Feb 09
AndrewBusiness, Travel concerts, Hard Rock, Las Vegas, live music
The Joint, the venue at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV will get a makeover and reopen the weekend of April 18. The venue originally opened in 1995 and boasts one of the most intimate rock venues in the city. Its maximum capacity under the old design was 2,000 people, standing room only. It also served as an after hours night club.
The remodeled version will double the capacity but maintain the intimate setting of its predecessor. The cost of the revamp is estimated at $60 million, part of a larger expansion project of the hotel-casino. A new sound system will be put in, along with almost 40 video screens, and a blogging station for press coverage. The venue will also get a upgrade in its lighting system and include WiFi access venue-wide.
Paul McCartney has been tapped to play the first concert in the new venue on April 19.
Jan 16
AndrewBusiness, Music, Travel concerts, HOB, House of Blues, venue
The House of Blues is set to open a new location in Boston’s Fenway Park area on Lansdowne St. The venue doubles as a live concert hall and restaurant. It’s original location in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA closed down 5 years ago. The new location is substantially larger, 27,000-square-feet and replaces what used to be two clubs Avalon and Axis.
This week, the chain began a hiring process that hopes to eventually employ 200 staff in addition to the approximately 20 managers already hired for the location.
This House of Blues venue is reportedly the largest with a 2,400 capacity standing room only on three levels. Like other locations, a restaurant and VIP Lounge are being opened.
House of Blues Boston already has a number of high profile acts lined up through the end of March including Morrissey, B.B. King & Buddy Guy and a six-night stand by the Dropkick Murphys. The Gipsy Kings will open the venue on Friday, February 20. Tickets for most of the currently scheduled shows go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. local time.
House of Blues current line-up
February 20 Gipsy Kings
February 22 B.B.King & Buddy Guy
February 24 Thievery Corporation
February 25 George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
February 26 Jimmy Eat World: Clarity X 10 Tour
February 27 Jesse McCartney
February 28 The Disco Biscuits
March 6 Saints & Sinners Tour 2009 featuring Hollywood Undead, Senses Fail, Haste the Day, Brokencyde
March 7 Missy Higgins & Justin Nozuka
March 10 Flogging Molly with The Aggrolites
March 11 An Evening With George Thorogood & The Destroyers
March 12 Dropkick Murphys
March 13 Dropkick Murphys
March 14 Dropkick Murphys – Matinee Show
March 14 Dropkick Murphys
March 15 Dropkick Murphys
March 16 Dropkick Murphys
March 17 Dropkick Murphys
March 18 Ozomatli with Chali 2NA
March 19 Bloc Party and Longwave
March 20 The Pogues
March 21 The Pogues
March 22 Cut Copy
March 26 The Oddity Faire: A Mutated Mini Fest Feat. Les Claypool, Saul Williams, Secret Chiefs and O’Death
March 27 Live
March 29 Morrissey with The Courteeners
March 30 Lady GaGa with White Tie Affair and Chester French
April 1 Katy Perry
April 2 Derek Trucks Band
April 7 Mates of State/Black Kids
April 9 Umphrey’s McGee
April 14 Black Label Society Bash featuring Black Label Society with Sevendust, Dope, and Infinite Staircase
April 25 John Brown’s Body and Soldiers of Jah Army
May 1 AP Tour 2009 featuring The Maine, 3oh!3, Family Force and Hit the Lights
Tour information is up to date at time of publication
Nov 28
AndrewTravel Holiday, Thanksgiving, Turkey
Question: How was your Thanksgiving?
Answer: This year we decided to be different and drive down to New York to have TG dinner with the family. We left at 9 a.m. and there were some slow downs along the way but we made pretty good time all things considered until we actually got to New York. On 95, we hit a rough spot, but the worst was one block away from the Holland Tunnel, trying to turn left on to Canal Street. It took us about 3 hours to get to Canal St and about three hours from that point to get to the tunnel four blocks away.
Why do I bring this up? Well that pretty much was Thanksgiving. No football, no snacks, no booze. Just sitting behind the wheel of my car, thinking about my carbon footprint and wondering if it might be faster just to swim to Jersey City. Fortunately, we had stopped in Connecticut to stretch, eat and gas up before sitting in the marathon traffic jam.
Rather than just letting the natural flow of traffic lights do their business, New York City drivers learn to jockey for pole position and assume that any space on the road is where their car fits. I’ve seen it before. A New Yorker will simply come into your lane and expect you to get out of the way (or not, that’s what insurance is for, I guess). I like my car a lot more without dents, thank you.
Driving in New York City is nothing new to me. But it never ceases to amaze me how New York drivers have developed a sense of entitlement on the road and then don’t realize that driving like that just ties things up worse for everyone. We were in the far left lane, so less affected overall by the drivers who were cutting over into the turn lane, or cutting across traffic just trying to get somewhere else. But the flip side of being in that lane was being essentially at the mercy of traffic with nowhere to go but forward at the pace set by other drivers. There was no traffic inside the tunnel, it was just the act of getting to the mouth of the tunnel that took us that long.
The evening arrived and it was a fairly traditional TG dinner for my family. Some booze, some snacks, mostly the usual turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes. Maybe next year I’ll host.
Nov 25
AndrewTravel Air Travel, Airplanes, Planes
Question: What happens when you are forced to gate check your bag either because of the lack of space, will they still charge you to check the bag?
Answer: Trying to find a way around the per bag charge? It’s a good idea, the gate agent won’t charge you if you are “forced” to check your bag at the gate because they ran out of room in the overhead bins.
