I remember years ago I was spending some time in Los Angeles and one night I was out with my cousin Bob and we went to a club. I had been staying with him for the past week and was thinking about moving to LA and the night before I headed back to Indiana he suggested we go to this club he liked. I don’t remember the name of it now, but I certainly remember what happened there. Bob had come home with a couple of tickets he said he got from work. It was for a concert that was going to happen at the bar that night. I asked who was performing and he just said some chic, he didn’t remember her name. Since it was my last night in town I decided to I might as well go. I hadn’t seen or heard much of the local music scene while I was there and that’s the one thing Bob remembered, that she was local.

We grabbed some food at Angeli’s on Melrose Ave. If you’re wondering how I remember the name of that place but not the club, it’s because we went there about every other night while I was in town. It’s one of my favorite places in LA and the food is incredible. I always ordered the ravioli with a tomato basil sauce and Bob always got the lasagna. Sometimes we ordered an appetizer, though I don’t remember if we did that night. At that point in the evening we weren’t expecting anything extraordinary to happen and the whole thing would have just blurred into an overall memory of that time in LA, but then we headed to the club.

There weren’t a lot of people there but the ones that were seemed like they were there specifically to see the performer. I don’t remember why I thought that. And then suddenly, and I know this sounds exaggerated, my world changed. This woman with the most incredible voice I have ever heard in my life took the stage and never let go. I asked Bob to check the tickets again to find out who it was and he told me her name was Beth Hart . I had never heard of her before and then she sang the LA Song, which I had heard on the radio a few times. Her album Screaming For My Supper had just come out, or had been out a while and she was just beginning to make a name for herself. I’ll never forget that night and I’m a life long fan of Beth Hart’s. Last year I was in LA again, and though I knew I wouldn’t find her playing in a club I thought about her as I flipped through the paper in one of the luxury Los Angeles hotels .

Today was the beginning of a three-day event with our companies annual meeting in Denver. Our company put us all up at a hotel in downtown Devner for the meeting, which was really great, because most of us have never been to Denver, but at the same time terrible, because our company booked the conference hall at the same hotel, so there would be no chance to check-out hardly any part of Denver, except what was immediately around the hotel area.

On the first morning, a few of us woke up very early and left our hotel and went in search of a breakfast place. We walked around for a bit, just knowing we’d find a great downtown breakfast joint and we weren’t disappointed. Within walking distance, we found ‘The Market’ , it’s located in Larimer Square. It was already bustling by the time we got there, around 6:30am! The cafe was in the front part and in the back part of the Market was where they had food and meals to go, plus, they had a great coffee business, looked like they were giving Starbucks a run for its money. We sat down and looked over their menu, there was a limited breakfast menu, but all the dishes looked fantastic. We each ordered something different so we could take a bite from all the different meals. The entire breakfast was really good, but what we enjoyed the most was just how hopping this place was. Too bad it was cold, because the outdoor area looked like it would be perfect to sit and have breakfast.

After breakfast, we still had some time before the first meeting took place, so we walked around downtown a bit and got to see the other hotels in the downtown area, which let us know that our company went all out and booked us one of the best Denver hotels around. This knowledge helped us feel a lot better about not having anytime to explore Denver, because our company was treating us to the best of what Denver has to offer in the first place. As we entered the lobby of the hotel, we saw we were just in time for the first meeting to start. The first meeting would be about how well we are doing, where we are going and how we will get there. We decidely were very happy to know we were a part of a company who took really good care of their employees.

According to the Polynesians (Hawaiians), the demigod Maui captured the sun and forced it to move slower to give humans enough daylight; quite an impressive feat for only a demigod. Maui just celebrated its 30th ‘Run to the Sun’ activities, which is a 36-mile road race up to the summit of Haleakala, other wise known as ‘the house of the sun’. Before sunrise, sightseers fortunate enough to be staying at Maui hotels , were witness to hundreds of runners start at the base of the mountain. During the runners ascent, they get to pass through a variety of ecological zones; it could be compared to running from Mexico to Canada in one day. The island of Maui is known for its striking beauty and its diversity, so the runners heading up the mountain, passed onion fields, strawberry patches, herb gardens and many other sites that rely on Maui’s mix of cool mists and warm sun.

Most of all Maui’s sightseers cruise to Hawaii or fly in from all over the world, making Maui one of the more popular destination due to its diversity and the food. Touring Maui can be a culinary delight for any palate. Touring the O’o Farm, sightseers are treated to cider and pastries and then followed up by lunch with produce that they helped harvest. In the town of Lahaina, which means ‘Cruel Sun that can bake the unprotected and burn the unsheltered’, two restaurants will only serve fresh produce from the O’o Farm . Another great culinary tour is Ali’i Kula’s Lavender, which serves up mouth-watering lavender scones and tea. Fresh farm-to-table fare has increasingly become important to the people of Maui as a part of the culinary experience.

