Indianapolis is My Home

17
Aug

Indianapolis Air Show Next Weekend

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Cultural Events, East Side, Outdoor Recreation, Special Events, Things To Do in Indy

A couple of year’s ago I went to the Indianapolis Air Show at Mt. Comfort airport a couple of years ago with my family and we had an absolutely great time! The kids loved it, it was a beautiful day and it was just an all-around great experience.

Last year we missed it, but there’s a great story even missing the event. We were at my son’s youth football game and at half-time, it just so happened that the Blue Angels flew right over our football field on their way to the Mt. Comfort airport. Not sure about you, but don’t know how many other youth football organizations get a fly-over (and they were low!) from the Blue Angels.

Getting back to the event though, they’ve got another great sounding line-up in store for us this year with the following acts scheduled to appear:

• U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight
• U.S. Navy Legacy Flight
• U.S. Navy F/A-18C Hornet East Coast Demonstration Team
• U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team
• U.S. Air Force Combat Command F-22A Demonstration Team
• Gene Soucy
• John Klatt
• Aldridge Airshows
• Greg Koontz
• and more

There’s also loads of planes and other air vehicles on the tarmac that you can see up-close and even sometimes take tours through and sit in. Another great memory for me and my kids were the pyrotechnic and explosion displays on the airfield. Just too much fun!

Here’s the deal though, I want to help promote this great event in the city and I’ve gotten contacted by the organizers and promoters to help do that. I want to hear about your experience at the Indianapolis Air Show. For the first 20 bloggers that write-up a post (or have already written a post) on their blog and link back to this site, I’ll get you a free pass to the event.

Just write-up a post, link back to this post and e-mail me if you have any questions. First 20 bloggers win!

Once I get notification of the posts, I’ll update this one with direct links back to your post as well.

Here are the current winners:

1. Indianapolis Air Show - BeingSavvy Indianapolis
2. Thank God for model airplanes… - Jennyese, My Language on Life
3. 2008 Indianapolis Air Show (Free Tickets) - Carry On Citizens by Jeff Stanger

We’d love to hear your comments about the show afterward so come back and let us know what you thought.

14
Aug

Tommy Davidson at Morty’s Comedy Club Tonight

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Celebrities, Comedy, Humor, North Side, Things To Do in Indy

Who can forget this scrawny little comedian that made some of the funniest moments in television and movies? My favorite is probably his African warrior character from Ace Venture 2: When Nature Calls.

Now you can catch him live and in person at Morty’s Comedy Club tonight through Sunday night. Get all the details here at Morty’s Comedy Club website.

13
Aug

Paul D’Andrea Captures the City of Indianapolis

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Photos, Local Artists, State Fair

I’m not sure what it is lately, but I keep coming across great photographers that are located here in Indianapolis. This time it’s Paul D’Andrea and I’ve become mesmerized by his images of the Indiana State Fair that’s taking place right now.

In the picture above he’s captured the quintessential imagery of a fair with the large Ferris wheel ride and of course the funnel cakes stand.

You can enjoy more galleries of his images on his flickr photo stream or read about what he also things about the photography he’s doing on his personal blog too.

29
Jul

Neil Diamond Turns On His Heartlight Tonight

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Conseco Fieldhouse, Downtown

As a child I used to grab rummage through my parent’s album collections and listen to all my favorites as I’d play in my room or out in the living. Usually I was playing with Legos or building a card house, but many times the album I’d be listening to would be one of Neil Diamond’s.

I didn’t realize how prolific of an artist he really was until he was the guest on American Idol this past season. This guy has really produced some hits for himself and others and has been doing it a long time.

You can have the opportunity to see the legend perform tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse downtown Indianapolis.

You can get more information about the event from Eventful.com. If you’re already going, let me know what you think about the concert afterwards. Grabbing some fan photos would be great too! If you post them on your site or on flickr, just let us know.

12
Jul

Death Is Coming to Indianapolis

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Cultural Events, Indiana State Museum, Things To Do in Indy

Although the homicide rate in the city has been having a significant increase of late, there’s another version of death is coming to the Circle City. In this case it’s the “Bodies. the Exhibition” exhibit that’s coming to the city. Then there’s also “Body Worlds III” scheduled to come to the Indiana State Museum.

Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. is looking to bring its controversial "Bodies… the Exhibition" show to Indianapolis. The exhibit, which features cadavers that have been plasticized, dissected and posed, has been dogged by reports that the specimens used in the presentation may be the remains of tortured Chinese prisoners.

If the show opens here, it would debut mere months before the Indiana State Museum is slated to bring the more reputable "Body Worlds III" exhibit to Indianapolis. The founder of that show’s company, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, has spoken out against using bodies from China, which doesn’t closely regulate its specimens.

Details on an Indianapolis exhibit are foggy. A woman who answered the phone at Premier, a publicly traded company, first said the exhibit was scheduled to open in Indianapolis on July 19 and referred detailed questions to a spokeswoman, who did not return a message.

Both of these exhibits sound like they’d be very interesting to experience and see. My question though is if we’re concerned about where the bodies came from in the “Bodies..the Exhibition” exhibit, what are people doing about it besides not going to see them? Are they only upset that they’ve got them placed in their cities, or are they really concerned about the conditions in China that potentially caused the deaths of the cadavers used in the exhibit?

Source: Controversial cadaver exhibit coming on IBJ

02
Jul

Dave Wilson’s One-Liners Comedy Club Closes in Greenwood

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Comedy, Greenwood, Local Businesses

Indianapolis will have one less thing to laugh at now along with a visual icon on the south side of the city in Greenwood. One-Liners’ comedy club will be closing down and it’s unknown if it was sold or just shutting down completely. The website looks like it’s now in some kind of partnership with Cracker’s Comedy Club, or maybe that’s just Dave being friendly with the local comedy scene.

