The Go-Go's - Vacation (30th anniversary)

Today, August 11th, also marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the Go-Go's second studio album Vacation.

For my review of this album, please click here.

To celebrate, I am going to cue up this album too and celebrate some 80's rocking girl power.

Happy Birthday, Kathy Valentine

Today, January 7th, is the fifty-third birthday of rock guitarist Kathy Valentine.

Valentine first began playing the guitar at age sixteen in Austin, Texas, where she grew up. In her teens, she played with bands like Girlschool (a British heavy metal band) and the Textones. She helped out the Go-Go's for a New Year's Eve show in 1980 and decided to stay with the band as their bassist on a more permanent basis. She has also played guitar in the World's Cutest Killers, the BlueBonnets, and the Delphines.

In 2005, Valentine released a solo album Light Years that she wrote, arranged, co-produced, as well as providing guitar and vocal tracks. She is married with one daughter and resides in her hometown of Austin. You can find her regular on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Kathy_Valentine.

Here are a few of the albums I have reviewed previously that feature Valentine and the Go-Go's:

- for the band's 1981 debut album Beauty and the Beat, click here

- the band also appeared on the 1981 soundtrack for the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High which I reviewed here

- for the band's 1982 second album Vacation, click here

The Go-Go's - Vacation

Coming off a big debut record the year before, in 1982 the Go-Go’s needed to prove the first time around was no fluke. Their second studio album, however, did not perform nearly as well as Beauty and the Beat. It only went Gold in the US, after peaking at number 8 on the charts, and produced only one Top-40 hit out of three singles.

June 2008 vacation - part 4

Saturday we had hoped to start our day with some trail hiking in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. There is a lot of gorgeous natural wonders in the Gatlinburg area. However, the weather wasn't so co-operative. So, after some driving about, we moved on to our back-up plan: Ripley's Aquarium.

This downtown Gatlinburg attraction was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a rainy day inside. Everything is centered around this moving walkway that takes you through a tank filled with sharks and other exotic fish. There are dive shows in the stingray tank and the tropical fish tank. There are places where you can actual touch rays and horse-shoe crabs. We really enjoyed ourselves there.

Before a final dinner out at Alamo Steakhouse (which serves an awesome prime rib, by the way), we went to the plaza right across from our hotel for a little last minute shopping. There, we found a wonderful shop that makes and jars their own jams, jellies and preserves. We brought home with us some pints of strawberry preserves, apple butter and pumpkin butter.

One other thing - you'll notice when you visit this area of Tennessee that there are pancake restaurants every where you turn. No, seriously. It might be hard to find a Starbucks or two in the twenty mile area, but pancake places aren't a problem at all. They love 'em, and they do them well. We checked out of our hotel this morning at 7:15am, crossed the street and had a great breakfast at Flapjacks. Good food, large portions and quick service. We had eaten and were ready for hitting the road by 8am. Gotta love that.

I strongly endorse the Gatlinburg/Pidgeon Forge areas of Tennessee as a vacation spot, especially if you are looking for a variety of fun and adventure. I can tell you for a fact we plan to go back again some time in the coming years as it is a perfect long weekend trip for us.

June 2008 vacation - part 3

Friday was going to be our best weather day on our trip, thus that is the day we earmarked for our trek to Splash Country.

Now, I have to tell you that my family loves water parks. We've been to them in Virginia, Florida and even Palm Springs. It is a great way to have fun in the sun and keep cool. And Dolly's Splash Country ranks as good as any we've been to.

We spent a good while in the Mountain Waves, a 25,000 square foot wave pool. My son and I would get inflatable rings and have races to see who could ride the waves to the shallow end the fastest.

As a family, we enjoyed both the Big Bear Plunge and Raging River Rapids, two twisting and turning white water rafting rides. Even when you end up riding down backwards as I often found myself doing, it was a blast. The Mountain Scream body slide was a lot of fun as well - shooting straight down a wild ride with just you and the slide.

