January 17 : NFL Playoff Game

February 19 : Bonerama in Chicago

March 6 : John Mayer in Omaha

April 11 : John Mayer in Chicago

June 6 : New Kids on the Block in Hammond, IN

June 27 : Bonerama in Omaha

I also saw John in St. Louis, Conan O’Brian and the GLEE tour in Chicago, as well as visiting with this guy again:

Harry never ceases to amaze in his generosity with his fans. I saw him in New York yesterday at a taping for AOL Music. After the show he graciously spoke to those of us who were lucky enough to attend and then he offered to take photos. How I adore him.

Work has been busy. No, really it has. Things are changing for the better, or at least for the different? I’m going to be very busy for the next several months, probably until football season starts. I’m ready for football!

I’m also moving at the end of the month and I did spent a good amount of the last month and a half attempting to find a new place to live that:

• a) would allow me to have my cat
• b) not be completely nasty
• c) have central air
• d) let me stay on the east side of Iowa City
• e) let me move in by June
• f) not completely bankrupt me

Meeting all these requirements was a lot harder than I anticipated. The number of people who just hung up the phone when I said I had a cat was really frustrating. Hello, you let people have young children in those places. Toddlers can be just as bad on carpets as my ancient cat. But in the end I did find a place. Its not anything overly special, but it will do for the next year until I force myself to decide what I want to do with my life/living situation. The good news is that I’ll have space for a guest to visit and not sleep on the couch. While my current roommate situation has worked out fine and I will miss Rachel, I’m looking forward to being on my own again.

On top of the work and the apartment hunting, I went to seven Harry Connick, Jr. concerts in six different states in the span of twenty-three days. That much driving keeps one busy. The shows, were as always, good times and it was fun to take friends and family along. I’ll most likely expand on that at some point.

That’s what I’ve been up to.

Now I need to start packing.

Last night my external hard drive decided to start having fits. Thanks to Jeff for trying to get me in off the ledge. I don’t know the full extend of the damage to my iTunes collection yet. There were drive formatting issues and other kinds of fun. MS-DOS is evil. EVIL. I ended up ordering another external drive from OWC today so I can have a backup of my backup and do all kinds of reformatting fun this weekend when I really don’t have time to be playing with my computer.

I was up way too late last night dealing with that, as well as watching Harry on Letterman and then having some kind of big band-related breakdown that I contemplated into the wee hours of the morning.

The passions in my life can be so draining.

So today I’m TIRED. Super tired. The serious ass kicking I gave myself at the gym last night didn’t help too much. I need to kick my workouts up, but last night just wasn’t the night to do it. C’est la vie.

I’ve been trying to stay rather low key for this next week because my life is about to get CRAZY. As you can see by my various countdowns on the right side of the page. But that’s not all that’s upcoming. Seriously.

Saturday I’m on-call at work, which pretty much guarantees there will be some kind of bad weather incident somewhere in the US which will require me to come into work at 6am. If you get two feet of snow on Friday night, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Also on Saturday afternoon, I just found that I have tickets to see/hear Barack Obama speak in Cedar Rapids. Thanks to Colleen for hooking me up with those. It sounds like he’s going to announce he’s really running for President that morning in Springfield, so he can officially go onto my If You’re Running For President and Come to My Area, I’ll Give You a Look list.

Tuesday is Doogie‘s birthday. I assume there will be eating somewhere.
Wednesday, I’m getting my hair done in Ames. (yes, I go to Ames for my hair styling. I only trust my friend Meredith to touch it.)
Then Thursday its off to Chicago for Bonerama with Julie, back to Iowa City to meet my mom to go to St. Louis for more Bonerama.
Possibly attending the Iowa v. Minnesota wrestling meet on Sunday night (the 18th). I have President’s Day off, but I have various appointments to attend that day. I sold my John Mayer tickets (I’ll catch him next time around; or after he dumps Jessica Simpson) so I will actually be at work the 20th and 21st.

And then: I’m off to LA for the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards! As well as visiting friends and relatives. And Oprah. I got tickets to her post-Oscar show on Monday the 26th.

MADNESS. MADNESS.

It doesn’t help that Feb. is also sweeps month. I think my TiVo may have a heart attack.

I thought maybe talking about it would wake me up. But no. I still just want a nap.
So sleepy!

