Katy Perry - A Teenage Dream

With a big personality like Katy Perry, you might expect a lot from one of her shows, and I'm happy to say she didn't disappoint. Not only didn't she disappoint, but she exceeded my expectations and then some. With a stage that looks like it came from somewhere over the rainbow and Candyland, about 27 costume changes, dancers, gymnasts and then with Katy herself, the Taco Bell arena rocked the whole night long.

Fans of all ages sang and danced along to her lyrically infections tunes, as Katy belted out one hit after another. High energy and her fun personality just added to the performance with quirky video clips, witty remarks and even impressed us with her own version of Karaoke singing about 5 or 6 bits from other artists including Rihanna's Only Girl in the World.

A much needed fun and impressive night, Katy left the fans more infatuated with her then they already had been, and definitely wanting more!

Robyn was Katy's only opening act, also fun and high energy. Her dance tunes got the audience rockin' and groovin' before they even knew what hit them. My favorite, Dancehall Queen sounded better live than it does on my radio...that's hard to do with dance beats! Even though she lacked Katy's lavish effects, dancers and magical costume changes, her stage presence commanded attention and proved she is and artist worth listening to!

For more Katy Perry Picture, including fun fan photos, click here!

WCFC: Asylum Fight Card Heavy on Prose

Pro fighter, Darrell Flores has more nick names than Jay Z, Prince, and P Diddy combined. Diesel, Phenom, the Mexican Fiesta; add The Chameleon and Tenacious D to the list, because after watching Flores fight, he is like a different animal every time and his fights are non stop action.

Darrell is the first fighter I've ever seen incorporate WWF moves in a live fight and make them work without the acting. What Flores also has is what is considered by most in the industry as the best fight in 2010 held at the Knitting Factory back in April.

Darrell is fighting Philthy Phil Gebaure, perhaps best known for his flying first round knee knockouts. This is not a fight to be missed, and when you're watching it, trust me, do not blink or look away, because whatever is going to happen in this fight, it is going to happen fast.

Support this local star and look for him on bigger stages in the months to come. Watch a few of his fights here and see him do a back flip with a 45 pound weight vest strapped to himself.http://darrellflores.com/

Weighing in at 155 with a record of 3 and 0, Patrick Prescott, "The Package", is an impressive fighter, who is going to have his hands full with local Chase Cowin who is coming off a win while successfully defending his title in XFS #56 last weekend.

Hollywood Zach Owens, should watch for Striking Ryker Ranstrom, because for all his strikes, at 170 Ryker can shoot. Look for this pro fight to turn in to a battle to the Nth degree.

Then on to the big boys...Kyacey "Ice Cold" Uscola from Boise. Kyacey, pronounced Kasey...Ice Cold, because he will stand in the pocket and throw down. After his recent 2010 fight on Spike TV's, The Ultimate Fighter, Kyacey was attacked by pit bulls. Unfortunately, his second instinct to run, gave way to his first instinct to do battle and battle he did.

Kyacey suffered slices from teeth and his hands, shoulder, sides, legs and one serious piercing where he calls the dog's "money" shot, which nearly left him eunich-ly un-endowed. Kyacey fought on and rumor has it, he carries a pit bull wallet to this day.

I've even seen him from a seated position stand up with a larger fighter in his grasp and upper body him right out of the ring. Uscola does not play. If you sit in the front row to this fight, don't be surprised if a fighter ends up landing in your lap.

Jarome Hatch is a strong striker with an unpredictable tribal edge from Utah who is up for this challenge with what he calls his two most powerful tools: his hammer twins, jack and sledge. With 22 fights under his belt, he comes with a lot of experience and and a lot to prove against his superstar opponent, Uscola, who Ken Shamrock called in 2010 the best 185 in the world.

With a few other pro fights, and 9 amateur fights on this card, the Knitting Factory should prove to be the perfect location for you to see up close and personal some seriously intense bodies hitting the ground as this trailer indicates: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWuOkHiAkZo

Elton John: Did WE Pay the Price for Fame?

