Guster & Jukebox the Ghost

February 7, 2011

Guster

Jukebox the Ghost





Guster & Jukebox the Ghost

The catalyst for our trip to Orlando this time was the concert at the House of Blues at Downtown Disney that featured two great bands, which we thought that Dakota would enjoy seeing, Guster & Jukebox the Ghost. Kathy & I are big fans of Guster, having seen them multiple times since I first saw them at the 9:30 club in Washington DC back in 2000. In fact we saw them just last August when we were in Boulder. Guster in Boulder, August 2010

Guster

Kathy & Dakota



This time Guster was to be joined by an exciting relatively new three piece young band called Jukebox the Ghost, who we had never seen, but were excited to check out. Before heading over to the House of Blues, we had made reservations at one of our favorite Orlando restaurants, the fabulous Greek eatery, Taverna Opa.





Opa features amazing Greek cuisine and a crazy festive atmosphere that has gained it a massive popularity. In fact they have become so popular that the restaurant has expanded since we last visited a couple of years ago. It seems, at least on the night we were there, to be particularly popular for well dressed large groups of young women. There were three such groups just while we were there, all celebrating things like 21st birthdays and such. The restaurant encourages these gatherings by allowing patrons to dance upon the sturdy wooden tables, featuring a talented belly dancer and having the staff toss massive amounts of napkins through the air at random points.



Jukebox the Ghost



The food is the real draw though and it was tasty Greek fare that had us full before we headed over to the concert. The place was pretty crowded, but not quite sold out and we were able to get a decent spot just to the right of the stage.
Jukebox the Ghost opened the show and wowed the crowd with a really great performance of songs from their two studio CD releases. The band is unique because they are a three piece band that is fronted by piano man and lead singer, Ben Thornewill and features a drummer and lead guitar and that is it.

Jukebox the Ghost





The band was in fine form, playing about 45 minutes highlighted by cuts from their two CDs, “Live and Let Ghosts” and the recently released, “Everything Under the Sun”. This included the hit “Hold It In” and the recent single “Schizophrenia”. They also played a wonderful cover of the 1980s one hit wonder by Donna Lewis, “I Love You Always Forever”, which you can check out in the youtube clip above.

Guster sings about Florida



As great as Jukebox the Ghost was, it was quickly evident why Guster was the headliner once they came out and launched into their set. Amazing as it may seem, the majority of the band has been playing together for 20 years and it is evident in the nearly flawless performance they delivered. They played almost two straight hours, displaying all the traits that have gained them the large cult following that has kept them playing all that time. The three-part harmonies, crazy good percussion by Brian “Thundergod” Rosenworcel and the trademark funny spontaneity that is part of every show were all on full display.







Seeing Guster is fun, they have a great time and the audience has a great time and they are immensely talented, something you may not get if you watch the two clips that are included here, which feature the more humorous aspects of their performance. If you are not familiar with these two fantastic bands, and sadly many people don’t seem to be, you should check them out as soon as you can.

Guster

Brian covers the Red Hot Chili Peppers





Opa Restaurant

Jukebox The Ghost website

Universal Studios

February 6, 2011

Universal Studios

Kathy






On the second full day of our visit to the Orlando area, we decided to once again put our annual passes to Universal Studios to use and we headed out early in the morning once again. We opted on this trip to start at the Universal Studios park and thus avoided the early morning masses, who by about a 70-30 margin head over to Islands of Adventure and the new Harry Potter ride at the beginning of the day.



Dakota



The early arrival and lack of crowds heading to the park made the initial wait time next to nothing and allowed for quick and multiple passages through the lines on such rides as the Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster, the Revenge of the Mummy ride and others. Kathy and Dakota also took advantage of the single rider lines which had virtually no wait at all.





The sparse crowd also enabled us to pretty much take in every ride that we wanted including a few that we somehow missed during our visit last summer such as the Twister and Shrek rides. It was a pretty sweet deal.







We also had a chance to catch some of the entertainment options, enjoying the Blues Brothers revue show- which featured an amazing pair of sound (and look) alikes playing the roles of Jake & Elwood. Not a bad show at all. Also enjoyable was the Beetlejuice show which featured singing and dancing classic monsters, Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman etc. who sang campy versions of hit songs. It was decent entertainment and the Beetlejuice character was surprising funny, working in up to the minute current events references into his comedy.







