March 2013 – Concert Katie

Honor Society – Serendipity the Tour

Katie March 31, 2013 0 Comments

Friday night, Honor Society played a free show at iPlay Live in Freehold, NJ. I had never been there before, but my friend Kim lives nearby so we decided we’d pick up some VIP tickets and check it out. VIP entitled us to early entry, a photo with the band, a poster and a 4hour play card for iPlay’s rides. The guys had been promoting a Serendipity poster, so when we got there and we got a different 11×17 poster from the box office, I was bit bummed because I LOVE the Serendipity tour artwork!

We were let in and watching some of what I guess was considered soundcheck. They played a couple of songs that they intended to play, attempted a couple of songs that they couldn’t remember how to play… and even sang the new remix of Happy Birthday – Happy HALF Birthday.

After the performance / Q&A / whatever… we all lined up to say hi to the guys and get solo pics with them. I had been stressing over who to stand near now that there was only 3 of them – but Andy pulled me between him and Mike so that pretty much solved that issue! 🙂 Then we found out that we’d ALSO get the poster that I had wanted – Andy said they didn’t know anything about the ones that the venue had done up and that he had wanted one. After the group pics the guys mingled and signed the posters so I told Andy to go to the Box Office and tell them he was in the band and that he wanted the poster and he said “PLEASE” lmao because I had left that out of my instructions. Such manners. Kim had been talking to Alex on Twitter about going to White Castle after the show and when I said I had never been, he gave me a history of the burgers and how they are square and have wholes in them because of WWII.

Then it was time for everyone else to be let in and shortly after that This Is All Now took the stage. I remember not liking them in Boston last summer, but they were not as bad as I remembered (and re-reading my old reviews, I came to the conclusion he was sick in Boston so I should probably stop basing my opinion of them off of that performance!) They did a cover of Michelle Branch’s “Everywhere” which I thought was really weird. But pretty cool too – I mean, I’d prefer that over a Katy Perry or Ke$ha or whoever else.

Next up was Deleasa – who is Kevin Jonas’ brother in law. He hurt his foot playing soccer while on tour opening for the Jonas Brothers recently, so he sat for his set and played some songs on his guitars. The crowd seemed to love him. There were some girls in the back with light up “WELCOME HOME” signs too. I only caught the tail end of his set when he opened for Nick Jonas and the Administration, so it was nice to see a full set from him. He was really funny chatting with the crowd throughout his set.

Then it was time for Simple as Surgery. They had two guys on stage in masks with signs trying to get us hyped up. Kind of weird. I actually really liked SAS to the point where I considered making my way over to their merch table to pick up an EP but ultimately was too lazy. They had a keytar which was awesome, I mean, can a keytar be anything other than awesome?

Then it was time for Honor Society! Since the last time I had seen them, Jay has left the band. Their set up on the stage was a little bit different and I have to say there were a couple of times where I really felt Jay’s absence but over all they sounded just as great as ever and while it will be weird without Jay, I’ll eventually get used to it and hopefully his new project does well. (The Smoke Season – check them out.)

The show was a ton of fun (I expected nothing less) and I think I went a little over the top singing along at the top of my lungs (and for the last song Mike asked if we did know the words to sing along at the top of our lungs. Obviously that challenge was accepted by my very early on) They added a little Timberlake to the 99 Problems / Nobody Has to Know mashup. They did a variety of songs, some of which I hadn’t heard in a while (Gentleman After Dark) and then of course ones I’ve heard probably every show like See U In The Dark 🙂

After the show we got solo pics w/ all 3 and I was prepared this time when Alex didn’t have a sharpie and he was impressed! I told him how last time he asked me I didn’t have one and that I’d gone out and bought a pack the next day so I’d be prepared for the next time lol. (Shortly after he was brought one from the merch table so I got mine back)

The venue was in an arcade which was open until midnight, so we checked the place out a bit and hopefully when the guys come back it’ll be a Saturday so we can have the day to play around before the show!

