Slash Brings The S.E.R.P.E.N.T Festival Of Blues To Artpark
7/30/2024 - Lewiston, New York - Today it is Tuesday in July and that historically means a show is to be had at Artpark and in a last minute decision I picked up a ticket to see Slash and his S.E.R.P.E.N.T Festival perform at Artpark's Amphitheater. The festival's name is an anagram for Solidarity, Engagement, Restore, Peace, Equality N' Tolerance. Good to see them promoting something positive and the ticket was only 30 bucks and Slash was going to play all blues to promote his latest album Orgy Of The Damned, which was all blues with special guest artists. Tonight Slash would have Robert Randolph, ZZ Ward and Keb' Mo' opening with some blues jams. I was there early enough to get a spot in the small line awaiting entry into Artpark and when the gates opened I secured my usual good spot behind the pay seats. The show was not a sellout and weather was a factor today as rain was in the forecast and would come down for part of this show. Robert Randolph opened the show and soon after the rains did come down during his set making it somewhat shortened and very wet. He did some good covers of I'm So Glad and Foxy Lady but again the rain made it difficult to enjoy. The rains appear to have ended and next up was ZZ Ward who did a good set of blues that included Dust My Broom and Cadillac Man. After a brief intermission Keb' Mo' and his band hit the stage and played a very good set. They opened with Somebody Hurt You and Keb' admitted to being buzzed and told the crowd he had been drinking all day, I say he was a little looser than normal. He and his band had good sound and played a nice jam on Suitcase and closed their set with a good rendition of I Remember You. After another brief intermission the headliner Slash hit the stage and absolutely wailed out an excellent blues set. Slash ripped thru classic blues songs like Howlin Wolf's Killing Floor, Booker T and the MG's Born Under A Bad Sign and T-Bone Walker's Stormy Monday. He did a nice cover of Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well in tribute to Peter Green and closed the set with a cover of Jimi Hendrix's Stone Free. Slash's performance was impressive and his band helped bring the nice extended jams on these blues classics. The crowd although not a sellout definitely enjoyed this show. They closed the show with a two song encore of It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry and the finale of Shake Your Money Maker. This was really a good show and even though it rained overall well worth the trip and ticket price of 30 dollars. Thanks Artpark......Slideshow[]
Enjoying Some Of Our Favorite Maui Things
Tedeschi Trucks and Mason & Cropper Rock NYS Fair
3/20/2019 - Lahaina, Hawaii - We started the day early with the daily morning beach walk that included some whales and dolphins. We then hopped in the car and headed East to Lahaina for one of my personal favorite things to do on Maui, a whale watch with the Ultimate Whale Watch company. It was a nice day and we saw plenty of whales and tails, another good watch with our favorite company. After the watch, we headed down Front St in downtown Lahaina for lunch at our favorite Lahaina pizza spot Pi Artisan Pizzeria. It was a great lunch with awesome views. We headed back to the condo and stopped at Snorkel Bobs to pickup some snorkel gear and then drove onto the best turtle snorkel spot in Maui, the gorgeous Kapalua Bay. Dom and Liv spotted a couple turtles. We finished the day with a nice sunset back at the condo. A typical all round good Hawaii day !Slideshow[]
8/23/2018 - Syracuse, New York - I decided at the last minute to take off work today and head East down the NYS Thruway to see a double dose of classic rock tunage from Dave Mason & Steve Cropper and the Tedeschi Trucks Band at the NYS Fair. It was a perfect day weather wise. I arrived just in time for the first show featuring Dave Mason and Steve Cropper teaming up on the Chevy Court stage. They played a good set that included classics like Green Onions and We Just Disagree. They played about and hour and a half and also did some covers of Blind Faith and Traffic tunes. After the first show I cruised the Fairgrounds and grabbed an excellent steak sandwich, then got a decent spot for the second show at Chevy Court stage the awesome Tedeschi Trucks Band. They came out and played a two plus hour set that was fantastic. It included great covers of classic blues including Bob Dylan's Lord Protect My Child, John Moore's Three Blazers' How Blue Can You Get? and a nice cover of Derek and the Dominoes' Tell The Truth being joined by guitarist Al Schnier for an extended jam. A couple of good shows that cost literally three dollars, thanks for something NYS.Slideshow[]
Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy Wail The Blues At CMAC
Exploration Of London Continues Including Knopfler At The O2
