Florida International Airshow Last Day

Tomorrow is the last day to check out the Thunderbirds flying at the Florida International Airshow at the Punta Gorda Airport, PGD, in Florida.  The day after Halloween started with more scares than kids in masks, as pilots did death defying feats in the air, challenging gravity, and making so many precise maneuvers that cause spectators' muscles to clench automatically when watching.  Simultaneous gasps are heard from the audience, as experienced fliers show off their skills.

With the tragic news of an accident happening at the airshow in Stuart, Florida, it is an unfortunate reminder just how dangerous stunt flying can be. Accidents happen when flying.  Nobody could probably tell stories of first hand experiences quite like the veterans, and to honor them for their services to the nation, The Florida International Airshow does offer discounts for service members.

The opening ceremony today started with a parachuter descending from the air with the American flag, followed by a team of synchronized jumpers that glided down from the sky. Friday night had jumpers with fireworks attached to them and colored smoke.  Friday was the only night event, and though a large fireworks display was supposed to close out the night, an unfortunate round of lightning a little too close for comfort stopped the display from being able to take place that night.

Of course, that did not stop the Lincoln Jet Truck from lighting up the ground, as the flames from his jet fueled engine could be seen from nearly a mile away.  Pedal to the metal full throttle, the jet truck raced a jet in the sky today.  There may be a rematch tomorrow if you're curious who would win.

From fun little skits during the show, to those Thunderbirds that might cause some pants to unexpectedly get a little wet when they drop below the sound barrier.  The sound is so loud, it can take one by surprise, causing a jump or a little more, followed by that feeling in the chest that vibrates the heart a little with the intensity.  By the time you can hear them, they've already passed.

Bring the kids to bounce out some energy at the bounce houses.  Get freebies like vouchers to the casino and cell phone powered fans to keep you cool as you walk around to check out the static display of war birds and the coolest planes around.  Chow down on a variety of food, and count how many times you gasp at the tricks the pilots are doing as they zoom through the sky above.

Sunday, November 3rd, is the last day to join in on the festivities at the Florida International Airshow.  Take a ride in a helicopter, a hot air balloon, or a plane.  Check out Southwest Florida's largest aviation event of the year at the Florida International Airport from 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m..

Bachelor Party Concert

Why do the same old boring bachelor party?  Why not have a concert where everybody can show up, have an awesome time, and enjoy some really cool music?  Sounds as amazing a plan as any.

While some may be going to see the headliners, Captured By Robots, which consists of an electrical genius and his companions, robots with the ability to play musical instruments, jamming.  Honestly, I'm really curious to see what this could be like.  I've heard really good things from people who have seen the band live, but from just hearing people talk, I'm still not 100% sure what it will be like.

Okay, so I'm sure there's going to be people interested in checking that out, but there's the whole bachelor party thing going on at the same time.  This could turn a geek into a freak potentially.  Who knows what the night will have in store when there's musical robots at a bachelor party concert?

Will people do things to surprise the couple?  Did I even mention who the couple is yet?  Well, the groom, Brian Sanderson, will also be playing on stage with his band Vilest Breed, while the other groom, Josh Morrison, will probably be sipping something with just a tiny hint of alcohol in it.

Will there be dancing and shenanigans?  Probably.  Mosh pits are most likely.

Here's a little flavor of the bands from the Filth Fest.  Held at the Sky Bar in Sarasota, the concert was a couple of weeks ago, but Vilest Breed played with Must Not Kill, who will also open for Captured By Robots.  Thus, it serves as a recent point of what the opening bands have been up to, and I'll even throw in another local band as a bonus, Feast of the Antipathy.

Come out and rock out on Saturday, October 19, at the Crowbar in Ybor City.  Doors are at 8 p.m.  Vent some frustrations with the grindcore moshing aerobics plan, and get to sweating.

Pyrotechnics and blowing stuff up

Yesterday, happy belated 4th of July by the way, was my first day working pyrotechnics.  This is something that was first brought up to me about a decade ago, and it just now came to fruition.  The process is not for everyone, as you must qualify for an ATF background check as the first step.

The call came at the last minute.  It woke me up.  I had to scramble to get ready.

