Vacation Cont...

Les Claypool Live @ The House of Blues

June 16, 2007

In the middle of my already kick ass Disney vacation, I was informed of the upcoming Les Claypool concert to be held a mere furlong from our hotel room...seriously, with in walking distance. Tickets were going to be had at any cost! After procuring said tickets, the crew and I set off for a night of bass filled bliss. The show opened with The Two Galants, a decent band reminiscent of The White Stripes, then proceeded into an orgy of new and old Claypool goodness. Everything from tracks off of "Of Whales and Woe" to Primus classics, My Name is Mud and Tommy the Cat, was played for a solid two hours. Cameras were prohibited, hence the poor quality of this illegal photo from the show. We managed to get a few almost passable shots without a flash and this is the best one. It at least shows how close we were because the zoom was not used. This show rivals my 311-day 2000 in New Orleans or Ben Folds Five at the Ryman in Nashville only months before their break-up as my favorite concert experience of all time. I have wanted to see Les live ever since DJ, my big brother, first played "Suck on This" for me back in the early '90s. Now if I could only get to a Man...or Astroman, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Paul Simon (yeah right) concerts, I will have seen all of my adolescent dream concerts.

internet photo not from my concert

At the outset of our concert, Les donned a colonel sanders style suit, stripping off his coat and bowler hat after a few songs. As the show progressed, he wore all of the following: a pig mask, a monkey mask, and an Elvis wig/mutton chops w/glasses. He also played a standard bass, a banjo style bass (see picture), and a slim electric stand-up bass. This show was pure magic and was the epitome of Les Claypool's music. If you can't tell from my glowing review, this show was awesome and lived up to my overblown expectations of what his concert would be like. I suggest that anyone who is slightly interested in his music, check out his tour schedual and seek out your own concert by visiting his website or clicking any of the Claypool pictures on this post.

This concert, on top of Star Wars Weekends, meeting two Star Wars actors, and seeing my daughter make a lifetime of Disney memories makes this the best vacation I've ever been on. Yes, my two week trip to Ireland was a once in a lifetime opportunity and will remain my favorite solo trip, I will always remember the joy of taking my 6 year old to the the most magical place on earth.

Vacation to End all Vacations!

I recently had the opportunity to meet two iconic Star Wars actors on at trip to Disney World with my family; specifically, Peter Mayhew and Jeremy Bullock, also know as Chewbacca and Boba Fett! This marks the highlight of my two week vacation to Florida, although good times were had all throughout the vacation by everyone in my family. The following is a breakdown of our vacation, condensed of course.

The trip began with a lengthy two day drive to Cocoa Beach. We spent the first couple of days on the beach and in different hotels. The highlight of these days was the night spent at the newly built Ron Jon Resort. The room was very comfortable and there was a mini-water park on the premises that was very cool. That night we ate fresh seafood, cooked in our room by Ginny's father...I ate so many shrimp!

This a picture I took to test our new Canon digital camera, which was purchased during the drive down.

This portion of the trip was stressful, because of the cramped rooms and multiple luggage moves. In contrast, once we moved into our Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort two bedroom condo, the trip became less stressful and more enjoyable. Abby had been to Disney World once before, when she was 2, but didn't remember anything except the "Gumbo" ride. Here is a picture of her riding Dumbo on this trip. I have a picture of the first time she rode Dumbo but it is on another computer. I'll try to remember to post it later,

One of Abby's favorite things was meeting all of the characters scattered throughout the park. She filled up two autograph books with signatures and photos and this is my favorite one. Aladdin and Jasmine looked, spoke, and acted just like their animated counter-parts; they were impressive and well worth the 30 minute wait. The same can be said for most of the other characters save the few we didn't wait in line for.

Animal Kingdom was cool but we only spent a little time there in comparison to the other parks because there was so much we wanted to do at the other parks. We did ride a new roller coaster, see a few characters, went on a "safari," and ate breakfast there. I wish we had more time to explore Animal Kingdom but am satisfied with what we were able to fit in.

MGM Studios was, and always has been, my favorite park. The Star Wars weekend celebration was awesome but that is not the only reason I loved MGM. MGM is a park that appeals to movie buffs as well as kids so we all had lots of fun. Abby really wanted to ride the Tower of Terror, because she enjoyed Space Mountain so much, though started to have second thoughts the closer we came to the top. After the ride was over, she decided she didn't want to ride it again. This final pic is one that Ginny took of me breaking onto the stage that was roped off a few days before the actual weekend celebration.

I will post more pictures and the rest of our vacation in my next blog.