I would like to make an argument for why the ticket prices for Elton John should have been higher, while answering the question: “How did Boise, Idaho get the likes of Elton?”. It is no secret that Boise has been bringing in some serious names recently thanks to the raging battle, we in the industry call “venue envy”. Having each of the seemingly 100 venues in the Boise area trying to outdo the competition, without question, benefits the public. The price we pay often has nothing to do with the ticket prices. So, exactly how much are we giving up?

Elton John played to a nearly sold out crowd recently at the Taco Bell Arena, which I and several friends attended. Being an avid concert goer, and having seen hundreds of major and minor productions, and having seen Elton perform at least 15 times in my life, I must say I was dissappointed. I hate writing negatively, but here is how I saw it. When I pay nearly $200.00 or any price over $100.00 for a ticket, to anything there is an implied understanding, that you have put some effort in to this event. You have stated with that price to me that you are not just bringing a perfomer, but you are bringing a performance...a production.

Elton's recent concert was not a production, it was not flamboyant, and it was not impressive. It was a neatly formated walk down memory lane of Elton's 30 years of hits that lasted 2/3rds of the way through the show. After that, Mr. John showed up and played his new tracts, took a bow, and left stage right...

It is rare that a performer will allow a venue to sell a concert that is set up for an end-stage show, and then to sell completely around the stage. In the rare circumstance that they do, the understanding on both sides is clear: Your view will be obstructed if not absent, and for that you will pay less than the fans who bucked up early and bought the tickets ahead of time. This show charged the same price. An argument could be made that those people should have bought earlier and their punishment should be to pay full boat. However, it is the fans who sat in front of the stage who suffered much because of it. Trust me, this decision was made late and heated arguments took place between the venue, the promoter, the artist, and the managers and whomever won is less important than the fact that we lost.

A production has bells, whistles, fireworks, backdrops to die for, riggers dangling from the ceilings risking their lives during the shows, and ultimately, the grand daddy of them all...wardrobe changes. If you've ever seen Elton perfom dueling pianoes with Billy Joel or seen Elton's risque headliner show at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, you know he has it in him. What we saw was paramount to Liberace playing an organ in jeans, t-sirt, tennies, and no jewelry. It was a piano player trying to sell cd's for his new stuff, and this fan was not sold.

The argument ended and the decision was made without our input. "If tickets are sold behind the stage they must see as much of the actual show as possible." With this decision, the backdrop stayed in the truck, the fireworks were put out, and the wardrobes might as well have malfunctioned.

The daily or weekly doesn't write this way for a reason, but writing is supposed to do multiple things besides communicate a mild, septic review. Writing should be used to ignite and to make a difference. A voice who says we deserve more when we do, and who declares, job well done, when done right. At this TixxMixx Blog, we are told to write how it is, while being fair and accurate.

In Elton's defense, he didn't have to come, but he did. In our defense, if you are going to roam the earth and dazzle and come to Boise and fizzle, then don't come to Boise, we'll see you in Vegas. If you come to Boise, do Boise right and the fans will pay even more for the shows. We have money and have proven that we will consistently spend it even on a Wednesday night if you come. If nothing else, I have learned since moving here in the last five years, Boise demands respect and will not be taken for granted.

We will continue to see big names come through this valley as the artists are forced to tour more due to lagging income from record/cd sales and that pesky free world wide dread, the web, but the promoters should take note that we appreciate their efforts, but we will not be placated at expensive shows endlessly. So, charge more if needed, but demand full productions and let US choose to pay the price of fame, but don't give us lame.

-Derrenger...

XFS #56

XFS #56 went off without a hitch, well almost. Despite the fact that this event was postponed, this house was packed. We have never seen so many VIP tables at a fight before; all well positioned and a great vantage for the fights and possibly the best seat in the house for the fight that broke out in the stands when one fan tackled another from the walkway into the crowd in the Lower Bowl below.

