With a 2015 lineup that included the Dixie Chicks, Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper, Ryan Adams, and Spoon,…read morethe SF Chronicle referred to an "apparent 2002 theme" for this year's Bridge School Benefit Concert. As if 2002 was a bad year... The Bridge School Benefit is two separate concerts (Saturday, Sunday), both with a similar line-up, both benefiting the Bridge School which has been justly rewarded from 29 years of benefit concerts with stellar lineups. This school, serving children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs, has grown to have global impact as a result of these concerts. It's a worthy cause to support. If this year's concert (which also included St. Vincent, Gary Clark, Jr., Nils Lofgren on Saturday, and - of course - it's host, Neil Young) was any indication, I envision this concert becoming an annual event on my calendar. $35 bought me a ticket to lawn seating and 8 hours of music. No joke, the concert began at 2 p.m. and wrapped up at 10 p.m. sharp. That's an incredible deal whether or not you care for every featured band. Best bet? Go in with an open mind and get to know some artists with whom you might not already be familiar. As a testament to this approach I can tell you that I wound up liking almost every artist I thought I didn't and the reverse. So use it as an opportunity to blow your mind a bit. Who knows what you like? Each artist plays only 6 -7 songs, all amplified acoustic music. A break between artists adds length to the concert and, in general, is something I wish multi-artist concerts would get a better handle on, so use that opportunity to a) purchase more beer/wine and b) work your fitbit by walking around the entire amphitheater in a big circle. And: * Free parking up quite close at the Shoreline; * Lots of ganja in the air; * At least on Sunday, attendees seemed to arrive late and leave early but you obviously get the most bang for your buck by making a day/night of it; * Lawn chairs can be brought in or rented ($5/per chair); * Day of show I found on-line tickets (in actual seats) as low as $16/seat making this a possibly great last-minute activity; * The crowd is a melting pot of everything under the sun. Old people, young people, families with kids, and everything in between. Everyone fits in here. * Past concerts have included Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Jerry Garcia, David Bowie, Green Day, and the list goes on and on. * All participating artists donate their time to this cause; * Neil (and ex-wife Pegi) have a son who attended the Bridge School.

Acoustic entertainment at it's best; And all for a great cause…read more Now I've been to Shoreline on several occasions to listen to a little bit of rap and a little bit of metal. But never had I gone here to to just relax and enjoy an all-acoustic sound from a list of well-known artists. It's simply fantastic for the artist to just come out and convert their songs to simple melody. All while showing their support and entertaining these beautiful, talented, lucky, and very loved impaired individuals. As for the message and music, now this is Neil and Pegi Young's thing! You can almost feel their good intentions from beginning to end. And as they explain their cause, can you almost feel their expressions! They're simply asking for your support. All proceeds going directly to benefit the operations of The Bridge School. Here's was the enjoyable lineup of 2014 entailed: ~ Pearl Jam - Classic! If you grew up to them, you'll easily sing along. ~ Florence + The Machine - Melodic! Great at first, but not a fan. Almost fell asleep. ~ Brian Wilson - eh! Round round get around I snored around! Boring! ~ Tom Jones - Tom, you da EFFIN' MAN! That guy's still got it! ROCKED THE HOUSE!!! ~ Soundgarden - Chris Cornell AWESOME VOCALS! The HIGHLIGHT of my evening! A true artist that was honest and felt comfortable converting his hard rock music to acoustic. Will never forget those vocals! ~ Norah Jones and Puss N Boots - Such a fine talented trio!!! Love Norah! So glad I finally saw her! ~ Band of Horses - Never heard of them, but they put on a great set. Good seeing them on stage. ~ Pegi Young & The Survivors - Didn't know her music, but you gotta use the bathroom at some point right? j/k Well what can you say! This is half of her gig. They were wonderful! Looks like the next concert is slated for October 24-25, 2015. I totally wouldn't mind catching this show again this year.

Lots of good deals here if you are looking for new snow gear. But I did find a lot of stuff are not…read morebrand name. Or big brand. Well its cool to see. Very busy here. Lots of free beer sampling.

