Concert Katie

the same song over and over again

Katie

American Idol Concert

David Cook at Daryl’s House

Katie No Comments

Wednesday night I kicked off my ambitious 4 shows in 4 states in 4 days by heading to NY to see David Cook. Fortunately the show started at 7, was over by 830ish and I made it home before 10.

He has a new album out and did a couple of songs from that, as well as old favorites and some covers thrown in for good measure.

Daryl’s house has video monitors around the perimeter and David was being vain and saying it added 40 or 50lbs (honestly, it was distorting his appearance) which led to some banter with his sound guy and ended with us all flipping him off.

The in between banter is what makes a David Cook show so great and this time he had a fart machine with him.  There also was a 10 month old in the audience he took a liking to.

For fire he had us do the F I R E but also had us do J E F F, M I K E and T H O M A S and then we tried to do it on our own for David but there was a mix of D A V I D and D A V E going on.

He didnt seem overall very sure with the crowd and blamed it on the weeknight and that he lost us with the fart machine.

Seeing him is always such a fun time and I cant wait for all of his new music to come out!

David Cook Setlist Daryl’s House Club, Pawling, NY, USA 2025

Banana Ball

Savannah Bananas in New York

Katie No Comments

This weekend I went to my final Banana Ball games of the regular season, to see the Savannah Bananas and the Firefighters in Yankee Stadium.  Being a Mets fan, I opted to wear a Mets hat over any of my banana ball team hats.

For Saturday’s game we were up in the 200s section and I was whining about how it was the furthest back I think I have been at any game.  The Firefighters took an early 1-0 lead scoring in the first inning. The Firefighters had 3 fan outs, including 2 back-to-back in the 8th inning.  I don’t think the bananas had any fan outs against them.  Dakota McFadden had a homerun in the 2nd. In the 5th, Eric Jones Jr hit a homerun but it ended up being ruled a triple because he “didn’t touch home plate”, he did touch it with his helmet and said they had touched it with props before in the past and it was never called against them.  Also in the 5th, Dalton Mauldin wanted me to feel like I was closer so he hit a foul ball that almost hit me IN THE FACE.  The guy in front of me tried to catch it, but it bounced off his hands, came at me, and I guess ended up hitting a guy a few rows back in the leg.  The game ended tied and we had 2 rounds of show downs with the bananas coming out victorious in the end.

We also had a LOT of special guests at this game.  The Firefighters were joined by FDNY members and brought out the ‘We Will Never Forget’ banner from the World Trade Center.  Wrestler Damian Priest threw the first banana of the game.  Noah Bridges had a walkup with Sam Tinnesz, Keegan-Michael Key joined the Bananas Foster family.  The half time show was BIG TIME RUSH (!!!) Miguel Cervantes performed a song from Hamilton and Joe Torre was a guest 1st base coach.

Sunday we had VIB and also hit up the K-Club area in the Great Hall. There were quite a few players that we knew would have longer lines in VIB so we hit them up with less people being around – Stilts, RAC (Who told me wearing my Mets hat was a ‘bold move’), Danny Hosley, Jackson Olson and KJ Jackson.  We also met a few of the firefighters before getting escorted to the elevators to make our way down to the field.  They gave us a head start before the rest of the group made their way down the stairs which was nice.  I went over to Reese Alexiades first, as he is also a Mets fan.  He said he had seen me earlier outside but couldn’t get to me and told me how he got to go to the Mets game on Friday and they had good seats and then we talked about David Wright a bit (of course). We also hit up a bunch of other players as well AND got to meet Chief the bat dog. (Which honestly might have been the highlight).  They then had us sit in the stands for a bit in between the end of VIB and the opening of the gates (which is not the norm and most likely when I got sunburned…)

For this game we had really nice, cushiony seats right behind home plate.  They had a bit less on the big name guests, but did honor a lot of first responders including a 100 year old WWII veteran.  We did end up getting guest umpire ELI MANNING and guest hitter Nick Swisher (this is his 3rd year playing on the bananas!).  I spotted Zach Hample and Stephen Kellogg in the stands and also saw Pink, but didn’t realize it was her until I got home!  Ryan Cox got his 200th trick play of the season in the 8th inning.   The Firefighters once again took an early lead, we had 2 firefighter fan outs and 1 bananas fan out.  Dakota McFadden hit another homerun. Alex Ziegler broke a bat that went flying into the stands. The game ended tied 3-3, so we had showdowns again!  In the first round, both teams scored. In the second round, Dalton Cornett scored for the Firefighters, but DR Meadows ended up out at home, leading the Firefighters to a victory.

