The real highlight of my 5 concert marathon - Sick Puppies.   The pups never ever disappoint.  This counts as somewhere in the neighborhood of 6th or 7th show, I'm really not sure b.c their shows are buried in my AW pix.    I lost count of how many times I have seen these guys.   I know at least 3 w AW, plus w Shinedown once before and w Nickleback.   So maybe this is 6th.  

Anyway, since many of their shows were w AW, I missed some of their entire sets plus I never took the chance to get photos with them.   This time, thanks to Alyse, we had entry to the WJRR Studio show and a very personal experience with Shim and Emma.    Alyse was even brought on stage by Shim at WJRR-all caught on video by the studio.   She knows the pups so well b.c a while ago she was a contest winner "roadie for a day" and has maintained her relationships with the Pups since then.

I was so happy to meet and have a few moments w Shim and Emma.   Very cool. 

Alyse on Stage w Pups at WJRR Studio

Pups Concert Shots

Rip Tide Video fm Concert

This was going to be the highlight of my 10 day concert marathon.   5 concerts in 10 days.   This show was number 3 plus Mark was attending.    It was a great concert no doubt but sandwiched between Scorps and Sick Puppies, this festival ended up being just a plain ole concert. 

It was really cool that I arrived at the venue at noon and met cool new concert friend Jamie T from Tampa.    As a result, we got some pix with Shinedown and I did get to say hi to Shawn Hammer who is tour managing 10 Years now that they are back out on the road.  I brought him a Frapp as a thank you for how nice he has been to us.

For this show I bought front row seats in the best section plus GA floor.   I knew 10 Years was opening the show and I MUST be dead center in front of Jesse.   Mission accomplished.   10 Years was awesome as always.   I just LOVE LOVE LOVE their music.      Here are all the pix:

10 Years Concert Shots

Shinedown, Chevelle, Sevendust and Puddle of Mudd




Jesse from 10 Years "What I am to you is not real" 



Cyn w Eric Bass from Shinedown (Bass)

I can only reflect back on these shows as a once in a life time type of a concert.   The HOB show was pretty standard, nothing significant except some great people form the metal meet up group.   But the Tampa show--was one for the record books.

Ratt HOB on 7/15/10
Scorpions w Ratt 7/17/0 Tampa Ampitheatre

Ali scored backstage meet/greet passes for Ratt and because of her connections and prior networking we were able to get backstage to meet Scorpions as well.    We had the best time.  Mostly just waiting around to meet Klaus, but while we were there we met and spoke to everyone else.   Including the legendary Warren DiMartini from Ratt.    We also had some great chats w the Bass player from Scorpions and he also  interviewed me on his personal Flip recorder. 


Scorpions Concert Photos

Ratt Concert Photos

Band Meet Photos


Cy w Rudolf



Cyn w Warren DiMartini

Ali w Klaus

What can I say that you probably have not already read or heard about this crazy mo-fo.  Well it certainly is all true.  He lost it many many years ago and has totally gone over the edge.  The photo below epitomizes his gaul.  

Yes I do regret going to this show and being subjected to what can only be described as an Ann Coulter attitude overtly thrown in our faces.    He can't compensate for the atrocities by a few good solos and one great song.  (Stranglehold)

Here is my list of must have iPhone apps.   I spend an inordinate amount of time reading, shopping and testing apps, so I thought it might be helpful to share what I have learned and save you some time and money.

Soundhound  (everything music, including bios, video, lyrics the works)
This app sits at the top of the heap for a reason, and it is worth getting the paid version.  I have done side by side comparisons with Shazam and Soundhound is the BEST music finder around.  We were at the Anvil movie and Shazam just couldn't find them.   Soundhound is directly connected with the All Music guide database giving it an unparalleled database of everything music. 

iLike (concerts)
A must if you care about concerts.  Free app and it generally has everything. Plus it reads the artists in your iPod and sends you alerts when they book a show in your area.   You can also preset the area to a 150 mile radius.

Where (event locator)
I've tried many of these, and Where really works.  It somehow aggregates everything and send you every teeny little event happening in your area.

Fluent News
This app is getting tons of publicity, and they have a free version.  It is basically a news consolidator.  All the best news sources consolidated into one easy app.

Twittelator Pro (Twitter Client)
I have tried a few and I still love this one the best.  Not free though.  The usability is amazing, it does everything.  Plus the best feature is that it displays actual photo thumbnails in the feed.  No clicking on silly icons. 

Informant Calendar App
I searched for the best calendar app and I found it.  It is however, 12.99 but worth every penny.  They have  free trial version.  This app has a terrific month at a glance view of all your appointments.  Plus it syncs directly with your Google calendar.

Kindle
I prefer Amazon to ITunes, so this is the app for reading books.   It links directly with your Amazon account, and Amazon has TONS of free classic books every month.  I love the ability to read on a black background. 

Shakespeare
Carry around the complete works of the master.  This app really comes in handy when you head out to the Orlando Shakes!!

Flixster
I think this is the best movie app.  It has it all, including a database to store what you have seen and what you wish to see.  One place for everything movies.   

Tripit
The standard for travelers, don't accept substitutes.  This little baby is perfect.

Texts from Last Night
We all need humor, and this is just hysterical.

Pandora Radio, iHeart or Sirius Radio
I guess I have to mention these, although I despise radio of any kind.  They do come in handy for quick music.  Pandora and IHeart Radio's are free.

