Wes & Erica see Iron Maiden in concert

Iron Maiden - Legacy of the Beast tour - Saturday September 21, 2019

I officially have my second metal concert in the books! Wes & I drove to Dallas over this past weekend to see Iron Maiden on their Legacy of the Beast tour. I know nothing about Iron Maiden so during the drive, Wes curated a selection of their greatest hits for me to familiarize myself with. I can't really say with certainty that I like their music. But, Wes is a fan and he said that their concert was top notch (actually, he said it was "really good" because he would never say "top notch" LOL). He also said his three favorite songs from the concert were Fear of the Dark, Trooper (one of my favorite performances of the night as well because that was when Eddie, the mascot, came out and had a choreographed sword fight with Bruce, the lead singer), and Number of the Beast (even though it annoyed him that everyone was singing along and drowning out the band).

 The opening band was The Raven Age. They are a metal band from somewhere in England (aka not famous here). Wes said their ability to play music was good but their song writing was crap. I thought they were pretty terrible over all. They really wanted to involve the crowd and promote their new album, Conspiracy, but I don't think very many people knew of the single they just released so their attempts at getting everyone to clap to the beat and sing along didn't work out very well. But they said the word "conspiracy" so many times that I actually remembered that was the name of their new album. Good advertising technique, guys!

All metal bands practically sound the same to me (clearly, this is not the type of music that I listen to regularly) so all I have to go on is the look and feel of the concert. And the concert felt really good. It was outdoors in awful heat and humidity but everyone was friendly, excited, and in a genuinely happy mood. The crowd was pretty diverse but all of the random concert goers were chatting with each other without judgement. Wes got several compliments on the band t-shirt he was wearing. I sat next to a young man (who asked my permission to vape but still was polite enough to step away to do it even after I assured him it was okay) and his father. They both were very eager to tell Wes and me about Iron Maiden, their song catalog and this concert's set list. At one point during the show, Bruce came on stage with a sword. I turned to Wes and screamed, "OMG he has a sword!!" The father heard me and tapped me on the shoulder, gave me the rock & roll sign of the horns and a face that read "of course he has a sword now head bang with us!" and I couldn't stop myself from screaming as loud as I could and bobbing along with the rest of the crowd. Why can't strangers be this nice all of the time?

The set design was really cool. We weren't very close to the stage so I couldn't get good pictures but they had large screens hung up all over so we still got a decent view of the show. The stage was multi-storied so the lead singer could run around and climb up onto the various tiers. Bruce has a lot of energy!! You would never believe the band was in their sixties from the way they played and interacted with us. The show started with Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches" speech and a life sized replica of a Spitfire plane flew onto the stage. I knew at that point that my like or dislike of their music didn't matter; this was going to be an entertaining concert. There were lots of lasers and pyrotechnics (including a HUGE Icarus model that burned down at the end of Flight of Icarus), a costumed Eddie in stilts, and a new backdrop was revealed at the beginning each song (the best one being an incredibly detailed inflatable demon's head). Bruce did a handful of costume changes, coming out in various hats, masks, a cape and props. Costume changes are the best! Anyway, it was a fun experience and I am really glad we got to go because Iron Maiden was on Wes's bucket list of bands to see live. 

Lacey & Erica make office memo holders

... one of mine is going to the office, the others will become part of my craft show display.

Its almost been twenty years since our college emo phase; 2019 is a good time to recreate that look. I wish I had an old college picture for comparison but I didn't have digital camera back then. 

Lacey & I have known each other since middle school but I think we really became friends when we were roommates freshman year of college. We were both weird, unpopular and invisible, which sounds pretty unpleasant but it actually was perfect timing because she introduced me to emo music, where all of our heroes sung about being weird, unpopular and invisible.  We had the best times singing along to My Chemical Romance, The Used, AFI and Good Charlotte. I haven't kept up with those bands' music but I was feeling nostalgic one day at work and clicked on one of my older Pandora stations (appropriately named Emo Songs). A new Good Charlotte song came on and then this conversation happened.

So here we are... in 2019, wearing heavy black eye liner and glitter, listening to a CD, drinking vodsprittles and DIY'ing stuff. Just like back in the good old days.  BTW, vodsprittles are a cocktail made with vodka, Sprite and Skittles. 

