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Monday, June 13, 2011
A Girls' Day Out in Historical Philadelphia
While I was on a photoshoot in Philadelphia back in April, I took a day to explore the historical district with my daughter Margaret. For her birthday today, I sent her the Smilebox card below with a short slideshow of our day together.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
"Surface" and "Jericho" series ended far too prematurely!
Like IMDB reviewer "noralee", I, too, was gratified that women played key roles, although I got a little irritated with some of the sappier scenes where the marine biologist, Dr. Laura Daughtery, snivels over not being able to spend more time with her son (her son was nicely portrayed by Bobby Coleman though!) and, like some academics I met in my 20 years at the University of Oregon, seems to be short-changed in the common sense department. It's too bad that Martha Plimpton, who played a rather obsessed researcher with the evil "corporation" wasn't cast in the main role as Dr. Daugherty as she would have brought a lot more intensity to the part. But, as usual, the producers wanted to appeal to the young male demographic by selecting someone with the typical "California girl" svelt appearance as the lead instead.
Apparently Surface was canceled after only 15 episodes which was a real tragedy as I was on the edge of my seat by the season (and sadly series) finale. If you don't have a Netflix subscription you can watch full episodes on IMDB for the next 13 days.
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| Image courtesy of IMDB |
Now I've got to find another thoughtful series to fill our evenings.
It seems like most series requiring a little thought always seem to go wanting while trashy reality programs keep raking in the lion's share of production budgets. That must be why my husband and I, despite paying for America's top 250 and three premium channels besides find ourselves on Netflix night after night!
Being able to watch a series on demand instead of spaced in weekly segments also gives you more of a chance to really connect with the characters and begin to really care what happens to them. I've tried to follow segmented series and always end up thwarted. The networks begin with a regular schedule then pretty soon they preempt a series for some event the networks perceive to be more lucrative for advertisers. Then, those of us trying to follow a series lose track of what's going on and soon lose our connection to the characters. That is what happened to me and Flash Forward. Of course, unless the networks start including DVR time shifted recordings in their ratings, intelligent shows like Flash Forward, Jericho and Surface just get canceled anyway and the viewers as well as the cast end up the losers.
At present I'm trying to follow three miniseries in weekly installments, Showtime's Camelot, HBO's Game of Thrones and Showtime's The Borgias. I do have my DVR set this time in case I miss an episode but I must admit having a full week (or longer) in between episodes is still frustrating as far as maintaining continuity with the characters goes. I would prefer to have all series presented on demand but I suppose the premium networks must drag them out to try to wring every possible cent out of the viewers.
As soon as Game of Thrones and The Borgias end for this season, I'm turning off HBO and Showtime again though. I should have just waited for the series to come out on Netflix but I'm so starved for historical entertainment I couldn't wait.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Time traveling with tribute singers
In September 2009, I had the wonderful experience of attending a performance of Beatlemania, a Beatles tribute band, at the Three Rivers Casino in Florence. Since then, I have kept an eye out for any similar concerts that might be equally enjoyable and just before Christmas I saw an advertisement for a concert by Elvis impersonator, Justin Shandor, also at Three Rivers, scheduled for January.
The concert announcement said the performance would be split up into three nights by decade with the 60s music performed on a Friday. Although I spent most of the 60s listening to Beatles music along with a little Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, the Byrds and Herman's Hermits, I did remember some of Elvis' songs that I enjoyed as well. So, I went online and purchased two tickets for the 60s concert and hoped my husband and I could also enjoy another great seafood buffet at the casino since the performance was scheduled on a Friday night.
Although Florence, Oregon is only about one and a half hours away from our home in Springfield and the concert wasn't going to begin until 8 p.m., we always get a little antsy and headed over to the coast in the morning, arriving in Florence about 11 o'clock. First, we located our motel that I had found on the web, the Old Town Inn. I selected it because it was reasonably priced, within walking distance of the riverfront area with its restaurants and shops, and allowed small pets. Their pet fee is also really reasonable - only charging us $15 for our two doxies. They also have both a microwave and small refrigerator in your room for snacks and offer rolls, fruit and coffee for an "on the run" style of continental breakfast in the office after 7:30 a.m.. It's right off Highway 101 on the left heading south just before you cross the bridge so its was easy to find.
