Heaven and Hell at the Forum

A week and a half back I went to the Heaven And Hell show (Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio). It was a good show although the Heaven And Hell set seemed long. Most of their songs are at a slower tempo and nearly 2 hours of slow tempo music makes for a long night.

Machine Head and Megadeth opened. This was my first time to see Machine Head, they were alright but I still have no plans to get one of their cds. The Megadeth set was great. High energy, good playing and a very tight band. This was my second time to see Dave and the 'Deth. Their was quite a bit of controversy when he changed his band up a couple of years back, but I must say this is a great sounding line up.

The floor was GA which meant I was standing all night and having to deal with a metal crowd. Crowd surfing and the pit was in full swing during the Megadeth set. I was pretty sore from getting banged up by the time the show was over.

The crowd seemed into the bands. Machine Head played to only a small audience, so small I thought the show was going to be a bust. But by the time Megadeth came out the venue was 70-80% full.

Megadeth
April 25, 2007
The Forum
Inglewood, California

Sleepwalker
Take no Prisoners
Wake Up Dead
Kick the Chair
Hangar 18
Washington's Next
Tornado
Symphony
Peace Sells
Encore:
Holy Wars

Heaven and Hell
April 25, 2007
The Forum
Inglewood, CA

-intro- (E5150)
After All (The Dead)
The Mob Rules
Children Of The Sea
Lady Evil
I
Sign Of The Southern Cross
Voodoo
The Devil Cried
- drum solo-
Computer God
Falling Off The Edge Of The World
Shadow Of The Wind
Die Young
Heaven And Hell (extended)
Encore:
Neon Knights


Click below for more pictures

Heaven And Hell (Black Sabbath), Megadeth, Machine Head

More San Diego Pictures

Here are links to the rest of our vacation pictures.

San Diego Zoo

Coronado Island

San Diego Vacation Pictures and Videos

I've been too busy to write an update about our vacation over Darian's spring break. In the meantime you can check out pictures from the trip.

Highlights of our trip included a day at the San Diego Zoo (highly recommended), a day at Sea World, and a couple of days of touring the San Diego area including a stay on Coronado Island and a walk through a haunted house. Oh and Coronado Island is not really an island, go figure.

Sea World

San Diego Tour

Pictures from the Zoo will be posted next.

Former KISS guitarist Mark St. John...RIP

I just found out that former KISS guitarist Mark. St. John died today of a cerebral hemorrage. Mark was only in the band for the recording of Animalize and for a few concerts (3 to be exact) at the beginning of the Animalize tour.

T0 this day Animalize is one of my favorite KISS albums and was the KISS album I probably listened to most when I was growing up. He is featured prominently in the Heaven's On Fire video.

This is the second member of KISS to pass, and although he was a very small part of KISStory it isn't easy to see one of my childhood heroes disappear.

From KISSONLINE.com


Sad to report that Mark Norton aka Mark St. John, KISS' lead guitarist on Animalize, passed away this morning of a cerebral hemorrhage. Mark was 51 years old.

KISS remembers Mark for his contributions and sends their condolences and deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Welcome the Presidents of America

Last week I attended a wireless industry conference called CTIA. This is a chance for many of the big players in wireless to converge in a single place to show off their new products, services, and also provides a chance to catch up with old friends in the industry. I've been in the wireless industry for approximately 7 years and time and time again you run into the same people. The running joke is the people are the same only the companies on the business cards change.

Over the course of the week I met with numerous companies ranging from brand new startups with a handful of employees to some of the largest companies in the industry including Nokia, and AOL.

The highlight of the conference were the keynote speakers on the final day. President Bush and President Clinton both spoke to a packed hall. This was a great once in a lifetime opportunity.

I arrived about 30 seconds before they came on stage. It seemed as though every chair in the room had been taken. As I walked in a group from Helio waved at me and told me to sit in the reserved rows at the very front that were empty. Not hesitating I lifted the rope and settled into the 3rd row of what had to have been the press area. No one said a thing and I took out my computer and made it look like I was taking notes just like the rest of them. I also ended up with one of the best seats in the entire room. :-)

George Bush came out first, cracked a joke about he and Bill being the odd couple, and proceeded to talk a little about how the telecom industry had a positive impact on his presidency. Bush's speech was more philosophical and and although it had a little less substance than Clinton's speech it was very enjoyable.

