June 29, 2008

Line dance with rocks in your shoes!

Another fun dance from my Nashville friends to a good new song by Emily West. The dance is called Rockin' Shoes and the song is Rocks in Your Shoes (122 bpm). Looks fun & easy to pick up.

 

The Video:

 

The Steps to Rockin' Shoes that I found here (pdf):

ROCKiN' SHOES
Choreographed by Tony & Lana Wilson, 5-30-08,
www.tucsondancer.com
32 Count, 4 Wall Easy Intermediate Line Dance, 1 Restart

Music: Rocks In Your Shoes, Emily West 122 bpm, available on itunes. You can buy the single track or get 4 tracks by her for $3.49.

FWD, IN-OUT, CENTER, FWD ROCK, RECOVER, TOUCH BACK, 1/2 UNWIND
1 Touch R foot forward keeping weight on L
2-4 Swivel R heel in, swivel R heel out, swivel R heel center taking weight on R
5-6 Rock forward on L, recover back on R
7-8 Touch L toe behind R, unwind 1/2 left weight ending on L

SIDE SHUFFLE, ROCK BACK, RECOVER, 1/4 TURN, 1/2 TURN, FWD SHUFFLE
9&10 Shuffle RLR to right side
11-12 Rock back on L, recover forward on R
13 Turn 1/4 right stepping L back
14 Turn 1/2 right stepping R forward
15&16Shuffle forward LRL

ROCK-RECOVER-BACK, SWEEP/STEPS, BACK COASTER, HEEL GRIND 1/4 TURN
17&18Rock forward on R, recover back on L, step back on R
19 Sweep L around and step it down directly behind R
20 Sweep R around and step it down directly behind L
21&22Step L back, step R beside L, step L forward
23 Step R heel forward toes pointing left
24 Grind R heel turning 1/4 right stepping back on L

BACK COASTER, FWD SHUFFLE, STEP FWD, HEEL & HEEL 1/4 TURN & CLOSE
25&26 Step back on R, step L beside R, step R forward
27&28 Shuffle forward LRL
29 Step R forward
30& Touch L heel forward, step L beside R
31& Turn 1/4 right touching R heel forward, step R beside L
32 Step L beside R
Begin Again

Restart: On 4th pattern, facing 3:00, dance counts 1-16 and restart dance from
beginning.

Ending: Last full pattern is started at 12:00. Then dance counts 1-6 and add this:
7-8 Touch L toe behind R, unwind 3/4 left keeping weight back on R and L knee bent
as music fades…….

Good stuff!

New line dance, Thinkin I'm Drinkin

My new Nashville friends turned me onto a couple new dances... this one goes to a song by Steve Chochran called Thinkin I'm Drinkin. It looks like a simple catchy line dance! Here's the video from youtube...

 

Here are the steps Thinkin I'm Drinkin I found on Joe Steele's Website

Thinkin' I'm Drinkin'
Choreographed by Joe Steele
Description: 32 count, 4 wall, beginner/intermediate social cha line dance
Music: Thinkin' I'm Drinkin' by Steve Cochran

STEP RIGHT, LEFT BEHIND, SHUFFLE RIGHT, ROCK STEP SHUFFLE LEFT
1-2  Step right to side, cross left behind right
3&4  Side shuffle to right stepping right, left, right
5-6  Rock left over right, recover on right
7&8  Side shuffle to left stepping left, right, left
CROSS, TURN ¼ RIGHT WITH SWAYS, SAILOR SHUFFLE ¼ TURN LEFT, COASTER CROSS
1-2  Cross right over left, pivot ¼ right and step left back (3:00)
3-4  Step right to side and sway to right, sway to left
5&6  Cross right behind left, step left to side, turn ¼ left and step right to side (12:00)
7&8  Step left back, step right together, cross left over right
First restart here on wall 4, facing 9:00
Second restart here on wall 9 adding four count tag (four sways) facing 9:00
TOE TOUCHES, HEEL TOE, ½ TURN PIVOT, STEP LOCK STEP FORWARD
1&2&  Touch right toe to side, step right together, touch left toe to side, step left together
3&4  Touch right heel forward, step right together, touch left toe back
5-6  Turn ½ left (weight to left), scuff right forward (6:00)
7&8  Step right forward, lock left behind right, step right forward
STEP FORWARD LEFT, PIVOT ½ TURN RIGHT, WALK RIGHT LEFT, ROCK FORWARD AND BACK, ¾ SHUFFLE
CROSS TO LEFT
1-2  Step left forward, turn ½ right (weight to right) 12:00
3-4  Walk forward left, right (option: full turn right)
5-6  Rock left forward, recover on right
7&8  Triple in place turning ¾ left stepping left, right, left (3:00)
REPEAT
RESTART
Do first 16 counts at beginning of fourth wall 9:00, then restart from beginning
TAG
Do first 16 counts at beginning of ninth wall (9:00) and add four count tag:
1-4  Sway right, left, right, left
Then restart from beginning

