a few of my favorite things....

Inspired by the 50th Anniversary of "The Sound of Music" this year, and the fact that I need to get back to blogging (no matter how short and sweet), here is a quick hit of a few of my favorite things lately:

Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways HBO Series

This was actually one of my favorite things of 2014, but I never got around to writing about it. So here, in honor of it being released on DVD April 9, is why I love it:

1. It's directed by Dave Grohl, who can do no wrong and is quite possibly the coolest guy on earth.
2. It stars Dave and the rest of the Foo Fighters.
3. It tells the story behind every song on the Foo's Sonic Highways album. Watching the series, which takes place in each of the eight cities the album was recorded in, you literally see and hear the songs being born. Each of those cities was chosen because they are part of the history of music in America. And now, as I listen to the album, I'm reminded of each of those stories. It was just an amazing, inspiring and educational premise.
4. There is an episode set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. 'Nuff said.
5. Because Dave interviews Dolly Parton in the Nashville episode, I was able to trick my mom into watching an hour of Foo Fighter awesomeness.... and she liked it! 

Live Music

This is and always will be one of my favorite things. There is nothing like being in the presence of people who can take instruments and make magic come out of them.

I kicked off my 2015 concert series last night with one of the most amazing musical magicians around, Jonny Lang, who started off in 1997 as a blues-guitar prodigy with a deep, soulful voice coming out of a scrawny blond kid from North Dakota. He's now a veteran at 34 (ha!) and last night at The Canyon in Agoura, he and his band made some amazingly awesome sounds come out of beautiful guitars.

Coming up on the concert calendar:

• Fleetwood Mac  @ The Forum to check it off the concert bucket list since this will likely be the last time they're all together
• Bette Midler @ Staples Center (Mom's Christmas gift)
• U2 @ The Forum -- I'm only going once this tour, I swear!
• Foo Fighters @ The Forum 
• Idina Menzel @ the Hollywood Bowl -- GNO with Erin and JZ
• I will also be going to the Bowl to hear the score of my favorite movie performed live Labor Day weekend. I'm so excited! 
• And there is also the chance that I will cave and buy a last minute ticket to Maroon 5 @ The Forum this Friday.

(FYI, The Forum is NOT one of my favorite things, yet I sure am going to be there a lot this year. Ugh.) 

Wild

This was my favorite movie of 2014. I was crushed that it was not nominated for Best Picture by anyone. I don't know if it was the hiking, the beauty of nature, the being away from everything, the searching for something, the writing in a journal every day, the anger at disease striking a beloved mom or all of the above, but this movie spoke to me. I'm now reading the book, because BKF said I should. (If I ever finish it, I'll let you know ;) The movie comes out on DVD/Blu Ray this Tuesday.

My Garden

It's in full bloom and the weather is great. Next weekend, I'm uncovering the patio furniture and filling up the grill's tank and going to buy a lounge chair. I want to spend the summer out there reading (when it's not 100 degrees ;).... and maybe even writing more. We'll see.

too much entertainment?

So like a year ago, my friend asked if I wanted to go see Aerosmith at the Hollywood Bowl with her on August 6th. Back then, that was a super-long way off. I said sure.

Then back in, oh April maybe, I got a Ticketmaster alert for my fave skinny white kid who sings and plays the blues like a big fat black dude from the South (that would be Jonny Lang, for all of you who are not Cwennen and don't get what I just said) and bought tickets for Cwennen and I to see him August 7th at the Greek Theatre.

Around then, tickets also went on sale for Memphis, the Tony-Award winning Broadway musical written by Bon Jovi's David Bryan, at The Pantages. It was my duty as a faithful Bon Jovi fan for 20-something (let's not get into those details) years to go see that. Tickets purchased... for August 9th.

Then, in early July, after hearing that our summer intern had "Going to the Hollywood Bowl" on her "Things to do in LA before I go back to the Midwest" summer bucket list, I decided to get tickets for the non-video part of my team (who I've spent the better part of this year not having time for) and I to go see Pixar In Concert on August 3rd.

Then a few weeks ago, I got a Living Social deal to see Cirque du Soleil's Micheal Jackson The Immortal World Tour at Staples Center. I'd missed it the last time it was here. I heard it was amazing. I never got to see MJ in concert and now that he's dead, this was probably the closest I'd get. I got tickets for August 14th.

So before I knew it, August 1st rolled around and I realized I had tickets to five entertainment events (most with bad parking situations) in 10 days. And, while I survived them all, I've realized I'm getting too old for this. I really like sitting on my sofa watching Friends reruns and reading magazines. So sad.

