The B-17 is in town

The B-17 is in Mountain View for its yearly visit. If you haven't seen the B-17, I highly recommend it. It's an opportunity to tour a piece of history that flew the skies in WWII. You can also see a B-24 and the P-51 Mustang should be there too.

Here is the information:
The B-17, B-24 & P-51
5/21/10 - 5/29/10
Mountain View
Moffett Field
Location: Main Gate near the Control Tower

It's been awhile...

It's been a year and a half since my last review and I feel I need to get right back on the blog horse.

Since my last review, I saw Joe Satriani, Joe Bonnamassa, ZZ Top. I have also made trips to Nashville to see my WWII veterans, New York for work and play, Tucson to see more WWII veterans and of course Las Vegas to visit the homestead. I had a lot of fun, but now I'm back to share my stories and adventures.

Stay tuned...

Las Vegas' sure Bette!

First of all, my apologies for taking so long to share this experience.

On July 1st, my husband and I had the opportunity to witness one of the coolest women in show business. She is a petite (at 5' 1"), with red hair and looks incredibly feminine while having the mouth of a salior. Her personality makes everyone smile while her singing makes your heart melt. If you aren't sure by now or if my blog title didn't give it away, it's Bette Midler.

Bette is currently sharing time with Cher at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace. The Colosseum is as huge as it sounds, however, nothing is too large for Bette. This pint sized beauty worked the stage with her signature strut, had about 18 back up dancers (15 of which she called the Caesar salad girls) and a full band. She brought her full act including witty, old-school jokes and her always beautiful voice. I can never listen to "The Rose" without getting a little mushy, gushy.

Is it worth the large ticket price? Heck yeah! I have no problems spending my money to see this legendary performer who has skills, comedic talent and well, talent in general. After a performance like this one, you can honestly hear people saying, Celine who?

tomatoes

Saddness falls upon me with the ban of the tomato. It has so much to offer...color, taste, beauty. I was at Subway today. I went to ask for the condiments and nothing but green lay there before me. Ugh... I miss you tomato. You're a delicate, wonderful piece and I miss you.

Sweeney Todd...dark, bloody, disturbing...fantastic!

Three words, Johnny Depp sings. Besides the fact that he's an outstanding actor, incredibly lovely to look at and quite the happening father, the man sings. Is he good? He's actually not too bad at all.

Sweeney Todd, my first look at the stage play turned movie, was an interesting story that had several twists, turns and "ooooooh" outcomes. Tim Burton's flavor of complete doom and darkness gives a great backdrop to his brightly colored flashbacks and scenes filled with pools of deep, red blood. He is a fascinating director. He gave us Edward Scissorhands (one of my personal favorites), Beetle Juice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other fantastic films. He has portrayed great vision in a not so charming and lovely world.

As for the characters in the movie, there were some unique actors that were chosen. Not a big fan of hers, however, Helena Bonham Carter is great in her portrayal of Mrs. Lovett. Tim Burton usually likes to use her, they are married after all. Also, who would have known that Borat is in this film? Sacha Baron Cohen plays Signoro Adolfo Pirelli. You probably wouldn't know it until you saw the cast listing. His performance earned him a wee bit more respect. Alan Rickman, as usual, is a well casted villain who sings one of my favorite songs in the film, with my boy Johnny.

For those of you who haven't seen it, I would give it a try. I will warn you of its bloody scenes. Johnny sings a song with a fellow actor about his daughter while blood flies across the screen. My advice? Watch it in the afternoon or do a double feature. After we finished Sweeney Todd, we watched Bee Movie. Ahhhh, animation is so fantastic. From blood to honey in a matter of minutes. I just love Hollywood.

And the cradle still rocks!

Van Halen - SJ Arena
Sunday, December 16, 2007

My apologies for delaying the review of such a legendary act, but I am here now to tell you (my favorite readers) what a fantastic show it turned out to be! My husband and I took my dad for his birthday. We had four tickets and couldn't deny my mom the experience of a rock and roll show, so she came with us too. We had great seats. They were facing the stage in the upper part of the arena, second row. There was an electric feeling of excitement in the air from the 40-something crowd. Concerts of back in the day were filled with fast men, scandally clad women and lighters for waving at those sentimental, rock ballads. Nowadays the audience members wear jeans, a comfortable sweatshirt and wave their cell phone to get that perfect picture. Man oh man, how times have changed.

