Kidz Bop

tonyb

The wife was suppose to take one of the grandkids to this thing tonight in Rockford. She's sick today so I'm next in line. Oh the joy....kidz bop.lol

Any you knuckleheads going to this shindig with the kids ? Maybe we can meet up for a drink, Have a feeling I'm going to need one...or ten.

WagnerRC

Have fun Tony. Grand kids are fun. I took my daughter to new kids on the block back in the 80's

tonyb

Oh, the kids are fun....the music may want me to hide in the bathroom though.

heiney9

Have fun Tony. Mmmmm Bop

H9

mrbiron

tonyb wrote: »

Oh, the kids are fun....the music may want me to hide in the bathroom though.

I hope you make the right choice in bathroom as i doubt transgender has made it's way to chicago...

tonyb

mrbiron wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

Oh, the kids are fun....the music may want me to hide in the bathroom though.

I hope you make the right choice in bathroom as i doubt transgender has made it's way to chicago...

Interesting thought.....I may have to test that out and walk into the girls......with my camera phone on.

mrbiron

How would that be any different from what you do now?
You can get away with scenarios like that when you get "older"....right?

lightman1

Stranger Danger!!!!

Nightfall

tonyb wrote: »

.I may have to test that out and walk into the girls......with my camera phone on.

We're talking about a concert full of children right? This just got a little weird.

mrbiron

tonyb wrote: »

Interesting thought.....I may have to test that out and walk into the girls......with my camera phone on.

pitdogg2

Nightfall wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

.I may have to test that out and walk into the girls......with my camera phone on.

We're talking about a concert full of children right? This just got a little weird.

Umm how long you been here? The guy is "stacked" with weird.....lol

tonyb

Man, rough crowd in here.

The crowd was all types, even both parents escorted the kids. Saving grace was they had a bar.....at a kids event, go figure. The joint was loud, real loud. Not just from the screaming kids, but they had the music cranked up even louder than most concerts of live bands. Dropped another 50 on a hat, light-up mic, and a cd for the kid. He had fun so it was worth it.

The bad part of the evening was were it was located. Sorry you dudes from Rockford, but I have to rag on that town for a second.

The theatre was located in the downtown area, a block off the river, which looked to be one of those area's where by day it isn't so bad but at night is when the creepy crawlers come out. I was spot on in that assessment.

Now before the show, the little dude wanted McDonalds. Not a big fan but what the heck it's his day. Drove until I hit the first one, at State st. and Jefferson. One of those MC D's that was attached to a gas station but still had an area to sit down.

I won't go into too much detail, but I will say that in over half a century of visiting Micky D's, in various states too, I have never come across one run as bad as this place was. Almost unrecognizable as a Mc D's.

Then there was the people, the creepy crawlers seem to like this place. Kind of a mix of characters from Fat Albert to Friday to One flew over the Cuckoo's nest. When you think about chain joints, and uniformity, hard to beat a Micky D's for uniformity. You always know what to expect when you walk in one, and they pretty much deliver. Not this place.

Now I was glad I took the kid and not the wife....but it will be the last time we book anything in that area.

BTW....they had ushers at the doors to the restrooms.....maybe some anticipation ? Outside had security guards....so people could get to the parking garage safely. Only these cops looked like the security guards you had in High school, Barney Fife types only fatter. Was self assuring that if something happened, nobody would get shot. Instead the perp might get a cheese burger thrown at the back of his neck, maybe a string of sausages thrown around his ankles to take him down.

On the way home, the kid fell asleep after 2 blocks, so I had to turn on some Van Halen to cleanse myself.

pitdogg2

One of those things in 15 yrs that will be looked back upon as glad you didn't miss out on.
I've many times had a rock cleansing myself bra' and as much as I didn't want glad I did.

heiney9

Tony, worst Mc Donalds in town. Downtown isn't so bad, but then we are local. It's spotty in the Downtown area but it's been and continues to be revitalized. Surprised no comment on the Coronado theater we spent 18 million renovating. That's the crown jewel and an amazing complex. My favorite place in Rockford besides the Frank Lloyd Wright Laurent House my dad spent 7 years turning into a living museum.

We definitely have our faults, but don't give up on Downtown after one visit.

H9

heiney9

BTW, I've never seen security at an event at the Coronado, never! Don't know what that was all about. In fact even at the BMO Center, rarely is there more than the standard payroll security for events, and that's inside the building not outside.

First for me.

H9

pitdogg2

This day on age and the kind of perps who pray on kids no surprise here sounds like they did what they could to help parents feel safer. Tony I'm also surprised they served alcohol but then again it is a big $$ in the coffer sort of thing now. Heck I remember when they came around and took the alcohol everyone would sneak in yet weed was just fine at concerts.....now it is just the opposite because of the $$ they make off it

heiney9

Might have been a Kidz bop thing with the security and bathroom monitors.

H9

tonyb

heiney9 wrote: »

Tony, worst Mc Donalds in town. Downtown isn't so bad, but then we are local. It's spotty in the Downtown area but it's been and continues to be revitalized. Surprised no comment on the Coronado theater we spent 18 million renovating. That's the crown jewel and an amazing complex. My favorite place in Rockford besides the Frank Lloyd Wright Laurent House my dad spent 7 years turning into a living museum.