Then, we made the rounds of the local antique stores. Although I've gotten to the point that I don't have any more display space available, I still enjoy browsing the stores for the possibility that I might find that special something. Joe spotted a great buy on a grandfather clock but I couldn't imagine where we would put it so we didn't make an offer on it. One shop right on Highway 101 had incorporated a pastry shop into their antique displays and their pastries looked very mouth watering but it was too close to lunch to indulge. It reminded me of one of my favorite lunch spots here in Springfield called Ruthie B's that used to serve great salads and sandwiches as well as a totally decadent bread pudding made with light flaky croissants and fresh bananas topped with mounds of whipped cream. Unfortunately, Ruthie retired at the end of December 2010 and closed up shop. Now my sister Jane and I will have to find some other place to enjoy on one of our sisters' days out. Maybe we'll be in Florence together sometime and can try out the place I found there.
When it was almost noon we drove down to "Old Town", along the Siuslaw river frontage to my husband's favorite "fish and chips" place, "Mo's". I pointed out to him that there were a lot of other interesting looking restaurants we could sample but he's a creature of habit and insisted on Mo's. I must admit Mo's did a good job on my combo order of bay scallops, clam strips and cod fillets and I enjoy looking out over the river, although there weren't any fishing boats going out fishing in the winter.
After lunch we drove north of town because I wanted to see the carnivorous plants that proliferate in a small wayside just off the highway. The little botanical garden is named Darlingtonia because the scientific name of the plants in it is Darlingtonia Californica. The little wayside has a nice elevated walking platform and, although the day was cool, it was a pleasant stroll and my two dachshunds enjoyed the break from riding in the car.
On the way back to town we turned and drove around the "beach loop" to the North Jetty since I can't drive all the way to the coast and not spend a little time gazing at the ocean.
It was finally time to check in to our room so we did and enjoyed a bit of a rest before dinner. Finally, we headed on over to the casino and picked up our concert tickets along with $10 in gambling credits that were part of the ticket package. Neither of us is much into gambling but I didn't want to waste the gambling credits. However, I couldn't remember how to use the player's club card so had to get a little instruction first. After a briefing by one of the floor managers, I managed to win enough cash to convert the $10 club card into cash. Joe said we needed to kill a little more time, though, so he wanted me to keep going. I tried to caution him that the slots were computerized to pay out only so much so the odds against winning get greater and greater the longer you play. But Joe said it was only $10 so I kept going. As I predicted the machine almost immediately began paying less and less. I managed to kill another hour before we needed to go eat and still had $4 left so I guess that was okay as far as just wasting time was concerned.
When I used to attend Comdex, a huge technology trade show, in Las Vegas, I used to hear the casino personnel complain about all of us Comdex attendees because so few of us were interested in gambling. As most of us had training in computer programming and understood the basics of how the slots were programmed to guarantee a profit for the casinos, most of us didn't want to throw our money away like that. I always enjoy attending shows in Las Vegas, though, and visiting some of the attractions like Madame Tussaud's, Star Trek the Experience (sadly, now closed), and the Shark Reef aquarium. I've navigated the canals in a gondola at the Venetian and eaten a delicious French lunch at the Paris Hotel (and I had just visited the real Paris a few months before so I did have a frame of reference!) So, I've always managed to enjoy myself there, even though in four visits I have never gambled a nickel!
The buffet at Three Rivers did not have the variety of dishes that the buffet at The Mill casino down in Coos Bay, Oregon did, but the food was tasty, especially the Mongolian grill. Of course I also liked the desserts, particularly the small chocolate eclairs made with cream puff pastry and filled with vanilla pudding. The key lime pie was not too shabby either!
At last it was time for the concert. We didn't realize they allowed people to be seated more than 1/2 hour before the performance was scheduled to start so we didn't get quite as good of a seat as we did for the Beatlemania show. Unfortunately, this meant that Joe couldn't understand the words since his hearing aids could not distinguish the singing from the surrounding crowd noise. Next time we'll need to get in line much sooner.
I was a little confused when the announcer introduced one of the best John Denver tribute artists in the world. I thought he was joking since our tickets did not mention anything about a John Denver tribute artist. But sure enough a young man named Ted Vigil in jeans, a brown felt cowboy hat and brown jacket, looking a lot like John Denver, strode out onto the stage and launched into "Take Me Home, Country Roads".
"Country Road" is one of my favorite country songs so soon I was singing along. I continued singing along with the next songs he sang, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (video clip), "Sunshine on My Shoulders" and even "Calypso", a great salute to Jacques Cousteau's famous flagship (for those of you who are too young to have watched Jacques Cousteau on Sunday nights) that includes some really high pitched yodeling that Ted hit just right:
Here's the original John Denver singing "Calypso". Ted came pretty close don't you think?
