Aloha to Paradise

You didn't hear from me last week because I was enjoying yet another week in Hawaii.  Honestly, I am one lucky woman.  I have a mother who moved to Hawaii six years ago, and I make enough money to visit her there twice a year.  Plus, I like my job; so earning that money to visit my mother is not at all painful.

Life is good, as evidenced by this photo taken from the lanai of my hotel room.

I did manage to pick up a cold right before I left, and said cold quickly morphed into a case of bronchitis (I get bronchitis chronically).  However, I found that if I have to take bronchitis on vacation with me, Hawaii is a good destination.  The warm, tropical climate was very healing.  Seriously.  My sister suggested I move to Hawaii permanently for my health.  You never know; I just may do that one day.  People move to warmer climates in the name of their health all the time.  Why not me?

So, what, you may ask, did I do with myself while in Paradise?  Well, my mornings consisted of exercise, as they do when I'm at home.  Yes, I exercised with bronchitis; I'm like that.  Then once I was all cleaned up after my workout, I had to make the grueling choice of whether to lounge by the hotel pool or go across the street to the beach.  A tough one, no?  Most days I did both, and everyday ended with an hour or so in the hotel hot tub with a cocktail in my hand.

I also managed to squeeze in a little Waikiki karaoke because you know how I love my singing habit.  That didn't go quite so well with the bronchitis.  It wasn't bad, but I squeaked out songs that were all rather low (in one case lower than I normally can sing), and I'd say I sounded about 80% as good as I usually do.  Of course, it's karaoke, so no one but me even cared how good I did or didn't sound.

If all of that wasn't enough to put a smile on my face that will last through the fall and winter here in San Francisco, I woke up on my last day in Honolulu to a rainbow over the the ocean.  Honestly, I believe Hawaii to be one of the most magical places on the planet.  Even Honolulu, which is just as urban as anywhere on the mainland, and Waikiki with the wall to wall tourists have an energy that is a cut above anywhere else I have been.

I'll be back in Hawaii in the spring.  You really should come with me; I know you'll love it.

All You Need Is Love

Okay, maybe we need some things in addition to love, like food, water, shelter.  However, there are times when life gives us all reminders as to what really is important.  Last night in San Bruno, a town just a few miles south of San Francisco where I live, a gas main ruptured and exploded causing a huge fire.  38 homes were destroyed, four people killed, more than 50 injured, and at this point, authorities aren't sure whether or not more people are missing.

I was not involved in this situation in any way, nor do I know anyone who lives in the affected neighborhood.  Nonetheless, this awful event served as a good reminder that life is short and can change in an instant.  So embrace happiness and love, and don't dwell on annoying minutiae, okay?  That's hard advice to follow day in and day out, but it's worth trying, right?

This wasn't the only reminder I had this week that life is short and should be embraced, but it's the one I'm choosing to mention on this space today.  All these reminders definitely have left me actively appreciating the good things in my life: the jaunt to Hawaii I'm about to take, the smart and fascinating people I know and love, a job I enjoy, the crush on a cute, if ridiculous boy I've recently developed (that last one probably won't last, but it's fun for now), abundant music.  I could go on and on.

John, Paul, George and Ringo knew what they were talking (or singing) about: all you need is love, my babies.

Best Party Ever.

Some parties are epic events meant to commemorated for years to come by future generations.  Their guest lists are long and they last into the wee hours of the morning.  Other parties are more intimate affairs but are, nonetheless, epic.  This is the story of one those parties.

Last Saturday evening I went to what may have been... dare I say it... the best party ever.  Tom, Chris, Roland, Berto, Julie and myself gathered at Roland's house to sit on his deck, drink wine and enjoy a barbecue.  So what made it the best party ever?  At risk of sounding arrogant, I have to say that it was our brilliance.  The energy was sparkling and our wit had never been so sharp.  A couple of quotes from the party follow:

"That bartender is like a combination of the movies Cocktail and My Left Foot."
"Happy and Slurry... those are my favorite of the Seven Dwarfs."

Okay, so maybe you had to be there, but trust me when I say that it was all very, very clever.  In addition to fancying ourselves the next generation of the Algonquin Round Table, we ate.  Boy, did we eat.  Perfectly grilled chicken, pork, skirt steak and lamb, along with zucchini, pineapple and roasted garlic.  We also grilled corn on the cob, but we all were full by the time that was done.

At about 9 p.m., we took the party on the road and continued our revelry at a nearby bar, but unfortunately, the wine made me tired, and that, in turn, made me a little crabby.  So I took leave of the bar earlier than my friends and was home by about 10:30.  It was okay, though, because a bar is just a bar, while our gathering on Roland's deck... Well, that was the best party ever.

I Love the Nightlife

Have you been to Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences yet?  No? Well, I highly recommend you go.  I went for the second time last night, and it was so much fun.

