Rain: The Beatles Experience

On Friday October 8, 2010 I went to watch Rain: the Beatles Experience. The concert was held in the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. First of all, the center was somewhat disappointing. The outside of the building and the lobby were absolutely beautiful, even though they were in the process of creating this engraved wall inside. It felt as if we were going to a grand gala for some completely overly popularized person like a celebrity or the president, I think you get the idea. This whole feeling of importance quickly vanished once we entered the room were the concert was to be held. For brand new building, it was opened in October of 2006, it was very disappointing. I was expecting a very spacious room embellished as if it were from the 19th century, similar to that of the Olympia Theatre.

While we were waiting for the show to start the person that was in charge of the band was standing next to us and we asked him about the band and their equipment. Many bands rent equipment when they arrive at the location of their concert but this group brought all their own equipment with them. He also told us there were five of them and they were training three more incase one of the main musicians needed a night off to rest his voice or what not.

They had these screens that asked trivia and showed old videos of the Beatles, that was interesting. Right before the lights went off and the show started three "Beatles" walked up and sat down one row in front of us. It looked like John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr just walked in to watch the show with us. I am assuming those were the people they were training.

The show statred, the props were great, it felt as if we were sitting at the Ed Sullivan Show as the Beatles performed. As the years changed, the costumes changed and so did the hair on their faces and heads. Everything was great.

If you like the later Beatles work then you will really enjoy this concert. About 70% of the songs were the later stuff while the other was the earlier songs, which I prefer. The only this was that they did not sound like the Beatles, they looked like them and sounded great, but they didn't sound like them. I have been to other Beatles tribute bands and they sounded just like the real thing. The Paul McCartney person sounded the most similar, he aslo had the act down perfectly. He was by far the best of all of them.

Overall, the concert was not worth the money that was spent for the tickets, they were pricey. The average price for them was $150, thank goodness we got them for about half price. They did sound good as a band, but not as the Beatles. I would definitely recommend Beatlemania over them.

Concert Series Review

I have been to quite a few concerts over the last few years. The names I've seen include Three Dog Night, The Village People, The Guess Who, America, and a few Beatle Impersonation Bands. There is going to be another series starting the first week of November. I can't wait. Believe it or not, the concerts that are the best, in my opinion, are not the concerts that cost the most, or even the concerts that have the most publicity. I have noticed some of the best shows I have seen are the shows that weren't supposed to be all that great. Sometimes the bigger bands are even somewhat disappointing, its just the name that carries them. I have decided to write reviews for the different shows I have seen. Hope you enjoy.

The Band, Miami Dolphins, the Judge and the Major

I went to a party on Wednesday night to help support the reelection of the judge Ed Newman. The event was hosted at a Cigar Shop/ Winery on 7th St. About 10 Miami Dolphin football players were there to support the judge. They had snacks and a free raffle. I ended up winning a football autographed by the players and the bass player in the band won an autographed miami dolphins hat.

KC & the Sunshine Band Concert

A few days ago the Miccosukee Casino hosted a free concert featuring KC & the Sunshine Band. Of course my family and I went. They had alligator wrestling, airboat rides, face painting, pony rides and a bunch of other things all free. For the concert we sat about eight rows from the stage, pretty much the best seat if you ask me. The only problem was I had the biggest guy in the entire crowd right in front of me. What was worst is as soon as the concert began everybody stood up and basically remained standing the entire time. Oh well, it was fun. I took a bunch of cool pictures, some of them did not turn out very clear but it was not bad considering I was not allowed to use a flash. The female singer, Maria, on the right side of the stage used to sing with VIVA, the band I take pictures for. Small World...

Coral Diseases; Black and White

Here is a picture taken in the Dry Tortugas of white band disease.

Below is a picture also taken in the Tortugas of black band disease.

This disease actually kills the coral as the band crosses the coral leaving behind just a skeleton. A marine biologist studying these diseases told me it was possible to remove the disease by simple fanning it away from the coral... but there's a catch. The tissue that has been fanned away also needs to be collected since it is very contagious to the coral including all the surrounding corals.

Sunset in Key Largo

This is the view my Mom, Harold, Samsun and me had while we were eating dinner.

Swimming with Stingrays

A Shell, an Acre Lot, and a Beautiful Pool

This is the latest "house of interest". It is basically a small house in the center of an acre lot full of fruit trees and other vegetation and a beautiful pool surrounded by a large wooden deck. The house was completely gutted which makes the perfect opportunity to rebuild the house however you may please.

