My roommate and suitemate Laura and Lizzie respectively are going to go on a trip with me. And not just any trip. We are doing a road trip across America. And not just across it, but zig-zagging across it. Below is our list of stops!!! We are currently taking suggestions on further stops, places to eat in these cities, and if you know where we can crash for free! We are leaving the 17th after graduation and our stops so far are as follows.
A: South Orange, NJ
B: Ohio State University (Columbus), OH
C: Chicago, IL
D: Kansas City, KS/MO
E: St. Louis, MO
F: Nashville, TN
G: Memphis, TN
H: New Orleans, LA
I: Dallas, TX
J: Oklahoma City, OK
K: Amarillo, TX
L: Roswell, NM
M: Denver, CO
N: Four Corners Monumnet, NM, UT, CO, AZ
O: Arizona State University (Mesa), AZ
P: Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Q: Las Vegas, NV
R: Yosemite National Park, CA
S: Los Angeles, CA
I am taking Digital Photography this semester (don't take Kulnut if you can help it), and one of our assignments was to interview a practicing/professional digital photographer. I found a lady who lives right in South Orange (via Google) and set up a time for an interview in her home/studio. Her name was Lauren Rutten, and I instantly liked her.
She told me about her career and life and how things had changed and where they were now. She was always honest and open and enjoyed talking about every point in her life, even the downturns. This honesty is reflected in her work as well. Although the types of work she gets may vary, she always makes sure her photographs showcase her subject in an honest and sincere way. Rutten considers her work very spiritual in a non-secular way, and also uses it as her form of meditation.
She called it 108 days of Practice. I have seen many photoblogs or ones that post a photo a day, but hers was different. This idea of 108 days of meditation relates back to the number 108 being a very spiritual number repeated often in the world around us. A list of many of the number's meanings can be found HERE. Lauren is a firm believer that this everyday practice makes her actual career related work that much better, and also allows her to refocus her energy everyday. She says, "my 108 days of practice is a form of meditation. It allows me to appreciate the world around me everyday". She is currently in her second round of 108 days, and inspired me that day to take a closer or different look at the things around me. Her professional photography site can be found here at http://www.laurenruttenphoto.comLesson Learned: It's not what you see it's how you see it.
I have never seen so many middle aged, chubby, balding men doing air guitar in my life. Over 10,000 of them to be exact. I was extremely fortunate enough to be invited to a Rush concert by my friend Hannah. Her aunt and uncle follow the band around on many of their tour dates and always sit front row. Although the tickets they got us were not front row, they were the third row with no second row in front of us. So it was like sitting second row which is like sitting front row. And it was awesome. Especially being at Madison Square Garden at such a large venue. (notice the lack of space between us and the front row rail. Yeah it counts)
This concert made me never want to sit in a bad seat for the rest of my life. I might spoil myself from this day forward. It's something about being that close and everything is just so much more epic. I could see Geddy Lee smiling and shaking his goofy hair and it's little things like that that you might miss sitting further. Even just looking around the stadium a couple times, you can just see that the energy of the crowd got progressively higher the closer to stage you looked. So therefore being this close meant we were around a lot of exciting and entertaining people. We had the 40+ year old couple next to us who looked like they were stuck in the early 80s. We also had the drunk guys to our left. White collar looking guys, but the one with the parted hair (yes... parted) could have been Lee himself his "Slapping of the baaassss" was so realistic. There was one guy in front of us who was particularly our favorite. He knew every word and acted like he was dancing in his room by himself with his hairbrush as a microphone. He got so into it and since where we were sitting allowed him a lot of room he made sure to jump around and be super active. Check out him going nuts below.
Another sweet detail from the concert was the lighting set up. I have never seen anything like it. Not only did they have lights all round the stage, and from the ceiling, but also this amazing tarantula looking contraption above the stage. It had 7 arms covered in lights and each arm would lift and rotate and go every which way. It was amazing it watch all by itself.
