California Dreamin' with The Beach Boys in Galveston

Who needs California when you've got Galveston? Sure they get hit with hurricanes every 20 years, but California's got those massive earthquakes. It seems that if you want to live in paradise, you've got to be willing to lose everything ...and then laugh about it.

At least, that 's the way the 7,000 fans attending The Beach Boys concert in Galveston saw it.

I spoke to people who no longer had homes, were living off of family and friends, and had lost everything. Then there were the people that had their house, but were still struggling to make it a home.

"Well, it's livable. There's no power, but we're living in it," said one Beach Boy fan.

Man, that's harsh. But these beach-side Texans are tough. They knew what to expect, unlike Gail and Brooks Hirsch who had moved to Galveston from New Jersey just two years ago.

"We rode out the storm. We thought it would be like a New York blizzard and we could just shovel out the next day. Nobody told us about all the water," said Gail, while laughing.

But while Hurricane Ike hovered in the background of these people's lives, the future was sending them some good vibrations - and it was starting with Moody Gardens' Beach Boys concert that doubled as an affordable fundraiser (lawn tickets were only $20 and part of the ticket proceeds went the United Way).

After a month and a half of cleanup, Galveston was ready to open their doors to tourists and locals, and there is no better way to do it than with the boys of summer - California's own Beach Boys.

The gates opened at 5 p.m., with the first band, The Intercoastal Pirates hitting the stage at 6:30. They warmed up the audience with their mix of 60s and 70s music.

The next band was a local favorite from Baytown, called the Coastliners. (That's me in the red jacket getting quick interview withTommy Meekins)

"Back in the 1960s, we were called the Gulf Coast's answer to The Beach Boys," said Tommy Meekins, singer and keyboardist for the band.

The Coastliners had six number one hits in the 1960s, and toured with bands including Sonny and Cher, and Roy Orbison. Over 40 years later, the band is still performing with many of their original members and a couple of new additions.

"My son joined the group when we reformed in 1998. He plays lead guitar," said Tommy.

The Coastliners thrilled the audience with hits from the 1960s and 1970s. They also played a few of their original songs that got the crowd out of their lawn chairs and dancing away.

And then it was the moment the crowd had been waiting for. It was time for Mike Love and The Beach Boys to hit the stage. I tried to get an interview with Mike Love, but he's a slippery little devil. Even though I staked myself out backstage, he snuck right past me. It wasn't until the lights when up on the stage that my photographer and I realized we missed him.

But so did all the other fans waiting behind the stage. Not that it mattered. We weren't there to talk; we were there for some California Dreamin'. And after singing and dancing under the stars, The Beach Boys gave their fans the relief they needed from the storm.

The "accidental" Kenny Chesney weekend

Kenny Chesney stage

Even though I'm new to the country music scene I have, of course, heard of Kenny Chesney. Really, who hasn't heard of "She Thinks my Tractor's Sexy"? But I do admit that my knowledge of him is mostly limited to the gossip tabloids where he is famous for his short marriage to Renee Zellweger.

So how I ended up spending two days immersed in world of Kenny Chesney fandom is beyond me. It just happened...and I have absolutely no regrets as I had a blast.

It all started Friday afternoon when I decided to get an inside look at what goes on behind the scenes while Chesney's Poets and Pirates crew of 130 people set up the massive stage.

I didn't get to meet Kenny, but I did hang out with his very cool Director of Tour Marketing person who has been working with him for nearly a decade. You'll be happy to hear that she is a Houstonian and was psyched at being back in her home town.

STAGE 1: GOING BEHIND THE SCENES
After giving me some tips on where to get the best fajitas in town, she walked me through the stage area. Of course, I went snap-happy with my camera and took a bunch of pictures (check out the slideshow), but my favorite part was the giant bin of ladies lingerie sitting backstage.

Yes...it doesn't just happen at Bon Jovi concerts, people - um, I should say women - really do throw their bras and panties on stage, and Kenny has a giant bin full of them to prove it. I always wondered what bands do with this stuff and now I know: they load them up in the truck and take them along for the tour.