Just imagine if you'd been allowed to have cocktails during science class.  Take away the obvious horror of any school that would encourage underage students to drink, and you have to admit that cocktails would have made things at least a little more fun.  Well, once a week the Academy of Sciences stays open late and and serves liquor along with its exhibitions.  Plus, no children are allowed!  Maybe I shouldn't be so excited about that fact, but sometimes museums are way more fun when only adults are in the crowd.

Like I mentioned, I've been to Nightlife before.  A bunch of friends and I went in March of last year and had a fantastic time.  I was compelled to go again because the museum has an exhibition I wanted to see called Extreme Mammals and because the Academy of Sciences is just awesome all the way around. 

I met my friend Kevin at the Academy right after work, and once we got our first drinks, we went about the business of finding the Extreme Mammals exhibit.  Kevin's friend Ed soon caught up with us, as did my co-worker Rebecca and her daughter Laura (who, for the record, is 21 and very much not a child).  We hung out with the Extreme Mammals for a little while, and then Kevin, Ed and I parted ways with Rebecca and Laura.  However, we promptly ran into my friend Debbie and her date Steven and went with them to the aquarium.  After a little while we let Debbie and Steve have their museum-date alone time, and we went to visit the penguins.

That's when we saw the games.

You see, every week Nightlife at the Academy of Sciences has a different theme, so to speak, and last night was game night.  An entire wing of the museum (the wing that houses the penguins) was filled with tables of people playing all kinds of games.  We're talking Pictionary, Apples to Apples, Connect Four, Jenga and a whole slew of games I've never even heard of.  Kevin and I had to pause immediately for a quick game of Connect Four, and then later in the evening, after Ed left, we went back to the game room and made some new friends with whom we played Apples to Apples.  It was the perfect end to a perfect evening.

I'll repeat that the California Academy of Sciences is a marvelous museum any time of day, but in the evening with cocktails it is just plain genius.

Inspiration

I'd build a road in gold
Just to have some dreaming...

Since I became inspired to return to blogging, I've been thinking a lot about inspiration.  I, like everyone else, I'm sure, can find inspiration in a variety of places.  Great literature, profound thinkers and wise friends and relatives are always reliable sources, of course, but even pop culture can be a gold mine for inspiring words and ideas.  Seriously.  I, personally, have been known to draw inspiration from mainstream television shows (everything from Mad About You and My So-Called Life to Friends and Gilmore Girls) and pop songs.

Case in point: sometimes if I'm feeling insecure or anything less than fabulous and cute, I'll try to channel Joan, the character Christina Hendricks plays on Mad Men. Now, I look nothing like Christina Hendricks, and I'm fully aware that Joan is a fictional character in a show that takes place 50 years ago.  However, the high status and confidence that character projects (regardless of how Joan truly feels about herself) are very powerful. Try it sometime. I'm just saying...

Pop songs are good for any emotion.  If I'm in a good mood, affecting song lyrics or a good melody can produce a nice endorphin jolt and prolong that happiness.  If I'm in a bad mood, or in no particular mood at all, often the lines from a song can inspire me to change my attitude or think about what I want in life and how to get it.  An excellent example would be the above lines from the song "Dreaming" by Blondie.  For whatever reason, those eleven words really resonate with me.  They can serve as a perfect antidote for a case of the blues, and they inspire me to make things happen.  Positive things, of course.  I use my super powers only for good, not evil.

I just thought I'd share that with you and maybe even compel you to think about what inspires you.  You might be surprised at how much inspiration is out there.  I also recommend listening to a little Blondie and watching Mad Men.

Cantaloupe Girlfriend

Okay, here is the bad news: it's already 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, and my day is barely underway. However, the reason for my slow start is the good news: I had so, so, so much fun at the Mod dance party at the Burritt Room last night.

I arrived at about 9:30 and immediately made my way to the bar.  That's where my friend Julie found me and pointed out the table she'd secured for us.  Once I'd ordered my Champagne Julep, I joined Julie, and we got to the important business of chatting and catching up.  About half an hour later, our friends Kevin, Steve and Tom showed up, and the party really got going.  We sipped a variety of cocktails, including the Hotel Nationale, the Jade something (it's a rum drink) and the Critical Mass.  Actually, I'm the only one who tried the rum drinks, my friends mostly stuck with the Critical Mass.  I have no idea what was in that one, but it also was delicious.

As you can see, the Burritt Room has a delightful specialty cocktail menu.  At one point later in the evening, my friend Tom said to me, "We have lots of drinks in front of us, just pick one and drink it."  He was right, and so I did.

Truly, though, the cocktails were just a sidekick; the main attraction was the music.  Several DJ's took turns spinning Mod tunes from the 60's (primarily) until today, and it was fantastic.  I made multiple appearances on the dance floor with Kevin, Steve, Kevin and Steve's German friend (whose name I must confess I have forgotten), and Tom.  One musical highlight was the seamless transition from Deep Purple's "Hush" to "The Only One I Know" by the Charlatans UK.  Perfect.  And the best moment of my evening was the point when one of the DJ's played "With A Cantaloupe Girlfriend" by The Three O'Clock.  In case you're not familiar, the Three O'Clock was a Los Angeles band that was part of the city's Paisley Underground scene in the early 80's.  I love them, and not just because their music takes me back to the only good parts of junior high school.