My stats for my 16 regular season games are:

Party Animals – 2 wins in Savannah, 2 wins in Louisville, 2 wins in Allentown, 2 wins in St Paul
Bananas – 1 win in Savannah, 2 wins in Chicago, 2 wins in Pittsburgh, 1 win in New York
Visitors – 1 win in Louisville
Tailgaters –  0 Wins 🙁
Firefighters –  1 win in New York

 

My next (and final) games of the season will be the Championship Playoffs in Savannah in a few weeks! I can’t wait to go back to the super tiny ball park.

Concert

The Brotherly Love Pod LIVE

Katie No Comments

Saturday evening The Lawrence Brothers brought their live podcast to Foxwoods.  I purchased a VIP ticket which meant I got a merch package including a tote bag, hat, signed poster and laminate and also got to meet the brothers before the show. They were all super nice and already picking on each other as they left the M&G, I said I would be in the front row and Joey said to watch out because Matt spits, so I asked if I should wear a poncho and Andy said yes and I may need an umbrella too.  Fortunately once they came out Matt didn’t sit in front of me, Andy did. 😉

They chatted about a bunch of topics, including how air travel has gone to shit. Which, I must agree with.  They got a direct flight to JFK from LA because they didn’t want to risk layovers (I can’t say I blame them) and then were going to drive the last 3 hours.  They said at midnight the flight got “delayed” (which that early is more like a “bump”) and then once they landed they were on the runway for 2 hours, but they were happy to be back “home” on the East Coast. They told stories about Andy with Tom Arnold and Arnold Schwarzenegger as a kid, hanging out with John Travolta and Matt’s relationship with Robin Williams.  Matt told that Robin had dressed up in full Mrs. Doubtfire attire and took him out in the city to see if it was believable, he had a table of grandmothers in a cafe laughing and crying and fully believing that Mrs. Doubtfire was Matt’s caretaker and he knew that it would work.

Joey and Matt spoke about how they got to meet the Pope and gave him friendship bracelets they had made even though they weren’t supposed to touch him or give him anything.  Andy then said he also met a Pope, but wasn’t with them at that time.  The older brothers didn’t believe him, which made Andy say he also met Ronald and Nancy Reagan.  They confirmed he did meet the President and his wife, but did not believe that he also met a Pope.  Andy said he was going to ask their Mom, and he texted her but she didn’t respond.  Matt took it one step further and called their Mom.  She sweetly answered, “how did it go?” to which he replied that they were still on stage and had us all say hello.  Joey said that their Mom would now somehow side with Andy and said he didn’t meet the Pope but Andy’s soul was inside of her when the other two met the Pope.  Andy still seems convinced he met a Pope, so hopefully he can figure out where that memory is coming from.

Overall they sang three songs – the podcast theme song when they first came on stage followed by the Brotherly Love show theme song and then they ended the night after Q&A (QNA?) with a rendition of Nothin’ My Love Can’t Fix.  The three of them made their way to the front of the stage and took selfies and chatted with the audience.  They had said they will be back, so I am hoping they’ll either do more live shows in the area, or maybe come back for 90s con!

American Idol Concert

Ruben Studdard at The Kate

Katie No Comments

Thursday night Ruben Studdard came to The Kate.  He played for about an hour and a half doing 10 songs.  Most of them were covers.  Almost all of them got a story about why he was singing it, and most of those stories went back to his Mama.  After the first 2 songs he said he was not used to being the one having to carry the whole show lately as he had been on tour with some legends and he just had to come out, do his song, have the crowd go “Was that Ruben? It looked like Ruben” and get off the stage.  He also said he was feeling every minute of his 47 years and had woken up at 6:30am.  He seemed a bit annoyed when the crowd didn’t stand when he told them they could – then said he gave instructions that weren’t followed and said that we all were like “Thanks for the suggestion”, but by the end of the show he had most of the crowd up and dancing.  He went off on a couple of tangents – one being about how he wanted some Air Jordan shoes and once his Mama saw the price she said no way – which he looped back into a story about how he was supposed to be babysat by his cousin so his Mama could go to a concert and his cousin had a date so poor little Ruben got dragged to see Luther Vandross.  I found him to be very funny with his stories and understood most of his references from growing up – but it seemed to fall flat with some of the rest of the crowd and he kept saying he was done with us all and shaking his head.  Overall the show was a really fun night, I think he ended up only playing 1 original song and mostly Luther covers, but he did a great job with all of them!