Concert Photos

P!nk Truth About Love Tour

Katie March 30, 2013 0 Comments

Wednesday night P!nk brought her Truth About Love tour to the arena at Mohegan Sun. Tickets were almost impossible to get for this show – I wanted to get my mom tickets for her birthday and I ended up getting 2 tickets in the same row but 4 seats separating us. We probably could have asked everyone to scoot over one way or the other, but didn’t bother asking so we weren’t together except for between the opener and the main event when I sat in an open seat until it was claimed.

I hadn’t seen P!nk live since 2002, when I had 2nd row so the fact that she was now selling out an arena was pretty neat. (And I’m not sure she’s been back to CT since 2002, but I may be wrong) Before that I had seen her open up twice for NSYNC on the No Strings Attached tour and it was kind of funny because that tour kind of revolved over the whole free puppets theme, and the opening act for this tour was The Hives who had a backdrop of a puppeteer. It was kind of like the No Strings Attached tour backwards – started with puppets and ended with P!nk when the other tour started with P!nk and ended with puppets. (I just needed to mention some NSYNC in this review. I miss them.)

Back to The Hives – honestly I was not impressed with them in the slightest. I am hoping it was all just an act – but they seemed really full of themselves. The lead singer also had a mic on a huge wire that he would drag all around the stage and down the catwalk. He would swing it around too, which is why I guess he opted to do that instead of using a wireless mic. But then they had this guy dressed in all black (even wearing a ski mask) acting like a “ninja” to try and hold the wire without having us see him. (We saw him.) And the guitarist was also wired and was walking around and had to have a guy holding his wires up so it wouldn’t knock all the crowd in the GA Pit in the head. Very strange. (Although I guess it gave those 2 ninja dudes a job.) The lead singer also wanted everyone in the GA area to “sit” (or squat) and then “pop up” at a certain point in the song. He took what seemed like 20 minutes to yell at people to sit. One woman gave him the finger so he said “F*** you too lady” back to her. And said P!nk wouldn’t be coming out until everyone was sitting. (Dude, if people don’t want to do it, move on with the few who do.) The best (or worst) part of this whole thing was that when he finally had everyone “explode” the LIGHTS WERE OFF. It might have looked cool – if we could have actually seen it. He also took a girls phone and was recording video but when he realized it wasn’t, he did it all over again. Their set just seemed to drag on and on.

Then this guy… that I can’t really describe, walked through the crowd and was teasing people in the seats. He was up on the screens so we figured it was all part of the show. Then he ended up on stage and was introing the night. He said “for the next 2 hours” – oh man, it was going to be a late night since it was nearing 9pm (or maybe it was 9 by then I don’t know). Then a video of him singing the truth about love – as triplets – came up on the screen. Very weird.

Finally the curtain dropped and it was time for the show to begin! This was seriously one of the best shows I have EVER been to. Pink came out from the stage and was hanging from cords, and sang Raise Your Glass. The show was so amazing with all the dancing and stunts and acrobatics it was like cirque de soleil (Maybe. Ive never actually seen one of their shows except for one little bit when we went to see America’s Got Talent) And the best part of all was that she was singing LIVE the whole time. In the beginning, she couldn’t hear and was asking for help with her in-ears and joked about how next time if she lip syncs the show she won’t have that problem. And you could totally hear her breathing while singing during one of the songs (which my History of Rock professor in college said is the way to tell if they are really singing!). When she went out to the end of the catwalk with just her guitarist for Who Knew (I think this was the song) she said that she couldn’t hear the guitar so she didn’t know what key to sing in, so she asked for us to sing with her without the music so then she knew she would be in the right key and just busted out the rest of the song acapella with the crowd backing her. She also made a comment that she had never had so many sound problems, ever and apologized. She talked a bit about how she changed Perect to have FBombs because people said it was too much of a mom song which she liked because being a mom is the best thing she’s done, but it’s also a diss. She said it got to the point where she couldn’t be saying swears when she knew there’d be little kids there. (I noticed she kind of censored herself during some of the other songs too by holding the mic away a bit on the bad words!)