As for the music, the SJ arena was rockin' that night. They kicked off the show with "You Really Got Me" which began with Eddie's well-known guitar solo. The night was filled with classic favorites. "Runnin' With The Devil", "Beautiful Girls", "Jamie's Cryin'", "Panama" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". My top 3 favorites had to be (in random order):

-Hot For Teacher: always a favorite song, favorite video, but what a performance. Alex and Eddie were truly tested on the drums and guitar.

-Ice Cream Man: so thrilled they added this one to the mix. David Lee Roth began this song by playing the guitar and sharing a story from his younger years. The song starts with a single guitar melody and the band jumps in half way through the song.

-Everybody Wants Some: this could easily have been my favorite performance of the night. The beat of the song, the energy of David and the Eddie in-mid-air scissor kicks, which are a little lower in the air now. Rockers must hate getting old.

As for the band, there is one and only one lead singer of Van Halen... David Lee Roth. When he appeared on stage for the first time, his charisma filled the arena. He had a smile from ear to ear that glowed the entire night. You could definitely "feel the love" between David and Eddie Van Halen. I think Eddie has let bygones be bygones. It's amazing how much love is felt when you are selling out arenas and making an a** load of money. But Eddie did hold his own. Shirtless, aging and sweaty, he still knows how to pick the strings of his custom made guitar. Next, we have Wolfgang. He's no Michael Anthony, but he did hold his own. He is a spitting image of Jack Osborne, Ozzy's kid, but definitely has a better job. Finally, Alex on the drums. It's amazing how all drummers are so reserved, so quiet, but play one of the loudest, coolest and biggest instruments around.

The band played for about two hours and fifteen minutes. They ended the night with "Jump", a long time favorite whose video gave us spandex, Roth head high kicks and made long hair fun for men. Another great concert for the books and my favorite moments of the night were:

-Pumping my fist in the air, with my dad, to "You Really Got Me"
-Looking over at my husband and his ability to play a mean air guitar
-And the quote of the night by my mom after the concert had been over for five minutes... "I can still feel it in my chest."

my first ride in an ambulance

We had a long ride up to Grandma's house that sunny Saturday, October 20th. Finally, we arrived and decided to hang out a little with Grandma before heading out to Occidental for my husband's birthday dinner. I was excited to show Grandma photos from our one year anniversary dinner. I kneeled down next to her to start showing her photos. I got up to get a glass of water and kneeled down next to her again. After about ten minutes of looking at photos, my eyes started to cloud over with a black fog. I looked back at my mom and said I was a little dizzy. Evidently, my parents told me that I was slouching and wobbling like a bobble head. I didn’t even know it because I couldn’t see anything. I heard someone say to call 911. I was being held up, and then my mom asked me to lie down on my back. As I began to lie down, I was able to see again. The ambulance folks arrived along with some fire men. The EMT folks checked to me out to see what happened. They said everything looked ok. They were wondering why everything was ok after I had just blacked out, so they wanted to take me in to run some tests just to be sure. I sat down on the gurney. One of the EMT guys asked if I was ok and ready to go. He then joked that they should put the blanket over my head and freak out everyone in the apartment complex, ha ha.

So, it was my first ride (ever) in an ambulance. It was quite a strange experience. It was a nice, quiet drive through the neighborhood where I found out the EMT folks were fans of HOUSE and very down to earth. When we arrived at the hospital, I told them the only thing better than a man in uniform is a woman in uniform. The woman replied with that’s right!

I spent about 3 hours in the ER. They were just checking me out because there was some concern that I blacked out. Everything else was ok. I was told I have a healthy heart, good pulse and my blood sugar was normal. They monitored me for a while, took an EKG, drew some blood, kept taking my blood pressure and all was ok after my 3 hour visit.