Ruben Studdard Setlist The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, Old Saybrook, CT, USA 2025

Banana Ball

Savannah Bananas Pittsburgh, PA

Katie No Comments

Savannah Bananas at PNC Park | Pittsburgh Pirates

This weekend I made my way to Pittsburgh for 2 Savannah Bananas games vs the Texas Tailgaters.  I flew in on Thursday morning and was able to snag a Southwest flight that had a stop in Baltimore but I didn’t need to get off the plane.  Interestingly enough the plane then went on to Nashville and then California and there was at least one gentleman who got on in Baltimore that I was going all the way to Cali on it!  The flight(s?) were uneventful, I got myself a ride to the hotel which was right across the street from PNC Park.  I had debated going to check out early merch but ended up getting wrapped up in a book I was reading and finished it Friday shortly before I needed to head out for the first game!

I made my way through the gates around 2:30 and the Tailgaters were out and about signing. I ended up finding Zach (Bam Bam) Blankenship and giving him one of my disposable cameras and he seemed really excited about having it.  I got to VIB and waited for my friend to meet me and managed to get her in via a much more convenient entrance and we waited to make our way to the field.  It was very exciting that everyone went via a ramp so I didn’t have to wander around to find an elevator.  The ramp however was quite steep.  We went to KJ first as he is my friend’s nephew’s favorite and then made our way around to everyone else. Priorities, you know?  I ended up giving my 2nd camera to Cowboy Kyle.  We then figured out how to get to our seats, which were about 10 rows up from 1st base.  Jesse had teased a BIG guest that we wouldn’t expect for the game.

The game ended up being one of the most exciting ones I think I had ever been to.  The special guest was Mr. Beast, who did a contest to give away $50,000.  He chose 2 seats from the crowd and if his friend got on base one would win $50k, if he got out, the other would.  Well, in that ‘I can’t believe this isn’t scripted’ kind of banana ball way, his friend got out TO A FAN IN THE CROWD.  Mr Beast ended up giving him $10k and then later had his friend bat again and he won another $50k.  The poor girl lost both rounds and went away empty handed.

The Tailgaters were ahead 3-2 after scoring 5 in the 7th, with DR Meadows at the plate in the 8th with about 5 minutes on the clock – I was like “He just needs to hit a homerun, no wait, KJ is up next, he can do it.”  AND HE DID! That tied it 3-3 going into the 9th, but both teams didn’t score so we went into showdowns.  There ended up being THREE rounds of show downs (and we were kind of begging for the game to be done because it was getting chilly!)  For the 3rd round the bases were loaded and EJ ended up hitting a GRAND SLAM to win the game for the bananas!

Saturday my friend and I returned to VIB, while leaving her husband safely in the KClub bar to meet us at our seats later.  This time we decided to forego autographs on the posters and just go for photos with the players and knew we needed to see Jackson and Coach RAC after their lines were too long on Friday.  Of course, we had to see KJ again, pick up my cameras from Bam Bam and Cowboy Kyle (who had forgotten it in his locker but was able to go back to get it) and then saw who else didn’t seem to have long lines and also met Reese, Taj, and Sunshine among a couple of others.  We made our way to the ADA seats and waiting for my friend’s husband to join us.  She grabbed me a drink and banana dog before the crowds got too out of control – and it was soooo good.  I couldn’t eat it like a hotdog like it was intended because of too much chocolate sauce, but I was impressed from the first forkful of strawberries and chocolate sauce.

This game didn’t end up being quite as exciting as Friday’s, but it was still a lot of fun.  We had noticed there was a band set up outside the dugout during VIB and got a glimpse that the drums said “Gym Class Heroes” (which was quickly covered up after we noticed) so we had a pretty good idea that we were getting a musical guest. Travie McCoy ended up joining Dalton for his walkup, falling on his way to the field (which was edited out of the reel the bananas posted) and doing a few songs before Dalton got his at-bat.  We also got 2 former pirates – Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson. The Bananas won 2-0 and I think the Tailgaters only had a couple of hits! The game was a whole heck of a lot faster than the night before.

Sunday I overslept, ran around like a crazy person to pack and get out of my hotel room by 11am.  Then I opted to get a “wait and save” ride to the airport – that came in 3 minutes.  My flight wasn’t until 3:45 so I figured I had time to wait – but of course it came quickly.  I also immediately got a wheelchair – again – of course – because I had all the time in the world.

The flights home were quick and easy and I made it home by 9pm! And then I had all of Labor Day to relax.

