Friday night was Ska & Punk Night 5 at Centerfield Sports Bar & Grill in Huntington Beach. Half Past Two posted about it, which is how I found out. Stupid Flanders was headlining, and somehow they didn’t actually post about it until after Half Past Two despite HP2 not performing in it.
The line up was Not A Chance, Failed to Victory, Revancha, and Stupid Flanders, with Stupid Flanders being the only band I’d seen. Not A Chance, a punk band, played first. I noticed that Max, guitarist and vocalist for HP2, was there, so I said hello between sets. gem and I ended up joining him.
Failed to Victory is pictured at the top. For some reason, my clip of them won’t upload to YouTube and has no audio when I try to play it on my PC.
It’s fine on my phone and on Instragram though.
Despite a long wait as they fixed a blown out amp, F2V was really good! Unfortunately, it got so late that we didn’t stay for Revancha or Stupid Flanders, but I’m really glad to have learned about Failed to Victory. Plus it was cool to hang out with Max!
It’s a Ska World After All! Sunday was the 4th annual Ska Day at Disneyland! I’m pretty glad I found this flier at The Skatalites’ concert at Slidebar last week.
The festivities actually started Saturday night. There was a pre-party at Las Palomas Mexican Restaurant in Anaheim. I went with Edward and gem. I guess there was a call-out, because there was some staffing and service problems. It was fun anyways! I noticed that we were sitting next to members of the ska band Half Past Two!
There was a hat dance, musical chairs, dance competition thingy! Basically, there was a circle of people, and one person had to wear a hat. As music plays, the person wearing the hat has to dance across the circle and put the hat on someone else. If you’re wearing the hat when the music stops, you’re out, and it continues to another round. gem made it to the last round!
The person with whom she’s dancing in the photos was the guitar or bass player (I couldn’t see) for The Pocketeers I think!
She technically came in second, but they gave her a prize anyways. She got this sweet 45 of David Hillyard & The Rocksteady 7’s cover of “Evil” by Moondust Records. Pretty cool!
On Sunday, we started the day by trying on some hats.
Next we went on Space Mountain. We didn’t even realize it was already Ghost Galaxy!We had lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant for the meet and greet. After we sat down, we noticed we were sitting next to some of the members of Half Past Two again. Cool coincidence or destiny? We chatted for a bit with out new friends and took this photo!
While in line for Splash Mountain, we met two women from Sacramento here on vacation. We had fun talking to them, and then I got soaked on the ride. We also gave them our fast passes to Indiana Jones because we were running late for the group photo.
This is as good as a group photo as we were going to get, because we were a little late. Oh well.
Look how many security guards it takes to deal with ska fans! There were actually a few more here at one time. Let’s skip over the negative part of the day.
After the group photo, we all went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad together! We had a rather large group. The plan was to ride It’s a Small World together as well, but gem and I decided to go on Indiana Jones instead.
This is not a good place to leave a diaper.
We also managed to go on some rides that didn’t involve photographs. For example, we had to go on Star Tours of course (twice!) as well as the Haunted Mansion to see its Nightmare Before Christmas version. We played a lot of Heads Up, a game gem introduced to me, on our phones while in line. It seemed to be a popular game with other people as well, and we even told others about it. There was a woman in line with us for the Haunted Mansion who downloaded it after we told her about it, and then we played with her and her son too!
I also battled the Evil Empereror Zurg!
Pew pew pew!
And another Toy Story shot.
Before the concert, I just had to play some Fix It Felix Jr.
While we were waiting for the show to begin, we saw that the latest It’s a Ska World SKAvenger Hunt goal was near us. We headed there and got there first, winning some Dulce Cookies by Melo! Oh my goodness, they were so amazing. We gave two to Remy, the host, for him and girlfriend as well as one to a woman who got there after us. Then I ate some more of them. They were really tasty!
