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The Tuesday night (April 22, 2008) Springsteen show at the Ice Palace was amazing. It was the third time Jim and I have seen Springsteen in concert, and the 2nd time we’ve seen him with the E Street Band. Each time I see Bruce Springsteen in person, he blows me away. He’s going to be 60 years old next fall, but he gives you your moneys worth each and every time. The band came on stage around 8:15 and a recorded version of “Blood Brothers” played while they showed pictures of Danny Federici on a big screen. The Tampa show was the first since Federici died, and you could feel the raw emotion going around the arena. As soon as the song ended, the band started up with Backstreets and they didn’t stop for almost 3 hours! The encore alone was thirty minutes long. I love the banter that comes out of Bruce’s mouth, and the man could have easily been a preacher the way he commands your attention. We were beyond excited when the band started playing “Because The Night” (which you probably know as a hit of Natalie Merchant’s) because our kids know and love that song. Hearing 4th of July, Asbury Park and Born To Run made my night!

Here’s the set list:

Backstreets
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
No Surrender
Gypsy Biker
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Growin’ Up
Atlantic City
Because The Night
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
She’s The One
Livin’ In The Future
The Promised Land
Waitin’ On A Sunny Day
Brilliant Disguise
Racing In The Street
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
Out In The Street

Encore:
I’ll Fly Away
Rosalita
Born To Run
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
American Land

The Monday night Bruce Springsteen show in Tampa HAS been rescheduled after all. Instead of April 21st (Monday night) the show will be held on April 22nd (Tuesday night). Monday night tickets will be honored, and if you can’t make it on Tuesday night, you’re eligible for a refund on your ticket.

The new date actually works out better for us, because the boy has a baseball game on Monday evening that he was going to miss. I hope it works out just as well for Jim – he took off Monday and Tuesday in anticipation of attending the show on Monday night.

Jim was listening to the Springsteen channel on Sirius this morning and happened to hear an announcement about the death of E Street keyboardist Danny Federici. Of course we were saddened to hear about the death of someone in a band we love, but we were also concerned about our tickets for the Monday night Springsteen show in Tampa. Federici hasn’t been performing with the band for the past month due to his illness, but understandably, after you work with a guy for 40 years, you want to take time off to mourn his passing.

Bruce Springsteen has postponed the show dates in Sunrise, Fl and Orlando, Fl, which were to be played tonight and tomorrow night, and those dates will be rescheduled at another time. Monday’s show in Tampa at the St. Pete Times Forum will still go on. Since it will be the first show since Federici’s passing from melanoma, I’m expecting the band to do a live tribute with the songs that best display Federici’s signature keyboard style. Federici had an organ solo during “Hungry Heart”, and he played the accordion in “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)”, which is one of my favorite songs.

This will be our third time seeing Bruce Springsteen, and I think it’s going to be a night we’ll never forget.

During our trip to the fair this weekend, we took a short break in one of the entertainment tents. It seemed like a nice place to sit and enjoy our funnel cakes and take a load off. There was a local guy singing some country songs to the small crowd, and while country music definitely isn’t my favorite genre, he wasn’t half bad. He finished up the song we entered on and started a new song…about a verse in, he walked over to the table we were sitting at and started crooning to ME! I didn’t recognize the song, but I caught something about “You’re doin’ all you can, to get in them old jeans, you want that body back, you had at seventeen…well baby don’t be down, don’t you worry about a thing, cuz the way you fool around, hey that’s alright with me! I don’t want the girl you used to be, and if you ain’t noticed, the kids are fast asleep!”

The crowd was dying at this point, as this country singer singled me out – obviously the perfect victim for this song, as I sat with my husband and three kids. I’ve since found out that the song is One Hot Mama from Trace Adkins – hey, I know who that is thanks to Celebrity Apprentice! It was the perfect thing to happen as Jim and I celebrated our 12th anniversary, and really made us laugh…

You’ve probably seen the video of Sarah Silverman publicly dumping Jimmy Kimmel for Matt Damon. If you haven’t, my friend Tim has it on his blog, Florida Sun Dog. Tim also posted a follow up video in which Jimmy Kimmel describes his new relationship with Ben Affleck.