Just a couple more weeks until my last series of the regular season!

 

Concert SK6ers

Stephen Kellogg and Javier Colon Old Saybrook, CT

Katie No Comments

Sunday night Stephen Kellogg brought his To You, Old Friend tour to The Kate in Old Saybrook, CT with special guest Javier Colon.  The two came out and shared a mic for “On the Road Again” and then Stephen explained that the two of them would be on stage sharing songs and stories and that the show was a middle-aged dream – starts at 7, no opener, and we have seats.  Javier Colon joked he’d be home in bed by 9:30 – and I was home in bed by 10.  I can’t complain!   There was a jar on the stage that held different prompts for songs they could sing so that the show would never be the same twice.

The first choice was “Sing a Longs” with Javier teaching us a part to “Raise Your Hand” that didn’t work out the last time he tried it – and Stephen told him it was probably because he was singing it too high and made him do a lower register as well.  Stephen told a story about why he wrote the song “Harbor” and that was his sing-a-long.

The next topic was “Family Songs”, Stephen debated which song he was going to do and ended up doing a medley of Four Kids and his songs for each of his daughters (who were all in attendance) Sweet Sophia, Oh Adeline, Noelle, Noelle and Greta Girl.  Javier hit back with Come Through For You which was written for his wife and daughters (but did mention he now also has a 12 year old son).

“Love Songs” lent us “Echo” from Javier and “It Goes Fast” from SK.  When SK finished, both of them were crying and Javier said that he needed to give him a heads up if he was going to sing songs that were going to rip him apart.  Stephen had mentioned he’d be bringing his daughter to college tomorrow and Javier would be in 6 days.

“Tell a story” had Stephen only telling a story about how someone bought a shirt from his merch store and he asked someone on the tour to bring it to the post office and instead he realized the house was closer than the post office so he delivered it to the house and the whole thing took about 23 minutes.  Javier opted to tell his story through song, Giant, which was about someone that he trusted that he shouldn’t have and they took a lot of money from him that he didn’t get back and had to write it off as a learning experience.

“Songs that made you realize you were a song writer” – Javier did “Ok Here’s the Truth” which was a song I was hoping wouldn’t make the set – but if you know the song you can see why it would fit into this category perfectly.  He had also said a country singer wanted the song and he told him no and he shouldn’t have.  Stephen had them turn all the lights off in the theater and sang “Almost Woke You Up” in the dark.

The final category ended up being “Travel songs”.  Javier did “Walkin'” which he said was about how he and his wife made a pact to never go to bed angry but that sometimes you just need to take a walk and cool down and figure out things later.  Stephen did “Kiss the Ring” which is on his album featuring Javier and it’s about a narcissist and Stephen got really into it, stomping along (Javier joked that there was now a hole in the floor) and at one point adlibbed in “TRUMP IS NOT A KING AND I WON’T KISS THE RING” which got the crowd going wild.

The two left the stage to a standing ovation and came back out to share the mic once again with “Take Me Home Country Roads” and “See You Later, See You Soon” which Stephen turned into a sing a long and told us that in the 3 more times we sing the chorus, if we put our all into it, maybe it will change the world.  It was only 8:40 and the show was over – but I appreciated the early night on a Sunday!

Stephen Kellogg Setlist The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, Old Saybrook, CT, USA 2025, Old Friends Tour

Banana Ball

Savannah Bananas in Chicago

Katie No Comments

Savannah Bananas at Rate Field | Chicago White Sox

This past weekend I headed to Chicago to see the Savannah Bananas and my first Firefighters game of the season. I left Thursday evening and got to my fancy pants hotel. While the room was labeled accessible, the door weighed a ton and I had to ask someone in the hallway for help getting inside. Fortunately that issue only was because I had luggage with me and I managed to get in and out a lot easier the rest of the weekend.

Friday I headed to the stadium a little after 1 and waited for the 2pm doors to open.  When I got in the Bananas were out signing, but KJ’s line was already what appeared to be 30+ minutes long and I didn’t spot anyone else out that I might have wanted to say hello to. I ended up sitting by the stage and then security came and told me they had a seating area in the shade that I could hang out in if I wanted.  The spot ended up being behind the stage and I made a friend to talk baseball with until it was time to go inside.