Next it was time for the highlight of the evening, Suburban Legends! They’re so amazing. Their sound is great, their choreography is stunning, their ability to engage the audience is always superb, and their sets consist of covers and awesome originals.
There’s gem with the band!
Here’s a clip of them playing DuckTales. Very awesome.
I danced a lot, and boy was I exhausted. I even got to be a firework. The crowd all crouched down. They began to count to eight, using “cicero” to switch to a “Cell Block Tango” reference, and then went back to counting normally. When they reached eight, we all jumped up, threw our arms in the air, and yelled, “boom!” It was fun!
Also, you know how gang fights always involve singing, dancing, and hand snapping? Yeah, the audience split in two for one of those fights. Super rad.
After the concert I wanted to try on this helmet even if I looked dumb.
After a break, The Suffragettes, an all-girl cover band, played at the Tomorrowland Terrace. They were pretty good, but they just didn’t do enough for us. We listened to a few songs before heading back to Main Street, U.S.A. We had some delicious ice cream before calling it a night.
It’s too bad that this was the fourth annual Ska Day at Disneyland and that I missed three of them. I’ll be going in the future!
My parents got a boat recently, so this weekend I went out on it with them for the first time.
It was a really beautiful day, and hanging out on the boat was great.
I tried wakeboarding for the first time, and it was a blast. I definitely want to go again! The first couple attempts I fell quickly, but it didn’t take long at all to get the hang of it.
The only thing that sucked was the boat running over the rope at one point and then the joy of trying to get the rope out. During that adventure, we had trouble with some caps that weren’t latching right. Oh well. On the plus side, Pete let me pilot the boat, and that was also super fun!
Let’s not talk about the problems with the brakes locking up while Pete backed it into the driveway and what happened to his truck’s clutch.
And what weekend would be complete with some Adventure Time and a tokidoki puzzle? We’re making good progress!
Saturday I went to the Fall 2014 Dapper Day Expo at Disneyland! I didn’t actually go into the park, but I went to the expo in the Grand Californian Hotel and hunt out at Downtown Disney.
gem went with me. High five!
Besides gathering together many dapper people, the expo mostly consisted of retro and vintage clothing for sale.
One woman was selling ties for a dollar each. There were a few ties I was considering, and when I learned they were a dollar, I had to grab a few. I ended up with three ties and a bow tie.
Once I was done with the expo, I spent time wandering Downtown Disney. I even got to pretend to be Woody! Wearing the hat makes me think of the line from Toy Story when Mr. Shark wears Woody’s hat in the toy box and says, “Look, I’m Woody! Howdy, howdy, howdy!”
Roar! Who wouldn’t want to be Sulley from Monsters, Inc.? I know I would!
Yesterday was the Chili Cook-Off at Toshiba! Joseph made a delicious chili using ghost peppers, so we went with a Ghostbusters theme.
Pete made a large Ghostbusters sign, and I brought the inflatable proton pack and a copy of the movie. We also had little rice ghosts.
Sadly we didn’t win. It seems like most people like a pretty basic chili, while Joseph wants to spice things up. I prefer his way of thinking, but I don’t think it’ll lead us to a win. Maybe the fourth attempt will be better next year. On the plus side, I got to eat a bunch of different types of chili and listen to some great live music!
The best way to spend your Tuesday night is listening to live ska music.
It’s a scientific fact.
Duncan and I went to the Slidebar early to ensure we got wristbands. By 7:40 or so we had our wristbands, so we only had to wait slightly under two hours for the music. I got some tacos and nachos, found a sliver of bar to use, and began eating. I thought I recognized the guys next to me as frequenters of the Ska Parade Lounge, so we chatted a bit, and I was right! I spent the two hours chatting with Amit, Stephan, Christian, and Duncan as well as people watching.
The Steady 45’s took the stage first, and they were excellent. I’d seen them at the Slidebar once previously – at the January Ska Parade Lounge opening for the Originalites. I think Collin was at the show actually. They have a standing bass! Definitely good stuff.
