Doug & I  went to see the newest Pirate movie last night 
It should have been called Pirates to the end of the world and 3 hours of your life you will never get back

Granted the special effects and CG were awesome but that was not enough to save this movie from being classified as not even worth the price of a cheap rental 

Plot lines were wayyyyyyyyy to confusing . I'm still not sure who was double crossing who to get to what and why 

WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY over the top action scenes that leave you shouting ... OHHHHH come on knock it off that could never happen . GIANT voodo woman who explodes and thousands of crabs come out of her .
Multiple Johnny Depps in the same scene all not making sense and  all with out the humor that I was hoping to see from the 1st movie 

The tentacle guy was less mean than in the last movie you could say the giant squidy like man had a emotional side to him that just made it even creepier than it was in #2

Orlando Blooms love intrest in the movie (can't remember her name for the life of me)  becomes a captain of a ship and her costume changes to trendy asian couture with a touch of Gangas Khan . Totally insane . Like Pirates generally  travel the seas with trunks of clothing on their ships just in case a cute female needs to change for dinner.

I think the Asian Pirate lady lord could have been Margret Cho's mother in real life . She had the same pissed off at life yell that Cho has

Orlando Bloom was adorable but then again a bad movie cant take that away from him 

This movie was missing the fun and humor of the first one, but then again sequels are hardly ever as good as the first one . I think what this movie was missing in chemistry and story line they tried to make you forget about with action scenes and special effects . It might have worked if those elements would not have been so outrageously over the top . Even more so than the previous Pirates . 

The writers and directors  totally leave the movie open for #4 and i was told by my husband that i best find someone else to see it with because he now classifies Pirates 3 in the same bad cinema class as  Oceans 12 . Which was another movie he complained he could never get back the 2+ hours he spent at the show to make me happy 

Last night my husband Doug and I went to the Jumpin Jack bash at Toyota Park 

We were suppose to go for our yearly trip up to Twin Lakes WI for a day of country music at the free day of Country Thunder . When Doug came home and gave me the choice of Carrie Underwood and the cutie country boy Dierks Bentley or an evening with the Pretenders there was no question... Chrissy won out with out even a dissusion on the matter

Ever since i was a teenager she has been my Rock and Roll Female Idol I always wanted to be her
Always the tough chick that could play the guitar as well as any man and a voice that was like no one elses 

My mother thought she was the next best thing to a female version of the Devil 
My mother once saw a photo of her in a short black leather skirt some ripped T Shirt and of course the hair in her eyes way too much black eye liner and the cigarette hanging from her mouth that image was enough to send my mother over the top and from that moment on the Pretenders were banned from my house . They were replaced by the sounds of the best of Lawerence Welk and some other crap my mother thought impressionable teen girls should be listening to 

Now at the ripe old age of Grandmotherness I finally got the chance to see the Rock legend in person .
The entire show was EXTREMLY great 
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts started the evening off with music that was so rockin and tight you would have never thought she had taken a decade or 2 off from being the little chick with a bad mullet , leather pants , tattoos and a guitar . Joan had not lost a beat if anything she had found a few and she played them all very well . I went there kinda looking forward to seeing the "Do you wanna touch me there"  girl , after her 35 min set i was very impressed by her and her band that I made a mental note  to down load some of her music into my MP3 player this weekend  . You never know when you might be in the right frame of mind for a little I Love Rock and Roll .

Next up was the Stray Cats ... I was so excited about seeing them , and with good reason. 
WOW ... is all i can say . Brian and the guys still know how to get you up and moving , with the insane guitar licks and the slapping bass . Very tight musically , and great hair all around. 
Brian looks a bit older than he did when he first released his famous rockabilly tunes but he still has what it takes on the lead guitar and of course some of the coolest hair I have seen on a rocker 
I was very glad they were on the bill I only wish they would have been given more time I was sad when they left the stage

I did find it very funny that in one of Setzer's little tie ins to the line up , he mentioned everyone on the bill except REO .
I could not remember if he had a problem with bands like REO when it was the hay day of Arena like music 
But then again I was not looking all that forward to hearing "Time for me to Fly"  26 yrs after i heard it live the last time 

Next up was the Pretenders ..... 
Now i know and understand when people say they got chills because they were so excited . I had them ... my husband told me i looked as if i was seeing a vision of some sort . He some how managed to get me front and center ( Leave it to him to make friends with the security guards and instantly call in  the favor of .. hey guy let my wife stand here for a moment ) for this part of the evening .
Musically they were not as togather as i thought they would be ,but then again this was one of the first venues on their new tour, so they had not gotten all the Kinks  out yet .

Chrissy was a bit on the angry side poking fun at the ZZ top fans in the front row. I think she said something to the effect that only aging rock fans could be so unattractive as the bunch in the front row of the crowd . 
She did however have some great high boots on , knee high brown tones , not sleezy or anything . Also the typical size 0 black tight pants and a tank top . She did make some comment in regards to her lack of clevage , and had people guess who had bigger "tits" ( God i hate that word) her or Joan . I think she should have also asked who had the flattest back side . Neither of them have to weight over 90LBS  and have no fat on them .