Bush had a great presence about him. He came off as charismatic, funny, and very down to earth. My impression of him as president was that of a very formal, and stiff president. Hearing him speak you got the sense of him being a very down to earth person from Texas. You also realize that he has the brains in that family.

After Bush left the stage Clinton came out and made a joke about this is the punishment he gets for winning the presidency from Bush. He is now Bush's straight man, since he follows Bush and is the butt of many of Bush's jokes.

Clinton discussed the importance of Information Technology to the US. He took the principals of how IT benefited the US and stated that wireless technology has an even larger opportunity to improve quality of life in developing nations, and ultimately all of modern society.

The speeches wrapped and Bush and Clinton joined each other on stage together and took some lite questions through a moderator. It was great to see Bush and Clinton united together. They both appeared extremely sincere and extremely comfortable with where they are in life.

It was great to see the two of the them together. It really showed how unimportant the Democrat vs Republican debate is and showed the importance of how coming together and just being Americans can have a much greater impact.

I must also add that Bush looked fantastic. It is hard to believe he is in his early 80s.

Although I was on the third row I wasn't able to get any great pictures. The pictures I took were of the video screens in the room.
Link to more pictures

Link to a recording of the keynote
Link to a good synopsis of the speech

Fighting Foo

Last week in Orlando Florida I was able to see the Foo Fighters play a private concert. This was part of an invitation only party thrown by the mobile phone division of LG as part of the CTIA convention. Once I heard Foo Fighters were part of this event I worked my industry network and was able to get onto the private list.

A small group of us from Helio broke off from our dinner at Hard Rock Live and headed over to the LG party. Security was one of the tightest as far as the CTIA private events went. If you weren't on their list you weren't going to get in. The party was at The Groove on Universal City Walk in Orlando. The club probably held a couple hundred people at most.

We arrived early around 8:30pm, had a couple of drinks and met up with some of the people we knew at LG. After we caught up I headed to the stage. The band ended up coming on a little after 10pm.

Foo Fighters
The Groove
Orlando, Florida
March 27, 2007

All My Life
My Hero
Times Like These
Learn To Fly
Breakout
For All The Cows
Best Of You
The One
Big Me
Generator
Monkeywrench
Everlong

During the set Dave Grohl made reference that they were playing an office party. Since Dave knew LG was footing the bill he started to joke around about how cool LG was and how Sears sucks and that he won't buy Kenmore, he'll only buy LG. Little did he know that it was the Mobile Phone division of LG sponsoring the event and not the LG appliances division. At least he tried.

Highlights of the set for me were All My Life, Learn To Fly, Monkeywrench and Everlong. I've been playing drums quite a bit a the house and All My Life, Learn To Fly and Monkeywrench are regularly a part of my practice set. The parts aren't that complex but they are extremely tiring to play and are just fast enough to be out of comfort zone. During the breakdown of All My Life I noticed their drummer slowed the tempo to make it easier to play. Pretty interesting that their drummer seemed to struggle ever so slightly with the exact same part of the song as I do.

The oddest part of the show was you had many people, myself included, dressed in casual business attire with jackets and slacks. Many of the people at the show weren't very familiar with the band. It seems such a waste that these private events don't allow for their biggest fans to see them. Fortunately I was able to take advantage of this and was able to get a setlist, Chris Shiflett's , their lead guitarist, guitar pic (red), and Dave Grohl's guitar pic (black). Chris only threw one pic into the audience and that was thrown directly to me. I pulled Dave's pic off his mic stand after the show.

Afterwards the group I was with headed back over to the Hard Rock for another private party. This one was thrown by MTV. After talking to a couple of people at the front desk we were able to get in to the party. The artist at the MTV party was Three 6 Mafia. A hip hop artist I had heard of in name only. After watching about 30 minutes of their set I still don't see the fascination with live hip hop performances. A bunch of people on stage rapping to music coming over the PA.

The MTV event was nice and was much more conducive to visiting with people. The LG Party was all about the Foo Fighters concert, and the MTV party was much more social and allowed for light business networking.

After finding the larger group of Helio people at the MTV party we said our goodbyes, broke for the night, and all headed back to our respective hotels.

Link to more pictures from Foo Fighter's show.

Kickflip Sighting

I forgot to mention that Jacki, Darian, and I saw a girl at the table next to us Friday night that was talking on a Helio Kickflip. We were eating at the Cheesecake Factory in Brentwood about 2 miles from our house.