Besides lighting the stage was also brought to life by fireworks, large cloud of vapor shot into the air, and the heavy use of props on stage. The vapor clouds actually came out of the tops of these themed props. The props all featured a steampunk design with many decorative gears and brass/copper features.
SET 1
THE SPIRIT OF RADIO
TIME STAND STILL
PRESTO
STICK IT OUT
WORKIN' THEM ANGELS
LEAVE THAT THING ALONE
FAITHLESS
BU2B
FREE WILL
MARATHON
SUBDIVISIONS
SET 2
TOM SAWYER
RED BARCHETTA
YYZ
LIMELIGHT
CAMERA EYE
WITCH HUNT
VITAL SIGNS
CARAVAN
LOVE 4 SALE
CLOSER TO THE HEART
2112 OVERTURE / TEMPLES
FAR CRY
ENCORE
LA VILLA STRANGIATO
WORKING MAN
In the second set drummer Neil Peart did an awesome drum solo. Unreal to be more specific. My dad argues that he is the greatest living drummer in the world. Here's a bit of it that I recorded. A full one can be found on YouTube HERE.
At the end of the concert there was even a short movie featuring the movie "I Love You Man" which references the band throughout. I quickly caught on to how much the band loves poking fun at themselves. It was a great way to end the concert, and the short little movie itself was hilarious. Almost like a deleted scene from the movie.
To conclude, I have a much greater respect for Rush than I already had. Because like I stated in my previous blog post about Bombay Bicycle Club, you can tell a lot about a band by the way they perform live. I, along with the thousands of 40 year old men at MSG air guitared, jumped around, and sang along to Rush for 3 hours of awesome music. Lesson Learned: There are tons of old guys out there that can definitely rock way harder than I can. WAY HARDER
Rock on older dudes....Rock on
April 15/11 Cleveland, OH Quickens Loans Arena
April 17/11 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills
April 19/11 Hamilton, ON Copps Coliseum
April 20/11 Montreal, PQ Bell Centre
April 22/11 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
May 4/11 Helsinki, Finland Hartwall Arena
May 6/11 Stockholm, Sweden Globe
May 8/11 Malmo, Sweden Malmo Arena
May 12/11 Dublin, Ireland O2
May 14/11 Glasgow, Scotland SECC
May 16/11 Sheffield, UK Motorpoint Arena
May 19/11 Manchester, UK MEN Arena
May 21/11 Newcastle, UK Metro Radio Arena
May 22/11 Birmingham, UK LG Arena
May 25/11 London, UK O2
May 27/11 Rotterdam, Holland Ahoy Arena
May 29/11 Frankfurt, Germany Festhalle
This is a post long overdue, but since it was an awesome time I think it is worth writing about. After spring break Lizzie and I went to the cheapest concert I have ever been to ($23 I think). It was Bombay Bicycle Club a group from England and they were playing at the Mercury Lounge. It was also the smallest venue I have been to. A sign said there was only a capacity of like 275 people. Lizzie and I quickly positioned ourselves right in front to the left side of the stage.
The opening band was good as well and their singer was this very quaint chubby guy who could really hit some notes. Their name I can not remember, but you can refer to Lizzie's blog "Music Gigs and Festivals" for more the more detailed information that I can not give. The crowd was mixed and kinda old! Few guys in suits that looked like they came after work, couples, even tweens who were being chaperoned by mommy or daddy! Regardless of age, everyone there was quite enthusiastic when the feature band took the stage.
Bombay was a group that I was not familiar with until Lizzie had already bought the tickets and told me I was going with her. It was only then that I started you tubing their songs and getting into them. Think of it like research before a test (haha). Either way I always look forward to hearing bands live because i love to see how good they really are. I think concerts are the true test of credibility for a band. You find out if they live up to their own sound, and can inject an audience with energy. The concert was awesome. Not one of the most exciting ones I have been to but very fun and I felt the band delivered well to the audience. Afterward lizzie even got to meet the drummer and bassist.