DIY office memo holders-

Supplies needed: plastic animal figures, electric drill (not pictured because I don't own one; we borrowed Lacey's roommate's), dowel rods, alligator clips, craft glue, spray paint

1. Drill a hole into the back of each plastic animal that is the size of the dowel rod

2. Glue an alligator clip to the top of each dowel rod. Let dry.
**It probably isn't necessary, but Lacey brought a handheld pencil sharpener and we sharpened both ends of the dowel rods so they'd fit easier into the alligator clips and animals.

3. Glue the dowel rod (with alligator clip attached) into each animal's back. Let dry.

4. Spray paint after the glue has dried. 

Not the best pictures because we spray painted out on the patio at like 9pm with only a flashlight for light.

And that's it. Super simple. Super cute. No one wants to do a complicated craft while having cocktails on a weeknight. LOL 😜

RagsReborn's Fall Craft Show Schedule

Summer break was absolutely delightful (I got so much done around the house, traveled a bit, sewed some garments for myself, and started a garden) but I am READY to get back into regular craft shows. And boy have I booked a crazy busy Fall Craft Show Schedule!! For the first time ever, I am breaking my travel distance rule--which was no craft shows that are more than an hour's drive away from home. Time to break out of my regular shows and try some new ones! Here's the full schedule-

Piedmont Founder's Day
Saturday, September 7, 2019
10am - 4pm
First Baptist Church Piedmont: 15 Jackson Ave NW, Piedmont, OK 73078
https://piedmontokfoundersday.org/

Prairie Moon Market Day
Saturday, September 28, 2019
9am - 4pm
Prairie Moon Primitives: 13256 Lake Road Ave., Wayne, OK 73095
https://www.prairiemoonretreats.com/
       My friends, Brenda & Karen, from my sewing club told me about this show. They will be there, along with some other women in their quilting circle, selling quilted items and quilt-related items (they mentioned sewing themed jewelry, which I'm pretty excited for!)

Rock Island Arts Festival
Friday, October 4, 2019, 10am - 9pm
Saturday, October 5, 2019, 10am - 9pm
Sunday, October 6, 2019, Noon - 4pm
Historic Depot area of downtown Chickasha: 100 East Chickasha Ave., Chickasha, OK 73018
https://www.rockislandartsfestival.org/page/page/8907560.htm
       This is my first ever three-day show and it's going to be outdoors. Please pray for me. 😅 Just kidding. I'm actually really excited for this show. My friends, Paul (Pens and Things) & Melida (Mama Dragon Studios), participate in this show annually and it has become one of their favorites. Every time I vend at a craft show with Paul, he is always telling me how awesome the Rock Island Arts Festival is and how I need to participate in it. So this year, I decided to do it. I'll be in a tent near theirs (and they have the coolest stuff) so come say hello to us!

Saint Ann's Craft Fair & Open House
(open to the public, not just for community residents)
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
10am - 2pm
Saint Ann Retirement Center: 7501 W. Britton Rd., Oklahoma City, OK 73132

OUHSC Staff Senate Fall Craft Fair
(open to the public, not just for OUHSC employees)
Friday, October 25, 2019
10am - 2pm
Robert M Bird Library Lobby: 1105 Stonewall Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73117

These are just the beginning... I have so much more planned for the months of November and December. Please come out to any (or all 😉) of these shows to support local Oklahoma artists, crafters and small business owners. I appreciate you guys!!

Erica & Wes go to the Dior fashion exhibit

Earlier this year during one of my sewing group's "Sew n' Share" sessions, Claire told us that the Dallas Museum of Art will be hosting a Dior fashion exhibit in the summer. And that this exhibit was a pretty big deal. She told us that it's only touring two museums in North America and it will be in Dallas for a limited time. I immediately went to the art museum's website (https://dma.org/dior) and started planning a trip for me & Wes. We went over this past weekend and it was pretty great. I took a TON of pictures (all posted at the end of this blog and on Instagram @ragsreborngifts).

Before we get into the museum, you know I have to write a bit about where we ate. 😋 I don't think I planned it to be this way, but each one of our meals was Korean. For breakfast, we stopped in 9 Rabbits Bakery. We got there a little after it opened but for some reason, my pastry already tasted stale. I got a chocolate chocolate chip cake and Wes got a chocolate cream filled French horn. I also ordered a Korean iced coffee, which tasted like a Vietnamese coffee but with a lot more sugar and condensed milk.  