I was absolutely in heaven for those three minutes.  I wanted to hug that DJ after the song was done, but I settled for merely thanking him.  As a result of my dancing and cocktailing, I didn't get to sleep until well into the wee hours of this morning, and we see where that has gotten me today.  Believe me, however, when I say that it was well worth it.  There are Mod dance parties and 60's DJ nights regularly in San Francisco (in fact, there is another one tonight), and I officially will be making it a point to attend them more often.

Modern Dance

Get your mini dresses and go-go boots ready because the end of the work week is coming!  Okay, I have no intention of donning go-go boots (even though I own a pair) and a mini dress, but I am going to begin my weekend with a Mod dance party tomorrow night.  60's soul and pop, ska, and a sprinkling of the Manchester sound will make for a great soundtrack.  I even have managed to convince a friend or two to come with me, which is a coup because within the group of friends I usually go out with, I am the only one quite so obsessed with 60's and Mod culture. 

I'm certainly going to need to shake a tail feather because all of a sudden it has become a long week.  Nothing specifically bad has happened, but it's not even 5 p.m. on Thursday, and I'm so ready the weekend.  I think I'll unwind tonight by walking the three miles home from work, doing my vocal exercises and singing in my living room (my neighbors love that) and going to bed early.  Then when I wake up, it shall be Friday.  Happy almost weekend, my lovelies!

Mad Hatter

Now that I have resolved to update this blog more frequently, I realize that I may not have so much to say.  My life pretty much consists of work, exercise, singing songs, reading books, seeing bands when I can and cocktailing with friends.  It's fun for me, but there's only so many ways I can spin that routine into an interesting read.

So perhaps I can at least regale you with a tale how of old age can lead to a new fashion discovery.  Now that I'm 40, my body has decided to rebel in several ways.  Actually, a lot of the rebellion started in my 30's, but I'm just now accepting it.  Anyway, now that I've scared you into thinking I'm going to launch into the details of some disgusting bodily function, I'll say that I'm merely going to talk about skin tone.

I've had freckles my whole life, but about four years ago, the skin on my face decided it might be fun to become about three different colors.  Apparently this just happens to some women as they get older, and it has resulted in many trips to the dermatologist, as well as several consultations with my facialist and the clerks at Sephora.  One thing I've learned is that I have to be very careful about the sun now, especially since I go to Hawaii twice a year.  That sunscreen I've been applying every morning for the last ten years just doesn't cut it anymore, even though I've steadily been increasing the SPF.

It has become time for me to invest in hats.  Yes, I'm going to be that kind of old lady.

In case you haven't noticed, I have quite curly (some would even say kind of big) hair.  I've thought for years that I couldn't wear hats as a consequence, and the idea of hat head has scared me to my core for as long as I can remember.  But here is the good news: as long as I remove my hat while indoors and shake out my hair, the hat head won't be too bad.  Plus, there are so many cute hats out there just waiting to meet my head.  Not that I really have a ton of extra money for shopping (see above paragraph about my many visits to the dermatologist), but I imagine I'll only need a well-chosen chapeau or two.  The above photo shows me "modeling" my first purchase on my sister's deck in L.A.  Survey says "cute," no?

I still need to get used to remembering to wear my hat more often, but luckily, we get so little sun here in San Francisco, I can probably ease into the habit.  And don't worry, if old age leads me to some embarrassing habits and necessities, I won't be writing about them here.  I definitely will not become that old lady.

All the Food That's Fit To Eat

Just a quick update tonight, my lovies.  It's already getting a bit late, and I'm on my six and a half year old laptop, which, needless to say, is slow as molasses.  I really should join the year 2010 and get a new one, but whatever.

Anyway, I have had the most lovely weekend, the highlight of which involved lots and lots of...EATING!  The San Francisco Street Food Festival was Saturday, and I decided to meet my friend Pat there for some power snacking.  Pat already had been there for several hours by the time I arrived a little after 4 p.m., so once I found him, we headed straight to the beer and wine garden (also known as a few square feet of fenced off pavement) for rum cocktails and Tecate.  He soon left for a pinball competition (oh, that's right), but I stayed and tried more delicacies, including Cuban tri-tip, spicy pork sausage, a bacon wrapped hot dog and funnel cake.

Keep in mind, I didn't claim this was the San Francisco Health Food Festival.

After getting my fill of street food, I walked to lovely 22nd Street to meet Valerie and Kevin at Cava 22, where we chatted and sang Beatles songs to each other over margaritas.  Not bad for a Saturday evening before 9 p.m.

Today was all about chores, working out and vocal exercises, and soon I will be spending an hour with my TV boyfriend Don Draper.  Yes, I know he's not exactly the most honorable man I could love, but here's a secret: he's a TV character and totally fictional.  To that end, I think it's okay to proclaim him my boyfriend.  I promise you, I will try not to date any real life Don Drapers.  Because frankly, I already have, and it isn't very interesting.