It happened late in the 3rd round of Urwin's Heavyweight battle. Just as the fans were demanding more action from the octagon, the crowd exploded into a roar and everyone leaped to their feet. An army of red security shirts swarmed to assist. The marines, who were there in an recruiting and advertising capacity, were also there to lend a hand to end the scuffle.

One of the promoters was quoted as saying, "That's why they like having these over by 10."
A lead security officer said it started in the bathroom and spilled out into the crowd after some sort of altercation in the restroom. Between the security force, the marines, and the fight fans, what could have turned into a melee, was doused within seconds. Fast enough for those who were thinking about swarming to keep their buzzing to themselves.

This squashing was as impressive as the night. The quality of fights, the amount of belts exchanged, and the amount of undefeated's who finally met their match, made the night a success and this fight fan ready for XFS #57.

For more pictures click here.

Steelhead's Playoff Run Knocks Out Planned MMA Fight in Boise

Boise's MMA fight, XFS #56, was postponed due to the Steelhead's success in the playoffs. Don't let this knock-out fool you, this card is packed.

Nasty Nate Becker is a well-known Oregon native who has won by submission twice in under one minute. Becker has also won in the first round standing up and going toe to toe. Whatever his opponent wants, Nasty Nate Becker delivers. Don't miss this exciting fighter up close. Watch this quick 46 second, round one choke out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmEXHc-Xab4

This card only gets better with Boise's own undefeated Chase Cowin putting his Light Weight CCF World Title on the line against the number one contender, Carlos Calderon. Btw, by the looks of his work outs, Calderon is up for the challenge.

Two local fighters, Lowell Urwin of Boise and Juan Iracheta of Team No Excuse in Caldwell joked at the weigh in on Thursday at Qwest Arena, but both vowed to be ready for their heavy weight fight against each other; another belt is on the line with these two giants.

Pound for pound this event, put on by Knockout Promotions, just might be the best value in the valley for entertainment in a long time with 13 fights on the card. Come out also and see the winner of this season's first ring girl contest, Sarah, who beat out a few pros at the Montego Bay last weekend. This event is called Organized Chaos, but if it is anything like the contest was, things just might get a little un-organized.

Matt White and Lauren Pritchard visit The Reef

One of my favorite Boise past times is hitting up the night life downtown at The Reef. While The Reef is one of my favorite local restaurants and bar, it also plays host to some amazing musicians. Saturday night, they featured Matt White and Lauren Pritchard. While sadly, the Reef was lacking in numbers, the entertainment factor was a plus 10.


Lauren Pritchard started the evening out for us. She's an amazing talent, with a relentless voice, that's a mix of folk and happy funk. Check out her newest single Stuck from her debut album Wasted in Jackson.
 For those of you that haven't heard of Matt White, this up and coming artist reminds me of a mix between John Mayer and Jason Mraz. His soulful voice will melt your heart and leave you wanting more. He jammed for a good solid 2 hours. Alternating between the piano and guitar, the New Jersey native is an amazing talent that we are bound to hear more of. Check out my favorite song of the night Best Days: 

Bob Marley, Bob Marley, Bob Marley: The Reef 03/21/2011

The Reef took it to the next level again as their booked talent played to near capacity. Bob Marley was the theme as both performers, Trevor Hall and Cas Haley, laid out their island tunes while the tiki gods smiled and the torches burned.

Cas Haley opened and is best known for winning runner-up on America's Got Talent show, but is becoming even more well-known in the industry for being a purist and anything but a sell out. He walked from a major label contract after his win to reinforce his belief in his music and his way.

While Cas covers Marley, he does it his way and it works with his Texas drawl. It's music you can sing along to and then demands from you the respect to let Haley do Marley leaving the listener to do nothing, but groove while he finishes the trill.

Trevor Hall is Marley with an American-hippie edge, and not because he is the white guy in the room jammin' to reggae in full garb. Hall sings it hippie and seldom sings the same song the same way twice. Duplicating a performance for Hall would be like disrespecting the agency of the song, which of course would deny the love, peace, and harmony of the universe.