This game had a TON of fan catches. It tied the record of 6 in one game and 5 of them were in the first 2 innings.  It was wild to see. (Especially since the minor league stadiums didn’t have all that many because a lot of the foul balls went over the top of the stadiums.)  At half time, the special guest was Chance the Rapper who put on a performance for us all. (Do I get to count it as a concert now too?) Dalton Cornett’s Dad was in the White Sox organization and Dalton took an at-bat in his Dad’s jersey.  The special guests were AJ Pierzynski and Mark Buehrle.  AJ even stayed in the game to catch when Mark was pitching.  Peanut got hit by a pitch and was injured.  The bananas ended up winning.

Saturday was a totally different experience – we had VIB – we were escorted into the lobby via elevator and the AC was cranking.  We teased maybe we’d just hang out in there instead, as it was so hot and humid and gross.  (And they had the Mets on TV!)  We made our way out to the field and things were a little bit more chaotic than I had gotten used to with my Party Animals games in minor league stadiums.  We made our way around about halfway, then I realized RAC and some others had really long lines, so we snaked around them and I went to Noah Bridges as he is one of my friend’s favorite players and she had said she wanted a photo of us together.  I ended up mentioning that she could go to Yankee Stadium with me, but is a Red Sox fan and Noah said “let’s make her a video!” and took my phone and recorded a video telling her that he wanted to meet her.  So freaking awesome!  We ended up waiting for Stilts, RAC’s line was no one on our way out so I told him I appreciated how he handled his fall and that kind of reaction was something I needed as a kid having CP and hating falling in front of people and hopefully there are some kids like me out there who will benefit from it. He thanked me for telling him that and gave me a big hug.  I was glad that I saw KJ at the pre-game plaza because I’d have spent the whole time just waiting for him if not!  But that’s definitely something to think about for my future games.

Then when the pre-game stuff started, we knew a storm might be rolling through. Everything was still in pre-game mode and not rain delay mode as far as I could tell, but about 3 minutes in to the game (2 batters worth) the rain started coming down really hard and the tarp was put on the field and the rain delay show began.  It kept everyone entertained but then there was a lightning delay.  Fans were encouraged to go up to the concourse and that players and cast would join then there.  Our seats were covered, so we opted to not move unless staff told us that we HAD to because it seemed safer to stay in the seats than be in a crowd of people. (No one ever told us to leave)  Once the game got going again, the special guests were Ozzie Guillen to coach and Paul Konerko to hit.  With me starting to get into the MLB in 2005, I think this was the first time I knew of all the guests (and even guessed myself a couple that would show up!)  The bananas won once again, 5-2. RAC even had a home run!

I had scheduled an uber for 5:37am for an 8am-ish flight out of O’Hare.  It was making me nervous when it said my driver was running late, but he got to me just about on time and got me to the airport.  I made my way through security, got to the gate and worked on trying to finish my book as I waited to board.  There were a lot of people who had been trying to get on the flight and there was a line of 5-6 people by the time the gate agent showed up.  She let one of the flight attendants down the jetway (I had though the plane came in the night before) and then about 20 minutes before we were supposed to board, the monitor at the gate just changed to “CANCELED”.  What!?  The gate agent said it was due to weather on the way to Hartford.  I called about getting on a new flight and was told there was nothing until TUESDAY (it was Sunday morning) and that they could not get me a hotel or booked on another airline because it was weather related.  I checked my Southwest app too see if they had anything from O’Hare, and nothing was direct, but there was a 10am flight from Midway.  I bought it and hoped I could make it – and embarked on my very own version of “The Amazing Race”.  I couldn’t track down a wheelchair to leave, so I walked myself out (falling once and getting helped up by a couple of nice guys in the security line) got an Uber and made it to midway by 8:15, we’d be boarding at 9:30.  They told me wheelchairs were delayed about 30 mins but I had “plenty of time.”  At 9:10 I started to panic, and they finally bumped me to the top of the line.  Of course, there was a commotion at TSA with the wheelchair in front of us, and then I had to get a pat down because my crotch set off the machine. I could see a clock in the distance saying 9:24 and by the time we got out of the security area it was 9:30.  My pusher hustled us to the gate agent to get a tag for the walker and I ended up boarding between A and B groups instead of pre-boarding.  I was in the 9th row in a window seat but still not convinced we’d be leaving because of this “weather”.  (If it was cleared up by 10, why weren’t we just delayed? The flight paths couldn’t be all that different from ORD and MDW – could they?)   I also realized my seat was broken and knew I’d be the one to be bumped off the completely full flight so I didn’t say a word. (The button to recline was stuck in the pushed in position so any time I leaned back even a little, it went back the whole way)  The flight attendant did end up figuring out it was broken as we were about to land in Hartford – but at that point I had made it!  I ended getting home at 3:30pm, ordering some dinner and then going to sleep for the rest of the night.

