America's Got Talent Live

Last night while watching the Grammys, I had one of those "Aha! I've been there!" moments. The Grammys were being held across the street at the Staples Center (where we've also been), but my moment of remembrance came when the shot panned across the road to the area outside the Nokia Theater. That's where some of the live Grammy performances were taking place, and a couple of years ago we were standing right there, waiting to see America's Got Talent Live. We're big fans of the show, possibly because it's one of the few shows that runs original programming in the summer while we're on the road, so when a particularly good season finished with a live show in Los Angeles, we made plans to be there.

One of the things I like about America's Got Talent is that I've always figured I'd make a good judge for the show. I think I'm reasonably adept at spotting talent; the acts that I key in on early usually make it fairly far in the competition, and I still claim that I was never fooled by the Milli Vanilli scam of the late 80's (although I may or may not have a "Girl You Know It's True" CD on my shelf somewhere). I just think that I would be a little harder on some of the acts than the current judges are, definitely a little more Simon than Paula. That's OK though, because I'm alright with my choices being unpopular and people booing me. It actually happens more than you'd think in the living room at home.

This had been the fifth year of America's Got Talent, and the finals were easily the strongest since Terry Fator won in season two. Taylor Mathews, Christina and Ali, Anna and Patryk, and Studio One Beast Society were all on the tour, and in the 10 minutes or so that each of them were given to perform, they did a great job. Then there was Prince Poppycock. I didn't get Prince Poppycock when he was on the show. His outfits kind of creeped me out, and I found him more annoying than anything else, but his live show was fantastic. It probably didn't hurt that he was from Los Angeles, and the first 10 rows seemed to be his close personal friends, but he certainly changed my mind about him and I'm proud to announce that I'm no longer creeped out by Prince Poppycock. Well, no more than I was surrounded by 2,000 men in sailor suits at the Cher/Village People concert. I never understand fashion.

The act the kids were most excited to see though, was Fighting Gravity. They were the group of blacklight dancers who blew away most of America, except apparently for those who actually vote as they finished third in the competition. Their show was amazing to watch, except for the people who didn't understand the three times repeated announcement to not take pictures. Seriously folks, flash photography and blacklight dancing don't mix. Is it that hard to understand? Even occasionally being able to see the people who were supposed to be hidden by darkness wasn't enough to spoil their performance though, and my kids loved every minute of it.

Of course, I may have had an ulterior motive in playing the Super Dad. Sure I was happy to fly my children across the country to see Fighting Gravity. That sounds like the kind of thing a cool Dad would do. It wouldn't have sounded nearly as manly to say that I was dragging my family to Los Angeles to see a ten year old opera singer, but I was really there to see Jackie Evancho. In possibly the greatest example of why America should never be allowed to vote on anything, Jackie came in second that year despite her amazing voice and mountains of charisma. If it's possible, she sounded even better live, and I'm so happy that we actually got to see her perform, despite not having a clue what she was singing about. When even the teenage boy is paying attention to an opera singer, you've got a definite superstar on your hands.

The last half hour of the show was given over to season five winner, Michael Grimm. There are lots of words you can use to describe his performance; average, plain, mediocre, but the words that most of the audience seemed to clue in on were "Time to leave". I know Los Angeles audiences are famous for leaving early, but Mr. Grimm didn't even get through his first song before the exodus began. We stayed for three songs before bailing out, but by that time the audience was down to almost half it's original size. I truly hope that Michael Grimm goes on to have a decent career, I just think it's apparent that as far as America's Got Talent is concerned, the wrong person won.

With that many people leaving early, there wasn't really any quick way to get out of the area, so we grabbed a Starbucks and hung around outside the Nokia Theater. I probably drank my mocha right where the Foo Fighters took the stage last night, and my kids sat and played their iPods on the spot that David Guetta performed. I love seeing places that I've been on TV as it reminds me of great adventures that we've had. It also reminds me that it's a good thing we don't let the public vote for the Grammys or we might have been watching someone win the Michael Grimm lifetime achievement award last night.

Strange Searches That Got You Here

A lot of you guys come by here fairly frequently. You either have this site bookmarked, or you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, via RSS, or by any of the other myriad of ways there are to keep track of us. We appreciate the fact that you're loyal readers, and Thank You for following along with us.

Other people get here in different ways. They may like to follow referral links, or click on our site in a list of blogs on a different website. Some people even like to type in www.morekidsthansuitcases.com each time they come to visit. However they get here, their intent was to come read our site, and for that we are grateful.

There's another group though, that weren't looking for this site at all. They were looking for something, but when they typed their query into the search engine of their choice, our site was recommended as a possible place for them to go. If they click through on to More Kids Than Suitcases, the search engine provides us with the phrase that they were looking for. Some of these make sense. We get a lot of people who were searching for "Kids Suitcases" even though we don't sell or review them. The phrase "Space Mountain broken down" also seems to send quite a few people to our site, and I apparently also qualify as some sort of expert on the Metropolitan Museum in New York according to the number of people who get here by searching for that.

