Show #4 of Rock Star Week: Lady Gaga!

This was a long awaited show, as we got the tickets last December. This is the fourth time Austin and I have seen Lady Gaga.  We’ve seen most of the pop singer Divas and it’s always been my opinion that she does the strongest show of all.

When we arrived at the venue, we were greeted by protesters who tried to tell us Jesus didn’t want us to go inside. I figure I am in tune enough that if this were true, I would have received some personal revelation to that effect. Whatever.

I got Austin his ticket for Christmas, and got the best available, which was a seat that appeared to be right at the end of the catwalk. Well, it didn’t turn out to be quite like that, but it was still a really good seat. I just got me one at the top, because I was feeling cheap that day.  When the usher found out, she would have none of it. They had just set up some chairs in the back of Austin’s section and she told me to sit in the last one, with the caveat being that if they sold that seat, I would have to go to my original seat. I thought that was really sweet of her. Mine was seat 14. Turns out they sold all the way to seat 12, but I was safe. I must have thanked her a million times!

People-watching at a Lady Gaga show is a lot of fun, because you see ev.ery.thing.  Lots of people in costume. Everytime we stopped to take a pic we got photobombed (which is fun.) Austin got a bit glammed up for the occasion, with guyliner, glitter and red hair. I wore a Hell Bunny dress with skulls and roses.

The first opening act was Crayon Pop, a K-pop (Korean pop) girl group. Austin said I was in for a treat. Hmmm.  Their first couple songs were OK, but for the rest of their 30 minute set, I was wishing they would go back to the high school talent show they apparently came from.  Turns out they were the highlight of the pregame show.

The next opening act was Lady Starlight. I guess she and Gaga did some kind of show together back in the day. What she did was electronic music. EDM. She stood up on stage with two machine-thingies and twisted buttons and this loud, annoying, headache-inducing beat came out. OMG, it was horrible. And she wore this ugly turquoise skater skirt and ill-fitting denim-looking shirt. And danced around, all by herself. It was quite a spectacle. And it went on for nearly AN HOUR.  REALLY? Luckily it stopped before my head exploded.

After another half hour of annoying music, Lady Gaga appeared! Overall, she was very good, but she has set the bar high. My personal opinion was, although she was excellent, she was not as good as in shows past. But she has set the bar really high.

She started off with a few songs that I was not all that familiar with, even tho Austin gave me a CD to listen to. Seems like the first three were all about fashion. That wasn’t bad, but I really enjoyed it once she launched into classic Gaga. The old songs, “Poker Face, “Lets Dance,” “Bad Romance,” I just love ‘em! 

Sometimes Lady Gaga sits down at the piano and sings lounge version of some of her songs. She sang a slow, lounge-y version of “Born This Way,” that left me feeling cheated, because that is one of my favorite songs, and I wanted to hear it the way she recorded it. She also just did a bit of my other favorite, “Telephone.”  I felt like I had paid a lot of money, and I deserved to hear the full versions of the best songs!

I liked the way, that for this show, Lady Gaga dressed pretty, and didn’t cover her pretty face with black splotches of makeup, or blood, or what-have-you. She also did one onstage costume change which was interesting! LOL.  I also like the way she encourages us to love everyone, despite race, religion or sexuality. I think that’s a great message! 

Favorite moments? Anything classic Gaga! Bad Romance always makes me get up and dance!

Show #3 of Rock Star Week! Alice Cooper and Motley Crue!

This was a Wednesday evening show at Fair Park, which meant I had to drive 24 miles in the opposite direction to pick up Austin, my concert buddy, and then drive back 30+ miles, all in rush hour traffic. We had to drive thru downtown Dallas on the way back, and also had to deal with the Taste of Dallas traffic, not to mention the concert traffic at Fair Park.  We actually arrived at the venue at the end of the opening act, which was fine with us, since we never heard of them. There was plenty of lawn seating left, and we managed to score a spot right near the front.

The opening act for this show was Alice Cooper. I am not sure why Alice Cooper was an opening act, but he was the guy Austin and I went to see. When I was about 14, I wanted to go to an Alice Cooper show, but my dad said a resounding NO! Well, look at me now, Daddy-O, this was my fourth Alice Cooper show!

I have to say, even tho Alice was awesome, as always, we had a better experience last year on our Rock Star tour. In Tulsa, OK, we met the entire band (not Alice himself), including Orianthi. They were all very good to the fans. This year, there was no opportunity for that. But, that’s fine, we still loved the show.

I always hear people say “Alice Cooper, how OLD is he now?” like he is 100. I looked it up, he’s 66. Not old. And he doesn’t seem to be losing any of his energy or theatrical ability. I understand the show is more family friendly than it used to be (when Dad didn’t let me go-ha ha). But he still shares the stage with Frankenstein and chops off someone’s head in a guillotine.