We went to BBBop for dinner. They served modern Korean fusion rice bowls. Wes ordered one of the featured rice bowls off the menu and I got a "build-your-own" bowl and some samosa eggrolls to share. I liked them because they only had a light curry taste and weren't spicy. It was a quick and casual dinner spot with friendly staff. We both really enjoyed the food (much more than what we had for breakfast). The restaurant has a couple of unique sauces. My favorite was the cucumber tomatillo sauce. There was a community bulletin board, so I had to leave a RagsReborn business card. LOL

BBBOp was in a strip mall that also had (supposedly) a boba tea cafe. We walked toward the sign for Panda Tea to find that it was closed for renovations. Luckily, boba tea cafes were in abundance according to Google Maps so we just drove a few blocks down to Craft Boba... which was permanently closed. 😑 Our third attempt was to Royal I.T Cafe. It was open for business! Yay! We almost wished we ate dinner there (even though BBBop was delicious) because they poké bowls (which I really like) and Thai food (which is Wes's favorite). We ordered our drinks and made a mental note to come back soon for lunch. I got a rose mike tea with boba and it was really refreshing. Did I mention it was over 100° Fahrenheit the entire time we were driving & walking around?

Alright, now to what we've all been waiting for... Dior: From Paris to the World!!

A few things you should know about the exhibit before you make the drive to Dallas:

     * tickets must be purchased in advance and the tickets are only valid for a certain time. Our tickets were for 3:15pm. We didn't arrive until closer to 3:30pm 😓 but by the grace of God, the ticket taker had mercy on us and let us in. I must have had a very distressed and ashamed look on my face as I handed her our late tickets. 

     * traffic and parking in downtown Dallas is horrendous... or at least it was the weekend that we went. There were a lot of activities going on downtown including some sort of food truck festival, a costume convention (where I saw an Elvis impersonator and Wes saw some anime cos players strutting around the streets) and the opera. Wes navigated us to Hall Arts Center parking garage that just so happened to be free when we left. I think paid parking ended at 5pm and we left a little after that. Yay!

     * viewers are only allowed in the exhibit for a certain amount of time (we were there from about 3:30 - 4:45pm and I think the longest you're allowed to be in there is an hour) and if you dally, a museum worker will gently, but unapologetically, prod you along--which happened to me.  #embarrassing Wes likened it to herding cattle. LOL The narrow layout of the exhibit forced viewers to walk in a straight line in one direction only and we were all scrunched very close together. 

     * the Dior exhibit is open in the evenings, but the art museum itself closes at 5pm on the dot. No joke. There was a Mary Magdalene/religious oil paintings by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio gallery that I really wanted to see but couldn't make in time. I had a very stern security guard inform me of museum hours and shoo me away (it was only about 5:10pm). 😒

So... the experience at the Dior exhibit wasn't that great. Let's just say that the viewing is heavily regulated by museum staff. So even if you aren't deterred by the crowds and want to linger and really appreciate a dress or a section of the exhibit, it was extremely hard to do so. I found that to be very stressful, which made it hard to really feel and fully take in what I was looking at, but the dresses were absolutely AMAZING. I mean, just look at the beading and detail in the dress pictured above! All of them were exquisitely made and so beautiful. 

Per the museum guide, "His [Christian Dior] unique style, inspired by art and culture, celebrated the triumphant return of femininity. His vision of clothing based on strong, architectural lines resonated in a world rebuilding itself from the ground up after the devastation of World War II." There have been six creative directors in the Dior fashion house after Christian's death. The first three designed more classically (Gianfranco Ferré being my favorite) and the most recent three represented couture in a more avant-garde way. 

John Galliano's work was the first we encountered when we walked into the modern designers' section. I saw his dresses and audibly gasped and said, "Oh my gawd!" (I realize I'm probably a pretty annoying museum mate... just a warning if you ever want to go gallery viewing with me.) Per the museum guide, "before each collection, John Galliano visited other countries and filled scrapbooks with objects, photos and collages from his travels. Ideas emerged from a mix of inspirations across time and space."

