What's Sweeter Than HoneyHoney?

Not much!

Stuart and I had the opportunity to go to another Rocco Deluca concert tonight. (THANK YOU, San and Tim for watching our three kids!!!!) We were especially excited because this one was the closest yet -- a mere 45 minutes or thereabouts away -- in West Chester. And we were even more excited because we hadn't seen Rocco live in concert since September 2007 when we took the kiddos to his free end-of-tour outdoor concert in Baltimore.


Of course being in West Chester meant no Hard Rock Cafes and no new Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts (a RDB concert tradition from the beginning). *wink-grin* But The Note was one of our favorite venues to date. From the outside it looked like a small storefront for a deli or take-out restaurant. But it was quite roomy inside and seemed to have lots of history (though I overheard one lady in the audience say otherwise when that was stated from the stage).

Anyways....back to the concert.

Another reason we were eager to go -- besides the obvious wanting to see Rocco live again -- was that we wanted to hear one of Ironworks' newest band, honeyhoney, perform since they were listed to open for Rocco. We didn't know much about them but thought it might be fun nonetheless.

FANTASTIC! That's the word I kept using while listening to them. They have a real eclectic sound to them: a little folksy, sometimes a bit rocky, maybe some blues in there, and even a bit of country. Suzanne Santo and Ben Jaffe are the leads and give a memorable "down-home" fun performance. We bought the CD and I even got to meet them to get their autographs and a photo. They're very humble and genuinely excited to meet fans. They knew that most people had come to see/hear Rocco, but they were happy to be "tagging" along. I told them how much we enjoyed them and would spread the word.


After a few minutes of set-up, the lights dimmed and Rocco came out with his drummer, Ryan.

AWESOME! is the word I used for them! The amount of playing time versus stopping to change instruments made my fingers hurt for them. They never seemed to stop. They played new songs and old songs and even came out for a 2-song encore, including one of our favorites, "How Many Times." For over an hour! It was such a treat to hear Rocco and his guitars sing again.


We managed to get home a bit earlier this time -- though we had to take a quick detour to Dunkin' Donuts. You would have thought the adrenaline of the music would have kept us going...but I guess we're getting older. *grin*

(I'll put together a slideshow of photos from the concert and post it another day.)

Bleary-Eyed But Buzzing

Wow!

Wow! Wow! Wow!

What a show!

Last night, we headed to Philly in the 90-degree humidity to see another Rocco concert at the Fillmore Theatre on South Street. (I'll add videos as soon as I upload them to YouTube and post an entry with just photos later.)

It was EXCELLENT...as usual! (How do you convey this to rock stars? We enjoyed ourselves so much!)

To say we're pooped would be putting it mildly. We didn't get home until 2 a.m....and that was due to the 1 a.m. traffic jam on the Schuylkill Expressway. Egads! My poor sister and brother-in-law, who stayed with the kids, were stuck waiting for us...I hope they know how much we LOVE them. *smile*

One thing we've noticed in the five concerts we've attended is that they usually don't start on time...unless they're at the Fillmore. There they are prompt. The concert was slated for 8 p.m. and started at 8 on the dot. The three opening acts each got 30 minutes with 15 minutes in between to reset the stage for the next group.

Matt Duke opened the show, followed by Sara Barielles, and then The Last Goodnight. All were excellent! (You can listen to some of their music for free on MySpace. Just type www.myspace.com/[whichever musician you want to hear])

It took a bit longer to set up the stage for RDB, but they started at 10:30-ish and played until midnight! We got there early enough to get great seats about 15 feet from the stage, so apart from a "numb bum" and tired "babysitters," we could've listened all night!

They added a new player, Brett Bixby -- we weren't sure if he's a permanent member of the band or just a friend joining in for the tour -- who played the keyboard, various guitars, and several of the misc. percussion instruments. Apparently, he's Rocco's good buddy from Long Beach, Ca., and single....as Rocco so sweetly pointed out to the audience much to the embarrassment of Brett. (Maybe Rocco's not Brett's good buddy anymore?) Anyway, he was a nice addition.

So with my mind buzzing and my ears ringing and my head replaying all my favorite Rocco songs....I'll bid you adieu...and collapse on our bed....

Photo Fun in Philly

First stop: Jim's Steaks for din-din


Me: melting posing outside the Fillmore

Rocco headlines this time! Hooray!

They have some interesting upcoming acts...

Us: Self-taken outside the theatre whilst waiting in line.

A Philadelphia "gum" tree -- eeew!

The sign Stuart knocked down whilst we waited...

(Can you tell I was bored?)

A "arty" look at some Philadelphia architecture

Their banner -- something new for this tour


Rocco!! A bit blurred -- he wouldn't stand still! The cheek!


Rocco and Dave play "at" each other -- very cool!


One more of Rocco. A bit darker, but I was trying a different camera setting.

Happily Burdened

Anyone can carry his burden, however heavy, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, until the sun goes down. And this is all that life really means. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

We're off to see Rocco and co. in concert in Philadelphia tonight.

To say we're excited wouldn't even begin to describe our feelings.

We've seen them live four times so far; three times on the big screen in their rockumentary; and a few times on TV from the DVD of their rockumentary.

But no matter how much we've seen them, they're always excellent! The songs they play vary from fast and loud (I mean really loud) to soft and slow. They give a great show.

Funny really, since I've never ever been much of a rock music fan. I'm a lover of classical music and show tunes and movie soundtracks. You know, the "soft" stuff. None of that comes even close to rock music...especially much of the stuff done by Rocco Deluca and the Burden. (Check out their music on these K-Swiss ads.)

Still, if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that we're "burdened" to be flexible, and it is a beautiful thing. You learn so much about yourself and discover wonderful, new interests.

In that way, I'm happily burdened...and excited to watch my new interest.

Three Bands and a Li'l Ol' Couple

So the day finally arrived.

The day we get to see Rocco Deluca and the Burden in concert in our own state!!

Yee-haw! No long driving trips. A straight shot down the PA Turnpike and then a coast on the Schuylkill Expressway. We can relax and enjoy ourselves, knowing that we can get around Philadelphia fairly easily....



Okay. Okay. That's not exactly how it turned out.

It took us 2.5 hours to get to Philadelphia...instead of the usual 1 hour.

But we made it and we found the parking garage we wanted near the theatre and we walked the 1.3 (yeah, right!) miles to the Hard Rock Cafe....and the 1.3 miles back again.

We stood in line, about 20 people from the front. We were excited. We'd managed to get there with plenty of time.

Then Stuart discovered he had his utility tool on him. It has a knife on it. No go. He had to return it to our car.

Nevermind.

Eventually, we did get in. The theatre was small so it could only accommodate around 300-350 people. It had a balcony with seats and a small bar with tables. So no matter where you were, you really could see it all.

It's always a thrill to see this band in concert -- even if we were part of the "older set" in the crowd. And watching Mat Kearney and The Feeling was definitely an added bonus. We didn't get to meet any of them, but we enjoyed ourselves...and even got home in the normal amount of time.