I have to say that I think that the best performance was of Sober – “I’m safe, up high” was taken a bit literally when she went in to an egg shaped cage which was raised above the stage and then she got out and walked around it, at points she was joined by her 3 male dancers and 2 female and they did all sorts of stunts and tricks on this egg – all while Pink was STILL SINGING. It was amazing and see if you can find it on youtube. (I didn’t take any videos because most of the time I was just sitting there in complete awe of everything that was going on)

When she was doing the medley of her older songs (which I still managed to know every word to) she stopped because her pants were coming apart and yelled I DID IT AGAIN and then tried to fix them while everything else was still going on around her with the dancing.

The finale was also absolutely amazing! Pink came out with a ring around her waist and her dancers hooked her up to 4 wires and then she flew and bounced alllll the way to the back and the sides. It was amazing. Again – all while still singing. There were also a couple of poles in the back that she stood on and even did a handstand on.

Seriously, so blown away and it will be a while (if ever) that I think anyone can ever top that performance. I know she just added a second leg – so if she is coming anywhere remotely near you – you absolutely must go!

Raise Your Glass
Walk of Shame
Just Like a Pill
U + UR Hand
Leave Me Alone
Try
Wicked Games
Just Give Me A Reason
Trouble
Are We All We Are
How Come You’re Not Here
Sober
Who Knew
Perfect
Most Girls / There You Go / You Make Me Sick
Slut Like You
Blow Me One Last Kiss
—
So What
Glitter in the Air

American Idol

Idol Top 8

Katie March 29, 2013 0 Comments

It’s Motor City week in the land of Idol… and they’re doing duets. I’m writing this after watching at 1am after seeing a P!NK show that was absolutely amazing – so if I think everyone sucks and my write up seems half assed – well, now you know why. I won’t be talking about the duets because we’re skipping them (and I’ll catch up to them at some point)

Candice – Heard It Through The Grapevine – I don’t like her singing this song.

Lazaro – For Once In My Life – Yay! Lazaro is back!

Janelle – You Keep Me Hanging On – Nice to see someone w/ a guitar but I still don’t like her

Devin – Tracks of My Tears – Wasn’t too bad, but I think America is out to get him either way

Burnell – My Cherie Amor – I liked this performance. Great song choice

Angie – Shop Around – Probably my least favorite performance from her yet

Amber – Lately – Decent performance

Kree – Don’t Play That Song – Another great performance from Kree. Go figure. 😉

Bottom 3 – this is tough. I think Devin will be the one to go home so I’d say Devin, Amber, Burnell

–

We were treated to two of my favorites… Katharine McPhee and Colton Dixon! Boy oh Boy!

And all the boys are in the bottom 3! I betcha the producers are happy with that!

Burnell is safe.

And Devin has to sing for the save!

The judges are not unanimous and BYE BYE DEVIN.

Book Review

Book Review: The Berenstain Bears Easter Magic

Katie March 28, 2013 0 Comments

The Berenstain Bears are books that I used to read as a kid. This is a book about Easter and how Spring is so nice and the snow is melting. (I guess that is retty accurate). Brother and Sister bear are excited to have their Easter treats in this short but sweet (ha, get it?) book about Easter Magic!

The book is only about 8 pages and is a short poem about Easter. It’s really cute and a great item to maybe place in your child’s Easter basket!

I received a free e-book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

The Berenstain Bears encounter the magic of Easter!
Spring is here, the trees are budding, and everywhere in the countryside, nature is coming back to life. In Bear Country, the most magical time of the year isn’t Christmas or Halloween or Thanksgiving—it’s Easter! But for Brother Bear and Sister Bear, the only good kind of Easter egg is the kind that’s full of chocolate.
This spellbinding Easter poem tells of the majesty of spring and the joys of rebirth, but doesn’t overlook the pleasures of delicious Easter treats. And as flowers bloom and animals come out to play, Brother and Sister learn a valuable Easter lesson: how to avoid a stomachache!

CD Review

CD Review: A Golden Easter

Katie March 28, 2013 0 Comments

Golden Records is at it again – this time with a great compilation for Easter! A Golden Easter includes 20 digitally restored, original recordings for families to enjoy together.

Songs include Peter Cottontail, Egbert the Easter Egg, Easter is a Loving Time and several others for only $5.99!