When I was looking for video clips up on YouTube to include with this blog post, I also noticed a clip of Ted Vigil singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane", another of John Denver's original compositions:
Although Ted did not sing this song at the concert, I couldn't help but include the clip because this song always catches at my heart. This song, written by John Denver in 1966, was still being played a lot on the radio in 1968, the summer I was engaged to be married, but had been awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Chicago. Although I was very much in love with my future husband, I didn't want to let my folks down, so I flew down to the Marine Corps base in 29 Palms where Joe was stationed after returning from Vietnam to spend a few days with him before I had to leave for Chicago. Finally, the dreaded departure date arrived and Joe took me to the small airport there. They called my flight and just like in the song Joe kissed me and told me to smile for him. I asked him if he'd wait for me and held him (like I'd never let him go!) one last time. Also, just like in the song I didn't know when I'd be back again as I had only a one way ticket in my pocket. The gate attendant finally came over to me and said I had to go as everyone else was on the plane. So with tears streaming, I turned and was on my way with that song repeating in my head over and over.
But, back to the present. With a big smile and a wave of his cowboy hat, Ted Vigil bounded off the stage and the announcer let us know that we were now going to be transported from the Rockies to Memphis and introduced Justin Shandor.
Dressed in a tight black leather jacket and pants resembling the outfit Elvis wore in his 1968 "Comeback Special", Justin Shandor began belting out a medley of Elvis hits. I had never seen Elvis in person but I thought Justin looked very much like the Elvis I remembered from the movies in the 60s and he certainly sounded like him.
When I found a clip of Elvis performing "Blue Suede Shoes" at a concert in 1970 (the second song in the following clip), I thought it was interesting that when he began singing the song, he first referred to the color of his real shoes before switching to "blue suede" in the next stanza of the song. If you notice in Justin Shandor's clip above, he does the same thing and makes it all seem so spontaneous and natural.
Justin sang a mixture of songs from rock and roll to gospel. My favorite was "Memories" another song from Elvis' 1968 "Comeback Special". I was hoping to hear "Suspicious Minds" and "In the Ghetto" but those songs require female backup singers and there weren't any on stage with Justin at this performance. I would have also liked to have had Justin change costume as the decade of the 60s progressed, much like the Beatlemania band members did in their performance. I would have liked to have seen Elvis dressed in his Army uniform and singing "G.I. Blues" and "Wooden Heart", a nice little song Elvis sang in the movie to a German puppet.
I did notice that Shandor does this sometimes in his concerts and at the Elvis Museum in Las Vegas. Here Shandor sings "G.I. Blues" in uniform in a concert in Australia:
Although I didn't know all of the songs Shandor's Elvis sang (remember I was mostly a Beatles fan during the 60s), I still enjoyed myself immensely. I know some people scoff at tribute singers but I have found them to be a pleasant way to travel back to an earlier time, and once more infuse lost artists with youth and vitality so we can enjoy their musical gifts one more time. I know we have recordings and videos of performers that have passed away but there is a magic generated between a performer and his/her audience at a live concert that just can't be captured by any existing form of media. When a tribute singer (or band) is really talented, they can regenerate that magic of a shared human experience. I doubt if technology will ever be able to replicate it.
I noticed a poster for another Beatlemania performance at Three Rivers (back by popular demand) scheduled for April 1 and 2, 2011. I hope I'll be able to indulge myself again - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!
The concert announcement said the performance would be split up into three nights by decade with the 60s music performed on a Friday. Although I spent most of the 60s listening to Beatles music along with a little Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, the Byrds and Herman's Hermits, I did remember some of Elvis' songs that I enjoyed as well. So, I went online and purchased two tickets for the 60s concert and hoped my husband and I could also enjoy another great seafood buffet at the casino since the performance was scheduled on a Friday night.
Although Florence, Oregon is only about one and a half hours away from our home in Springfield and the concert wasn't going to begin until 8 p.m., we always get a little antsy and headed over to the coast in the morning, arriving in Florence about 11 o'clock. First, we located our motel that I had found on the web, the Old Town Inn. I selected it because it was reasonably priced, within walking distance of the riverfront area with its restaurants and shops, and allowed small pets. Their pet fee is also really reasonable - only charging us $15 for our two doxies. They also have both a microwave and small refrigerator in your room for snacks and offer rolls, fruit and coffee for an "on the run" style of continental breakfast in the office after 7:30 a.m.. It's right off Highway 101 on the left heading south just before you cross the bridge so its was easy to find.