The Reef was the perfect venue for these two young and talented artists who had the appeal from a surprisingly young crowd not to mention half of last years BSU football team, who took in the tunes. Keep the Reef on your radar as their upcoming talent has sold out much larger venues throughout the country.

Boise Street Music

We were taking the night in downtown just as the club scene began jumping. It was that moment when you don't know what you want to do and you have no plans, but are contemplating whether to dance, take in live music. or buy four street tacos with hot sauce and a drink a monster before calling it a night.

As that happened on the night after St. Patty's Day, a traditionally slow night in the entertainment industry, something eerie happened. Spontaneity sprouted on the corner of 5th and Main. We could just make it out from the far side of Addie's lot. A slight fog fell just under the street lamps and was further illuminated by the lights of the building's ground lights from below.

A crowd of about 25 people surrounded what looked like a homeless man from our vantage point. Shoe-less, unkempt, and vocal. I had seen mobs gather in various cities with various outcomes, so naturally intrigued, we made our way to witness...whatever. Entertainment comes at varying costs and with unpredictable outcomes. My date hoped it was the witnessing of a werewolf transforming, my hope was a giant Leprechaun just waking from a stupor.

This was neither. It was a man taking requests from what seemed to be a crowd from a gig they had been performing in at a coffee shop of sorts. While packing up their equipment, the lead singer and performer had been enticed by the crowd to start an impromptu performance right there on the corner.

As the other band members came with equipment in hand to load their van, they instead opened their instruments and began a jam session that had everything but the jews harp and the coon dog howling from the porch.

As this pied piper led his group to the next corner of 6th and Main they picked up followers...when they arrived in front of the old Red Room venue, they encountered competition. Another band was playing and entertaining their own crowd. As this band played and the lead singer intensely belted out more mature vocals the crowds merged. We caught some of the action on our phone...and enjoyed the set. Something seemed off. These bands were talented had a following and were producing cds for sale...then they introduced themselves.

The first was Adam Stip and the second Michael of Grand Falconer a hot new artist whose voice is pure, rugged, and resonating. This story was building. I recognized the names and then it hit me.

These were both bands booked this month at the Color Cube on Main Street just behind the Red Lion. A small almost underground club whose site explicitly claims to never book cover bands. A nice twist in the community that has relied heavily on the remix and looms on the brink of a creative blue funk.

This noble mantra however, has not impressed the landlord who has put the proverbial kabash on bands playing at this super mini mall storefront. We had an email in to them over the past week to get the scoop and have not heard back. Their site has several acts announced and redirects their dates to various venues around town including tonight at the Linen Building on Grove St. where the Grand Falconer will perform. Enjoy some of the footage we captured...

Saturday March 19th, 2011 China Blue's Chuckles Comedy Club

For those who never knew, Boise had a nice and well positioned comedy club on 8th street. It was perfectly situated, advertised, branded, and decorated. The missing link for HiJynx was the absence of customers to their 4-5 nights of comedy needed to keep a club of this size operational.

It was just too much overhead and not enough customers for one club in a city this size. In Vegas, comedy clubs struggle as well; just too many options. However, the clubs in medium to small sized markets remain relevant by re-inventing themselves. China Blue and the whole Bistro family of clubs in Boise do just that from Bikini bull-riding to "No Pants Night".

Comedy is the new addition to their "What can we do next" mentality, and it is filling that void Hijynx left behind. Tonight, Lief Skyving has been booked. Someone you may have recognized from tv or in Fred Meyers down the street. He is local and is nationally recognized and is admired by competing talent and agents alike for being spot on no matter what the crowd.

"Leif Skyving may be keeping his stand up a secret living in Idaho, but this guy would fit in performing in Los Angeles, New York, and anywhere in the country. Performing for our holiday crowds can be tough, but Leif rose to the occasion and elicited tons of laughs and great response. Can't wait to see him back at the Comedy Castle."

--Mark Ridley, Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle, Royal Oak MI

A club that can produce this caliber of entertainment as cheaply as they are offering it for, can only do so by transforming that club after the show to one of the premier dance clubs in the Boise club district. China Blue is one of the only clubs TixxFixx knows of that has VIP quarters and bottle service.