Peter Cottontail
Bunny, Bunny, Bunny
Sing Little Birdie Song
Flippety, Floppety, Bunny
Peter Rabbit (Story)
Eustace, The Useless Rabbit
Funny Little Bunnies
The Horse With the Easter Bonnet
The Lively Little Rabbit
Pee Wee the Bunny
Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
I Wish I Was a Whisker on the Easter Bunny’s Chin
The White Bunny and His Magic Nose
Eggbert the Easter Egg
Green Grass Grew All Around
Silly Easter Bonnet
Easter is a Loving Time
Six Little Bunnies
Easter Mornin’
Easter Parade

Available on iTunes now!

This is a really fun CD for your kids to listen to while searching for their eggs and Easter treats on Easter morning! I didn’t realize that there were so many Easeter / Bunny songs out there (I’d only heard a handful of the songs, if that, before checking out this compilation!) but leave it to Golden Records to have them all put together in one great compilation. The songs aren’t all that long, just a couple of minutes each, but all of them are very catchy and I dare you to not sing them around the house after you’ve listened. (I’ve had Flippety Floppety Bunny stuck in my head since my first listen!)

In addition to the songs there is the story of Peter Rabbit which comes in at the longest of the tracks at just under 5 minutes.

Book Review

Book Review: The Boyfriend from Hell

Katie March 27, 2013 0 Comments

The Boyfriend from Hell follows Veronica “Ronnie” Delaney. In the beginning of the book she breaks up with her chef boyfriend because he was, well, no good. She is a journalist and gets assigned to covering a satanic cult based out of New York. The leader of the cult asks her to dinner, but not wanting to get wrapped up with another bad boy, she declines.

In doing her research, she meets Richard who writes and talks about Satan and they develop a relationship. Then crazy things start happening – a dead cat is shipped to her house among other things that leads her to believe the cult leader or one of his members is after her. The police don’t seem to really care.

Meanwhile, Ronnie gets the offer to write a book on satanic possessions and she accepts. Even more weird stuff starts happening and Ronnie starts to think that she may be possessed.

Is her boyfriend really from hell?

This was a really enjoyable thriller, even though the book title kind of made me feel one way towards the boyfriend as I was reading it. (I won’t say if that feeling/assumption was accurate or not.) It takes place in New York and mentions Connecticut as well so that is always fun.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Veronica Delaney didn’t intend to fall for another bad guy, especially not one who just might be evil incarnate . . .

Veronica Delaney is a bright and beautiful, young New York journalist who has had hard luck romantically and professionally. Her latest boyfriend left her for fame (and another woman, of course), and her latest assignment has her covering a bizarre satanic cult. But while following the story, Veronica soon meets the charming, polite, and devilishly handsome occult historian Richard Smith. Soon she’s embroiled in an exciting affair—at least until strange relics begin to appear on her doorstep and things start to go terribly wrong. The Boyfriend from Hell is a funny, astute psychological thriller about the mysteries of attraction and love’s power to hijack our good sense. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Avery Corman including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

Book Review

Audio Book Review: Stories from the Golden Age

Katie March 26, 2013 0 Comments

I had never “read” and audio book before so when I heard about Stories from the Golden Age I was interested in checking it out. These books are done using three-dimensional sound production, which I thought was really interesting. I chose to review The Great Secret from the Sci-Fi category which also included Space Can, The Beast and The Slaver. It was spread over 2 discs, each one about an hour long. They are unabridged so if I had the book I could follow along without anything being missing!

I kind of wish that I did have the books to read along with, just to keep my attention. But the sound on these books really is amazing. I imagine most other audio books are simply someone reading the book. These books are almost like watching a movie but being unable to see it. There is the narrator and background noises (and yes, a few did make me jump a mile!) and then if characters are talking to each other there are other people who play those parts! The books are really fun and suspenseful as well (hence the jumping a mile haha) and I loved the narrator’s voice. He did great with inflection on words and kept me interested in continuing to listen.

Each of the stories are broken up in to several tracks and even the intro music before each book is awesome and amazing. If you’ve never used an audio book before, consider these Golden Age Stories to be your first! And if you have listened to an audio book before, check these out too because I doubt you’ve ever heard anything like this!

You can find out more about these stories at http://www.goldenagestories.com and even get a free catalog.

