So You Think You Can Dance Tour

UPDATE: Here’s a link to purchase tickets for the So You Think You Can Dance 2008 Tour.

For the first time ever, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE will be hitting the road in September! See your favorite dancers in person. The tour will go on sale on the weekend of August 12th. Check back here for the official SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE tour info updates.

Here’s the list of locations so far:
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE LIVE TOUR 2006
12-Sep Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
13-Sep Portland, OR Arlene Schnitzner Hall
15-Sep Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre
16-Sep Universal City, CA Gibson Amphitheatre
17-Sep Phoenix, AZ Dodge Theatre
19-Sep Denver, CO Lecture Hall
21-Sep St. Louis Fabulous Fox Theatre
22-Sep Chicago, IL Rosemont Theatre
23-Sep Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee Theatre
24-Sep Minneapolis, MN The Historic Orpheum Theatre
26-Sep Detroit, MI Masonic Temple Theatre
27-Sep Cincinnati, OH Proctor & Gamble Hall at the Aronoff Center
29-Sep Cleveland, OH State Theatre at the Playhouse Square Center
30-Sep Buffalo, NY Shea’s Performing Arts Center
01-Oct Mashantucket, CT Foxwoods Resort Casino
03-Oct Newark, NJ New Jersey Performing Arts Center
04-Oct New York, NY The Theater at Madison Square Garden
06-Oct Philadelphia, PA Academy of Music
07-Oct Boston, MA The Wang Center for the Performing Arts
08-Oct Albany, NY Palace Theatre
10-Oct Washington, DC DAR Constitution Hall
11-Oct Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium
12-Oct Duluth, GA Arena at Gwinnett Center
14-Oct Miami, FL Jackie Gleason Theater
15-Oct Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center

I say so far, because I’m hoping these are not all the locations for the tour. It seems to be missing some major places that they would want to tour. Take for example, Las Vegas. If So You Think You Can Dance doesn’t make it to Vegas then I would just have to say that this tour sucks. Not to mention it would suck for me since I couldn’t go.

I just can’t believe they are doing so many performances so close together. It depends on the dance, but it sure does seem like a lot of dancing. I still think that Ryan Rankine should have been sent home instead of Dmitry. Not only because Dmitry is better, but because he also would be much more interesting to see on tour.

I’ll let you know more as they put out more tour dates. What other cities are missing? Where else should they go so you can see them dance?

UPDATE: Ticket prices for the Boston Show: $38.50 – $54.50 Thanks Ompa

Ryan Rankine and Natalie Fotopoulos Are Going Home Tonight on So You Think You Can Dance

Yes, saying “Ryan Rankine and Natalie Fotopoulos Are Going Home Tonight on So You Think You Can Dance” is just my personal opinion, but don’t try to tell me otherwise. Did you see their performances last night? It’s not looking good for them. I’m not a betting man, but I’d bet you that Ryan Rankine is gone. Natalie might be a toss up, but she’s still my odds on favorite.

Sure, Allison Holker and Ivan Koumaev weren’t too fantastic either, but people love Allison and Ivan. Ivan is the best soloist on the show. Just doing a solo I don’t think there’s any dancer I’d rather watch. Don’t tell me that Allison didn’t look HOT in her second Sexy Love hip hope routine. She was looking great. I didn’t know what Mary the stop screaming Murphy was talking about when she thought Allison should win, but she’s gown on me.

Don’t even try to point at Donyelle getting voted off. She’s way to popular with the public. Travis also seems to get votes despite not having too many fantastic performances ever since his krump performance near the beginning of the show.

Benji Schwimmer and cousin Heidi Groskreutz are definitely the best couple dancers. Maybe it has to do with them being counsins and having danced together for their entire life. Regardless, they got lucky with 2 styles that matched their skills wonderfully.

More importantly, Benji is going to get the most votes. If you look at the number of searches for Benji’s name that have been sent to my site you can see that America loves Benji. How would it be if Benji and his cousin Heidi were the last 2? Could you imagine? I think they’d be so happy they wouldn’t want to choose a winner.

Anyway, I can’t wait to see Ryan Rankine and Natalie Fotopoulos booted off tonight.

