Indianapolis is My Home

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?

06
Jun

Divers and Dragons Event on Indy Cultural Trail

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Competitions, Downtown, Indiananpolis Cultural Trail, Sports, Things To Do in Indy

A morning of fun for your entire family Cultural Trail Ribbon Cutting Ceremony,

Kids Fun Run, & Walking Tours

9:00 a.m. @ Alabama & Market Streets

Join Mayor Greg Ballard, Central Indiana Community Foundation President Brian Payne and other dignitaries for the official opening of the Alabama Street Corridor of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail:

A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick. 

Following the Cultural Trail Opening Ceremony, there will be a one-block fun run for children and walking tours for all ages of the finished trail from Market St. to North St.

Divers & Dragons near the Indianapolis Cultural Trail

10:00 a.m. @ Alabama & North Street

On the English Foundation Building parking lot

Cap-off the morning enjoying a very unique, FREE, Olympic Diving Trials community event:

• Elite divers will “jump, twist & tuck” on trampolines demonstrating diving skills
• Indiana Association of Chinese American dancers will perform a Lion Dance
• Children will “climb, bounce and slide” through two inflatable obstacle courses
• Participate in painting a giant “paint-by-numbers” type Dragon Mural

30
May

Mid-East Classic Yo-Yo Contest

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Competitions, Downtown, Eiteljorg Museum, Special Events, Sports, Things To Do in Indy

Back when I was in high school I got the yo-yo craze going in two different high schools. I was a freshman at Adair County High School in Columbia, KY and my sophomore year I was at Butler County High School in Morgantown, KY.

For whatever reasons I decided to take a yo-yo to school and began playing with it in the hall between classes. A few people asked me where I learned how to do some of the tricks and I said I just practiced and taught them to myself.

For an extra credit project in French class I did the "Eiffel Tower" trick and got 100% for my efforts and originality. That turned out to be loads easier than baking authentic French bread the next semester (got 100% on that too though).

Pretty soon yo-yo’s could be seen by probably a few hundred or so students.

After moving to Morgantown, I repeated the fad there with more classmates.

All that leads me to the idea that I should really go check-out this yo-you competition at the Eiteljorg Museum this weekend.

The Eiteljorg Museum is proud to host the Indiana State Yo-Yo contest, spearheaded by Takeshi Kamisato (Ho Chunk).  This day will entail a gathering of 50+ yo-yo competitors showcasing their talents in one or more of five different class divisions. There will be free beginner’s workshops with Don Fisher, sales from yoyoguy.com on site, demonstrations throughout the day and a chance to learn about how yo-yoing has changed and where it’s going!

My son’s got two baseball games tomorrow, but maybe we can catch the freestyle competition on Sunday.

Mid-East Classic Yo-Yo Competition at the Eiteljorg

30
May

Sheryl Crow and Eric Clapton In Concert

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Things To Do in Indy, Verizon Wireless Music Center, White River State Park

They won’t be appearing together, but Sheryl Crow and guitar-legned Eric Clapton will be playing concerts in the Circle City this summer.

Eric Clapton will be performing tonight at Verizon Wireless Music Center.

Sheryl Crow will be performing at White River State Park on Tuesday, June 2nd. You can get more information about this concert here.

15
May

Get Cultured in Indianapolis

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Cultural Events

Did you know there are loads of places to get great Indianapolis related gifts for your family and friends?

I just stumbled across this website at www.inculture.org where you can choose a number of different culturally relevant businesses and order gifts from their online catalogs.

Show your Indianapolis spirit and give gifts that show off our hometown!

15
May

Jon McLaughlin Performing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway This Weekend

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy 500, Local Musicians, Things To Do in Indy

One of the musicians and artists I’ve been enjoying lately, since purchasing his album, is Jon McLaughlin. I just read that he’ll be performing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend at 3pm. Tickets at the gate are $10.

Click here for a list of other events on the schedule at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Jon is a great singer and does some great piano playing. You can see his talent by clicking on the link below for him performing "Industry" from his latest album "Indiana".

An Anderson, IN native and Anderson School of Music graduate, I think he’s definitely someone we can be proud of by calling Indiana home.