Kites On The Beach

Yesterday on my weekend bike ride I made it down to the Marina Del Rey area and saw a beautiful display of flying kites. This was the halfway point on my ride so it also made for a good excuse to take a few minutes off from my ride and to enjoy the scenery. This was at the point where the beach, coming down from Santa Monica and Venice, meets the Marina. On the water are numerous sail boats, too many to count, and at least yesterday on the beach there were a wide variety of kites being flown.

Since the pictures offer little in the way of perspective I'll try to describe them to you. The big "spinner ring" in the center of the pictures, take a look at the video, was 10 foot in diameter. The large "hang glider" kite above the spinner was 12 feet tall and had a wing span of 18 feet. Many of these kites were enormous.

On the beach three people were flying close to 15 kites. When I stopped off and talked to them they were beginning to pack it in for the day and had already taken down a couple of the kites. My favorites were the spinner, the bat (top right hand of picture that doesn't have the sun), and a set of 5 objects strung together that all you could say about them was they were "Dr. Seuss" like.

I told Jacki I may have to go check out some kites. I think the last time I flew a kite was some 25 years ago at the YMCA close to our house in Houston. I remember having numerous Gayla Bat kites back then. My Dad and I would attach little pieces of paper to the string and watch them fly up to the kite. Once the kite string broke, and I tried to chase it on my bike until it was no longer in sight. I even had a box kite when I was a kid. No telling if I'll get back into kites or not, but hanging out on the beach sure brought back some fun memories.

Click here to see video

The Weekend

Last night Jacki and I went to go see 300 a movie recommended by our favorite waiter in Santa Monica. The movie tells the story of the 300 men from Sparta who fought to maintain their freedom from Xerxes in the 300's final stand based on the Battle of Thermopylae.

We saw the movie at arguably the world's most famous movie theater, Grauman's Chinese Theater. Behind the famous doors is one of the largest movie theater rooms I've ever been in. We saw the digital projection on a gigantic screen. Although I think Jacki and I still prefer the Arclight this was the most beautifully appointed theater we had been in.

The movie itself was very violent with violence done in a way that combined elements of realism with a dark graphic novel look. As a result the movie's scenes came off a bit sci-fi with a look that you can tell was based on the original 300 comic book by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley.

I enjoyed the movie however it didn't pull you in and make you feel for the characters. The emotion was entirely based on the thrill of the fight, and not for the loss of Sparta or any of the character stories they tried to develop.

Once we left we headed over to the Knitting Factory to pick up Darian and her friends from a concert. The show hadn't let out when we arrived so we talked to the door man and he graciously offered to walk us up to the balcony area so we could see the final band and wait for the show to let out. That final band was the Slim Jim Phantom Trio, featuring Jim Phantom the drummer from Stray Cats. Very rockabilly, very Elvis, and very 50s, or at least what I think the 50s may have sounded like. The band sounded great and I was surprised to see how large Slim Jim's 2 piece drum set (snare, bass drum and 2 cymbals) could sound.

On the way we had a little fun with the Beverly Hills Police at their drunk driver road block on Sunset. We hadn't had any drinks all night but we had a packed car with 4 teenage girls in the back. We were pulled over showed our ids, answered a few questions, and after they saw we hadn't had any drinks they let us go on our way. After that we dropped Darian's friends off and finally made it back home.

I want to ride my bicycle...

I recently pulled out my old mountain bike I purchased many years ago in Austin. It had been close to 7 years since I had rode the bike. Not once did I ride it in Atlanta, but after seeing all of the bikes on the road in Santa Monica, and having a great beach within minutes I decided it was time to give the bike a ride. About 8 weeks ago I took my first ride.

On that first ride I simply made it to Ocean Park overlooking the PCH to the beach. I was exhausted and did the best I could to return home. Little did I know the ride down to the beach was all downhill and coming home it would be all up.

After a few more weekends of riding I've been able to get a respectable routine down with a ride between 10-11 miles.

I now have a couple of routes, the first down to Venice beach and the second over to the Pacific Palisades area. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to get down to Venice. The reward of course is the people watching, from the skaters, to the dancing roller bladers, to the people playing basketball. And of course on a sunny Saturday you'll have large crowds of locals and tourists. The crowds sometimes make this a tough route to ride due to so many people walking, riding, skating, and shopping. So I've begun heading to the Palisades when the crowds are out.