June 26, 2008

gone... Country in Atlantic City

John Rich Atlantic City

Last night was surreal! The John Rich show last night in Atlantic City was such a good time. Here's the play by play.

Get there & pick up the tickets
We got to Bally's at about 4:30-ish... parked all the way up on the 11th floor (the place was bumpin'!). We went in & waited in line to pick up our comped tickets (*holla!*). Our line just wouldn't move so some obnoxious all-up-in-my-personal-space old couple, a loud sarcastic reenactment, few laughs & stares, and 20 mins. later, we finally got our tickets.

Gamble away dinner money
Off to the casino floor we went... I brought a little $. Lost the first twenty bucks in minutes. I took the remaining $ over to my friends @ the craps table. By 5:45 I was empty handed. The show didn't start until 9! I sat & watched *A get to spin the Wheel of Fortune bonus round. It was fun but I was starting to get hungry. There was a wait at Johnny Rocket's, Pickle's didn't have anything vegetarian on the menu that looked appealing, *A's feet hurt so we couldn't walk far and I was getting cranky. There was a little cheese-steak place a few stores down where I saw fries. Borrowed $$, got fries & I was again a happy camper!

John Rich with Cowboy Troy Let's Rock!
We went into the ballroom & sat down in our good yet whoa-cramped seats in a small venue with obviously comped ticket holders. Cowboy Troy started the show @ 9. His set was 3 songs long. He sang his Play Chicken with the Train song just before John Rich came out. Out came John Rich, sang some good stuff... only a handful of familiar Big & Rich tunes though. John Rich busted out with an AC/DC cover. Later he pulled a couple from the audience and sat them down on stage, poured them champagne and serenaded them with Lost in this Moment. He had this girl-duo (the brunette girl played the fiddle in John's Sebastian Bach with John Rich band) called Jane Deer play 2 songs. A couple songs later, out comes Sebastian Bach singing the National Anthem. The once lead singer of Skid Row sang a few more songs. The crowd was into him despite just how different his style is from country. John came out with a couple of his solo songs and got everyone going again at the end. I personally jammed out to We Like it Loud and Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy. Time for the meet & greet that never officially happened.

This is where the fun really started
Anyone who has seen Big & Rich has seen "Two Foot Fred". He came out on stage after the show and *A & I said hi to him. We were wandering around and ended up at the back door of the stage area... and there he was again. We stopped for a picture and we chatted a bit. He said there was no meet & greet but that we should go play Blackjack with them all in a little bit. He tells us when & where and it just happened to be within sight of the craps table. I hit up the ATM and was scoping out the table when Fred came rolling in on his rascal like scooter. Change in plan... They're getting a cabana at the Bikini Beach Bar and he asked if we'd like to join them. Seriously?!

At the Copa, Copa Cabana...
We go in, sit, relax, chat and have drinks. Then we look up and in rolls John Rich with two girls, Sebastian Bach & his Mrs., Shannon Lawson. At one point the waitress spilled a drink on Fred. Some interesting musical mixes were played and we were all just kinda hanging out having a good time, boppin' around in our seats singing along. It was great. Then a little later came in Cowboy Troy, Adam the guitarist, Kris the XTU DJ with his wife... which I thought was pretty cool too! The odds aren't very good that a girl like me would run into anyone I know in John Rich's beach bar cabana but it happened! Cheers!

Stylish Casino Transportation
We were the last 3 at the cabana as everyone else had started making their way to the blackjack table. Fred offered me a ride on his little cruising scooter - so I took him up on the offer since *A needed a couple more beverages before riding. It was fun, and mildly dangerous. He is out of control zooming in and out of people on the ramp, cornering on 2 wheels, the whole 9. I was sitting on the seat behind laughing up a storm. It was fun in a uniquely fantastic sorta way.