The main attraction was a long hall filled with dresses From Paris to the World. It showcased several of Dior's collections that "were created for different markets in Europe, the United States, North Africa and Asia." There was a small section of dresses (pictured in the bottom left corner below) designed for and worn by celebrities.

The last, and probably my favorite, part of the exhibit was Splendors of the 18th Century and Field of Flowers. They were two separate collections but the dresses had the same theme, in my opinion. They were romantically feminine but still creative. Per the museum guide, Christian Dior said, "After woman, flowers are the most divine creatures." The beautiful pastel dresses were embellished with floral motifs, which was fitting since he was an avid gardener. I liked the juxtaposition of coming toward these classical dresses after viewing the loud haute couture designs in the From Paris to the World dresses. I found it be a nice note to end the visit on.

Both Wes & I were captivated by the unique creativity and workmanship of the garments. I am really glad we went despite the stressful parts of our visit. My favorite collections were The Office of Dreams (picture on my Instagram... beautiful white shirts, jackets and dresses all hanging on the wall), Fields of Flowers/Splendors of the 18th Century and Gianfranco Ferré: The Postmodern Couturier (pictures also on Instagram...amazing black & white striped ballgown with a ruffly train). Wes's favorite part was the From Paris to the World collections, except for, he wanted me to add, having to crane your neck to see some of the dresses on the top tiers. 😆

One last thing-- on our way out, we stopped by SCRAP Denton. It is a little warehouse, actually a non-profit retail space--filled with second-hand craft supplies sold at a discount. I wish we had something like that in Oklahoma City because I exclusively shop there for all of my sewing and crafting needs. There was an entire wall of shelves that had nothing but fabric scraps. I was in heaven!! They also had thread, buttons, bobbins and other sewing notions. The supplies are donated by the public and sold cheaply to encourage environmentally sustainable behavior by reusing "trash". I probably could have bought more but I tired to only stick to items I needed-- which was fabric for stuffed dinosaurs (colors and patterns on bottom right corner of photo above). Speaking of that, fall craft shows are quickly approaching! I will have my schedule posted very soon. Time to get to sewing!

Wes & Erica finally travel!! - part 4: Auburn, IN

When I was forming our itinerary, I planned for a day in Auburn (about half an hour away from Fort Wayne) because Wes mentioned that he wanted to visit the Auburn Cord Duesenberg automobile museum. Turns out that Kenny is originally from Auburn so he served as our tour guide, and we got to explore a little more than just the automobile museum. Auburn is even smaller than Fort Wayne so it made for a nice mid-morning trip. Sadly, we went on a Sunday and all the cute shops along Main Street were closed -- we still got to do a little window shopping, though.

The Auburn Cord Duesenberg museum is gigantic (much bigger than you'd think it is from looking at it from the street). There were so many cars on display (three levels worth!), I didn't think there would be that many since they are rare collectors' items.  The museum is actually housed in the factory that the cars were assembled in, with the original show room and offices in tact. There were a couple of extremely rare models on display. I don't know a lot about cars so this post will mostly be pictures.

I thought the older cars were a lot prettier than the "newer" ones (new as in circa 1960s). Their colors were so vibrant; I love the blues and greens. I also really liked the detailed hood ornaments. The "trunk" for the older models was a literal trunk strapped to the back of the car. Wes's favorite cars were the Cord 812 and the black Duesenberg Model J. My favorite was the green one in the smaller picture above (I didn't write down its name, which is terrible because Dominique gave me a small notebook and pen when she picked us up from the airport. She must have remembered that I used to journal all of my travels).

The second floor of the museum had a little art gallery that displayed Duesenberg advertisements and old car show posters. The museum still hosts an annual car show to this day. The 2019 poster is pictured on the top right of the collage. The museum had a car set up for visitors to climb in and take picture with. I asked a passerby to snap a picture of all of us and afterward, he told me & Wes to go to the other automobile museum next door, and to not miss the basement. We had some time to kill so we took his advice and went to the National Automotive & Truck Museum. Weirdly, he also approached Dominique & Kenny and asked if we were their parents 😲

The National Automotive & Truck Museum was a giant mess. We started in the toy & model car collection and wandered into the first showroom. I think it was supposed to be set up like a garage or service station. There were a lot of old gas pumps, which I thought looked neat. Then we ventured downstairs to the basement showroom. That was a disorganized mess of cars. It looked like everyone randomly drove their car in, parked and left. There was no pattern or path for my eye to follow. We walked around a bit and I think we saw everything but there's no telling.