The second route heads North of Santa Monica to the Pacific Palisades area. I've only made this ride a couple of times and the last ride drained me. The elevation changes on the bike route are much more dramatic than the route to Venice. Once outside of the shopping district of the Pier there aren't many people on this path. Roller bladers and people on bicycles dominate this path. You can click the maps to see the path in detail.

I've also include a few pictures I took with my Helio while riding these last few weekends. One of the pictures being a self portrait while riding back from the Pacific Palisades. :-)

Bob Schneider at the Keyclub

This past Saturday we had another family outing to the Keyclub. This time to see Bob Schneider. In order to avoid Ticketmaster charges we purchased tickets at the door, this ended up saving us nearly $9 bucks a ticket, and at 3 tickets it was worth the chance. Bob hadn't sold out last time Jacki and I saw him at the Roxy and since this place was slightly larger I didn't see it as much of a risk.

We arrived right as doors opened at 7pm in order to get our tickets. We got our three tickets and headed out for a bite to eat. We went to the Rainbow Bar and Grill, which has become a family favorite on the Sunset Strip. The food is pretty good and you never know what rock star you might see on any given night. We didn't have reservations but the host and the owner graciously sat us at a reserved table. The reservation was for 8:30 so we had about an hour and a half to eat. The great spot about the this table is we could see everyone that walked through the door as they went to sit at a table or as they headed to the bar.

The Rainbow didn't disappoint with celebrities. Rex Brown from Pantera came in, and Jacki and Darian said I was a little star struck. He was with Kirk Windstein from Crowbar. We saw a few more people that looked familiar although we couldn't place them. Then towards the end of our night we saw Sarah Ramirez from Grey's Anatomy.

After dinner we headed back to the Keyclub to see Bob. Walking in we caught the tail end of the open band Elliot Morris, who with his shaggy hair looked remarkably like Bob from a distance. I went downstairs and purchased the web only release of Bob Schneider Greatest Hits Live, and Frunk - the live recording of the evening's show, available immediately after the concert. One of the LA promoters had a booth set up in the merch area that had some shirts I thought Darian would like, so I brought her over and she got a Support Local Bands shirt. As a benefit they gave us comp tickets to the Viper Room, of course in the spirit of supporting local bands.

We timed it right. By the time we got settled into the Keyclub, Bob was only minutes away from coming on stage. They came out and the first thing we noticed is Bob has short hair now. No mistaking it was him, but this is quite a change from the shaggy, bearded look of the last several years. The other thing to notice was the band were all wearing the same clothes, white dress shirt with a tie. They weren't dressed up by any means, but they all looked similar up on stage.

The show opened with Piggyback, which was quite appropriate since this was the song Darian had probably heard the most. Strangely enough I had never seen him perform this live, mainly due to a recorded loop used on the studio recording. The same loop with samples was being played behind the vocals as he started the show, and the full band kicked in on the second half of the song.

The set consisted of the typical fan favorites including Big Blue Sea, Metal & Steel, Assknocker and Tarantula. The band even took a fan request for Psychocaniac. The interesting thing about this set is since he was set up with loops and sample he explored more of his experimental and rap side. Playing a few new songs including Ready Let's Roll, and Cheaper.

They ended the night with Mudhouse, a favorite off the new album, Sons Of Ralph, arrrhhh..., and closed the set with the Gary Numan classic Cars.

After the show we got the setlist, although it was only liberally followed, and scored a couple of Bob guitar pics. I went downstairs to get the Frunk disc while Jacki and Darian waited for Bob to come out. Darian got the Frunk cd signed and we got a picture with Jacki, Darian and Bob.

Another fun outing to the Keyclub. I think at this point the Keyclub ranks as my favorite venue to see bands in LA.

Click below for more pictures.

Bob Schneider Feb 17 2007

D and the Les Paul

It all started a week ago Saturday. The family was in Hollywood on the way home from Amoeba. We had bought a few cds, a couple of posters and a magazine and were just going to take our time in Guitar Center, pick up some guitar pics and head home.

Once we got in I headed to the upstairs area with the drums and Darian and Jacki remained downstairs with the guitars. After playing the electronic kits for about 30 minutes I headed back down to check on Darian and Jacki. By this point Darian had fallen in love with an Ebony Gibson Les Paul Studio. It looked great, it sounded great, and Darian (along with the sales guy) were determined to make her the proud new owner of this guitar.