Then, we made the rounds of the local antique stores. Although I've gotten to the point that I don't have any more display space available, I still enjoy browsing the stores for the possibility that I might find that special something. Joe spotted a great buy on a grandfather clock but I couldn't imagine where we would put it so we didn't make an offer on it. One shop right on Highway 101 had incorporated a pastry shop into their antique displays and their pastries looked very mouth watering but it was too close to lunch to indulge. It reminded me of one of my favorite lunch spots here in Springfield called Ruthie B's that used to serve great salads and sandwiches as well as a totally decadent bread pudding made with light flaky croissants and fresh bananas topped with mounds of whipped cream. Unfortunately, Ruthie retired at the end of December 2010 and closed up shop. Now my sister Jane and I will have to find some other place to enjoy on one of our sisters' days out. Maybe we'll be in Florence together sometime and can try out the place I found there.
 Image via Wikipedia |
| A sailboat on the Siuslaw River, Florence, Oregon. |
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| The carnivorous Darlingtonia Californica. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. |
On the way back to town we turned and drove around the "beach loop" to the North Jetty since I can't drive all the way to the coast and not spend a little time gazing at the ocean.
It was finally time to check in to our room so we did and enjoyed a bit of a rest before dinner. Finally, we headed on over to the casino and picked up our concert tickets along with $10 in gambling credits that were part of the ticket package. Neither of us is much into gambling but I didn't want to waste the gambling credits. However, I couldn't remember how to use the player's club card so had to get a little instruction first. After a briefing by one of the floor managers, I managed to win enough cash to convert the $10 club card into cash. Joe said we needed to kill a little more time, though, so he wanted me to keep going. I tried to caution him that the slots were computerized to pay out only so much so the odds against winning get greater and greater the longer you play. But Joe said it was only $10 so I kept going. As I predicted the machine almost immediately began paying less and less. I managed to kill another hour before we needed to go eat and still had $4 left so I guess that was okay as far as just wasting time was concerned.
 Image by mharrsch via Flickr |
| Colorful eels at the Shark Reef aquarium in the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. |
The buffet at Three Rivers did not have the variety of dishes that the buffet at The Mill casino down in Coos Bay, Oregon did, but the food was tasty, especially the Mongolian grill. Of course I also liked the desserts, particularly the small chocolate eclairs made with cream puff pastry and filled with vanilla pudding. The key lime pie was not too shabby either!
At last it was time for the concert. We didn't realize they allowed people to be seated more than 1/2 hour before the performance was scheduled to start so we didn't get quite as good of a seat as we did for the Beatlemania show. Unfortunately, this meant that Joe couldn't understand the words since his hearing aids could not distinguish the singing from the surrounding crowd noise. Next time we'll need to get in line much sooner.
I was a little confused when the announcer introduced one of the best John Denver tribute artists in the world. I thought he was joking since our tickets did not mention anything about a John Denver tribute artist. But sure enough a young man named Ted Vigil in jeans, a brown felt cowboy hat and brown jacket, looking a lot like John Denver, strode out onto the stage and launched into "Take Me Home, Country Roads".
"Country Road" is one of my favorite country songs so soon I was singing along. I continued singing along with the next songs he sang, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (video clip), "Sunshine on My Shoulders" and even "Calypso", a great salute to Jacques Cousteau's famous flagship (for those of you who are too young to have watched Jacques Cousteau on Sunday nights) that includes some really high pitched yodeling that Ted hit just right:
Here's the original John Denver singing "Calypso". Ted came pretty close don't you think?
When I was looking for video clips up on YouTube to include with this blog post, I also noticed a clip of Ted Vigil singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane", another of John Denver's original compositions:
Although Ted did not sing this song at the concert, I couldn't help but include the clip because this song always catches at my heart. This song, written by John Denver in 1966, was still being played a lot on the radio in 1968, the summer I was engaged to be married, but had been awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Chicago. Although I was very much in love with my future husband, I didn't want to let my folks down, so I flew down to the Marine Corps base in 29 Palms where Joe was stationed after returning from Vietnam to spend a few days with him before I had to leave for Chicago. Finally, the dreaded departure date arrived and Joe took me to the small airport there. They called my flight and just like in the song Joe kissed me and told me to smile for him. I asked him if he'd wait for me and held him (like I'd never let him go!) one last time. Also, just like in the song I didn't know when I'd be back again as I had only a one way ticket in my pocket. The gate attendant finally came over to me and said I had to go as everyone else was on the plane. So with tears streaming, I turned and was on my way with that song repeating in my head over and over.
