The Film Bar

Best of Phoenix award winning and my brother "DJ Melo".
With nothing planned to do for a Saturday night we sat at the kitchen table talking to my mom and listening to her stories, which by the way she has plenty of them. She said, "What? You guys are not going out tonight?" Well we really have no plans, so I asked Abby if she wanted to do something. I then took out my phone and went into facebook. My brother had just posted that he would be spinning some records at the Film Bar in Phoenix and that he would be doing a cumbia set.

Oh yeah! "DJ Melo" always get the crowd going.
I called him and asked him what this place was about and after some hesitations he said, that it was a small theater, not a night club and that it wasn't the regular type of dancing place we were used to but to come down never the less to join him.

Oh yes I had to unbutton my shirt, the AC was only working partially and it was a hot night.
And Abby's face here posing with my lil bro was red as a tomato from dancing so much.
Abby said let's do it, so we got ready and we were on our way. His set was to start at 11:00 p.m. and we got there way before that so we went inside and waited for him. No cover charge meant more drinks, now don't think I am a drunk or anything but if you go out dancing with a beautiful lady there have to be some drinks, je je je. The Film Bar only offers sodas, locally brewed beers and wine.


"DJ Melo" doing what he does best. He truly is a Master Mixer.
The crowd was eclectic and young. When we walked in the DJ played some world music highlighting music from Pakistan. Against the walls there were long benches with a small table in front but everywhere else you would find lots and lots of vinyl covered ottoman like stools that you could grab and drag around the place to sit. We immediately liked this place and just had fun looking at the people dance while sipping on our wine.

Just before 11:00 my brother showed up but he didn't start his set until midnight. So we had some drinks with him while we waited. He said the cumbias he was about to play were really not the conventional cumbias we know but said we would like it. Not only did we like it but we danced his whole set with Abby and I opening up and little by little the place was full with people dancing.

Nawww, people say we do but we don't look alike... or do we?
George introduced us to his friend whom organizes the event and later on he gave us a couple of shout outs, that made us feel kind of special.

All in all, a wonderful night very different to what we were accostumed but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Still Brrrrrrrrr-ing today.

Brrrrrrrrrr!

Question: Why do I live in Phoenix, Arizona?

Answer: So I don't have to go through and endure cold weather.

So why am I freezing my butt for the second day in a row. This is Phoenix, we are not used to this, heck for me anytime the temperature drops under 70 degrees it's already too cold. So even though I am all bundled up the coldness is still creeping through. Just an FYI, I don't like it one bit, if I did I would be living somewhere in the east coast.

Yes, I realize I am whining and that our cold does not compare to that of some of you but again this is Phoenix, this is the valley of the sun and to me sun should equals warmth and heat, and in a nutshell warmth and heat is why I live here to begin with.



















Yes, today this is Phoenix attire, but some of you may think I live in Alaska. No seriously, this is definitely something we are not used to here so I have to make a big fuss about it.

After my morning coffee, a nice warm tea was in order to warm up the good ol stomach. I say it needed lemon, honey, and tequila to make it taste good but since I was at work I had to just take it plain. I am not a big tea drinker but this morning it did the trick.

I am dreading to see my plants and bushes at home, I am sure many of them will not be able to withstand the cold weather. But we will see. I am hoping the will.

Are you all as wimppy as I am when it comes to cold weather?

South Mountain Park

This is what you see as you enter the park.
The other day on a lazy Saturday afternoon with nothing better to do we decided to cruise down to South Mountain Park. I been living in Phoenix for the past 20 years and I had never been there. Sure I see it from the freeway every single day but for the first time we actually went into the park and up the hill to see Phoenix from an eagle's eye.

Almost at the entrance you will find The Ponderosa Stables, for some $35.00 an hour you can take a horseback ride into the park. I'm thinking this definitely may be something to do in the near future.



Scenes from Ponderosa Stables at South Mountain Park.
Going up to the top takes a while. The road is nicely paved but it's narrow and with lots of curves easy to go down the cliffs if distracted. It is also a nice biker destination but again me being a biker I rate this ride as a ride for experienced riders, no rail guards on the road can easily spell disaster.

Ride carefully and this is one heck of a good ride to take.
Now these are my kind of horses
Once up the top you can see the whole valley. Phoenix is a pretty city that really isn't too big. If you are driving on I-10 you can enter Phoenix and leave it in less than an hour. You'll have a clear view of Downtown Phoenix, the Phoenix Airport, the West Valley and even Scottsdale. Really a nice view in every direction.