Usually I can point at the price, or distract her with other guitars and she'll let whatever she is playing go. But this time it was different. This guitar was used, and was several hundred dollars cheaper than a comparable Les Paul. Although the guitar was used it looked brand new, and sounded better than some of the other Les Paul's Darian tried out that day that were new. Instead of making any decisions we asked Guitar Center to hold the guitar till Monday and then we'll give them an answer on if we will get it or not.

Once we got home I told Darian she must trade in one of her other guitars, use it as collateral to hold the guitar, and then sell her guitar to Guitar Center in order to bring the cost of the Les Paul down. I wasn't positive she would go through with it and wanted to see how serious she was about getting this new guitar.

I ended up working late Monday so Jacki took Darian and her Billy Martin PRS SE guitar to Guitar Center. Darian was not happy, but knew this was a sacrifice she would be forced to make if she was going to get the Les Paul. Of course I can't keep from spoiling Darian so although I was making her go through the motions of giving up the guitar I had no intention of letting her old guitar get away. I think of it as a growing experience, and one she won't ever forget.

Thursday was the day we agreed Darian could get the guitar. Once again Jacki took Darian and they picked up the new Les Paul. Once they picked up some strings, a case and paid for everything the Guitar Center guy brought back out the PRS. Darian said, you are going to make me say goodbye to it again! And at that point, Darian realized she was going to be able to take that guitar back home too.

I got home late Thursday evening and snapped these pictures of Darian with her new guitar. Jamming away and happy as can be.

Who ripped who off?

I took these two pictures last week while I was in Seoul Korea. These were taken on my Helio Drift on the way to the SK Telecom offices after a quick Korean breakfast at Krispy Kreme.





My co-worker Taeho mentioned that the Korean writing means 3 circles.

Now take a look at the Bonnaroo logo from 2004 that Jacki and I went to. Looks very similar...

Animation of Neil Peart

Nothing like a little late night distraction. This is a great rendering of Neil Peart of Rush playing YYZ. As a drummer I can attest that this is not one of Rush's most difficult songs on drums, however it is one of the funnest to play.

Enjoy.

The next DVD

Last weekend I picked up the new HD DVD Player add on to the XBOX 360. It comes with the player, a USB 2.0 cable, and the HD DVD of King Kong.

The set up was a breeze. Within minutes of opening the box I had the unit up and running. Since my display will support 1080p I purchased the Xbox 360 HD VGA cable that will output 1080p. If you are thinking about doing this, don't bother. I was extremely disappointed with the quality of the VGA display coming from the XBOX 360. Many of the reviews I read about the cable indidcated it would be hit or miss, and for me it was definitely a miss.

I also purchased U2's Rattle and Hum and V for Vendetta. The first being a music video, which is what I watch the most of at home, and the second being a recent movie I enjoyed through Netflix.

I first threw in the U2 HD DVD and when the HD DVD introduction for Paramount began I could instantly see the huge difference between your average DVD and HD DVD. The best way I can describe it is it's as if someone finally corrected the focus knob. Things just look much cripser and clearer. I watched King Kong all the way through and in the long shots over New York or even on Skull Island the subject up front of course was clear, but so is everything else in the background. Jacki even commented on how it looked better than DVD.

The other nice thing about this new HD format is the menus for navigating the features of a movie will show while the movie is playing. I never thought of this as something that was necessary but after doing it once you see how convenient it can be.

I've been known to be an early adopter when it comes to these types of things. I purchased my first DVD player the month they came out, and it was so early on they were selling DVDs in only 7 cities, and my city at the time, Austin, was not one of them. Fortunately that early adoption worked for the best. I also bought into the Super Audio CD (SACD) format. Although the titles sound amazing the format never took off and only a handful of titles trickle out every few months. SACD was the victim of a format war with DVD Audio, which also failed.

Now for the High Def DVD format war, HD DVD and Blu Ray, this is just like VHS and Betamax all over again. No telling who will win, but with the $199 price for the HD DVD add on I couldn't resist getting the full potential out of my TV. Sony didn't win the Betamax war, but only time will tell if Blu Ray will suffer the same fate.

A Blog Facelift

The Dave Blog finally gets a facelift. I figured after 4 years of having the same layout it was time for an upgrade. The difference is dramatic, but I hope everyone will agree it is for the better. Here is a before and after of the blog.










