Sure, it may look like I’ve just been “vacationing” in Dover… playing on my bike, riding to the Bay, enjoying a few sunrises here & there. But in reality, we’ve been working long hours every day setting up the Firefly Music Festival. And tonight was the first of the headliner acts on the Main Stage. Here’s a quick shot of the Foo Fighters performing with just a “few” concert-goers enjoying the show!

Love the morning sunrise glow… coming soon to a Dover Speedway near you. We’ve got about three more days to get everything ready!

At the end of the day you’re another day older.
And that’s all you can say for the life of the poor. It’s a struggle. It’s a war.
And there’s nothing that anyone’s getting.
One more day standing about. What is it for? One day less to be living.

Okay, so maybe it’s not the most upbeat of shows… but it is my all-time favorite!!!
Tonight we enjoyed a wonderful performance of “Les Miserables” at the Drury Lane Theater in Oakbrook. This production was incredible, but then again, I’ve never seen a bad version of the show. Is it even possible?! The story is incredible, the songs are moving, the characters memorable. I’ve seen it live on stage FAR too many times… and fall in love with it again & again every single time. And let’s not even mention the DVD versions of the Anniversary Performances?… or the CD soundtracks!!!

Who can resist an adorable 8-year old singing Les Miserables at the school talent show?
Not me.

So when Taylor called to invite me I knew that I had to make the drive out to the ‘burbs tonight to see her big stage debut. She auditioned & decided to sing “Castle On A Cloud” from my favorite musical. And although she had a few technical “issues” along the way, I think she had a wonderful performance! And could she be any cuter??? Really?

Click here to see the video footage from her big debut!

THE BEATLES STILL ROCK!!!
Paul & Ringo. And lots of other artists celebrating 50 years!!!

And how adorable was Anna Kendrick singing along to “Yellow Submarine” and grabbing her boyfriend like “Hey, I can’t believe we’re seeing The Beatles live!” Only to be out-done in the cuteness category by Dave Grohl’s adorable little girl singing along as well.

Thank You CBS for celebrating the past 50 Years of Beatles history & music.
It was fifty years to the day & time that they first debuted on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
We may be missing two of The Beatles… but their music still sounds incredible!!!

And always will.

The line-up for this year’s Firefly Music Festival was announced today. 4 days. 7 stages. 100 bands. Looks like it’s going to be another fun trip to Dover… if only I were about 25 years younger I might know of a few more of these bands?!

Gotta do some homework.

Sure, I should have been at home getting ready for this weekend’s Holiday Home Show. Sure, I still have a ton to do. Instead… I went to see my favorite P!NK in concert… with my friend Pam Robinson at the Allstate Arena.

P!NK is such an incredible performer with tons of dancing, acrobatics, spinning, hanging, trapezeing and literally flying out over the audience… all the while singing all of her hit songs. Such a performer. My P!NK crush is full-blown now!

At one point, I was taken by the view of the full arena… and that the crowd response of holding up lighters at a concert has changed to holding up iPhones with the flashlight turned on!!! Not quite as cool as Zippo’s, but…

She opened the show with “Raise Your Glass”… and she raised the roof too! Literally flying out from under the stage, springing all over on bungee cords turning it into a trapeze act as she continued to sing the song! To see a little of the video, click here for “Raise Your Glass.”

The concert was great. Full-blown production. One of the biggest & most produced shows I’ve ever seen. Lights. Lasers. Dancers. Trap doors. Fog. Scenery. Contraptions. All going all over the place all the time!!!

And sure, why not do some splits on aerial silks while singing?! Doesn’t everyone do that? Let’s see Britney lip-sync her way through this one!!! For this one she started out on aerial silks, and then morphed into the abusive-fight-dance sequence from her video for “Try.” To see a video of the concert version of “Try” click here.

And to see a video of her incredible performance of “Try” at the American Music Awards, click here. It was show-stopping performance, also base don the original video, performed live for the award show.

Then she performed “Sober” on this spinning sphere-cage-concoction. Not only does she climb inside, outside and all around… but then the raise it, spin it, and add several more dancers. It’s wild. And again, she’s singing the entire time!!! To see a video clip of “Sober” in concert, click here.

Okay, so sure there were a few “normal” sings where she stayed down on stage and just sang. And sounded great. Great while standing. Great while spinning. Just great!!!

She ended the concert by literally flying around the arena… FLYING!!! And singing “So What” at the same time. High above the crowd, up to the third balcony, across the ceiling and back. All the while singing the finale. To see a video of “So What” in concert, click here.

And a final bow… and the end to an incredible concert. I LOVE P!NK!!!

After a long & fun day at the Hinsdale Art Fair, I had a very enjoyable evening under the stars at Ravinia Festival with Sting… and my best college friends Kel & Kelly. Sting sounded wonderful & sang almost every song… along with my own vocal stylings of course. It was a great day from start to finish! And more fun at the art fair tomorrow. Guess I need to sleep fast???

Tonight was putting some final touches on my latest batch of mugs.
I made sure things were smooth, handles well-attached and then I added
some accents of colored slip to finish them off. A quick band of color around
the top portion, then some small dabs of colored slip in each stamp.

So now they’re ready to dry and then wait for my next bisque firing.
These mugs are destined for the soda kiln. In that final cone 10 firing, the soda
atmosphere in the kiln will make these colored slips a lot brighter… hopefully
with some beautiful flashing around the mugs. You never know what you’re going
to get when you’re soda firing. That’s part of the fun…

Plus, a new “toy” arrived today for my studio…

A set of really cool “speakers” to amplify my iPod music… straight from my earbuds!!!
They show up in this little, flat package. And then expand into horn-shaped speakers.
No batteries or power needed. No cables, chargers or converters. They’re flexible,
stackable & washable. The folks over at Tembo Trunks make a lot of claims about their
product. I think my studio will be the true test of their marketing claims!

Let the music play…. from my iPod, my iPod Shuffle, iPhone or even my iPad 2!!!
Yes, I’m obviously an Apple geek!!!

The speakers come in a a few fun colors… sadly, not orange!!!
So I went with classic iPod White. Check ’em all out on their website!
www.tembotrunks.com