There's things you have to be mindful of, such as wearing natural fabrics, as they don't burn as fast as some of the synthetics.  That means, heavy jeans, steel toed boots, a long shirt, and a hat, as well as things like sunscreen, drinks and whatever else you need.  Once you're there, there's no leaving.

Fireworks cannot be left unattended.  Thus, a cooler with sandwiches, snacks, drinks and whatnot can be essential.  There's essential tools of the trade, such as electrician's scissors, a hammer and more.

Most people think of it as a guy's job, but it was a girl who hired me and ran the whole event.  She's part of the Santore family, one of the oldest firework families in America.  She grew up around fireworks being manufactured and handling the explosives, even getting a degree in chemistry.

When I got to the Atlanta Braves stadium, which was recently built in North Port, FL, there was another girl on the crew, too.  She was a little firecracker herself, as her husband was on the crew and laughingly referred to her as a pissed off chihuahua.  These are girls that work just as hard - if not harder - than the men on the crew, showing that they are not afraid to get dirty and lift heavy things.

My job consisted of learning how to put in electronic matches.  This is something that you must be very careful with, as the tip is literally like a match head, and if you scrape it, you can strike it, which can cause an explosion.  After cutting the tip, slowly sliding in the electronic match, then the other end has to be connected to a board that controls when the fireworks will explode to the music.

Wiring up maybe half the fireworks, I was so pleased to see that I didn't mess things up too bad.  It's kinda like putting in wires for speakers.  Still, when it's your first time, you're nervous to mess up.

It's also kind of eye opening to see, after connecting all the wires, how the chain reactions occur.  When you're wiring, you don't really know what each firework does (unless you read the master list), so it's intriguing to see the gestalitist view where the whole is more than the sum of its parts.  The bombs wrapped in brown paper, like a grocery bag, is more than just a round explosive; it all comes together with colors, music, smoke, and parts of fireworks flying at you like shrapnel.

Once the fireworks start, another crew member confesses to me that he has PTSD from being caught in an explosion in a structure fire.  It makes me wonder if this is some kind of therapy, like facing his fears, but I can see him squirm uncomfortably.  Explosions can be scary for many people and pets.

Overall, things came together in an awesome array of explosive colors in the sky and a ton of smoke.  As it was the first 4th of July at the stadium, they had a slew of bounce houses, food trucks, music and more.  It was a long day of hefting and lifting, being in the sun so long that my body started shaking like a leaf when I finally got into air conditioning, but it was worth it to see the end result.

 

Drum Circles for Summer Solstice

In honor of summer solstice, I did the trifecta of southwest Florida's drum circles, starting out small on Friday night in North Port, building up for Nokomis on Saturday, and rounding out with Siesta Key Beach on Sunday evening.  North Port is more intimate.  Nokomis Beach is going to be of primary focus, and Siesta is, of course, probably the most well known of the three drum circles.

It was a Tom Petty weekend with Ras and Jose, as we kept hearing various Tom Petty tunes, especially after Ras mentioned the song, "Won't Back Down."  Some people don't believe in coincidence, and it was almost as if the rocker I was once start struck by had been passing me some musical inspiration to channel over the weekend.  We found ourselves busting out a rasta version.

Ras is the one who feeds the licks, and Jose brings the cow bell.  The two are known by many who venture to the drum circle as staples amongst a sea of familiar faces.  Sure, people may come, and people may go, as Florida gets a lot of tourists, but there's a few die hard drummers there, too.

There's people who get religious about drawing the circles, putting fresh flowers in a mound in the middle, even burning sage to clear the energies at the beaches.  These are the regular ones there day in and day out, only missing in case of emergency or going to visit "up north" for whatever reason.  These familiar faces are the ones that people come to know, regardless of many who may go.

Even though random lyrics do occur, the drum circle is mainly known for drums - or so people think.  There's actually a variety of instruments that show up, from the classically inspired variety, to the ones made by hand or in the spur of the moment tapping on whatever random object happens to be nearby.  People like to join in, and sometimes, necessity is the mother of inventions in any artform.

Sure, the basics of drumming is following the rhythm of the natural heart beat.  Get it to synch up, and as the drums slow, the heart rate slows.  As drumming speeds up, so does the heart rate naturally.

