Demolition. Vegas Style.

No one blows up a casino like Las Vegas. Yesterday the historic Frontier Hotel Casino went up in an explosion to make room for the bigger and better.

...but you've never seen a demolition like this. Watch the fireworks display on the outer walls during the countdown. WOO HOO! LOVE IT!



New Frontier Demolition! - video powered by Metacafe

Best. Guitar Solo. Ever.

Jimmy Page has long been my favorite guitar player. In my eyes, he is far more tallented than any other guitar player I have ever heard. He has a way of making it sound like 3 or 4 people are playing at once, when in fact it's all him on one guitar. The guy is a genius.

In the following video, you'll see what I deem to be about the best guitar solo ever written. It is beyond phenominal and I can't fathom how he plays like that. The video quality is VERY low but I'm sure you'll be glad you watched it.

Also, be sure to watch the whole thing as he doesn't really get into the awesomeness of it until about 3:40 (three minutes 40 seconds into the video). ENJOY!

Mt. Charleston - The Bad and the Not So Ugly

Today is Nevada Day. As far as I know that just means I get the day off work. Perhaps it's the day Nevada declared it's independance from the government, I'm not sure.

Anyway, my wife and I went up to Mt. Charleston today. We've lived here three years and had never made the drive. Everyone always said how wonderful and beautiful it was and google maps reported that it was only an hour drive. So we went.

We expected to find a nice mountain community with quaint shops and nice parks. Instead, we found about ten log cabins and one nice outdoor restaurant. I wouldn't dare call it a city... or even a township. The road up to Mt. Charleston literally came to a dead end about five minutes after the desert of Las Vegas turned into pine trees.

We had packed a lunch, thinking to have a nice family picnic, and so we went in search of a park, a campground, or anywhere with a table. We came up empty. There was nowhere to park for free. Every day-use recreational area was a minimum $7.00 fee to park. I was appalled. Mt. Charleston was supposed to be the amazing mountain getaway for Las Vegas residents but all we found was a dead end surrounded by somewhat pretty trees.

We spoke to a ranger and asked if there was anywhere on the mountain we could park for 30 minutes, have lunch, and leave. He said "no." And then he went on to suggest we drive down to the visitors where there was free parking... for 30 minutes. We went there but found no tables, no grass. We finally laid out our blanket on some rocks, weeds and twigs under a tree.

After spending a long 10 full minutes on Mt. Charleston we decided to drive back home.


In the end, it was nice to get out of the house and it was nice to see some trees for a change. Mt. Charleston also has a ski-resort which we stopped by on the way home. There were also a number of camp grounds that looked pretty fun to stay at. But truth be told, I don't see myself returning in the near future. It's small, and there's basically nothing to see; though they do seem quick and ready to take your money once you're there.

If you're in vegas and you want a nice free relaxing day, I suggest the library.

The Best Barbershop

Many people are not familiar with barbershop music. You've heard of it, but you might have a pre-conceived notion about a couple of geezers sitting around singing slow, uneventful songs.

Guess again. The Westminster Chorus is this year's international champions. These guys meet only twice a month and have been a chorus for only about 4 years.

This video is PHENOMENAL. Do yourself a favor, see for yourself what barbershop music is all about!

American Idols Live Tour

The other night Megan and I went to see a live concert put on by the top ten American Idols of this past season. It was a great concert. If you did not follow this past season of American Idol then this blog will probably mean nothing to you. Here is the skinny on what went down:

Summary:

Each Idol got to sing at least one solo in the same fashion you’d see on the show. But there were also a large number of duets, trios, and even quartets. As a whole, each performer sang as good as, if not better, than they did on the show. I’m not sure if that was merely because it was live of if they have really improved that much since the season finale.

Here are my awards to them.

Best Quartet/Quintet:

Rising out of the floor on a platform, Lakisha, Melinda, Gina and Haley sang a four-part 16 measure bit of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B.” As a choir teacher and vocal coach, I can tell you that it was awesome. When they were done with that, Phil Stacey, dressed to the nines in his Navy getup, sang the most amazing rendition of America the Beautiful. Clear voice and heartfelt, it was one of many treats of the night.

