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Donna Summer Dead At The Age Of 63

Posted by ksquaredno15 on May 21, 2012
Posted in: Current Events, Entertainment, Music, Television. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

The disco era brought with it the finger point and hip gyrations from the likes of John Travolta in the movie Saturday Night Fever and those synchronized dance routines performed by a mass of people to music such as The Hustle by Van McCoy. The 70′s also brought with it the queen of disco–her name was Donna Summer, her music and voice were unmistakable. The disco era hit right around the mid 1970′s, which was about the time I graduated from high school, so I knew her music and others from that time, very well.

Unfortunately, on May 17, 2012, her battle with lung cancer had ended. She passed away in her Florida home at the age of 63.

Some of Donna’s most well known hits:

- She Works Hard For The Money
- Dim All The Lights
- On The Radio
- Love to Love You Baby
- Last Dance
- Hot Stuff
- Bad Girls
- I Love You
- McArthur Park
- Heaven Knows

The following YouTube video was the last time I saw her perform on television. It was on a David Foster special called, “Hitman Returns”, which was performed back in October 2010 at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada and was first aired on March 2011.

Fountains of Bellagio

Posted by ksquaredno15 on January 14, 2012
Posted in: Entertainment, Places of Interest, Travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, Nevada you may have had the opportunity to see the Bellagio hotel water fountain show. There are several vantage points from which you can see these spectacular waterworks. For instance, and most commonly, you can be passing by the Bellagio on foot and stop on the sidewalk to see the show, or if you time it right, you can catch it from high atop the Eiffel Tower across the street at the Paris hotel or in my case, I had the rare chance to see the Fountains of Bellagio from a balcony on the 31st floor of the Cosmopolitan hotel, which is the Bellagio’s neighbor to the South.

Unfortunately, from my vantage point, you could barely hear the music that accompanies the movement of the fountains, so during post production of the video, I dubbed in the same song they were playing, so you could enjoy it as if you were there on the ground floor.

2 Time Indy 500 Winner Dies

Posted by ksquaredno15 on October 24, 2011
Posted in: Automotive, Current Events, Sports. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Dan WheldonDan Wheldon–2 time Indianapolis 500 (see my previous post) winner, died in a fiery crash on Sunday, October 16, 2011 at the Izod Indycar World Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The race was only several laps old (unclear if it was 11, 12 or 13 laps as gleaned from different sites) into the 200 lap race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, when contact between two cars in front of Wheldon, triggered a massive 15 car crash throwing debris up and down a large section of the track.

Mr Wheldon’s car was propelled into the air over another car into a catch fence and burst into flames. Dan was air lifted to a nearby hospital where he later died from his injuries.

dan wheldon car propelled

Dan Wheldon's Car Bursting Into Flames

There was concern during practice about the speeds reaching in excess of 220 miles per hour and the number of cars on the track, 34 in the competition.

It was decided to end the race and in Dan Wheldon’s honor, drivers took part in a five lap salute around the oval track as the fans stood and cheered from the grandstand.

Memorial LapWheldon, of Emberton, England, was 33. He is survived by his wife, Susie, two young sons, his parents, Clive and Susie, and three siblings.

This tragic accident cost the life of one of Dario Franchitti’s longtime friends and former teammate at then-Andretti Green Racing.

“Right now I’m numb and speechless,” Franchitti said. “One minute you’re joking around in driver intros and the next he’s gone. He was 6 years old when I first met him. He was this little kid and the next thing you know he was my teammate”.

Franchitti continues, “We put so much pressure on ourselves to win races and championships and today it doesn’t matter.”