Idina Menzel in Concert

view full image

"Idina Menzel, Marvin Hamlisch and the Pasadena symphony. "
(taken at The Greek Theatre)

I have the worst camera on my iPhone for these things.

Kylie Rules My World

On Wednesday, I was minding my own business, settling down to start work and read a few quick "news blogs" while I sip my coffee. Then I ran into the headline "KYLIE MINOGUE ANNOUNCES U.S. TOUR" and all hell broke loose inside my head.

First I followed the link, hyperventilating, worried that I may have missed something. What the hell? I belong to her personal Kylie website and even signed up for "send me emails" of news. Where was my email!!!??

Its a mini-tour that starts September 30 in Oakland:
Sep. 30 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
Oct. 3 Las Vegas, NV The Pearl
Oct. 4 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl
Oct. 7 Chicago, IL Congress Theater
Oct. 9 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre...
Oct. 11 NYC, NY Hammerstein Ballroom (sold out)
DATE ADDED- Oct. 12 NYC, NY Hammerstein Ballroom

American Express pre-sale started Thursday at 10 am. That's when I lost it. I don't have an Amex. So I phoned Lyle. His boss has an Amex. I had a desperate need.

I called Lyle and I just kept repeating, "OHMYGOD
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD" Faster and faster and faster....

He had to tell me he couldn't understand me and I started talking even faster trying to explain my panic, "KylieMinogueiscomingtoLAandIhavetohaveticketsandtheyareoffering
AmexpresaleandIdon'thaveanAmexbutyouknowpeoplewhodoandI..."

Lyle cut me off, "just send me an email. It's all gibebrish. I got Kylie. I got tickets. Email me."

Then I begged him to get his boss to utilize the power of his black Amex in getting me FRONT ROW tickets.

Then I called him back after I saw that she was playing at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Vegas, where Lyle knows might know somebody... I told Lyle to blame me for forcing him to call, to tell the guy that I was dieing if need be. But I must have those tickets! (And possibly a meet and greet would be special as well?")

Seriously, I kinda lost it.

This morning, I received my Kylie Fan Blast (yeah, I get a "Kylie Fan Blast") and I got my fan pre-sale code word. I waited for ten am and BAM! I was on that ticketmaster site at the stroke of 10. And by 10:10 I still didn't have any tickets.

I had an appointment, so I had to leave and then I was back at my desk at 12:10 and I was hammering that website for an hour and half trying to get tickets out of it. Meanwhile on facebook all my friends are boasting of how they already have their seats. NOOOOOO!!!!!

At 2:15 I surrendered. I emailed and texted Lyle (I didn't want any excuses) that it was up to him and his connections now. I had to give up. I had to get to work. If he did get tickets, I would have to pay for them!

It's 3:15 and I am pleased to say, we have seats. WE HAVE SEATS!!!

Oh Lyle.... now about that meet & greet....

Wicked - ahem, The Musical.

As busy as we are I decided this was the right time to go see a show! I got a good deal (half price!) on tickets to see "Wicked" at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles.
Let me give a little bit of back story. We saw the Lion King in New York, and then saw it in Los Angeles. It was a tad disappointing. "Why?" I wondered, "doesn't the same talent pool exist here in LA?"

When Wicked came to LA I was gun shy of another disappointment. I'd just go see it in New York I told myself. Then our neighbor apparently saw it. I don't know for certain, he was a nutter and we tried to not engage him in any way shape or form. But one day, out of the blue, we were in our backyard when some crazy musical theater nonsense came blasting out of his house and over our fence. Being predisposed to disliking him, I took an immediate dislike to whatever he was playing. It was Wicked. It was LOUD. Me no-likey.
Now that was over two years ago. Everyone I know has seen it. Most of them more than once. Some of them more than 5 times. Some of them in different cities. I think they are nuts.

I read the book "Wicked" and I didn't just dislike it, I hated it. Yes, I finished it. But no, I did not like it at all. Well written. Well crafted. NOT MY STYLE.

When I heard that the Los Angeles production will be closing in January I decided, well heck, I may as well see it while it's here, clearly I am not getting to New York soon enough, and I got us tickets.

Lyle was apprehensive. "We're seeing what? That music the nut job was playing so loud over the fence? Uh... I guess if you're forcing me, I'll go."