Here’s the show recap for those who missed it(or wanted to relive it):

Here we go… the final 8 contestants bloodthirsty for victory in that very pleasant dance bloodthirsty way. Our lovely host trots out looking French new-wave gorgeous as always. Let’s meet your judges for tonight! From the left: Dapper producer Mr. Nigel Lythgoe, Ballroom queen Mary Murphy, and my boy back again, Mr. Dan Karaty, aka Dan K! Tonight’s show is totally packed, so let’s get right into it.

Donyelle and Travis
London Bridge
Fergie
They’re in with Shane Sparks doing hip-hop first. Shane is giving them animal avatars to inspire this dance. For Travis it’s a monkey and Donyelle a kangaroo. We see yet another totally bizarre costume choice for a hip-hop routine. They’re wearing white masks that completely cover their faces. The dancing is good, but it’s so bizarre to not see a dancers face it’s kind of distracting. Nigel, forever the traditionalist, gives it a no-go on account of the masks, Mary loves it and Dan is in the middle.

Allison and Ivan
La Cumparsita from “Last Tango in Buenos Aires”
Orquestra Escuela de Tango
Playboy Alex de Silva will be teaching Allison and Ivan the Argentine Tango.
Lacks some of the flare of their notorious original tango routine, but it’s still astounding. The judges aren’t totally ecstatic but they still love it.

Natalie and Ryan
Turn the Beat Around
Vicki sue Robinson
Doriana Sanchez will be teaching Natalie and Ryan Disco, my favorite. This remix has a bit of a Latin flavor injection so the choreography follows suit, but something still feels a little cold. The Judges come down pretty hard on the chemistry of the routine, especially my boy Dan K who cuts right to the point by saying it was no good.

Heidi and Benji
Fake Your Way to the Top
Dreamgirls (the original cast)
Heidi and Benji have Tyce Diorio as a choreographer for a Broadway routine.
This style seems perfect for this couple, both exuberant hams who like to make crazy faces. The judges absolutely love it, especially the chemistry between Benji and Heidi. Mary even lets out one of her trademark screams.

Donyelle and Travis
Dancin’ Fool
Barry Manilow
Glen Weiss is teaching the pair the ever problematic quick-step. This is looking really boring so far, nothing quick about it. They eventually break out the “quick” part of this dance and it’s not impressive. I say this dance should be eliminated; no couple has ever shined doing the quick step. The judges did not feel it at all. Mary starts her critique with what amounts to “No offense but…”

Allison and Ivan
Sexy Love
Ne-Yo
Shane Sparks is teaching the pair a hip-hop routine. Finally a hip-hop routing that isn’t built entirely on gimmicks. Allison and Ivan are really together on this one with some simple yet perfectly executed moves. The judges all dig it, especially hip-hop connoisseur Dan Karaty who likes this departure from Shane Sparks’s normal style.

Natalie and Ryan
I Will Get There
Boyz II Men
They have the standard minimalist contemporary pajama-like costumes on, Natalie complete with a flesh-colored knee brace. Natalie does a pirouette that starts to tilt and fall. That’s the thing with these contemporary routines, I can’t tell if that was a mistake or not. It looks like the pair redeemed themselves to the judges after their first routine.

Benji and Heidi
Black Mambo
Angel and the Mambokats
Heidi and Benji have some serious work ahead of them with the club mambo taught by Alex de Silva. They’re really nailing this dance head-on tight and totally together. I think the judges are going to eat this up. Nigel is nearly out of breath with compliments, going so far as to say they are the reason So You Think You Can Dance is the number one summer show. Dan Karaty says it was easily the most professional routine on the show this year. I think it may come down to Benji vs. Heidi in the final show.

That’s the dance magic for tonight. See you tomorrow with the results!

Employee Performance Software for Small or Large Businesses

Managing employees has got to be one the hardest jobs that exists. The fact is that people change and are each unique and so in order to be successful in a small or large business you have to have an organized process that allows you to manage, evaluate, review and monitor your employees.

I’m sure many people have good systems set up to manage employees using paper, word documents, spreadsheets, email folders or some simple access database. However, that is a miserable task keeping those things organized and efficient. Instead every business should look at getting a software to manage all of these tasks from top to bottom. One example of a company that does Employee Management Software is called Manager Assistance. Try out a free demo of the software and let me know what you think.

One thing I wish they would do is integrate this with a payroll management software so you can have all of your employee management in one place.

