CrossRoads Blog

Kimberly and her Troupe The Desert Flowers, recently performed at a Charity event on December 2nd, 2007 called ‘Big Love for Citrus‘. The event honors the memory of Citrus Golba a beautiful little girl who last year lost her battle with Cystic Fibrosis. It was a perfect weather day, and we all had a great time. The event seemed really well setup, and there were many local performance artists doing their thing.

On a kinda’ sad note though, I don’t think the attendance was as much as hoped for. I also did not see a lot of mechanisms (if you will) to raise money. Maybe next year the founders can get some help (as I am sure it is quite challenging and time consuming) in finding more ways to raise money. I think they could; sell food, sell more clothing, pass the hat, raffle, etc. They put on a great event and everyone really seemed to enjoy it, with more help I think a lot could be done for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by those honoring Citrus.

If you would like to support - The Big Love for Citrus Myspace can be found HERE

Kimberly and I went to see the Detroit Lions play the Arizona Cardinals last week. Let’s just say I really enjoyed everything BUT the game (it’s a hard Fan’s life being a Lions guy). It was our first time at the new stadium and it’s really nice. We had Club seats and they had plenty of room and good views.

The best thing about the game and day was for sure the tailgating. That stadium and Cardinal fans know how to do it right. Seemed like everyone was tailgating, drinking and cooking up a storm. Must have been a few thousand with grills and coolers. There is even a section in the middle where there are a few hundred big tailgate tents setup that had multiple TV’s, couches, full bars, and food spreads that would make a large convention happy. It all made our little setup with BBQ Chicken and some snacks seem ‘underwelming’.

Overall a very fun day with perfect weather. We will for sure be getting to more Card’s games, even if it is just to tailgate…

We spent this Halloween pretty much the same as we have for many years now - sitting in the front yard trying saying hello to the neighbors and trying to scare the little ones. We set up the yard with all the tombstones, and scary stuff, had the strobes going, and our favorite Halloween soundtrack. No crying kids this year, but a few freaked out and a couple that purposely avoided the house.

We also did get to play dress up this year. Kimberly’s (our) friend Laura had a ‘Halloween Hafla’ on Friday night. It was a good time, with all the bellydancer ladies and us bellydance groupie husbands/boyfriends. There were several special Halloween flavored dances everyone came up, and Kimberly did a solo as well. She choreographed a special snake dance to the song called ‘After Dark’, from the ‘Dusk till’ Dawn’ movie - very cool, with a scary vibe. We will be getting some pictures from the dance up soon, along with the other Halloween shots and video.

For costumes as you can tell from the picture, Kimberly went as Eve and I went as the Devil (surprise….).

Kimberly and her troupe The Desert Flowers, have been busy with 4 shows over the last couple of weeks or so. First, they danced at Sultan’s Grill. Almost the whole troupe was there and they did 2 long sets with the full troupe and several solo’s. They packed the place, and Sultan’s was the busiest they have been any night I have been there.

Then last weekend they had two shows in two nights. First an outside event at Paper Heart’s in downtown on the ‘First Friday Art Walk’. The dancing was good, but nighttime lighting made the pictures a little challenging. The following night was the big event at Mystic Jewell called “Boom-Boom Bellyfest”. Kimberly and her troupe had been practicing hard for this show as it was one of the premier events in Arizona (if not the premier show). What a great night. The Flowers were at their best, and the place was rockin’ for their performance. Which, by the way was really enhanced by having live drumming by their friends The White Claws for most of the numbers they did. The venue was really setup nice, they got VIP treatment backstage, and it was easily the best overall Bellydance show I have seen, and the best show I have seen from the desert Flowers.

Kimberly’s busy dance schedule finished up with another outside, though daytime, event at a shop in old town Glendale this weekend. Just a few of the troupe were with her, but it was a perfect weather day, and they had a great time dancing. All in all, some great nights for the girls, and the bellydance groupie husbands and friends.