Our favorite though had to be the Downbound Float Trip, a lazy river floating experience where you just have to hop on a tube and let the river do the rest. Very relaxing and just what I needed on a vacation - time to unwind. I can't tell you how many circuits we made on that.

Only downside - I think it is time I move from SPF15 to SPF30 sunscreen. Come Saturday morning, I had the signs of a wicked sunburn on my back. Ouch. Ah well. You play, you pay.

After the water park, we hit a local place called the Blue Moose for some wings and burgers. A wonderful, low-key restaurant in Pidgeon Forge that has a marvelous waitstaff. Definitely a winner with us.

June 2008 vacation - part 2

So, Thursday night we had dinner at the Dixie Stampede in Pigeon Forge. Now, this is dinner theatre, southern style.

Before you get to the main event, about 50 minutes or so before show time, you are escorted to the Carriage Room. Here, an opening act consisting of four musicians - a fiddle player, a bass player, a guitar player and a mandolin player - do a few rousing numbers with some humor and a lot of down-home charm. The performers there on the night we went were outstanding. A lot of fun.

After that, you're all escorted to the main area which is a huge tiered arena with a large dirt field in the center. The sides are broken up into the "North" and the "South", where a number of friendly competitions both by the regular performers and some of the patrons are done while supper is served.

What's for supper? How about some creamy vegetable soup for a start, with a delicious biscuit? Then, a whole rotisserie chicken, a slice of barbequed pork, some corn on the cob and an herb potatoe. Finish it off with a delicious apple turnover - and all the tea or soda you can drink out of a Mason jar. Oh, forgot to mention - all this meal is without eating utensils. Yup, you eat with your fingers. And it is finger licking good.

The competitons include horse riding, pig racing, chicken chasing (this with the kids helping out), ring catching, horse-shoes with toliet seats, ostrich racing and more. A lot of fun and the two hour show and dinner goes by very quickly. All in all, a whole lot of fun. We really enjoyed ourselves.

Oh, and who won? Well, we (the South) were ahead until the final round. Then the North pulled out the victory. Ah well.

June 2008 vacation - part 1

Where have I been since the middle of last week? Tennessee!

Two weeks ago, my wife and I were looking at our calendars and trying to find a time we could take time off from work this summer for some family vacation. What we decided we could do was a long weekend (Wednesday night depart and Sunday return home) - right around Father's Day weekend. Given the price of gasoline, we wanted something relatively close but still somewhere we hadn't gone as a family.

What we decided upon was Gatlinburg, TN. Nestled just on the other side of the North Carolina border, in the heart of the mountains, it was a perfect fit. Just three hours drive (150 miles), we could get there on Wednesday after work and have three full days of fun before coming home again. So, we did just that - left work on Wednesday and got to the Brookside Resort around 9:30pm.

Our room was nicely sized for our family of three - two queensized beds, a little fridge and bar area, and a back porch that overlooked a running brook (thus the name of the place). It was very nice. The place had two pools as well.

Thursday morning we took a hike down the hill into the heart of the tourist center of town. Gatlinburg is pretty much a huge tourist town, with lots of places to eat, things to do, etc. Our morning hike took us down and around a couple miles so we could get a bearing of what was there and what to do for the rest of our time. After that, we took a trolley-bus back to the hotel and got the car. Since the weather was looking stormy, we decided to dive the five plus miles over to Pidgeon Forge, to check out what was there and to do some shopping.

Pidgeon Forge, if you don't know, is also a huge tourist town. It mostly sprung up around Dollywood - the amusement park funded by Dolly Parton and her investors. There is also Splash Country, Dolly's water park, and of course the Dixie Stampede, a dinner show also connected to Dolly.

While we ate lunch, we called the Dixie Stampede and made dinner reservations for Thursday night at 8pm. Figured it would perfect to go on a non-weekend night. We got in just fine. After our lunch, we shopped at one of the outlet malls. I got some things to wear to my 25th reunion picnic next month. We then drove back to the hotel, showered and prepared for our evening out.