Wordless Wednesday – Don’t Miss It for the World

(Northwest Oklahoma, April 2012)

ABC Wednesday – Lightning McQueen

The letter this week is “Q” and so I am featuring Lightning McQueen from the movie “Cars.”

This was taken from the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Oklahoma right on Highway 66. The boy on the right is son SuperPizzaBoy. I took the pic during a Road Trip last September.

The owner of the cafe is Dawn Welch and she was the inspiration for the character Sally Carrera in the movie.

ABC Wednesday

Van Halen in Tulsa at the BOK Center

Monday night Sweetie and I went to see Van Halen in downtown Tulsa at the BOK Center.

Van Halen is now, left to right, Wolfgang Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Eddie and Alex Van Halen. Eddie is Wolfgang’s dad. I love that name Wolfgang.

It was great to see David Lee Roth. I know he is a pain in the butt, but without him, I lost interest in Van Halen. Kind of like when Michael Jordan quit basketball you know.

The rocked and rolled, they have been at it for 40 years now.

Everybody seemed to be playing along nicely.

I bet it is great for Eddie to be on stage with his son.

Wolfgang is going to be great. Right now he is in the background.

But he looks like a rock star doesn’t he.

The stage was very simple. New gewgaws or anything but they had the biggest screen I’ve ever seen, outside of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium screen.

(from setlist.fm)

They played all their hits. Ain’t Talking About Love is the most thrilling rock anthem I’ve ever heard live. Here is the music from it. Sorry, even though it is Youtube it is just a static picture while you are listening to the music.

Van Halen gets five out of five stars for their performance. Go see them when they come to your town.

Graffiti Wednesday – New Orleans Train Graffiti

My hotel in New Orleans on my recent trip was a true intermodal transportation hub, Trucks, cars, street cars, busses, and ferrys were just a few steps away. On the water, three cruise ships putted by, and the combined Navy’s of United States, Great Britain, France, Indonesia, and Ecuador were there. It was the freight trains that provided the graffiti.

They wouldn’t stop for me though. I had to stand and track the cars to get decent photographs.

Most graffiti is baffling to me, I don’t get this upside down R. I don’t know what the two comma looking splotches to the right are about either.

Another baffler,

And another, I like the 63 cents sign though.

Anybody know what ZMOKI is? At least I can read the letters.

Graffiti Wednesday

Negativity

I took my Takashi 521 FX “digital Holga” camera out for a spin the other day. You can see all sorts of things with it. It has a negative setting. It makes SOOC a whole new world.

You can see the buildings swinging and swaying due to the Lartigue Effect. It has to be a pretty low tech camera you see to get this effect, one that doesn’t have a shutter.

At least the library was a stand up affair.

It makes the “Central Library” sign really pop. This looks like a well lighted night scene.

And then the ground started leaning.

It made a tree trunk at a local park stand out.

And… does it have an Xray lens? In my mind the shadows of the limbs could be the tree roots underground.

Are you into Negativity, in a positive way I mean?

The Black Keys El Camino Tour at BOK Arena Tulsa

Saturday night Sweetie and I loaded up, dropped SuperPizzaBoy off at Nana’s and headed off downtown to the BOK Center to see the Black Keys.

The Black Keys are two guys from Ohio, Dan Auerbach who sings and plays the guitar and Patrick Carney who plays the drums. They have other guys out on the stage for many of the songs but they also do a bunch with just Carney and Auerbach.

The stage is set up a little differently than most rock bands. The drums are right up front and Carney faces Auerbach. You can tell they are really in synch.

Auerbach sings with a very strong clear voice and is a great guitar player. I had never thought of them as being a rock band, I was wrong. I need to turn the V up.

They started and just sang, no little riffs about and inside jokes, just playing.

They didn’t have an elaborate set but I did enjoy the laser light show.

Listening to music on an ipod or in your car is nice, but there is nothing like seeing it live.

Try this video out. Turn it up, all they way. Remember, if its too loud then you are to old. I’m giving the Black Keys five stars out of five for a concert. It was wonderful.

The Arctic Monkeys opened for the Black Keys. I think they are opening for all the Black Keys concerts on this El Camino Tour.

They are from England and I would have to say their music is a little punkish along the lines of Green Day but with a lot more reverb. The lead singer, Alex Turner, had a very powerful voice. I was also very impressed with the drummer, Matt Helders. He could really play the drums. Not that I know a thing about it.

They made heavy use of the strobe lights during the first part of their set. I was glad we were in our seats when the music started. Between the roar of the band and the strobe lights it was very overwhelming. I guess that I am borderline too old.

I give Arctic Monkeys also a five stars out of five.

Go see them if they come to town, or go get their cd’s or download something.

Mainly I recommend listening to any sort of music you want,except disco of course. Go see a local band.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

I took the day off Friday and Sweetie went to see Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. What a great movie! It is indeed about an effort to bring salmon fishing to Yemen but it also a great romantic movie. It stars Ewan McGregor as a nerdy fishing expert and Emily Blunt as a financial assistant to a super rich sheikh who is financing the venture. The movie reminded Sweetie and I of Local Hero.

I love this movie. I give it five stars out of five. Go see it while you can