Todd Rundgren Entertains Sellout NT Riviera Theatre Crowd
4/30/2024 - North Tonawanda, New York - Today, I headed West to downtown North Tonawanda to see the classic rock stylings of Todd Rundgren performing at the lovely Riviera Theatre during his Me/We 2024 Tour. I stopped in Lockport for a quick bite at Reids and to pickup my brother who would join me in his first time ever seeing Todd perform. We arrived early and had nice seats center stage about 20 rows back, really not a bad seat in the house at this venue. We ran into Todd's son working the merchandise booth. The show was a sellout and people were entertained by someone playing songs on a Wurlitzer organ as they entered and were getting seated. Todd and his band came out promptly at 7:30 PM and played a good two hour set. In typical Todd fashion the setlist was NOT the usual hits but some of the more obscure tunes from Todd's career with some classic hits thrown in. He played a couple Utopia songs that included good covers of Secret Society and Rock Love. His band was pretty tight and sellout crowd seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show. He played stuff from various points in his long career like Buffalo Grass, an a cappella version of Honest Work and closed the set with Worldwide Epiphany. Todd's 75 year old voice was pretty strong on this night. He came out for a three song encore that included a melody of his hits I Saw The Light, Can We Still Be Friends and Hello It's Me to the delight of the sellout crowd that waited patiently to hear them. He did a nice version of his classic The Last Ride and closed the show with another classic A Dream Goes On Forever. A good show at a nice venue with a performer who although is much older can still entertain. Thanks Todd...Slideshow[]
Escape From Vegas To Visit Grand Canyon National Park
Taking In Some Fall Foliage At Lovely Letchworth State Park
8/31/2021 - Grand Canyon Village, Arizona - Today, we were up early in our nice villa at the Marriott's Grand Chateau Resort on the Las Vegas strip to have an early breakfast get the rental car and make the four and a half hour drive to Grand Canyon National Park in Grand Canyon Village, Arizona. It was a nice easy drive south down route 93 to 40 east then finally route 64 north right into the park. We stopped for an okay lunch at Foodie Club located in the heart of Grand Canyon Village right on Route 64, We then made are way into the park to take in the spectacular views of the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We headed to Mather Point and took in the breath taking views of the canyon that also included being up close with the crazy squirrels. We headed down the rim trial and made it to Yavapai Point for more tremendous views stopping at Yavapai Geology Museum. We explored for a couple hours just enjoying the beauty of the canyon and then took the bus back to the main entrance. We headed out of the park back to Vegas but were detoured by a herd of mule deer taking over the park roads. We maed it back to our villa in Vegas in time for late night drinks at the roof top bar at the Grand Chateau Resort and did a little gaming. A nice day getaway.Slideshow[]
11/4/2018 - Castile, New York - Just back from our trip to the gorgeous Amalfi Coast of Italy, we decided to take in some Upstate New York fall beauty at the wonderful Letchworth State Park. We were up early on this Sunday morning a perfect late fall day and we stopped at Geneseo and picked up Dom from school to join us. It was a beautiful November day and surprisingly the leaves were not near peak but still ther were plenty of good colors and views to be had. We spent some quality time in the park at Inspiration Point and the Upper Falls getting plenty of great fall foliage shots. We headed out and had a nice lunch at Applebees in Geneseo before dropping Dom back at school. A nice day was had, we will be back next year for sure.Slideshow[]
Buffalo Sabres Struckdown By Lightning In Shootout Loss
3/4/2017 - Buffalo, New York - Today we headed west down the NYS Thruway to downtown Buffalo, New York to watch the Buffalo Sabres take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center. We arrived a little early and had a nice sampling of original Buffalo wings at the infamous Anchor Bar. I had picked up my ticket at the last minute on Stubhub and was sitting low near the ice and was able to talk with our favorite singer Doug Allen before he went out to perform. The Sabres jumped out to the lead on power-play goal from Ryan O'Reilly late in the first period. The Lightning tied it up in the second and both goalies did not let in a puck for the remainder of regulation and the overtime period. The game went to a shootout with both Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart providing dismal attempts. The game was iced when Nikita Kucherov put it past Robin Lehner to seal the Lightning a 2-1 victory in the shootout. Still a nice way to spend and evening, our Sabres are only a couple of players away from being a force.Slideshow[]
Exploring Our Favorite Maui Spots And Road To Hana Adventure
Aloha, Maui no ka oi, Yes Maui Is Still The Best - Part V
