My most recent trip to New York turned out to be a bit disappointing. Sure, I had a fantastic time with my colleagues, ate great food, and (most importantly) got some important work done to provide support for high poverty schools across the nation. But the let down was all weather-related. I had planned to attend the US Open with friends from work one night, but for both full days I was in NYC, rain caused all matches to be completely cancelled. No Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic for me (heck, I would have been happy just for a Roddick or Fish!), so hopefully I’ll get another chance next year to see my second of the four major tournaments (remember my post about the French Open last summer?).
The previous week I was in Dallas for a satellite media tour kicking off our Limeades for Learning partnership with SONIC Drive-In. The tour included filming 25 (mostly live) TV and radio interviews in a 6 hour span for news stations across the country. I wasn't a big fan of the 4:30am call time, but it was a great experience (no, I'm not linking to any video footage, but if you Google hard enough you can find it). The extra perks of being in Dallas meant seeing one of my former colleagues and hanging out, an amazing dinner at Tom Colicchio's Craft (sorry, their main site is down), and delicious lunch at the Meddlesome Moth.
To top it all off, two of my colleagues were in town last week for a conference and invited me out on the town for their festivities. It’s nice to see an Indianapolis company put on a great show to impress its attendees and clients (mostly coming from the coasts). The first night was a fantastic gala at the Eiteljorg Museum, complete with delicious food and drink. The second night featured special VIP passes to the Katy Perry concert and a post-concert private midnight concert by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.
Not being a big fan of pop music, I honestly didn’t know too much about Katy Perry other than she’s married to hilarious comedian/actor. I definitely recognized a handful of her songs and expected a show with high production value and lots of young screaming girls. Both were definitely in full effect, and fortunately the conference had prepared a great pre-concert setup on the Pacer’s practice court (complete with twenty-foot elevated DJ) so that we could hang out somewhere a little more “our age” before the show started (no idea who the opening act was, but I doubt we missed much). For a 30-year-old, the concert was hilarious – I seriously had so much fun being ridiculous and sporting the light-up sunglasses they gave us to wear. What bothered me was how inappropriate Perry’s songs were for such a young audience. There were lots of pre-teens/tweens there (accompanied by a begrudging parent, of course), and the song lyrics, gesturing, and even spoken audience banter were far too mature. Just chalk up another reason to lock Eliza and Matilda in the house once they turn 14 (or sooner? :).
The after-concert concert (confusing, yes) was at the Indiana Roof Ballroom (my first time there), and was an even better show. If you’ve never heard of Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, go check them out right now. I’ll wait. … Awesome, right? A great rock/blues/jam band complete with a baritone and tenor saxophone and trumpet. It was a lot more fun to be right in front of the band, too, and later that night between sets I snuck backstage to meet them all, and they were happy to chat.
Thanks to my awesome colleagues for setting me up with passes to these events. We had a lot of fun, and it was great to see them enjoy Indianapolis!
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