This weekend a friend of mine, and former Lawrence resident, came into town to visit. She wanted to relax and do some very “Lawrence things” and check out a “Lawrence show.”

So I took her to see The Dactyls at the Jackpot:

There were lots of good folk shows happening this weekend, but she wanted to reminisce in the days where you could just take in a solid Lawrence rock show in the company of good people. So it just made sense to see this band.

And in true Lawrence fashion, the city threw some squirrely things our way. For example, did anybody see the snuggie parade Saturday night? It seems every time we turned our heads and peered out the window, a group of snuggie-clad club-goers were trotting down the street.

Earlier in the night we introduced our guest to our new favorite hobby, judging horrible Christmas light displays. She lives in New York City, and this just isn’t something you can do there. On our hunt for tacky Christmas lights we actually came upon a display that was really quite amazing, and not tacky at all. If you go to the house at 1208 New Jersey, you will see that their lights are timed up to music. A sign in the front yard tells you which radio station to tune to in order to see the magic take place. I explained to my friend that this is becoming a popular trend in the Midwest. She told me you won’t see anything like that in NYC.

It wasn’t hard to take in Lawrence. Despite the frigid temperatures, people were still out and about, being their usual silly selves. We sat in one spot at the Jackpot the entire night, but still got to experience the beauty that is the city. From the band to the stream of familiar faces in and out of the venue (and even the snuggie parade and wacky Christmas light displays), I think my weekend guest was pretty satisfied with her visit. Sure you can get your fair share of wackiness in NYC, but nothing like the magic that is Lawrence.