One of my favorite banters was something about her and the bass player trying to do this silly little "dance" while they were playing that they just could not get in sinc with . They did it minus the instruments and then she made a comment along the lines poling fun at the headliners .. ZZ TOP 
Something about F#@k ZZtop let them try to touch that . It was funny but in a kinda mean pissed off angry aging rock girl tone. Never the less the crowd went wild perhaps that is what she was going for . 

What amazed me is why the heck is this Hall of fame band playing only 45 mins and technically opening for REO 
I did not figure that out , and still might never . But then again Kevin Kronin is not my female idol and I can't stop this feeling was not one of my favorite songs even when i was a love sick 17 yr old .
But i was not the promoter of the night so all i could do was enjoy the night 

Pretenders left the stage minus one guitar pick that is now mine  and i was told to go back to my seat. 
Fine i could die a happy rock fan but before that i needed some food and a cold drink . I had sang so loudly that all i had left of a voice was a squeek 

We took the chance of the REO set to get some food a much needed potty break , some people watching and of course some time for my husband to have a smoke or 2 . 
We played the game of ... how many people will we know here game , we found 8 people we knew that we had no idea were going . So it was a fun time . 
Watched some insane man just dancing away in his seat. He was very Billy Crystal like for some reason . I think it was the facial expressions . Perhaps more of if Billy Crystal and Robin Williams had a middle aged male child he would have been this dancing man 
Doug had to film him and of course we had to go over and make him pose for a phone photo to prove just how funny this guy was 

REO came on and INSTANTLY i was 17 and back in 1980 
I laughed when i stop to think i had seen them back in 1980 with Husband #1 and now 27 yrs later i was there with Hubby # 3 Made me chuckle just a little bit 

They were not bad and for what it is worth i see why they were so mega big in the 80's . They are very good musically . 
it was odd to look over the crowd ( we had gone up to the consessions area and were now wayyyyy above the main floor where are seats were ) and see everyone just swaying along to all the REO classics it was like a live music video take
Kronin has aged alot  , is all grey and kinda looks like a HS Drivers ED teacher to me or maybe a shop teacher  . But his voice has not changed nor has his guitar skills . So good for him .. I hear they are releasing a new CD , I made a mental note not to waste any time loading it into my MP3 player 
I was surprised how many people came just to see REO and left soon after they were done .

Onto the headliners ZZ TOP 
I had just recently seen them while we were on vacation in Vegas and thought they were wonderful 
Great guitar playing , out of this world Drum playing and of course the slow moving in sync movements of the 2 old guys with the long beards is always amusing 
I have to honestly say they were better last night than they were in Vegas . I think it may have been the Jimmy Hendricks cover they did so well that swayed my vote 
Of course they played songs like Legs and cheap sunglasses and the famous Tush . 
The ZZ fans are always so intresting to watch and in a big outdoor thing like this there were plenty to watch . 
Something about aging harley guys drunk and missing teeth fascinates me I think part of it is i try to think of what they are like or they do in the "real" world 

All in all the night was well worth the price of the tickets ( well we paid well below face but still more than the free country thunder tickets i had) and the half day off work 
I finally got to see the woman i wanted to be most like when i was 16 , and still wouldn't mind having her musical talent and that one of a kind voice 

Find out that some things are best left back in your youth . Like some of the clothing that the now aging soccer moms who still want to be rock  groupies  were wearing . 
Time to let the ripped t shirts and almost punk skirts and mesh stockings go  especially when you drive up to the concert in a mini van with a sticker on it that proclaims you have an honor student at a JR high and you have various photo pins of your T-ball playing child hanging from you  purse strap 
Hey but that is just me and my thinking 

Fun night cool venue I can hardly wait to take my soccer junkie 13 yr old there to see a game

I am new to this ......... 
I have always kept a journal but never one that i can share with people 

Today is a very boring day at the office 
My operations manager is off today, actually he is at the CUBS game, which would be great if i was not such a HUGE fan and he was a Royal's and Card's fan. 
The office is slow and i am still not in the mood to work 

Not sure if the lack of intrest is from getting up at 6AM so i can have my 13 yr old to football camp early enough so he will not have to run late laps, or if i am in a "funk" still from the car accident i was in exactly 2 weeks ago
HMMMMMMMMMMM could be both , and the act i would much rather be at the pool reading a book and catching some sun. 

Ohhhh well , perhaps this will help me keep in touch with people who complain i don't keep in touch enough and with people i really should keep in touch with more often
if anything it will be a great place just to rant (as my husband calls it ) about random things

Oh yeah I am 3 recipes closer to the end of writing my cook book 
About 100 or so more and i will be done 

Food network here i come
I

Current Mood: bored