concert

Pittsburgh is an Awesome City

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

Drinking and Star Wars all with a DD? or my wife rules part deux? Awesome.

IMG_1414Rachel and I went to Pittsburgh for Star Wars in Concert a few weeks ago.  Before we went I learned a little about the city because, honestly, I knew nothing.  Pittsburgh is in the middle of the mountains? Why did I not know this?  It’s only 4.5hrs away.  Really? Why have I not been there before? It takes longer to get to Camp sometimes (driving up route 81 across the Tug Hill Plateau in the middle of the winter is no fun), and we go there almost every weekend.  It’s easy to get to also, just take Interstate 90 to Interstate 79 south right into the city.

We stayed at the Wyndham Pittsburgh University Place which we highly recommend, partly because of the quality of the accommodations at their price, but mostly because they include a DD.  They have a shuttle which takes you anywhere within a 5 mile radius every hour on the hour.  Our car didn’t move once we got there until we were headed home which was nice.

IMG_1397First thing we did when we got there?  We headed to the only place (I know of) where you can get your drink on inside a Church, the Church Brew Works.  A little silly for Rachel, but they served an excellent dinner too!  Surprisingly enough, on top of the great atmosphere, their beer and their food were amazing!

A few suggestions from our list of favorite spots for when you go to Pittsburgh.  Be sure not to miss the Monongahela Incline, it provides simply stunning views of the city and it’s cheap.  Or you can just drive to the top of Mount Washington, but what fun is that?

pittsburgh-pano

IMG_1534Pittsburgh might be the only place in the world where you can see a real live Transformer, or at least a sculpture of a fake transformer named Arch.  Don’t miss that while it’s there.

IMG_1553The ice rink at PPG Place looks like another Rockefeller Center amidst a beautiful crystal (glass) Palace (office complex).  You can rent skates and skate amongst the palace towers around a ginormous Christmas Tree.  Unfortunately we didn’t discover it until a few minutes before the concert or else we would have partaken.

Our favorite part of the trip was (obviously) the reason we were there. Star Wars in Concert was amazing! What an interesting new way to experience the Star Wars story.  Narrated by none other than C-3PO himself (Anthony Daniels) and performed by a live orchestra.  Hearing the Imperial march live along giant HD images of Vader raised the hair on the back of my neck.  Yes, before anyone asks, there were lots of people in costumes around (I sat next to Obi-Wan) but no, we were not among them.  Overall we’d highly recommend the whole Star Wars in Concert experience.

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An incredibly enjoyable weekend.  Pittsburgh is an awesome city and we WILL be back.

Wdljyndham Pittsburgh University Place

My Wife Rules

~ randyaa ~ 6 Comments

Star WarsIt was her idea to watch all 6 Star Wars movies in sequence and so we did that recently. Well, we watched the first 3 (chronologically) one day and the last 3 a few days later. It was interesting as I’d never watched them in sequence like that, and I hadn’t watched the new ones since they came out in the theater. I’m positive I’ve never had the experience with my wife, and it was amazing, as she was more glued to the screen than I was and I grew up in love with Star Wars.

What could be better? Star Wars in Concert that’s what.

We’re going to Pittsburgh on the 28th and 29th of November to see Star Wars in Concert for an early Christmas present for the both of us.

It’s gonna be awesome!

Julia Nunes and Ben Folds

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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.

BBQ with Cake

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For my birthday Rachel organized a surprise party by tricking me into a dinner at Dinosaur BBQ.  It was a load of fun and completely unexpected.  It was my first surprise party and I’d call it a success.

To top off the great BBQ dinner at Dinosaur Rachel got everybody together for the Cake concert.  Cake is one of my favorite bands and she had been making excuses for why we weren’t able to go.  When I opened my birthday card at dinner and found 2 tickets for the concert I was ecstatic.  The concert was better than I could imagine.  Cake turns out to be one of those bands that sounds just as good if not better live than on their pre-recorded music.

An awesome birthday thanks to the worlds best wife.

And yes, I know this post is 2 months late.  Sue me.