Best Duet(s):

This award was a tie. Jordin Sparks sang a duet with Melinda Jones that was just amazing and then directly afterward she sang a duet with Chris Richardson that blew us away.

Most Entertaining:

Blake Lewis. This guy just knows how to take the stage. At one point he came out on stage and started beat-boxing. And it wasn’t just any old beat-boxing. It was phenomenal! After about a five minute introduction he set into a steady beat-boxing rhythm. Then with a foot pedal below him, he looped about 4 measures of his own beat so he could stop beat-boxing but you could still hear him on the loop. He then added another beat over his original beat and looped it. He then added a bass line of himself singing “doom doom doom” like a bass guitar. With all three looped it sounded awesome as it was. He was like a human mix-machine. Then he started singing the verses to U2s With or Without You. When he got to the chorus, he looped himself singing “with or without you, with or with out you.” He then added a harmony part and looped it. He then added ANOTHER harmony part and looped it. So now you have ONLY Blake on stage but you have two beat-boxers, a bass line singer, and three part harmonies going. Our jaws were already to the floor… and then he went into the chorus climax over the top of it all: “I can’t liiiiiiiive, with or with out you baby!” It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

Most surprising:

Chris Richardson. I never liked him on the show. He never impressed me as being a very good singer or being very versatile at his craft. But at the live tour he blew us away. He sang great and he is very musically talented. He also gets the most stage time award. He was on stage singing in like every other song for the night. But I think it was with reason. He sang wonderfully, he was entertaining and he knew how to grab the crowd almost as well as Blake did. Aside from that, he sang a few songs while playing the guitar, but even more impressive is when he came out with a drum set and sang while playing that! He truly is a talented singer.

Worst Singer Award:

This goes to Haley. No surprise. She was as terrible (if not worse) than she was on the show.

Most Boring:

Chris Sligh. He seemed sluggish and uninterested as he slopped around the stage all night long.

Most fun:

The Boy Band. All five male Idols (Blake, Chris R, Chris S, Sanjaya and Phil) came out in a band fashion. Phil on keyboard, Blake on guitar, Chris Sligh on Bass guitar, Sanjaya on tambourine and Chris Richardson on drums, they played a couple of songs including the Beatles’ Hey Jude. They were VERY good. If they had debuted in that format and cut CDs as a band that way, I’d buy them.

Best Vocals:

This is a tough one so I’m going to break it up into three categories:

Best Versatile Vocals:

Jordin Sparks. This 17 year old girl did not win the show for no reason. She sang at least one song from every genre in the history of mankind except for Gregorian chant. And she did it WELL. She was incredible in spite of the fact that she was becoming vocally tired by the end of the night (not that I blame her).

Best Male Vocal:

Phil Stacey. Phil was INCREDIBLE! I always liked him on the show but I never felt that he should have won. After seeing him live… I’m starting to question. Phil has a clear and present voice.

He was entertaining and sang beautifully. I can see Phil making it big in the recording business after his tour is done. Just like Chris Daughtry, Phil didn’t win, but he could be big. He sang a number of solos that were just captivating. I would probably buy his CDs when they come out.

Best female and overall vocal of the entire night goes to… drum roll please…

Lakisha Jones! Can you believe it? We couldn’t either. But she came out singing her version of Whitney Houston's “And I have always loved you.” Let me just say that I do not hesitate to say that she sang it BETTER than Whitney. She was unbelievable! Clear voice, nailing the top notes like it was easy, and strutting around like a star. She blew everyone away with a stellar performance. She received a standing ovation that lasted easily longer than any other applause from any other song of the night.

My final thoughts:

Megan and I loved watching American Idol this season. Before this season we thought that American Idol watchers were silly uneducated teeny boppers. We made fun of those that liked Idol and rolled our eyes at people who talked about it. Well we saw the first episode of this past season (our first time ever watching it) and we were hooked. It really is a great show. We fell in love with the singers that we voted for each and every week. Seeing them perform live in concert was a treat and I’m glad we went.

Now we can’t wait for the next season to start!