But, back to the present. With a big smile and a wave of his cowboy hat, Ted Vigil bounded off the stage and the announcer let us know that we were now going to be transported from the Rockies to Memphis and introduced Justin Shandor.
Dressed in a tight black leather jacket and pants resembling the outfit Elvis wore in his 1968 "Comeback Special", Justin Shandor began belting out a medley of Elvis hits. I had never seen Elvis in person but I thought Justin looked very much like the Elvis I remembered from the movies in the 60s and he certainly sounded like him.
When I found a clip of Elvis performing "Blue Suede Shoes" at a concert in 1970 (the second song in the following clip), I thought it was interesting that when he began singing the song, he first referred to the color of his real shoes before switching to "blue suede" in the next stanza of the song. If you notice in Justin Shandor's clip above, he does the same thing and makes it all seem so spontaneous and natural.
Justin sang a mixture of songs from rock and roll to gospel. My favorite was "Memories" another song from Elvis' 1968 "Comeback Special". I was hoping to hear "Suspicious Minds" and "In the Ghetto" but those songs require female backup singers and there weren't any on stage with Justin at this performance. I would have also liked to have had Justin change costume as the decade of the 60s progressed, much like the Beatlemania band members did in their performance. I would have liked to have seen Elvis dressed in his Army uniform and singing "G.I. Blues" and "Wooden Heart", a nice little song Elvis sang in the movie to a German puppet.
I did notice that Shandor does this sometimes in his concerts and at the Elvis Museum in Las Vegas. Here Shandor sings "G.I. Blues" in uniform in a concert in Australia:
Although I didn't know all of the songs Shandor's Elvis sang (remember I was mostly a Beatles fan during the 60s), I still enjoyed myself immensely. I know some people scoff at tribute singers but I have found them to be a pleasant way to travel back to an earlier time, and once more infuse lost artists with youth and vitality so we can enjoy their musical gifts one more time. I know we have recordings and videos of performers that have passed away but there is a magic generated between a performer and his/her audience at a live concert that just can't be captured by any existing form of media. When a tribute singer (or band) is really talented, they can regenerate that magic of a shared human experience. I doubt if technology will ever be able to replicate it.
I noticed a poster for another Beatlemania performance at Three Rivers (back by popular demand) scheduled for April 1 and 2, 2011. I hope I'll be able to indulge myself again - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Random Act of Culture in Phiadelphia brings tears to my eyes
When I was a girl my favorite music that always surfaced at Christmas time was Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus". I loved it so much that when I was planning my wedding 42 years ago (Yes, it's been that long!), I planned to have the "Hallelujah Chorus" played when my husband and I turned to greet the crowd after we were pronounced man and wife.
Unfortunately, we were married in a church that considered the Handel classic secular music. So, I was told I could not have the music as part of my wedding ceremony. Twenty four years later my daughter was married and I asked her if we could have the "Hallelujah Chorus" played as the recessional music. So I finally got my wish although the CD player we used was a bit cantankerous and I had to signal my daughter to wait a moment while my son who was in charge of the AV equipment got it working!
Of course the most famous version of this classic is probably the one sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. When I visited Salt Lake City for a Historical Novel Society conference several years ago, I had the opportunity to sit in on a practice session of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (The Choir rehearses on Thursdays and visitors are invited to listen in). Although they did not sing the Hallelujah Chorus that day the choir was still a joy to listen to.
Today one of my friends sent me a link to a YouTube video of the Opera Company of Philadelphia singing the Hallelujah Chorus in a shopping mall in Philadelphia as part of the "Random Act of Culture" program. I must admit it brought tears to my eyes!
 Image by mharrsch via Flickr |
| The Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsing in Salt Lake City, Utah. |
Of course the most famous version of this classic is probably the one sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. When I visited Salt Lake City for a Historical Novel Society conference several years ago, I had the opportunity to sit in on a practice session of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (The Choir rehearses on Thursdays and visitors are invited to listen in). Although they did not sing the Hallelujah Chorus that day the choir was still a joy to listen to.
