On the Midnight Train to Georgia

The hubs and I just returned from a fantastic weekend in Atlanta.  We had tickets to see Old Crow Medicine Show and John Prine at the Fox Theatre.  We've been looking forward to this show for months!  We've seen both acts before, and even had tickets to see Old Crow Medicine Show on New Years Eve in Nashville, but I came down with a nasty bout of the flu and we had to give our tickets away.

If you've never seen a show at The Fox, you should check it out.  It's a beautifully decorated art deco building with excellent acoustics and a ceiling that mimics the nighttime sky- and I'm not talking about fiber-optic lights behind wood painted black.  I'm talking about a ceiling that makes you forget you are inside because of the different shades of blue and the clouds and the sunset simulation.  I guess it's like the Venetian in Vegas, but on a smaller scale.  Anyway, it's truly beautiful, and it seems a little funny that you don't smell outside smells when you take a deep breath.  Our seats were excellent- we were up in the balcony and could see and hear everything so clearly.  I give it an enthusiastic 2 thumbs up!

We arrived just in time for the show, but missed the first O.C.M.S. song due to a beer line that was the equivalent of Atlanta traffic at rush hour.  Fortunately, we only missed 1 song, though.  The band was on fire!  White hot fire!!!  Seriously, SO much energy.  Their songs are great, their playing is awesome and they really really rocked the house.  It was so hard to sit down during their playing.  O.C.M.S. is really a band you need to see where you are standing up, because they will make you want to wiggle.  Unfortunately, the folks in our section weren't the dancing type, so we decided not to rock the boat.  They played a great selection of fast songs that mentioned most of the confederate states, but when they played Wagon Wheel, the crowd went wild. If you get the chance, check 'em out live- you won't be disappointed.

John Prine came out and sounded as great as ever. I've always thought of John Prine as a songwriter in Bob Dylan vein, but with a country slant.  Maybe more like Kris Kristofferson??  He's more of a listening type show and less of a dancing type show.  I think my favorite of the night from him was Spanish Pipedream.

We had an awesome time at the show but by the time the show ended, we were ready for some post concert noshing!  Scottie and I saw an episode of Man versus Food not too long ago, that focused on restaurants in Atlanta, including Gladys Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken & Waffles.  Since this place was conveniently located between the Fox and our hotel, we decided to stop in.  Oh hell yeah!!  We got recommendations from some of the other folks there and went with the "Midnight Train".


Basically, it's fried chicken wings (no sauce) and a home made waffle.  We also got a side of squash casserole and mac & cheese.  It was my favorite meal of the weekend.  You can skip the mac & cheese, but everything else was excellent.  We also heard rumor that they serve a sweet potato cheesecake that is divine, but we were full and had 4 more blocks to go, so we decided we'll try that some other time.

A visit to Sweet Water Brewery was on the agenda for Saturday.  They host beer tasting events for 2 hours on Saturdays that are out of this world.  This is something we discovered on our last trip to Atlanta, and will likely be something we do every time we go.  For $8 a head, you get a pint glass and 6 tickets.  They don't actually sell beer there, due to distribution laws, so you buy the glass and get the tasting.  Every time they fill your glass, you give them a ticket.  It's big and clean, dog friendly, and sometimes they have bands there.  Their staff is very friendly and it's a great way to spend a few hours on a Saturday afternoon!  The beer is excellent and they have their

standards like IPA and 420 regularly, but they mix it up with special batches as well.  It's so fresh and so tasty!  We were enjoying 70 degree weather and good fresh beer when 2 ladies approached us and handed over several of their tickets.  They had to leave early & liked Scottie's "Beeriodic Table" shirt, so they gave their tickets to us.

It was more beer than we could drink, and 1 of us had to be able to drive, so we saw a couple who were wearing Old Crow Medicine Show t-shirts from the show the night before.  We decided we'd share our good fortune with them.  We ended up hanging out with them the rest of the time, discovering that we have been to a lot of the same concerts and festivals & made fast friends. We actually ran into several people who were at the show the night before, so it was nice to be among "our people".

The trip was a blast- Scottie is the coolest guy I know and I love having adventures with him.  Our adventures continued with a free wine tasting at our hotel, a botched attempt to go to an oyster festival, a visit to Mary Mac's Tea Room for a soul food dinner and an eventful return trip to our hotel that included a verbal confrontation with a rude and aggressive pan handler.

This morning we took it easy.  We had a breakfast of creme brulee french toast on the terrace and just sat around soaking up the vitamin D.  We eventually got moving and had an easy drive back home dotted with newly blossoming daffodils and a really great Ray Charles station on Pandora.  Life is good!