The Skatalites were skamazing. They were one of the first ska bands, forming in 1964 in Jamaica. This year they’re celebrating their 50th anniversary! From what I can tell, all the founding members except one have passed away. Doreen Shaffer is still alive and active, singing for the band!
They also performed with guest Sultan Ali a.k.a. the Sultan of Ska, son of Prince Buster (the Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer). The Sultan of Ska is the leftmost person in that photograph.
It was a great show, and I’m thrilled to have seen such an influential ska band. After spending three hours dancing, however, now I’m exhausted and my ears are ringing. If you ever get the chance to see The Skatalites, I recommend you take it!
I did two interesting things this weekend, but I don’t have enough to say about each of them to make individual posts! First, I went The Point Restaurant and Bar in Dana Point with Anela and gem. Our friend Sean invited us to watch his dad’s reggae band. It was also Sean’s dad’s birthday! He seemed pretty popular!
The band was fun, playing a variety of reggae and classic rock covers. The venue was pretty cool too. It’s a bit far to go just for drinks, but if I was in the area or there was something happening there, I’d definitely go again.
The 30th annual Toshiba Tall Ships Festival was also in Dana Point! It was a beautiful day.
gem and I watched some pirates learn about Pirate High Tea from their admiral. It was an amusing performance in which the pirates struggle to understand the delicacies of having tea.
They also had dancers!
We met an adorable rat named Izzy the Pyrat! He had a little pirate’s hat and everything.
This blacksmith was making dice. He was pretty interesting and answered many of gem’s blacksmith questions.
He even made this rose.
Aboard one of the ships was a band playing amusing songs about being pirates. They’re called The Boo Hoo Crew. Despite claiming to be a children’s band, I liked them. “Old McPirate had a ship. / E-I-E yo ho!”
Then it was snack time. gem wanted to get corn, and it was buy two items, get a third free. I bought a corn dog with the corn so I could get an Arnold Palmer for free. They didn’t have any corn dogs ready unless I was willing to accept one with a split in the breading. Because I was okay with it, they even threw in an extra corn dog for free!
We got our corn all lathered up in mayo with a variety of delicious toppings.
gem was hungry!
While watching a weapons demonstration, we met the most adorable dog. His owner didn’t mind, so we showered him with attention.
Oh, right. Here’s the weapons demonstration itself.
I’m not familiar with Legendary Star-Lord at all. I think he might have something to do with Guardians of the Galaxy, but I’m not sure. Nevertheless, I had to pick up this one issue. Check it out.
What’s that? Does the ship’s AI want to listen to the Aquabats?
Of course it does! When I saw this online, I rushed out to pick up the issue.
Thanks to @Johnny2Tone on Twitter for making me aware!
On Labor Day, I had ribs, which means Sumo and Angel get to enjoy ribs everyday for a while! Thursday was the first day I got around to giving them any, and I think they enjoyed them.
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows them, but Angel ate her rib faster.
Last night I saw Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular at the Honda Center! It was pretty great and could definitely be enjoyed by people of all ages. While they taught a lot of information that I (and most other adults) already knew, there were still pieces of new information.
The dinosaurs looked pretty real – except for the extra pairs of human legs on some of the dinosaurs that is. The show went through the various periods, discussing the world, the environment, evolution, and the current dominate species. To be honest, the end felt kind of sad even though I obviously knew that the dinosaurs didn’t leave happily ever after.
Strangely, they forgot to mention the Dinosaurs TV show.
gem was excited! And no, of course she didn’t bring a dino.
Edit: I wanted to add a couple more photos!
It’s a good thing he has those spikes.
Look how big they are! Everything was to scale too, so it was pretty cool. I don’t know how realistic they would have looked close, but from where we were sitting, they definitely looked great! At least, I think they did. I’ve never seen a real dinosaur.
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