Scary? Oh yeah! I haven’t been in a hospital since my first day on earth, so I was a little terrified to say the least. I kept my cool and had fun joking with the folks in the ER. I had a great nurse who kept checking on me. Our funniest moment was when he said, “If you have any problems, here’s a cow bell.” I said, “A cow bell?” He said, “Oh no, a call bell. Sorry I have an accent, I’m from Texas.”

After all was said and done, the doctor told me that I had something called Vasovagal. I had told him that the night before I had a few drinks and didn't have any water. He said while kneeling down on my knees, my blood vessels did something bizarre. This had something to do with being dehydrated. I had about 3 drinks of water with dinner and a nice, flavorful steak. Hopefully I don't have to see another hospital bed until the day I become a mom.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

It's too long, there is too much going on, yadda yadda yadda. You are probably hearing all the reviews of negativity about the 3rd (and hopefully not final) Pirates movie. Let me stress to you that, once again, try not to listen to the movie critics. The pirate movies are about being entertained, following the story of Captain Jack Sparrow, his so-called friends and their adventures. This third installment brings imagination, intrigue and of course another delightful pirate portrayal by Johnny Depp.

Some of you were a bit disappointed with Pirates 2, but please, third times a charm? I don't really want to share anything in the movie because I don't want to give anything away. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed Kiera Knightley in this one. Her "I'm a damsel in distress, oh save me" attitude is gone. She is actually in there getting even dirtier this time. As for Johnny, well, what can I say? He's a pirate. I can't even imagine anyone else playing Jack Sparrow. He defines the role with his feminine mannerisms and swagger that have helped him to become the "fabulous" pirate he is today.

After sitting through the 2 hours and 45 minutes, I was satisfied. Oh yes and don't forget to sit through the credits. There is a piece of the movie following the credits that you can't miss. My advice, please pee about 5 minutes before showtime. It really helps.

Christina Aguilera proves herself once again

After a birthday celebration of 4 great days at the Magic Kingdom, we went to the Honda Center in Anaheim to watch Danity Kane, the Pussy Cat Dolls and Christina Aguilera. Officially, it was the Back to Basics tour, some men might have referred to it as the Lots of Estrogen tour.

Danity Kane began the night. The five girl singing group who were half dressed provided everyone with 15 or so minutes of singing, dancing, bumping and grinding. I know I am aging because I only recognized one song that they sang. Sadly, I can't give them a proper review. But who are we kidding, will the name Danity Kane be around 5 years from now? Oh my gosh, I just felt myself turning into an adult.

Next up on the entertainment card, the Pussy Cat Dolls. Let's see, there were six ladies who were a quarter dressed and gave the crowd about 30-45 minutes of singing, dancing, bumping and grinding. See a trend here? What I do know is the newest dance move is sitting on a chair while holding your index finger with your teeth and looking up towards the ceiling. Man oh man, maybe 15 years ago I would have thought the Pussy Cat Dolls were the next big thing kind of like my feelings for the New Kids on the Block...and where are they now?

Finally, it was time for Christina. I had made a choice to see Christina over Justin Timberlake. One, because she is a fantastic singer and two, I knew my hubby would enjoy Christina's costume changes just a wee bit more than Justin's boring old guy look. And I was right on both accounts. Too many female solo artists and female groups are only up on stage to dance and sing with a background track. No doubt, my girl Christina can sing.

While we waiting for the petite, platinum blond, Veronica Lake look-a-like to make her grand entrance, we gazed at a ruffled, white, satin curtain while classics played over the loud speaker. When the lights went down, the curtain rose. A set of stairs were center stage, big band to the left, back up singers to the right and dancers to follow. Dressed in a white suit (which not many women can pull off), she appeared at the top of the steps and the show began. "Ain't No Other Man" got the kids up and dancing. (Thankfully, we had adults in front of us who sat practically the entire show. It was our dream come true.)

