Another week, another great show. This time it was Los Straitjackets at First Avenue with their Christmas Pageant. It was truly a banner night!

The opening act, The Hi-Risers, was fantastic! They’re a rock-and-roll act who’s sound I’d compare to Buddy Holly. I was so impressed that, right after their set, I hit the merchandise table and bought two of their CDs. Turns out they’re really nice guys too.

Los Straitjackets put on a great show, doing several Christmas tunes along with a bunch of normal tracks. You gotta love that 50’s surf-rock sound. Add to that the Pontani Sisters doing their Go-Go thing. The whole thing is a sight to behold!

After the show, all the bands came out and I managed to get autographs from all 11 performers: Los Straitjackets (4), The Pontani Sisters (3), The Hi-Risers (3), and Kaiser George (the announcer and part-time singer with Los Straitjackets.

The guys in The Hi-Risers were totally cool. I hit up Greg, the guitar player, for his autograph first. He saw me and said I looked like a "man on a mission." When I relized I fogot my Sharpie and only had a ball-point, he ran to get his own marker. We chatted for a couple minutes, then he pointed Todd, the bass player, at me (not the other way around) so I could get his autograph. Todd, in turn, caught Jason, the drummer, before he could sneak out. Admittedly, it was no big deal, but it’s the kind of thing that turns someone who simply likes your music into a fan.

Finally, a friend and I were standing in front of the club when "Pedro", the bass player from Los Straitjackets, came out and was getting directions from one of the club staff. I caught up with him at the end of the block and got a chance to chat for about half a block where we each headed our separate ways; me to my car, him to a cab.

I’m kicking myself now for not offering him a lift. I’ll remember next time.

I managed to squeak out of work in time to see the 2004 Canadian Pacific Holiday Train on it’s stop in North Minneapolis.

It’s one locomotive and 10 cars decked out in Christmas lights. There are actually two trains, one in the US and one in Canada. They run a cross-country route to raise donations and awareness for hunger relief efforts in North America.

It was so last minute for me that I ended up borrowing a friends camera so I could take pictures. Despite complete unfamiliarity with the camera, I got a few really good pictures and a couple great ones. Hopefully I’ll have some time this weekend to get the Web-ready and share them on-line.

For a train geek like me, it was great. I loved it. The only thing that could have been better was if they had let me up in the locomotive. It would have so cool to get a few pictures from inside the cab.

Saw the Reverend Horton Heat show last night and it kicked ass, as always. A couple friends and I went to dinner before the show, so we missed the opening act, but Copeland’s was worth it.

We hung around after the show and I was lucky enough to get Jimbo and the Reverend himself to autograph my Lucky 7 CD insert.

All in all a good evening. I even remembered my ear plugs this time.