rave reviews from my most respected film critics. And then EW listed it as their #1 MUST for the week.

SOLD.

So last night, I met Andy and Angela for dinner at (the newly remodeled) City o City before seeing catching a 7:20 showing of what I will now list as one of my favorite movies.

The entire movie was totally unexpected. Violent at times. Intense. Gosling, even with limited lines, does not disappoint. And in case me telling you to go or the fact that it stars the hottest man alive isn't enough to get you to go - then the soundtrack should. 80's electronica heaven. Preview here.

You can thank me later.

Beers and Bikes: Tour de Fat 2011

Part of moving to Colorado requires one saying goodbye to her love of Michelob Ultra and hello to a better beer drinking future. I chose to adopt New Belgium as my favorite CO brewery after tasting Mothership Wit for the first time on our camping trip back in June. If you know me, you know that I have the tendency to become very, very loyal to brands (i.e. their dream consumer). For example, 1995 - 2005 I wore all Volcom, all the time - which has now been replaced with all H&M, all the time. Toms on my feet. I've got six pairs (three with holes now in the upper left toe which makes me feel like a hobo and causes me to question said loyalty but I digress...). And since moving to CO and discovering another requirement - that of the Nalgene bottle - I now own three and have a forth picked out as soon as they launch their translucent line next week.

As part of adopting New Belgium as my brand for beer, I made sure I was not going to miss their annual bike parade party for the people aka: Tour de Fat.

Tour de Fat is an annual tour put on by New Belgium that travels across 13 cities with the mission of connecting people with bikes, beer and community. And that they did here in Denver on Saturday. With the best of New Belgium beers priced at 1 per token and tokens only costing a 5 spot a piece, it's no wonder $50,000 was raised to benefit Bike Denver. We also were incredibly Denver in the fact that we were at 93% sustainable thanks to New Belgium's Composting Offices and, well, us being Denver.

Josh, Linz and I had to get creative with our bike lock-up when we arrived to City Park where the event was taking place. See here. That's three bikes on one U-lock.

Kristen and Jake (recently back from their summer in Alaska....YAY!) joined us, as well and overall it was an afternoon full of people watching, costume commenting, games, beer and biking. They had Rideable ARTifcats where you could ride these crazy bikes with shoes as wheels or wheels of wheels. The boys played Toss the Tire and this girl even got herself a tour tee-shirt which she hasn't done since Britney back in 2000.

We had so much fun we had no choice but to recover by picking up Popeye's Chicken on the way back to my place - making it the first, and possibly not the last, time I ever had fried chicken in my basket. 

We've already all made the pact to get up nice and early for Tour de Fat 2012 and I'm pretty sure Josh is going to start sewing our costumes together next week.

 I mean - honestly, what is better than an afternoon filled with the above? Love live the tour!

Q-U-E-E-N-O!

I attended Drag Queen Bingo at Hamburger Mary's last night with my friends Taylor and Tommy. Prior to last week and seeing Taylor tag himself at said Bingo, I had no idea that something so genius existed, otherwise, we all know if would have made the Discovering Denver post.

Hosted by Empresses' Jackie Summers and Brittany Michaels - this is not your grandmother's Bingo. The ladies will call you out for just about anything, their language will make you blush and the shapes you have to get marked on your Bingo card - well let's just say they're not your traditional hard ways.

As I'm drinking my glass of wine, thinking about how my stomach hurts just from laughing so hard and likely those free coconut shots the ladies brought around last round - this girl goes ahead and gets B-I-N-G-O.


Yup, that's right - first time with the Queens is a charm, my babies, and this blondie has $15 to blow at Hamburger Mary's.

So if you're looking for me on a Tuesday around 9 p.m. - look no further than 17th and Pearl. I'll be the one with the boa on...oh wait...well, ok, I'll be the one in flats.