MORE PICS HERE

Pictured to the side: Taj Mahal, Koko Taylor, Kimberly and Kandy Kane, Eric Johnson

A couple weeks back as they say… the Blues Came to Town. Saturday night we headed up to Flagstaff. Along the way on the couple hour drive up I-17 we got caught in one of the worst rain storms I have seen in our 14 years in Arizona. The good news was that even though the show was outside and it rained most of the night, we had seats up front and under cover. the nights can get cold up there, but a great night of music made it all good. An old timer opened up the show and got the groove going, followed by a decent set by Taj Mahal. Taj was touring as a 3 piece band and his set was a little short, but always great to see him. The show finished with “our” (I can say that now after 40 shows or so) Robert Cray Band. The RCB set was, as always too short, but excellent. They even did a couple of old Blues Classics including Killing Floor that we had never seen them perform.

After the Flagstaff show we hustled it back to Phoenix as the next day was the all day long Scottsdale Blues Festival. We had VIP admittance which along with food in a special tent, better restrooms, t-shirts, two bottles of wine, etc - also meant we could get into the show 1/2 hour early - guaranteeing we could be first and weasel our blanket down front and center with the best seats - which we of course did. The rub meant that we had little sleep time we got back from Flag and got up early to get our space at the Festival.

The show has some excellent acts, including local legend Big Pete and the Rhythm Room Allstars (Bob C is a great guy), Kandy Kane (who put on a great set and Kimberly is pictured with above), Blues Traveler, Taj Mahal again, Koko Taylor and the Robert Cray Band. Of course we wanted to see the RCB again, but the treat was a chance to see Koko after 20 years since last show, and knowing she doesn’t have a whole lot of shows left.

What a great day of music, sun, vino, food and time with each other. It was sure draining out there from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm in the sun, but I can not imagine a better way to spend a Sunday - spoiled and diggin’ it.

It was one of those nights. I needed to hear This Band and This Song. If you ever wonder why Kimberly and I are so passionate about the Robert Cray Band’s music, click the image and get that vibe tonight. If that groove and those solo’s don’t get your hairs on end… well, maybe you should stick to getting your tunes from MTV

We recently had another typical (non-typical) Vegas few days. Some business and some fun, and some fun business.

Aside from the work we got to catch up with a lot of good friends and had a great night out with Kip and Shane (and clan) at RumJungle in Mandalay. Seems this place is fast becoming a trouble spot for us. This time we skipped the Brazilian meal and did sushi at a place round the corner.

On Saturday night we were able to get to see a fun dance and entertainment show and awards event. It’s basically the Burlesque annual event where they have the best performers do routines and then pick the winners in each category. We saw probably 20 different artists and groups, all great in their own way. Though fairly tame, it’s pretty cool to see the creative ways performers and dancers come up with to present an erotic yet mild strip tease (always emphasis on the tease).

Had a nice day at the pool with a couple of foo-foo drinks, hit Cesar’s Forum shops (of course), and actually finished ahead gambling (small…)! All in all another great few nights in our home away from home.

Kimberly and I got a chance to get to a Tommy Castro show recently at the Rhythm Room here in Phoenix. We had seen Tommy a couple of times, and not knocking his studio work, but Live is a whole better vibe with Tommy. Tommy has a new band, in fact I’m not sure any of the old group remained. A real nice treat was that he had a great horn section with him – the guys from the new album ‘Painkiller’.

The show featured Painkiller, with live versions of at least 4 or 5 tracks. Seeing the CD is just out, we really hadn’t even heard any of it. Gotta’ say… it was quite the treat. Not only was the live show excellent, but the studio version tracks really hold up too. Tommy may still be a “live band”, but I think he really has put together a great disk. In particular a couple of tracks stood out for me: “I’m Not Broken” and “Big Sister’s Radio”. The later just a great old school vibe with Tommy’s guitar channeling Chuck Berry. ‘I’m Not Broken’ has a groove and lyrics that just about any man who has went through a tough stretch here and there can relate to – no doubt an out loud sing-along track. Some really nice other songs on the disk as well; the title track ‘Painkiller’ is classic Castro with an up tempo rock-groove-blues approach. ‘Lonesome And Then Some’ is kind of swampy, Philly Soul, Blues mix that provides the sway, and ‘A Good Fool’ has some great guitar licks featuring both Tommy and Coco Montoya.