Well shut my mouth. We both liked it!
Certainly the Gin & Tonics prior to, and during intermission helped.

The performances we saw in Los Angeles, though unique to the performers themselves, were still quite evocative of Kristin Chenowith and Idena Menzel who originated the roles on Broadway. Only in as much as I have seen clips of their performances on TV.

Upon learning that I had popped my "Wicked" cherry, the "Wicked heads" all wanted to know what my favorite number from the show was. I hadn't really thought about it, but I can say with all clarity that what I said to Lyle during the show was the I loved the number "Popular".

At our performance the role of Glinda was played by Erin Mackey and Elphaba by Marcie Dodd. Marci Dodd was the standby for her role but I never once felt underwhelmed. And while I feel that Los Angeles audiences can sometimes leap to their feet for what I felt was good but not great performance, I had no problem rising to the occasion on Tuesday night. It really was a great show.

Now for a little too much information: As a child I watched "The Wizard of Oz" as often as I could. Whenever it came on TV, whenever I played at a theater. But without fail, even in my 20's, one part of that movie haunted me in my dreams. Those damn Flying Monkeys. And though I know we had come to see the musical based on the same story the thought of those monkeys never crossed my mind... until they appeared on stage... YIKES!!! (to be fair, I am the same person who saw the Musical "Titanic" on Broadway and was so sad at the end because I had hoped they would focus on a happy ending where more people lived.)

Next up, 9 to 5 the musical on October 14th. I hear it's phenomenal!

Flashback, What a Feeling...

I swore that after that last 80's concert I would take photos of anyone who came in costume. The guy said that he had to confess that he had all of that in his closet (including the headband) then he tried to justify it by saying it wasn't his day to day closet... sorry dude, you already claimed it.

After my great success in attending the Yaz tour I decided to get tickets to the ReGeneration Tour this summer featuring an entire slate of 80's acts that apparently couldn't pull in the big attendance without one another. Then I looked at the ticket prices and remembered my burning desire to see Europe or fill my gas tank once more before I die and decided to not get tickets.

As luck would have it the very next day I got an offer from the concert promoter that there were $10 tickets being offered for one day only the following Friday. I panicked and bought 8. Then I saw that they still charged the $8 "convenience fee" (not convenient for me, thank you) and suddenly my $80 worth of tickets had jumped to $144. Ironically I could have had front row seats for his price, but let's not dwell on that.

Now I had 8 tickets and only two were spoken for, myself and my friend Rachel. First I had to convince Lyle to go, then I checked in with some other friends and before you know it, 7 tickets were given out! I hunted about for that last person to fulfill my bus capacity (sorry Christopher) but in the end, loosing out on giving away $18 was deemed no harm no foul. Our seats were the LAST ROW in the balcony. To be fair, shitty seats. But we really didn't care. We were out just for fun on a Tuesday night.

Proud to be lovin' up some 80's...

Ashamed to be so far in the back?
Nice torn wall Universal Amphitheater...

I just knew there was a reason I love Phillip so much. It's like we're twins!

Here's my disclaimer for the event. I bought a new camera. I was so excited. This one can zoom in better than my old one and even zoom in on the video setting. What I didn't realize until AFTER I had uploaded the files to iphoto and cleared the card was that somewhere between the new camera and iphoto, the system didn't automatically import any video clips over one minutes long. In the grand scheme of things it's not a huge deal. But I diligently took video of COMPLETE songs just to share with you here. So I have no performances by some artists and the performances I do have are parts of songs that were not my first choice. My first choice songs were full and apparently over one minute long. The camera is not pleasing me. Perhaps some of your prayers were answered that fateful day because now I will be unable to torture you with my Zapruter style of hand held filming... However, I have tried to recreate my filming with the aid of youtube. But that is not what I am here to share right now.

First up was Naked Eyes.

Apparently one half of the duo passed away 8 years ago. Sad spot. But the other half who did appeared was in good form. They kicked off with "Always Something There To Remind Me" and since I was standing outside next to Lyle in the bar line and not in my seat, I had a total freak out, "OHMYGODTHECONCERTISSTARTINGITOLDYOUWE'DBELATEIFWEGOTDRINKS!!!" (translated: Oh my god the concert is starting. I told you we'd be late if we got drinks!") and I RAN into the amphitheater.