What could be better for the Hawaii island of Maui’s than to hold a yearly two week festival in Lahaina that honors the demigod Maui, who will enjoy the fruits of his labor, while watching master canoe carvers from all over the Pacific carve traditional canoes and paddles, which honors the navigation skills of the Polynesians, who were the first to discover the Islands of Hawaii.

If there is one thing that we are all familiar with it is celebrity endorsements. You can’t turn on the television without seeing Sarah Jessica Parker selling you hair dye or William Shatner convincing you that you need a vacation . It is hard to take many of these endorsements seriously when they are constantly bombarding you with advertisements and cheesy catch phrases. However, not all celebrities are in it for the big bucks that these endorsements bring in. One celebrity in particular that isn’t is Montel Williams
After serving a rather lengthy career in the military, Williams became a public figure in 1991 when he first began The Montel Williams Show. The show became a huge success and was known for helping people reunite with lost loved ones and overcome years of hurt and misunderstanding. Anyone who watched it could see that it was about helping people. After nearly 17 years, the show was cancelled in 2008 but that wasn’t the end for Williams. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis , Williams began a new crusade to help people live more healthy active lives. His desire to help others has even extended into this difficult economic time. He understands the struggles that many people face as they attempt to make ends meet. This has lead to his partnership with money mutual .
In an age where every is consumed with doing whatever they have to do to make a bigger paycheck, it is nice to see someone who is willing to do what is right by the people. Through service to his country, being involved in the community, and helping those in difficult situations, Montel Williams has shown time and again what kind of person he is—one that is caring and passionate and strong—and I’m sure there will be more to come.

I’m going to Jackson. Sure, you’ve heard the phrase before, it’s only been sung by one of the most famous country and western stars of all times, Johnny Cash. And there has been an ongoing debate about to which city names Jackson the famous songs refers. For the record I would like to put in my vote for Jackson, Mississippi. Actually, I had never been there before and only just visited it for the first time last summer. That was the summer I turned twenty one and my cousin, who was born and raised in Jackson, invited me to his house to celebrate. My cousin, Kyle is a year and a half older than I am and he and his girlfriend had recently gotten a place together, so he figured it was the perfect location for my birthday party.

Well, as it turned Kyle’s girlfriend was extremely unhappy with Kyle that weekend for reasons which I may never know. What I do know though is that Kyle and I spent the entire time in one of the older, or as Kyle liked to say vintage hotels in the downtown area, and this made the whole weekend that much more exciting and original. Like I said, I had never been to Jackson, and instead of spending most of the time at my cousin’s place, we were out investigating the city all weekend. And we had an incredible time.

One of the places we went to was a club called Thelma’s Lounge. It was really cool and this is actually where we ended up on the night I turned twenty one. I wasn’t eager to make this major life transition so that I could hang out in bars to drink a lot. It was more that I wanted to feel free to experience some of the bands and musicians that play at them. We also toured the Mississippi State Capital building. I known that’s not a standard item on most people’s twenty first birthday weekend, I just love capital buildings and like to tour them. And of course we went to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame , which was absolutely incredible. Instead of punishing Kyle, his girlfriend actually did us a favor. I don’t think he told her that though.

Coming into New Orleans can be a hallucinatory experience, depending on the quality of the sleeplessness that precedes it. There have been some journeys where it seemed as though we were walking into a dream, and other times it was apparent that we were simply here, and that it was always like a dream. Whenever it doesn’t seem weird, those are the times to best pay attention, because this city is one of the places where the dream often walks out of the house. Some of these images end up in art projects.

It’s nothing terribly surprising then, to find that for New Orleans, cheap hotels are kind of a necessity, both for the city, and for the creative visitors it often harbors. There are constant revolutions of artists coming through to make projects, and some of the quality is absolutely top, and some is simply well-meant, but rarely do both exist in the same piece. With Kathy Randels , however, they do exist, like two oysters inhabiting the same shell. Her Artspot Productions has been a consistent source of engaging new performance work in town, as well as out of town. For this local, who left for a short time to get experience and inspirations in Chicago, her work is a reflection of the place to a remarkably sharp degree.

Her work and travels have put her in touch with her own city in a way that staying home could not have done. This is work that’s marked with a remarkable blend of the local with the global, and the result is something to see. One of her ongoing projects is with artists from the former Yugoslavia, DAH Teatr , whose aesthetics share a strong kinship with Randels. In DAH, biomechanics and Grotowski merge with work that speaks to a very particular experience that has had global resonances. Likewise, Randels’ work that deals most specifically to New Orleans and its recent tragedies, is the work that generates the most interest worldwide. There is a lesson somewhere in all that.