Previous Entrepreneurial Small Business Posts:
Search Engine Advertising
SpectorSoft – Taking Computer Monitoring to the Next Level
Only Mesh Chair in the World Constructed of Solid Metal Components
Offices2share.com-Short-Term Flexible Office Space – Great for Budding Entrepreneurs
eSmartPayroll Software – Great for Small Business Taxes Using e-File

So You Think You Can Dance, Rockstar Supernova, The One, America’s Got Talent All in One Night

If you are like I and have been watching way too much reality TV you would have noticed that last night all of the following shows were aired: So You Think You Can Dance, Rockstar Supernova, The One – Making a Music Star, and America’s Got Talent.

I think each of these on its own would be quite entertaining shows I wonder why Monday nights are so boring as far as shows go and last night was so chock full of shows. Saturday night is another boring night. At least they could replay these shows so we could see the ones we missed. However, I think reality shows just aren’t as good when they aren’t live.

Well, regardless I had to pick my order of channel flipping amongst all the reality shows and so here’s the order of shows that I liked with a little review:
So You Think You Can Dance – This is by far the best of the reality shows. You can see many of my previous posts on So You Think You Can Dance

America’s Got Talent – Taylor Ware and The Millers harmonic is still my favorite after 3 semifinals. However, I think that rappin’ granny is one of the funniest. Although I think rapping granny should have been a people’s choice and not the judge’s choice.

The One – Making a Music Star – This is a pretty decent show. It seems like there is a little too much drama and I’m not that excited about the judges. However, I think the performances are interesting and they do a good job keeping the suspense interesting.

Rockstar Supernova – You can see my review of Rockstar Supernova

Well, I’m not sure if this blog is going to become a reality blog mixed with a bunch of technology, but I kind of like how my blog ebbs and flow according to what interests me at the moment. I’m still not sure why more people haven’t commented on my site.

I guess everyone agrees with my opinions.

Email Pushed to Your Cell Phone for Free

One thing I really miss about my previous job was having a cell phone that allowd me to check my email. The downside with the cell phone I had was that I had to wait for the phone to finally retrieve my messages. I had heard of a bunch of services that pushed your email to your cell phone on an ongoing basis, but they were all very expensive.

Now there is a company offering a free solution for those that want their email pushed out to their favorite mobile device. The company is called emoze (www.emoze.com).

Here’s a quick look at what emoze offers you:

FREE real time wireless push email

FREE wireless email, calendar, and contact synchronization with full Outlook(r)-like functionality

Powerful compression that saves data transfer costs

Best of breed security

Worldwide coverage on any network

Easy installation – no need for IT assistance

Support for a wide range of devices – including Symbian Series 60
and Microsoft Windows mobile 2003 and 5.0

Not a bad offering for free. This message should come with a warning. Doing this will make you significantly more productive in your downtime. However, there are significant risks to implementing such a technology. Many people may be familiar with the term Crackberry being used to talk about how a person’s blackberry is as addicting to crack. Well, emoze essentially turns compatible cell phones into virtual crackberrys. Maybe I should think of a new term for this device. What about crystal meth cell. At least the side effects of this addiction is a more productive life.

emoze technology is particularly focused around personal and corporate privacy, providing one of the best security solutions available for mobile email. emoze does not gather or send information from users’ PCs or in-boxes. There are no “cookies”, no “spywares” and no duplication of user data on emoze servers.

emoze is wholly owned by the Emblaze Group (www.Emblaze.com), an innovation-driven telecoms vendor offering advanced solutions for the next generation of mobile communication. For more information about emoze, go to www.emoze.com

Rockstar Supernova – Phil Ritchie Gets Sent Home for Committment

I must admit that this is my first and possibly last post for Rockstar Supernova. It just wasn’t that exciting of a show. I liked the idea that you are trying to make a band and that the band decides who they like. However, I think they need a new executive producer. Not to mention CBS needs to get them a better website. It takes 6 years to load. I can’t even link individual artists to their page since they are using so much flash.

In the end I thought it was a cool idea that Phil Ritchie got kicked off because of committment. Having america vote would never do something like that. However, having a band and thinking someone isn’t committed sure changes the way you look at things.

