Well, Hello Dolly!

Just got back from the Dolly Concert! I am so wound up! IT WAS UN-BELIEVABLE!

We got there early. My mom and Daughter sporting their Dolly T-Shirts. We grabbed some pizza, some souvenirs and then took to our seats. WOW! I picked great seats. We were on the aisle (great for a big person like me) an we were pretty close.

The Grascals opened and warmed us up to some great tunes. They mentioned their new single coming out and one of the songs on it "Viva Las Vegas" a Duet with Dolly would be on it. A local Dolly Impersonator danced in the aisles to one of their songs.

Then the band played Hello Dolly while they showed some pictures of Dolly in a "Hello Dolly" golden gown, she was making some cute poses, some funny poses and just being Dolly!

Then Dolly came out to wrap up that song and start off the show (She even plugged a Dollywood commercial while in the songs "Hooray for Dollywood" she even said she would plug a commercial where she could).

She asked us if we wanted to Party. Well, that only means we are going Two Doors Down! She then continued the medley with 9 to 5, Here You Come Again and I believe Jolene.

She talked about new technology and how they had her decked out with like 3 mics (One on her head, one on stage and one in between her assets--she tested that one out and it overly-echoed!). She talked about her costume changes and how they will happen on stage (sorry, no Janet Jackson replay! She said she would have taken out the first four rows)

She played the piano to The Grass is Blue in Norah Jones style. Talked about how Elvis wanted to sing I Will Always Love You, but she didn't want to give up the publishing rights. (Good thing too!) And sang songs from her new album coming out after the 1st of the year. John Lennon's Imagine and Kris Kristofferson's Bobby McGee and a new Song called Blue Smoke (about a train). Her rendition of Imagine almost made me cry.

She sang "I Will Always Love you" with Elvis and by herself. "Little Sparrow" (acapella--you could hear it in the rafters--everyone was so still and quiet. It was just awesome) "Johnny Come Marchin Home", "Coat of Many Colors", "Smoky Mountain Memories", "Thank God I'm A Country Girl", "Baby It's Cold Outside" (on an album with Rod Stewart) "Island In the Streams" (With a Kenny Rogers puppet--that was made here in Minneapolis by a local company--I think called Mini-Effects) Her Encore was Hello God.

Her entire set was (To the best of my knowledge):
Hello, I'm Dolly / Two Doors Down / Medley: Nine To Five, Why'd You Come In Here Lookin Like That, Here You Come Again, Jolene / The Grass Is Blue / Baby It's Cold Outside / PMS Blues / I Dreamed Of Elvis / I Will Always Love You / Blue Smoke / Me & Bobby McGee / Imagine /Little Sparrow / Viva Las Vegas / Islands In The Stream / Thank God I'm A Country Girl / My Tennessee Mountain Home / Coat Of Many Colors / Smoky Mountain Memories / When Johnny Comes Marchin Home / ENCORE: Hello God.

Don Warden was supposedly in the audience.

I know I am missing a few songs. It was such a whirlwind of fun. Dolly cracked many jokes. It was a memorable event that I will remembers always. She had the entire audience sing "I Will Always Love You" with just her and it was awesome. She wanted to take us all on the road with her (I am sure she says that to all the audiences!)

A few Dolly trivia:

• Richard Dennison (who sang Rod's part in Baby It's Cold Outside) is her long time backup singer and is married to her little sister Rachel.
• Don Warden produced (I believe) a lot of Albums with Dolly.
  

Souvenirs:

• There were two photo shots,
  
• The Concert Poster,
  
• a key chain,
  
• a huge book,
  
• various t-shirts,
  
• pink sweatbands and hats
  
• her Live and Well CD & DVD.
  

I got a wristband for each girl, a key chain for my son and 2 photos for me. I had forgotten how expensive a concert can be.

Her outfit was very simple, yet all the add-ons drastically changed the look. Dolly is a great performer and especially one stage, there wasn't a dull moment. She kept us with her right from the beginning.

The arena was a half-hall show, so it was more intimate. It wasn't sold out, but it wasn't empty either. I thought there was a good turn out.

I saw her at the State Fair when she was here 11 years ago and this concert was far better. What was really memorable was that this was my 8 year olds first concert and that I got to share Dolly with her was wonderful. I have loved Dolly's music since I was 2 years old. So to pass that one to my children was great!