These all make some sort of sense as I've written about each of those topics, although whether or not the information I provided was helpful is certainly open for debate. Sometimes though, the search keywords are enough to make you stop and go "Hmmmm..." Here's some of the stranger searches that somehow got directed to More Kids Than Suitcases...

"Full Physical Exercises for Kids" - I'm guessing that whoever got here searching for this information was extremely disappointed. I have no idea where in the blog I used this term, but I'm fairly sure it wasn't in the same context that this person is looking for. Still, I appreciate their popping by.

"Hot Girls in Bubbles" - OK, I know exactly how this person got here. I wrote about my girls going in those inflatable bubbles at the Arizona State Fair, and since it was in Phoenix, I'm sure I used the word "hot" quite a few times. Think that's what the person was looking for?

"Wife Hides the Good Food" - The best part of this search is finding out that I'm not alone. Apparently there are others out there whose wife won't tell them where she keeps the good stuff. Solidarity brothers!

"Kids Who Are Smarter Than Their Parents" - I highly suspect that this search may have originated from within my own house. My kids should consider themselves lucky that I can't figure out which computer it came from.

"All A Den End Jazz Mine" - Ok, this one puzzled me for a little bit, but eventually I sounded it out and put it together. What I wonder is how Google got this to my site. I've written about the Disney lovebirds before, but did Google sound it out and figure out what this person was looking for? If it did, I'm super impressed. Either that or I've written about Jazz Mines before. You never know what I'm going to talk about during one of those 2am writing sessions.

"Ice Cream" - It's not surprising to learn that I've got a small obsession with ice cream. I certainly don't deny that the words "ice cream" have been repeated countless times over the course of this websites existence. What amazes me is that somehow this person found me when they Googled such a generic term. I hold no illusions that I'm one of the top ten results when you search the words "ice cream" (I'm not, I've tried it) so I can't imagine how many pages of search results this person had to go through before they found whatever it was that linked them to my site. For their perseverance, I'd love to buy them an ice cream sundae. Of course, since I can't figure out who it was, I'll have to eat it for them too.

"Tried to Tip the Plaza Bellman with Quarters" - Think they might have been looking for something specific? Either that or my misadventures at the Plaza have become world famous.

"Guys Who Marry Out of Their League" - Again, not arguing the premise. Just like the ice cream search though, am I really one of the top 10 examples on the planet? How does this list go? Lyle Lovett, Billy Bob Thorton, and Steve? That's kind of depressing.

"People With No Writing Skills" - Well that's even more depressing! I've had enough. I'm taking my blog and going home. If you want to find me, just Google "Overly Sensitive Internet Writer". That should lead you right to me.

Feeling Old with Marianas Trench / Simple Plan

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not young anymore. I can't complain about the ways I spent my younger years, but the world definitely isn't the same as it was back when I knew it all. That point was driven home to me last night when I took my wife to see the opening night of the Marianas Trench / Simple Plan tour in Penticton. Lori had been asking (repeatedly) to see the show, and since I still consider myself a bit of a concert aficionado, it didn't seem like it would be too much out of my comfort zone. With regards to the live show itself, I was right, as the format of concerts hasn't changed much in the last fifty years. Outside of the actual performance though...well to borrow a line from the great Duke Ellington, "Thing's Ain't What They Used to Be".

For starters, the audience today sure doesn't dress like they used to. Now this may have something to do with the fact that Lori and I were easily twenty years older than almost everybody in the crowd who wasn't escorting children, but it seems that concert going attire has been stripped down to the bare minimum. In some cases, the very, very bare minimum. I'm not trying to point a finger at the kids wearing these barely there get-ups, as fashion is what it is, whether I approve of it or not. I will say that Lori and I had a fun time playing a game of "Our daughter would be grounded for two weeks for dressing up like that, three weeks for going out in public like that, and a full month if she even dressed her Barbie in an outfit like that."

This restrictive clothing made the next change even more noticeable as dancing sure isn't what it used to be. Actually it's not even dancing anymore, it's just jumping. On cue. Whenever the lead singer would tell everybody to "Jump!" the entire place would start bouncing as high as they could. The crowd was just as obedient when told to "Scream" or "Crowdsurf". Essentially it was a giant game of Simon Says, with the lead singer calling the shots. Those of us who did most of our concert going in the 80's would never allow a band to control us like puppets with a simple word like "Jump"...ummm, except for maybe Van Halen, but they meant it in more of a "put on your spandex, do the splits and let your long blonde mane fly in the wind" kind of way.