Today one of my friends sent me a link to a YouTube video of the Opera Company of Philadelphia singing the Hallelujah Chorus in a shopping mall in Philadelphia as part of the "Random Act of Culture" program. I must admit it brought tears to my eyes!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Getting Footloose with Kenny Loggins on a chilly August night on the Oregon Coast
I am certainly not a gambler - too many years as a chief financial officer I guess - but as it turns out I am really grateful for the new entertainment opportunities offered as a result of the proliferation of tribal casinos. Last year I wrote about having a wonderful time at a Beatles tribute show presented at the Three Rivers tribal casino in Florence, Oregon. This year I had the opportunity to attend a Kenny Loggins concert at The Mill tribal casino in Coos Bay, Oregon.
We arrived in Coos Bay, dropped off our bags at the motel, then drove out to Charleston to walk around the fishing boats docked in the harbor. I decided I wanted to eat lunch at my late father's favorite fish and chips place named "The Seabasket" and true to form, they served me a succulent order of lightly breaded scallops cooked just the way I like them. I could almost imagine my Dad sitting there with me like he had so many times before.
After we finished eating lunch, we drove out to Sunset Beach. It is nestled in a cove protected from the wind and I enjoyed walking along the beach taking a few photographs. As I looked out towards the open ocean, though, I noticed a lot of white caps so I wondered how comfortable we would be at the outdoor concert.
We drove back into town and went on over to the casino to have dinner. Since it was a Friday The Mill served a marvelous seafood buffet that included a wide variety of dishes including some of my personal "down home" type favorites like tuna casserole and fresh buttered brussel sprouts. If you don't like either of these two dishes, don't worry. They had crab, shrimp, scallops, white fish, salmon, and oysters fixed in just about as many ways as you can imagine! I sampled a few scallops and they were well done but not quite as delicate as those served at The Seabasket though! My Dad was quite a connoiseur of good fish and chips so of course he knew the best place to get them!
After that great dinner, we got in line to be seated for the performance. The Mill set up the concert stage and seating out on the dock where ships used to load lumber when it was a Weyerhauser production plant years ago. Under normal circumstances, you would think that sitting along the waterfront out under the stars on an August night would have been perfectly romantic. But the Oregon coast gets really cold after dark, even in August, so we all had to bundle up in our warmest parkas.
Unfortunately for Kenny, though, he was in shirt sleeves.
Of course, most of the audience, like me and my husband, were older baby boomers so the songs we really wanted to hear were from the 70s and 80s. Early in the show he sang "This is It" which is one of my favorites on his "Biggest Hits" CD that I have in my collection:
But my very favorites are songs he composed for the movies "Top Gun", "Caddyshack" and "Footloose". As the evening wore on, I feared I wouldn't get to hear my favorites after all as I listened, shivering in my seat, through song after song, quite a few, I'm afraid, unfamiliar to me.
About half way through Kenny's performance, he had to stop and warm his hands because he couldn't feel the guitar strings any more! I was afraid he wouldn't be able to continue but after a short break, he started up again.
He finally said he was dedicating his last song to golfers in the crowd and I knew I was going to get to hear "I'm alright!" Still, I was a little disappointed that I was only going to get to hear one of my favorites.
As the first few notes of "I'm alright" were struck, though, almost the entire crowd leaped to its feet and started doing the "gopher swivel", cheering and clapping deliriously. Apparently that song was a lot of other people's favorite too!
The crowd's enthusiasm seemed to breathe a little more life back into Kenny and, even though he had bid us good night, he came back on stage for an encore and I immediately recognized the opening chords for "Footloose".
Kenny actually went the extra mile and sang four more songs - more during an encore than I had ever enjoyed from any other entertainer. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to hear him play "Danger Zone" but I found out Kenny, who opposed the war in Iraq, didn't like the association the song had with military aggression:
For a couple of months before the concert, the casino had placed a Kenny Loggins favorite song survey on their website and I had dutifully voted for "Danger Zone". Actually, this type of promotion is a pretty good marketing tool for the band if more bands would use it. It's certainly one sure way to be sure you're going to play the songs a particular audience wants to hear!
I see that Three Rivers in Florence has an Elvis impersonator coming in January. My husband agreed to go if I wanted to. I was more of a Beatles fan than an Elvis fan - Elvis was my older sister's heart throb - but I would still enjoy hearing his music and seeing the performance. The casino has divided the music into decades and the 60s is set for Friday night. I think I'll get tickets for it since I was in high school during that time and we might get to sample another great seafood buffet!
