Universal Studios - Hard Rock and Pat Benatar

It's been a busy week in my world. Last Saturday I was off to Orlando and Universal Studios for their Mardi Gras celebration and the Pat Benatar show. We had fun at the park, although we didn't ride nearly as many of the rides as intended, but it didn't matter. We had a really special treat when we left the park briefly to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe that adjoins it. The last time I was at the HRC in Orlando they had exactly ONE piece of Jovi memoribilia. ONE. It was a guitar hung high over one of the tables. This time I asked if they had any Jovi stuff and our hostess waved over at an empty table that had Richie's shirt hanging over it. I, of course, asked if we could sit there. We did. Sooooo, I had lunch/dinner sitting under Richie's shirt..... only wish that Richie had been there in it. ;) One of his guitars was hanging over the adjoining table and there were a couple of pictures and a platinum record for Slippery When Wet hanging there too (note that it was for the CASSETTE!!!!)

After we ate and had chatted with the waitress at length, she had one of their tour guides come over and he gave us the special private tour of the Lennon room. It's not a well known part of the HRC over there, but if you ever get the opportunity it's a VERY cool room. Especially if you like the Beatles. The room is done completely in white. Inside it are some of John's original lithographs, pictures from his house and this one piece of furniture that they claim he used to sit in and write from. Said that it moved with him from house to house and that he wrote a part of every Beatles song from it. Can't verify it, but it is roped off so nobody sits on it..... made him look away so I could.... and I did. :D

John's couch that he wrote a lot of the Beatles music on (his songs)

The Two Virgins album cover that was banned in the US

His white tuxedo that he married Yoko in.

Then we wandered back to Universal and sat on their artificial grass until Pat Benatar came out two hours later and rocked. She really rocked. I'm not a huge Benatar fan, so I can't tell you everything she played, but she obviously did her hits and one song that she said they don't play often off their second record. She really got into Hell is for Children and made me shiver at the way she talked about child abuse. Made it seem that for her it was very personal. They did one song with her and Neil sitting on stools, very ballady version of We Belong. Don't have a clue what it was. Sorry, I really am not that big of a fan, but Christine is and she sang along with every song. I took pictures, but they suck. So I went looking and found a couple good videos that others took that night. And even those aren't that great. For some reason on mine there's no audio to them. Just another reason to get back to work and buy a new camera.