This template came from Blogger and is titled Dots Dark. In order to take advantage of some of the new dynamic widget features (recent tracks, archive with the arrows to expand and collapse) I had to move my blog pages to Google's hosting service Blog*Spot. Everyone can still goto www.thedaveblog.com to get to the site, the only difference is the server that stores the pages are different.

For you RSS users, the RSS URL has also changed. You can get the new feed here

Please leave a comment if you like the change.

Helio

I get to rarely write about the company I work for, in fear of sharing information I shouldn't, but I wanted to share some of the accomplishments that we released to the press yesterday. I'm very proud of what we have achieved, and it is clear we've quickly come into the life and minds of many people in the US and all of this within our first 9 months of launching the company.

If you don't know, I work for Helio, a new mobile carrier focused on delivering a wireless experience that is geared for the data centric web generation. Although I'm sure my marketing people wouldn't approve that description. I run the Platform Engineering team and have touched nearly every aspect of every service Helio has brought to market. As Jacki and Darian can attest we live and breathe Helio, I work long hours, Jacki gets tattoos :-), and Darian is our "man on the street" peddling the goods to the kids in school. And of course I get to write this as I'm on the other side of the globe working at one our parent companies, SK Telecom, in Korea.

Here are highlights from our most recent press release.

Helio's Subscribers

• Launched 3 devices (Hero, Kickflip, Drift)
  
• Expect to surpass 100,000 subscribers in early Q2
• Average mobile bill is over $100 a month

Multiple Industry Firsts

• Myspace Mobile
• GPS-enabled Google Maps
• Buddy Beacon
• Gifting and Begging

Subscriber Statistics

• 25% of ARPU (average revenue per user) from data services. This is approximately $25, and is 2-3 times the industry average
• MySpace Mobile is used by over 70% of subscribers
• WAP usage by over 85% of our users (this is the mobile web for those of you that don't know what WAP is)
  
• Over 80% of our subscribers with GPS enabled devices have downloaded Google Maps
• Approximately 70% of our subscribers with GPS enabled devices have downloaded Buddy Beacon
• And the typical Helio subscriber sends over 400 SMS messages a month

So what does all of that mean? It means the stuff we have been working on is getting used by our subscribers more than we could have ever imagined. We are setting industry records and exceeding all statistics the industry had come to accept. It shows that the people who are Helio's customers are consuming every aspect of our service in every way possible. This is what we had hoped for but we didn't expect this level of enthusiasm so early into our company's existence. Whatever we are doing is resonating with our customers.

This is only the beginning and our future looks very promising. Of course I know what we have coming in the future and all I can say is you have no idea how cool the next 9 months are going to be.

At this point I must give thanks to Jacki and Darian for supporting me on this crazy ride out here in LA. I couldn't have done this without you.

Great White and the Harp Seals

Last night I saw a reunited Great White performing with their "classic" lineup with the core band from the 80s and 90s. It was what was touted as the first show of the reunion tour. I've seen this band a number of times and other than the disaster tour of 2003 that ended with the Rhode Island tragedy they always put on a great show.

The setlist was a standard Great White set with a couple of surprises thrown in.

Great White
Keyclub
Hollywood, CA
January 27, 2007

Can't Shake It
Lady Red Light
Wooden Jesus
Face The Day
Mista Bone
On Your Knees -> Achilles Last Stand -> On Your Knees
House Of Broken Love
Save Your Love
Paradise
Little Red Rooster (w/ Mark Kendall on vocals)
Rolling Stoned
Rock Me

Encore
The Angel Song
All Over Now
Once Bitten...Twice Shy
---
Jumping Jack Flash (w/ Don Dokken)


Jack looked great and admitted to a recent face lift and proudly telling the crowd. He also mentioned he had been sober for 18 months. Although the band were all a little thicker than they were back in the day they all looked good and healthy, clearly being away from the rock and roll lifestyle these past few years has been a good thing for this band. Most importantly the band was tight, and Jack's voice was in better shape then it had been in recent years. The only performance misstep of the evening was Wooden Jesus.

A dedication was made to the Rhode Island victims at the start of The Angel Song during the encore. For the close of the show the band invited a couple of friends to the stage to help on vocals. Don Dokken was one of those special guests. Don also jumped onstage to sing one line of Little Red Rooster during the main set.