There was one cool thing in the basement. An old RV that was for sale! I don't remember how much they were selling it for but if we went RV'ing, I would have totally bought it. LOL It looked so cute! There was a fully functioning kitchen (stove, sink, counter space) and a couple of cushioned benches. I think that was my favorite thing in the museum. I recommend visiting the Auburn Cord Duesenberg museum, but you can skip the National Automotive & Truck one. Wes appreciated that the national museum showed a larger variety of cars but he preferred the Duesenberg museum as well.

For lunch, we went to Mad Anthony's Taproom. I got the Strawberry Tart (a fruity ale, very tasty) and Wes got the Harry Baals Irish Nitro Stout (Harry Baals was a former mayor of Fort Wayne). I wanted another fruity/citrus beer but they were out. We ordered Scooby Snacks (potato wedges with a cucumber & dill flavored Ranch dipping sauce) and house pork rinds for our appetizers. I got the falafel pita for my meal and it was really delicious. I'd say that Mad Anthony's was one of my favorite restaurants we went to.

I just realized that I never posted a picture of the guitar string ring I got from GearFest, so here you go.

After lunch, we went to Byler Lane Winery. We had a 6-wine tasting. I only really liked two or three of the six that I tried. They offered a margarita inspired wine that tasted exactly like lime and salt; it was not good. It wasn't my (or Wes's) favorite winery. The weather was great for meandering through the vineyards and lounging on the deck. It was nice to have a rest after all the walking around we've been doing. I wanted to stay for a proper nap but everyone else insisted that we move on. LOL

We drove through Amish country on our way out of town. We saw a bunch of horse drawn buggies (and tons of horse dung EVERYWHERE). We saw an Amish teenager with an iPhone. And several houses with solar panels. I guess they're moving away from the traditional Amish practices. Kenny took us to the Amish goods store but it wasn't open. Sunday really wasn't the best day to visit. Over all, we had a nice vacation, it was really relaxing -- probably because Fort Wayne was a tiny town (no traffic; no lines; no crowds!) My favorite part was getting to try all the local restaurants. We tried our best to avoid chain eateries. I'm not sure if Fort Wayne is exactly a "tourist destination" but I would definitely recommend GearFest. It is really informative if you're a musician and if you're not, you can still have a lot of fun as a fan. Since eating isn't really an event or attraction, I'd say that GearFest was my favorite part of the trip.

Wes & Erica finally travel!! - part 3: GearFest

A few years ago, Dominique wrote to me telling me of her amazing weekend at GearFest. (Yes, we write letters to each other... gotta keep the lost art of penmanship alive!) She told me how she took numerous workshops taught by famous musicians, got to test out several instruments, met fellow rock n' roll lovers and had an overall good time at Sweetwater. She is a true metalhead. 💀 While I do not listen to heavy metal music, Wes does and I thought he would enjoy a music festival like GearFest. That's when we started planning our little vacation.

The thing I was most looking forward to - the photo opp in front of the wall of Marshall amps! LOL 

GearFest is a weekend dedicated to musicians. Sweetwater is one of the nation's top dealers for instruments and gear. Each summer, it opens its campus to thousands of musicians and fans. There are several vendors hawking recording equipment inside and outside. We wandered around the merchandise tents but didn't really try anything out and certainly didn't purchase anything. Well, I take that back... I bought a cute ring made from beads and guitar string. Recording artists (mostly touring musicians and session players) are brought in to give presentations and demo the merchandise. We (mostly Wes and Dominique because I was not familiar with a single name on the "famous guests" list) reviewed the schedule of presenters and decided to attend a few workshops each day.

