I had pretty much worn myself out on Tuesday and Wednesday sightseeing, so on Thursday I stayed in again and worked most of the day. This was the last day of classes and seminars for Tech Ed, so Dan got finished a little early and came back to the hotel and we rested up for the closing party.
At about 7 pm the buses started running that picked us up from our various hotels to take us to the closing party venue. Apparently we hit a bump just as I was taking this picture.
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome welcomed us, lit up with rotating lights like a giant spaceship.
Everyone had to have a picture of it.
And everyone had to post their picture on Facebook.
We were greeted as we walked in by a drum band and by some characters in costume -- one was a plastic-faced king who looked like the Burger King (who scares me) and another was his plastic-faced queen.
This is looking down onto the floor of the Superdome from the entrance level. There were free food and drink booths set up everywhere, and some football skills games to play at the back of the dome.
At the front of the dome they'd set up a stage and were playing live music.
There were these cool flower-shaped lights that hung from the dome roof. They slowly opened up and brightened, then dimmed as they closed.
It was fun watching non-athletic men try to impress their friends or wives with football "skills."
Here and there in the crowd were costumed performers, in the style of Mardi Gras I assume.
I tried as much of the food as I could eat. The vegetarian gumbo was so-so. The red beans and rice were slightly bland. The bread pudding was a little gummy. Did this stop me from stuffing myself? Nope. Also, these teeny little bottles of Tabasco sauce were SO adorable!
An artist painted this while we watched. Again, the style I saw in several local art galleries, with the bold bright colors and distinct lines. Only after I took this picture did I realize the artist had put Windows -- Microsoft Windows -- into the windows of his Creole houses.
Dan and Kevan rested on the concourse for a bit to get a rest from the crowd on the Superdome floor.
The surprise of the evening was the "Halftime Show" performer -- none other than Tina Turner! (EDIT: Turns out this was a Tina Turner impersonator! I do not know why Microsoft tried to pass her off as the real Tina, even though she did a great job.) However the emcee or somebody screwed up by making the big announcement and introducing her, when she wasn't on the stage yet.
It was at least another 15 minutes before she was wheeled to the stage in a cart, in a very anticlimactic manner, with most people not even noticing.
Tina sang a very brief medley of some of her songs, and then invited some men to join her on stage and be her "Tinettes". I don't know if she realized exactly who this audience was.
In this video you hear Tina encourage the nerds to "shake what your momma gave ya". You may also hear me groan.
While singing "Proud Mary", Tina encouraged the men to take turns dancing. It was simultaneously hilarious and disturbing!
Tina Turner's performance did not last long. The next group to take the stage was a local band called MoJEAUX who played a wide variety of covers, from Top 40 to rock to some old school R&B.
I enjoyed it a lot. But I couldn't help laughing at the overwhelmingly white nerdy male audience trying to dance.
After a while I realized that they were having just as much fun as I was, whether because they were comfortable with themselves, or because they had had way too much free beer. Either way... to each his own, you know? Peace to the nerds!
It was nearly midnight when Dan and I headed back to the hotel. The next day we were heading back home to Orlando. You know it's been a good vacation when you enjoyed yourself but you're ready to go home.
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