Thank you Dolly for a wonderful night and thank you for giving me so much music. Music is a big part of my family and there isn't a moment we don't have music on in the house.

I truly believe that Dolly taught me how to sing by listening and sing to her songs. (Although, Whitney Houston did teach me how to breath while singing) And there isn't a situation that I cannot find a Dolly Song to go with it. My best friend used to tell me what was going on in her life, I would find a Dolly song for her to listen to that would help her get through it.

So thank you again Dolly and I can't waint until I get to say, "Here You Come Again!"

UPDATE: After listening to the local radio and reading local reviews, I want to say that I DO NOT BELIEVE DOLLY LIP-SYNC'd at the concert.

She may have had a backing track with a few of the songs, But I have listened to Dolly since I was 2 and have just about every album except 4 really old ones and I listen to her every day and trust me when I say, I can tell when its a recording and when she is live.

I would almost say that Dolly has two voices. One for the studio and one for the stage. Yes, they are very similar, but when you listen to her as long and as much as i do, you can tell the difference.

The only song that sounded like the album version was "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and that was it. I have heard people saying that they were 3 rows away and could see her lip-syncing. I was close enough too and even on the large screen you couldn't see any evidence of that.

So I want to tell you that I don't belive Dolly did that and I am sure that the public is just paranoid with the whole Ashlee Simspon thing and are just trying to bring others down.

Dolly has been around for a long time and I don't think she would do that to her fans, she has told us time and time again that she truly values her fans.

Wil Wheaton, Dolly Parton and Begging for Cash

Just wanted to update and let you know that Wil Wheaton was at Gnomedex at you can download his reading/presentation here. I just downloaded it an I really enjoyed it. If your a fan of Wil's or even if your not, go download it and give it a listen. It's worth it and it's free!

On another note. TWO WEEKS UNTIL I GO SEE DOLLY IN CONCERT!!!!!

I so cannot wait! It has been 11 years since her last major concert. I saw here at the State Fair 11 years ago. From crappy seats. Thanks Sis for picking crappy seats. I'm not bitter!

But this year I bought the tickets and got some great seats!

ALSO! I NEED CASH!

I am saving up for a G4 Powerbook and need $3000. So don't give me gifts, just give me the cash you would have spent on me! I really need this laptop, so you'll be contributing to a good cause!

Thanks!

Currently in my iPod:

• Hollywood USA & Coming Out of Hiding - RuPaul
• Fever - Celine Dion
• Lose my breath - Destiny's Child
• Same old Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg
• Alka yagnik
• Amy Hanai'ali'i
• Oui Ohana

Bite the Magic Bullet and infomercial kids.

My kids are so much like me. They would rather watch infomercials than cartoons. And they memorize every single thing so they can repeat it to us later.

Ask my son what the vacuum food saver can do and he will tell you it can crush 24 cans, save you thousands on your grocery bill by buying in bulk and keep your meat fresh for up to a year or more.

Ask my youngest daughter about bare essentials and she will tell you that it's makeup that doesn't feel cakey. It is only three powder foundations that allow your natural beauty to come through, yet hide blemishes and age spots.

Ask them about the magic bullet and they will direct you to our kitchen. yep, we bought one. And it was worth it.

We are a frugal (is that the word I want) family when it comes to our kitchen wares. We have the Miracle Blade III knife set and they do everything they say they do. We are a pampered chef family and have about 80% of the catalog. And now we have the magic bullet.

For those of you who have no idea what the magic bullet is, it is basically a blender/grinder/food processor. But the unique thing is that you put everything into special cups (small, large and handle mugs) and attach the correct blade (you get two types) and put it on the bullet base (where you can lock it on or use the "pulse" technique where you tap it for quick bursts of spinning).

But what it neat is that you put everything into the cup and attach the blade cover and then turn it all upside down and place it on the base. Unlike a blender where everything is thrown in on the top. It also comes with a blender size container and juicer attachment (that works very well).

The different blades and different cups are handy. In 5 minutes everyone had their own flavored smoothie in their respective mixing mug. Do that in a blender and you have to clean it out between flavors. Amy and I had 2 different types of omelette's for breakfast. I made applesauce, apple juice, and chicken salad for my work dinner all in 10 minutes.

Usually we don't go for gimmicks on TV. Like the griddle/sandwich maker thingy or the rotisserie thing. But what we do buy, we usually are happy with.

