Outkast Live Atlanta Centennial Park 2014

Tickets for one Outkast show in Atlanta went on sale in June and it was pure madness, I think the show sold out in 0.2 seconds (maybe I am exaggerating).   Guess they felt sorry for the poor schmucks that didn’t get a ticket so they added a 2^nd show that sold out immediately, then they added a 3^rd show.  Maybe they knew all along that they were gonna do 3 shows and they just wanted to make everyone sweat. It will always be one of life’s great mysteries.  Anywho, my crazy azz didn’t buy a ticket to a show, but as the event dates grew closer I started to get that Outkast fever bad bad bad.  I managed to score a Friday ticket two days before the show.  Initially I didn’t want to pay the Gold Circle price, but upon seeing a map of the venue, I saw that was definitely the best way to fully enjoy the show.  The show started at 5pm with opening acts Janelle Monae, 2Chainz, and Future.  Outkast came on at 9pm, performed until about 10:45 and they brought out Bigg Gipp, Bun B, and Sleepy Brown to help them perform some classics.  I had initially planned on going out after the show, but I felt like I put in a FULL DAYS work and took my exhausted azz to bed afterwards.   The Friday show was amazing, it truly gave me life.  As I’m sure you know I’m not even from Atlanta, but I adore my adopted city.  All the Outkast songs just took me back to some Awesome times that I’ve in while living in “GA.” The show was so great I really wanted to come back to the Sunday show, ESPECIALLY knowing that 8Ball & MJG were part of the line up. OMG!!!!!!!!
Here are a few pix from the Friday show

So my awesome concert loving friend Tiffany helped me score a ticket to the Sunday show literally seconds before the show.  I had given up on finding a ticket that wasn’t gonna cost me a trillion dollars, but she worked her tail off and made it happen.  One Love!!!    I was so happy that I got to see 8Ball & MJG, I frekkin loved them dudes back in the day.  Pimp Hard, Pimp Harder ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ 
The Sunday forecast was rain, but the musical gods were smiling upon on and it started sprinkling as soon as the show  over. 

My  chica Tiffany

8Ball & MJQ

People enjoying the show from nearby rooftops

There had been rumors that the Saturday show was going to have a surprise guest that wasn’t on the bill, well SURPRISE SURPRISE that person appeared up on Sunday and it was none other than Miss Erykah Badu *insert WILD screams from the crowd*

 

 

I leave you with a brief compilation video of the Friday and Sunday show.  Stank you smelly much!!

Limerz Cruise Cropover 2014

I had serious gadget issues in Barbados, 1 memory card went corrupt randomly, brought a camera with no memory card another day, broke my phone and my medium camera, then lost 1 of the back up batteryz to my DSLR.  Too much fun I suppose.  I lost all memories from my favorite Cropover fete The Limerz Cruise… but The devil is a lie and  I managed to retrieve most of the data that I lost.  I already wrote about Limerz on my Cropover blog, but I am so happy to have my files back that I had to share some more. 

As I said previously, Sunday was the Limerz Cruise, it was beyond amazing, one of the best boat rides/fetes I’ve been on EVER!! 8 catamarans cruising through the Caribbean Sea side by side.  Each with its own DJ, bar, and catered lunch. The catamarans are operated by tiamicatamarancruises.com.  I did some research on Lehwego before we decided which catamaran to buy a ticket on.  They recommended the black or blue catamarans because they are larger.  The vybz were great, then again every catamarans looked like it had SERIOUS vybz.  It’s important to have everyone in your crew select the same catamaran otherwise you will spend the entire day separated. 

 

CaribMask Raleigh/Durham Carnival

Headed to Raleigh/Durham for their 3^rd annual CaribMask carnival.  I gotta hand it to them, for only being their 3^rd year, they really had their sh*t together.  They had a good selection of bands and a very large crowd of on lookers who you can clearly tell are excited about having a carnival in their city.   

It was a random weekend were I didn’t have anything on my calendar.  My brother lives half way to Raleigh, so I drove to his place and then he drove the rest of the way.  We linked up with our Atlanta band www.maddcolorscarnival.com so we didn’t have to buy a costume.  The hotel suite was only $80/night & we only stayed two nights.  The clubs were dirt cheap, so the trip was basically free.  The best part was getting to satisfy my carnival addiction, if you have read any of my other carnival blogs you know my carnival addiction is bad bad bad!!!  

Mr. & Mrs. Madd Colors

Their son is a hot dayym good DJ

Baby Madd Colors

Some (but not all) of the other mas bands on the road for www.caribmask.com can be seen below. In only 3 years they have managed to put together a nice line up. 

If you can’t tell by all the pix below, the Haitian troupe was my absolute favorite.  They have a folk dress that is very similar to the Pollera folk dresses worn in my home country of Panama.  According to Google it is called a Quadrille dress (please forgive me if I’m incorrect).  I was instantly in love when I saw them.  There is a very, very, very slight chance that we will skip Trinidad carnival 2015 and go to Panama instead (same dates) and if we do, you best believe that I will be wearing a beautiful folk dress.       

As I looked through the pix I couldn’t help but notice how mesmerized the crowd was by the parade.   People proud of their culture and glad to have a little piece of home right here in the USA.

The new owner of my feather backpack

After the road march, people from each country came on stage and rep’d their flag.  You know who Turnt Up and Turnt Out… sweet sweet TnT

I want to give a shout out to the photographer extraordinaire Paco for taking all the pix.  It was nice getting to dance & drink the day away and not be on camera duty.

 

Below is just a few pix from the nightlife.  We had good friends, Bose speaker, and lots of rum so of course we had a blast. 

If you are located somewhere nearby and a pricey flight is not a factor for you, I would definitely recommend checking out CaribMask Raleigh/Durham Carnival in 2015.