Watching the road crew set up the stage, I realized the sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle isn't exactly like it is on TV. It was organized and everything was done according to schedule.

"We have a really good crew and we stay on schedule," said Kate McMahon, Kenny's Director of Tour Marketing. "If I say Kenny is going on at 9:15, that's exactly when he'll be on stage."

Little did she know that on Saturday night, I was going to put her schedule to the test.

STAGE 2: WHO'S OPENING FOR KENNY?
Okay, so after checking out the 218 foot long and 70 foot high stage area, I must admit I was getting into the whole Kenny Chesney Poets and Pirates Tour. How could I not? I mean, the show in Houston was not any old show: it was planned to one of Kenny's 15 super shows.

But my Kenny Chesney orientation wasn't over yet. I still had to find out who was opening for him.

You see, during the Poets and Pirates Tour, Kenny does this very cool thing where local bands can audition and the winner gets to open for him. You can image this is a big deal for the performers as it's their shot of playing in front of 60,000 fans.

The final four bands happened to be playing on Friday night at the Hard Rock Café so I decided to check them out. Naturally when I arrived, it was chaos and I couldn't find my backstage contact, but it was easy to figure out who the possible band members were as most of them were decked out in cowboy hats.

The four competing bands were Cody Kouba, Bill Archer, Zane Lewis, and Bleu Edmondson. As I was interviewing them, I quickly learned they all had one thing in common: they were nervous.

"I'm nervous. Very nervous," said Jeremy, the percussionist from Zane Lewis' group.

"There's a lot at stake at this one. It's a door opening opportunity for an entertainer. Whoever wins tonight, tomorrow they will be a household name," said Bill Archer, the only solo act.

Not that I'm qualified to be a judge or anything, but all four bands did a great job. Cody Kouba was the winner of the night, while Bleu Edmondson came in second place.

STAGE 3: THE MAIN EVENT
So after two days of doing behind the scenes interviews, I was ready to go see Kenny Chesney live. It seemed like everywhere I went, people were talking about the concert. In fact, some that I spoke to were going as early as 9:30 in the morning to spend the day tailgating outside the stadium. Now that's dedication.

Anyway, I wasn't planning on throwing any of my underwear on stage, but I wanted to see if the two-time Entertainer of the Year winner was really as good as everyone said.

I arrived just as Keith Urban hit the stage and, don't laugh, but I kind of got lost when I entered the stadium. However, in this case being lost worked to my advantage. Here's why...

My seat was Section 600 Row K - yeah, the super nose-bleeders. But because it was dark and everyone was busy watching Keith Urban on stage, I accidentally walked into the floor area. The usher escorted me to Section F Row K. Yup...by complete fluke I got to watch the show in one of best seats in the house. Yay!!!

I looked up on stage and there was Keith doing his thing.

Now just like I only know one Kenny Chesney song, I also know only one Keith Urban song. It's "I told you so" and he was singing it. Double yay!! I must say that I now have a little bit of a crush on Keith, who I will now only refer to by his first name just because he was so good. I'll also be downloading a bunch of songs off of iTunes later this weekend.

Keith played until nearly 9:00 p.m. I know this because I looked at my clock and wondered how they were going to clear the stage and get it ready for Kenny Chesney in time. Kate McMahon's words kept going through my head:

"If I say Kenny is going on at 9:15, that's exactly when he'll be on stage."

Amazingly, she was right. At exactly 9:15 the lights went off, and the Poets and Pirates introduction began with the giant animated skull narrating at the back of the stage. For those of you who were there, you know how cool this is.

Suddenly Kenny popped out from the end of the stage. I actually couldn't see this because the one flaw with floor seats is that you can't really see the stage all the time. But that was okay. I could feel the excitement of the crowd and see it on the screen.

But what was really cool was realizing that I had seen the box on the stage where Kenny Chesney was going to pop out of when I was doing my behind the scenes interview the day before and hadn't put it together until now. Duh...I even have a picture of it (see the photo to the right).

Needless to say, I had a great night.