The show was filled with visual stimulation, from background video screens where poignant messages were projected to a circus scene with simple cirque de soliel acrobatics. The highlight of the circus portion of the evening happened when she invited a young man up from the audience. He walked up willingly and then found himself strapped to a target on a large board, like those where guys would throw knives at suspecting volunteers as they spun around. Well, there was no spinning, but plenty of whip lashing. (Note: the whips were rods with ropes attached. The young man wasn't harmed in the event, rather quite excited from what we could see on the big screens.) She proceeded to serenade him with her new song called "Nasty, Naughty Boy" which contains the lyric;

'cause I wanna give you a little taste of the sugar below my waist, you nasty boy...

She was so adorable with her black bustier, thigh high black boots and black mask. It was like a chapter out of any Madonna concert, yet Christina did it with a sexy 1950's flair while hitting all her high notes.

As for the rest of the concert, it was just amazing. Here is a performer who can go from a fast paced gospel number to sitting solo on stage with a spotlight, pouring out a song about her once abused mother. She focused mostly on her new material from her Back To Basics double cd. She made sure to include some of her older stuff like my favorite "Dirrty", that's right with two r's because it's just that filthy. She rose up from the floor of the stage on a horse from a carousel while her dancers did their thang around her. This time, she kept it a little more Dirty with one r. (I guess that is what married life will do to you, calms ya down to one r.) My other new favorite "Candyman", which has an Andrews sisters feel, brought an all American feeling to the crowd with a salute at the end.

Another outstanding experience watching a 90 minute show of non stop entertainment. She has once again reinvented herself, only this time she is a good girl providing us with old fashioned sex appeal. Ain't No Other (Wo)Man like Christina.

Indivisible, with liberty and justice for the Dixie Chicks

"Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition
Need a little bit more of my tweleve ounce nutrition
One more helpin' of what I've been havin'
I'm takin' my turn on the sin wagon...."

Yep, you guessed it, my Chicks were back in town. Not just any average Chicks, but those fun lovin' Dixie Chicks. You remember them, one of whom made that itsy bitsy comment three years ago about our current President. A comment consisting of twelve words that sparked a country-wide craziness. When they stopped by San Jose in 2003 (shortly after the comment was made), we (my parents and I) were there. You could feel support for Natalie, but nothing as strong as the support she received last Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum.

You had every kind of person in attendance: adults, kids and chicks who loved well other chicks. It was fascinating to watch everyone around us, especially the two gentleman in front of us who how should I put this, let us know that they weren't interested in chicks of any kind.

Before the Chicks hit the stage, the jumbo television showed a two minute trailer for their new "Shut Up and Sing" documentary. People watched, booed that Bush character and cheered on the Chicks. That little two minute trailer pumped up the crowd for a night of entertaining music.

As the lights went out, the anticipation grew. Red lights flashed on the stage as "Hail to the Chief" began to play. The place went nuts with laughter and cheers. The Chicks appeared on stage and went into their fast paced "Lubbock or Leave It" from their new album. From that point on, it was pure joy. As I have stated before, it is so refreshing to go to a concert where the performers are singing and playing their own instruments. It's nice when they aren't dancing around the stage like they've got ants in their pants. The Chicks are there to sing to you and provide you with some pretty powerful, listen-to-me lyrics.

Several favorites were in the show, including the song I had playing during my bouquet toss. This is a little diddy that Natalie dedicated to Britney's soon-to-be ex, Kevin Federline. It was so fitting because the song's title is "White Trash Wedding" and it couldn't have been dedicated to a more fitting person. It's amazing how classy they can pull off white trash anything.

The evening's strongest point came when the Chicks performed "Not Ready to Make Nice", their first single off of their newest album. Considering we are a country where you should be able to say what you feel, the song pretty much says it all. One of my favorite parts of the song is as follows:

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don't mind sayin'
It's a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Sayin' that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over...

Once the words SHUT UP AND SING were sung, the crowd rose up out of the chairs and applauded with cheers and hollers of agreement. What a beautiful, patriotic moment.