Steve Vai

The first musician we saw was Steve Vai. He is a famous solo guitarist who is known for his seven stringed guitar and technical & creative playing. I wasn't familiar with his music but I became a fan as soon as he started performing. He is an amazing player and his music sounds new. We've all heard a bunch of guitar music throughout our lives but his compositions sounded unique; not like anything else I've heard. Sadly, he only played two songs and then sat down to an interview. I didn't understand a lot of the technical jargon and I think he was mostly promoting the Vai Module (some fancy piece of equipment). He did tell us about his line of guitars that has vials of his own blood swirled into the lacquer design. Which sounds gross but is probably a great collectible for a fan. Steve Vai was who Wes was looking forward to the most.

Nick Bowcott (he had all of this neat memorabilia displayed but started packing it up as soon as his clinic was over)

My favorite workshop was Nick Bowcott's. He played in Grim Reaper and is a music journalist. Dominique actually took guitar lessons from him for about a year. He played on a left-handed white striped Van Halen guitar that was specially made for him. I think the story was that Nick liked that style of guitar but someone famous had it so he didn't want to copy him but then that famous person died but before he died, he requested that a replica be made for Nick. Or something like that; it was really hard to hear in the room where the workshop was held. I wasn't exactly sure what his workshop was supposed to be about (he kind of just told stories and rambled on) but he was the only presenter we saw who wasn't trying to promote their merchandise. I think he just wanted to motivate people to play guitar and become rock stars. LOL He was surprisingly inspirational; he told us that hard work will surpass talent any day because a determined hard-working person who believes in their dream will achieve their goals much more likely than a talented lazy person or a hopeful person who isn't willing to put in the effort. At the end of it, I was clapping and chanting, "Amen, brother!" along with everyone else. His talk was inspired by Dimebag Darrell from the band Pantera. "Dime" was one of Nick's closest friends and when he passed in the early 2000s, Nick started giving workshops in his honor. For this presentation, Nick wore one of Dimebag's shirts and taught us some of his guitar technique. There was one technique that Nick wasn't very familiar with so he invited a woman named Courtney (who plays in an Iron Maiden cover band named The Iron Maidens) onto the stage to demonstrate. 

Michael Sweet

The musician Dominique was most looking forward to was Michael Sweet of the band, Stryper. A few of the presenters tried to be subtle when promoting their gear, but Michael had no problem advertising his guitar pedal box thing. It's some fancy piece of equipment that he helped design and a lot of the presets are inspired by his style of playing. I really don't even know exactly what it is and I had to listen to him talk about it for an hour. Ha ha ha! He also gave a very personal audience Q & A session. Stryper is a Christian heavy metal band so there were some fans who gave testimonies about how Michael's music literally saved them. It was a little awkward. Michael didn't play very many songs, which was how most of the workshops went (I expected there to be more music).

Eric Johnson

We also saw Eric Johnson (another solo guitarist). He was supposed to be giving a "special performance" but after a handful of songs, the concert turned into an audience Q &A session. It would have been an interesting interview but no one in the audience had access to a microphone so no one (including Eric) could fully understand the questions. I think he did his best to answer, though. I enjoyed GearFest alright but I really expected there to be a lot more demos and performances. Instead, the presenters were hired by Sweetwater to sell, sell, sell! Wes liked all of the talks on guitar tone and technique. 

The Sweetwater All-Stars on top; other GearFest highlights throughout

The supposed highlight of GearFest was the customer appreciation concert (I, personally, think the highlight was the rows and rows of food trucks 😂) The concert started with a young (aged 15 - 18) band of Sweetwater musicians named Bonsai. They are all currently taking lessons on the Sweetwater campus and they were really good. During the set change, I Believe in a Thing Called Love played on the loud speakers, which was exciting because that was the first song of the festival that I recognized and I was wearing my The Darkness concert t-shirt! The Sweetwater All-Stars played for the remainder of the concert. The all-stars are made up of several Sweetwater employees who are also really good musicians. Their CEO played the saxophone! Many of the presenters (including all of the ones mentioned in this blog) took turns playing a song with the all-stars. The concert was extremely efficient. The MC would announce a featured soloist, famous person would come out, play exactly one song, go off stage and the next one was announced. I think anywhere from 20 - 30 musicians came out to play during the two-hour concert. It was really fun! I love trying new things and am not afraid to jump into topics that I am unfamiliar with but I don't like heavy metal music nor do I play an instrument so I really expected GearFest to be for Wes and Dominique but I think, in the end, I enjoyed it as much as they did and am really glad we went.