I received a free CD copy of The Great Secret for free from GoldenAgeStories in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

About the book

Fanner Marston was raised as a slave as a child, became a petty street thief as a teen, and now masters his own craft and crew as a grown man. He’s also gone completely mad.

Drive by privation, with a vicious greed and slavering lust for power, Marson alone of forty men has survived the perilous trek through a blistering desert to the magical city of Parva, where legend says a secret awaits which will give him absolute control over the Universe. However, Marston finds the key to all power is not at all what he expected…

Originally published in the April 1943 issue of Science Fiction Stories

About the Author

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 230 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most acclaimed and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and ’40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarecly a master or imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard.

A multicast performance with music and sound effects featuring Bruce Boxleitner.

In addition to his remarkable voice work, Bruce Boxleitner starred in several TV series including How The West Was Won, Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Babylon 5, as well as thirty-five TV movies and feature films including Tron, The Babe, Kuffs, Gods and Generals and many more.

Also starring: Lynsey Bartilson, R.F. Daley, Jim Meskimen, Josh R. Thompson and Chuck White
Directed by Jim Meskimen

Book Review

Book Review: Marilyn

Katie March 25, 2013 0 Comments

Marilyn is Gloria Steinem’s take on a biography of the celebrity Marilyn Monroe. The book is rather short and sweet, just over 100 pages. I had never read much about Marilyn before, just knew what I knew from reading quotes or hearing stuff here and there on TV. I thought the book did a great job at expanding on everything that I thought I had known, and of course included much more detail on things I hadn’t heard about either. It is easy to see why the book was a Bestseller – it is well written but also because Marilyn was so beloved and had such a tragic end to her life.

There are 8 chapters – About the Book, The Woman Who Will Not Die, Norma Jean, Work and Money, Sex and Politics, Among Women, Fathers and Lovers, The Body Prison, Who Would She Be Now? which each talk about different aspects of Marilyn / Norma Jean’s life. I particularly liked the story when someone asked for her autograph and she asked them how to spell Marilyn Monroe! Could you imagine being that person? I’d have thought I was with an imposter! 😉

The book also contains a bunch of photos in an Image Gallery at the end of the book. All of the photos were taken in June and July of 1962 and it looked like she was really enjoying herself at the shoots!

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Gloria Steinem’s insightful and uniquely sensitive account of Hollywood’s brightest star from the Golden Age
Few books have altered the perception of a celebrity as much as Marilyn. Gloria Steinem reveals that behind the familiar sex symbol lay a tortured spirit with powerful charisma, intelligence, and complexity. The book delves into a topic many other writers have ignored—that of Norma Jeane, the young girl who grew up with an unstable mother, constant shuffling between foster homes, and abuse. Steinem evocatively recreates that world, connecting it to the fragile adult persona of Marilyn Monroe. Her compelling text draws on a long, private interview Monroe gave to photographer George Barris, part of an intended joint project begun during Monroe’s last summer. Steinem’sMarilyn also includes Barris’s extraordinary portraits of Monroe, taken just weeks before the star’s death.

Product Review

Product Review: DressUnited.com

Katie March 24, 2013 0 Comments

I had been thinking about making a custom shirt about my Hanson site to wear to Tulsa for the Hanson Day weekend for a while. Then I stumbled across dressunited.com and decided I’d give it a try to see what I could come up with. Creating the design couldn’t have been easier! I went to the website and clicked the big “Start Now!” button that is in the middle of the page. The first step is to choose the type of shirt that you want. I went with a Classis Tee Hanes shirt in white. Then you are brought to the design area of the site!

You are able to add text, add art, add names and then get pricing. The Add Art section offers you the choice of using the Clip Art provided to you by the website, or uploading your own artwork. Since I don’t have a logo for that site like I do for this one, I opted to use the provided clip art. My Hanson site started out collecting scans of all the Hanson tickets and has since expanded so I chose to use raffle tickets in blue and then over that, the website for the site.

They offer quite a few fonts to choose from with your text and I went with Aardvark Café because it reminded me of the Hard Rock Café font and I figured that one was the most appropriate for my project. Once you have typed your text you can scroll through all the fonts to see which one you think looks the best and then tweak the alignment, font size, color and positioning of the text. It’s super easy! (And interestingly enough I think they also feature the font I use on the website – but since I am thinking about re-doing the site layout soon I didn’t want to commit to that font just to have it match when I may change it before the trip to Tulsa anyway!)