Forget Sarah and Jimmy. Forget Matt and Ben. Hilary and BarackObama have topped them both. In this very clever video, Hilary comes clean with how she’s f***ing Obama. The entire thing wasn’t staged, like the Sarah / Matt and Jimmy / Ben videos, rather it’s been created from sound bites from the various news networks, and the end result is hilarious. Isn’t it great to live in a country where we can make fun of the candidates like this? Yay for freedom!

I was just commenting to a friend how damned cute 3 and 4 year olds are, and how much I miss my kids being that age. I had a friend’s little girl over on Saturday and she cracked me up! The body language, the sayings, the expressions – kids that age are a hoot, and this little girl is no exception. Now, I don’t remember what age my son was when I sat down and watched Star Wars: A New Hope (the “first” movie if you’re old school like me, but it’s really the 4th in the series). He had to be at least 5 though? This little girl is only 3, but she’s obviously a smart cookie, because she grasped…well, the whole movie.

“Luke had to learn how to do his little light up sword…” (See how she’s talking with her hands? SO CUTE! My Gracie did / does that all of the time.) OMG – I just got to 1:23 in the video…”Don’t talk back to Darth Vader, cause he’ll get ya!”

I concur with the young reviewer. It is an exciting movie!

Well, not YOU specifically. I just watched last nights episode of Eli Stone and my heart is still fluttering from staring at George Michael, who guest starred as himself. Back in the day, my older sister introduced me to George Michael. (I was too young to know him during his Wham! days.) She was sitting at her typewriter in her bedroom at home, tapping out the lyrics to “I Want Your Sex”. She had one of those cool new (at the time) typewriters that allowed you to type a line of text and preview it on a screen before it actually typed, and I begged to help. She declined my offer, citing the fact that my mother probably wouldn’t want her pre-teen typing our phrases like “Sex is natural, sex is good, not everybody does it, but everybody should.”

A short time later, George Michael’s song “Faith” hit it big, and you couldn’t flip on MTV without seeing him prance around, guitar in hand, sunglasses on…and lordy, did I mention the tight jeans? I was a fan instantly, and I remember my sister making me a copy of the cassette she had.

Later on, when I was in high school, George Michael released his CD Listen Without Prejudice. TO this day, it remains one of my all time favorite CD’s. Most people know the main track, “Freedom 90″, but the rest of the CD is so different – mellow, soulful, and moving.

George Michael, despite his recent foibles in various men rooms, still has it. He’s fantastic artist and he can even act, as he proved on Eli Stone. (Of course, how hard is it to play yourself?) I just read in Entertainment Weekly that he’s released a new CD and will be touring in the US this summer. The last time he toured, 17 years ago, I was only 14 and not the huge fan I am now. I’ve already checked the dates and he’s coming to Tampa on Saturday August 2nd. What a great birthday present that will make! Even better, he’s appearing at the St. Pete Times Forum, which is where Jim has season tickets to see the Tampa Bay Lightning. That means he should be getting a pre-sale offer to buy tickets before they’re offered to the public…

I just finished watching tonight’s episode of How I Met Your Mother. Britney Spears…eh. Not funny and looking a bit, er…round in her dresses. That’s not the point of this blog entry though. Did you happen to catch the comment Stella the dermatologist made towards the end of the episode? She said she was so busy with her daughter, she never got out, etc, but she mentioned going to a St. Patrick’s Day party and leaving early. Could Stella be the owner of the yellow umbrella that was at the same St. Patrick’s Day party Ted attended?

I love movies like American Pie and Animal House, or Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Sex jokes, toilet humor, and zany hijinks? Sign me up! I’ve had the Superbad DVD from Netflix sitting on my entertainment unit for…oh, 3 months now, and Jim and I finally got around to watching it last night.

It was good, and I enjoyed most of it. My favorite scene was during the Home Economics class when Seth was doing naughty things out of Jules’ sight. I only wish the whole movie had been that entertaining! It got draggy more than once, especially during the long scenes with the cops. Yes Seth Rogen, I get that you wrote the movie, and it’s based on your experiences as a teen…but sheesh. The bits with Fogell and the cop went on WAY TOO LONG.

I was happy to see Joe Lo Truglio as Francis the driver – I immediately knew he looked familiar, but it was only when the credits ran that I knew him by name as one of the actors on MTV’s The State.

With that said, I am McLovin.