There were a few songs I didn't know and then they closed their portion with "Promises, Promises." The crowd loves a hit they recognize.

And yes, there was going to be a lot "Diana Ross" singing tonight.

Then some lag time while the stage was reset. Never a good sign. But it did allow some time for a quick beer run out to the bar, but not for me. I was still smarting from missing almost half a song at the beginning of the night.

Then ABC took the stage.

I don't know if anyone except the lead singer was in the original ABC but since he was the voice you heard he was most important to show up. And he sounded great. He was tanned and tall and some in our group thought he looked like a retired gay guy in Palm Springs.

He did a bunch of hits and one new song. To be fair, this crowd preferred the hits. And my personal favorite "When Smokey Sings". (which the camera failed to import for us all to enjoy.)

This is pretty much what my video would have looked like... WAY UP IN THE NOSEBLEED SEATS:

Then Belinda Carlisle.

At this point we discussed that it very much felt like the bill you would see at a Gay Pride festival. That's not a complaint. We all love us some Belinda. I've got no footage of her performing as I love every song she does and took way too long a video of her. Specifically I made sure to get the entire performance of "Our Lips Are Sealed" to share with my dear friend Lewis in Vancouver (and Portland is PDXLewis loves the Go-Go's as much)... thank god for youtube...

While Belinda used the same band and staging as ABC (Belinda added an area rug for her to dance on) Human League would be next up and they were doing another complete stage set up.

This break there was no beer acquired. Instead beer was deposited (if you get my drift).

Then, HUMAN LEAGUE!
I had no idea I was so excited to see them but they were amazing.

I kept wondering if these are the same "de-la-la girls" because I was loving them up.


Since I am that kind of person who checks the set list before the concert I knew there was one song I HAD to get for my friend Robb (It's not even a Human League song the lead singer had recorded it with Giorgio Moroder) but praise the Gods of 80's pop, they brought it out for their encore!

By the way, I loved the feather headresses.

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!

Yaz-tastic!

It’s been a totally 80’s flashback kind of few weeks. None more so than last night. Last night Lyle and I saw Yaz (or if you are from Europe, Yazoo) at the Orpheum Theater in delightful downtown Los Angeles.

We left the house early (due the debacle of parking at the Forum for George Michael – let’s just say, it’s gonna’ have to be DINNER with George Michael to get me to go to the Forum again any time soon) and we arrived downtown at 7:15 for an 8 pm concert.

We took a walk around the block to see if there was anything we needed to do or see in the neighborhood and since we had already eaten, there was nothing for us. I did get to play tourist in my own town and snap a few photos of the amazing architecture built back in the day when people actually went downtown and walked slow enough to look up and see things.

At 7:30 we decided to just go on in and get a drink inside the theater since we only had half an hour to kill. Then we decided that we’d have to pee too soon if we had drinks so we just went in and sat down. We were in our seats at 7:45. But the concert didn’t start at 8. Turns out they were having an un-billed “opening act” of a DJ who plays until 9. At that point we decided we had PLENTY OF TIME to have a drink, let the drink move through on an amazing journey and exit well before any concert began. At 8:45 Richard Blade (formerly of KROQ fame) came out and gave a pep talk about this historical reunion that got everyone excited and almost moving to their seats. At about 9:05 Yaz hit the stage.

The lights above the theater lobby as seen from the mezzanine bar.

There was no restriction on taking a camera in to the show. So of course I did.

The chandeliers inside the theater itself.

Now I must ask, what is up with people living forever in the 80’s? I totally mocked anyone who looked like they emerged from a time machine. I kept asking, “didn’t they have to enter the theater through this decade?” Skin tight jeans that would make the Olsen twins look fat, too much eye shadow, asymmetrical haircuts and clove cigarettes? We were sitting inside the theater, well inside and up on the mezzanine bar level when the overpowering smell of clove cigarettes wafted through the room. Since there is no smoking anywhere inside the theater I must inquire, how many people were smoking outside in front of the theater to get that strong a smell inside?

Then there was the mix of totally 80’s cologne. Do people still buy all that or were they saving it from 20 years ago “just in case” Yaz held a reunion tour and they needed a fix to get them in the mood? Anteus by Chanel was very strong in my seating section and I also could distinctly pick out Kouros and Polo. Seriously, POLO?