My next trip is to Pittsburgh and I have layovers to get there, but I am hoping Southwest will come through for me once again.  Now to just hope my travel insurance will ALSO come through for me with having to had purchase that last minute flight home!  And I canceled my upcoming flight with American when I got home as well.  I do have one I *have* to use them for, but I’m hoping for a better outcome.

 

Concert Hanson

Hanson in New England

Katie No Comments

Hanson did a whirlwind 3 shows in New England this past week.  Our trip started on Wednesday, when we took the ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket.  Hanson would be playing the following night at a very small venue that held less then 400 people (including staff).  It was nearly sold out despite the high costs of staying over night on the island for fans. We did a bit of exploring and went to the Shipwreck Museum and the Whaling Museum before heading to Muse for the show.  I have never seen a smaller stage and Hanson’s heads were practically touching the ceiling with them just standing there, and I am not sure at all how they fit the 3 band members plus Andrew and Dimitrius plus 2 techs.  I ended up in the front right by where they had to enter/exit and was able to get high fives from all of them as they left the stage.  The locals were incredibly rude and yelling that they only came for MMMBop and they should play it and mocking the fans who traveled for the show wondering “why?” when they just jogged there from their house, as well we screaming “the 8 year old is singing!” when Zac moved to the piano for Juliet. Afterwards was Taylor’s dance party that went until about 12:30am.  The locals seemed to clear out after MMMBop (which I kind of wish they had played earlier in the set) and while a few did hang around a bit for the afterparty, it seemed to be mostly fans left by the end of the night.

There once was a fan in Nantucket,
Who’d driven for hours to pluck it.
The night felt so near,
With her favorite band here,
She thought, “This is my shot — better luck it!”

The next morning when we got to the docks to catch our ferry back to the mainland, we ended up bumping into Hanson. Taylor said Good Morning and we realized we would be on the same ferry back.  Zac came and chatted with us a bit about the casino show coming up and I was able to tell him about the Comic Con that was going on as well.  Once we got back to my car in Hyannis we headed to the Providence airport to pick up a friend and made our way to my normal stomping grounds, Mohegan Sun.  I opted to rent a scooter for our 2 days there which was probably one of the best ideas I had ever had.  Friday night we scoped out Sun Patio and watched the 52nd Street Band – a Billy Joel cover band for a bit.  I ended up leaving around 11, but we had spotted Isaac at the bar and my friends stayed to chat with him for a bit.

Saturday I was splitting my time between Hanson and Comic Con so after we ate lunch I made my way to the con – while the scooter was super helpful for my legs, it was super chaotic navigating it through the con.  I ended up immediately waiting for Ke Huy Quan who was on a break for another 15-20 minutes.  Once he came back, Brian Posehn was waiting to greet him and then the line got moving.  He chatted with everyone for a bit – I got to tell him that I am an engineer partly because of Data and he asked if I liked doing that I said yes, that I worked on making helicopters and he seemed very impressed.  He was as sweet as could be and I was so glad that things worked out so I could meet him!  After I went to see Carl Palino who made the Hanson clay puppets for “Celebrity Death Match”  He had a photo of Hanson v the Spice Girls so I had him sign it for me and let him know that Hanson was there.  He said he wasn’t sure he would recognize them now that they were grown men but told me if I saw them to tell them to go see him.  I mentioned I had previously told Isaac and Zac he would be there but weren’t sure if they’d make it to the con or not.  After I finished there, I went to hang out with my friends for a bit, before heading back up for my photo op with Ke.  The photo op was scheduled for 6:30pm and Hanson was set to hit the stage at 7pm so I knew I would have a fangirl 5k to do once the photo was done.  Fortunately the photo op people were awesome and let me go through the line first.  Ke was incredibly sweet and helped me off the scooter and walk over to the photo spot and then helped me back to the scooter after.  As I was leaving, they announced it was 6:40pm and the con would be ending soon.  I ended up making it to the spot my friends had saved for me at the show by 6:55pm!! What perfect timing. (To see one of the other reasons I am an engineer)

After having a great day, everything went downhill when we entered Avalon for the After Party.  I won’t get into all the specifics but Mohegan Sun struck again with not knowing how to deal with those who have disabilities.  I gave Taylor until 11 or the end of the Savannah Bananas game that was being played to come out – and he did not – so we ended up leaving because the club was not at all our scene and not at all what we were expecting from a Taylor after party.  We ended up bumping into Isaac on the way out and I gave him the signed photo I had gotten from Carl of the Celebrity Deathmatch scene.