We arrived in Coos Bay, dropped off our bags at the motel, then drove out to Charleston to walk around the fishing boats docked in the harbor. I decided I wanted to eat lunch at my late father's favorite fish and chips place named "The Seabasket" and true to form, they served me a succulent order of lightly breaded scallops cooked just the way I like them. I could almost imagine my Dad sitting there with me like he had so many times before.
 Although the water was calm inside Sunset Bay, there were white caps on the ocean outside the protection of the cove. Image by Mary Harrsch. | |
We drove back into town and went on over to the casino to have dinner. Since it was a Friday The Mill served a marvelous seafood buffet that included a wide variety of dishes including some of my personal "down home" type favorites like tuna casserole and fresh buttered brussel sprouts. If you don't like either of these two dishes, don't worry. They had crab, shrimp, scallops, white fish, salmon, and oysters fixed in just about as many ways as you can imagine! I sampled a few scallops and they were well done but not quite as delicate as those served at The Seabasket though! My Dad was quite a connoiseur of good fish and chips so of course he knew the best place to get them!
After that great dinner, we got in line to be seated for the performance. The Mill set up the concert stage and seating out on the dock where ships used to load lumber when it was a Weyerhauser production plant years ago. Under normal circumstances, you would think that sitting along the waterfront out under the stars on an August night would have been perfectly romantic. But the Oregon coast gets really cold after dark, even in August, so we all had to bundle up in our warmest parkas.
Unfortunately for Kenny, though, he was in shirt sleeves.
Of course, most of the audience, like me and my husband, were older baby boomers so the songs we really wanted to hear were from the 70s and 80s. Early in the show he sang "This is It" which is one of my favorites on his "Biggest Hits" CD that I have in my collection:
But my very favorites are songs he composed for the movies "Top Gun", "Caddyshack" and "Footloose". As the evening wore on, I feared I wouldn't get to hear my favorites after all as I listened, shivering in my seat, through song after song, quite a few, I'm afraid, unfamiliar to me.
About half way through Kenny's performance, he had to stop and warm his hands because he couldn't feel the guitar strings any more! I was afraid he wouldn't be able to continue but after a short break, he started up again.
He finally said he was dedicating his last song to golfers in the crowd and I knew I was going to get to hear "I'm alright!" Still, I was a little disappointed that I was only going to get to hear one of my favorites.
As the first few notes of "I'm alright" were struck, though, almost the entire crowd leaped to its feet and started doing the "gopher swivel", cheering and clapping deliriously. Apparently that song was a lot of other people's favorite too!
The crowd's enthusiasm seemed to breathe a little more life back into Kenny and, even though he had bid us good night, he came back on stage for an encore and I immediately recognized the opening chords for "Footloose".
Kenny actually went the extra mile and sang four more songs - more during an encore than I had ever enjoyed from any other entertainer. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to hear him play "Danger Zone" but I found out Kenny, who opposed the war in Iraq, didn't like the association the song had with military aggression:
Go to a Kenny Loggins concert today, and chances are you'll hear the chart-busting movie hit 'Danger Zone.' But during the first US-Iraq skirmish in the early '90s, Loggins stopped playing the song, upset that it had been associated with military action.
"Back then CNN was using it as background music for the bombing of Baghdad, and it turned my stomach," Loggins tells Spinner. "So, I didn't perform the song for quite a while."
Of course, the song had already been associated with the military, having been famously used in the fighter pilot flick 'Top Gun' with Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. Because of that, it became associated with real-life fighter pilots during the Gulf War a few years later. - SpinnerI certainly respect that! Although the article said you probably would hear it at a Kenny Loggins concert now, he apparently is still refraining from playing it because of continuing US involvement in Iraq and the ongoing war in Afghanistan. So we just must be content watching the original video from the movie:
For a couple of months before the concert, the casino had placed a Kenny Loggins favorite song survey on their website and I had dutifully voted for "Danger Zone". Actually, this type of promotion is a pretty good marketing tool for the band if more bands would use it. It's certainly one sure way to be sure you're going to play the songs a particular audience wants to hear!
I see that Three Rivers in Florence has an Elvis impersonator coming in January. My husband agreed to go if I wanted to. I was more of a Beatles fan than an Elvis fan - Elvis was my older sister's heart throb - but I would still enjoy hearing his music and seeing the performance. The casino has divided the music into decades and the 60s is set for Friday night. I think I'll get tickets for it since I was in high school during that time and we might get to sample another great seafood buffet!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Making arrangements for your "virtual" estate
I happen to see this link on Twitter and thought it was interesting since I am one of the ones who discussed my "virtual" assets with my estate planning attorney a few months ago when preparing my estate plan documents.
