Olympic Fever!

I admit it, I have Olympic fever.  I watched everything this past weekend from womens' skeet shooting to synchronized diving and beyond.  I even was up overnight and watched whitewater canoeing.  Yeah, I didn't know that existed as a sport, either, until Mary Carillo told me it was at 12am.

I always seem to think, though, as I watch these awesome human beings perform feats that I never could and never will, that they are from all over the place:  California, New York, South Dakota.  For some reason, and perhaps this comes from growing up in a small town, I never think that the people I'm watching on TV are from my home area.  But, now that I'm in North Carolina, they are.

  It's hard for me to grasp that the man on the far left, Cullen Jones,won a silver medal yesterday in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay.  He went to NC State.

It's crazy to think that the woman on the bottom of this photo, Abby Johnston, dives for Duke.  She's a silver medalist now, too.

Marathoner Shalane Flanagan went to Carolina.  Will she go to the medals podium?

Jesse Williams went to Broughton.  He's also badass in the high jump. 

Nick McCrory is from Chapel Hill.  He wears Duke Blue.  He also wears a medal around his neck--but since tonight's primetime coverage hasn't aired yet, I don't want to spoil it for you folks who are waiting to watch it on TV.


Here is my point:  here are five amazing athletes, and they all have ties to the Triangle.  It blows my mind that we've got no less than five Olympians here, plus amazing national title winning basketball teams, and great academics too.  Is there something in the water?  If there is, please excuse me for a second.  I'm going to get a drink.



Alli



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Thoughts On Colorado

My heart is very heavy in these last 24 hours and I've thought a lot about my childhood.


In my childhood, I was a latch key kid.

I rode the public bus by myself when I was 7.

I went with my friends to the video arcade to play Pac Man and Donkey Kong and just had to be home when the street lights went on.

All our neighbors looked out for each out for each other - it was truly communal parenting.

Now, with children of my own, events like the one in the Colorado movie theater give me a highly advanced degree of heart sickness.

These times we live in have become so divisive and antagonistic - when Americans, now more than ever, need each other.  We need to support each other in times of great joy...and great sadness.

Jessica Ghawi was a member of our radio family, and you've probably heard her story.  She's the one who narrowly escaped a mall shooting in Toronto, only to be gunned down this week in Colorado.  She was an intern at 104.3FM, a Denver sports station and after the Toronto shooting, she wrote a blog which I'm linking to below and I strongly encourage you to read.  In it, she writes:

I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.


Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hug my children.  To Jessica, and all the victims of this senseless day, I'm so sorry.  This shouldn't have happened in the United States of America.

This is a link to Jessica's blog:

http://jessicaredfield.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/late-night-thoughts-on-the-eaton-center-shooting/

Foster
Radio 96.1

I'm Pretty Sure It's Not 1993--But Summerland Tells Me It Is.

That picture is one I snapped this past Saturday night at Raleigh Amphitheater of Art Alexakis of Everclear and Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.  I posted it to my Facebook page, with this caption: 

Mark McGrath looks old. Therefore, I feel old. Art has alway looked like a grandpa though, so he doesn't make me feel AS bad.

It's true, though, that they looked old to me because they're getting old.  And so am I.  But, for one glorious night this past weekend, it was the 90s all over again.   Marcy Playground, Lit, Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray and Everclear came and entertained for hours on Saturday, and I have to say:  they definitely embraced the fact that this tour was a nostalgia tour for many people.  90s music was played in between sets; Sugar Ray came on stage to the Saved By The Bell theme, and left it to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme.  Mark McGrath even stayed out to rap a little with the crowd.  ("Innnnnn West Philadelphia, born and raised...on the playground was where I spent most o' my days...." but, I digress.)  My point here is that they get it.  That's how you do a reunion tour.  Almost none of the bands tried to force some of their new music on the crowd.  I had said earlier, "just play the hits.  Just do it!"  And most bands obliged.  

I was most impressed with Gin Blossoms; I hadn't seen them before, and didn't know what to expect.  What I got was that they were arguably the best band of the night:  a real legit live band who has so many hits you continually find yourself saying, "oh!  I forgot about this song!"  Their lead singer, Robin Wilson, has been with the band since 1988, and took over lead vocals early on after Doug Hopkins was fired, but I hadn't heard him sing live before so I wasn't sure what to expect. The Gin Blossoms took me so far back, I actually found myself texting my college roommate, asking her if we were together somewhere, making bad decisions, and it was 1993 all over again.