READY FOR THE SLOPES...!!! What a great festival, having…read moreeverything "snow related" in one convenient stop and shop location, the San Jose McEnery Convention Center! We enjoyed a nice ride on the Lightrail and were conveniently dropped off directly in front of the venue! No traffic; no parking worries. We had VIP passes which allowed us entrance and all the wine we could taste in 4 hours! This also included 2 free lift tickets in Tahoe which we will be redeeming at the peak of snow season. The wine stations were set up along the inner perimeter of Hall 3. Various booths offered resort information, free drawings and big discounts on ski packages. Head over to the far end of the Hall for a lite bite before drinking. Since we arrived on an empty stomach, we were relieved to see that there were snack items being offered: nachos, hotdogs, chips and sodas; your basic concession items. They also had a mini rock climbing wall, a planking contest and a trial area for kids' snowboarding. The retailer, Any Mountain and product representatives were there, showcasing their brands and offering heavy discounts. If you love Winter sports, go check it out! On Saturday, they offered wine; Sunday, it's beer!!! Cheers!

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL NORCAL DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIP: PALO ALTO VS. JAMES LOGAN…read more I came here last Saturday to watch my alma mater James Logan High School play against Jeremy Lin's alma mater Palo Alto for the NorCal Division I Championship. The winner would represent Northern California to play in the California State Division I Championship this Friday night in Sacramento against the Southern California representative, which is Eleanor Roosevelt High School of Eastvale. The Leavey Center is a bigger version of a high school pavilion. It almost reminds me of old Harmon Gym at UC Berkeley with its intimate atmosphere for fans to watch basketball games. The Leavey Center is a good facility to host high school basketball championship games as last Saturday. There were four NorCal Championship games: Girls Division I, Boys Division I, Girls Open Division, and Boys Open Division. I only saw one game. The game itself was exciting. My high school was down by 13 points in the third quarter. Then it rallied to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. The game eventually went to overtime. As a proud alum James Logan won. Now it's off to Sacramento for the California State Division I Championship. Go Colts!

Perfect place to watch Gonzaga dominate Santa Clara!!! Fans…read moreweren't too friendly to non-SCU fans. Oh well, we had a great time.

Local holiday harvest festival. I saw a lot of the same local vendors that do all the holiday…read morefestivals and shows. The price for parking is more than the price of admission. $20 is extremely high considering the venue is small . It took less than half hour to walk through the whole hall. I recommend parking on a side street and saving some money.

Second night was way better than the first for the following reasons:…read more 1. Band had a full night's sleep. 2. Better set list even if some songs were badly butchered (will get into that later). 3. Bono was more interactive with the audience. 4. Audience looked as though they were having a better time than the night before. 5. Bono's vocals were in better shape than the night before. Highlights and things of note: 1. Finally hearing The Electric Co. performed live. This has been on my U2 live bucket list for some time. The only problem I had with this performance was that Bono was into it for the first minute and then lost interest for the rest of the song. On the flip side Larry was over into it and this was the first time I've seen Adam really smile and give energy on an older track on this tour so far. 2. First time I've heard Desire Live. It was a decent version, however, completely caked walked. Bono didn't care too much for this song. I care 'cause it was the first song I ever learned to play on the guitar that (I actually told The Edge this when I met him on the Elevation tour). 3. I love the song The Sweetest Thing only 'cause it is a cute song, however, this song was butchered. Bono admitted before playing this song that they would "try it." I've only heard it rehearsed once, not in full through some circulated audio clips from the outside of the Coliseum in Vancouver. The audience did most of the singing on this. Bono messed up the lyrics. Where was my "human teleprompter" sign when I needed it. 4. First time on this tour that U2 have put One back in the set list. I have heard every version of this song in the past 4 tours, however, it's a song that is still cool to hear. Emotional moment for most U2 fans in the audience, casual and hard core. The Edge forgot one of his guitar parts before the second verse and accidentally played the same run twice before kicking into the second verse. The look that Larry gave him during this was priceless but they rolled with the punches and covered it quickly. In all fairness I never heard this song rehearsed once in Vancouver, therefore, this may have been an impromptu number.

