Last night I went to a concert. Don't get all excited, it wasn't an honest-to-goodness rock'n'roll, 30,000 people kind of thing. It was a fund-raiser concert for the Rose Center in Westminster, CA, and the entertainment was a Beatles tribute band called The Fab Four.
I started out the evening at dinner with friends from the city, including the mayor. We went to Outback Steakhouse, where they have a gluten-free menu. That I think is very progressive and awesome, but what I don't understand is why they don't have gluten-free french fries. I mean, they actually bread their fries - wha-? It's not the end of the world, I ended up having a baked potato instead, which is better for me anyway, but WTF??? I also had the most tender, delicious fillet ever. You know, every time I go out to eat with people, I'm amazed at the amount of crap they eat. The bloomin' onion, for example: a giant onion, sliced up "bloom style," dipped in batter and then deep fried. And people actually eat this - bleah! I was dishes such as chicken with bacon and cheese smothered on top, and shrimp on a slice of toast. ?? Weird and gross. In any event, my food was excellent, so I'm certainly not complaining.
Mid-way through dinner we were joined by a councilman from another city, who's on a board for this city. He's the nicest man, and lots of fun, but the first few times I met him he was kinda scary. He's a loud, blustery kinda guy who doesn't take any crap. He reminds me of my favorite commissioner, who's now retired, who scared the pants off everyone from the bench. I went to chambers when he first arrived to introduce myself and discovered he was totally awesome. Every week I'd get to court a few minutes early and we'd have a cup of coffee together in chambers, then he'd go out and scare the pants off everyone (except me). Anywho, this councilmember is very nice, and we ended up chatting and hanging out most of the night. He also knew all the words to the Beatles songs, so we sang a bunch together.
The concert was very nice. As I mentioned, it was a fund-raiser for the Rose Center, so nothing too wild. The Fab Four are very good, and they played a range of songs, some very famous, some not famous at all - they play to the fans, who want them to sing not just the hits but also the amazing tunes that didn't become hits. They played songs chronologically, more or less, and changed their look as they went. Here's a shot from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band era.
They were introduced by Ed Sullivan (an impersonator, obvy), who was quite good. For anyone who's not sure why, the Beatles' first tv appearance in the U.S. was on the Ed Sullivan Show. Here's "Ed Sullivan":
All in all, a really fun evening. There was not much dancing in the aisles, a very staid audience for the most part (how can you not dance to Beatles tunes?), except some aging rockers sitting behind us, bless their rock'n'roll hearts. I sang and danced for much of the show, sealing my reputation for being a crazy person - although I think it's not that I'm crazy, it's that most people are just boring. Well, not boring, but certainly fully in the grip of feeling self-conscious and trying to avoid looking bad. Or maybe I'm just crazy - hahahaha!
Anyway, good fun was had by all, and I got home around midnite, so I got enough sleep to go to my 9am yoga class.
