As most of you know, a while back I entered some photos for a chance for them to be shown in an exhibit here in Houston and two of my photos were chosen!

Well the show, 600 sq mi: Houston, is coming up on Friday October 9th and I’d love to have everyone who can come there.

After the show we’re going to go to dinner at Gravitas which is right by the exhibit. If you’d like to come with us let us know as soon as possible so we can make reservations.

Directions: Take I-45 into downtown and take the Allen Parkway exit and continue on Allen Parkway (going away from downtown) until you reach the first light. Make a left there, at Taft Street. You’ll go through 2 lights, one at West Dallas, the next at West Gray. Once you go through the light at West Gray it is about four blocks up on the left hand side.

The street address is 2115 Taft Street, Houston, TX 77006 if you want to do a Google Map instead of following my lousy directions.

First, the park. It is located right behind the convention center in the city. It is 12 acres, has a one acre lake (I’m assuming man-made) playground, water fountains, stage and sloped hill for attendees, restaurants, and to top it off, it’s green friendly. And WiFi hot too, which this web geek loves.

It’s a great family park and it is dog friendly too, which is awesome.

Now, the performance. It was incredible. It opened with Beatles music on traditional Indian instruments which sounded out of this world. It’s really amazing how many different genres and cultures. “Across the Universe” on a sitar and tabla is something you need, need, to hear.

After that, the musicians played a few random Beatles tunes to warm up and launched right into Sgt. Pepper’s.

I sound like a broken record, but it was incredible. Sgt. Pepper’s holds a special place in this Beatles’ fan’s heart. It was the first Beatles album (CD) I ever owned. I got it for Christmas when I was in 6th grade, and didn’t stop listening to it until Easter. I studied the people on the cover, looking them up in encyclopedias learning what I could about who was there. If only the internet was around back then I could have read so much more.

People were singing along, grooving to the music, and it wasn’t just an older crowd. Families were there, some looked 4 generations deep, couples sat arm in arm, swaying back and forth, it really was quite an experience.

The music, the people, the energy was intoxicating.

After a while Ali and I got tired of sitting on a blanket on the ground so we decided to find a new spot to sit.

After walking around we ended up on the other side of the stage (facing the musicians backs) across the lake.

Ending the album, “A Day in the Life” was surreal in person. The song, the crescendo, stunning. The horns and the strings sounded great in the park.

After Sgt. Pepper’s was over the band wasn’t done playing and went into a few more random songs and ended the night with a huge sing-a-long to “Hey Jude.”

As I have said countless times in this blog, it was an awesome night. Ali and I had a great time and found a new spot in Houston to go and hang out at. We love living downtown, there are so many cool things going on like this around the city. I can’t wait for our life to slow down after the summer so we can enjoy more events like this.

Check out some write ups on the show:
http://houstonist.com/2008/04/27/houstonist_was_4.php
http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-04-24/music/sgt-pepper-at-discovery-green/1

And some photos by some real photographers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98693566@N00/tags/42608/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baldheretic/sets/72157604765731102/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deneyterrio/2445524309/