Not great....... horrible venue,no big screens.... lines for entrance, security, drinks, food,…read moreseats, crazy we call this Silicon Valley , about a century behind the curve

Collectors Expo is part of the convention/expo trifecta that goes with the annual Asian American…read moreExpo in Pomona. Your ticket to any of these events allows you entry into all 4: Asian American Expo, Anime Impulse, K-Play Fest, and Collectors Expo. Collectors Expo has replaced what used to be Sneaker Con that was part of the bundle of conventions that go on at the same time at the Pomona Fairplex. It's at the point in life and society that the cost of parking is almost the same as the cost of entry so try to come early and don't isolate yourself to only one convention, make sure you get a chance to explore all of the others as well. I've been to Collectors Expo the first year it was implemented and I had a better time that year. Somehow felt a bit more spacious and I enjoyed the guests of honor that they had there. Met the voice actors for Yugi and Kaiba. This year, the guests, I think shared with AI too, were not as impressive to me. I think the convention hall was more packed with vendors this year too, but even though it's called Collectors Expo, it's like 90% Poke'mon and 10% everything else or shared with the Poke'mon TCG vendors. I saw 1 vendor selling vintage figurines, 1 selling Smiskis & Sonny Angels, and some artists in this hall. They had a Beyblade tournament but it didn't look like there was a dedicated Beyblade vendor. There wasn't any Magic, Weiss, YGO, Vanguard, etc. from what I could see. .So if you're coming there thinking it's like a giga Frank and Sons or something, just keep that in mind. LOTS OF VENDORS WITH AI SLOP LOGOS. DISGUSTING AND LAZY. Other than that, at least the first year they had some vendors with cute Poke'mon plushies and I got a Heracross. This year, it was much less. Some dude was scalping Chiikawa hippers for $30 when you can actually get them in person in so many places for $13-18. Insane. This might be better for people who truly collect Poke'mon cards and can haggle and know the normal value, but from a casual perspective, a quick walk through was enough. It is nice that they have part of the Sheraton open for the tournaments though.

Amazing! San Jose…read morePride Parade - Our Johnson & Johnson Open & Out ERG walked in the parade and handed out swag to all attendees and participants.

A very mixed review…read more.. On the one hand, it was a pleasure to work with Carlos and the band who played at our wedding. They were willing to take requests and transcribe them for the band to play. They made a medly for us to use as a first dance that worked out perfectly. Their musicianship was good and they got the party going. Unfortunately, on the other hand...at the end of the party, the band leader, Carlos, totally lost his professionalism. Thinking he'd not been paid (though he had been earlier in the week) he went on a rampage. He threatened to come and find me to collect his money and raised his voice at my parents. Ultimately, our wedding planner saved the day by writing him a check and he quieted down. It was bizarre, rude, unprofessional, and totally ruined my positive feelings towards our work together. Unfortunately, he also did not choose to apologize when it became clear that he had already received full payment. He sent a generic email the next day to thank us, but did not mention his meltdown. When I asked if perhaps he wanted to apologize for his behavior (at least he should apologize for yelling at my parents) he wrote a meek and lame apology. So...if you are going to work with Hip Affair (or silicon valley vibe which is his larger band) do so at your own risk. Make sure he knows that he has been paid or risk having to deal with a complete a-hole. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde...

The Bandleader Responds:…read more Hip Affair has doing weddings and corporate shows for years with consistent excellent reviews. We work very hard to make sure that everything goes as perfect. In this case, after completing another great event I dropped the ball. As many bandleaders will attest, there are too many incidents where once the party is over, you find yourself looking for host to settle the balance, and then to your surprise, they're nowhere to be found. While this was not the case in this situation, a mistake on my part had me going this familiar routine. Everyone but the event planner and the parents had left and I raised my concern. Again - Apologies to Jacob and family for my mistake. I've learned from it and have also changed my payment model so that this situation will never happen again. Carlos