The view from the top of the mountain is breath taking.
Can't believe one misses so much without even thinking about it. I had been missing this for 20 years and it's only a 20 minute drive from my home. I wonder what other interesting places I am missing. I think I will start a list of places to visit around me.


Looking at the horses and just plain looking pretty.




Scenes from South Mountain Park.

First Friday

People waiting for the shuttle at the Phoenix Art Museum parking lot.
Finally we did our first "First Friday" over at Downtown Phoenix. My sister in law and my niece were my partners in crime for this outing. We left the house at around 6:30 pm got on the freeway and in about 20 minutes we got to the Phoenix Art Museum to pick up the free route maps.

We waited for about 15 minutes for the shuttle but then decided to get the van and drive down to Roosevelt and 3rd, it was already crowded and we noticed that people had to park far to get to the event. I turned on a street here, and the on a street there and voila a parking spot was right there just waiting for us to park. Only two short blocks away and we were eaten by the crowds.
The temperature was hot and a bit humid, they had predicted rains all afternoon for Phoenix but does anybody really trust the Weather Forecasters, I think not. We started by going into the first gallery, an artist working on a painting, a band playing live in the corner, a few vendors selling hand made jewelry and friendly people just having fun watching the different products on display.

Then on to our second gallery, this one had some pictures just hanging from a string, you could tell the images were captured with a good camera, my little point and shoot will never accomplish the clarity of those images, I didn't see any prices though.

You find out that there is no particular kind of people there, it's a great mix of people of all kinds, trust me when I say all kinds. lol








Our third gallery tour showed a big collection of framed black and white images. I started to peruse the images and was already in my mind saying, "I have better images than this in my repertoire" my sister in law said the very same thing I was thinking and then under each picture in a little, tiny, weeny, card we saw the prices. $900.00 or $700.00 unframed. A regular size picture in a 5 X 7 frame $500.00 or $300.00 unframed.

My sister in law and her daughter admiring the photographs..
My goddaughter and I.
Humm do they think I am made of money. That's it I'm buying from my brother in law.

My sister in law said, "There is hope for you guys". I don't know what separates a pro from an amateur but if it's all the same to you all from now all call me "artist". I am artist Joe Cool and my captures will be found in a gallery on E Roosevelt St. Starting prices at the low $1000s and if my works sell maybe I won't get to be a starving artist.


Seriously, I offer my pictures starting at $25.00 and at this time my most expensive one is about $70.00. But there I think I have to start pricing them at $100.00 all the way to $800.00.

I didn't realize that the crowds were in the thousands. I thought maybe I would see a few groups here and there, well, think again Mr. Joe Cool.

The crowd.

I really enjoy this kind of outing, I hate crowds but I know how to ignore people when I want to and I don't let it get to me. Most likely we will be going again next month. The area where this galleries and studios are is so huge that there is no way everything can be seen in one day, or two, or three.





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First Friday and More

It's Friday once again, the nice thing about this weekend is that it will be long, I know many will complain and challenge me by saying that it's not long enough but all things considered for mi chica and I it will be. It is rare for mi chica to have two consecutive days off from work so we will take this rare opportunity and take a quick impromptu road trip to California.

In the meantime tonight I am planning to go to "First Friday" in Downtown Phoenix.

First Friday in Phoenix.
Open studios tours are a good way to experience art and artists. Every first Friday evening of each month you can take a free self-guided tour of downtown Phoenix galleries, studios and art spaces. It's called First Friday. First Friday is organized by Artlink, a nonprofit organization "...dedicated to bringing together artists, the public, and businesses for a greater understanding, appreciation, and promotion of the arts and the development of a strong and vital downtown Phoenix arts community."

Free shuttle rides will take you from one gallerie to the next during "First Friday".
Since I started doing the frames I have been interested in finding out ways of promoting them. Everybody keeps telling me that "First Friday" would be a perfect venue for me to promote and sell our frame images. So, tonight we are going to go and explore the possibilites.


All images on this post borrowed from the Internet.
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Our Fall

Wow, we are having terrific weather here in Phoenix, yes I know we are far away from having fall like most of you do but to not have constant heat and to be able to put my top down and drive topless is mostly appreciated. The bad thing about Phoenix is that we only have a couple of weeks of this great weather and then bam! It gets cold.