So the plan is you take your bag with you through security and if there’s no room on the plane, then you happily check it at the gate free of charge. The problem with the plan is that you still need to pack a bag that is small enough to go through security. Though they rarely enforce carry-on bag size, technically there are size limits that can be enforced at the security check-point. And you can only take one piece of luggage as a carry-on (it’s amazing how the “second item such as a purse or laptop case” becomes a second piece of luggage but the idea behind the second item is that it fits under your seat). And there are items forbidden from your carry-on that are not banned from your checked luggage.
So yes, while you might save yourself the fee to check luggage, there is still some planning involved that may or may not be worth your time.
Incidentally, a lot of business travelers have now started shipping their luggage in advance of their trip, or they visit the UPS store before they come home because they can go a week without the dirty laundry.
Oct 23
AndrewBusiness, Travel Casinos, Fridays, Station Casinos, Vegas
T.G.I. Friday’s is moving in to four Las Vegas casinos, hoping to replicate the success of its Orleans Hotel location on Tropicana Ave, about 2 miles north of the Las Vegas Strip. The new locations will open in the Aliante Station Casino, the Gold Coast, Sam’s Town, and the Suncoast (the latter three all under the Coast Casinos chain of properties.)
The Aliante Station Casino is a new property opening on November 11 in North Las Vegas. It joins a huge chain of properties owned by Station Casinos. Friday’s will join four other restaurants inside the Aliante; Camacho’s Cantina, MKRT, the Original Pancake House and Pips, as well as a buffet and the usual assortment of fast food options inside its food court. The casino also has a 700-seat showroom and a 16-screen movie theater.
The Orleans, the Gold Coast, and Sam’s Town are all established casinos with a reputation for catering to locals. The Suncoast Hotel and Casino, the newest Coast Casino property built by Boyd Gaming Corporation, opened in September 2000 near Summerlin.
Oct 15
JeremySociety and Culture, Travel Boston, eye contact, manners, New England, rude, Travel
Yet again today, I read a comment online today about how Boston is the rudest city in the country, implying that visitors (or even residents) should not expect courtesy here. Sadly, I hear this all too often and, even sadder, it’s born of misperception rather than truth. The people of Boston and the surrounding communities, the ones who were raised here and whose families have lived here for years, are not fundamentally rude. They are, however, culturally different from their counterparts in other cities. Once you understand the fundamentals of how the people of the Northeast operate, you will see them in a new light and understand how to interact with them. Keep in mind that Boston was founded by Puritans and 350 years later that still affects the way we act and what we consider to be proper manners. To help get you through, here are a few rules of the road:
Rule #1: Don’t look anyone in the eye. Okay, you can look some people in the eye, but only people you know well and only in a clearly social or private business situation. In a public setting, making eye contact is considered an invasion of privacy and, hence, very rude. The irony is that when someone passes you on the sidewalk and doesn’t look at you, they are trying to be polite by Boston instinct rather than being rude as is perceived.
Rule #2: If eye contact is bad, greeting people is worse. Bostonians don’t greet anyone they don’t know well, unlike other cities where friendly folk may say hello to everyone they meet. Basically, here are the rules. For people you don’t know at all, no eye contact, no nothin’. For people with whom you are vaguely acquainted, but necessarily remember their names or only met them once or twice, a brisk nod suffices as a proper greeting when passing. (Like the guy I went on a date with a couple years ago who shows up on the T once in a while.)
Rule #3: Ask for help if you need it. People won’t go out of their way to offer your assistance. Yep, it’s that privacy thing again. It’s rude to get involved in the troubles or difficulties of others unless requested. Clearly, imminent threat to life and limb is an exception to this rule, but it is otherwise true. The problems of other people should be kept private. Of course, that doesn’t mean that behind closed doors, problems can’t be discussed. We’re talking about public behavior here. Out of sight, you can talk to your friends about them and you can be damn sure that, if you’re in a small town, others are talking about your problems out of the public eye. But they are not going to offer help unless you ask for it.
Rule #4: Asking for help is a sign of social or moral weakness. You should be able to handle anything life throws at you, in true Puritan fashion. Life is hard, full of trials, and that’s just the way it’s supposed to be. It is simply unseemly to need help. Again, imminent harm is the exception. This seems to be in direct contravention of Rule #3, but there you have it. Corollary to both of these rules is “if you’re going to ask for help, you’d better damn well need it.” Don’t show weakness; people don’t want to see it in public. Just suck it up and figure it out.
Rule #5: Above all, practicality. At heart, Bostonians are ridiculously practical people. They don’t walk with their heads in the clouds. Unfortunately, this dour attitude often comes across as cynicism or pessimism. In reality, it’s more like prepare for the worst and don’t dare hope for the best. That way, you can be pleasantly surprised when something comes out right. So when someone puts down your idea, don’t take it personally. It’s just that pesky realism.
Rule #6: Get a Nav System and Don’t Trust Directions. Yeah, this is unrelated to any of the above, but it’s an important one, unless you grew up here. The directions you get from any true resident of the Northeast will NOT get you where you’re going. The landmarks they will give you are ones that existed years ago, not those that exist now. And the names of roads (yes, even the ones with numbers) might just be different. (“Old Rt. 1″ isn’t just a cute term…) We’re not trying to be jerks and get you lost on purpose. It’s just the way we give directions here.
Remember these six rules because they will make your life easier if you’re new here, but take them with a grain of salt, too. There will always be people who suck, no matter where you are. There are also people who move to Boston, get told that everyone is rude, and then proceed to act rudely believing that they have been given license to. They are the exceptions rather than the rule. If you adopt the Boston point of view, you’ll see the behaviors very differently. Politeness is in the eye of the beholder.
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