Then there was the plethora of “girls night out” looks. You know, they went to Forever 21 and got a light flirty dress almost like they were going to a prom, but a little shorter so it doesn't’ look so dated, with some glitter embellishments so you don’t have to wear so many accessories then tease your hair out as big as inhumanely possible... I think I’ve gotten on the “girls night out” mailing list. I saw a lot of that at Yaz, George Michael, Sex & The City screening... Oh my god, I’m a girl on a night out!

For myself, I opted for understated. Navy blue dress shirt smartly pressed, dark indigo jeans smartly pressed, black patent loafers (as if I was going to a very swell soiree but only my feet would attend) and black Hermes belt with silver “H” buckle. Low hair. Not high hair. And trust me on this There was a LOT OF HIGH HAIR out last night.

On purpose I had purchased seats in the balcony. I could have had seats very close to the front on the main floor but I decided that there were going to many people wetting themselves eager to dance along and I personally would rather sit as much as I could. I chose balcony for it’s pitch to be able to see over people who may stand and for the likelihood that people would have vertigo and not dance so high in the sky. Of course I was wrong. At one point Lyle turned to me and said, “I am very uncomfortable with the way this balcony is bouncing.” I completely agreed.

Before we left the house, Lyle showed me his best mocking of an 80’s dance. I told him his was tame compared to what I could pull off (think Go-Go’s crossed with Rick Astley) and we both wondered aloud how many of those we would see that night. We saw them all. In particular the to the lovely couple in the front row of the balcony that literally danced through EVERY SONG regardless of how slow it went, how on Earth did you not fall out of the balcony and what the hell were you on?

In the foreground two crazy dancers.

Set list:
Nobody's Diary
Bad Connection
Mr. Blue
Good Times
Tuesday
Ode To Boy
Goodbye Seventies
Too Pieces
In My Room
Anyone
Walk Away From Love
I Before E Except After C (instrumental with no performers on stage, good time for bathroom break, but they come back RIGHT AWAY, so don’t take too long.)
State Farm
Sweet Thing
Winter Kills
Midnight
Unmarked
Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)
Don't Go
Only You
Situation
After a tight and efficient 1 hour and 20 minute set the show was over. But oh the memories I will take away of having finally seen Yaz live in concert and seeing that drunk woman with the 4 inch white platform shoes pony her way almost successfully down the stairs. I did say ”almost”, WHOOPS!

George Michael

Fine. I uploaded my camera contents today and found these photos I took while at the George Michael concert. So I will share them with you.This was our view from our seats before the show started. The tickets said show starts promptly at 8 pm, no opening act. Luckily it started promptly at 8:45 because we weren't even in the parking lot until 8:20. The Forum in Inglewood SUCKS for traffic and parking.

Can you believe I spent an extra $40 to join the fan club to get tickets three days ahead of everyone else and this was the best I could get? Oh yeah, and friends got tickets the DAY OF the concert and they were across the aisle and one row further down. SAME PRICE.

All is forgiven as that tiny black dot in the middle of the light emerges.

George Michael has a bad case of the "Diana Ross Syndrome" "Now YOU sing!" (see, he is holding the microphone out at the audience.) I did not pay all this money to hear the crowd around me sing all night. What, you can't remember the words? They're on those teleprompters right there in front of you...

But then for his finale he changed into a cop outfit and sang the disco hit "Outside. All was once again forgiven.

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

I didn't take any video. But someone else did...

Watch this clip of Mr Michael announcing that Dr. Phil is in the audience. I'm not a fan of Dr. Phil so I really enjoyed the reaction of the crowd. A light cheer followed by a hearty "booooo..." (I promise I only whispered my objections). Then Dr. Phil gets a roasting from the stage. Oh, and Dr. Phil and company were escorted from the 3rd row center seats by arena security well before the encore.

It was George's Birthday. And none other than celebrated Republican Bo Derek presented him on stage with a fake cake. I have issues with Bo. But that is for different post. Ok, I'll just announce that I think she is an idiot. There. Happy?

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.

Rufus! Rufus! Rufus!

The Hollywood Bowl goes Over the Rainbow.