Split 'em & Double Down ~ Blackjack, Rides, Cigars
It was no doubt a good circumstance that the $100 table turned slightly lower was full. It would have been cool to say that I played blackjack with John Rich, but clinking drinks and saying cheers was good for my likings! Someone started handing out cigars and everyone seems to have one. I thanked him for the offer, but declined despite the other women puffing away on them. That was until *A asked me if I'd like to share one with her... I thought to myself 'what the heck', this is so far from a typical night I might as well. Hahaha, we smoked a stogie!  hahah. Fred insisted that *A go for a ride on his scooter so off the went, out and about onto the casino floor... she had the cigar in one hand, a beer in the other hand, Fred practically in her lap as they cruised Bally's. They came back and we traded off... I took *A's seat and stogie and Fred & I went around some more. I made dixie horn sounds as he slightly grazed past gamblers. We made it back and hung out some more.

Craps 11, any 7, high, low, yo!
After watching lots of blackjack, *A went off and reacquainted herself with the Wheel of Fortune machine. She was gone a while so when I heard a couple of the guys were going over to play craps, I went along. We did alright! I made a small amount back and got some decent rolling in. So did the two shooters following. We had a good time as I shared the basic rules I knew with one of the guys. Winning anything back is good and when you do it in great company, it's even better. Fun people!

The 4:00 in the morning snack, sunrise on the way home
Well, it was about that time... *A was drunk, tired, feet kiling her, not good, hungry but wouldn't eat, cranky from losing $$, shall I go on? Unfortunately, the # of drinks - hours there- hours later = there was no way I was driving anywhere for another hour & a half despite feeling fine, it was time for a snack and coffee! Off we went to end the night. The restaurant was called six or something like that and I've gotta tell you, overpriced for whoa-mediocre. Great waitress though! The night had finally come to an end. 1 more stop for Wawa coffee round 2 and we were good.

The newspaper beat me home and that new Jason Michael Carroll song, "I Can Sleep When I'm Dead" ran through my head. I walked inside, closed the curtains and went to bed.

We hung out with rock stars, we hung out with rock stars :) And for the record, always bring someone who will pull you away from the craps table early on!

June 19, 2008

Dancing up a storm, John Rich to Save a horse in Atlantic City this weekend!

Line Dancing last night was a good time as usual! I was exhausted by the time it was over. The crowd was a good size and we danced the night away.

storm clouds 6/18/2008 EHTHere's a photo of the storm that passed through... I love when the sky is dramatic like this! 

Debbie taught a couple's dance called the Stagecoach Slide. It looked like a fun dance, but I didn't learn it because I don't have a regular dance partner. MEN WANTED! :) Yeah, most of my old dance partners seem to have gotten married and stopped coming out dancing. That I don't understand, but I digress. The Stagecoach Slide is an upbeat dance with a few east coast swing moves... I like it!

The next Country Concert on the agenda

The next concert on our list... John Rich of Big & Rich is coming to Atlantic City tomorrow and Saturday nights to play at Bally's. My BFF *A whom I mentioned to all of you in the rodeo post is absolutely in love with John Rich! She went to Nashville for a weekend just for the meet & greet party with him pre-concert. Yeah, she even has a plethora of ex's who resemble him in an uncanny sorta way.

Last weekend she went over to buy some tickets & the box office was closed - so they asked for help finding an open box office from an employee. Well, it turned out that they were all closed but the employee just happened to have connections and well, to make a long story short, we got comp'd tickets - and a possible meet & greet :)

So I am on my way to work this morning and hear that John Rich is going to be on Cat Country - I text *A and she's asleep... I listened for her. Joe Kelly does this famous 7 question ending for all interviews - It's great! This is what I remember from it (not bad pre-coffee).

John's...

  1. Favorite moment on stage : The first time Big and Rich played at the Grand Ole Opry
  2. Favorite TV Show: The Office (not Nashville Star because he doesn't get to watch it)
  3. Strangest autograph request: A Baby's Butt
  4. Duet partner he'd like to have someday: Steven Tyler
  5. Favorite food: a Big ol' rib eye
  6. I forget this one
  7. and finally, his 1st kiss was where?: In the back of a horse trailer

And I heard he is going to have a special guest this weekend. The lead singer of Skid Row is going to come out and sing a few songs with him. And Cowboy Troy will be there too... This should be a good show! Plus, he is going to be signing autographs after the show. I'm excited! I wonder if anyone will to the line dance "Ride 'em Cowboy"... I'll keep you posted.

