Grab your hard hat and, unfortunately for me, put on your closed toe shoes, because the interior bowl of the American Airlines Center is officially a construction zone.  The North and South end scoreboards are coming down and new video walls are going up.  The first panel of the North side was raised and put into place late last week.

Watch the Jonas Brothers new video “Fly with Me” as they hang out at the American Airlines Center.  

Thanks to all  the  Jonas Brothers for making us aware of  all the entertainment options we have during our free-time here at the AAC.  Stick-ball and ping pong have always been options, but I wasn’t aware that the Mav’s Man loaned out his trampoline and mat to play on.  All I need is at least one Jonas Brother to find me some free-time and it is on.

Andrea Bocelli at American Airlines Center. Photo by Stephanie Alexander

It was a night to remember at the American Airlines Center.

Like most musical performances at AACenter, soft seats on the floor replaced the hardwood of Mavericks basketball or ice of Dallas Stars hockey. But the normal pre-concert mood this night was different. Somewhat quieter than the usual nervous chatter heard before most shows.

“An evening with Bocelli is not your average arena show.” said Preston Jones of the Star-Telegram in his DFW.com article (http://www.dfw.com/entertainment/story/141353.html). “When’s the last time you found a program waiting at your seat — or a full orchestra onstage?”

Andrea Bocelli, who challenges descriptions because of his success in both pop and classical areas, was in Dallas for one of only six U.S. performances in his current tour. He was joined by Soprano Eglise Gutierrez and conductor Steven Mercurio.

“The night, split by a 20-minute intermission, was organized into distinct halves held together by Bocelli’s unassuming charisma and knack for synthesizing much of Italy’s popular classical exports into a program that often felt like a “Now That’s What I Call Classical Music” compilation.” added Jones in the DFW.com article.

In the end, an amazing talent and classical giant came to American Airlines Center, and both soothed and thrilled the appreciative Dallas crowd.

Mavs & Stars  fans, get ready for an incredible upgrade to your game day experience for the 2009-10 season. American Airlines Center, announced plans to install the first and largest 1080 high-definition video system in an NBA or NHL venue in the country.

* 300% BIGGER - Digital video throughout the arena bowl will be increased by over 300 percent with the addition of a new high-definition center scoreboard and two stadium-sized video displays that will dominate the upper end walls.

* 33% CLEARER - Each screen is designed to promote brightness, clarity and high-definition viewing quality through the use of the latest four millimeter light-emitting-diode (LED) technology, a 33 percent increase in resolution over existing LED displays currently installed in any arena. 

Click here to view a sneak peek of the new video upgrades happening this summer.

The extreme motocross Red Bull X Fighters dominated the AT&T Plaza Thursday evening.  The X Fighters wowed the crowd by demonstrating the definition of extreme motocross.  Red Bull X-Fighters are freestyle motocross (FMX) competitions contested in bull fighting areneas Alongside the X Games, they are the most prestigious and most challenging freestyle motocross competitions.

Witnessed as 12 snarling motorcycles temporarily replaced stampeding Texas Longhorns in the first-ever Red Bull X-Fighters stop in America at the Fort Worth Stockyards on Saturday, June 27th.

Twilight Fans, watch the saga of Edward and Bella outside on the AT&T Plaza.  Bring a blanket or chair and get ready for some Vampire romance.  Showtime is at 7:30 pm

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Very Special Guest

American Airlines Center welcomed the Jonas Brothers for a few days as they rehearsed for their upcoming “Jonas Brother’s World Tour 2009.”  The 140-foot stage was loaded into the center of the arena on Wednesday of last week.  The crew rehearsed lighting, sound and other technical aspects of the show.  The Jonas Brothers rehearsed while unknowingly entertaining the American Airlines Center staff as they worked in the arena offices.  When not rehearsing for the upcoming tour, Nick, Kevin and Joe enjoyed playing basketball on the Dallas Mavericks practice court.   

As departing gifts the American Airlines Center gave each Jonas their own personalized Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks jersey. 

The Jonas Brothers will open their 44-city tour at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium on June 20th. 

Jeff Dunham’s Spark of Insanity Tour may have been rescheduled due to the playoffs, but the punch lines were delivered flawlessly to his sold-out hometown crowd.  His original performance was moved from Friday night to Saturday due to a NBA Playoff game, but that didn’t dull Dunham’s humor or the audiences love for his crazy cast of characters.  Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Walter, Jose the Jalapeno, and Peanut all made our guest swell with laughter.  Walter was none to happy about the post-ponement, but we weren’t surprised.  The audience became part of the act as they recited Bubba J’s jokes back to Dunham on cue and in sync.  Dunham was pleasantly surprised at his hometown fans genuine love for Bubba J.

Comedian – Ventriloquist - Philanthropist

A portion of the events proceeds went to various local nonprofit organizations like the Dallas Public Library and the North Texas Food Bank.  Dunham’s mother was in attendance and was pulled up on stage to present a large check to the Salvation Army where she’s volunteers.  Dunham made sure to schedule his hometown appearance to ensure that he was home in time for Mother’s Day.   He even had the audience sing her Happy Birthday, although the birthday wishes were a little premature, in the words of Dunham, “When else are you going to be on stage in front of thousands, Mom?”

And They Came Back

We all had an amazing time at the show and you could find most of around the interior bowl laughing along with the audience.  The stress of the week was alleviated after the first joke from Dunham on the reschedule,  “I would love to have heard that conversation with the television station…Um we need to move the NBA playoff game due to a sold-out puppet show.” Working with the crew, management, Dunham and even Walter proved to be so enjoyable that we invited them back for the playoff game the next night.  Of course, we all made sure that they had the proper apparel by presenting Dunham and his manager, Robin Tate with personalized Dallas Mavericks jerseys.