He didn’t sing my favorite song (“Only Women Bleed”), but I wasn’t surprised about that. The best moments were the old standards “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and of course, “School’s Out.” Oh, and I can’t forget all the theatrics!  Can’t wait for the next time to see Alice!

The headliner for this show was Motley Crue, and this is their final tour. (So they say. Let’s ask Cher and the Osmonds how that goes.)  Motley Crue is a band from the 80s, when I was kinda tied up and didn’t follow much music. As a result, I wasn’t very familiar with them. In fact, I wasn’t sure I’d even like them. Well, pleasant surprise! They were (bad word alert) Kickass!  The slogan for the show was “All bad things must come to an end.”  That’s unfortunate, but it does save me some money because I won’t have to follow them around the country.  They had a much brighter sound than I expected, and a lot of energy. I was impressed that they had kept the same lineup for 32 years!

My favorite moments? “Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room.” I used to think that song was morally reprehensible, but in my old age I’ve grown a sense of humor.  I also loved “Don’t Go Away Mad” (and seriously, can’t wait to hear Eli Young Band’s version!)

My Subscription Addiction: RocksBox (July 2014)

RocksBox is a jewelry subscription service that I just started to try out.

They send you a box of 3 pieces of jewelry “specially chosen for you” by a “stylist.”  (The quotes are there because I take everything I read with a grain of salt!) They can be necklaces, earrings, bracelets or rings, as you indicate on the survey you fill out when you join. You can also choose general styles and colors. You wear the three pieces as little or as much as you want, and then you return it to RocksBox.  The  day after they receive your box back, they send you a new box of 3 pieces of jewelry.  The cost for this is $19 a month, which is less than many people spend on one piece of jewelry. You can also purchase any of the jewelry you want to keep at 20% off the retail price.

This is my first box:

What you see there is: 1) Hammered Sterling Silver Drop Earrings by Charlene K; 2) Cecily Necklace in Yellow, by Urban Gem; and 3) Taner Bar Small Necklace in Sterling, by Gorjana.  Each piece had a retail price of $50 or $60.

I absolutely LOVED both Sterling pieces. They will go with anything. I was not crazy about the yellow statement necklace. The color was too neon, and it looked more like a $12.99 necklace from Rue 21 than a designer piece, in my opinion. I decided that I was going to wear each piece twice. (Interestingly enough, I got lots of compliments on the yellow necklace, even from strangers.)

First, I wore both Hammered Silver pieces to the KISS and Def Leppard concert:

I wore the yellow statement necklace for a shopping day.

Then, I wore the hammered silver again, with a dress I got from my Gwynnie Bee subscription.

Finally, I wore the yellow one to work, with one of my own dresses. This is where I got the most compliments, so even though I was not crazy about this necklace, it was a success after all!

Now, I've sent this box back and am waiting for my second one. Remember, it's $19 per month, not per box, so you can get as many boxes as you can handle!

Do you think you'd like to try this service?  If you copy and past the link below into your brower, you get a month FREE!!  And you can cancel any time if you don't like it! You don't lose anything by trying, and you might LOVE IT!

http://curebit.com/x/mH7k9s

(Disclaimer: I'm not a model, but I play one on blogspot!)

Show #2 of Rock Star Week! Def Leppard & KISS!

Show #2 of Rock Star week was a joint headliner with Def Leppard and Kiss. What I didn’t realize in advace was, last Thursday, I had already seen the gold standard of concerts, with Queen + Adam Lambert, and it will forever color how I look at concerts.

My biggest fear of the day was that it was going to be HOTTTT!!!! And when I left the house it was 100 degrees. My steering wheel was so hot, I could barely touch it, and the necklace I was wearing got really hot too. I was dressed for the heat in a short sleeve top and longs. (My name for long shorts!)

My concert buddy, Austin, who really likes to get into the spirit of things, mentioned that he might wear KISS makeup to the show. Good thing he changed his mind. I was supposed to pick him up at 430, and when I got there at 425, he was still asleep. (He’s not lazy, he works nights.) But, he got up and showered in record time. We had to be early, because our seats for this one were on the lawn, and we wanted to be in front. It ended up working out well.

We got real comfy there on the lawn.

I don’t know the name of the opening band, but I do know that I was drenched in sweat at the time.  They were a Canadian band, and the lead singer (female) had a great voice. In fact, she sounded like Pat Benatar, especially when they played “Baracuda.”

Def Leppard… ya know, I didn’t know a single one of their songs. I am well-versed in 70s music, but not so much with 80s music. I was kind of tied up then.  And Wiki described them as Heavy Metal. I beg to differ with that description. I’ve heard heavier. Despite not knowing the music, I really enjoyed their set, as i enjoy any classic rock. I thought the best songs were “Photograph,” “Love Bites” and “Poor a Little Sugar On Me.”  I also loved the 80s pics they put up on the screen.  Oh, the hair!  They remarked about how hot it was. But, a miracle happened, and out on the lawn, where we were, there was a cool breeze.  Incidentally, Def Leppard has a one-armed drummer.

