I've had a few quick chances today to hit the bubble, and, as usual, it looks like the guys are having a lot of fun.

Whether they're tossing a football back and forth, using fans cameras to take pics... or posing by the big window behind a girl who wanted her picture taken, they were all laughing and having fun.

Kevin seems to be having fun finding out where the fans are from, and at one point was bouncing a blow up beach ball against the window... and the other guys were laughing and joking that having the glass shattter once was enough, they'd been there, done that, had that taste of freedom, and could do without a repeat performance.

I still laugh when I recall how Jeff and Kevin sat down to watch the window being replaced... like it was the most fascinating of tv shows... then again, it's the closest they'd gotten to watching tv in days! 

oh, and at one point Kevin called up someone to invite them to spend the night in the bubble, and left a really funny voice mail message. 

I'm on yet another public terminal as my travels take me further and further from home... and this one doesn't have sound, so the webcams aren't half as interesting as they usually are.    I'm missing hearing the guys laugh and tease one another... but... tht gave me an excuse to check out other parts of the DrPepperBubble.com site... and I found under news a link to the pic of the winning t-shirt design.

It's Here!  and very cool!  Congrats to the fan by the name of Robin who designed it!

Wish I'd been able to watch the guys going through the designs that were submitted... but alas, I was on the road.

In my myspace messages today...

 

Just hit the DrPepperBubble.com site and discovered:

My Little Glass Bubble in Kealkekua, Hawaii

We're throwing a HUGE Hawaiian-themed party tonight from 7-9pm in front of the Bubble! Come and join us!

Pier 54 (13th St. & West Side Highway).

But alas, not only do I not live in NYC, I'm headed out on a business trip today, and won't be back home for over two weeks... this time I'm taking my computer though, and REALLY hoping that these hotels that advertise free high speed internet mean they have a broadband connection that will let me check out the fun I'm missing at the Bubble!

I just found  http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=bubbleband  the BubbleBand Channel at youtube... and they've got 8 videos up so far, some are the behind the scenes stuff from before the Bubble started, but other videos include recaps of specific days. 

Just figured I'd share in case others hadn't found it yet

Here's my current favorite:

Tuesday, June 5th, 7pm
High School / College Student Party!
Are you a high school or college student looking to have some fun to jumpstart your summer? Then we want YOU here! Email Cartel@TrueEntertainment.net . Be sure to put "STUDENT" in the subject line and include name; age; phone; and school name. Also, pass this event on to all of your high school and college friends!

Wednesday, June 6, 12pm
Cartel T-Shirt Design Contest Deadline!
Want to show off your artistic savvy to the world? Submit your Cartel T-shirt designs! Cartel will check out the submissions on-camera on June 6th, which means you have less than a week to upload your designs! Your shirt might be chosen as one of Cartel's tour T-shirts! Good luck!

Thursday, June 7, 1pm
Wyclef Jean visits the Bubble!
Wyclef Jean is a Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated Haitian-born American rapper, producer, and member of the superstar hip hop trio The Fugees, known as one of the most influential groups of the 1990s for their album The Score .

The guys, all 5 of 'em, are in the Producer's Room right now being interviewed, and they just mentioned that Walmart is a sponsor of the event, and walmart doesn't sell albums with a parental advisory, so one of the conditions on the album they make in the bubble is that it can't have a parental advisory... which is a very interesting limitation in my opinion.

So often I heard jokes with "adult language" and wonder if it was really necessary... the shock value of those words can often be distracting from other very funny aspects, or in the case of music, other very good and interesting lyrics.  So it makes me even more curious about this album, and eager to hear it.

I have 40 points now... and decided it was time I started window shopping in the site to see what I'm going to get... because I am confident I will get enough points for something totally cool! 

So, if I didn't think I was going to get any more points (and I'm sure I will since I have 5 Diet Dr. Pepper's with yellow caps just WAITING to be consumed and have their magic codes entered at DrPepperBubble.com) I'd grab a copy of Chroma on CD for 38 points.  I was listening to several of the songs in the Audio section of the Dr Pepper site earlier and realizing that's def. a CD that needs to be in my collection, as opposed to songs I simply love to catch on the radio. 

But, since I know I'm going to get more points, and I am window shopping (and thus doing a bit of day dreaming as well) I decided to look at the stuff I can not yet afford... and I cam across several that I like... :

For 62 points under Gear I found:

Under Goods, for 62 points also, I found:

Then in the dream bigger category I found for 150 points in the goods section:

And finally, for 252 points, an MP3 player!

..

Last time I looked in the Audio section in DrPepperBubble.com's site there didn't seem to be a lot up yet... but I just looked and WOW there are over a dozen things, including three awesome sneak peeks of the album their making!

One doesn't have any vocals, but is Drums Bass and Guitar, and has an amazing sound to it!

Anybody else had a chance to check the samples out?  What's your favorite?????

If the blogs at DrPepperBubble.com are to be believed, and I suspect they are, the guys are getting a laugh out of quite a night!

First the front window shattered (it looks like they've gotten some planking or something in place to protect the guys from the storm that is raging outside, though there was a comment about their appreciating the fresh air  .)

Then, apparently, the roof took a turn doing a little leaking!

I recall something saying that the Bubble was designed to withstand an earthquake, would be great if the pier were out in San Francisco, but it looks like a little effort on the part of Tropical Storm Barry (I figure he deserves the credit for all weather bits of fun great nad small today) added to the fun of the Bubble.

Maybe it is just my sense of humor, but now that I'm at the airport and on a different internet hookup I decided to see if I could check in on the bubble and see what the guys are up to.

As happened to me at the other airport, my connection seems to be of a high enough speed to get me partway into the DrPepperBubble.com site, but not enough for me to login, or see past what I call the "preview cam" on the main page... which didn't have an image just now when I hit it, but it did have sound.