Tomorrow begins another work week and another Monday evening of singing songs.  I don't know how you feel about Mondays, but if they give you even the slightest of the blues, I highly recommend belting a few karaoke songs every week.  Your Monday will never know what hit it.

But Simon Was Nowhere To Be Found...

I've never seen the television show American Idol. No wait, I watched it once a few years ago.  It was the season finale the year that the two Davids battled it out for first place.  I paid attention for about 15 minutes and then got so bored that I did something else while the show merrily played on my TV in the background.

For years, friends of mine have wondered how a cover band-fronting, karaoke-loving amateur chanteuse like myself could be so uninterested in American Idol.  I have no explanation other than the fact that I like my karaoke live and in person, I suppose.  However, this week I got what could turn out to be a live preview of the upcoming season of American Idol.

After my vocal workout class on Wednesday evening, I met a friend at Encore Karaoke to sing a few songs. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was a mercifully small group of drunken revelers celebrating a birthday party.  Luckily, they were easy to ignore, and soon my friend and I realized that a lot of the other, better behaved warblers at Encore that night could sing really well.  I usually do my karaoke at The Mint, which is known for its stable of really good singers, so I didn't see anything odd about a karaoke bar filled with talent. Not to mention the fact that I was kind of keeping up with everyone. It pays to go singing after a voice class.

Then this guy asked me if I had a "band." Thinking he meant that he thought I could sing well enough to be in a band (which some would dispute, but whatever), I told him that I am, in fact, in a band and proceeded to tell him and the woman he was with all about Sober Nixon. The two of them nodded politely and smiled before letting me know I'd misunderstood.  "No, do you have a wristband?" the guy said, indicating the white paper circling his companion's wrist.

Wristband? Ahhh, at that moment I understood the proliferation of good singers. 

American Idol held auditions in San Francisco on Thursday, and probably half the singers at Encore Wednesday night donned wristbands guaranteeing them a chance to be seen by the judges the next morning and afternoon.  Everyone was rather good, but my favorite of the Idol hopefuls was a guy who looked like he'd stepped out of a ZZ Top video or Hells Angel convention. I don't know about you, but I'd expect a guy who looked like that to belt out Metallica or at least Steppenwolf.  Nope. This gentleman crooned Spandau Ballet, Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys.

And that was positively awesome.

All in all, it was a really fun night. I even ran into a couple of other friends of mine who don't normally do karaoke. At least I never knew they did. I stayed out too late, however, and ended up only getting five hours of sleep that night. That wasn't a big deal when I was 25 or even 30, but these days... Well, let's just say I needed to sleep for 10 hours last night to recover from Wednesday. Ah, old (meaning: middle) age.  The upside, however, is that I can tell any confused friends who wonder why I'm not watching American Idol that I've already seen it this year.

Sin City and Singing Songs

I don't know how warm it is where you are, but in San Francisco right now the conditions are downright Arctic. Okay, perhaps I exaggerate, but this summer has been particularly chilly, even for the City by the Bay. So to escape from the misery of donning fall and winter clothing in August (honestly), I shall regale you with tales from my annual summertime trip to Las Vegas, where the temperatures are hot and the action hotter.

Or something like that.

My friend Andrey celebrates his birthday in Las Vegas every year, and I am lucky enough to be invited. There is always sunshine, mayhem, a little bit of gambling and a theme night. Yes, a theme night. This year the theme was "James Bond," and the above photo showcases the outfits a few of us put together do Vegas 007-style. My idea was go all-gold in honor of Goldfinger, my favorite James Bond film. It really is the only good one.

Of course Las Vegas isn't only about James Bond. In fact, for most people it isn't about James Bond at all, but whatever. For me it was mostly about luxuriating at the Mirage Spa after my daily workouts (yes, I exercised in Vegas), playing the penny slots and actually winning a little bit of money here and there, delicious meals and poolside cocktails. All of us enjoyed the Mirage pool at one point or another during our stay, as evidenced above. We pretty much had to; it was about 105 degrees, after all. Basically, revelry and decadence dominated our stay. I'd tell you more, but as you know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

There was no time for lollygagging upon my return to the cool Bay Area, however, because my band, Sober Nixon, had a show at Cafe Royale the day after I got back. Don't we look like some kind of real band in this picture? We were the only act on the bill that night and basically had two hours we could fill. We only know about an hour and ten minutes worth of material, though, so that's how long the performance was. I'd say it went well, and I look forward to playing there again one day. I'm also getting excited to book more shows for us. We are only a cover band, which can be a bit of a challenge to market, but I have big plans. Big plans for hobbyist musicians who all have other jobs, that is.

I'll never quit my day job to pack up and go on tour, but if people come to listen and sing along when Sober Nixon plays, I'll be as happy as any rock star out there.