Anyway, here's what I thought of all the shows, and the.... let's call it "atmosphere surrounding the experience"... because there were some doozies. People in LA are scary. Like laugh out loud and/or cringe and back away slowly scary....

Event 1: Pixar In Concert
Date: Friday, 8/3
The Show Itself: A+. John Lasseter was there to intro the first and second acts. They played music from all the films and showed clips. Made me want to go re-watch all the movies again.
The Atmosphere: Lovely as all Bowl experiences where the LA Philharmonic, not a popular music act, are performing. We packed cheese, crackers, salads, desserts and wine and picnicked at that top of the Bowl before going to our seats. Only bad part was Lisa wasn't with us... she had to get her gallbladder removed that day. :(

Event 2: Aerosmith

Date: Monday 8/6 

The Show Itself: B. Steven Tyler can't do backflips anymore like he did in the late '80s/early '90s when I last saw the band back at the not-so-fabulous Forum. But they still sounded great. Oh, and they had a hot special guest join them for their last song :) 

The Atmosphere: Normally the Bowl is great... when people are in the audience who know what the Bowl is like. It's not like that at concerts with famous musicians. Their fans don't know that the benches at the Bowl are marked off for X number of seats that fit the skinny butts of people from the 1920s when the Bowl was built, not the butts of the larger, processed-food-eating-generation we are currently a part of. So, sorry Dude sitting five seats to my right. I'm not moving over more so you and your chubby girlfriend have more room. There is nowhere for me to move to. The row is packed like a sardine can. Get over it and shut up. Oh, now you're going to get an usher to check we're all properly ticketed and in the correct seats. Oh look, you just wasted 15 minutes of your time and hers to be proven WRONG. Did I say sit down and shut up yet? Stoopid. Besides him, there were a lot of scary people older than me who looked like they hadn't gotten haircuts or new clothes since the '80s. Frightening. But it did make me feel really young after feeling really old a month ago at VidCon. ;)

Event 3: Jonny Lang

Date: Tuesday 8/7

The Show Itself: A. Jonny was the opening act for blues legend Buddy Guy. Both were excellent. And we had seats in the 12th row.

The Atmosphere: Seats in the 12th row on the aisle were great... until the 50-something man three seats away from me showed up for Buddy Guy, high as a kite. Headbanging (I mentioned this was a blues show, right?) and moving his arms like a spastic person about to have a seizure. Oh, and did I mention he kept sneaking whiffs off his doobie? Yes, five seats in off the aisle, right in front of the ushers manning the front curtain, who did nada. I felt really bad for the older couple sitting in between Spaz-man and I...but not bad enough to switch seats with them when the jokingly asked. 

Event 4: Memphis

Date: Thursday 8/9

The Show Itself: A. I had no idea what the show was really about going in. I knew one of the songs (because it was added to the Bon Jovi 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong box set a few years back when Dave was still writing the show ;). And I was seriously impressed. Great music, poignant story about race relations in the South in the '50s, laced with lots of humor and a little sadness. And does the female lead ever have a set of pipes! 

The Atmosphere: All good. Although if I'd been one row back I might have felt differently... I heard the people behind me saying the woman behind them was yelling at the people behind her to stop clapping and singing along at one point. (Um, I know we're at "the theater" but this is a show full of rock and roll songs written by a guy in a rock band. Chill.) I personally had a great time watching the show and spending part of intermission staring up at the ceiling of the Pantages. It was restored about 10 years ago, and it's still gorgeous... old school theater fanciness :) 

Event 5: Cirque du Soleil's Micheal Jackson The Immortal World Tour

Date: Tuesday 8/14

The Show Itself: A. Most Cirque shows are fascinating to watch and this was no exception. But this one didn't feel all mystically French and mime-y like most do. This one had a live rock band and amazing dancers and choreography, and really cool production effects between the video screens and set pieces. It was like being at a highly-produced rock concert... minus the lead singer.

The Atmosphere: Halfway through the first act I remembered that Staples Center is where Michael Jackson had been rehearsing for his London concert run when he died. Then I also realized that Staples Center is where his public memorial was held. Then everything started feeling weird and kinda creepy/sad. So to distract myself, I spent intermission trying to angle myself in my seat so I could see behind the giant black curtain covering the LA Kings and Lakers banners up on the wall. I wanted to see if they'd moved around the Kings banners to make room for their Stanley Cup Championship banner that will be unveiled on October 12th. I think they have :) Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.