So like all things, vote with your wallet, but support the local scene when they go out of their way to produce something fresh and something unique. It should be a spectacular night down town this evening. We counted 8 major events on our calendar for tonight, all of which end up creating their own brand of after parties, not to mention it is the day after the day after a drinking holiday.

Friday March 18th and 19th 2011 Lucky Charms

On the night after St. Patrick's Day if you're under age, what is there to do in Boise besides Wahooz' version of miniature golf? Bowling, movies, and Hookah, right?

Longtime Boise local, Tim Beck disagrees. Enter, Lucky Charms and Audio Thrill. Local school principals and teachers call it unsupervised Rave's and suggest that parents are under-informed about this "underground" and seedy event. Their cries made the news and their claims of drunken border-line orgies were the product of these un-supervised school events. Tim Beck immediately rebutted and aired his contrasting explanation and the music of Audio Thrill continues.

We at TixxFixx.com believe it continues because Audio Thrill stepped up and blasted the claims out of the water. Tim's casual, but passionate explanation, dismissed all their accusations and he continues to defend his position that these are not in fact Raves...

Raves started in the early 1960's and are the offspring of the beatnik rallies. these raves had characteristics that we tried to compare to Audio Thrill's to see which side was closer to the truth...you decide for yourself:

Raves:	Audio Thrill:
• Completely underground	• Completely out in the open
• Last until the sun comes up	• Strict hours of 7pm-12am during teen night
• Alcohol present and available <-18>	• No alcohol w/exception: mixed age events
• Excuse to use club drugs	• No drugs aloud
• Fire codes disregarded	• Limited number of tickets sold per code
• Typically no entrance fee	• Tickets are cheap, but not free

The list could go on. The difference seems basic. Raves filled a void from the 50's forward and helped in Europe to overcome the simple bar scene and in effect helped create what is now known as a dance club.

In America, raves filled the void created within the disco generation after the "Disco Sucks" movement killed it. The desire for deep heart pumping pulses of repetitive beats inspired a generation to enjoy dancing, while doing it under the radar of the popular culture.

Raves always end the same way; with a governmentally involved stoppage. They end because they planned on ending after a surge of defiant behavior by their organizers and the attendees.

Bad clubs and bars end the same way. The trick for Audio Thrill in their apparent quest to exist and teeter on the brink of mainstream and underground, is to remain consistently in front of the discussion, offer openness, and the most important ingredient in any event that includes under aged expression...security.

This balance will ensure a long life in Boise and finally a safe, clean environment with a fresh new option for our underage youth and raising the bar for the city's goal of becoming the most livable city in America.

Look for tickets soon to all these events at your only local, one stop shop for VIP and discount tickets...TixxFixx.com

Boise's Summer Concert Series

Idaho Botanical Gardens has announced 3 of their concerts this summer: Sheryl Crow, The Moody Blues, and Ray LaMontagne w/Brandi Carlile. Everyone knows that. What we don't know is the stress in the eyes of the office workers every time anyone asks them who else is coming...

You don't get to see that unless you go there and look at their faces and physically and deliberately mouth the words..."who else is coming?". I like to do it about once a week at the very least. The truth is that every rumor that creeps out is based on truth, the problem is the competition.

Every time a promoter such as the Knitting Factory identifies a plausible tour, they now have competition from a number of other promoters. The days of submitting a bid and receiving a contract back are over and the bidding has begun. Tight lips are the product. There have been several almost's only to be outbid by a competitor and the concert lost. Boise fans win with quality of shows coming, but may start feeling it more where it hurts.

Stay tuned as we are not afraid to post the rumors on our quest to be at the big shows, produce pixx for your pleasure, and write what you could have seen had you just gone to the show. Promote Boise entertainment and recreation in this unique part of the world is our goal...so if you're local, you will know where you should have been, and if you're visiting you will know where to go and how to get there...