A Big Bowl of Diana

I am not a stalker. I swear. I don't go to many concerts and I rarely repeat seeing the same people over and over. I state all of this because last night I saw Diana Ross for the third time. The second time in less than a year.

When the conductor announced that tonight we would be seeing a "Living Legend" I turned to the woman next to me and said, "I sure hope she's alive, because it would be gross to be seeing her perform if she wasn't."

We have a Hollywood Bowl "half season" where we go every other Friday night and see the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra or the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a special guest performer in the second half. Two weeks ago it was Chris Isaak. This week was Diana Ross. At first I was sort of bored with the choice of repeating someone I had just seen, but then remembered it would be a completely different show with the orchestra. Imagine my disappointment when the orchestra ended and the stage began to rotate, sending the entire orchestra away to the back behind a wall, and revealing the exact same band set up for the Diana Ross concert I had just seen 8 months ago, complete with the very early 80's cutting edge rope lit wedges. I just knew I was going to want pizza after the show.

This clip is specifically for Carolyn who asked last time if she did anything from "The Wiz".

Since I already wrote all about seeing her last November I will skip the review and tell you what I think is fun and funny about Diana Ross: She loves to have the audience sing to her. In fact among a few of us, whenever you are at a concert and the artist holds out his/her microphone and shouts, "Sing Along!" we call that a case of the Diana Ross Syndrome.

In every clip below Miss Ross encourages you to join in her fun.

Holding on at 64 and fabulous!

The Boss (Miss Ross)

On Tuesday evening we went to see Diana Ross in concert.

I had seen Diana Ross in concert many, many, many years ago in Portland with my friend Gwenda. It was an amazing show. This concert was to be the cruise group (I promise to get those posts soon). All six of us out for one last fun evening.

Except I have a cold - but I drugged up and went anyway. Diane had some stomach issue and didn't go. Lewis went, then halfway through realized he may have food poisoning and spent the remainder of the concert "very close" to the bathroom with Robb holding his hair.

That left Mickey, Lyle and I. Thank god we were in the one section of the auditorium that didn't pop up to dance to every single song. We were officially in the "old farts" seating. Good for us!

Diana did not disappoint. I can't believe how great she looked (I did not bring my binoculars) and how much she could sing. And for being somewhere in her 60's she has one high and fabulous ass.

The set she used was incredibly 80's. Her gowns seemed to be recycled from previous shows. I could have sworn it was drag queens up on stage as she seemed every bit a cliche of herself.

But who cared? it was Diana Ross!

There's a glowing review of her show on the Diana Ross fan site.

The concert was the last stop on a year long tour. Mickey and I had been crying off and on through most of the concert. I can never hear the theme from "Mahogany" and not cry. And for some odd reason "Aint no Mountain High Enough" got me right after. Mickey and I held hands on Lyle's lap and I passed out Kleenex. At the end of the show she told the audience that her father had passed away early that morning and she and her family would be flying to Detroit immediately after the show. It was all quite moving.

Lyle thought the dress she wore for the songs from "Lady Sings the Blues" was his favorite.