2/23/2017 - Maui, Hawaii - The next few days of our Maui trip had us all over the island doing some of our favorite things and some unexpected things. We started the days with delicious breakfasts by Deb at our condo at Kaanapali Shores out on the lanai. We decided to hit some of our favorite spots on the west side first stopping at Snorkel Bobs for some boogie boards and snorkel gear. We were then off to the best sea turtle snorkel spot on the island the gorgeous Kapalua Bay. We snuck a parking spot on the golf course parking lot. We hit the beach taking in the nice views of the island of Molakai and some humpback whales not far off shore. Dom got some good underwater Gopro footage of the sea turtles in the bay. We then headed down the road and stopped at McDonalds for some hot fudge sundaes. Then back down the road to the best boogie board beach on the island, DT Fleming Beach. The surf was excellent here and we managed to catch a couple nice waves to boogie board into the beach on. After the beaches we were back to Kaanapali Shores for drinks by the pool and a nice sunset. For dinner this night we headed to Lahaina and had a fantastic steak and lobster tail dinner at the ocean front restaurant Koa's Seaside Grill. The next day we were up early to drive the lovely Road To Hana. We used the Iphone app and Bob guided us to the best spots on the long journey. The first stop we walked the nice Waikamoi Nature Trail. The next stop on the tour was Keanae Arboretum with the highlight here being the Rainbow Eucalyptus trees. We then stopped at the old church on Keanae Peninsula and got some nice drone shots and almost got into it with some locals who pretended to be Homeland Security. We moved on and stopped at Halfway To Hana for some banana bread and something that was supposed to be a cheeseburger. We stopped at several nice waterfalls along the twisting turning drive along the way. We made it to Hana and went right to Waianapanapa State Park to checkout the Black Sand Beach, taking some nice pictures and drone footage there. We moved on as it was getting late in the day and we headed to the Seven Sacred Pools but could not explore there due to falling rock hazards. We jumped on the Pipiwai Trail and hiked a couple miles thru the bamboo forest to the beautiful Waimoku Falls, definitely worth the hike. It was really late in the day and we decided to drive all the way around Haleakala. The drive was rough, a single lane dirt / sometimes semi-paved road along high cliffs with rocks all over in total darkness. We almost made it the whole way when one of our tires was punctured by something probably a rock. So we were stuck in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, with no cell service in a rental car where we were not supposed to be! We drove until the tire was totally shot and from out of nowhere two cars stopped and helped us change the tire and get us out of trouble, I only wish I had the names of the two guys who helped, just awesome! We made it back to Kahalui and went right to Budget with our Nissan with 40k miles on it and exchanged it for another Nissan, this time a brand new one that would last us the remainder of the trip. Tired and hungry we stopped at McDonalds for something to eat and then back to the condo to pass out. What a day.......Slideshow[]
4/3/2016 - Maui, Hawaii - Today was the last day of the annual Maui trip, it started a little rough with power to the entire condo knocked out by a bad driver. We headed out early for an early morning drone flight at Kapalua Bay, then a stop at McDonalds who had power for Deb's coffee fix. We extended checkout time to relax by the pool and wait for power to come back on. We had lunch at the Beach Club and toured the grounds one more time. We reluctantly left Kaanapali Shores and headed to Lahaina to shop some of the shops. We drove to Hookipa Beach and watch the wind surfers. We headed back to Kahalui and had dinner at Marcos Grill & Deli. We then headed to Kahalui Airport for the long journey home. We flew from Maui to Vancouver to Toronto via Air Canada. We hopped in the car and made the long drive back to Hilton, Aloha Maui until next time..... Miss it already... 1234Slideshow[]
A Simple Christmas At Home With Family
Chicago Finishes World Tour At Shea's In Downtown Buffalo
12/25/2015 - Hilton, New York - It just didn't feel like Christmas this year but we continued our traditions of gifts and family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We somehow had everything in place although not as much as in prior years making it simpler. We started with the traditional Christmas eve trip to Lockport to exchange gifts with the Stafford and Kuligowski families at Grandmas house. We trekked back home and attended a nice midnight mass at St Leos Church in Hilton. Santa unloaded his lighter sleigh and Christmas morning we got up and waited for Nicole to arrive late morning to start the festivities. Grandma Florio was on hand as usual to enjoy and partake in annual festivities. This Christmas gift shopping was tough but cash and gift cards help that cause. Santa did bring some cool stuff though including a nice set of Mizuno Golf Clubs, HP Laptop/tablet and a Sony PS4 with all the good games. A decent haul to say the least. We enjoyed the day playing with the many new toys and gadgets. We later feasted on the delicious Turkey prepared by Deb. The Mike Florio family joined us the day after Christmas for the traditional gifts and feasting on sauce, turkey leftovers, pies and yes cookies lots of cookies. A another very Merry Christmas in the books.....Slideshow[]