Overall an excellent night of music and friends (Dan and Debbie were there too!). You should pick up the new CD, a great mix of Blues, Old School Soul, excellent (Stax/Muscle Shoals) horns, and Tommy.

Of course the Ms. had to weasel in for a picture. The cheesy smile makes me wonder where Tommy’s other hand is?

This Sunday we got a chance to see the newest traveling Cirque Du Soleil show: DELIRIUM just down the road here at the fairly new (and really nice, growing area) Glendale Arena, i.e. Jobing.com. We love Cirque shows, seen just about all the Vegas ones and several of the traveling shows.

We started out, as we have been doing lately, but packing up a nice picnic style lunch and a good bottle of Vino – Sonoma Cutrer to be precise - that we could take along with us, find a spot at the venue and partake before the show. It’s so much better than either eating way too early, or way too late, or being stuck with some crap fast food while you rush to the show. Plus, as with all Cirque shows you want to make sure you are there a little early so as not to miss the audience playfulness they always seem to have pre show.

Anyway, a very different vibe from most Cirque shows as the focus was really on the music. There were for sure some talented (what can we call them?) acrobats and artists as always, but a little more limited than normal. A girl with hoops was amazing, they had a four guy group do a similar ‘set’ of strength and form similar to the old two man act. There was a couple of others and some great dancing as well.

What really stood out for the show however was the digital media presentation. There is always some amazing integration of visual, sound, stage sets, etc with Cirque shows, but this one in particular really highlighted what can be done with huge screens and video (and that’s not the best word here as it’s so much more robust) integration with the act. While of course it’s a little on the surreal, Daliesque/Roger Watersesque side – it was pretty frickin’ cool.

The show is not KA or even Mystere for that matter, but considering it’s a traveling show (mostly only 2 nights per city) it’s a very worthy night - we had a great time.

A couple of months back Kimberly and I got to see our old friends and favorite band (The Robert Cray Band) again for three shows. The first two nights they were the opening act for Eric Clapton. We headed up to Vegas and caught the show at the MGM Garden arena, then the next night headed back home for the show here in town at US Air Arena. The band had the next day off and then we headed down to Tucson to catch them for a RCB only show. The Tucson show was the best, as not only was it my birthday, but it was just the RCB so we got a full set, versus the Vegas and Phoenix nights where they did (way too short) 6 track opening act sets.

What was at first a huge issue turned out really cool in the end. Because two of the shows were with Clapton, we were really struggling to find decent seats (we already had second row for Tucson for the RCB only show). Long story, but I had tried to get seats for Phoenix and Vegas when they first went on sale. I was on Ticketmaster the first few seconds and the best seats were way back and unacceptable - we have gotten spoiled over the years for concert seat location (in particular with the RCB). So I didn’t get those and just figured I would go with scalped as the show got closer. Well as it did, there was near nothing available scalped. The best tickets were $700-800 and they were not even decent seats! So, right up until a few days before the show we were getting desperate for good seats.

It finally got bad enough that I figured I would bug our buddy (and of course the amazing Keyboard player in the RCB) Jim Pugh to see if he had a promoter connection that may have some decent seats that I could buy. Well, Jim had better than that – he not only hooked us up with excellent (and free) seats for the shows, we got back stages passes too. Jimmy’s the man, and we appreciated it big time!

As I mentioned the shows were great, with of course the RCB only show the best. I enjoyed the Clapton sets, in particular the slide playing of Derek Trucks (man has he got a future). Kimberly not so much a Clapton fan, she passed on the Phoenix show and Mike II joined me there. On the guys day off between Phoenix and Tucson we got to hang out with Jim and Bob White and catch a spring training A’s game (Jim is a big fan) here in town. We also went over to Malee’s for some good Thai food with Jim and Kevin (Hayes our friend and the RCB drummer). A great few days of music, family friends – not too bad a birthday present….