Jennifer Lopez at Foxwoods 6/21/14

After this year of Idol, I found it amusing I had seen both Keith and Harry in concert for free, but hadn’t yet seen JLo.  So of course when I saw one of the local radio stations was giving away tickets I had to throw my hat in the ring. Then I got an email that I had won.  I didn’t realize that the cheapest tickets were $200!  Crazy.  I didn’t get the tickets in advance, we had to pick them up at Will Call that night so I had no idea where the seats would be – but for free I’ll sit pretty much anywhere.  First, they couldn’t find my name on the list and I was panicking a bit – I had driven 1.5 hours and was not about to buy a ticket if they didn’t have mine – but eventually she found me and I got 2 seats in the very last row of the lower level – which were listed as $275 a pop on their website. (whoa)

Doors were supposed to be at 7, but opened up more like 7:15.  The show was supposed to start at 8:00, but started after 8:30… (I just remember my friend Liz asking if it was 8:30 and I said after 8:30 and the show still hadn’t started.)

But once the show did start – it was pretty much non-stop.  There was no opener, and a few interludes so that Jennifer could change her outfits.  I was surprised that there was really only 1 song I didn’t know – other than the one that she said was from her new album and we probably didn’t know.  I guess that just shows how many singles she has had over the years! Wow!  (I did pick up A.K.A after I got home and will hopefully be reviewing it for a Music Monday one of these days!)

I think there were a final count of 6 or 7 outfits? Maybe more than that if you count when she added or took off pieces!  There were a lot of dance breaks and I couldn’t believe how much moving and running around she did throughout the show.  I was exhausted just watching her!  Pia Toscano from American Idol was also one of her backup singers which was pretty cool.

One thing I found interesting was how few people around me stood.  I guess a lot got the tickets comped because they didn’t seem like the typical demographic I had expected for a JLO show.  It seemed like most of the orchestra was up and dancing, but throughout the majority of the show I could count on one hand how many were standing near me. And one poor kid was dancing and got yelled at to sit down by the people behind him!  Look, if he was standing like a statue and no one in front of him was blocking his view – then mayyybeee I could see you asking him to sit.  But he obviously was enjoying himself and dancing around – so don’t make him chair dance!  There was also a sign when we came in that said they wouldn’t yell at anyone who was standing or dancing at their seats – and rightfully so!  I wonder if the venue gets a lot of complaints from people about others standing up and enjoying themselves?  There must be some reason they posted the sign?

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the show – but I definitely enjoyed myself and wouldn’t mind seeing her again! (As long as I don’t have to pay $200-$300!)  She talked a bit about how she liked the East Coast in the summer too.  And did a lot of “Will you sing along? I can’t hear you!” in between / during songs.  If you’re on the fence about seeing her live – definitely go!

First Love / Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Love Don’t Cost a Thing
Ain’t It Funny / I’m Real
I Luh Ya Papi
Get Right
Big Booty
Girls / If You Had My Love
I’m Into You
Waiting For Tonight
Never Satisfied
Dance Again
On The Floor
Let’s Get Loud

Jenny from the Block

Book Review: Saving Gracie

gracieDisclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

Saving Gracie is a murder mystery at its core – but there are a lot of other sub-plots going on as well with the characters in this small town in New Hampshire.  The main character is Gracie – she may be crazy and is on several medications.  The book begins with her losing a child after giving birth to it.  We then fast forward 52 years.  Gracie is being visited by a red-headed ghost.  She thinks that she sees her head in the lake – but it turns out to be just a purse.  She brings it to the police and tells them what the ghost is telling her – someone is going to die tonight.  The police kind of shrug her off – she is known for being crazy after all – but figure maybe they should believe her when a body is found in the pond.

Things get all sorts of crazy from there as the local officer and the Staties try to figure out just who it was that killed this man and why.  The local officer, Marcel, realizes that maybe these people that he thought he knew his whole life, he doesn’t really know at all.

At first, it took some time for me to get in to this book. I actually fell asleep after reading the first 2 chapters.  But I looked on GoodReads after that and saw that many, many of the reviews were 5 stars so I figured I should try to stick it out and finish it.  And I’m glad I did! Although things got off to a rough start for me, once the story started unfolding I found it hard to put the book down. (Although I did take another break to sleep for the night after getting 2/3 of the way through, I didn’t want to, but it was already 3am and I needed to!)  This is why I always try to continue through books even if they don’t catch my attention in the beginning – I think the fact that the book was 300+ pages was putting me off – although once I got into things it flew by and didn’t seem like that many pages at all.

There were a lot of characters in town, but I didn’t have trouble keeping track of who was who because they all had their little quirks and connections to each other to help me keep track of them all.  I did have trouble keeping track of who was good and who was bad – but I’m pretty sure I was not the only one with that problem! (I won’t say more because I don’t want to give anything away!)

If you are looking for a great murder-mystery with some romance and drama mixed in for good measure – than Saving Gracie is the book for you!

 

About the Book
Saving Gracie is a small-town murder mystery with plenty of humor, a touch of romance, a hint of paranormal, and enough suspense to raise your heart rate.

When Gracie is accosted by a redheaded ghost, Officer Marcel Trudeau assumes the old gal is hallucinating. Again. But to Gracie the dead girl is real, and her message is urgent—someone will die tonight.

Sure enough, a body surfaces in Echo Pond, and the town of Coyne Falls plunges into chaos. In the furor that follows, the victim’s widow jumps out a window, a dead man sends text messages, a missing person is duct taped to a toilet, and a beagle runs howling into the night.

Meanwhile, the ghost sends Gracie on a mission: “follow the beagle” to save a life.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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