Sunday morning we left for Maine, found somewhere to eat and then paid for close parking ($60!) to the On the Ocean festival.  The staff was very accommodating and brought us right to the ADA area which we decided to stay in for the whole show.  We didn’t bother trying to get to the other stage and only saw Joy (who was a lot less annoying than when she opened for John Mayer, which we decided must have just been nerves) Hanson and Guster.  Guster also had a B-stage that was right in front of the ADA area so that was pretty fun when they came out and did a few songs back there.

Guster Setlist On The Ocean 2025

I had debated leaving before Guster’s set was over but didn’t want to have FOMO if Hanson came out and did something with them.  It ended up that they didn’t, but the show was over by 9 and I was able to quickly get back to the car and ended up making it back home by 1:30am.  There was some construction delays and the GPS decided to route me to closed gas stations 3 times… but overall it was not a bad drive at all and I was hoping to be home by 2am, which I was.
It was a crazy weekend but I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Banana Ball

Party Animals in St Paul

Katie No Comments

I kicked off August with my last 2 Party Animals games of the season.  Friday night we opted to show up a bit later as the air quality was terrible because of the smoke from the Canadian wild fires.  We got in, went to the KClub entrance and hung out in the shade until it was just about time for gates to open.  When I decided to start making my way closer to the main concourse, the whole team walked by giving us all high fives as they went.  Despite having VIP tickets for the following night, we had pretty awesome tickets for this game – front row behind home plate!  Andy Cosgrove made an awesome catch over the dug out on the first batter of the game and Noah Fisher fouled out to a fan in the first inning as well.  Tailgaters were out to an early lead, but in the end the Party Animals won, 2-1.

Saturday we got there just as the plaza party was starting and made our way in to the team store to look for book stamps (they were not there, we had to go to fan services) and then checked in for VIP.  We had some time to kill before we needed to head down the field so one friend who wasn’t with us Friday hit up the merch line and then it was time to be escorted to the elevator.  We waited for the go ahead in a tunnel, which a lot of the players went through on their way to the field so we got some early high fives and hellos and we also got farted on by Pharty. (His farts DO smell like cupcakes!)  We finally made our way out to the field and had figured out who we wanted to prioritize and then made our way to as many of the other tables as we could.  I think we ended up only not having time for 1 table.

Our seats for the next game were between home and third and a few rows up, which actually ended up being a bit better of a view overall as there weren’t as many cameras blocking us when there were celebration dances happening.  Cole Kitchen for the Tailgaters pitched 3 really solid innings, Reece Hampton ended up fouling out to a fan in the 8th inning (who are you rooting for fans, Party Animals or Tailgaters? lol) There were no homeruns and the Tailgaters took the early lead again – but Party Animals still ended up getting the win.

Of note: when we got up to Baber at VIP he was saying he didn’t want to be crawling on the ground and he would do it once during the game. We laughed that we popped in at that part of the conversation – but once the 5-2-2 (I think it was the 5th) happened to “Disco Snails” and we saw what he had to do – we realized why he didn’t want to do it anymore than he had to and would be able to do it during the game without practicing it.

After the game we ended up hanging around the party plaza and getting some photos with more of the players as a group and also asking them the very important question – *NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?  In the end it was split, 3-3.  And Vava informed us that he had tried to talk about Hanson in the clubhouse, but everyone is so young they had no idea who he was even talking about. Considering I tell their ages by saying ‘I have Hanson CDs older than him’, he’s not wrong.

I do still have some bananas games coming up, but I definitely will miss my Party Animals!! Here’s hoping I can get back to Savannah before the end of the year to see them, but if not, there’s always the cruise!

Concert Hanson

Hanson in Seattle & Minneapolis

Katie No Comments

Last week was a whirlwind trip to Seattle and then to Minneapolis for back to back Hanson concerts on very little sleep. Tuesday night I flew to Nashville, had what was supposed to be a 4 hour layover but my flight ended up over an hour delayed.  Good thing for that long layover!  Got there, met up with a friend excited that they had Wow Bao in the airport now – only for it not to be taking orders. We went to a sit down restaurant instead and then found that our Seattle flight was delayed as well.