Unfortunately, though, for as great as Gin Blossoms and Sugar Ray were, Everclear, who headlined the night, were just terrible.  Art Alexakis' voice is just shot, and he would sing-talk a line and let the crowd do the next line.  I'm not sure if this is because Art just isn't used to being on a tour of this scale in a while and his voice can't handle it, or it's permanently damaged.  Either way, I found myself leaving the show early because, while Everclear is technically a good band, it was painful, at least for me, to watch.

All in all though, I have to say:  the night was great for me.  Plus, I had a 6 year old and an 11 year old with me...both of whom jumped up on their chairs, screamed, and put their rock 'n roll fingers \m/ in the air, loving every minute of it.   And that, I think, was the most fun of all.

Alli

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Roger Waters Review and Pics

When Pink Floyd first staged "The Wall" 32 years ago, it was wildly expensive and difficult to move from town to town - which is part of the reason why the tour only visited five cities.

The technological advances in three decades surely haven't made things cheaper, and Waters has spared no expense in the production (it reportedly cost upwards of $60 million dollars to stage).  From the outset, you know you're not in for a standard night at a concert when the warm up music playing through the PA includes John Lennon's "Imagine" and Jeff Beck's "People Get Ready".  Waters doesn't want you to get pumped up for a rock show that will blow your mind...he wants you to get mentally prepared for an emotional roller coaster that will blow your mind.

So what exactly is it about this show?  The oversized teacher puppet towering over a Raleigh children's choir   for "Another Brick In The Wall"?

The airplane divebombing over the crowd and crashing into the wall after "In The Flesh"?

The haunting Orwellian nature of "Mother" watching you while the video screen projected a camera watching your every move?

The images of greed dropping from a plane in "Goodbye Blue Sky"?
Peeking through the wall as the last brick is placed before intermission for "Goodbye Cruel World"?
The images of victims of war and terror complete with their stories plastered on the wall during intermission?
Playing "Hey You" from completely behind the wall with an ironic spotlight shining on an image we can't see?
The gut wrenching anti-war plea "Bring The Boys Back Home"?
The top-of-the-wall guitar solo on "Comfortably Numb"?

The graffiti-laced pig flying over the crowd?
The heart-pumping "Run Like Hell" with mind-boggling 3D images of bricks flying out of the wall?
Waters playing a dictator and symbolically picking out audience members to shoot during "Waiting for the Worms"?
The crumbling of the wall in the finale?

The only problem with seeing Roger Waters perform "The Wall" is it has set the bar too high for all other concerts.  After seeing this, the next time you see a band charge triple digits for tickets and then just stand there playing their instruments, playing the hits and phoning it in, you'll view them with a bit of contempt...because Roger Waters just staged the greatest rock concert ever.

Foster
Radio 96.1

***Some of the above photos are from my phone taken at the show and others are from "The Wall Tour" wikipedia page.  For additional photos, check out our friend Scott Sharpe of the News and Observer:

 http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/09/2189061/roger-waters-at-pnc-070912.html

An Awesome Fourth of July

Even though cell phone cameras have come a long way, they still stink for taking nighttime photos of fireworks.

The 'Works, as they were called last night in downtown Raleigh, were awesome.  


Yes, the actual show of fireworks was a bit short, but the real 'Works, the huge street fair the folks that work at the City pulled off, was nothing short of awesome.  It takes a lot of hard work planning those street fairs; there are permits and people to hire, overtime to pay.  And it all seemed to go off without a hitch.  


I had a first rate view to kick things off from the corner of Fayetteville and Davie streets.  Here's my view from our spot:

The big ice cream made it easy for me to find my way back if I got lost.  Which, let's be serious:  there was a beer and wine garden, it was the Fourth of July.  There was potential for me to get lost.

Perhaps the best testament of all the hard work people put in to make yesterday great was the fact that seventy-five THOUSAND of you came out to watch the fireworks, eat from local restaurants, drink beers, eat from the giant ice cream, and more.  All of us in once place, oohing and aahing.  Now, I never lived here when people didn't go downtown, but I hear stories about it all the time--how 15 or 20 years ago, you never would have come to Fayetteville Street for anything.  Yet, last night, there we were, all together, even though it rained like crazy in the afternoon, you all came anyway.  A great night for Raleigh, and a great 236th birthday for the USA. 

I stole this picture from ABC 11.  Gotta give credit where credit is due.

 

 

Alli


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