Guitar App Favorites:
Guitarist's Reference, the BEST.  What Key and Pitch to Note are awesome.  Also DecibelMeter and Solofinder.  I have Metronome TS by Thexi Studios.  It lets you tap a beat and tells you the tempo.  Too many more to list, but these are ones I use regularly.  I have more for learning music but I'll save those for another blog.

And the standards:
Facebook
MySpace
CNN
Weather Channel
Wikipanion  (I prefer this to the native Wikipedia app, it loads faster bypassing the front page)
Dictionary. Com  (I also love Wordbook for a stored dictionary in case I can't get online for some reason)
Starbucks (both the regular app and the Mobile Card app)
Hurricane (if you live in Fla you understand)
Magic 8 Ball
Etch a Sketch
Trivial Pursuit
Scrabble (get the real one, it's awesome)
Sudoku Unlimited (best one)

Nothing I can say would really matter.  it's all about the pictures.   So I captured a bunch of photos, both from Hogsmeade village and inside of Hogwarts.

Take a look if you don't mind spoilers.   Suffice it to say it was brilliant.

Link to My Open Facebook Album

One of the best things I have done this year is join the Orlando Heavy Metal Meet Up Group.   What a great way to meet people that LOVE the same music and make it a point to actually get out and go to shows.   That is what this group is, a bunch of Orlando concert goes that like it hard and heavy.

One of the great benefits of meeting other metal-heads is the sharing of great music, and share they did.   I found the most awesome local band-Traverser.   Simply put they are AMAZING.   Their show at the BackBooth was perfection.  



Orlando Metal Meet Up Group Link


Traverser Live at Orlando BackBooth


My You Tube of Traverser
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbmlhzdhpZo />



Traverser blowin us all away (Orlando BackBooth June 26 2010)





Members of Orlando Meet Up Group

I hate reviewing a show that didn't like.   I didn't really care for any of today's shows:


Cyclosa Confusa-No dialog (fail) simply a physical comedy about a creature from the center of the earth.  Extremely mundane.  

When Hell Freezes Over -Best of the day, which is not saying much.  This play resurrcted the characters from last year, but was light on the intelligent political humor and relied too much of the ugly diva in drag dressed as Joan Crawford.   I think this show won patron's pic for the Yellow venue, but I felt it was just ok.   Lots of missed opportunities.

Procrastination-Good dancers set to a folky album that billed itself as an "electronica operetta"--NOT.  I did not care for the music, vocals or self reflective theme about being a procrastinator.   I will say however, that two of the dancers were phenominal, too bad the music and show execution was lacking.

Best night of Fringe, one for the record books.    Ok so I stacked the deck here (thank you Sentinel for actually providing something useful)  and chose the popular shows with all the best buzz, but even so we were all happily surprised at the caliber of shows.   Three shows, three different genres, each soaring beyond expectation and catapulting these troupes to the Best of Fringe list.

Tonight's Line Up:

VarieTeaseeconstruction (we saw for the second time)
The Cody Rivers Show  (a Fringe staple but our first time)
The Great American Trailer Park Musical


A night of dance, physical comedy and music.  All four of us walked away with a jolt of exhilaration at what we had just witnessed.   I do not plan to review VarieTease again since I reviewed it last weekend.  Here   Suffice it to say it was much better from center audience.   We had missed critical expressions and articulations.   This show is a "do not miss".  Well I can say that about all three of these shows.

The Cody Rivers Show

We LOVED this show! What else is there to say.

Positively impossible to describe so best to check out there site here:  Link to Cody Rivers and let them summarize the concept of their show (from their website):

The Cody Rivers Show creates kinetic and unpredictable comedy theatre that has amazed audiences
and defied description for the past five years.
Pushing the envelopes of physical theatre, dance, music, and high-concept comedy, The Cody Rivers Show delivers unique shows unlike any other comedy act, past or present.
It’s like running a marathon, doing algebra, and eating cake all at the same time..
Based in Bellingham, Washington and regularly touring the United States and Canada, The Cody Rivers Show
deeply enjoys bringing its blend of dance, music and conceptually inspired theater to audiences everywhere.

The Great Trailer Park Musical

Fringe favorite Michelle Bouroughs (Bat Boy) starred in this hysterical musical about life in Stark Florida.    Basic plot, but this proves without a doubt that it is all about execution.  This team of players did it best!!

Thursday night, it was time for a quickie with favorite Tim Mooney.  (last year's Moliere)   Dancing Nude was a beautiful written series of poems (Iambic Pentameter and Prose) written and performed by Tim.   The poetry was sensual and supremely performed as only Tim can accomplish.   He is truly a master of the the Chauceresque style of verse using perfectly punctuated syllables to tell his tale....of sex.

My only beef (no pun intended) was that this was all really no biggie (pun intended).   I reveled in the beauty of the poetry and his manner of describing every important sexual encounter in his life, however I walked away kinda bored.   Let me state here that it is through no fault of Tim's that this play was not to my taste.  I just found the subject matter a bit mundane and gratuitous,  as was the  strip tease act that took an entire hour and 3 audience members along with it.

Tim of course performed brilliantly as he tastefully acted out each sexual encounter from first childhood realization of his penis, to his first orgasm, to his marriage and subsequent relationships.  All a nice topic for a poetic monologue, again just not to my taste.    I would have preferred he write about any other subject matter, this felt like an appeal to everyone's reptilian brain and baser emotions.