Beautiful: The Carol King Musical @ Ovens Auditorium

A's birthday present.  The gift for the whole adult family.

I went to this knowing Carole King's Tapestry, but not much else.  Boy, was I blown away!  I had no idea that that proceeding that hit album there was a whole catalog of great songs.  The fact she and her husband wrote so many hits before Tapestry, in friendly competition with friends, and fellow Dimension Records songwriters, Cynthia Weil & Barry Mann, was amazing.  This meant we spent the whole show saying "I never knew she/they wrote that!".  From Locomotion, Will You Love Me Tomorrow to (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.  And then the Weil/Mann songs as well, especially We Gotta Get Out Of This Place and You've Lost That Loving Feeling.

The show ended with King walking on stage to play her own concert due to the beginning of the public's recognition of Tapestry.  Very poignant that it ended on arguably her greatest success, so as to not take away from her brilliance in the years leading up to this.

The cast were phenomenal.  Not a note out of place and the story had a great flow.  The audience loved every second of it (especially A which is important for a birthday present).  It is nights like these that I feel blessed to be able to see such performances.

Charlotte Checkers v Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins @ Bojangles Coliseum

With A out of town I took the boys to their 2nd ice-hockey game at Bojangles.  This was game 1 of a finals series and a slightly larger than last time crowd saw a hard fought match won by the Checkers during overtime.

While I'm not a hockey fan, the Checkers certainly do a good job of making the game fun for the whole family.  The boys got their faces on the big screen again - which was their highlight, and hopefully this kicks the finals series off for a successful Checkers season.  (P.S. - It did not.)

Charlotte Checkers 3 (A. Saarela, V. Zykov, L. Wallmark) defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2 (A. Pedan, D. Sprong) in overtime.

Crowd: 4,517.

Charlotte Knights vs Scranton/WIlkes-Barre RailRiders @ BB&T Ballpark

The boys first baseball game came in conjunction with an Eastover Spirit day where the school was allotted tickets to the game, so we purchased and sat with a few families from the school.  I say a few, because many people had been turned off by the storm supposedly coming to Charlotte.  Understandable.  We, however, were not going to allow bad weather get in the way of sport.

Our seats were along the 1st base line, and weren't that great, but a few foul balls came our way.  Not a lot of hits til the 3rd innings when the Railriders hit 3 runs.  A rally in the 4th wasn't enough for the Knights to come back.  By this stage the boys lost interest so we went for a wander around the ground to see what else there was.  When we got as far away from our seats as physically possible, my phone (and everyone else at the stadium) sent a loud warning for an approaching severe storm.  It was funny to see tonnes of people stop, look at their phones, make the decision to leave, then make the mad dash out of the park.  We joined that exodus.  While the rain started at the top of the 5th, and the wind picked up, the game continued as people half watched and exited the venue.  I was later to find out that 5 complete innings was enough to cause a result.  And the Knights lost as they struck out in the lightning, while we were back in the car headed for home.

I had a good day, though I might try and do it again without the kids (they like the idea of going to a game, but once they are there....) and in better seats.  But I do love that BB&T Ballpark is right in the middle of downtown Charlotte, less than 3 miles from our home.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders 4 (Torres, Higashioka, Zehner, Avieino runs) defeated Charlotte Knights 3 (Rondole, Skole, Perez runs)

Attendance: 7,751

Broken Social Scene @ Neighborhood Theatre

So I own 2 Broken Social Scene songs on iTunes.  They're great enough for me to want to check out this Canadian group.  I even got Drew to come with me as well.

It was only 3 songs in before I got to hear Cause = Time.  It was the kickstart the audience wanted as well.  The crowd's vibe was instantly upbeat, as the Neighborhood Theatre broke into a dance that would last the rest of the set.  I love going to a show knowing minimal about the band, and coming out a big fan.  Tonight was one of those nights.  They band improved the more the crowd got into it.    Texico Bitches and Major Label Debut were personal (new) favorites of the night.   I was suprised to hear Anthems of a Seventeen Year Old Girl near the end.  Wasn't sure it was a song they could pull off live.  How wrong was I?  It was a fantastic end to a great show.  Let's hope they come through Charlotte again.  I could guess at about 300 people who'd be back.

The Crap Facts:
This is my 436th concert.

This is my 4th concert at Neighborhood Theatre

This is my 70th concert in Charlotte.

This is my 79th concert in North Carolina.

This is my 242nd concert in the USA.
Broken Social Scene are the 502nd band I've seen.

Charlotte Hornets v Philadelphia 76ers @ Spectrum Center

We used Granddad's Xmas gift money to buy tickets for the boys to attend their first NBA game.  And picked the 76ers to see fellow, and brother-in-law Jason's favorite, Aussie Ben Simmons.  He had average seats, up high in the back corner.  But a clear overall view of the game so the boys could see what was going on.

The Hornets put on a strong display in the first quarter, and held a lead, but faded away after that.  By half way through the 3rd quarter it felt like the 76ers were on a training run.  Eventually going on to win easily 119-102.  Shame for the Hornets, but an Australian won, so who am I to complain.

Not a lot of atmosphere in the arena.  Attendance was allegedly 17000, but it's a 19000 seat stadium and I doubt that it was half full.  There was virtually no one on the top deck where we were.  The boys did however enjoy themselves, though I don't think they'll be in a rush to get back to an NBA game.  But we'll see.

B, Mom, L & Dad - Spectrum Center - Hornets v 76ers

Philadelphia 76ers 119 (Bellinelli 22, Simmons 20, Reddick 20) defeated Charlotte Hornets 102 (Monk 16, Kidd-Gilchrist 16, Hernangomez 15)

Crowd: 17,005