Before you know it, everybody is sneezing and calling in sick. Yeah, it's sort of a routine here. Since I don't have AC or heater in my car I don't get to experience weather changes and that keeps me from catching a cold. I still would love to see some streets full of leaves, and trees turn from green to orange, like it happens back east. Our landscape here is still pretty much the same, it just doesn't change.

NASCAR was last week, man I live so close to PIR and considering the extra amount of people that came into town everything went so smooth, also Monday Night Football was played here in Phoenix and again, I hardly noticed the additional traffic going home. I guess the Phoenix Police Department has thing under control and they do an awesome job during these events.

OK, I gotta go so, that will be it for today. If any of you post pictures from your area showing how the different colors of fall let me know.

RANDY TRAVIS

It was 3:45 p.m. Only five more minutes until I start gathering my stuff and power off my computer. An email came in and it read as follows:

TIM and WILLY Radio
October 8th, 2008

Dear Joe Cool,

Mention Tim & Willy and GET IN FOR FREE!
Celebrity Theater - TONIGHT!

Country Superstar Randy Travis plays the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix tonight. Call or visit the Celebrity Box Office right now. Mention Tim & Willy. We'll put you on our guest list and get you in for free!

I thought that the concert taking place on the same day the email came in would not be a good idea because I would have to rush to make it on time. Nevertheless I decided to give the Celebrity Theater a call and I was happy to find out the concert would start at 8:00 p.m. Wow! Plenty of time to get ready.

I powered off my work computer and drove to the Celebrity Theater which by the way and luckily for me is only 10 minutes away from where I work. I got there, parked, walked over to the ticket box office and said, "I understand I can get a couple of free tickets for tonight's concert". Without any hesitation the attendant pushed some buttons and after a minute or two she produced two tickets for me. How easy was that?


Celebrity Theater -- Phoenix, Arizona.


I called mi chica and told her about the concert and so it was official, we had a date.

Now, most of you that have been reading my blog for a while now know of my love for Country Music, and Mr. Randy Travis is one of my all time favorite singers. Not too many performers have a voice as distinct as his. He's been around for so many years that I knew I was going to listen a lot of his hits. After all the man does have over 21 number one hits.

Well, I was not disappointed at all. Randy Travis delivered. The Celebrity Theater is a small enough venue where it really doesn't matter where you seat, you will have a clear view of the stage which is in the center of the Theater. The building is in a circular shape as is the rotating stage. This allows for everyone to see the performer at one time or another thus giving the feeling of an intimate performance. I got the impression that this is how it must feel during the MTV's "Unplugged" series.


I took this image and it was a that time un usher came to me and said, you can take as many picutes as you like but no flash... Huh! can you see it's like freaking dark in here?


Tim and Willy opened up for him with a 45 minute set of all their wacky music. This talented pair are not singers although they can sing, but for the past 11 years they were the morning DJ's for KNIX. When KNIX did not want to renew their contract they started freelancing. When they were let go, many of us loyal listener of their show left that radio station and moved to KMLE "The Camel".

The total tally for the night came to a whopping $25.00. That was for parking and an autographed copy of Randy's latest CD. He had not done an album in eight years and this one debuted in the number three spot.

All in all, mi chica and I had a wonderful outing. The only complain mi chica had was that she couldn't understand many of the words he said and since she didn't really didn't know many of the songs it was all new to her. It's kindda funny she said that because I can listen to a song on the radio over and over and I really never know what it says or what it's about until I read the lyrics.


Mi Chica
She looks so pretty, don't you agree?


The only complain that I had was that they should not allow guys that are over six feet tall sit in front of short guys like me. All I could see was a pair of shoulders and a big black hat and nothing else, and then the couple next to us were having a big all conversation like if there were in a restaurant instead of a concert hall. Luckily for us there were some empty seats behind us and we moved. After that we were able to enjoy the rest of the concert.



A bit blurry, but there he is Randy Travis.

So, thank you Tim and Willy for the invite to the show, and to Randy Travis, YOU ROCK!... or should I say YOU COUNTRY!

Here's my take on a Randy Travis classic.

Visit me on Bix.com!

In closing let me just tell you all, "I'm gonna love you forever, forever and ever AMEN!"