On Sunday we saw Rufus Wainwright perform Judy Garland's 1961 Hollywood Bowl Concert. Strange concept. Very intriguing. We were trying to get four terrace level box seats, but since I drug my heals, we wound up in the Benches. The joke of that is that for the price of ONE seat in the terrace box level, we had four seats and parking for one dollar more. YAHOO!

I won't bother to give a review of the concert. Many others have done that better than I can.

I likes me some Judy Garland. I'm not a crazed fan. I likes me some Rufus Wainwright. But again I am no crazed fan. I can tell you that some people seemed disappointed that Judy didn't show up. I say go see and impersonator. Some thought Rufus' voice sounded tired and there were times on some song endings where his voiced seemed to give out.

It seemed to bring home the point of how amazing must that original performance have been. At three hours of non-stop singing and you know Judy Garland was still belting them out. Murder I tell ya'. Murder.

What I enjoyed the most was the one of a kind experience it was. Rufus is doing this mini-tour recreation of the original tour. New York at Carnegie Hall, London at the Palladium, Paris at the Olympia and finally in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl. I am always up for one of those "Only in LA" type of experiences, though in this case it was actually "Only in New York, London, Paris and LA" I still wanted to go. (the Carnegie Hall album and DVD will be available in stores December 4, 2007 - you know I'm getting that.)

I knew from reading a little in advance that he should at some point come out in the classic Judy Garland wardrobe for "Get Happy" which is a double breasted black tuxedo jacket,a black fedora and fishnet stockings. After he allegedly had sung his last song bu the orchestra was still on stage, I told my little group to stay put, they were going to love the encore. And sure enough he did not disappoint.

Judy "Gets Happy"

Rufus "Gets Happy"

So I enjoyed the spectacle of it all. I loved the part where he went out into the audience and gave Debbie Reynolds a kiss. I loved that he brought out his performing mother and sister and included them. I loved seeing Lorna Luft (Judy Garland's daughter) perform and being able to close my eyes and hear Judy Garland on the stage. And in the end I'm glad we bought our $22 tickets and not the $100 tickets because then I can do more things like that.

Debbie Reynolds gets a hug from Rufus.

Lorna Luft and Rufus Wainwright.

This is a mini-movie I made with low quality images from my cellphone video camera. Clearly I added the soundtrack.

Here are some much better video's shot by other people:

Rufus Medley from glass on Vimeo.



Zing! Went the Strings... from glass on Vimeo.



Over the Rainbow (partial) from glass on Vimeo.

That was all fun and great, but now for the most interesting part. The stacked parking lot at the Hollywood Bowl. There were two lanes of cars parked between a green strip of grass wrapped in concrete curbs with Palm trees spaced in the middle close enough that you could not drive a car between them. In Stacked parking, no one goes until the cars in front are occupied and leave. You know this when you pull in. Oh well, such is the parking at the Hollywood Bowl.

Except for the Asshat in the minivan three cars back and one lane over.

Since we had been sitting for about three hours, when we got to our car and found no one in the four cars in front of us, I said, "No point in getting in the car and sitting some more. Let's just hang out here next to the car." A common sentiment around us as three other groups of people waited around their cars next us.

Then the minivan man flashes his lights and sticks his head out his window, "COME ON! LET'S GO!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?"

Mostly the groups of people glance up then sort of laugh it off. He gotta be kidding. Right? Too bad he's not really funny.

Then he repeats his light flashing, shouting tirade. This time accompanied by honking his horn.

Oh my God. He's serious.

So I walk back three cars and ask him what he wants us all to do? "MOVE YOUR CARS!"

"Well that would be great!" I tell him, "Did you bring your car jack that lifts 3 ton cars and moves them to the other side of the parking lot? Or are you just so big and burly that you're going to come out of that car and he-man lift them all by yourself. We're not all just standing around for the love of standing. We have to wait for the cars that are in front of us, just like you do. So if you have some magic powers that the rest of us don't have, be my guest and come on down."

To which he responded, "Oh I'd like to 'Come on down' for you sweetie." with a slight mocking tone. To which I replied, "I don't think you'll ever be man enough to do that!" as I walked away.

I got back to my group of friends and asked them if they would tell me if he was getting out of his car with a crowbar and walking towards my back. They promised they would.

