There was one afternoon of Hulk Hogan related activities and that was when I was over in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, but I'll get to that in a bit, then explained how I saw a legendary band perform for less than 5 bucks. First, I'll talk about what I did last Monday; that was the day I went to Walt Disney World (heh heh heh) to renew my annual pass, to do some humblebragging. I went to the Animal Kingdom to have it done, as it's been too long since I was last there. I paid the money then I spent a few hours in a really hot place. At least it was not too crowded there and I got to go on rides and look at various exotic animals. Right before I left I found a small indoors spot (by Asia) which sells Minute Maid Soft Frozen treats; the one I had was Orangeade and it was awesome! It was like nectar from the Gods and it was so good, and it really hit the spot.
Tuesday I did nothing so I'll mention that on Wednesday I went and got a haircut, as I did need one. That wasn't different from the norm. I went to the nearby Target, where I got a shirt and a 20 ounce bottle of Coke.
Thursday, that's when the action began. I went to Tampa-St. Petersburg, and besides going to see the Tampa Bay Rays play against the Seattle Mariners, I went to two places that are Hulk Hogan themed; as The Hulkster lives in the area, that's why there are places named after him. I drove to Tampa to Hogan's Beach, which is a bar-restaurant literally right by the water (Old Tampa Bay), connected to a Best Western Hotel resort. I heard less than rave reviews about it but I. Then, I drove over to Hogan's Beach Shop, which is over at Clearwater Beach. The name says it all. The bar/restaurant was fine. It has a red/yellow motif-but of course-and I have no complaints about the burger and fries I had. I chose to drink a lemonade, in order to stay hydrated. There was memorabilia all over including a glorious painting of the cast of Santa With Muscles, a movie starring Hogan and I've heard it's mind-boggingly bad. I then through rainy weather (yes, in that part of Florida it's also true that when there's water on the ground, driver IQ's become even lower than usual) went to Hogan's Beach Shop. It's a small place which mainly sells t-shirts and it also has memorabilia hanging all over the place. I did get a yellow shirt; you've probably heard at least some of the bad things that has happened in the personal life of The Hulkster the past few years; he could use the money! I then drove to Tropicana Field and stopped for gas along the way.
I parked in a random spot I found where the price was fair and it was not far from the stadium at all. The guy who was running the deal, he asked if I needed tickets so I looked at what he had. It wasn't what I had in mind so I respectfully declined; he got all huffy and puffy about it and I was disappointed he got pissy about it when I was real nice in declining his offer. Figures.
In hindsight, maybe I should have given that dude some money. I decided to get an outfield ticket as I only sat in that area once before and it was a fine-enough time. This time... there were decent people around but there were also people I'd put in the Troglodyte category; from stupid parents and dumb yelling kids to the worst, which was two young douche A-holes who drank alcohol and they ended up acting like complete tools, and the type of people that were just rude jerks who loved yelling the most inane crap and they targeted a Seattle player in the outfield just because he was the nearest Seattle person in the outfield. Cretins! Besides their rudeness, I was appalled they would act this way when there were children around AND there was usually a security guard around but he apparently didn't care about some loudmouthed bozos ruining the experience for who knows how many people.
At least it was a fun game to watch as Tampa Bay kicked some ass and won 7-1 and there were some nice performances. But I would have preferred sitting in another section; in the future I should stick to the cheap upper deck tickets where the views are actually nice.
Friday, I was not expecting to do anything; I figured I would relax and take it easy. My plans pretty much changed at the last minute. Someone I know online (and have met in person a few times now) mentioned on Twitter that he discovered how a Friday night concert in Orlando at the big arena (the Amway Center) was offering FREE tickets via Ticketmaster and due to the band it piqued my interest. I looked it up and yes, they were “free”. There were the legendary Ticketmaster fees but even with those, it meant I got to see KISS perform for only 4 dollars and 80 cents! Amazing. The reason why there's a big concert on that night... the Arena Football League championship was being played the next afternoon in the same building. As KISS is far and above anyone else in history when it comes to licensing their image and name out for a buck, next season there will be an Arena Football League team named after the band. Really. It was nice being back in that nice arena as I've only been in it a few times before.
I am not someone who really goes to concerts in general, especially big ones. The last one of note was The Rolling Stones and that was in Tampa way back in October of 2005; that was a quality time but trust me, a ticket for that was way more than $4.80! Yes, I did pay for other things, such as parking, food & drink and the obligatory concert t-shirt. The shirt I picked was the wackiest one; the band has a new album entitled Monster; apparently, the title creature is a giant metal spider with purple eyes, as that's what was on the shirt, with a cityscape in the background. It is as awesome as it sounds so of course I had to get it. I did not see them right away but two of the people working at the shirt table... Toadies! Thankfully I did not have to interact with them.
Anyhow, even with the free tickets, it was not a sold out show. From where I sat in the upper deck, the floor and lower bowl was mostly filled but there were plenty of empty seats in the upper deck and I hardly had anyone around me. The opening act was three guys from London known as Leogun. They were a fine opening act for the half hour they played and the crowd seemed to enjoy them. There was about a half hour break then KISS came out.
Sure, it's only Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley now as for about the past 10 years Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were replaced by Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer; Eric and Tommy are fine musicians and all but it's not the same as having the original four together, you know. As they are pretty much an oldies act now (honestly, they first formed FORTY years ago; no kidding), aside from some material from their new album and the one from a few years ago, the rest of their setlist for the almost 2 hours they played was what you'd expect if you know what their most famous songs are throughout their history. They opened with Psycho Circus and their last song is their best-known one. They sounded good and of course the fans there loved the show. I had a good time for sure. As you'd expect with such an extravagant band, the stage was fancy, with a big videoscreen and a lot of lights and things exploding and pyro and ballyhoo. The big thing was part of the stage that had some lights and it sometimes lowered up and down as if it was a metal spider; part of it was also a platform that the band would sometimes be on. It was cool and it was great seeing them for less than 5 bucks.
After that, as I was already in downtown Orlando, why not go to Ghost Bar & Lounge? I stopped by the car on the way there so I could change into the KISS concert t-shirt; some people did note it and they briefly chatted with me about the band and the concert. Other than that, it was the typical time there, where I sat down and either looked at what they had on the TV's or was amused by what the drunk white people were doing. Of course there was my favorite thing, which was Drunk White People Dancing! That is always good for laughs, especially if the white person is pretty hammered. For you current WWE fans, there was an older gentleman in attendance who looked like what you'd imagine Bray Wyatt's dad to be, from his clothing to his face. I don't mean Mike Rotuna (i.e. IRS, who is legit Bray's dad), but rather he wore a flowery shirt and a similar style hat to Bray and he was also a husky dude, no pun intended for you hardcore wrestling fans.
My weekend was dull as I just stayed in and relaxed; appropriate after the Thursday and Friday I had. I did see the free UFC event on Saturday and that was some quality entertainment overall. So, I'll end this here and mention that for the blog I post a week from today, it most likely won't be quite like what I talked about now, but I do know of an event or two I'll be doing.
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