For those who missed the recap of the show here’s the list of rockers and songs:

1. Lukas Rossi sang ‘Bittersweet Symphony’

2. Zayra Alvarez sang ‘Call Me’

3. Dana Andrews sang ‘About A Girl’

4. Patrice Pike sang ‘Soul Remedy’

5. Toby Rand sang ‘White Wedding’

6. Magni sang ‘Heroes’

7. Ryan Star sang ‘I Alone’

8. Jill Gioia sang ‘Brown Sugar’

9. Phil Ritchie sang ‘One Headlight’

10. Dilana sang ‘Time After Time’

11. Josh Logan sang ‘No Rain’

12. Storm Large sang ‘Anything Anything’

Over 2500 Magazines from 24 Different Sites

There are so many friggin magazines out there I can’t believe it. You can find a magazine on almost anything. In fact, I found a website called MagazinePriceSearch.com(MagazinePriceSearch.com) that compares prices for over 2500 magazines from 24 different sites, and helps people find magazine subscriptions for 3+ years.

That’s a lot of magazines to aggregate. Take my favorite example by taking a look at their list of sports and recreation magazines. That’s a lot of magazines. Plus they have it right placing the best 3 at the top: Sports Illustrated, ESPN Magazine and Sporting News.

The only thing that does surprise me is that the website is still done in HTML. With all that good information it should be database driven with some sort of nice scripting language.

Last Comic Standing Thoughts and Episodes Online

Last night I missed the episode of Last Comic Standing. I was a little dissappointed until I found full versions of the head to head performances online. That’s nice because the best part of the show is the comedy. Sure, some of the drama makes the comedy more interesting and entertaining, but the comedy is what really takes the cake. I think Last Comic Standing should take a queue from other reality TV and bring on some professional comics as guest acts. That would be even more entertaining.

I don’t really know why I watch the show, since Chris Porter is the best comedian on the show. However Josh Blue will probably get the sympathy vote. Sure Josh is very funny, but he isn’t nearly as good as Chris Porter. Chris has a refined style and his roast was like a seasoned pro.

I’m so glad that Roz“>Roz got kicked off the show because I was tired of hearing her SCREAMING!! She had some ok material, but the screaming got very tiring.

Now if they could just get the full episodes online so I can watch those when I miss the show then I’ll be happy. Until then I’ll have to just settle for the comedy routines they post on the website.

I was looking for last nights show recap and they just had episode 8’s recap which I’m including here since the website’s sucks at a quick recap:
Roz
Roz was the first comedian on stage for Last Comic Standing’s first voting show. She said it before and she said it again, “I don’t have jokes, I have problems.” From there, she delved into the world of fat jokes, white men, and the smell of Krispy Kreme donuts.
Ty Barnett
Up next was Ty and his surprise at finding out that his hometown of Chicago doesn’t have a great reputation. He also doesn’t understand everyone’s need to appear tough, and is baffled at how the government had no clue that Hurricane Katrina was coming.
Chris Porter
Oprah’s boot camp has helped Chris Porter lose over 1,000 pounds, but that’s beside the point. Chris riffed on the club scene, the difficulty of drinking and not smoking at the same time, and what it’s like at a Catholic Mass.
Josh Blue
In the fourth spot was “Paula Abdul’s neurosurgeon,” Josh Blue! Josh hopped across the stage to great applause only he didn’t have any material…just kidding. His act touched on the seductive art of the ménage a tois, Gabriel’s infamous phone calls, and people who are condescending to those with disabilities.
Michele Balin
Last, but certainly not least, was New Yorker Michele Balin who was impressed with her professional hair and makeup job. But not all was for laughs as she talked about depression in the news, and told a story about deciding to work on her tan rather than jumping off her roof.

Why do People Still Vacation in Hotels?

I love going on vacation, but I just don’t understand why people go to resort destinations and then stay in the overpriced hotels. There are so many other options to consider that are about the same price. For example, you can often rent beach houses for the same price as a hotel. Many condos are available with more comfort and amenities than a hotel room. Don’t believe me. Check out Condo Express(http://www.condoexpress.com) and tell me that you want to still stay in a hotel on your next vacation.

Benji Schwimmer and Heidi Groskreutz (From So You Think You Can Dance) Dancing at Showcase Division 2005 US Open Swing Dance Championships

This Post has been moved to Benji Schwimmer and Heidi Groskreutz (From So You Think You Can Dance) Dancing at Showcase Division 2005 US Open Swing Dance Championships

Still amazing, but had to be moved off WordPress.com.