Indy Car Racing at Sonoma

Well, this is my last blog post at least while I’m in the Entertainment Masters Degree program at Full Sail University.  I was trying to decide what to write about for this last required blog post.  I wanted to complete this before Sunday evening (the last evening of class when everything is due) but I have been working the Indy Race at Sonoma raceway for the last two days for 10 hours each day.  My job at Sonoma is a corner worker.  A Corner worker is a track official positioned generally before a corner on a road course, to provide flag communication to the drivers and radio communication to the track steward. The corner worker may provide information that will save both the driver and racecar from serious harm due to unsafe track conditions ahead. They'll also be the ones to let a driver know a faster car is approaching, and whether something is wrong with the car that the driver is not aware of. They're there to protect a driver’s life.  This is my part time job and it can be dangerous, but I have been doing it for about 7 years now and I love it.

Since this is my last assignment, I have to mention that although I love the concert industry, I also love auto racing and baseball (Yankees).  This has made it difficult throughout the Masters program to decide what to I want to do with my degree and what to write my business plan on.  I’d love to be able to work in all three of these areas.  With this said, I have decided to write about the entertainment, or sport of Indy Car at Sonoma.  Indy Car is open wheel racing and the cars go at speeds of approximately 170 miles per hour at this road course.  Most have heard of the popular Indy Car drivers like Mario Andretti (Mario has retired from racing but his grandson Marco races in the series), Will Power, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, and Tony Kanaan.  Another driver I have to mention is Dan Wheldon, who was killed in a horrific crash last year at Las Vegas.  He was my favorite driver.  This was very sad.

It is exciting to stand on a racetrack and watch these drivers go by and watching out for their safety.  This event and NASCAR are the popular races at Sonoma and tends to draw more hype and entertainment with camera’s everywhere.  I have attached couple videos you may be able to spot the corner workers, we are dressed all in white.  The first video will show a crash that happened in my corner during practice on Friday, it can be scary when a fast car hits a wall and starts spinning toward you.  It’s really fun to be part of this exciting sport, and I have the best seat in the house.

CHEAP TRICK AND AEROSMITH REVIEW

I am nearing the finish line of the Entertainment Business Masters Degree Program, and I just completed my Business Plan (the word document part anyway). So, I have decided to keep this blog post on the light and fun side rather than serious school work side, and write a review on the Cheap Trick and Aerosmith concert I attended last weekend.  This review does go along with my blog theme, concerts and concert reviews. 

Last week my friend, Joanne, a huge Aerosmith Fan, was kind enough to invite me to the show at the Oracle in Oakland.  I didn’t realize that she was going to purchase one of the VIP packages that included some perks, excellent seats on the floor and a question answer session with Tom Hamilton, Brad Whitford, and Joey Kramer of Aerosmith.  It was a great!

This was the first time I had seen Cheap Trick, kind of a surprise to me as I have seen over 200 concerts and Cheap Trick was a favorite in the early 80’s.  Maybe I have overlooked it.  Anyway, Cheap Trick put on a good show playing all of their hits and my favorite, The Flame. 

Now I have seen Aerosmith at least 8 times, if not more, and worked for them in the capacity of catering in the early 80’s and a Runner in 1994.  Also, I am from Massachusetts and had the opportunity to see them when they played at smaller venues when as a teenager.   

With that information I have to say this show was exceptionally good.  Steve Tyler has always been a good showman, well there was an exception to that when they played in the early 80’s, and thankfully he straightened his act out.  Aerosmith is a band that sounds great live.  Our seats were on the floor next to the catwalk, before the show started I saw people moving to stand next to the stage and I followed and stood there for the entire Aerosmith show.  When the show started Steven Tyler rose up from the end of the catwalk, very close to where I was standing.  One good review I read said it nicely, “It really doesn’t get any better, and if anyone on this planet was born to be a rock star, it was this man. Seriously, a born rock god”.  (Debord,2012)

 

Aerosmith are veteran rockers and you can certainly tell that they love to perform and play their music.  Each member of the band got to play solo and they all sounded great in solo and all together.  I like that they played quite a few of their old songs like “Draw the Line”, "Same old Song and Dance”, “Walk This Way”, "Dream On”, and one of my favorites “Sweet Emotion”.  I will say my favorite moment was when Steven Tyler came up from under the stage sitting at a piano and played "Dream On" with Joe Perry standing on the piano playing guitar.

In all it was a great night of great live music.  And the house was packed!!!  I have to add, even with the downed economy, consumers are still paying to go to concerts.  Thanks for the VIP tickets Joanne!

Aerosmith at Oracle Arena Oakland, California, 8/4/12, Bebord, Jason (August 5, 2012) Retrieved on Aug. 8, 2012 from: http://rocksubculture.com/2012/08/05/aerosmith-at-oracle-arena-oakland-california-842012/

Pictures and video were taken by me.