Although for me this was about seeing Great White, the event was a charity event for the Harp Seals. The charity's mission was to provide awareness about the killing of baby seals off of Canada's eastern coast. The baby seals are killed for their furs. Last year alone 300,000+ of these baby seals were killed, all within days of being born. Some of the video shown was very disturbing. To learn more about the plight of the seals check out the Harp Seals website http://www.harpseals.org/

The event raised money for the charity and I even won a silent auction of a framed autographed picture of Bruce Kulick from KISS. Other acts at the event were Bob Gentry and Jak Paris.

Comedian Hal Sparks MC'd the show.

More pictures from the show are available here.

A Little Texas Vacation

Our Christmas started in Santa Monica this year a day early. Since we were headed to see friends and family on Christmas day we opened our gifts at home on Christmas eve. This was a day that was truly about Darian. She was able to get some practical things (sewing machine, book on how to make custom t-shirts) to some fun things that she wasn't expecting (ragady anne vinyl, and tiger army picture disc)

You can see from her expression in the picture how truly excited she was :-)

Our journey started bright and early in euro taxi based in Santa Monica. What is a euro taxi you ask? Well it is a crappy mercedes disguised as a taxi. Still nicer than your typical taxi, but they are stretching in saying you will ride in the luxury of a mercedes.

We got to the airport around 6am with plenty of time to spare for our boarding time around 7am. This was probably the last family trip where we get to use the Delta Crown Room, since next year they are imposing a fee even for platinum travelers.

We arrived at Bush Intercontinental shortly after noon and immediately found Pappa's Bar-B-Q in the terminal. Instead of taking a chance of finding food on the road we decided to eat at the airport. After plates of brisket, sausage, ribs, and a meaty potato we headed down to see Jacki's family in Port Lavaca.

The road trip down to Port Lavaca was uneventful, other than us picking up vanilla cokes from Sonic for the road. It has been close to a year since I have had a non-diet coke so this was a sadly a great treat.

We were at Jacki's family from Monday evening through midday on Friday. Lots of food, lots of visiting with family and a great time to spend with everyone. And Gary was even nice enough to get me some Shiner Bock which I hadn't had in over a year. Jacki and I went to the YMCA in order to offset the holiday comfort food that was at every meal. I think I alone consumed 2/3rds of a chocolate cake on my own.

The interesting comment about this trip is I now work at a company that everyone can understand what we are trying to do. This was probably my first trip to see family where people really understood what my company does and what I do at that company.

On Friday we headed to see my family in Houston. We were able to see most everyone on Friday night. Jeff and Lisa came to mom's and mom and Marvin were there as well. A few pictures around the tree, some more wine and shiner and the opening of Christmas presents.

Saturday we made it to my favorite restaurant, Pappasito's, that is also part of the Pappa's chain. Afterwards Jacki, Darian and I went to see our good friend Dean. He has been in Houston for the majority of December due to his mom's health. It was good to see him back in our "hometown" even though both of us live in the LA area now. We met at Starbucks of all places and had a great visit with him.

Sunday was our last full day in Texas. Being both New Year's eve, and our anniversary it was an occasion to celebrate. I treated the three of us to a fantastic dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Houston. Jacki and I went for her birthday this past August in Beverly Hills and had such a great time. I thought since Darian is usually left out of the nice dinners that it would be good to let her get a nice night out. The food was excellent as was the service.

On our way home we took a chance and dropped by my Dad's new house. We hadn't been able to get a hold of him all weekend. I knew I'd regret not making the effort to see him and fortunately he and Rose were home. It turns out he hadn't forwarded his old phone number to his new house. We had a late night New Year's Eve visit and got a tour of his new home. It was great to see it finished. The first time we saw it being built was on our christmas trip in 2005.

On the way home midnight hit and the New Year's fireworks were shooting from all the suburban neighborhoods. Driving on the freeway we had a great view over Jersey Village, and Copperfield. We watched fireworks outside briefly at my Mom's. In the backyard I heard something hit the ground and we ended up finding a used firework on her deck. At that point we knew it was time to call it a night.

Monday we spent flying back to LA, going from what we grew up calling home to our new home. Another Christmas vacation that will be saved in our memories.

You can see more pictures from our Christmas at
http://picasaweb.google.com/dhoward/ChristmasInTexas
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/dhoward/ChristmasInSantaMonica2006