For those about to rock...

We spent five whole days in a teeny little RV in north Pryor, and it was pretty stinking fun. Regardless of the fact that 80's hair metal was not the music I'd say I grew up on, I really enjoyed all the shows. I screamed my guts out singing along with Quiet Riot and Poison. And I got to see Dee Schneider of Twisted Sister pretty close-up. Lookin' old, but still rockin'. I also saw Vince Neil (looking good since being on that fat celebrity show), Bret Michaels (not too shabby) and Steven Adler (the original drummer for Guns and Roses). All the bands rocked steady and hard, and it was very nice to experience genuine rock shows. I still love my low-key, dreamy indie bands, but I had a blast at this thing. And that was due in no small part to the awesome people I hung out and partied with throughout the event. Onto the visuals.

Thursday night the VIP tent wasn't open. So, we got some polish dogs.


Getting the party started backstage on Thursday. That's the Catch the Fever girl Leann in the supercool bandana and Jenny in the supercool glasses. And, of course, AJ rocking the Pryor Lumber T-Shirt.



This was during the show where they brought in members of several bands for a jam session, including Bang Tango, LA Guns and Steven Adler. I can't remember all of them, but it was very good. And then, as if they were after my own heart, they encored with "Sweet Child."



This KISS cover band was running around backstage the entire time. Here's fake Gene Simmons and me.


AJ the Magnificent and me.


Rob and AJ having an intimate moment.


Big Time Super Star.


Yet another KISS face.


I wanted to touch those furry boots more than you know.


These are the groupies you want hanging around your tour bus. (Jenny, Rodney, Leann and AJ).


The Grasses. These are really nice people.


Steven Adler was really nice and ever-so-slightly from the 80's.




Oh my God! Did I mention that I jumped out of an airplane?! Well, I did. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of my jump yet (Leann, can you please send those?). But I got a couple from AJ and Susie's jumps.



Here's Susie's landing. Yes, that's a lagoon right there.


Here comes AJ!


Post-Jump. In Susie's video, she said it was "fabulous" while floating in the air. When she hit the ground, she claimed it was "wonderful." This is an extremely nice lady. AJ exclaimed that it was "fuckin' awesome." After mine, I had trouble forming audible words.


AJ and his tandem jumper Justin.


My big bro Stevie showed up Friday ready to party.


Hey, it's my old classmate Keline from OU!! I didn't know she was gonna be there.


Friday night was Poison. Here's Bret Michaels. Poison's performance was probably my very favorite because they were the only ones to use pyrotechnics.


I cannot say the name Poison without thinking of that Bel Biv Devoe song. Man, I loved that song. "Miss her, kiss her, love her... that girl is poison..."


We enjoyed the hell out of some hair metal. (Jenny, Rodney, Leann, Cliff, AJ, me).


Leann, who is actually qualified to jump by herself, jumped tandem on Saturday (I think?). She landed right inside the crowd area of Rocklahoma and jump-started the sky diving people's business.


Here are some party people that we were fortunate to be able to hang out with. Rick, Susie and Cindy. Susie and Cindy had coffee waiting for us at their campsite every single morning.


Kathy and Corky.


Group shot minus me.


Random Logan shots. We were sweaty puppies pretty much the whole time.



Here we are with the Skid Row drummer Dave Gara (I'm sorry if I have this name wrong.) He was a cool guy who smelled really good even after his set. He said it was the Axe body spray.


Back at the campsite. The guy on the left was someone who just randomly crashed the party, and we kept teasing Susie that he was her new squeeze.


Here's another random dude crasher who thought his T-shirt was so unique that I needed to take a photo of it.


She's gonna do it... get your camera ready!... oh wait, her parents were sitting right there. Never mind.


This was taken at about 2 or 3 in the morning, and just look at Kaylynne. She was totally pumped up after watching Vince Neil. AJ appears to be double-jugging it. But I think one of those are mine.


Here we are on Sunday (the final day) waiting for Queensryche to come on. We were starting to get tired by this point.


When Queensryche came on, this little boy went absolutely nuts! Rock on, little 2-year-old!


Look closely in the far back right of this pic to see Dee Schneider warming up. He did squatting stretches and a couple jumping jacks.


Twisted Sister.


It was a funtime extravaganza! We got home at about midnight on Sunday. My head drooped at work all day Monday, but what a weekend. I will attempt to post my sky diving video on myspace.

Go rock yourself, internet. Good night.

Coasters & What Not

We had a fun time in Kansas City last week on our summer vacation get-away with the kids. Here are Hannah and Sevin at the beginning of the road trip. They did really well. Sevin only asked "are there yet?" once about 1/4 of the way there, and he didn't get restless again until we got into the city.



No travel blog of mine would be complete without an up-the-nose shot of me riding shotgun and AJ driving.



Snoopy greeted us as we walked through the gates of Worlds of Fun.



The kids insisted on being photographed with this fake gorilla in the Africa part of Worlds of Fun.



Look five rows back and you'll see Hannah riding her first roller coaster that goes upside-down.



Here's poor Sevin sitting this one out. He was about three inches too short for several of the bigger rides that Hannah rode.



Sevin picking up a chick in his hot rod bumper car.



Hannah's at that between age where she was able to ride the smaller rides at Camp Snoopy with Sevin as well as take on most of the roller coasters.



Elvis on the same ride.



Hannah was able to ride the bigger version of this thing with me, but we didn't get any pics.



Hannah seeking Lucy's advice.



This is a shot of the Mamba which none of us ever got around to riding.



Sevin made buddies with this kid, and quickly declared that he was "riding everything that kid rides." We followed this kid and his family around for quite some time.



Biker Chick.



AJ patiently waiting out the Camp Snoopy rides.



The new-found friends doing a little boating.



Almost grown out of this kind of stuff.



Magic of the carousel.




Here they are waiting as AJ rides the Patriot, a roller coaster too big for either of them. I rode it too. Very fun.



Who doesn't love Asian gargoyles?




We stayed at these nice little cabins at Worlds of Fun Village. They were small, but pretty comfy.




They had these little upstairs lofts that are meant for people to use for sleeping bag style snoozing only. The kids thought of the loft as their miniature little room.





Porch pic. Note the badass tattoos they got at Worlds of Fun. Dragon, skull and crossbones, respectively.



We went to Oceans of Fun too, but it was sprinkling all day. So, I didn't take the camera. Here are some more cabin photos.





It was a fun family time.

When we got home last weekend, we had our big Pre-4th of July celebration again. We had to dodge the rain all night, and it was a mess because all the small kid fireworks had to be kept in the house. So, there were kids running in and out and all over the place. But we had a really great night with good friends and family. Sorry, I haven't uploaded any pictures of that night yet.

Next up, ROCKLAHOMA.... Watch out y'all. I'm bound to get stoopid... (sorry)

Happy 4th, everyone! May your skies be clear tonight.