Following the Groove Train

I made it out to Cazz's in Levittown to see my friend Loretta Allen playing with the Groove Train Riders. She played a full-hour set while GTR played the rest of the night. With the close-in view and televisions at eye level at Cazz's it was much easier to also enjoy the  marathon 20-inning Mets-Cardinals game and the Rockies' no-hitter. Loretta showed her full singing ability performing lead vocals with the Riders on covers including "Son Of A Preacherman" and "Jackson." A guest guitarist also sat in on a cover of "Smooth" and a handful of other songs.

Putting Consumers Back In Charge Of Content

Here is an interesting article from DailyFinance with more information about the ongoing convergence of televisions, cell phones and the Internet. http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/how-consumers-wi...

How Consumers Will Take Back the Net in 2010 - DailyFinance
Shared via AddThis

A Musical Ladies' Night

Loretta Allen at John & Peter'sSince I was off from work the Friday before Thanksgiving I was able to see two of my lady musician friends perform in one night - over forty miles apart. My journey started with Laura Cheadle at the Burlap And Bean in Newtown Square. I then drove across two counties to New Hope to see Lorretta Allen at a Soir du Femme show playing with other female fronted acts. Lorretta played most of her solo work and covers including "Hide And Seek" by Imogen Heap. I hadn't been to John And Peter's since July and was suprised to run into my friend Heather there as well. Every time I go there I seem to see someone I wasn't expecting. After the show Loretta had copies of her new EP New American for sale and which the other members of Stellium backed her on.

Real, live Freestyle music

I have always enjoyed Freestyle music and I recently stumbled on a good source. www.freestylemusicvideos.com has a YouTube channel which features live performances for many of these artists who were popular from about 1986 to 1993. Some of them never made any music videos so these are the best way to see what they looked like in action. This is around the time Milli Vanilli were active so I had to make sure these performances were legit. Amazingly, they really are singing even if it is sometimes over the original recording. Check out some of my favorites below:

Company B - "Fascinated"

 Noel - "Silent Morning"

Expose - "Point Of No Return"

George Lamond - "Bad Of The Heart"

Stevie B - "Spring Love" (this a bit more recent but Mr B's still got it)

Vgxpo and a Day in Philly

I took a rare Saturday off and headed to Center City last weekend for the Video Game Expo. I hadn't been to the show since 2005 when it was in Fort Washington or the Convention Center itself since 2006. While I was down there I got to see the construction on the Strawbridge's building and checked out the Big Belly recycling bin/compactors and parking kiosks which I had read about and I think they are really helping to make the city better. The show was a little disappointing compared to the older Vgxpos I had been to but there was a very good selection of old games, consoles and accessories for sale. Nintendo had a large booth featuring New Super Mario Brothers Wii Sports Resort and Punch-Out for the Wii, Contra Rebirth on Wii Ware and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the DS. The arcade was not as varied as in past Vgxpo shows and the cabinets were far apart but it was still fun. The highlights included Mr. Do!, Gauntlet 2, Xenophobe, Roadblasters, Primal Rage, Robotron 2084 (always a favorite) and a NEO Geo. Guests with booths included wrestlers The Smoke and Blue Meanie, actor Gil Gerard (Buck Rodgers), voice actor Neil Kaplan and a custom K.I.T.T. Trans Am. My friends Tony and Rose dressed as a Star Wars Imperial Biker and officer respectively and later, in their Ghostbuster outfits. I picked up some used NES and SNES games as well as a Metroid manual. Afterwards I met up with my friend Tracy for dinner at the Irish Pub. It was just nice being in Center City again and I hope I'll make more trips down there soon.

Here are some of my photos from the show:

The Nintendo booth


Classic consoles for sale


Custom K.I.T.T.


The classic arcade


Halo co-op