Tag Archives: reggae

Rude Boy, Wayzgoose, and reggae yoga

Lots of interesting things happened this weekend!

Friday night was the first screening of Rude Boy the Movie at the Frida. It follows Rudy, a Mexican-American teenager from Anaheim in 1984 who doesn’t fit in at school. He eventually finds ska and rude boys. It was a lot of fun!

Saturday was Wayzgoose at UCI! I walked to campus and spent a little time wandering around, taking in the festivities. It seemed a lot smaller than previous years honestly.

The Psychology Student Association had this awesome Adventure Time booth with sweet cosplay. I had to get some tacos from them for that! I hope tons of people bought from them.

Some people seemed to be practicing quidditch too. It wasn’t a full game, but they were definitely out there having fun. I talked with them a bit, and they seemed really cool. Quidditch sounds like a pretty fun activity, and it’s cool to see people at UCI playing! Thanks for all the info, Anteater Quidditch!

I’ve been going to Wayzgoose since 2007, and every year I get a shawarma from the Muslim Student Union. Yum, yum, yum. Besides the tacos and shawarma, I also had horchata, a churro, spam musubi, and a brownie. It was a delicious day.

The 3D printing club had a booth showing some of the neat things they made. Here’s a bulbasaur.

And here’s a squirtle. I like the bulbasaur more. I didn’t see a charmander even though charmander was clearly the best of the three.

The anteater was pretty cool though!

On my walk back home, I decided to walk through Middle Earth. I stopped to take a picture from Gondolin.

I also saw cool restrooms in Middle Earth. When I lived there, they were men’s and women’s. Now they’re both all-inclusive. Pretty cool.

I had to stop by my old dorm too. It seems weird to think that I lived there a decade ago.

Later that night I went to Sean’s reggae yoga workshop. It was a two hour yoga workshop with DJ Tory playing reggae music. It was a lot of fun. After the workshop, I went to an after party. There were a couple people I knew and a lot more that I didn’t. Everyone seemed really cool, making a really awesome night!

Reggae and the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival

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.

And then we had dinner!

Wet Hot Skamerican Summer!

After work last night, I went to dinner with my brother. He’s leaving for Recruit Training soon, so this will be the last time I see him for a little bit. We went to Olive Garden, and the two of us ordered what we always order. At the end of the meal, a waiter who wasn’t serving our table, Brad, came over to tell me that he liked my shirt and the band it represented and was happy to see it, and he shook my hand. I was wearing my “one fish, two, red fish, reel big fish” shirt. Cool!

Anyways, it was nice seeing my brother again before he leaves. I’m proud and hope he does well.

After dinner, I met with my friends Michael and Bonnie to go to the Wet Hot Skamerican Summer concert at the House of Blues Anaheim. I wasn’t familiar with any of the bands, but they were all quite entertaining, and I had a very nice night.

The show opened with Sugar Stems, an indie rock band from Milwaukee. They had a pleasant sound with a great vocalist. I really loved her voice. Now that I’m thinking of it, they remind me of Plumtree a bit. I’m not going to make specific comparisons because I’m tired, but they were excellent. The band consists of two married couples too!

Okay, I’m listening to them on Spotify right now. Wow, I really love them.

Next up was Papafish, who might have had the biggest following of all the bands if the audience was any indication. They were a fun ska/reggae band that played mostly original music. One song opened with synthesizers that reminded me of the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams. Makes sense because it really was a cover.

The middle act was the Angel City Records Soul Revue. The act kept the core band constant but rotated members between songs. It was a record label from LA that specializes in soul, R&B, ska, rocksteady, and reggae (according to their site), and that’s pretty much what I could infer from listening. It was nice to get some related genres that are little different than what I normally hear at a ska concert. Of course, it also helps that they were good. Their site indicates that they featured Jackie Mendez, Xavier Lynch, and The Soul Vibers.

The fourth act was Stupid Flanders, and they had great energy. They’re a ska band from Fullerton. Their music was great, sure, but those orange ties… oh boy!

The last band of the night was Half Past Two. They were excellent with a strong horn section and a lively, animated lead singer. She really knew how to work the crowd.

I’d be happy to see any of these bands again. I took a gamble going to a show consisting only of bands with which I wasn’t familiar, but it definitely paid off! Plus it was a lot of fun hanging out with my friends!