I was primarily concerned about all of the effort I have invested in uploading images I have taken of art and architecture to Flickr so others could use the images in non-commercial educational materials to promote the study and appreciation of our shared cultural heritage. I maintain a Pro account on Flickr which costs a small amount per year. I wanted to ensure that part of my estate would be used to cover this annual fee for some years into the future so my social "legacy" was not lost.
I just wrote an article for Heritage Key about the problem of sustainability of virtual environments created in Second Life when funding dries up or project directors turn their attention elsewhere. This is a problem with all funding models that rely on subscriptions for base revenue. I much prefer the model Google uses for Blogger. Blog accounts never expire so all content created and posted to a blog becomes an eternal data archive (at least as long as Google remains a viable entity).
I have already set the licensing on my online image archive to "Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike" so permissions for non-commercial use should not be a problem. As for dealing with inquries about commercial uses of my work after I have "crossed the rainbow bridge" as it is put in the pet world, I am leaving instructions about my online accounts in my estate plan with a request for my heirs to deposit any resulting revenues into a trust account I have established and split the proceeds according to the instructions in my will.
If I have a little time to prepare for the end, I can change the contact information I provide in my online profiles. But, someone may just find me slumped over my computer one day like one of my colleagues last weekend. I still have a lot of information to share so I hope that day will not come soon but life offers no guarantees either in the virtual world or the real one.
I was primarily concerned about all of the effort I have invested in uploading images I have taken of art and architecture to Flickr so others could use the images in non-commercial educational materials to promote the study and appreciation of our shared cultural heritage. I maintain a Pro account on Flickr which costs a small amount per year. I wanted to ensure that part of my estate would be used to cover this annual fee for some years into the future so my social "legacy" was not lost.
I just wrote an article for Heritage Key about the problem of sustainability of virtual environments created in Second Life when funding dries up or project directors turn their attention elsewhere. This is a problem with all funding models that rely on subscriptions for base revenue. I much prefer the model Google uses for Blogger. Blog accounts never expire so all content created and posted to a blog becomes an eternal data archive (at least as long as Google remains a viable entity).
I have already set the licensing on my online image archive to "Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike" so permissions for non-commercial use should not be a problem. As for dealing with inquries about commercial uses of my work after I have "crossed the rainbow bridge" as it is put in the pet world, I am leaving instructions about my online accounts in my estate plan with a request for my heirs to deposit any resulting revenues into a trust account I have established and split the proceeds according to the instructions in my will.
If I have a little time to prepare for the end, I can change the contact information I provide in my online profiles. But, someone may just find me slumped over my computer one day like one of my colleagues last weekend. I still have a lot of information to share so I hope that day will not come soon but life offers no guarantees either in the virtual world or the real one.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Marvel Online Comic Creator Needs to Integrate Virtual Assets!
In my version I let user's pick the dialog template that varied by numbers of speech balloons and positions, the character(s) and the background. They could then input the desired words they wished their characters to say. Then I used a Filemaker script to "playback" their comic by changing from one layout to the next. My prototype let users create up to a five window comic (or "graphic novel" if you prefer). Marvel has a short three window version and, for really talented writers, a 22-pane full comic book version.
I think this tool would be even better if users could upload additional backgrounds, objects (Marvel's version has objects you can add to a scene like a telephone, etc.) and characters, although I understand why Marvel would prefer to limit the tool to Marvel superheroes. I would have also liked more dialog balloon options, especially those with the arrow beneath the balloon. There were only a couple like that.
Today I also read an article about the surging market in virtual goods. Marvel's application would be a prime candidate for the integration of virtual goods. Marvel could offer theme-based backgrounds, character and object packages for a small fee. People would be more willing to purchase virtual goods, though, if they could share their creativity with others. Marvel's download function does not seem to save a file in a common format like .jpg. Some of the other flash-based products out there have also integrated social networking tools so user-generated toons can be posted to Facebook or linked to a tweet.
As for usability, though, I think the limited but intuitive tools the Marvel software provides makes it a snap to quickly create a toon to convey a thought or an emotion. Other more feature-rich products enable those who want to truly spend hours creating an artistic panel a lot of options but many of us just want to punch out a quick toon with a message using characters we like from favorite movies, comics, or legends. The Marvel tool, although targeted at children, fills the bill quite nicely.
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