Marianas Trench and Simple Plan definitely aren't Van Halen, but they do something that Van Halen was never known for...they share. Last night there were four bands on the bill (These Kids Wear Crowns and All Time Low are also on the tour), three of which I hear regularly on the radio, and two of whom I knew every song they played. When you bring along bands that close to you in stature, you really run the risk of being upstaged. That's how careers get started, but that didn't seem to bother any of the bands last night. Everybody was given a decent amount of time to play (the show ran just under four hours) and they each came out and did their best to entertain, with the only competition between bands being "Who can make the crowd jump the highest?" That kind of competition probably doesn't create too many hurt feelings, and I can truly imagine the bands enjoying their time spent touring together, although they should probably fire whoever decided that February was a good time to tour Canada.

The result of the bands getting along so well seems to be that the audience has a good time. The crowd may not dress like I'd like my kids to, but I have no complaints about their behavior. I saw no fights, the foul language seemed to be mostly confined to the stage, and my wife only once noticed the smell of "funny substances". The crowd even managed to pass the ultimate temptation test when a slew of beach balls were released into the audience. In my earlier concert days, a roving beach ball was an invitation to see how hard you could drill it off the head of the person a few rows in front of you. When Simple Plan sent the potential concussion-makers into the crowd last night, most of the balls were bounced backwards gently, a few were lobbed back at the band, but eventually they were all claimed by people who decided that a nondescript beach ball would be a perfect souvenir. Nobody went home suffering from beach ball whiplash which, believe me, is one of the more painful injuries you can sustain at a concert.

The fact is, concerts aren't the same as they used to be, but neither is anything else. The days I remember fondly of paying $20 to see Peter Gabriel open for David Bowie (and everybody under age 25 asks "Who?") are long gone, but the show last night was a lot of fun. Live music is still one of the most entertaining ways to spend an evening out, even if you do end up feeling like one of the oldest people on the planet. The good news is that eventually I did find all the other Dad's. They were lined up outside the arena as we left, waiting for their kids to come out. They were going to have to wait a while though, as their children were all in the washroom, changing back into the clothes they left the house in. Some things about concerts haven't changed at all.

It's Bathtime!!!

You want to know what I love? I love my daughters, but if you want to know what they love, it's baths.

If there's one thing that makes a hotel room for my girls, it's a great bathtub. Especially if it's a big one. Our tub at home is fine, but having the room to stretch out is one of the great joys of a nice hotel room.

Most of the rooms that we stay in only have one bathtub though, so fortunately our girls have worked out a system for sharing.

The oldest gets the bath first, while the other one watches TV. This system usually works fine, but my daughter has to remember to not spend too long in the bath. Youngest doesn't like to be kept waiting....

This post is a part of Photo Friday at Delicious Baby and Friday Daydreamin at R We There Yet Mom. If you didn't get here from one of those sites, you should really go check them out. There's people there whose kids strip before getting in the bathtub. It must take them forever to do laundry.

Travel is Romantic Right?

February is not my favorite month of the year. Outside of the Superbowl (which never seems to involve the Dolphins these days) it's all romance, romance, romance. If you want to see me operating out of my league, this is your chance as I'm knee deep in things I don't understand. Not only is Valentines Day in February, but so is Lori's birthday, and now Kelowna, the city where I live, has been named the number three most romantic city in Canada. Good thing there's no pressure attached to any of that stuff!

The thing is, to me, our life sounds pretty romantic. With all the great trips, fancy hotels, and world class shows we get to enjoy, I'd say we meet most people's criteria. In fact, some of the dates I've taken Lori on would almost certainly qualify me for King of Smooth status. We've gone on a carriage ride in Central Park and then to a Broadway play; we went for dinner at Emeril's restaurant and to see Celine perform in Vegas; we've even taken cable cars to a date on the San Francisco pier. You'd think that these things would score some pretty major romance points wouldn't you?

For some reason though, the points seem to come from very strange places. I get more credit for helping my daughter with her homework than I do for a night at the Park Hyatt. My wife is more impressed when I hold the door for her than when I get her seat on a flight upgraded. Don't even get me started on show tickets, because believe me they don't carry as much weight as vacuuming the living room. I sometimes think that if I just brought home flowers without being asked, I might never be responsible for another date night again.

This concept, of course, doesn't work well with my stereotypical male mind. In my head, there's no way a weekend escape can be equivalent to unpacking the dishwasher. I guess it's possible that we've been on too many weekend trips and that they've lost their value, or maybe it's the scarcity of the dishwasher emptying that has increased it's value. Either way, I need to tip the scales back in the direction of travel as the preferred romantic gesture. I suppose I could ramp up the getaways. Maybe a week in Paris, picnic under the Eiffel Tower, holding hands while we walk down the Champs-Élysées. That's got to be romance for the win right?

To be honest, I'm not sure. For me, all travel is romantic. Even the five of us jammed inside a too small hotel room with two of us having to sleep on the floor and none of us having pajamas because our luggage hasn't arrived yet. It's about being with the ones you love and heading into the unknown, exploring something new. That's romance to me, and when I think about it, I'm pretty sure Lori shares the same definition. After all, me remembering to fold the laundry without being asked, would definitely be something new.