TGIF

I have one little goal I set for myself every week, it's to work things so that I can get off a little early on Friday. Yeah I know, it's not much of a goal, but it makes me smile when I make it happen. I only make it about 1/4 of the time.

I'll be through in about 45 minutes so I'm smilin'.

This means I'll be able to hear some live, FREE, local music tonight. We've got a great venue that gives us a wide variety of groups along with comfortable seating, a dance floor and loads of reasonably priced food & drinks. You can't ask for much more than that.

Oddly enough where I'm going is to a large patio area outside an upscale grocery store. Not where you'd expect to hear quality music. Anyone else have places like this?

I stumbled upon this place quite by accident and they've been a staple in my life every since. I've made a number of friends I'd have never met any other way. The head of the geology dept. at a local college, a retired billionaire, a retired waiter from Vegas who feeds the homeless now, the Gay Mafia (I kid you not, that's what they call themselves), several teachers, a philanthropist, and a couple of people not far up from being homeless. NONE of which I would have run into any other way!

It is amazing the cross section of people who gravitate here. Several churches have "small groups" meeting for Bible study before the music begins, many high profile people letting their hair down, it's near TCU so there's always a lot of students, rednecks, society types and you'll hear languages from all over the world being spoken there. Music seems to be the great equalizer and a magnet for interesting people.

Here's a video I made about the place - CENTRAL MARKET

As you can see from the video we get all kinds of music and most of it is pretty good. The video came about because I needed an update to send out to my customers and not much was happening in the market so I made the video and tried to stretch the point to make it appear to be business related.

It doesn't take much to make me happy any more.

I hope you have something that makes you smile too.

which central market? the one down here in houston has live music seems like every weekend. the one across from southlake town square is just down the road from my parents.

I go to the one off Hulen in Ft. Worth.

The Southlake one has quiet music, due to city ordinances, but the FW one has full fledged concerts. Plano's store has live elevator music on the balcony overlooking the store. A completely different atmosphere.

I haven't seen the one in Houston, but Austin's has a very nice patio.

Look at the video and tell me how it compares to the patio in Houston.

I got to work at 6:00am and left just before 6:00pm. I used to have a job where Friday's were somewhat early days and I miss that.

I just got in from a great night of music. 3 different free venues with 3 different types of music.

Wandered through downtown FW, they have a very nice downtown with all kinds of music food, people & other events.

Yes, still got a smile on my face. Getting off early on Friday and goofing off the rest of the day & night is almost like getting an extra weekend. Guilty pleasures are the best kind.

T.J. wrote: I got to work at 6:00am and left just before 6:00pm. I used to have a job where Friday's were somewhat early days and I miss that.

I vaguely remember when Friday meant something to look forward to..

My current schedule is leaving for work at 1:45 in the afternoon, and getting home a few minutes before 4 am the next day... Six days a week.

Took a vacation day today to go hear my brother's band, and realized how much I miss live music...

Granted, I was not in a nice setting lime the OP, but a sticky-floored, nasty-ass dive is the best place to listen to my brother play.

carguy123 wrote: Oddly enough where I'm going is to a large patio area outside an upscale grocery store. Not where you'd expect to hear quality music. Anyone else have places like this?

Actually there are two nice grocery stores that I know of in Columbus that offer live music from time to time. I haven't been to any events at either one but should check them out some time. One is outdoors, I believe the other one is indoors. The outdoor one is in a very hip area just south of downtown, the location of many pre-prohibition breweries that have now been remodeled into housing and offices. The other is in a new building in an upscale suburb.

Now to begin my second weekend - of honey do's.

Sometimes it's the little things that keep you going.

dculberson it's nice to see other areas have companies thinking outside the box a little plus companies that make living in the area just a little nicer.

When people buy a home they are buying a neighborhood. And that doesn't just mean the square of houses around them, it's the easily accessed areas that they will use to buy their gas, groceries and whatnots. It's nice to have stores, parks or whatever that offer something just a little more than you expect. It makes those areas more fun to live in.

Last night we sat on the patio for quite a while and listened to 60's-70's softer rock. Then we went down the street to a more traditional concert setting to hear a much louder, but not necessarily better rock band. This was one of those pocket parks that a stage had been added to and all the community brings their lawn chairs to sit in and, very importantly, a horde of food trucks descend upon to feed the crowd.

After a bit of that we hit downtown until we found a club that had a rocking little country band. And none of it cost us more than a little food or drink that we'd have eaten or drank (drunk?) anyway.

The Rahr Brewery close by us has an afternoon brewery tour that is little more than an excuse to throw a party. It does cost a small amount but they give you a glass and tickets for beer. They have live music & food for 3-4 hours. Almost as an afterthought they ask if anyone wants to go on a tour of the brewery but since the whole thing has taken place inside the brewery few bother to take the tour. I can't drink as much beer as they give you tickets for.

We'll sometimes go to the Brewery and then transition to another venue for the evening. Nothing like this was available in Dallas so it's just one more thing that makes it more enjoyable to live in Fort Worth.

AND THE BEST THING ABOUT ALL OF THIS - IT ALL HAPPENED IN A SMOKE FREE ATMOSPHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!