Clip Art is broken down into several categories including Animals, Military, Symbols, Sports, Shapes, Etc. There is also a search box if you’d rather just look for a specific image to put on your shirt. Before I came to the decision to use the tickets, I was playing around with several other fun images when I searched for music – drums, guitars, keyboards, etc. And if you can’t find something perfect in the art that they supply for you, you always have the option to use your own image and upload it right to the site for use on your T-shirt.

The great part about the site is that you can order as many or as little shirts as you’d like. If you want something special for an event for just you, you can get just 1 shirt and it is really affordable considering that they are printing you up a custom shirt. Or if you’d like your whole group to have matching shirts (baseball teams, reunions, etc) you can order up a whole batch of shirts in all different sizes to make sure that everyone in your group gets the right fit.

After I placed my order, I had my shirt in just over a week and it looked great! The design is printed on really nice, it is not plasticy like some other shirts I have bought and it made it through the washer and drier with no problems at all! I am looking forward to wearing it and promoting my site in Tulsa 🙂

I received a code for a free t-shirt from DressUnited.com in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

Concert Meet and Greet Photos

Tyrone Wells at Stage One

Katie March 23, 2013 0 Comments

Thursday night Tyrone Wells returned to my favorite venue – StageOne Fairfield Theater. I had opted to purchase a VIP ticket package through Tyrone’s website, so we were let in about 30 minutes before doors and treated to a private 2 song performance from Tyrone of songs that he wouldn’t be doing during his set that night. There were 10 of us there and it was a really neat experience. We also got a gift bag which included an 8×10 (that Tyrone signed for all of us!) and a pick card. We also got a photo w/ him without having to wait in the M&G line after the show. Definitely worth it and really cool. (And Tyrone said he liked my bag!)

Then it was time for the show! Brett Young opened up the night with a short set. I really loved his voice! Actually, all of the voices at this show were phenomenal. Next up was Brendan James who felt like he was home being originally from New Hampshire. (Where Brett was from California and not digging on our not so Spring weather!) Brendan mentioned how he had traveled through Newtown on his way to the show and ended up singing a song that he didn’t think he originally was going to which seemed to have been inspired a bit by the December events there. I really enjoyed both of the openers, like I had said – great, great voices the whole night through!

Tyrone hit the stage at about 9pm and did a set of 14 songs and an encore. He was great, though I was a little bit disappointed that he did not yodel this time! He also did a great diva mashup consisting of Adele, Beyonce and a little bit of Taylor Swift. (And maybe some others I’m forgetting!) I don’t know, there’s something about Tyrone singing “I knew you were trouble” that actually makes the song bearable! When the band left for a few songs, Tyrone took a seat and talked a bit about the ankle surgery that he had earlier in the year. He mentioned how he needed cartilage in his ankle and that he had to get it from a cadaver. He talked a bit about an article he read where a man had received a woman’s heart and he went out and heard a song and started crying and had no idea why. Then it happened again and he was able to figure out that the song was Sade. His family went to the donor’s family and asked if the donor had any sort of connection to Sade and they said that she had gone to all of her concerts. He said he was impressed how music can stay with your heart like that and mentioned how if we unfortunately died but our hearts were given to someone else, that he hoped they’d cry when they heard his songs! He also spoke a bit about how they’ve been on the tour for a month and he’d already been involved with 7 or 8 proposals and how some how he had become the proposal guy and told a bit about a proposal he was involved in earlier in the tour before playing his song Seabreeze – which is apparently a lot of couples favorite song!

It was a great night and Tyrone’s new cd “This Love” came out recently so you should check it out if you get the chance!

Sink or Swim
Need
Head over Heels / Just a Friend
Running Around In My Dreams
For Who I Am
Happy As The Sun
All You Gotta Do Is Dream
Freedom
Baby Don’t You Change
Diva Mashup
A Beautiful Place To Be
Seabreeze
More
When All Is Said and Done

Remain