7/29/2016 - Canandaigua, New York - Today, we headed east to Canandaigua, New York to CMAC for a blues guitar fest featuring two legends the classic blues of Buddy Guy and classic guitar of Jeff Beck. We purchased these tickets the day they went on sale and had great seats four rows back left stage. The show started promptly at eight with Buddy Guy opening the show. He played some classic blues as only he can including Five Long Years and Dam Right I Got The Blues. He jammed walking thru the crowd and gave his typical entertaining performance jamming old blues and some Clapton and Hendrix licks. A good set by Buddy and a nice opener for Jeff Beck. Beck came out and played fantastic set wailing for two hours. His band included guitarist Carmen Vandenberg who also held her own playing along side the legendary Beck and her Bones band mate Rosie Bones on some of the vocals. Beck was also joined by vocalist Jimmy Hall from Wet Willie who did a nice cover of Muddy Water's Little Brown Bird with Beck and Vandenberg providing nice guitar solos. He played several tracks from his new album Loud Hailer and some classics like Freeway Jam and Big Block. He finished with an encore of the classic Beatles cover of A Day In The Life. An excellent evening of entertainment.Slideshow[]
5/22/2015 - London, England - The London adventure continued today with another early morning trip to the pool at the Park Plaza Westminster London Bridge for a swim, sauna and steam to start the day. This included meeting one of the newest members of Parliament coming from Scotland to start his term. We had a pricy but good breakfast buffet at the hotel that included made to order omlettes. We started our exploration of London with the daily view of Big Ben right outside the hotel on the way to the Westminster Tube station heading to the British Museum. We were just about to enter the museum when for some reason everyone was evacuated from it, not sure why but we waited and were allowed to enter within a half an hour. We viewed some great exhibits here including the Rosetta Stone and pieces from ancient Egypt, Roman and British history. After the museum we walked to Denmark Street to check out the numerous music shops. This included finding the main Martin guitar distributor for all of the UK. They had a huge inventory of left handed Martins including a left handed Eric Clapton signature Martin which I had a blast playing along with some nice Martin twelve strings. After checking out the many guitar shops on Denmark Street we headed to the Seven Corners and down to the hustle and bustle of Covent Garden. We stopped and had an early dinner at the Shake Shack. After the early dinner we headed east to North Greenwich via the Tube for concert number two of the trip at the O2 Arena. The artist tonight was former Dire Straits lead man, Mark Knopfler. We arrived early at the O2 Arena and were impressed with the facility. It was a huge concert arena seating twenty thousand and was surrounded by a large number of restaurants and theatres all enclosed under the huge tent like structure. Knopfler came out promptly at 7:30 PM and played a great set of solo and Dire Straits songs. His band was excellent and played all kinds of guitars, mandolins and other stringed instruments. He played the classic Sultans of Swing, Romeo and Juliet and the extended jam on Telegraph Road. His licks were excellent and enhanced even more by some guitars with cameras on them. Another great concert at a nice venue. Tomorrow Clapton's last concert of seven at Royal Albert Hall can't wait ! 1245Slideshow[]
Doing Our Typical Maui Thing As We Usually Do - Part II
3/30/2015 - Maui, Hawaii - After easing in on the first day after the long day of travel we began to do what are now are normal Maui daily activities. Maui really is our home away from home. We start the day with the daily beach walk watching the sun come up on Kaanapali beach and checking out the whales playing just off shore. We had the Florios, Mike and Dee, tagging along for this trip. They would see the island our way, we started them out with a drive to west Maui all the way to Kahakuloa Head. On the way back we stopped at Nakalele Blowhole for the annual climb down to see the blowhole upclose. Although the winds were strong the blowhole was somewhat quite. We headed back to the condo and were greeted by a couple of nice rainbows. We chilled by the pool a bit then headed to Kaanapali Beach at the Old Airport site to do some snorkeling. We took in the sunset back at the condo and headed back to Lahaina and had dinner at Bubba Gumps. The next morning we headed back to Lahaina and went on Pacific Whale Foundation's boat the Discovery for our first whale watch of the trip. As usual we encountered many whales and tails a good watch that included my favorite panoramic views of Maui from the ocean. After the whale watch we had a nice lunch in Lahaina at the Pioneer Inn. We headed back to the condo again to relax by the pool and have drinks. We were greeted by more beautiful mountain rainbows and took in a nice sunset. We then had a nice dinner at our favorite new pizza place in Maui, Pizza Paradiso, which was excellent. Much more Maui to come. 1345Slideshow[]
