The Matlock Report

I’ll admit it, I’ve been a bad fan. I don’t even remember the last time I saw Willie play and that’s horrendous. Either I find out about it after the fact or have some lame excuse, I don’t know…. it’s been a while. However, as an early birthday gift to myself I was excited to find out he was playing at the High Hat in St. Paul. I had never been there, it was a strange little venue but very intimate. I liked it. The Tommy Barbarella Organ Combo consisted of Tommy Barbarella (he really shouldn’t need an introduction) on Keyboards, Jeff Bailey (Hamline University, Doc Severinsen, Minnesota Orchestra, SPCO) on Bass, Riley Gulotta (Carnival Cruiselines, McNally Smith) on Guitar and Dave Anania (Blue Man Group/Greazy Meal) on Drums. It was my first time taking concert photos, it was fun and would to have some more opportunities to do it again.

Upcoming shows at the High Hat including a special one on April 11, 2026.

Master of ceremonies for the evening, Willie Wisely!

The Ringleader of the Combo, Tommy Barbarella (big picture above) along with Jeff Bailey (left), Dave Anania (middle) and Riley Gulotta (right)

Willie belts out the hits (his and other people’s as well)!

Just a small sampling of the equipment used to help bring Artemis II back to Earth.

When you are so cool that you can take a selfie during a gig!

Willie deciding whether or not to play “Surreal” to completely flummox the band.

If you don’t recognize these hands, then you are not paying attention.

Don’t forget the guitars….

The hardest working guys in showbusiness!

Take us out Willie…..

Due to timing of when we had been eating dinner on the cruise, I wasn’t able to get photos at sunset and I really wanted to and the last night on board we had at 6:00 dinner reservation so I was able to get a round of photos before we went for our excellent dinner.

Since I have become quasi-obsessed with airplane pictures, here are a few from MCO before we left for the cold of home.

Amy had arranged for an underwater adventure in St. Thomas. I had no idea what to expect but the thought of it scared the hell out of me. They took us near an island and people could snorkel while the underwater part was broken into three groups. We rented a camera that could shoot underwater for the occasion, it did not disappoint.

I had never snorkeled before but was so glad that I went in when we got there. Here’s a few pictures from the boat ride and then snorkeling:

Then came the main show…. you get on what is the equivalent of an underwater scooter and they take you to a location and you can get pictures there. Since we had the camera, we figured why not.

An underwater biker gang.

And they’re off!

Hey, that’s us! Look at all those fish!!!

A few pictures on our way back to shore…. and yes, we did pass Epstein Island.

Our ship rolled into San Juan early afternoon but before we could debark I had to take care of some business as things at home were falling apart. Literally. Anyway, while I was making phone calls, I was taking pictures. I mean, how could you not?

Finally off of the boat, we got to do some walking around the city!

We went to find dinner at the oldest restaurant on the island and got lost. We stopped at a hotel for directions and the guy behind the desk told us not to go there and sent us somewhere else instead that was a block or two away. This place was outstanding, we met a couple from Indiana and had dinner with them. It was so much fun, the food was great. I still am lamenting not ordering the Grouper.

Dinner ended and we walked back to the ship after a great day….

Well, we managed to escape the cold and snow of Minnesota for a 7 day cruise in the Caribbean. With illness and airport issues, the trip started off a little rocky but it just gave us more to be thankful for I guess.

We disembarked from Port Canaveral and spent time at sea before arriving in Grand Turk. Here’s some pictures from the ship and from our port stop.

A few pictures of some other ships at port.

Before we left there were birds, lots and lots of birds.

Amy and Boni (left) posing on the deck. Random fingers (right) celebrating our departure.

After we departed, the party began on the Lido Deck.

Finally…. after several days at sea we arrived in Grand Turk!

This is the marker for when John Glenn came down in Grand Turk on February 2, 1962.

Here are a couple pictures of our ship… Carnival Venezia

Finally…. a couple of birds at Margaritaville.

We left for our trip on Saturday. The day was filled with stress as illness and troubles at the airport seemed to be around every corner. We did, however, eventually make it to Orlando in preparation for our cruise. Here are a few pictures from inside the airplane.

Next door to our hotel in Orlando there were a couple of food trucks. I went out before dawn and was getting some pictures in the area where they were located.

After a break, and first breakfast, I came back out and finished up with some pictures of the grounds and some of the flowers and trees around the hotel.

Early on a cold February morning, we drove to Hudson to check out the Hudson Hot Air Affair. We found out after hauling ourselves over there that due to the wind in the upper atmosphere, they would not be launching the balloons today. It was a bummer but probably fine as it was too cold to be outside for too long anyway. There’s a couple of pictures though that were ok enough to post. The next time they do this, and in warmer weather, it would be fun to go back and check it out.

Setting up….

Testing the flames….

Dude getting eaten by the balloon monster.

Balloons!

Re/Max lighting it up!

I went to pick up some weary international travelers from the airport sometime near the end of January. While waiting to get them, I used the opportunity to try and get some better pictures of planes. I will say these were much better than the last batch.

I realize this isn’t airplane but I liked the picture of the moon so I took it.

Apparently it was a good today to catch some Sun Country flights taking off.

Here’s a Delta plane taking off with a trail from another plane nearby,

These four pictures are all in progression from the same set of pictures. The third and fourth pictures are crops from the second picture. If we zoom in enough, we can see the pilot (picture 4) all from the original picture.

Singles Semifinal Saturday finished with Patrick Kypson (USA) taking on Antoine Ghibaudo (FRA). It was a good match with the American ultimately prevailing over the Frenchman by the score of 6-3 6-1. Since I wasn’t there for Championship Sunday (Spoiler Alert), I’ll give away the ending and say that Kypson beat Johannus Monday in the finals. A few weeks later, it was announced that Patrick Kypson received a Wild Card berth into the Australian Open in January. Congrats to Patrick, his team, and the MarketBeat Open for making Sioux Falls a stepping stone to a Grand Slam!

Ghibaudo serves while a full complement of spectators look on…

Patrick Kypson goes high to return the volley!

Ghibaudo going for the shot!

Kypson sprinting backwards and hitting a drop shot.

Always be ready…

Well, let’s close this out with some of my favorite pics that haven’t made it so far.

Singles Semifinals Saturday began with Johannus Monday (GBR) taking Mats Rosenkranz (GER). JoMo took the match 6-4 7-6. The good news is that there were a lot of pictures that I liked out of this set, the bad news is that I’ll be posting a lot of pictures out of this set. Let’s begin….

Monday with the serve as Rosenkranz waits for the split second it will take to get to him.

Same thing, reverse the names.

Rosenkranz and Monday… working hard or hardly working? Working hard indeed.

One of the best shots of the tournament for me. Monday wins the point and one of “the Rinky guys” celebrating in the background. That whole row was there to support Rinky Hijikata in the Doubles Finals and every time he and his partner won a point they would go nuts. My son theorized that maybe they went to North Carolina with him… I wasn’t sure but they brought a lot of exuberance to the matches and was great to hear.

Mats Rosenkranz with the serve, or so it appears. I liked this picture because it has a lot of movement and I like watching the movement of his necklaces.

Rosenkranz with a hell of a shot!

Monday waiting to pounce on the serve.

Rosenkranz begins the serve.

Monday chases down the return.

Rosenkranz tees up the return!

Monday and Rosenkranz up close.

All righty, let’s wrap this up with some final shots.