Everything Good Happens at Madrone

I seriously have been meaning to update this space for weeks, but as you can see, I haven't. So here I am in L.A. trying to slap together a quick update before I go meet my friend Assaf for coffee. Given that I am pressed for time, I'll give you a visual recap of some of my recent adventures.

My friend Candace recently moved, at least temporarily, from the Bay Area to San Diego. To celebrate, she had a little gathering at Madrone in the Western Addition (or Nopa, as some now call that neighborhood). Madrone is one of my favorite bars in the City. I don't go there as often as I should, but I still love it. I know the owner, who is a super nice, super talented artist, and when he bought Madrone, he turned from a typical lounge into a mix of art, cocktails, music and culture. And it rocks. The above photo is of Candace and me enjoying ourselves the night of her Madrone shindig.

This summer I became obsessed with the World Cup, just as I did four years ago. It's not as much fun to watch the games alone, so many a weekend afternoon was spent with friends watching a match and then continuing to socialize afterward. On one particular Sunday, my friends Emily, Eric and I got together for the World Cup at Madrone, then went to another bar to watch the Giants game, then ended up singing songs all afternoon at the Mint, where this shot was taken. That's me and Emily, but not Eric. The man in the photo with us is Thomas; he became our friend for a few hours that day.

The following weekend, Andrew, Becka and I gathered once again at Madrone for an afternoon of World Cup, and afterward we snapped these lovely shots in Madrone's photo booth. Yes, Madrone has a photo booth; it is that good.

So that's all for now. Coming soon is Andrey's birthday in Vegas, my band's little show at Cafe Royale, and then Hawaii again in September. You should find updates here... that is if I can bother to keep the space current. Obviously, that's a challenge for me.

Hooray for Hollywood

Well, good morning, and happy Monday, my gentle readers! I write you today from the City of Angels, where I have taken yet another mini-vacation. I really should have only a three to four day work week (as well as unlimited funds), so I can spend long weekends in Los Angeles more frequently. I arrived on Saturday afternoon and was greeted by temperatures not too hot but, nonetheless, a good 6-8 degrees warmer than in San Francisco. The rest of the trip could have been exceedingly boring, but that alone would have put me in a good mood.

However, my sojourn has been anything but boring thus far. On Saturday night, after an early dinner at Umami Burger, my sister Fabulous Patti and I met my friends Dave and Katya at Tiki Ti for delicious and authentically strong tropical cocktails. FP went home relatively early, but Dave, Katya and I stayed and chatted, imbibed and made friends with the bartender. I even chose my final drink by spinning the Tiki Ti wheel of mystery (I just named it that). I'm a daredevil, after all. After Tiki Ti, we went for Thai food at Palms on Hollywood Boulevard, which happens to be across the street from Florentine Gardens, a delightfully ridiculous 18-and-over dance club where I would shake my barely post-adolescent groove thing back in 1988 and '89. Ah, memories. Some probably are best left in the past.

Yesterday saw me sleep half the day away, but I'm on vacation, so who cares? Once fully awake, I took a late afternoon jog/power walk through Los Feliz and saw actress Jeanne Tripplehorn sitting in a totally nondescript Mexican restaurant on Hillhurst. It was weird for a second, but then I remembered that I'm in L.A., and even actresses have to eat. Last night I met my friend Emily and our fellow high school alum Randy for karaoke at a place called Rick's Tavern in Santa Monica. That was much fun; we all got to sing several times before calling it a night at about 12:30.

And this brings us to the here and now. I'm in town until tomorrow night, and we'll see what adventures I can cook up between now and then.

In case you're wondering what I've been doing between the last post and now, I offer you this photograph. This is me, along with my friends Valerie and Jessica at Beer Revolution in Oakland. We spent a delightful afternoon there with our friends Joo Eun, Chris, Frank and several of Joo Eun's friends whose names I don't recall sipping microbrews and snacking on vegan soul food (that's right) from the restaurant next door. I then was able to walk down the street to Jack London Square and catch my musician friend Michele, a.k.a. Tippy Canoe, performing an early show as part of the Oakland Underground Film Festival. After that, I headed back to Beer Revolution for more conversation and one last drink and before making it back to San Francisco at a very human hour. Not bad for mid-May Saturday by the Bay, huh?

Okay, my vacation is calling, and I must get back to it. If I don't relax, who will?

Winter To Spring

I made several New Year's resolutions this year, but unfortunately, those resolutions did not include keeping my blog up to date. To that end, we've got a little catching up to do. I'll do so with the help of a few photographs.

I'll start with the most recent and fun event event in my life: last week I was in Hawai'i. Yes, again. I go twice a year, and I'm not ashamed to admit it (why should I be?). I was joined on this trip by my friends Tom, Katya and Dave. Tom planned to spend a week with me on O'ahu, and we had the pleasure of Katya and Dave's company for three days by happy coincidence. Of course, it was a blast, as always. I must figure out a way I can spend all my days jogging (or power walking, as is often the case in tropical heat), luxuriating on the beach, sipping cocktails and singing songs. That's pretty much all I did during my eight days in paradise, and I loved every minute of it. This photo was taken during one of my afternoons parked before the Pacific. I snapped it myself with my cell phone. Yes, my days were very busy.