Peronally, I prefer the original Universal theme park over Islands of Adventure, which while newer and flashier seems to focus more on thrill rides while the original still seems to celebrate the Universal movies which I enjoy more. There are not as many roller coasters, but it is still pretty cool and features recreations of some cool movie sets like Mel’s Diner from “American Graffiti”, Amity Island from “Jaws” and the San Francisco waterfront.







They also have the cool “Simpsons” ride which remains one of our favorite theme park rides ever and the fun “Men In Black” ride where you blast aliens that pop out as you move through the ride in a spinning vehicle. Dakota once again established herself as a keen shot as she easily blasted the most aliens.







The quickness of being able to complete most of the rides enabled us to head over to the Hard Rock café for lunch before heading back to the hotel to rest up a little prior to heading out for the Guster/ Jukebox the Ghost concert at the House of Blues.

Dakota

Epcot & Universal

February 5, 2011



Kathy & Dakota





Epcot & Universal

Last summer, Kathy & I traveled to Orlando to take our friend and former mentee Dakota to see the Counting Crows and Augustana and to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure , Blog 07-18-10- Universal Studios. While we were there we ended up purchasing annual passes to the theme parks with the idea that we would return again with-in a year. When I noticed that two of my favorite bands, Guster and Jukebox the Ghost, were going to be playing at the House of Blues at Disneyworld, we made plans for our return visit.





The tone for the trip was set early, when Alamo, where we had decided to rent a cheap car, rather than put miles on our own, gave us a free upgrade to a Ford Mustang convertible which we were able to take full advantage of during our drive up to Orlando, enjoying the perfect sunny and warm ride with the top down. It felt a little bad for all our Northern friends dealing with what has been a miserable winter, but it made the ride up so much more enjoyable.





The weather in Orlando was good as well, though we had crazy fog on our first morning there as we headed over to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure where we wanted to get an early start at the popular new Harry Potter attraction and beat the crowds. The thing is, there weren’t any crowds to speak of, certainly not the throngs that had greeted us last summer. In fact there was no wait at all to enter the new Wizarding World area, and the wait for the new ride was only 10 minutes.







The Harry Potter ride was even more spectacular I think on this trip, I am not sure why, but it is a really amazing theme park attraction and well worth all the praise that it has generated. The sparse crowd and our early arrival allowed us to visit all the major roller coasters and attractions before noon. Kathy & Dakota were able to ride the major coasters multiple times, even landing in the front row on the Hulk and Dueling Dragons.







The quickness of our visit left us plenty of time to head over to spend the remainder of our day visiting Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center theme park, which remains my favorite theme park experience. Dakota had not been there since she was a small child and I wanted her to experience what I have loved since it opened back in 1982.





It would be tough to guess how many visits I have made to Epcot since 1982, but I have visited multiple times. I love that it seems to constantly change, yet also it maintains much of the nostalgia and many of the original attractions that have been there since it opened.





We spent the remainder of the day and night enjoying the many and varied attractions that Epcot has to offer, beginning with lunch at the delicious German Biergarden found in the Germany pavilion at the World Showcase. The German restaurant is one of many excellent options in Epcot. My favorite, the Norwegian Akerhaus has sadly been changed in to a dine with a princess in a castle typical Disney farce, but Germany, Morocco, Italy, France and Mexico are all still awesome.





One of the coolest things we saw on our Disney visit was not part of the park at all, a wild Bald Eagle swooped over the lake and landed high in one of the pine trees that surround the property. It was a beautiful and amazing sight, certainly preferable to the stuffed variety we had seen moments earlier in the American experience exhibit.







One of the more nostalgic moments came when we went in to see the 1986 3-D film starring Michael Jackson, “Captain Eo”. This remarkable film is a collaboration between George Lucas, Frances Ford Coppola and Jackson and was brought out of mothballs after Jackson’s death. While it hasn’t aged well, it is certainly a cool glimpse back into an artist at the top of his craft. You can watch a part of the film, minus the 3-D effects on the youtube clip below.

Captain Eo

The fireworks spectacular that closes the park every night is truly a spectacular thing to see, easily the best theme park closing display in Orlando and it topped off a great and fun day.