So first I heard one of the guys saying "That'll be 24 dollars" and I instantly thought, that's what I always hear when I'm playing Monopoly!

Then a few jokes back and forth later someone ended up owing tax, x amount per house and more per hotel, and I was ready to laugh out loud as I'd correctly guessed the game without being able to see the board.

I have to say listening in on a game of Monopoly is a kinda strange experience.  I have no clue where they are on the board, or what they roll, though every now and then I can hear one of the guys shaking the dice up good, and I can hear the pieces doing the tap tap tap as they go round the board.

Well, nice to know the guys are kickin' back and having some fun, they've definitely earned it!

I'm on a supposedly high speed internet connection at my hotel... but I can't see the Band in the Bubble stuff at Dr Pepper Bubble.com  so I'm guessing it isn't a truly broadband connection... which is both frustrating and disappointing.

I was looking forward to checking in on the guys and seeing what's up.

On the up side there are some other bloggers out there who are doing an AMAZING job of recapping the days so I can know what fun I missed out on! 

Danni O has an amazing recap with pics!

Other blogs that I know of, but haven't had a chance to check yet today are:

http://blog.myspace.com/samantha797

http://cartelrocksmysocks.blogspot.com/

http://writethisdown27.blogspot.com/

http://mlaan.blogspot.com/

http://blogthebubble.blogspot.com/

http://blog.myspace.com/iiloveetyn

Anybody know of any other blogs I can check to find out what I've missed??  The entry (with pics) about making angels on the mats made me realize that the guys really can come up with a lot of fun and funny stuff to do!

I can't help but wonder... if I were the one in the bubble, what would I do during the down time, the time between work... I mean, I know I'm a work-aholic and I work far more than the 40 hours a week I need to... but even I take time to kick back and watch a DVD every now and then, and I tend to read for an hour or two every night before I fall asleep just to let my mind wander and all the tension of life slip away... so if I didn't have tv and dvds, and if I couldn't play Sim City, or Roller Coaster Tycoon (I just love taking out my frustrations of the day on those poor sim people... I know I've had an annoying day when I set the bathrooms to charge folks $10, and make the exit to one ride a forced entrance to another ride, which costs $20 )... I'd still read I'm sure, but having just the one chill out and destress activity would kinda frustrate I think.

I told some 13 year old cousins about the Band in a Bubble stuff yesterday, and the more I described the 23 webcams and where they were, the wider their eyes got, and suddenly I realized they'd just been talking about the summer camps they were going to be going to this year... and I found myself chuckling as I asked "Can you imagine if there were webcams throughout your summercamp, and people around the world could tune in to chuckle at your antics?"  They both shook their heads and declared "NO WAY! You said there were webcams in the SHOWER."  I laughed so hard, because I totally agree with them, and yet I've been having such fun watching the guys, and I've missed "hanging out with them" this weekend.

Course I've also been thinking, if I could ask the Cartel band members any question, I think I'd ask:

Before going in the Bubble, did you ever watch Reality TV Shows like Survivor or Big Brother?

Now that you've been in the Bubble, are you tempted to watch Reality TV Shows like Survivor or Big Brother, and do you think your "feelings" for the particpants would be different than before you went into the Bubble?

I've never been a reality TV kinda person, and still don't find any temptation to watch such shows, but part of that is knowing they are edited and the "best" moments are picked, where as my random tuning in to the Bubble means I never know what I'm going to get... it truly is reality, and sometimes it is less interesting, sometimes even kinda boring (sorry boys, you just aren't very entertaining when you sleep.)  But other times its like a flashback to when I was in college just hanging out with my friends, or I get to learn something totally fascinating about the recording industry, or just gain insight from some of their conversations, and the daily interviews they've been doing.

When I hit the site yesterday, amid packing for a trip, I caught Joseph doing some recording in the Producer's room... complete with him, and one of the techs using a remote controlled car to "strum" the guitar and make some really interesting sounds that it seems will end up on the album. Jeff was laughing his head off when they played it back, and loving the sounds.

Later when I hit the site they seemed to be mixing one of the songs, but I was hearing the same thing over and over... and still wasn't ready for the trip I was leaving on in 12 hours, so I decided I'd best let the guys work without my supervision.

Now I've left, am at the airport, and can't log into the DrPepperBubble site, but that's okay, because they've set it up so you can see (although it is black at the moment) the center bubble camera and hear what is going on... they were calling for Joseph to come lay down a track when I first hit it, then I heard lots of electric guitar playing... so I think he must have come!

I'm totally bummed that I don't have my own computer with me on this weekend jaunt, so I'm going to be at the mercy of public terminals and the like until LATE Sunday, thankfully other people are blogging about what's going on in the Bubble, so I can find out about what I miss out on there.

I highly recommend staying with 'em when they are working, I've found it really interesting to watch, in part because I've been really impressed with how professional and dedicated, as well as creative, these guys are.

The interviews in the Producer's Room have been very interesting, in part because they have to really pay attention to what they say, and remember it, as more than once the interviewer or tech has told them the sound got stepped on and they need to say it again. And one time one of the guys tripped on his words and just waited a second, and redid it.

I suspect a fair amount of that footage will be on the show tomorrow night... so glad I've got that set to record while I'm gone!

If anyone sees anything really cool while I'm gone PLEASE drop a comment about it here, or on the main page... PLEASE!

Thanks!

And the fun I missed out on? According to the main page at DrPepperBubble.com they guys set up some matresses down in the living area and jumped to them from the sleeping pod... which is a mere 9 feet off the ground. Definitely not a try this stunt at home activity, but I'd love to see a youtube clip of it as I suspect the guys were havinga blast!