Harry Connick, Jr. has two new CD’s out today. I have them both at work with me now. They are superb big band albums. Harry’s talent for arranging never ceases to amaze. All of the members of the big band sound amazing. Everything is great. Even the liner notes that Harry wrote are gems to read. I’ll have a more detailed breakdown coming soon, but first I must completely absorb every note.

I cannot wait for the tour in March to get to hear these songs live!

Harry’s going back on tour this spring!!

from USA Today:
Harry Connick, Jr. will donate all proceeds from his single All These People, out Aug. 29, to New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village. The New Orleans native was inspired to write the song after seeing the suffering and devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. The song, a duet he recorded with gospel singer Kim Burrell, is the first from Connick’s forthcoming New Orleans big-band album, Oh My Nola, out this fall.

A new big band album. Be still my beating heart! Rumors continue to swirl of a spring tour. That’d be just about perfect.
Although I’d truly love to go to NOLA in a few weeks for the Bonerama CD recording at Tips, I’ve come to the point where I have to stop just doing everything I want and be more responsible. *sigh* So I’ll wait very impatiently until the spring and try to be very good until then.

Harry and Kelli made an appearance on the opening weekend. Was Harry picking up a iPod HiFi?

Just another reason I kinda love him… he’s a Mac guy.

Photo borrowed from apple.com. (Don’t sue me, Steve!)
Photo pointed out to me by Jerry.

Last night, as I was completely procrastinating from packing, I was going to look through my photos to find suitably embarassing ones to post today for Jeff’s birthday. But he saved me the work.

Happy Birthday, Jeff! See you tonight. Don’t touch the box!

All my regular readers know that I am beyond a fan of Harry Connick, Jr.’s. For years, I’ve loved his music and his band and followed them around the country. What you may have never realized is a good part of the reason I adore him so much is simply for the amazing person he is.

Actually, at this point, amazing doesn’t even start to do him justice.

In the middle of the insanity, Harry went back to New Orleans because he simply had to see for himself the city that has made him who he is.
Yesterday, he was on the Today show from the French Quarter getting his first glimpse at the destruction, and yet he remained upbeat and the quirky Harry I love.

Soon after that morning interview, he heard word from just a guy on the street that there were hundreds of people at the convention center. The convention center is where the Mardi Gras ball that Harry and his father founded is held every year. I’ve been there. Harry headed over there with the NBC camera crew to see for himself. By now you have probably seen the footage of the people crying out for help and dying in the streets. Harry was there. Trying to do whatever he could just to let the people know he would do whatever he could to get them help. To that point, he was the ONLY person of “authority” to have gone there. And honestly, I’ve been watching and reading everything coming out of NOLA from the local news sources (the ones all the network news gets their info from) and I hadn’t seen ANYTHING about people being at the convention center. I really believe no one of any authority knew that there was anyone there.

By last night, he was in Metarie with Bryan Williams, and this morning he was in Baton Rouge and he was visibly enraged. He could barely speak his voice was so tired, wearing the same clothes he’d had on the day before. They wouldn’t let him go back (I’m sure the last thing NBC wanted was for him to get injured or worse on their watch) and you could see he was just beside himself.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Someone on connick.com found this picture out on the newswires last night and it just shattered my heart. I’m just going to put it in a pop-up, so anyone who doesn’t want to look after reading the photo caption can just skip it.

Singer Harry Connick Jr., a New Orleans native, prays over two dead bodies outside the New Orleans Convention Center where thousands of people are waiting for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005. Both bodies were of elderly people, one in a wheelchair the other under a sheet. Connick said a friend told him about the desperate conditions at the center and he came to see for himself. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Melissa Phillip)
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My mind reels to what even to do at this point. Harry and other Gulf Coast artist will be on a special on NBC/CNBC/MSNBC tonight at 8pm eastern/7pm central to raise money. Please watch and donate.

And finally, please consider dropping a few dollars to our Hurricane Relief Fund at connick.com. We’re not a not-for-profit, we’re just some fans who care. All the money will go directly to members of Harry’s big band who have literally lost everything they have. We’ve already sent out over $500 directly to those who need it. These are people I know and love. We have direct contact with these people, so we know there is no red tape to get them the funds. Thanks.