Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Where outer space meets the Middle East, a whole new world on a magic carpet ride, or in a Ferrari.

When I was a child I never thought I’d grow up to be a time traveler. Being able to get into an air vessel and arrive in a different part of the world on a different day seemed impossible. Little did I know, I do it all the time now when crossing the international date line. I think when I landed in Dubai though, I must have landed in the distant future. The U.A.E. is the most space aged, futuristic place I have ever seen. The buildings, architecture, and man made islands were incredible. Everything looked straight out of a Star Wars movie.

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When we arrived to Dubai I was so jet lagged I could barely stand up in the customs line. They pulled me aside for what they called a random search. They went through all my bags and eventually found my medicine kit. The official called over his supervisor to interrogate me on how, why, and where I got the medicine. Why I had it and how I got it. All over a small bottle of Ibuprofen. I expressed that it was for minor headaches but they didn’t believe me. Then when they found the Sudafed severe cold and allergy antihistamines they just about threw me in a cell. I expressed it was simple over the counter medicine for mild symptoms. They eventually let me go when my boss came over to harass them on what they were doing and why they were holding me up. Thank goodness for him, because they let me go shortly after. I’m not sure if it was a random search, or if I just looked like a walking zombie after a 27-hour journey to get there.

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Our hotel was beautiful and had a very unique and different feel. Here’s a picture of the hotel the artist was staying at, taken just after the sun went down. The nightclub at the top reminded me of the starship enterpriselookout deck. It’s in the distance, behind the Porsche.

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There were so many amazing cars like this. I saw a brand new Bentley on my way from the airport. There were Ferraris, BMWs, and Lexuses all over the place. Lots of money everywhere. Some residences were more like a palace, with their own gates and guards. The journey to the venue was like Disney World, on the Autobahn, in the future. In this picture here, you can see where the freeway meets the desert, and where to get a Harley too, for when you’re not using the dirt bikes.

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During load-in there was a carpenter on the dock who was cutting metal pipes to size for the stage. He had no safety equipment on at all. As he was cutting into the metal, sparks were flying right into his face, and he had no safety protection of any kind. Occasionally he would look away but I couldn’t believe how confident he was to stare directly into the blade as the sparks and metal shards flew in every direction. I thought to myself, this guy is either brave or stupid, I’m leaning more towards stupid. He did a good job though. Here’s the stage just before the show, presented by Dudu Face.

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We had some time after finishing our load-in, so we headed over to the souk, just across the water. This market had a total Persian feel. It reminded me a lot of Disney’s Aladdin. All the dresses looked like something Jasmine would be wearing, and the buildings looked ideal for a quick getaway for an Aladdin style dine-and-ditch. I didn’t see any flying carpets, so instead I bought a mini hookah and a teapot that I rubbed a lot. No genie appeared, but I did get a blister. I walked around for hours, never really finding anything I liked. Got a few knickknacks and souvenirs though, and some cool pictures.

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I was able to barter with one guy, offering him only 20% of his offering price and he actually accepted. It’s not like that in a lot of places. In some countries you can bargain down to around half usually, in a market like this. This was definitely the lowest I’d ever negotiated anybody down though. The guy across the path wouldn’t bargain at all. I guess it depends on the person, the item, and the shop. And of course how much he likes the item and if he thinks he can sell it to someone else for more. Or maybe the guy just needed rent money, or a refill on his hookah.

The gig went smooth, even without the guitar tech, or any stagehands all day. Luckily there were 16 eager men after the show to load the gear though. Plus it only took about 30 minutes to tear down & 2 hours of waiting to get the gear into a truck, but it was a nice food break for all 17 of us. Later that night I was oil spotted for the first time, that’s when the only thing left from the ride is the oil on the pavement. Not because I was late, but because my supervisor was so tired and ready to go after a very long day. He actually left two of us behind, causing us loads of grief, and much wasted time to figure out a way to get back to the hotel, even though we were carrying our own luggage, the bosses wardrobe, and other staging equipment that night. What a drag, actually 3 drags, to get all the gear to the curb.  I’ll never forget that night, there are definitely pros and cons to every gig.

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Pictures of The Burj Khalifa skyscraper, a world-class destination and a magnificent centerpiece of Downtown Dubai. Dubai’s new urban masterpiece was featured in the recent release, Mission Impossible 3. At over 2,716.5 feet and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the record for the tallest building in the world, tallest free-standing structure in the world, highest number of stories in the world, highest occupied floor in the world, highest outdoor observation deck in the world, and tallest service elevator in the world.  The building was so tall I had a hard time getting it in one picture frame. We actually went inside and had drinks where we watched the largest fountain in the world and enjoyed the beautiful nightlife and weather. There were beautiful women in every direction, some of which I was informed were “working”. I must have missed that OSHA meeting that approved high heels and short skirts.

Here’s a video of the fountain show that would play every 15 minutes or so. It was very much like the Bellagio’s fountain show in Vegas. As the world’s largest performing fountain, the Dubai Fountain in Downtown Dubai has attracted over 47 million visitors since its launch in May 2009. The music accompanying the spectacle changes with each performance, from classical to contemporary styles. Set on the 30-acre Burj Khalifa Lake, the fountain shoots water jets as high as 500 ft, & is 900 ft long. I did however change the music to one of my songs. It is the featured track for the Tricknology Video Series, written, performed, & engineered entirely by me.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A VIDEO OF THE DUBAI FOUNTAIN

If any real city on our planet can claim an active stake in creating the urban landscape of the future, it’s probably Dubai. There’s artificial islands arranged in the shape of the world The new arch bridge is one mile long and 670 feet tall, with 12 lanes for traffic, it carries more than 2,000 vehicles per hour in each direction. The people were very nice, and the sites were out of this world. This would definitely be an amazing place to revisit, but next time I’ll leave the Advil Cold & Sinus at home.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Where outer space meets the Middle East, a whole new world on a magic carpet ride, or in a Ferrari. 

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