So take a look at the magic bullet, and see that it is worth it. (it also came with a 101 recipe book that tells you how to make breads, frostings, dips, cakes, sauces, marinades...should I go?)

Technology is so confusing.

While my relatives were down, I tried to do some DVD work (I had just got my PC back from the shop) and my DVD drive gives me some Cycle Redundancy Check error.

Well I try different stuff, even reformat and reinstall my entire PC. Same thing. So I call the manufacturere and they say they need to send me a new one. So I shipped it off today, hopefully I will get the new one soon.

Isn't technology great?!

(UPDATE: I found out months later, that this error can be caused by a dirty disc, dirty lens, or simply encoding on the DVD that you are trying to read from. If I get this error now, I simply give up.)

Creating Memories...

What a weekend..

We had Amy's older sister, her fiance and their three children come down for the weekend so we could all go to the Afton Apple Orchard in Hastings. What a blast.

I got off of work early so that I could visit with them and play games (we are such a gaming family) We played curses and scene-it. Had some drinks and turned in around 1 pm.

We woke up around 8 or 9, got ready and left for Hastings around 10:15 am.

We got there at 10:45 am and it was already packed. We paid and headed down to the corn maze. We did phase 1 with the kids and then Amy's mom took the kids to the play area while Amy, Me, Cindy, Jason, Jennifer, Gabe, Tyler (?) and Matt & Tony went on to phase 2.

There is three phases to this maze. Phase 1 takes about 15 minutes. Phase 2 takes about 30 minutes and phase 3 takes about 45 minutes. Every year they change this 10-acre maze so it is never the same.

After we did phase 2 we went and collected the kids and ate lunch (with some bees). After lunch we all decided to take the hayride and go get some pumpkins and some apples.

Well we tried to get on the first hayride and all of us wouldn't fit. Some other people ran right in front of our group of 15 and jumped on. So the owners said that the next hayride we would be the first on (they have about 4 tractors that run all day). So we waited and got on first.

Of course the first stop was the pumpkin patch. So we all got off and the kids each picked a small pumpkin, wile Matt and Tony picked a 40 pounder. We then proceeded to get on the next hayride.... no luck... so we decided to walk to the next stop, but let Jason and the Boys take their big pumpkins back on the next hayride.

So, Mikayla and I start walking. The next thing I know, everyone is waving to us on the hayride as they pass by. Of course, this just pisses Mikayla off and she is thoroughly ticked off.

So we follow it to the next stop. I notice no one gets off and it turns around, so I start walking back. Finally I tell Mikayla that we can go to the park, but nope, she wants the hayride. So we walk back to the pumpkins and wait for the next one. Guess what. Practically empty. So we jump on and follow it around through the different apples and back to the store.

The whole time Mikayla is just upset so I keep telling her she can yell at mama when we get back. This makes her feel a little better. We get off at the play area where the other kids are and I go to find Amy, who is on the hayride behind mine (she had to stop and get some Honey Golden apples for pies).

So we meet down by the store where Cindy and Courtney are waiting and Amy realizes we still have to pick Raspberries. Amy, Courtney and I walk over and pick the best Raspberries I have ever tasted. Of course we are eating as we are picking.

We then walk back into the store (which is packed) and pay for our apples, (honey golden and honey crisps--which you cannot pick-only get in the store), our raspberries, pumpkins, apple cider, and flavored syrups.

As we are taking this all to the car, everyone else meets back and says the kids need to go home, they are getting crabby. But Courtney didn't get to go to the petting zoo, So Mona (Amy's mom) takes her. While we are waiting, Cindy, Jason, the boyz and I go take phase 3 of the maze. We all get thoroughly lost. One hole section is a dead end.

Finally Cindy and I give up and we cut through the maze (we had lost the boyz and jay somehow) and start walking back to the entrance. We see the exit line, so we cut through so it looks like we exited. We then load up and go home.

We play more games when we get home, have dinner and stay up and party. Jason's youngest brother came over and we all played scene-it. He brought his new laptop, so I hook him up with 20 gigs of music.

Sunday morning we all wake up and have pancakes and donuts (Amy's dad stopped over and brought some) then the girls go visit their Grams in the hospital while Jason and I play ESPN NFL 2K5 and he beats me 22 to 50. Then when they get back they head home.

All in all, we had a great time and can't wait to do it again!