We definitely have our faults, but don't give up on Downtown after one visit.

H9

heiney9 wrote: »

Tony, worst Mc Donalds in town. Downtown isn't so bad, but then we are local. It's spotty in the Downtown area but it's been and continues to be revitalized. Surprised no comment on the Coronado theater we spent 18 million renovating. That's the crown jewel and an amazing complex. My favorite place in Rockford besides the Frank Lloyd Wright Laurent House my dad spent 7 years turning into a living museum.

We definitely have our faults, but don't give up on Downtown after one visit.

H9

You guys spent 18 million on that joint ? Somebody pocketed 17.9 million. Seriously, I didn't see any renovations aside from the inside around the stage. Kinda cool above and around the stage. That's where it ends though. Oh, they re-did the seats too but left the bathrooms alone. Guess 18 million didn't include some new fixtures or urinals.

Not my first time in downtown Rockford, but I admit previously has always been during the day. Actually looks and acts like a nice town ....during the day. Night time.....kinda like when you turn on the lights and the roaches scatter. I did not feel safe at all, and coming from an Italian that should say something. We're used to shifty area's.

heiney9

Tony, you didn't see it before. Not that it was a pile of ****, but it was neglected for years. It was restored meticulously by hand. Lots of amenities were added that were never there before to make it a more viable venue as well as razing the old dungeon like green rooms. Heating and cooling were updated from coal then oil fired furnaces, etc. The Grand Barton organ that comes out of the floor was completely restored as were all the wooden pipes in 3 chambers. IIRC, much of the "tuning" and repair of the wooden organ pipes were done by super specialists from Europe as they are the only ones with the ability.

That just scratches the surface. If you don't sit in that place with wonderment, you really don't enjoy the arts or architecture or understand the 80+ year history of the Coronado and it's place in Rockford.

Maybe it's not your thing, that's fine. But if you are interested in a bit of history here's a link.

https://www.friendsofthecoronado.org/history/

Quick wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronado_Theatre

H9

heiney9

All the gold and silver you see is thin leaf and all the restoration was done by hand applying gold and silver leaf as necessary. They spent over a year tracking down the missing original art decco furniture. The original stage was much smaller and hand operated. The installed a new stage area all electronic for modern performances. Had to track down and repair the original fog and cloud machine. In it;s day it was one of the top atmospheric theaters around.

Again this just scratched the surface of the complete renovation/restoration most done by hand.

It's one of my favorite places of all time, both because of dazzling array of art, archetecture, atmosphere, and of course I have an emotional attachment having seen many performances and movies there as a kid in the 70's.

Upstairs is a fully furnished (of the day) exquisite art decco apartment the original owner/manager resided in. It's open for tours and one can even rent it for a night. Talk about going back in time!

You ought to come and hear a Land of Lincoln Organ Society performance sometime of the 1 of 2 surviving Barton Grand Organs. They get the stops open and it will literally vibrate your insides. Talk about scale and charging a space up with full 3 dimensional sound......wow, nothing like it.

H9

P.s. Sorry I am passionate about the Coronado, it's a stunning place and every time I go there I discover something new.

befuddle

After viewing your video link of the Coronado I'd like to say that I was incredibly impressed by its elaborate opulence,and the meticulously intricate level of its architectural design! Its easy to see why your residents would be proud of the professionalism in its restoration.I definitely intend to view it first hand if I ever get the opportunity to be in the area

tonyb

Oh, I appreciate architecture Brock, and like I said, they did a fine job on and around the stage area. The rest though, bathrooms, customer area's leaves little to be in envy. They put all the money on the inside of the theatre itself, not much anywhere else.

I guess I'd reckon it to where we put Sox park. No matter how much you spend on a nice structure, it's the area it's in and people around it that deter some from enjoying it.....at night anyway. Chicago is full of those neighborhoods where you can dress it up, refurb it to the 9th degree, but you still wouldn't take your family there at night. It's not a specific thing to Rockford, many cities have the same problems.

befuddle

I obviously have never been there. But being its of a valued historical significance I wouldn't fault it on its location,
Usually in most towns its the earliest districts that are the last to to revitalized
And judging by the initial investment the original owner spent in its construction one can could assume that particular area of town was once probably considered to be of a vibrant and esthetic quality

heiney9

tonyb wrote: »

Oh, I appreciate architecture Brock, and like I said, they did a fine job on and around the stage area. The rest though, bathrooms, customer area's leaves little to be in envy. They put all the money on the inside of the theatre itself, not much anywhere else

That's simply not true (the money part), not sure why it doesn't show well. Except the idea was to keep it as original as possible. The downstairs men's room was kept as original as possible while still trying to make it look new. There never were any customer area's besides the concession stand at the front entrance. The lobby area off the main entrance is new and expanded. The bar area upstairs outside the theater was never there and the 2nd bar off to the side upstairs is all new as well.

Anyway hard to get things across on a BB, if you knew the history, the original theater compared to today you'd see it was a major restoration, renovation and expansion took place $18.5 million well spent, IMO.