The crème de la crème of the night was KISS!  They also have awesome fans who dress up in KISS makeup and costumes. They also have the best band shirts ever!  People watching was fun!

KISS had all kinds of lights and graphics, but the best thing they had was a huge spider-shaped light up thingy that covered the entire stage. Sometimes it was blue, red, yellow, you name it.  KISS also likes to blow up stuff, and they had some amazing pyrotechnics. KISS also always looks bigger than life, no doubt due to their crazy costumes and huge platform shoes!

My favorite part was when Paul Stanley ziplined over the audience to play to play at a rear stage.

KISS also mentioned the heat, and said that it was even hotter than Phoenix or Austin. But, hey, the joke was on them, because by this time, the cool breeze was really nice, out there on the lawn. They also mentioned that they had just played in Austin and the audience booed. Funny, said Paul, they said the same thing about you! Austin just wondered why everyone was booing him!

My favorite song was “Rock and Roll All Night” plus I really enjoyed all the explosions, and the theatrical-ness of the whole show. I would always recommend their show (by the way, this was not my first time) but my heart still belongs to Adam Lambert. J

By the way, despite the cool breeze, it was still 90 degrees at 1130PM!

Show #1 of Rock Star Week! Queen + Adam Lambert!

Last night was the beginning of Rock Star Week!  My favorite Rock Star buddy, Austin (also known as my youngest son) and I love going to concerts of all kinds. We have a jam-packed week ahead of us. Our first show was Queen + Adam Lambert!

I have always loved Queen, and have adored Adam ever since I saw a couple of his shows about three years ago, so this was the perfect marriage of talent for me.  Still, if I were asked if I prefer Freddie Mercury or Adam in the role of Queen’s lead singer, I honestly have to say Freddie… by a nose.  No, not a nose, a hair… the thinnest, shortest, blondest hair possible.   But Adam was just fabulous… and looked sooooo good!

Now, whenever we go to a concert, Austin always likes to get with the spirit of things. So, since this WAS Adam Lambert, he decided to wear a little “guyliner.” He thought I would be embarrassed and say I wouldn’t go with him, but I offered to let him borrow some eyeliner. Well, wouldn’t ya know it, he put it on better than I do, and I have been practicing for 40 years! It really looked good!

Austin had the 2-volume Queen Greatest Hits CD to listen to in the car for the trip there, but he forgot it. So, we had to make do by singing. You should have heard our stunning rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” On second thought, you were probably better off not hearing it! Where are Pete’s Dueling Pianos and Josh Abbott when I need them?

Turns out, now that Austin has lost so much weight, he has some great high cheekbones. So does Adam. And Austin has one of those pompadour haircuts. So does Adam.  I didn’t notice the resemblance, and you can’t see it in these pictures, but the ladies at the AA Center didn’t miss it. They called him Adam, and came down to get pics with him and to dance with him in the aisles. And they all applauded me for being his mom.  I have to admit, I did raise a good kid, and even if he doesn’t want to admit it, he’s my clone!

The audience was as eclectic as I’ve seen. Older people, medium people, younger folks.  Some were there to see Queen, some to see Adam and some (like me), to see both. There was one lady in particular, kind of a larger, kinda older lady who was dancing in the aisles. During a song called “Fat Bottom Girls” a man bumped into her and almost knocked her over! I shouldn’t have, but I just had to laugh!

Adam was wonderful in the lead singer role. He has such a beautiful voice, an amazing vocal range, and tons of style! There was a big screen behind him, and he sure knew the camera was on him. Cute little smiles, eye rolls, all for effect. We had a great time singing along with him, At one point, he stopped and said, in what sounded like amazement, “I’m singing with Queen!” I thought, yeah, big deal Adam, so am I!

In the middle of the show, there was a section that Austin called “We’re in Queen too” where Adam left the stage for awhile (Bubble bath? Who knows?), and the original members of the band played some songs and showed off their talents without him.  Very impressive. I loved the song “Love of My Life.”

The best songs, according to me, were “Killer Queen” (I can imagine Queen Elizabeth lying in bed with her iPod headphones in her ears, saying “Where can I get a gunpowder guillotine?”), “Fat Bottom Girls,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which despite the strange lyrics was sung beautifully.

I certainly would recommend this show to anyone!

Hello, It's Me!

I'm a bit new to this blogging thing... I hope you can find something here that interests you.

Things that interest me?  Music, of all kinds. I have a special interest in Texas Country and music from the 70s.  i love live shows and go to a lot of them. I've always been a sucker for a good boy band. I am also a singer myself.

Clothes and fashion!  I am a member of several subscription services and will do some reviews here. If you are interested in joining be sure to click my links!

Growing up, penpalling was a big hobby of mine, and I am trying to get back into it! 

Road Tripping and other travel is also a big hobby of mine.  

I will be talking about these things as I go, and also about anything else I can think of!