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Although I'm not a fan of Lenny Kravitz, I tried for and got tix to a special event where he'd be doing music. The pass was for two and keker (with whom I had a lovely evening on Tuesday, dining at the vegan Japanese place, Cha-Ya, in San Francisco, followed by ice cream at Bi-Rite -- still love the Salty Caramel) came along for last night's "concert." Venue: The Fillmore, where I'd been just five days before to see Suzanne Vega w/singular_girl.

(uoggb: if you lived around here I so would've asked if you wanted to see this. Would you have?)

It turned out to be tedious at times. There was recording to be done and we were asked to sign a release. We stood around inside after standing in line, having arrived a half hour before the requested time. I was a bit afraid of the large stacks of speakers to each side of the stage (possibly four times as many as for the SV concert), so was relieved as we got to the middle front, approximately two layers of people from the barrier, between the speaker stacks.

We were encouraged to be lively, clap a lot, smile, be loud as appropriate and have a good time. "Television" was mentioned several times. Our wristbands had "Wal-Mart soundcheck" and various assistants milling about had "AXE" in big letters and "Lenny Kravitz" in much smaller type on their black t-shirts.

As I said, I'm not a fan of LK. I don't dislike his music and he seems accomplished from what I have seen. Although I can appreciate that he's gone down an interesting path, career-wise, it's still one of "rock star" which, I admit, he fully brought to this show. His band had a goofy stereotype of a glam rock bassist, but the drummer was posturing in fun all over the place and was hot, too.

While we waited, I asked Christine if she knew many LK songs. Aside from his cover of "American Woman" I hadn't been able to dredge up more than a bit of melody from any, though I could give song and album titles. Christine apparently knew more bits of songs, but we pretty much, well, acted.

This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the musical interludes between the set-ups. Even though much can be done post-production, LK's performance had all the strutting, posing, and attitude one sees in such things, but he either acted well or was very much in the moment. His vocals seemed a bit muffled (we might've been too close to the stage and away from the full effect of the speakers) and his guitar-playing, though not integral to the overall sound as far as I could tell, was proficient and confident. He did a couple of songs from his new album first and then treated us to a few hits. If you see me in the "Let Love Rule" audience scenes, I really am mouthing those words, the only ones I know from that song.

There was a somewhat low IQ Q&A segment after the musical performance and people had been pre-screened to step up to the mike. However, after LK responded reasonably well to the question of the most influential female singer to him (Aretha Franklin) and there was a slight lull, I shouted out "You should do a duet with her!" and he said he'd definitely be interested, or something like that. So I had a moment w/Mr. LK - hee!

I guess I'll be on the lookout for the tv or whatever showing of this event. I understand there was a similar one several days before in L.A., so maybe scenes from both will be mixed together. Catch me on YouTube? We'll see.

Fun evening w/keker yesterday. We started by watching "30 Days of Night" at the Metreon near the building where we work. It was sufficiently scary in a good way, though I think the quick cuts within scenes broke up the flow for me. I'd not read the comic -- is it worth getting?

After the movie we dined at Dosa. We shared a Spring dosa, a Mysore Masala dosa, a Paneer & Peas uttapam, and a bathura (we almost got an order of poori, too, but the waiter suggested waiting until we got everything else -- good idea!). Each of the main dishes came with coconut chutney, tomato chutney and sambar for dipping. All were distinctive and flavorful. We started the meal with a plateful of papadam, which I think Christine liked the most of everything we tried. LOL! And yum!

I bought a bag of peaches and nectarines at the Farmers Market on Saturday. They were perfectly ripe on Monday and I'd been eating them here at work. This morning the remaining few are way over-ripe and starting to go. I think I should clean up what's left and eat them w/ice cream for lunch.

Last week I went to Phoenix on business. Haven't been doing a lot of business travel the last several years. Think I'm averaging once a year.

The night I got there I gave a call to uoggb. Maybe we'll connect IRL my next trip out your way. Or even give you a call again in the not-too-distant future. :)

Though I have several friends in Arizona, I decided to spend time with one who's also a co-worker. D works in Chandler (where she moved a couple of years ago) and she drove to downtown Phoenix Thursday night to have dinner w/me and a couple other folks. Matador had okay food and good margaritas.

On the way to her place D apologized profusely that her air conditioning had broken down and she wasn't able to get someone to fix it (she rents a house) until the next morning. I think it was the coolest night in a week, but it was still over 80 degrees F at 11pm. I didn't have much trouble getting to sleep, though.

We didn't have a plan for the weekend (both D & I had taken Friday off) except to relax and catch up. Some thoughts were to go up to Sedona or down to Tucson. Didn't do either during the weekend. Watched DVDS: "Hannibal Rising," "American Dreamz," and "Children of Men." Did some urban hiking (malls) -- eye candy! -- and I even accomplished some clothes shopping.

I hadn't been outside downtown Phoenix in a long time. I still remember when there was only one freeway. There are many, many big box stores in addition to malls, which I suppose isn't surprising since I think I read the Phoenix area is one of the fastest-growing in the U.S. Public transportation seems to be minimal at best where D and I drove around.