Easter was two weeks before my sojourn, and I celebrated with the annual brunch at the Rex Cafe in Russian Hill. Fellow Easter brunchers this year included Paul, Denise, Bill, Kim, Steve, Mary Beth, Nina, Onkar, Joel and Carla. We came, we ate, we drank mimosas and bloody Marys. Earlier that morning I watched Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in Easter Parade (another tradition), and later that afternoon I had a rehearsal with Sober Nixon. We played our bassist Ho's birthday party the following Saturday, so holiday or no holiday, rehearsal was in order.

Finally, about three weeks before Easter, my friend Marjorie drove up from the Peninsula to sing songs with me at the Mint. I always love getting my cocktail and karaoke on, but this time was particularly fun. Perhaps you can gather that from how happy we look in this photo snapped after all the songs had been sung. Anyway, Marjorie and I went to high school together. And junior high. And elementary school. So we've known each other since... oh, I'd guess about 1977 or so (correct me if I'm wrong, Marj). We also happen to share the same rock star birthday. We were never really friends during our youth, although we went to a small enough school that we definitely were acquainted. Thanks to the occasional run in here in San Francisco (she lived in the City before getting married and having children) and the magic of Facebook, we have reconnected.

While we were enjoying the singing, Marjorie told me that she'd been wondering recently why we never before were friends. All I could offer is I was much less interesting than I am now, not to mention exceedingly insecure. So we just decided to be friends moving forward. The irony (for lack of a better word) here is that Marjorie always reminds me of junior high school and the day a friend of hers walked into one of the classrooms singing "Marj, Marj, Marj, ye-ah!" to the tune of "Lies" by The Thompson Twins. But musical reminder or no, junior high school doesn't last forever. And thank goodness for that.

The Best of Intentions

I was doing so well on keeping up with this blog, but alas, I seem to have missed all of February. Well, aside from Valentine's Day and a few significant birthdays, February isn't a very interesting month, anyway. That's why it's so short; it's afraid it would fall victim to its own ennui, were it any longer.

So what have I been doing since the 16th of January?

Singing songs, mostly. And exercising. And socializing. Oh, and I go to work five days a week, as well.

Should I ever find myself in danger of becoming depressed, I'm fairly confident I could beat that depression down or at least soften it with exercise and singing. Both provide me with serious endorphin rushes, and sometimes I do think I'd suffer from more frequent bad moods and be a less happy person, overall, were it not for the singing and the exercise.

So I continue to do both. I exercise everyday (yes, everyday), and one of my New Year's resolutions...or "goals" as the commitment-phobe in me prefers to call them... is to sing at least once a week. I don't mean in the shower, or even just alone in my living room, but some form of public singing. Rehearsal with my little band, Sober Nixon, does count, but I decided voice lessons do not. Basically, I've either rehearsed or done karaoke at least once a week since 2010 began. Sometimes more often than that. Plus, Sober Nixon played a party back in January, and we'll be performing a few songs at a literary magazine launch next week. Those performances most definitely count.

Another of my resolutions was to write a song this year. However, even though I often, and I mean very often, wake up with original melodies in my head, I don't play an instrument, nor do I really read music (I can a little bit). So I never write those melodies down. To that end, I suspect I'll be rushing to try and fulfill this goal sometime around mid-December. Until then, I'm happy to sing songs written by others and let music accompany my workouts.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: in my world, happiness is a three-minute pop song. Especially if I'm singing it or jogging along with it.

Welcome To A New Decade

Happy New Year, gentle readers!

It may seem like that greeting is a couple of weeks late, but it is still the new year, is it not? Exactly. Not only have we entered a new year, but we've begun a new decade, and I think that calls for added optimism. At least it does here in Sassyland. The evil that was the first half of December, 2009, has become a mere dot in my rear view mirror, and forward I go. I begin the celebration of 2010 (which, for the record, I am choosing to call "two-thousand-ten," as opposed to "twenty-ten," at least for now) by sharing with you this photo of me and my friend Tom. It is my first photo of the new year, taken with my cell phone at the Orbit Room in San Francisco at about 12:05 a.m. on January 1st. Fun, no? As it so happens I left the Orbit Room about 10 minutes later and went home, but that just means I got the best of both worlds. I got to ring in the new year and decade, and I got a good night's sleep.


That weekend the party continued. The night of January 2nd, I made my way across the Bay to Luka's Taproom in Oakland for my friend Pat's birthday celebration. It was there that this fabulous photo of me and the lovely Chris Sams was snapped. Are we not pretty? I called it a relatively early night that evening, too, but I'm thinking this may be my new way of life: to socialize and still get some decent rest. So far it's been working for me.

