The Black Keys El Camino Tour at BOK Arena Tulsa

Saturday night Sweetie and I loaded up, dropped SuperPizzaBoy off at Nana's and headed off downtown to the BOK Center to see the Black Keys.



The Black Keys are two guys from Ohio, Dan Auerbach who sings and plays the guitar and Patrick Carney who plays the drums. They have other guys out on the stage for many of the songs but they also do a bunch with just Carney and Auerbach.



The stage is set up a little differently than most rock bands. The drums are right up front and Carney faces Auerbach. You can tell they are really in synch.



Auerbach sings with a very strong clear voice and is a great guitar player. I had never thought of them as being a rock band, I was wrong. I need to turn the V up.



They started and just sang, no little riffs about and inside jokes, just playing.



They didn't have an elaborate set but I did enjoy the laser light show.



Listening to music on an ipod or in your car is nice, but there is nothing like seeing it live.



Try this video out. Turn it up, all they way. Remember, if its too loud then you are to old. I'm giving the Black Keys five stars out of five for a concert. It was wonderful.



The Arctic Monkeys opened for the Black Keys. I think they are opening for all the Black Keys concerts on this El Camino Tour.



They are from England and I would have to say their music is a little punkish along the lines of Green Day but with a lot more reverb. The lead singer, Alex Turner, had a very powerful voice. I was also very impressed with the drummer, Matt Helders. He could really play the drums. Not that I know a thing about it.



They made heavy use of the strobe lights during the first part of their set. I was glad we were in our seats when the music started. Between the roar of the band and the strobe lights it was very overwhelming. I guess that I am borderline too old.



I give Arctic Monkeys also a five stars out of five.

Go see them if they come to town, or go get their cd's or download something.

Mainly I recommend listening to any sort of music you want,except disco of course. Go see a local band.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

I took the day off Friday and Sweetie went to see Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. What a great movie! It is indeed about an effort to bring salmon fishing to Yemen but it also a great romantic movie. It stars Ewan McGregor as a nerdy fishing expert and Emily Blunt as a financial assistant to a super rich sheikh who is financing the venture. The movie reminded Sweetie and I of Local Hero.

I love this movie. I give it five stars out of five. Go see it while you can

Flowers for Leontien

Sending Leontien flowers and prayers from Oklahoma.

Check out Nancy for more flowers for Leontien.

Weekend Reflections - Dress Shop Window

The family went out to eat at one of my favorite places. I always take my camera because there is a dress shop across the street.



Their displays change quite a bit and they are not quite what you see at Kohls.



Tonight many of the dresses had lots of bling. Bling is good.



So, do I now have a fashion blog?



What a throwback, a dress shop window on main street.



Have you checked out a dress shop window lately?

Weekend Reflections

Skwyatch Friday - Water, Clouds, Moon

From the west bank of the Arkansas River looking southeast, about a mile left to go on my Wednesday evening run.

Skywatch Friday

Graffiti Wednesday - Good and Bad?

I went running on the Arkansas River trails here in Tulsa a couple weeks ago. I always take along my trusty point and shoot. You never know what you are going to see. In twenty years of running I've come across one of the fox that live along the trail three times. I haven't had my camera any of those times. Next time I see one, I'm taking their picture. Today though some graffiti stopped me.



I think a stencil was used to do this. I certainly don't condone graffiti in non-authorized places but i dont' think this example really bothers anybody. I've tried googling "nemesis" in various ways for Tulsa graffiti and didn't get any good hits.



But then, on the other side of the structure you get this, meh.



I also noticed lots of these stencils along the trail. It's just a few inches long. I have no idea what the purpose is. They don't seem to be distance markers since they are spaced at irregular intervals.



And then running across the pedestrian bridge I saw this cheesy Christian evangelism and peace sign symbol.    It looks like two people getting in on the act.



Do you think any sort of graffiti is acceptable? Do you think that graffiti evangelists are going to heaven?



And then I ran a little further and came across this memorial to a motorcyclist who died within feet of this tree just a couple weeks earlier. Is this graffiti, you see more and more of these memorials. They don't age very well. They seem to be at least tolerated by officialdom. As an aside, fast forward two weeks, and I met a police officer in a social setting who worked the accident. Tulsa is the biggest small town I've ever lived in.