Mark: Our Waiter at the Diner

Oh My Gosh! Saturday night we went to the

Fountain Plaza Diner in Pembroke Pines to

watch Viva play and this was one of the

waiters in the restaurant. What a character.

He was like this the entire night. They had

great food, I had the seafood soup, crab

stuffed sole with garlic butter linguini, and

for desert homemade strawberry cheesecake.

Everybody had a great time, and best of all

we enjoyed listening and dancing to Viva.

They played all the oldies. I can not wait until

they play there again, it will be a blast.

Airplane Photos

This is a piture taken from my seat on the plane. The picture below is of Miami Beach.

White Water Rafting: Ottawa River

That yellow dot my head

Phillipe Cousteau & Me

Samsun went Kayaking Today!

Today my Mom and I decided to go kayaking and we brought Samsun along. It turns out we could not have picked a windier day but he loved it. At first he sat on my shoulder as close as possible to me. It was not long before he was sitting on the bow of the boat riding the waves. He just earned himself a new nick name... Captain Jack. In the picture below you can see the island we paddled out around, it is known as Dove Key.

TENNIS: Sony Ericsson Open

I went to a tennis match with my Mom. We watched Marion Bartoli play Yanina Wickmayer. Bartoli won the match but lost to Venus Williams in the Semifinals. I thought this was a cool picture.

Samsun & D'lyla taking a bath

Florida Marlins Baseball Game

I was invited to go to a Florida Marlins game. We had Batters Box MVP tickets. We had to be escorted to our seats because in order to get to them we had to go underneath the stadium. On the way to our seats we walked by the players and the dugouts. It was so interesting to be able to sit that close to the field. You could hear the ball hitting the bat and the players talking amongst themselves. I could almost hear them breathing. This picture was taken with no zoom and the blue wall at the bottom was where I was resting my feet. The Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Think Twice Before You Eat Shrimp

Every time you eat shrimp this is what is also caught when your delicious shrimp is caught. Except the shrimp is not wasted, but all this bicatch is just throw away. Here you can see a shark was killed as well as thousands of other creatures. The ocean floor is also destroyed in the process as they rake the bottom.

I See You

Dry Tortugas - October 2006

Nothing but a boat, a few tanks and open ocean...

Dry Tortugas - October 2006

Aflac: My Duck

During my Junior year in High School I found a duck egg and actually hatched it after heating it under a light in my bathroom for 21 days. When Aflac finally hatched I brought him to school with me. That was an interesting few days to say the least. I went to all my classes as normal except I had a duck in the pocket of my hoodie. After the first week I got permission for him to stay in the back room of the chemistry class. I fed him before school, during my lunch break and when I got home. Four weeks later school was out for the summer and Aflac was getting bigger.

Coral Restoration Project

I was going through my pictures and I found these and thought they were interesting. WIt took weeks for us to pour cement into cheap plastic Dixie cups to form the pedestals for the coral to grow on. Then we cut pieces off other corals and cemented them onto our pedestals with underwater epoxy. Then we left the rest to mother nature and the corals grew. Later they were transfered to various reefs where they could continue to grow. It looks like Pirates of the Caribbean when we were walking across the bottom of the ocean with the cement blocks.

D'lyla's Newest Trick

I was sitting outside the a few weeks ago drinking juice and when I finished the bottle and put it down on the table D'lyla walked over to it and tipped it up and started drinking the last drops. It was the funniest thing. I grabbed my phone and took a video of her. Here it is...

Fender Hand Painted Electric Guitar

Here is my newest creation...a Fender Electric Guitar that I refinished and hand painted. I wanted to give it that Woodstock vibe. I think I nailed it.

Hand Painted Acoustic Guitar

I ordered this acoustic guitar online after searching for about a week. I was not sure exactly what I was going to do with it once I got it but I knew something would come to mind. When it arrived I was completely inspired and this is the result of my sudden inspiration.

Happy Birthday Samsun

Last Summer I raised a Scarlet Macaw from ten days old. His name is Samsun. He just turned One Year Old!

A Fresh Start

Well, I follow this band around as their "official photographer" and I take pictures of them while they perform with all these "famous" bands that tour around the world. I designed their new and improved website and do all their graphic designed stuff to give them that extra little kick. It is definitely fascinating to know all the little details that go into the actual performance, and it can be tiring at times to be a witness to all the drama that occurs. But hey!, I love my job and thats all that matters.