10/25/2015 - Buffalo, New York - Our busy day started early today watching the Buffalo Bills lose to the Jaguars in London. We then headed to Roberts Wesleyan College to watch a great performance with Dom playing with the Honors Band. After that show, we hopped in the car and headed west to downtown Buffalo for an evening with the classic rock band Chicago. We stopped at the Anchor Bar prior to the concert for some excellent original Buffalo wings and pizza. The concert tonight was at the fine downtown Buffalo venue Shea's Performing Arts Center. No opening act tonight just two big sets of Chicago. They came out promptly at 7:30 and played an excellent show. The setlist contained hit after hit with them opening the show with one of my favorites, Questions 67 & 68. They played classics like Beginnings, Just You 'N' Me, Saturday In The Park and finished the set with Feelin' Stronger Everyday. The band was pretty tight as usual and this show was the final one in their 2015 World Tour. They came out for a two song encore opening with I Just Want To Be Free and finishing with what else but 25 or 6 to 4. Another excellent show at a nice venue, the sellout crowd was not disappointed.Slideshow[]
Another White Christmas Celebrated At Home With Family
Roger Hodgson Gives More Than A Little Bit At Artpark
12/25/2013 - Hilton, New York - Today after a hectic month of preparations we enjoyed a peaceful white Christmas at home. It is incredible how all the preparations for Christmas were complete like finding and trimming the tree, decorating the house, purchasing and wrapping gifts, attending Band Concerts, Christmas Eve exchanging gifts at Grandmas house and midnight mass at St Leos but the grand finale was today at home with the family. We did things at a very reasonable hour this Christmas morn. Grandma Florio was on hand as usual to enjoy and partake in the festivities. This Christmas was a little bit of everything from clothes to concert tickets to Mac's. We enjoyed the day playing with the many new toys and gadgets which included a recording studio, guitar effects processor, many PS3 games (Madden, NBA and NHL), and Ukelele to name a few. We were treated to the annual Christmas breakfast of pancakes and omlettes provided by chef Nicole. We later feasted on the delicious Turkey prepared by Deb. The Mike Florio family joined us the day after Christmas for the traditional gifts and feasting on ravis and joy of the holiday. Another Merry Christmas put in the books for all.Slideshow[]
8/21/2012 - Lewiston, New York - The voice of the band Supertramp, Roger Hodgson, performed at Artpark's Tuesday In The Park concert series in Lewiston today. It was an absolutely perfect evening for a concert, clear skies and cool temperatures abounded as Hodgson put on a tremendous show that was absolutely adored by the large crowd at Artpark. A local girl Stacey Clark was the opening act who was just okay. Hodgson came onto the house plant filled stage at about eight and played for almost two hours of Supertramp hits and some of his own stuff. He started the set with Take The Long Way Home and talked how the Buffalo area was a hot spot for Supertramp back in the day. The crowd was louder and more appreciative of his performance than any I think I have seen at Artpark, we may have went back in time to 1979 again. He played most of the Supertramp hits to pefection including School, Hide In Your Shell - one of my personal favorites, Breakfast In America, The Logical Song and he finished the set with Dreamer and Fool's Overture. His band was excellent and didn't miss a note as the one band member Aaron McDonald played a different instrument pratically every song. The crowd was still tremendously loud and he came out for two more songs in the encore and he appeared to enjoy the crowd immensely and told them so. He pulled out the twelve string and performed Give A Little Bit and finally finished with It's Raining Again which is kind of ironic since it almost never rains at Artpark on Tuesdays. This was really a fantastic show!Slideshow[]
Seneca Park Zoo Invaded By Third Graders
6/12/2008 - Rochester, New York - Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester was the scene of literally hundreds of third graders, including Dominic and pals from Hilton Village Elementary, ascending upon the zoo. The kids were bused in early and enjoyed an absolute perfect day. The top attraction at the zoo for Dom and pals had to be Cougar exhibit with the tunnel allowing kids to go into the cage and view them up close. Other top highlights included the penguin, elephant, and polar bear exhibits. The playground was a zoo within the zoo for all the kids there to release some energy. A fun and educational experience for all.Slideshow[]
More Fun In The Sun In Playa Del Carmen
11/10/1998 - Playa Del Carmen, Mexico - The fun in the sun in lovely Playa Del Carmen continued with more food, drink, sand, and swimming. We took a submarine ride and went on a tour of downtown Cancun and did some shopping. The nightly entertainment at the resort included outdoor theatre with the cast / staff of the resort putting on an adaptation of Grease. We sat front row and Nicole liked it alot. The remainder of the time was spent playing on the beach, swimming in the pool and hanging with are new friends from Canada. Attemptimg scuba in the pool was awesome and going back to the room everyday for a different towel contortion was a treat for Nicole. A very relaxing and beautiful place. Part 1Slideshow[]
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