A total impulse-decision my Mom would disapprove of. Browsing the Sting fan website and still reminiscing that I missed Billy Joel‘s residency at Madison Square Garden, I saw a couple of concerts of them together. Ah, Indianapolis in two weeks. Hey, let’s make it a brief weekend trip to chill. Perhaps throw in a Spa day!
It took only about 15 minutes to get set. Used an upgrade with my friends at United to be able to sleep in First on the brief less than 4-hour flight over on Friday night.
It’s a pretty quiet Friday evening at SFO and took about 2 minutes to get through security with Clear and TSA Pre. I skip the United lounge that was too extra full recently and had dinner at Lark Greek Grill in Terminal D that United has recently expanded to.
The great Black Manhattan makes up for the slightly too salty Salmon and the flight to Indianapolis is as uneventful as I like it. We arrive before 6 am and have to wait for our gate. Walking by the 1939 Sampson V16 Special reminds me that automotive is back here and my Uber driver immediately latches on to Billy Joel, apparently the first concert he ever went to back in 1989. A fun start to the day rocking out in the car to the hotel.
At Dinner last night I had already checked in to the Hilton at 120 W Market in downtown and asked for an early check in that worked out. Marveling in the Hilton site allowing to chat with the lobby staff 🙂 I decide that I feel too fit to take another nap and go right out Indianapolis as it is still asleep.
After a yummie breakfast at the Capital Club right downtown in the Conrad I decide to get my steps in by walking to my day spa treatments at Woodhouse Spa and Body Works.
Also a Very Random Segway
Random brief segway just because I can. In a recent meeting with my business coach I mentioned the analogy of a rowing boat with 8 coxswains and 1 rower. It made him laugh hard and he asked whether I had a picture. Well, I thought, this is the time of AI and it should be easy. Well. No.
I’m making a presentation. Can you help me create an image for some of the concepts I’m covering?
I am getting some smart suggestions like
Of course! Let me know the concepts you’re covering, and I can generate images to illustrate them. Feel free to provide details about the style, tone, or any specific elements you’d like include?
Well, the tried this before, let me condition my question by asking „I want to cover the concept of „too many chefs“ and not enough people actually working.“
Got it! I can generate an image that visually represents the idea of “too many chefs and not enough workers.” Here are a few possible concepts:
1. Kitchen Chaos: A crowded kitchen with too many chefs giving orders, pointing at recipes, or arguing, while only one or two workers struggle to cook or wash dishes.
2. Construction Site Imbalance: A construction site where a bunch of supervisors are standing around with clipboards, pointing and discussing, but only one or two workers are actually building something.
3. Office Overload: A conference room filled with managers in suits, all giving conflicting directions to one overworked employee buried under stacks of paperwork.
Do any of these ideas fit your presentation style, or do you have another preference?
Well, the do. But i want rowers. „I was think of a rowing boat in a race perhaps? Like more. coxswains than rowers?
I can feel his her its excitement:
Here’s your image illustrating the concept of “too many coxswains and not enough rowers” in a boat race. Let me know if you need any adjustments!
That’s a great metaphor! A rowing boat overloaded with coxswains and barely any rowers would perfectly capture the concept. I’ll generate an image showing:
• A rowing boat in a race, but instead of a balanced team, there are too many coxswains (coaches giving orders) and too few rowers actually doing the work.
• The boat might look unbalanced or struggling compared to other teams that are properly staffed with rowers.
• The background could include other teams moving smoothly while this boat is chaotic
I’ll generate this image now.
Really, ChatGPT Dally-E? One coxswain looking confused and 10 rowers that you calm „Here’s your image illustrating the concept of “too many coxswains and not enough rowers” in a boat race. Let me know if you need any adjustments!“
I most certainly do! „This picture still has more rowers than coxswains with cog boxes. Can you please redraw with 1 rower and 4 coxswains?“
Here’s your revised image with one exhausted rower and four coxswains shouting instructions. Let me know if you need any further tweaks!
Ok, you get one more chance. „Can you make it two coxswains please?“
Here’s your updated image with two coxswains and one exhausted rower. Let me know if you need any further refinements!
Well, at least the kitchen scene is right on:
Woodhouse Spa and Body Works.
What and experience. Happy feet and hands and everything in-between is feeling amazing, too. The staff is super friendly and the premises are wonderful. Love their tea. Those were a couple of hours very well spent!
The Main Event
After a nap to adjust timelines I decided on dinner before the concert in the hotel at the 120 West bar & restaurant. Nice set dinner with salad and frenched chicken (really) and a chocolaty desert.
Walking over to the Lucas Oil stadium feels like getting to a Shark‘s game in San Jose. You leave the hotel/restaurant area and walk towards tab stadium – if it rains it looks like one can get through a convention center.
I have floor seats and they make us walk around the stadium to the south entrance. Ah! It’s primarily a sports stadium so we are literally walking by where the locker rooms are, I guess. The restroom situation is not great down here – several lines of Porta Potties!
„Hi, I‘m Bill“ is the opening. Billy Joel and Sting perform „Every Little Thing“ together and the Sting is off to fun one hour set ending with „Variations on Roxanne“ as an Encore.
Billy Joel & Friends
What an evening! Sting had played for an hour, Billy Joel started at 8:45 and including encore played for two full hours. He joked at the beginning that the bad news would be that he has not brought new songs. You can guess the good news 🙂
What I especially loved about Joel was his inclusiveness, bringing on other artists.
And experiencing Piano Man in a stadium setting like this was just chill-inducing.
StageAficionado 