YouTube Video of Jon performing "Industry"

31
Jan

Jonas Brothers Heading to Victory Field

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Downtown, Things To Do in Indy, Victory Field

Just saw that the Jonas Brothers have a concert scheduled for Saturday, February 16th at Victory Field.

If you don’t know who the Jonas Brothers are then you probably don’t have kids under the age of 10. They have been dominating the music charts on Disney Radio for a couple of years now.

The concert is scheduled for 6pm and the first thing that comes to my mind is…"They know this is Indianapolis right?"

Anyone else think the chances for it to be snowing, raining, sleeting or just plain cold are pretty high for that day?

I think I would have picked a different venue for this time of year.

28
Jan

The Souls of Our Feet at Pike Performance Arts Center

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Concerts, Cultural Events, High Schools, Northwest Side, Pike PAC, Theater, Things To Do in Indy

On Saturday, January 19th it was a frigid day to be outside, but it was also a good night to be at the Pike Performing Arts Center with my daughter. You see, we went on a Daddy Daughter Date to go see "The Souls of Our Feet: A Celebration of American Tap Dance".

My daughter has taken some dance classes, including tap, to introduce her to the art and she got exposed to the true art of dance that night.

"The Souls of Our Feet" is part of a National Endowment for the Arts "American Masterpiece: Dance" production for the 2007-2008 season. The dance group is Tapestry Dance Company (Jaqueline Coleman, Katelyn Harris, Jason Janas, Brenna Kuhn, Tasha Lawson, Tony Merriwether and Matt Shields), Executive-Artistic Director is Acia Gray and special guest was Dianne Walker who was a cast member of the great tap movie entitled "TAP" with Gregory Hines.

The production was great. They would start off with a video projection of a specific scene from history that highlighted the roots of tap dance in performance. Then the jazz trio would start playing the music and the video scene would fade as the live dancers stepped into the light and began doing the routine that was introduced in the video segment. The transition and fading from recorded audio and projected video to live sound and dancers was a tremendous expression.

I found a YouTube video of clips of various segments from the performance as it was done in an opening performance back in November. The clips are almost identical to what we got to see live at Pike PAC.

What a great show.

See the video after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

24
Jan

Free Shawn Mullins Coming to Music Mill

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Music Mill, Northwest Side, Special Events, Things To Do in Indy

I’m not sure exactly what it was about the song "Lullaby" released by Shawn Mullins back in 1998, but I absolutely loved it. It could have been that I was living in Nashville, TN at the time and there’s a little bit of a line about the city in the lyrics.

Shawn Mullins will be in concert at Music Mill up on the north side tomorrow night night.

The Atlanta native, who dipped into the pop charts with 1998’s "Lullaby" and earned a teen following by placing his "Shimmer" on the "Dawson’s Creek" soundtrack, has a very good train song of his own on his upcoming disc, "honeydew." Titled "See That Train," it seems to take Mullins on a trip into early Tom Waits territory. And it proves to be a journey worth taking.

Give yourself a great start to the weekend and take advantage of this free concert at Music Mill. Also performing, opening up the show is Jenn Cristy.

22
Jan

U2 3D in IMAX Glory!

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Concerts, Downtown, IMAX Theater, Indiana State Museum, Movies, Things To Do in Indy

I may have just experienced one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen on a screen. Through the generosity of BestBuy.com RewardZone I was able to score a couple of passes to a sneak preview of U23D movie at the IMAX Theater at White River State Park.

I wasn’t sure at all what to expect. I’ve seen advertisements before about going to watch a music concert at a theater and I just didn’t think it would be something worthwhile. Seeing one in 3D seemed even weirder.

All I can say is…WOW! You are immersed in the experience of being a part of this concert that took place in Argentina. The stadium concert experience that was part of their "Vertigo" tour is simply inspiring.

I can’t even think of much more to say about it that does it justice, but you feel like you’re member of the audience as well as being right on stage with the performers themselves. The only suggestion I’d have was that the IMAX theater should have been cranking the volume another 50 decibels. I’ve watched movies that were pumping more audio and this U23D experience screamed for more volume!

UPDATE: The widget originally embedded in the page was messing up the layout and repeating itself. Visit the U2 3D Movie website for all the details.

UPDATE AGAIN: Ticket prices at the IMAX at Indiana State Museum is $13.50 for adults. Tickets at the Kerasotes 16 IMAX on the south side is only $12.50.