Below are some of my favorite songs by them. Enjoy and remember to check out Lizzie's blog for another review.
So although it's April Fools Day, there will be no jokes here. I understand that while you are reading this you might already have an allegiance to a specific team, but I implore you to Think Blue and step into the magical little world of DodgerTown (the stadium has its own zip code 90090).
Opening Day at Dodger's Stadium was finished with glorious 2-1 victory over the Giants (march 31st). The World Series Champions are looking to defend their title, so it was nice to make them start their season 1 step behind us. What I'm about to spit is straight facts and heavily researched data. It is a common statement that "The Dodgers are the greatest baseball team ever!" end statement. So now let's look at some reasons why.
We are True Blue Dodgers are a franchise seeped in tradition. When it comes to being an O.G. Dodgers are a team that should come to mind. We have one of the oldest stadiums in the the league (behind Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago,) and is the largest ballpark by seating capacity. Our uniforms have also stayed consistent for over 70 years. We also still have an actual organ player in the stadium Nancy Bea Hefley, who has been with the team for over 20 years. None of that recorded crap here. Last but not least Vin Scully. The talk of our town. The voice of our team. He has been calling Dodger games for over 60 years. Long story: Tradition runs deep throughout the franchise.
Lets talk about fan base. We rock at getting people to come to our games. We set a franchise record in 2009 with over 3.8 million fans in attendance that season. That year we led the MLB in total attendance. We have had 15 consecutive seasons of over 3 million fans a season (longest streak in the MLB). Dodgers were also the first team to reach 1 million fans in a season and we did it 3 times before another team even did it once. This relentless and loyal attitude comes from fans like Nettie Berkson. A 95 year old lady who has been to more baseball games than double the number of years you've been alive! She has gone to every Dodgers Opening Day game since 1962 (that's 53 years). That is what you call love!
Remember I speak from the heart not the stats sheet. I never said we were the most winning-est team in the league, the fact I am stating is that we are a team that is awesome, should be respected, and should be feared. Lesson Learned: Think Blue!
I am taking Digital Photography this semester (don't take Kulnut if you can help it), and one of our assignments was to interview a practicing/professional digital photographer. I found a lady who lives right in South Orange (via Google) and set up a time for an interview in her home/studio. Her name was Lauren Rutten, and I instantly liked her. 
This concert made me never want to sit in a bad seat for the rest of my life. I might spoil myself from this day forward. It's something about being that close and everything is just so much more epic. I could see Geddy Lee smiling and shaking his goofy hair and it's little things like that that you might miss sitting further. Even just looking around the stadium a couple times, you can just see that the energy of the crowd got progressively higher the closer to stage you looked. So therefore being this close meant we were around a lot of exciting and entertaining people. We had the 40+ year old couple next to us who looked like they were stuck in the early 80s. We also had the drunk guys to our left. White collar looking guys, but the one with the parted hair (yes... parted) could have been Lee himself his "Slapping of the baaassss" was so realistic. There was one guy in front of us who was particularly our favorite. He knew every word and acted like he was dancing in his room by himself with his hairbrush as a microphone. He got so into it and since where we were sitting allowed him a lot of room he made sure to jump around and be super active. Check out him going nuts below.
Dodgers are a franchise seeped in tradition. When it comes to being an O.G. Dodgers are a team that should come to mind. We have one of the oldest stadiums in the the league (behind Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago,) and is the largest ballpark by seating capacity. Our uniforms have also stayed consistent for over 70 years. We also still have an actual organ player in the stadium Nancy Bea Hefley, who has been with the team for over 20 years. None of that recorded crap here. Last but not least Vin Scully. The talk of our town. The voice of our team. He has been calling Dodger games for over 60 years. Long story: Tradition runs deep throughout the franchise. 