Now, anyone know where I can find someone who will promise to pull me away from the craps tables!?!

June 12, 2008

The 24th XTU Anniversary Show

My alarm clock rang at 6 AM on Saturday, June 7, 2008.
Shower - fill the cooler with ice & food - load up the truck -
7 AM - text message from *A... "I don't think I'm gonna be able to go. Way too tired."  Okayyyy. That really stinks! 1 BFF down - but I understood.
I had relax time since that was one less stop so I had a cup of coffee.. and realize I told *J I'd pick some beer up for him. I don't know about you but where do you buy beer at 7 AM in NJ? Acme has a little liquor store but it didn't open 'til 8 and I was supposed to be 45 mins up the road by 8:15. I waited anyway since I had few options. They didn't open on time - 8:15 I left Acme empty handed... on my way to an old man bar that opens at 7 in the morning... *K called me to let me know she just woke up (I was supposed to be at her house picking her up by then). My lateness worked well with her oversleeping. I stop at the old man bar at about 8:30 AM and there are freaking people in there drinking! They called ME a lush for buying take out that early as they had their beers & shots lined up and down the bar.

stubborn grill *K & I finally made it up to the parking lot where were were planning on BBQ-ing. It had to be 90 degrees out by 10:15 when we got there. It was hot! In the heat, and 2 hours, 6 books of matches, a used up lighter, 1/2 bottle of borrowed lighter fluid, borrowed replacement charcoal, borrowed grill lighter and 5 lighter-fluid soaked napkins in the grill later... we had a mini fire going. *K cooked her chicken legs and made me & *J veggie burgers :) We drank that scavenger hunt beer and finally went into the concert. That was after we saw a couple doing "couple things" in a car as *J proceeds to give the guy a thumbs up after they finished. Wow! 94 degrees by now.

Chuck Wicks My first stop... the line dancing area! They were taking a little break and I needed some water to balance out the beer and we watched Chuck Wicks. I must say, he is one lovely looking man!

After Chuck was done, we made our way out to the line dancing area where I proceded to work on my heat-stroke and sunburn. I shouldn't complain because *J & *K may have gotten it a little worse than me.

It was a long lovely day in the scolding sun, plus I got a new hat :) and I was told it's hot. *J slept right through Terri Clark... sound asleep with dreams and all hahaha. *K got her Coors Light on.

So The shows were great! We missed Keith Anderson and the Lost Trailers (but I just saw them at Chili-fest). Billy Ray was great, I was surprised no one broke out doing the Achy Brakey on the lawn! Terri Clark did her thing, Chuck Wicks and Pat Green did too... And Sugarland was wonderful! Their encore was great! They rolled out in these clear domes onto the audience where they got rolled around before getting out and singing "Pour some Sugar on me!" It was great. Also the first show I've seen them perform "Stay" and it was incredible! She sang me some Speed of Life, Down in Mississippi, Settlin', Baby Girl, Irreplaceable (country style), Everyday America, and oh oh oh oh oh  All I wanna Do. Lot's of fun!

line dancing  
Line dancing!

XTU SHOW
I've never seen the lawn so packed

XTU Show

IMG_0443
Sunset over Philadelphia

 

Here are some photos someone who had better seats took



XTU 24th Anniversary Show Sugarland 6/7/08

 

June 3, 2008

Line Dancing, Concert Tix, The Rodeo Song (sans the music, poetry, art, singing, rhythm, humor and sound)

LINE DANCING
Tomorrow evening - Line Dancing - Scullville Fire Hall! 7:00 til 10:00 - Good times! Alf said it... "Be there or be square!"

KENNY CHESNEY CONCERT TICKETS AVAILABLE!!!
Kenny Chesney Tix for 7/19/2008 7:30 PM, Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA --- Looks like I may have a pair for sale. Please email me if you're interested in going! It's going to be a good show! It was last year and the year before..