Dom and Pirates Complete Season With Playoff Loss
Rik Emmett Jams In Downtown Lockport
6/25/2011 - Greece, New York - Today at Grace and Truth Sports Park in Greece, New York Dominic and his Pirates teammates were eliminated from the playoffs for the Grace and Truth Major League Championship. Dom suffering from the flu decided to play at the last minute and played pretty well considering how sick he was. He went 3 for 4 and played solid at first base but that was not enough as the team lacked hitting and pitching in the loss. The team had some good moments and some not so good. The team lacked experience and depth at pitching but managed to win a few games. Dominic was again one of the bright spots on the team providing excellent hitting and good releif pitching along with solid play on first base for most of the season. Dom continued to be plagued by a sore arm but still continued to play, icing daily and before games. Although a tough year Dom had fun and learned alot. He was honored at the end of the season by being selected to the Grace and Truth All Star team for the second consecutive year.Slideshow[]
7/30/2010 - Lockport, New York - Today at the Ulrich City Centre in downtown Lockport the Molson Canal Concert Series continued, hosting the awesome guitar talents of Rik Emmett. Dom and Dad were lucky enough to meet Rik before the show, thanks to Jack,and got some autographed photos and got a preview of the setlist for the show. Dom impressed him with his long time admiration of Rik's fretboard work, we all had a chuckle! Rik put on an excellent show, playing many of his Triumph hits and a few awesome solo tunes. Rik opened the show with Lay It on The Line and played other Triumph hits such as Allied Forces, Somebody's Out There, Rocky Mountain Way, Hold On, Fight the Good Fight and finished with an encore of Magic Power. A great show once again.Slideshow[]
Dom And Yanks Finish Season With Championship Loss
Obituary: Rocco Florio (65)
6/26/2009 - Greece, New York - The scene was set today at Grace and Truth Sports Park in Greece New York, where Dominic and his Yankees team lost a tough game to the Tigers in the Grace and Truth Baseball Minor League Championship. The final score was 5-4. The Yankees came out strong in the first three innings taking a 4-0 lead, but a bad call on a tag out of a runner, who also appeared to have run out of the baseline, led to a 5 run inning which included lots of hits and fielding errors. It was too much for them to overcome and they lost the game. The Yankees had a great year showing a tremendous improvement from their opening day loss. Dom was a major contributor to the teams success including solid fielding, strong hitting, and some excellent pitching. Dom was a fixture in the pitching rotation and a clutch hitter. In the semi final playoff game, Dom pitched the final two runnless innings and posted 3 rbi's to lead his team to the championship game. Congratulations to Dom and his Yankees team on an excellent season.Slideshow[]
11/18/2008 - West Babylon, New York - Rocco J Florio of West Babylon, New York died suddenly on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, at the age of 65. Rocco was born in Brooklyn, New York on Monday December 28th, 1942 the second child of the late Donato and Carmela (DeFranco) Florio. He married Gail (Colligan) Florio Fischler and had two children Brian and Kevin. He is survived by his current wife Deborah and sister Theresa Florio. Dear brother-in-law of Andrea Gallo. Devoted son-in-law of Mary Brown and Pat Gallo. Rocco was the younger brother of the late Jack Florio. Family and friends may visit at the Claude R. Boyd-Caratozzolo Funeral Home, 1785 Deer Park Ave., Deer Park, NY on Thursday from 7:00-9:30pm and Friday from 2:00-4:30 and 7:00-9:30pm. Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday at Ss Cyril and Methodius RC Church at 10:15am. Interment to follow at St Charles Cemetery. ObituarySlideshow[]
Lauren Hanalei Kuligowski Celebrates The Big One !
Dominic Finishes First Season With Orioles
6/8/2008 - Lockport, New York - Today friends and family celebrated little Lauren Hanalei Kuligowski's 1st birthday at her grandparents house. Lauren shared the spotlight with her Aunt Kim who also celebrated her 19th birthday. The festivities included trying to stay cool on an extremely hot and humid day in the sprinkler, food, gifts and cake. The kids also had fun bashing the pinata to get tons of candy. Lauren enjoyed devouring her birthday cake or should I say wearing it. Lauren received plenty of gifts and had a excellent first birthday. Happy First Birthday To Lauren Hanalei !Slideshow[]
6/7/2006 - Hilton, New York - Dom completed his first season playing baseball for the Orioles in Hilton Little League Baseball. The team worked hard and developed some great skills for future baseball play. Dom did an awesome job both in the field and at bat. He wished the season was longer. Dom is ready to make the jump to the next level, maybe a future major leaguer !Slideshow[]
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