The statement from their website says that the owner, Dave "The King" Wilson, a local WIBC talk radio host, in the article states the following:

In a statement on One-Liners’ Website, the couple said they were closing the business "to pursue other dreams."

There will be fewer laughs in the city and fewer people that will do a double-take as they drive on Main Street in Greenwood over by the I-65 intersection and see the backside of a plane that’s apparently crashed into the roof of the building.

They will certainly be missed.

The news story reports about some recent fines that the club had to pay due to some seemingly idiotic city ordinances and complaints that someone filed against them.

Greenwood comedy club closes after 16 years | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

24
Jun

Jon McLaughlin Performing "Perfect" at Colts Fan Fest

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Local Musicians

Here’s a video of Jon McLaughlin performing "Perfect" as his opening song at the Indianapolis Colts Fan Fest event in Indianapolis this past Friday.

I’m not sure what happened to the audio a little ways in. We were right in front of the speakers, wonder if my camera’s mic couldn’t handle it?

Hmmmm

20
Jun

Indianapolis Colts Fan Fest TONIGHT!

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Indy Pro Athletes, Local Musicians, Things To Do in Indy

If you want to meet some Colts players and cheerleaders and get their autographs you’ll want to be at the Indianapolis Colts FanFest event tonight. Jon McLaughlin will be performing as well. Great opportunity to hear him perform for free.

Here are the details:

The Colts Fan Fest will be in Indianapolis, Indiana on Friday, June 20th.

Location:
Downtown American Legion Mall
700 North Pennsylvania Street
Indianapolis, IN 46206
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Autograph session with Colts Players, Cheerleaders and Blue
7:30pm
Free Jon McLaughlin Concert

Fan Fest Elements include:
-Make It Personal with Colts players
-Meet Colts Cheerleaders
-FREE community concert by Jon McLaughlin
-Visit Blue the official team mascot
-"Colts City" inflatables
-Bring a new or gently used children’s book for "Books for Youth"
-Register for the Colts Kids Club
-Register to win tickets to a Colts pre-season game
-Pick-up free Colts giveaways
-Check out the re-designed Colts In Motion

Special notes:
The Colts would like to encourage all fans to arrive early.  The line for player and cheerleader autographs may be cut off at any time to ensure the players schedule remains on time.  Inclement weather or traffic may cause late arrival or early departure.  All Fan Fests will take place rain or shine.  Team practice schedule and meeting times may cause players to arrive late or depart early. Colts player names will not be announced prior to the arrival in each city.  Fans will be allowed one autograph per person, however, fans may get back in line for additional autographs.  All Colts Fan Fest times are local.

Stay tuned to www.Colts.com/FanFest for an up-to-date listing of locations.

20
Jun

Jon McLaughlin at the Hard Rock Cafe

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Chain Restaurants, Charities, Concerts, Downtown, Radio Now 100.9

A few days ago I wrote about Jon McLaughlin putting on a little concert at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Indianapolis. The concert was a re-opening of the Hard Rock Cafe Indianapolis with all new memorabilia as well as a fund raiser for Riley Children’s Hospital here in the city.

It was a great live concert. Thanks to a friend I’d only met online I found out it was a “closed” event, but we were both able to work some magic (THANKS SARAH!) and get some passes to the event to see Jon live. It really turned out well for both of us. I got to see Jon McLaughlin in concert live for the first time and my friend ended up winning a Gibson Epiphone guitar that was signed by Jon and the rest of the band.

This is Kyle and Sarah (in the purple dress) and another lady that worked for Hard Rock up in Chicago, but I didn’t catch her name.

If it hadn’t been for our great waitress, Megan, Kyle would have never won the guitar, but she was persistent and convinced Kyle to purchase some raffle tickets.

Read Kyle’s recollection of the events and see more photos at Jon McLaughlin, A Sweet Waitress and a Gibson Guitar.

A few thoughts about the night. The new memorabilia was really cool. Lots of great stuff if you love rock music and haven’t been to Hard Rock Cafe in awhile, it’s time to check it out again.

One thing I was thinking about during the performance is that it would have been nice if there was a live camera feed to the various LCD panel TV’s (which are actually in need of being updated) that are mounted on the walls in the restaurant. It’s true that Jon was right in front of us, but having a camera that could zoom in on the close-up of his hands as he masterfully played the keys would have been sweet!

I also ran into a good friend of mine, Nate, that works for the Riley Children’s Foundation. His team put on a great event and raised some great money for charity as well. If you’d be interested in finding out how you can help the foundation yourself, visit their website or let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Nate.

I also got to meet Scotty Davis of Radio NOW 100.9 Morning Drive fame. He’s recently new to Indianapolis after moving down here for the gig at 100.9. He’s from Minnesota, but now calls Indianapolis “home” as well. Seemed like a great, down to earth guy who’s really getting to enjoy the city. It’s too bad he had to head out a little early that night, but part of his job on the morning show calls him to be up at 3am. Just about the time I’m heading to bed!

Jon’s going to be performing again tonight in Indianapolis as part of the Indianapolis Colts FanFest events. I’ll be posting about it later.

11
Jun

Indianapolis Hard Rock Revamping and Ready to Rock

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Chain Restaurants, Concerts, Downtown, Local Musicians

Okay, I’ve got to make sure I attend this concert. I’m thinking I should get there early enough to at least be in the room for this concert. I’ve become a huge fan of Jon McLaughlin since I’ve been introduced to him and purchased his CD.

Anyone else planning on going?