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Green Bay Blizzard
We saw the Green Bay Blizzard vs. Louisville Fire game at the Resch Center last night. It was the first arena football game I had ever gone to. Wanda had a team outing organized at work, and she wanted me to come along. We also invited our friend Trent.
To be honest, I thought I was going to have an awful time. I generally don’t like football nor annoying crowds. I ended up having a blast. It was $1 beer night, which I took advantage of, and the game was a lot of fun. We had excellent seats, and I liked that it was faster paced than national league football.
Also surprising: I had one of the best hot dogs I’ve ever had from the concession stand, and I hate hot dogs. They were only $1.50 last night as part of the special.
July 21st, 2007 
Entertainment & Media 
Tags: blizzard, drinking, Food, football, Recreation, resch center, more... Summerfest 2007
We drove to Summerfest today, partially because we were looking for something to do, and partially because we wanted to see Daughtry at the Marcus Amphitheater. Wanda was also able to score some free admission tickets to Summerfest from a coworker (Thanks Chang!). We drove there after work and walked around a bit before purchasing the Daughtry tix. Although somewhat short, he put on a fairly decent show. The lighting effects were sometimes annoying, regularly blinding the audience, but his performance was excellent. He’s one of those performers who can perform nearly equally as well live as he can in a studio.
We liked the Marcus Amphitheater. Nice seats (not bleachers), open roof (for ventilation), decent acoustics, and we had amazing seats in the front section center. There were some annoying morons there, but that comes with the territory.
After the show, we didn’t stick around long. We basically came for the Daughtry show. The grounds were a bit crowded for my taste, although it seemed like they had a decent lineup of musicians.
Nickelback & Trapt
Wanda and I saw Nickelback and Trapt at the Resch Center last night. I bought her the tickets for Christmas. It was a good show and we didn’t have to drive far to get there. Trapt didn’t sound quite as good as they do on their albums, although it was still a good performance. Nickelback put on a great show, as always. The drummer, Daniel Adair, did an awesome solo midway through the performance.
This was our first time to the Resch. The facilities are nice, and we had a pretty good view of the stage. However, their process of funneling people in the building was retarded. It was cold outside and I didn’t wear a jacket (ehh, I thought bringing a jacket into the concert would suck). Since we had pre-paid tickets and specific seats, I thought we’d be able to waltz right in and sit in our seat. Not so. They made us wait outside for about a half an hour (we got there at 7:00, and the show was scheduled to start at 7:30). At about 7:30 we finally made it through the mob of about 10,000 people and into their tiny lobby to greet another mob trying to get through 2 tiny doors and through a pat down. I think we finally sat down at 8:00. Fortunately, the show started late (which I had expected). Perhaps this is just normal for concerts (although I would expect it more at a concert with general seating). I just think whomever designed their human processing procedure needs to consider taking an operations management course. It seemed chaotic. I kept hoping people would just start pushing their way in past security, but I guess we had too many old people in the crowd and I’m not one to start something.
On a side note, I guess Dave Chappelle was right. White people do love guitar music.
Satellite Radio vs. “Free Radio”
Ok, I was listening to my talk radio program this morning on WTAQ. I heard one of the ads they play regularly about why free radio is better than satellite radio (ie, XM or Sirius). To suggest that free radio is better than satellite radio, they used arguments like, “Satellite radio has too much profanity, and I worry about my kids,” and “Free radio cuts out too much when I’m obstructed by things like tall buildings or a mountain,” and “Free radio gives me local news and sports,” etc.
Alas, the marketing industry in this nation just doesn’t get it! We all understand that free content is paid for by advertisers, and we have no problem with viewing reasonable ads in exchange for free content, but there is a limit to our patience. This has already been made evident on the Internet. People are installing ad-blocking software like never before. Do they really have a problem with viewing ads in exchange for content? No way, but they do have a problem with being abused by advertisers. Things like “fly-in” Flash advertisements and annoying animations push the limits of our patience. I don’t mind viewing banners or AdWords, and I occasionally click on ads that relate to my interests, but shoving animated casino and “punch the monkey” ads down our throats just doesn’t cut it.
It’s the same with radio. We don’t mind paying for satellite radio because free radio has begun to abuse its listeners much like the Internet. I listen to WTAQ and hear the same ad telling me how they can lower my farm taxes by just giving them a call, with annoying elevator music and some pretentious blonde finance major telling me I’d be stupid not to use their service. I am not a farmer. If I was, I probably would have been convinced by the first 1000 times I’ve heard the ad. Similarly, the talk radio industry has sunken to the lowliest of advertisers, from get rich quick to lose weight in 7 days with no exercise and no diet change. We don’t mind your ads at a reasonable interval, but please, we get the point – “Investing in gold through Swiss America is my ticket to fame and fortune!”
Finally, they suggest that signal loss is a frustration among satellite radio converts. I ask you – is losing your signal when you go under and overpass any worse than WTAQ’s record of playing commercials over my radio program, censoring content because it doesn’t agree with their political agenda, or cancelling my radio program in favor of sports programs that talk about the previous day’s game and what you already saw while watching it?
*sigh*, I need a political talk radio that doesn’t cater to farmers and meat heads. Free radio has become the whore of the advertising industry, just like the Internet.
Disclaimer: I am not a subscriber to any satellite TV service, but for reasons stated above I’ve been seriously tempted. I also have nothing against farmers, but sometimes I feel like WTAQ is out of touch with their a large portion of their demographic. Perhaps they need to spin-off the politics from the sports/farm report. “Look ma’, hog futures are up 2 points, Favre sealed the Viking’s fate with a 60 yard bomb, and Rush Limbaugh thinks liberals are intolerant!”
December 24th, 2004
Entertainment & Media, News & Current Events Tags: advertising, clueless, flash, opinion, Radio, satellite, sirius, Television, wtaq, xm, more... Summer Jam
We went to Summer Jam on Sunday. A great time was had by all. The Calling and Nickelback put on the best shows. Ashanti sucked, but that was no surprise.
July 25th, 2002
Entertainment & Media Tags: concert, eau claire, music, nickelback, summer jam, more... Powered by WordPress.