I’m here in Columbia, Maryland just for one night. I finally had a chance to get away from work see one of my new favorite bands – The Alexandria Kleztet . Today they are booked to play at Ridgewood Village in Silver Spring at 3pm, which isn’t far from Columbia. I managed to combine doing two things with my one night stay. Besides seeing The Alexandria Klezteet today, I’ll got to see ‘Hair Spray’ at Toby’s Dinner Theater last night.

Hairspray was really very fun, too bad it was performed in a Dinner Theater atmosphere, because the production quality was excellent and the performers themselves were very professional. I think it could have been performed in an actual theater. But, I guess Dinner Theaters need to make their money too. Not that I have anything against Dinner Theaters, but really, why not just do legitimate theater, why have to add a dinner to it?

As for The Alexandria Kleztet, I’ll be seeing them tonight, and they combine traditional Eastern European/Jewish music with new alive arrangements. Some members of the band have created their own original songs that bring together world beat, jazz, rock, and classical genres creating a wonderfully unique and very entertaining sound. Alexandria Kleztet is a typical klezmer orchestra, but with a jazzy approach. The electric fret-less bass is unusually quiet. The clarinet is spicy when played along side a raw fiddle, flute and drums. When the band plays a classic Yiddish tune, they actually make it very exciting, so much better than most Yiddish Traditionalists. When they play there own original music, all I can say is it’s very exciting and an adventure it where they’ll take me.

Right now, I’m just killing time in one of the cool hotels , waiting to hear what I consider one of the better traditional Eastern European bands in the United States.

If you happen to be a vegetarian, you may want to avert your eyes from one of Denver’s historic restaurants, The Buckhorn Exchange , a 117-year-old restaurant that’s been serving steak since before your parents and, in most cases, your grandparents were born. This century-plus steakhouse contains over five hundred animal heads, and tourists and locals alike chow down under a thousand eyes. Not surprisingly, the Buckhorn Exchange holds the states first liquor license, although at the time it was issued it was known as a license for beer and wine and “spirituous liquor.” It was founded by Henry H. Zietz, who was given his nickname, “Shorty Scout,” by none other than Chief Sitting Bull. Shorty Scout ran the restaurant for five decades, then his family ran it for four decades more (new owners took over in 1978).

The animal heads on the walls range from chipmunks to water buffalo and antelope. The entire restaurant is geared to celebrate the Old West. You’ll find cabinets displaying Shorty Scout’s rifle and pistol collection; there’s paintings of heroes from the Old West, including one of Buffalo Bill, and another of television actor Chuck Connors, who portrayed The Rifleman , considered at the time to be one of the more violent shows on television. There’s numerous other photos, too, of everyone from Fess Parker (Daniel Boone) and President Bill Clinton.

On the menu, you’ll find pheasant, buffalo, and elk. There’s also rattlesnake, fried alligator tail and bison sausage, as well as Rocky Mountain oysters, which seems to be served as an appetizer in most saloons in the Rockies.

The restaurant is located at 1000 Osage Avenue, just a few minutes from downtown Denver, where you’ll also be able to find fine accommodations simply by clicking here . Meals are served Mondays through Fridays. Lunch is from 11 in the morning to two in the afternoon, while dinner is served from five in the afternoon to nine at night. You may wish to call ahead and confirm: 303-534-9505.

The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center offers some of the city’s great entertainment options and is the primary center for housing touring companies and major musical productions and other events. It is a standard aspect of evenings out for many of the city’s residents and also one of the main entertainment options for the numerous tourists that visit the city each year. Information on this complex, which is now referred to as the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts , is available at many places around town, on the Internet and from the best resorts and hotels in Tampa.

One of the productions that is soon to be featured on the complex’s stage is Pericles: A New Rock Musical. This is presented by Jobsite Theatre and is scheduled to open April 8th. The show is an interesting, to say the least, adaptation of the Shakespearean play and is set in the contemporary United States. Rock musicals are popular and experience phases of extreme commercial success and popularity while also going through lapses in mainstream appeal. Currently, they are the hit, and Pericles should be entertaining to audiences with or without a familiarity with the Shakespeare play.

Little House on the Prairie, The Musical , which starred Melissa Gilbert from the original television series, finished its run at the Center, on Sunday. This musical has proved to introduce a whole new generation of fans to the amazingly successful book series. It also reminds the older generation of this hit program and for some people the musical is a bit of a nostalgic journey. Gilbert plays Ma in the musical production, which is a sort of full circle experience for her. Godspell continues its run in the Jaeb Theatre. It is scheduled to run through May 16th and there are plenty of options for family night ticket purchases. There will be a post show talk-back in the theatre, which will take place after the May 5th performance.