THE DANCING STORY...
Okay so last Tuesday evening I forgot to set my alarm clock and woke up 10 minutes before I was to leave the house Wednesday. I've gotta brag about this one! I made it to work on time! Holla! hahaha
I ran out of the house without my boots so after work as I was picking up my latte before going dancing, I realized that I had flip flops on... seriously? How the heck was I supposed to dance in flip flops? I would have had to travel 45 mins each way to get my boots so I said heck with it & went anyway! It worked much better than I expected!

See I usually keep my boots in the back seat of my truck so I can go dancing at the drop of a dime - but I cleaned it out so my friends would fit. (** note to self - choose club cab over crew cab!**) We went to the rodeo on Memorial Day Weekend at Cowtown. It was the perfect day too!

Cowtown Rodeo THE RODEO STORY
We had some good laughs cruising out Rt. 40, passing Long Wait Farm! We had a blast out at Cowtown! We got out to the Pilesgrove area and needed some beverages & a bathroom so we stopped at the Corner Bar. It's a traditional stop since we are slightly fascinated with the bathroom there. toilet photo courtesy of *A Ok, here's the photo... why are there 2 toilets in 2 stalls without walls or doors??? Classic!
We picked up our tickets in the store across the street so to avoid any long lines for the rodeo and viola, we were ready to rock out the BBQ *K brought. We unloaded the truck and fired up the grill... easier said than done! *A said something sarcastic about lighting the whole bag of charcoal on fire, packaging and all to *K & guess what, she doused the bag with lighter fluid and then lit it! Hahahaha!
It was fantastic! Had to put out the fire, and try it again... finally got the food going - but we only had about 45 mins until the rodeo started. *A & I BBQ'd veggie burgers so we were safe but the meat-eating *K & *T were challenged. ** Note to self, have friends cook their meat so it just needs to get heated up on the grill when tailgating.** *T had a rare burger & *K had some somewhat cooked wings.
The rodeo was a good time. We did our cowboy watching. Hahaha, We were the 4 girls rooting for the calfs that got away as they wiggled & pranced their way out of the stadium. We hit up the portos and did a little shopping at the cowboy store-stand. It was fantastic! The weather couldn't have been better either.

Post Rodeo
Put out the grill with water (from the beer cooler & got some bbq'd Bud Light), water bottles, soda and gatorade... load up the truck again... go dancing!
cowboys In the past, we would head over to the Barnyard and do a little dancing and/or drinking $3 cans of beer and chat it up with some guys with numbers on their backs.
Last year, the owners put it on the market and it was closed so we asked around to find out where to go... where there would be line dancing. Holy Smokes... yeah, we got lost trying to find it but had a decent time nonetheless. It was way down in Carneys Point, and we took the Del. Mem. Bridge to Wilmington to make a U turn to get back on 295 to some back road, and then another back road...
So we go to Holy Smokes last weekend... yeah, Now it's a biker bar. Are you freaking kidding me? About an hour later, we show up in Mt. Laurel at Prospectors, with all 13 other people in the place hahaha.
Well, we got some food and were basically on our way.
Despite the bar-less ending,we had a freaking blast & plan on going back : )

Notes to self I learned in the last couple weeks

  • Set your alarm before falling asleep
  • Don't ever leave the house without your boots!
  • Choose club cab over crew cab
  • Be careful what you talk about when passing Long Wait Farm lol!
  • Odd bathrooms are definitely a tourist stop
  • Take the charcoal out of the bag before adding lighter fluid & fire
  • (really 6 b.) Don't add lighter fluid to presoaked charcoal
  • Get to your tailgating destination with either
  • (8a) Enough time to cook what you brought
  • (8b) 1/2 cooked, just bbq to reheat food
  • Hand sanitizer and TP are a necessity when there are portos involved!
  • BBQ'd Beer is not so good
  • The combination of water, soda & Gatorade are quite the grill-fire-stopping combo and they double as a science experiment
  • The rodeo gets 8 thumbs up for a girls night out destination! ~

Rodeo

Woodgamz.com Washer Toss Games

Line dancing on the Bachelorette last night

The Bachelorette, DeAnna took her men line dancing and bull-riding on last night's show. I lost track of time last night and didn't catch it - and I am quite the fan... this is sad! I'm definitely going to need to search for it online after work!

From the looks of THE BACHELORETTE - Heart break two-step , I missed one heck of a show.