LA

Thursday the 9th John and I went to hear a Cuban band at Yoshi's - Los Van Van. They were supposed to have been here months ago, but there were visa issues, and so they were delayed. Tickets weren't cheap at $40 a piece, but this was pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity. They hadn't been to the US in more than 10 years and with the likelihood of Republicans taking the majority again in two years we had to jump on this opportunity. There were 15 (ish) members of the band on the stage at Yoshi's (no small feat). They rocked a sold-out crowd. We had reserved seats upstairs, but the dance floor was packed with people just shuffling to the beat to full-blown salsa dancers. The house was a rockin'.

Friday I headed out to the Oakland airport to meet my friend Michael. We were going to fly down to Burbank together. My plan for the weekend was to spend time with M & his partner Joe. I was getting a little nervous at the airport waiting for M to show up. I texted, "I'm here. You?" He texted back, "at gate 30"; "me too!" I searched around until I spied a giant beard. this was no Brian Wilson beard - this was Santa-like only perhaps a bit grander.
Oh-My-God!
It's glorious, someone told me today.
Glorious?
Well, we'd have to agree to disagree at least until I could get used to it.



The weekend was a whirl. We arrived at his home where his killer dog, Bento, finally decided that he didn't need to eat me (at least not right away). thankfully M had been away for a few days and Bento was starved for M's affection. I must have been the recipient of a little loneliness because after two days, he licked me and I don't think it was because he was testing to see if I was done. I think he actually liked me.

M & I went to an outdoor mall where we shopped for holiday gifts. I also had my LA star sighting, Andre Royo, "Bubbs" from The Wire. I was tempted to follow (stalk?) him through the mall until M said, "he's just another guy shopping in the mall". Okay, fair enough, but if he had seen Walt Disney, he would have behaved differently (you reading this M?).

That night we went to Musso and Franks, an old, old, old school restaurant in Hollywood before going to a special showing of "Tangled" (Disney) across from the Kodak theater. When we exited the theater, Hollywood Blvd was shut down (on this block) and the "Blue carpet" was being laid down for the premiere of "Tron" the next night with Jeff Bridges and Jeff Bridges. We headed over to Grauman's to look at the foot prints in cement and then headed home.


Saturday we grabbed breakfast and then went to Pasadena to the Huntington Library where we could see "Pinky" and "Blue Boy" and the fabulous gardens that surrounded this estate.


Our trip was cut short because we had more to see that afternoon with a private tour of the Gamble house,


an original Craftsman designed by Greene & Greene architects. by the evening I was exhausted and made them promise we could stay in and watch old movies. We watched "White Christmas" and then "Elf".

Sunday a.m. we grabbed pastries at one of the most famous bakeries in LA (name escapes me) and then I hopped the plane back home. Phew - they wrecked me, but I had a GREAT time.