A minute went by and a man approached from behind nearly scaring me, "I just have to tell you, that was brilliant. Thank you." and he went back to his car which was parked next the the Asshat.

We continued to wait for the cars in front to be moved by their owners. Still not enough had arrived to free us. Then the lane behind us started to open up. The last car left, the next car left... but still one car was sitting behind us keeping us from a reverse exit. Oh well, what can you do. We started chatting to the people around us as we were out of topics to discuss amongst ourselves.

By now the lane next to the minivan was open but neither car in front of him nor behind him had come to drive away. Stacked parking has attendants that encourage you to pull in as tight as you can so they can fit one more car, one more car, one more car at the end.

But the minivan believed he could get out.

He started inch forward, turn wheel, inch back, turn wheel other way. Inch forward, turn wheel, inch back, turn wheel other way. This was going to be a lengthy 18 point turn. Then on inch forward and back number 16, he thought he could skip a step and pulled forward past the car in front... or rather he thought he would but instead scraped the hell out of the back bumper of the car in front. Then continued to jockey back and forth.

This did not sit well with the witnesses. One man from the car next to us reached into his car, got out his camera cell phone and went over to eh minivan and took a close-up photo of his license plate.

"What the hell are you doing?"
"If you aren't going to leave your contact info, I will." said the camera man.
"I didn't even hit it!"
"How would you know? You never got out of your car to check. Even Britney Spears got out of her car to check!" Which of course you must have figured out by now, that a Judy Garland Tribute concert there were in fact quite a few gay men waiting for their cars to be unblocked. Gay men love a good Britney in trouble reference.

So the man got out of his car to come and check the damage to the front car's bumper. He deems it just minor dust disturbance. And his wife shouts that he doesn't know how to drive and she will now be taking over. She gets out of the passenger side, wobbles, then staggers to the driver's side and revs the engine.

"Oh my god, she's hammered!" says Lyle.

She pops it into reverse, jumps the curb behind her, pushes on the palm trees (which luckily stopped her from going into other traffic) then swings the car hard around to ram into the front of the car the used to be behind her. Hell yeah,she's the better driver! She made a much louder noise!

With no intention of leaving anymore information this time either, the husband goes to get in on the passenger side and the pair of them will make their getaway. Except for all these pesky people who've been watching. The mob drags over a parking attendant who has been watching but from a distance. As if to protect himself from becoming involved.

Mob member #1: You need to stop them!
Mob member #2: Don't let them drive away!
Mob member #3 (to different attendant): You! Go get the police!

And the mob steps into the van's way and the parking attendant walks over to tell the man that he's going to have to wait where he is.

It takes longer than it should to get the police there. They are standing at the base of the driveway (about 500 feet away) and seem reluctant to step away from watching traffic drive past them. But finally one officer arrives,then a second. The drivers are both removed from the minivan and it is discovered neither one has brought their license.

Now the owners of the scraped cars return. Cameraphone photos are sent and finally the drivers of the last car behind us has arrive. Except that blasted van is now blocking our reverse escape!

Lyle tells the police to move the van. The protest that it is now a crime scene and can't be moved. Lyle tells them that the crime happened one lane over and the van has already been moved so why not let all the nice people who did their job of holding the drivers leave by the reverse escape route and the police finally agree.

As we are departing, one friend in our car is chanting "Cuff 'em! Cuff 'em! Cuff 'em!" and I make Lyle promise to lock the windows so he can't shout that as we drive by.

So, to the Asshat who was in such a hurry that he thought he could do a 36 point turn and leave after the Rufus Wainwright concert, I hope those 15 minutes you thought you could save were worth the night you probably spent in jail Smart one.

Gwen Stefani

Following on the heals of a full Thursday, Friday night Lyle, Chandra and I went and saw Miss Gwen Stefani in Concert.

She put on a great show though in my opinion it was no Madonna Concert. In Lyle's opinion it was no Simon & Garfunkle. In Chandra's opinion we needed to shut up.

You know the old addage, "If it's too loud, you're too old"? My goodness, that concert was loud!

And perhaps we were too old as we were surrounded by adults younger than us who were attending with their children. Who takes their 10 year old to a concert that has songs with four letter words?

How come my parents weren't that cool?

Chandra and her mini-harijuku girl. In the background someone's grandfather looks on...