We made it to Seattle, waited forever for our bags and then went to grab the rental car.  We were told we were all set only for me to get an email while we were driving that they could no longer hold the car for me… making us think we stole the rental.  Customer Service the next morning assured us it was a glitch.  We also got to the hotel to find out my credit card was declined so we were off to a rough start.

I had wanted to hit up the Mariners game on Wednesday afternoon but didn’t want to drive into Seattle by myself and Ubers were almost as much as tickets were and I also was still trying to get all the car and card drama settled so I ended up not going.  We ended up hitting up Pike Place for lunch, getting Beecher’s Mac and Cheese (And I also got a Breadzel which was delicious and I wish I had more!) which we had missed out on getting the last trip. We also got to watch them making cheese through the windows.  Then my friends went to explore and I found myself waiting next to the Giant Shoe Museum and a magic shop that had a penny and medallion machine.  I limited myself to just 2 pennies because they were 75cents each, but got all the medallions with the help of my credit card.   We had parked in the world’s most expensive garage (probably not, but it sure seemed like it – everything else was full when we arrived but not full when we were leaving so we just timed things poorly) and headed to a seafood restaurant for lunch (Rock Creek) so everyone (but me) could have oysters.  I managed to find a Shrimp Roll I would eat.   We then walked a few blocks to get gelato – I got the “Razzle Dazzle” flavor.  The Razzle was Raspberry and the Dazzle was a hint of citrus.  We ended up having an early night because everyone was exhausted from the travel and a bit thrown off with the time change.

The next day we found out how those little reflectors get added to the road when we got stuck next to / behind a truck that was doing it. We then made our way to the Space Needle – and were pleasantly surprised that Mt Rainer was visible – the elevator attendant told us that it’s only visible 90 days out of the year AND that earlier it was too cloudy to see it so we had some good timing for once!  We went around the viewing platform taking photos at various spots and then decided to brave the revolving floor which actually turned out to be pretty cool!  In the store I ended up getting just 1 pressed penny (and not even of the space needle – of the market go figure) and tried my first mold-a-matic to get a space needle made.  It ended up getting stuck but after a few minutes it must’ve cooled off enough and released itself.  I also got myself one medallion, some stickers and a space needle shaped rice krispies treat.

After we hit up the MoPop museum which was something I had wanted to go to last time but we didn’t manage to have time.  There was a section for horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy that I think are their rotating exhibits? Then the rest of the museum had Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, video games, and pop culture areas to check out – that were formerly part of the “experience music project” which it was branded as initially when it was first opened.  Since I was subjected to seafood for dinner the previous night, I got to pick dinner and picked burgers at a place that also had boozy milkshakes.

Friday we went to Snoqualmie Falls – where the pennies cost $1 to make but I ended up getting them all and some more stickers.  I just went to the lookout up top, but my friends did the entire steep hike to the also view the falls from the bottom.  The falls and the nearby lodge are apparently parts of the show Twin Peaks.

Then we made our way to the casino for the Hanson show! We had dinner at their Asian restaurant and I saw one of my favorite slot machines and ended up getting myself a players card (I decided I’d get one at every casino of this ‘not a tour’ and see how many I ended up with at the end) which ended up awarding me $5 for my birthday and $5 on another promo so I was able to play for a bit on house money – but didn’t end up winning anything or hitting the bonus round.

The Hanson show was a lot of fun – we thought we had really far front row but the whole set up was so tiny it wasn’t as far over as we thought at all. The backdrop with the mountains and the clouds had to have been one of the prettier Hanson shows I have been to, unfortunately the sunset was behind us and I never really turned around to see that.  Although the setlist was a bit predictable, the show was a lot of fun!

After the show we went back to the hotel to change into our plane clothes and see how much sleep we could manage to squeeze in before getting up at 2am to hit the airport.  We dropped off those checking bags and then went to return the rental car (which seemed to go smoothly?) and then got in the massively long security line.  One friend did not have pre-check and we were worried it may take her longer to get through – but we were all pleasantly surprised when we got to the gate she had beaten us there!

I slept as much as I could on the flight, we landed around 11 MN time, I snuck in another nap but still was ready to fall asleep before/during/after the MN show.  You could tell the guys seemed a bit tired too – but they still put on a good show. Something got messed up before Cold as Ice though and they had to restart the song – which isn’t something I’ve seen them do too many times at a “public” show.  After we saw there was another song on the setlist before Cold As Ice that was skipped and may have been cause for the mix-up.

After the show we went to find food in the casino, I bumped into Taylor on the way to the bathroom and then we ended up chatting a bit with Isaac at the bar before heading out to get some real sleep!

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com