Graffiti Wednesday

Ready Set Run 2012

What do you have planned on the morning of Saturday, May 19?
Do you like exciting racing?



Sports Mascots?



Do you want to be fawned over by cheerleaders?



Hang out with hot women?



See happy kids?



Or get a nice sweaty hug?

Join our team, Logan's Free Time, (because as you may know, nothing is more important than free time to teenagers)  raising funds for the Autism Center of Tulsa.


You can register for the race, or donate money by clicking the link below.

Logan's Free Time Running Team

Our World - Seeing for Miles and Miles

Fellow Blogger and Geocacher Baloney of That's Baloney and her husband Doc invited Sweetie and I to a fundraiser on the 60th floor of the Citiplex Tower in south Tulsa.

CityPlex Tower (Photo credit: alnbbates)

The building is 60 floors tall. One of the tallest buildings in the state and there is nothing really close to it anywhere close.



Cityplex Towers started out as Oral Robert's medical school and hospital. Now it is a huge office building with a banquet room on the top floor. You can literally see for miles from up there. You can see for yourself just how flat Oklahoma is.



The big round building is the Mabee Center where the ORU basketball team plays. Sweetie and I saw Huey Lewis and the News in concert a few years back. There is a plaque in the lobby that talks about Elvis playing there once.



There is the famous Praying Hands. Sorry about the blurry picture. I thought it would be too nerdy to take my brand spanking new "nice" camera to the event. So I took my point and shoot.



ORU was playing baseball Friday night.



And my favorite, the Prayer Tower. Whatever you think of Oral Roberts you have to admit that the prayer tower is a striking building. It is basically a three dimensional modernistic cross. I didn't realize that on my own, I had to read it before it sunk in.

Our World

Shadowshot Sunday 2 - From the 60th Floor

From the 60th floor of Cityplex towers in Tulsa early Friday evening.

Shadowshot Sunday 2

Weekend Reflections - Self Portrait

At Citiplex towers in south Tulsa. Do you see me?

 I'm right behind the lowermost red car.

Weekend Reflections

A Walk in the Street - Street Car

I'm back from New Orleans and glad to be with my family but I miss the energy and vitality of the Crescent City. Sure there are lots of tourists and conventioneers but there is a tremendous number of people who live and work in New Orleans. They seem to barely notice the tourists and treat each other with good cheer. They come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and genders. Its truly a city.

Walk in the Street

New Orleans Navy Week

I was in New Orleans this week at an energy business convention. While there the US Navy and friends showed up for a party. A party to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812 and the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. New Orleans is the innaugral city of a three year fifteen city celebration. I mean if you are going to celebrate, you might as well start in New Orleans.



The USS Frank Mitscher, a Guided Missile Destroyer. The ship has a brand new skipper, in February this year Commander Monika Stoker assumed command of the ship. She is also the first African American woman to command an American warship.



The USS Dewert, an "Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate." Reportedly in October 2011 this ship, along with a British vessel,  rescued a an Italian Merchantmen from Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.




The French Navy Germinal, a light monitoring frigate,  showed up for the party also.



The USS Wasp, an Amphibious Assault Ship. It is a lot bigger than what it looks like in this photograph. This is as close as I could get.



It carries a whole bunch of Marines and their equipment. Reportedly, about 3000 sailors from the various ships had a pretty good time Tuesday night in the French Quarter.

The modern warships were great and a special to see but the big attraction was the Tall Ships that came in to celebrate also.



The Coast Guard's WIX Eagle a training ship was there. She started out as the the German vessel, SSS Horst Wessel. Adolf Hilter attended her commissioning. The United States seized her after World War II.





The Indonesian's sent their KRI Dewaruci, their navy's training vessel. It also was built in Germany in the 1930's. It



I loved the woodwork on this ship.



Ecuador sent their BAE Guayas, another training vessel. It was my favorite because of the condor below.



I just hope that all the sailors get back to their ships, the right ships.