I have some pretty specific goals for the new year, not the least of which involves my singing habit. I've taken up with a voice coach again (much to the dismay of my budget, but oh, well), and I intend to sing every week. I've not decided yet whether voice lessons count, but karaoke and Sober Nixon practice do. Plus, the Beatles sing along with live accompaniment at Cafe Royale that I went to last week definitely counts.

I have some other goals that involve self esteem and emotions, which hopefully will help prevent a repeat of the December '09 yuckiness. They're fun, too, but you can't belt high self esteem into a karaoke microphone or at an open mic. Or can you? Well, here's to answering that question in 2010 and beyond.

Christmas, Los Angeles Style

For the second time this month, I find myself in the City of Angels.

This time it was for the Sassy family Christmas celebration. I flew down to Burbank from the Bay Area after work on Christmas Day (oh, yes, I still work all the holidays) and have been here ever since. I fly back north in just a few hours, but it's been a fun weekend. My brother Peter made the Christmas scene from Germany this year and brought his girlfriend and her daughter with him. I haven't seen Peter in more than 7 years and thought I might cry when I arrived, but instead, it was he who burst into tears when he saw me. And of course, my mother flew in from Hawaii and joined me, Peter and our other siblings, nephews and one niece at my sister Fabulous Patti's pad in Los Feliz.

And that's where the Christmas party to end all Christmas parties took place.

We always have fun, but a lack of Christmas music this year (we actually had plenty, but it didn't seem like very much) prompted me to plug in my iPod and inspire the dance party and sing-along. We shook our collective groove thing to The Beatles, The Monkees, Stevie Wonder, The Selector, The Supremes, Darlene Love, The Jackson 5 and Bobby Darin, just to name a few. Even my friend Pat Johnson made a soundtrack appearance with his song "The Very Last Time," a personal favorite of mine. I might have been the only one singing along to that one, but whatever.

The day after Christmas was sort of a lazy one for my mom, Fabulous Patti and me, but we were very tired. I got a second wind in the evening, however, and took off for West Los Angeles where I met my friend Emily in one of the private studios at Max Karaoke. For two and a half hours we sang our hearts out. The song selection at Max Karaoke is amazing, and we were able to belt out numbers from the Waitresses, Squeeze, Madness, The Jam, The Beautiful South, The Belle Stars, Jesus Jones, Yaz, The Charlatans, The Crystals, The Angels, The Bangles, Janis Joplin, The Go-Go's and Elvis Costello, not to mention selections from Rent, A Chorus Line and Rocky Horror Picture Show.

If I lived in L.A., I would try to sing at Max Karaoke at least once a week.

Then today, Fabulous Patti, my mom and I went to Dusty's in Silver Lake for brunch. Sooo delicious and they have $5 mimosas on weekends. I'd be embarrassed to tell you I had three, but I'm on vacation. And that brings us to the present. I just have to tidy a few things up and make my regular pilgrimage to Pinkberry before I'm on my way home. Bummer. Too bad things like work, responsibility and real life get in the way of playtime in the Southland.

Kevin Hickey Saved the Day!

Merry Christmas Eve, gentle readers! I trust you are having a lovely holiday... or at least will tomorrow. I am relaxing after a busy day and will be jetting down to L.A. after work tomorrow for the Sassy family Christmas celebration.

However, before any of that can be considered, I have something very important to discuss with you. This week something tremendous happened: I became old. Or middle aged, anyway. You may have seen references in previous posts on this space, but it's official now. On Monday, December 21, 2009, I turned 40 years old. I hadn't exactly been looking forward to the occasion, so I decided to have three days worth of parties to celebrate and keep myself from simply crawling under my bed and crying. There was a big Saturday night dance party on the 19th, a Sunday afternoon karaoke party on the 20th and an official birthday dinner on the 21st.

I planned everything well in advance and had secured a space for the Saturday night dance party by Thanksgiving. That party would start at 7 p.m. and feature music from DJ English Steve, whom I had hired to spin 60's soul and power pop, a little Motown, 70's post punk and 80's new wave and ska. Also, my band Sober Nixon would play a short set in the middle of things, and then the whole party would wrap up around midnight. At least that was the plan until I learned two days before my party that the owner of the venue, which shall remain nameless (this space is only for happy thoughts), had booked an entire evening of house music DJ's on that same night. She did this even though her event coordinator had given me the green light to bring my own DJ and perform with my band, as well as approving the time frame I'd requested. Plus, he had taken a $600 deposit from me to secure my reservation for the evening.

To make a long story short, there apparently was some kind of gross miscommunication between the owner of the venue and her event coordinator, and my party was thrown over for the evening of house music DJ's. Ick. I understand that they can make more money with four DJ's promoting the night and potentially bringing in a few hundred people, but it's just unprofessional to double book like that, especially since they took my money.

Luckily for me, however, I know Kevin Hickey.