Towards the end of the show, they finished off with a couple of classics, "Wide Open Spaces" and my personal favorite "Sin Wagon", which I never get tired of hearing. It just makes you want to get up and clap along. Their encore consisted of three songs, "Travelin' Soldier", "Mississippi" and "Ready to Run", an ecclectic mix of songs to finish off what was once again a fantastic listening experience.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Oh yes, it was my husband's first Dixie Chicks concert and what a way to spend our 2 month wedding anniversary. How better to say it than...

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up.

(Above lyric is from "Lullaby" song.)

Boyz II Men, 15 years later...

Let me take you back, back in time. The year was 1991 and I was 17 years old. I'm sitting in a car with my best buddy at the San Mateo Tower records. Anyway, she and I heard a song on the radio called Motownphilly by a new group called Boyz II Men. At the time, the song was ok and not worth much to us. A couple of weeks later, we were impressed. We heard one of their ballads and this was the hook, line and sinker.

Now, 15 years later, the two of us, with our husbands, attended yet another Boyz II Men concert on Friday, October 20, 2006. One big change was the quartet is now down to a trio. Michael, the bass of the group, is no longer able to perform due to an illness. We had seen the quartet perform for the last time as a foursome at the Concord Pavilion when they opened for Luther Vandros. Besides that, they were exactly the same, to which my friend said, well aren't we too?

The performance took place at the Campbell Heritage Theatre, a quaint little theatre with cushy seats. Members of the crowd were from all walks of life, generations and races. At the beginning of the concert, at least 5 elderly couples got up to leave during the first 2 minutes of the opening song. Poor things were sitting by the speakers and probably fried their hearing aids. As for my friend and I, we both had goose bumps of excitement lining our arms.

The Boyz voices were just like we remembered them. You could say they were like ice cream...cool, crisp and refreshing. Older songs were performed and as they did 15 years ago, performed with their same smooth-moving choreography that made us weak in the knees. During oneof their biggest classics, I'll Make Love To You, each member brought out a bouquet of red roses. While they romanced the crowd with their positive, love-making-style lyrics, roses were thrown with care to the ladies (of all ages) who bum rushed the stage.

No matter what changes they have gone through, they still own the "ultimate" love song. Their way of making a woman feel special comes across in each and every song they perform. With respect and equality going down the tubes, Boyz II Men does their best to give that sense of caring in their music. It was a fantastic night and I will never forget it.

Now the question you are all asking is, how did we get our photo with them? Easy. When we arrived, a woman was selling "VIP" passes to meet the group after the show. It was $25. How could we resist? Here is an easy comparison, concert programs usually cost $20. What's another $5 to meet the group you have been following for 15 years? (For you math folks, that is $1.66 per year.) It was money well spent. We scrounged up enough money between us (a $20 bill, three $5's, fourteen $1's and a dollar in quarters) and proceeded to buy our passes. A giddylaughter fell between us as we gripped them tightly. After the concert, we stood backstage with about 50 other people who wanted to share in our joy. We finally made our way to the room where they were sitting. It was our turn. We walked up to them and giddy-ness took over. They signed our tickets, programs and took two stunning photos with us. It was definitely worth the wait and they will always be my number one group.

Here is the playlist from the show and a few other notes:

--Motownphilly (not finished)
--Remedy - new song from their new (double cd) to be released Feb. 14, 2007
--On Bended Knee - and they still got down on them
--The Perfect Love Song - new and worth every new lyric
--Please Don't Go - a personal favorite of mine
--Uhhh, Ahhh--Right On Time - new
--A song was done here, unsure of the name or if it was just a bit of filler. It was tasty anyway!
--You Make Me Feel Brand New
--old school Hall/Oates song I forgot the name, sorry
--old school song, forgot name, sorry again
--Water Runs Dry
--I'll Make Love To You
--Song For Mama - before they had asked folks to get their cell phones out, look at them and dial their mama. Wayna and Nathan actually sang into to phones handed to them.
_____End of show, then encore

--It's So Hard To Say Goodbye - 1st few bars sung acapella by Wayna
--End Of The Road
--Motownphilly - finished it, everyone stood up and danced, including a little senior who bounced up and down with her cane.

We are slowly counting the days until Valentine's day, 2007. I'm ready!