There's certainly people who play to the beat of their own drum, so to speak, but there's also a movement in the music itself.  It can also depend on what instruments are around, be it steel drums, something smaller that's designed to be tapped with the hands, or even coconut shells knocking.  Try to get lost in the music, drifting to another plane, whether dancing, playing or chasing bubbles.

The drum circles are designed for all ages.  Tiny tots run through hula hoops in the sand, while older kids practice gymnastics skills.  Fly with feathers or butterfly wings, and once the sun sets, grab the glow sticks and LED devices to create trails of color in the sky that can be seen a ways away.

The great thing about being at a beach drum circle, is if you get tired, just hop in the ocean, and if you get tired, lean back on the sand, and if you're lucky enough at night, you might see a couple shooting stars.  If you've never been to a drum circle, Florida has many, and other places do, too.  Check out drumcircles.net/circlelist.html for more information; there's also a drum circle finder on Facebook.

Lita Ford's Like Laced Up Leather

Lita Ford's like laced up leather.  She has this classic, timeless style.  She's like that favorite leather garment that only gets better after wearing it for a while, feeling it imprint the curves of your body.

It takes a while for a good leather to loosen up, as it has to be broken in a bit.  Compared to other fabrics out there, leather holds up surprisingly well over time, being tough enough to handle spills on motorcycles that could've ripped right through other fabrics.  Lita Ford may have garnered notoriety with the likes of Joan Jett, but Lita was hanging out with some of the toughest of guys when other chicks wouldn't have been able to handle it in the 80's, being known for having some epic hook-ups over the years with names that most chicks from that era would only dream about in fantasies.

Yet, she has always maintained the lace of being a lady.  Not being afraid to show who was in charge, her solo career rocketed in a slightly more metal version than Jett.  Ok, so her song with Ozzy was a little bit of a ballad, and Jett does play with the likes of Acey Spade, who dabbles with the likes of Dope and Wednesday 13, so it really may be a bit of a toss up as to who is more metal, but still...

The point is that Lita Ford is still kicking ass and taking names in the rock scene, with a body that looked as tight as ever without having to be in some uncomfortable corset.  Her drummer's back there peeping over the top of the drum set, looking kinda average, but when he pops out from time to time, people may start to get an idea, but it's not til the end, when he comes to the front, that his Hulk-like arms, narrowing into a ripped, v-shaped torso, is visible, looking like a gymsperational advertisement where it makes you think of how much more you should be hitting the gym, damn slacker.

She's got some good guys up front, too.  They're bringing it.  Everything was awesome.

They played at The Ranch on Colonial in Fort Myers.  She opened up for Dokken.  Honestly, and no offense to Dokken, as I've covered them a few other times, and they have been awesome before, but on that particular night, Lita definitely put on the better show, blowing them out of the water.

Now, I will say that it was not all Dokken's fault on that particular night, as it was evident from the crowd that they were having some sort of sound issue from the start, as they ushered out one speaker, swapping it out for another at the last second before taking the stage.  At one point, an audience member claimed they thought the sound guy was sleeping during the show.  It was really bad.

The lead singer looked a little annoyed with the issue, as he had to verbalize his request into the mic.  This may have led into him not having as much of an energy that I have seen him have in the past.  We're giving the benefit of the doubt on that one for now, but Lita Ford still kicked major ass there.

Not to say Dokken was bad by any means, as it was an awesome show.  There's some eye candy there still for sure.  It's like, did time stand still with these people, or are they hiding the fountain of youth?

Just saying, with Lita being 60, I can only hope to look as amazing as her when I'm that age.  She's really an inspiration to women, not only with what she went through by being a woman in the rock and roll industry, but also by how she has weathered the years, with the classic cool of a leather.  Whether you remember her from her "Cherry Bomb" days, "Close Your Eyes," and "Kiss me once, kiss me twice... kiss me deadly;" it's an energy that pulses through your body, bringing the tingles.

If you haven't seen her live yet, why the hell not?  Go check her out.  Even if you have seen her before, go see her again, and while you're at it, go check out Dokken, too.



Marisa Williams earned her Master's in Writing from the Johns Hopkins University.  Follow her at www.twitter.com/booksnbling.  For more by Marisa, visit www.lulu.com/spotlight/thorisaz.