Within easy walking distance of D's place (and we did walk!) was A.J.'s, a more upscale supermarket line of a larger grocery chain. The coffee and baked goods were yum, and as we walked through the wine aisle I was amazed at the California presence, including a couple I had specifically looked for and couldn't find in shops where I live. We ended up speaking with Sharon, the store "cellar master" who turned out to be from Sonoma (right next to Napa). Wine talk fun ensued! And yes, the night before I left for home I went back to get a bottle of California wine.

We also went to Kokopelli Winery & Bistro, where we tasted some fun and some not-so-good locally-made wine. The best part of that experience was the opportunity to speak at length with the owner/winemaker, Dennis, who happened by and gave us an extra taste of a not-yet-bottled Cab Sauv (it was good; I hope that means the quality is improving). Dennis was enthusiastic and charming; D and I later agreed we found him easy on the eyes as well.

D & I talked and talked and talked. It was great. I helped her w/her iMac and she was thrilled to be able to use iTunes again. We also dined at Pita Jungle (mediterranean - good, not unique or extraordinary), The Good Egg (standard brunchy foods were decent, biscuit & gravy was good), Priya (generic, not bad Indian) and Voodoo Daddy (seemed more cajun than creole. Jambalaya & fried green tomatoes were uninteresting, alligator sausage was good, both seafood & non-seafood gumbos were very good as was the red beans & rice and the housemade potato chips. I'd definitely return!).

Lastly, I was very happy to visit Changing Hands Bookstore!

My sister, mom and I went for a drive today, just to be driving around. We went inland to Benicia and looked at some docked ships, then back west through Vallejo to the ferry landing. Drove around looking for a place to eat. I saw "Max's of Manila" and headed there, because I liked the meals I had at the one in Daly City (introduced to me by my ex, Lewis, over a decade ago). The shopping center turned out to have a number of Filipino shops. Max's is known for fried chicken, but has a lot of other familiar foods like pancit, kare-kare and lumpia (but not adobo). And, directed by me, we had the fried chicken, pancit bihon (a rice-noodle dish, a bit like chow mein), lumpiang ubod (like a spring roll, but fresh, not deep-fried) and kare-kare (oxtail stew in a peanut-butter sauce). Dessert was a shared "milkshake" of shaved ice with sweet azuki beans, tropical fruit jello with coconut milk, topped with a scoop of avocado ice cream.

Mom didn't remember, but Lewis and I had taken her and dad to the Daly City Max's. Dad loved the fried chicken and kare-kare. Sigh, but oh, well.

Nice drive and yum meal.

With mom's health situation stabilized for now (and at least somewhat known, I hope), I've been trying to catch up with folks and stuff in general. So here's some lj catch-up:
( Dating? And ketch-up? )

Last week's two Octavia Butler bookstore events were exciting. I posted comments over at octaviabutler.

Cedric's reading was well-attended and the Q & A that followed was fun. It was so nice to see him! He offered to let me read his work-in-progress manuscript and asked for feedback. Maybe.

The winery open house was yum, too, though I didn't buy any to take home. Great snack foods, including the brownies that went with the late harvest (dessert) zinfandel. I was liking the Cajun music group from afar and, as I strode closer I recognized one of the guitar players from his busking. He waved to me mid-strum, but we didn't get to speak. Maybe at this weekend's Farmer Market where I usually see him. I think his day job is as a lawyer.

The John Waters booksigning was a mad house and his book, a compilation of three screenplays with photographs, sold out at the store! Wacky! Weird!

Work has been hectic. Worked Wednesday night as well as during the day, but savvyjack18 braved public transportation to spend some time with me in between. We went to the Margaret Cho in-store at the Virgin Megastore. She didn't perform but did a Q & A with the audience. Fortunately it was quick so Alex and I were able to get away to have dinner at ...

LuLu, one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco and, conveniently, only a few blocks from where I work. Over the years I continue to enjoy the food. Sometimes the space gets really loud, but with the rotisserie and wood-fired oven going, it still seems inviting to me. I have lots of good memories of meals with co-workers, family and friends like allisona, it_aint_easy and artbeco (thinking of you! hope you're recovering well!).

( LuLu dinner details )

I was a bit dismayed to read savvyjack18's subsequent adventure using public transit and getting lost, but was relieved to know he did get to Ti-Couz for their marvelous crepes.

Working tomorrow, but I'm hoping I'll be able to get out a bit for some fun.

Knowing debmats was going to have a full couple of weeks, I wanted to celebrate her birthday early. Last year was goofy because I put her birthday announcement in a newsletter during the Boston Worldcon (hee!). Oh, and at later time we dined at Chez Panisse.

We went to Farallon in San Francisco. Here's Deb's view of our dinner on Wednesday. The main reason I suggested this place was for the ambience and figured she'd like the underwater theme of the place. While the food is excellent, there are other places in San Francisco that serve equally good seafood, but the venue is fun.


( food pics, etc. )