Ben Folds

Julia Nunes and Ben Folds

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

We mentioned before that we saw Julia Nunes at the Ben Folds concert we attended.  Her performance was awesome, especially since we had no clue she was going to be part of it and I knew her from Youtube.  She finally posted a video of her performance, and while the quality isn’t very good it portrays the show perfectly.  About 5:20 into the video you’ll get to see Ben playing the drums for Julia which was completely unexpected and awesome.  She was totally clueless which made it even better.

In other news, we might be going to the 2009 Block Party with Ben Folds this Sunday.

The Passion of Ben

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

Watching anyone that is passionate about what they’re doing is both exciting and rewarding.

At the last minute Rachel and I were able to get Tickets to the Ben Folds Show at the Waterstreet Music Hall last week.  During the show it became clear that Ben thoroughly enjoys his music and his shows.  He played some of the most energetic piano for over 2 hours and when he finally went off stage he shook his hands and you could tell he was exhausted.  Even so, as all bands do, he came back for an encore and rocked the house again.

Needless to say the show was incredible.  Everything was amazing from the opener, a band I’d not previously heard of called “Jukebox the Ghost“, to “The midnight Ramblers” (an acappella group from The University of Rochester) to Julia Nunes (a famous ukalele YouTuber from Rochester NY).  The only music we really knew was the older stuff from Ben Folds Five but it didn’t really matter, The place was alive and it was a blast.

Unfortunately all I had with me was my iPhone camera so It was difficult to capture the moment with any clarity.

I’ll remember the show forever even without the pictures.  That’s what Passion does.

A Perfect Day in a Perfect Place

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Atlantis IX

This morning, we quickly found out that our free one-day trolley pass was not really the ‘public transportation’ we thought it was. It was more of a tour trolley but it only took you to the shopping centers (probably the reason it was free). While waiting for the first trolley we met another honeymooning couple from Rhode Island who had the same deal as us… worthless trolley pass. After our brief 3 stop trolley ride we decided we’d have a better morning if we simply got off, walked the beach and perused the shops until it was time for our Atlantis tour.

Peering through

Atlantis
XIV is 65′ passenger submarine which takes it’s victims down to a maximum depth of about 120′ to view the tropical fish at the artificial reefs on the ocean floor off Waikiki Beach. It was very interesting to say the least. One amazing thing is how the colors changed. Red quickly turns to brown and all other colors quickly begin to fade the deeper you go. While looking out the port hole(s) you could see lots of very cool fish and reefs, the most notable being Amberjack’s and Spotted Ray’s.

We ended the day with the Paradise Cove Luau. We haven’t been to any other Luau but from what we’ve been told (and from what we’ve experienced) Paradise Cove is the best. It certainly lived up to expectations. From the lei making, Canoe rides, the festival of the pig to the fire dancing. It simply had something for everyone. And don’t forget about those drinks! Our Bartender Lei Lei fixed us up what she called ‘AMF on Crack.’ Translation: lots of alcohol. Our package included 4 drinks and we watched as she poured 3+ shots in each drink. A very nice couple on sexy bus #2 (our bus) who were in Hawaii celebrating their 54th anniversary gave us several more tickets which we also used, although probably didn’t need to.

Paradise Cove not only has enough activities to keep you busy, but it also has fantastic scenery, and no we’re not talking about the half naked natives (although that’s pretty nice too…). The sunset from the Cove was absolutely gorgeous and there’s plenty of pictures so be sure to take a look.

Fire Dancer

During the show they inviting all the honeymooners to stand and be recognized. We expected more of the audience to be standing than actually were, there were perhaps 3 couples out of about 200 people, opposed to everywhere else on the island where it seemed like everyone we talked to was on their honeymoon. Soon after the band played the Hawaiian Wedding song and invited anyone in love to dance. Needless to say we jumped at opportunity.

On the ride home Oli (our host) showed us her hula skills as she was once a performer at the Luau festival. We were also told to ‘flash’ any of the ugly cousins (all other buses from the Luau) during what she called ‘Bus Wars.’ The flashing just consisted of keeping the bus lights off and using our cameras with the flash on. Quite entertaining although we only had one challenger.

When we got back to the hotel, we played our song (If you didn’t catch it during the wedding it’s “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds) and danced on our Balcony while onlookers passed by below. A very romantic ending to a perfect day.

Love,
The Aldrichs