About half an hour before I got official confirmation that my Saturday night dance party had no home (the official confirmation came the day before, mind you), the brilliant Kevin suggested I contact Il Pirata, a bar and restaurant in Potrero Hill where Kevin had held his 40th birthday party last year. I did, and within five minutes my party had been rebooked. I didn't bother bringing Sober Nixon to Il Pirata (we hadn't rehearsed enough, anyway), but English Steve still could spin. And spin he did. I may be 40, but I danced like I was 21 that night. Okay, technically, I was still 39 during the dance party, but you get my point. It was so, so, so much fun, as evidenced by the above photo of me with some of my very satisfied party guests.

Had it not been for Kevin Hickey, the 45-50 people who attended the dance party would have been crammed into my living room listening to my cd's while they jockeyed for somewhere to sit. So yay, Il Pirata! Boo, stupid original venue! And for the record, I have not yet received a refund of my deposit from that stupid joint, even though the owner claims she is going to return my money. I have legal resources to help me secure my $600, if necessary, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

On Sunday, nine of us gathered at The Mint to sing songs. It was awfully crowded because The Mint was throwing their holiday party that afternoon, but that meant we got free food. Yum! And even though the wait was long, I still managed to sing "Perfect" and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." Singing songs will always make me happy, no matter what my age.

Then on Monday, also known as The Day I Became Old, the ten of us pictured here sat down at Amber India for a delicious dinner. If you have to be 40, I'd recommend at least enjoying a fabulous meal. Taste buds, I've decided, know no age. We drank scrumptious cocktails, munched on amazing food and engaged fantastic conversation. It was all so very grown up (and probably the only grown up thing I'll ever do, so it's a shame if you missed it).

Unfortunately for me, I've had to work at 4:00 in the morning all this week, including on my birthday and the day after. But I used the last gasp of my youth to celebrate with carefree abandon despite those early morning wake up calls. Tomorrow I get to "sleep in" since I don't have to be at work until 6 a.m., but then it's Christmas. And the party just goes on and on...

Escape To L.A.

Sometimes when life gives me lemons, I... run away. I don't mean "run away" in the sense of disappearing without leaving word or abandoning my responsibilities. I just mean that sometimes I benefit from a few head clearing days away from my life.

Life handed me a plate full of something very, very sour recently. So it was not hard last week, when I received an invitation to my friend Emily's birthday celebration in Los Angeles, to decide to make a spontaneous visit to the City of Angels. I rarely, if ever, do anything spontaneous. I'm a planner at heart, but I found a $97 round-trip flight down to Southern California and arranged to stay with my sister Fabulous Patti in Los Feliz, thus making this last minute sojourn seem like destiny. With that, I packed a suitcase, headed to the airport on Saturday afternoon, and told my routine in San Francisco that it could, with all due respect, kiss my ass for 48 hours.

When I arrived in the pouring rain Saturday night, the first order of business was running errands with FP in advance of our family's upcoming Christmas celebration. Champagne had to purchased so it would be handy on December 25th, after all. We didn't do much else on Saturday, mostly because of the weather. We had planned to go to Tiki Ti, my favorite bar on the east side of Hollywood, but in the end, it was just as fun to stay in and watch PBS. (I know, how's that for an exciting Saturday night? I didn't care. I was out of town, and frankly, that's all that mattered to me.)

The rain had cleared out by yesterday morning, and I was free to go running down Los Feliz Boulevard, pictured here. My Los Feliz runs tend to degrade into walks very quickly, but I go about four miles, and I love the route. Sometimes I head up into Griffith Park, as well, but I skipped that on this trip. After a lazy afternoon of napping, I hopped into Fabulous Patti's car and headed down to Marina del Rey to celebrate Emily. She and I, along with her new boyfriend and several of her friends, went to Manhattan Beach for holiday fireworks at the pier, followed by cocktails and dancing at a small lounge. After that came snacks and karaoke at Pancho's.

Not bad for a Sunday night, huh? I have to admit, I remained fairly blue for most of this trip, but when Emily and I took to Pancho's karaoke stage to duet on "Don't Stop Believin'," I had to be happy for at least those four minutes. Yes, that song sucks, but karaoke bars everywhere and the television show "Glee" have given it a second life. And if you can hit the notes, which Emily can, and I pretty much can, it's really fun to sing. Plus, the crowd absolutely loved it and us.

I've felt pretty good today, which is a good thing, since I'm heading back to the Bay in just a couple of hours. My flight has been delayed, but soon enough I'll be back in San Francisco...hopefully re-energized and ready to fight a pile of rotten citrus.

Amazing

I guess it says something about life that I'm almost 40 years old (12 days and counting), and I still stumble upon things that amaze me.

Case in point: the extraordinary talent of some performers. I went to the opening of the latest Cirque du Soleil show, Ovo, last week, and it was, of course, tremendous. Now, I've seen several Cirque shows before, including Love, which is my absolute favorite. So one would think I'd be accustomed to the brilliance of their performances. However, each new show brings with it more amazing displays of talent. So good. If you get a chance to see Ovo, I'd highly recommend you do. Although, if you're going to see any one Cirque show, it definitely would be worth the driving time or the airfare to scoot to Vegas to see Love. The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil? You can't possibly go wrong with that combination.

Another thing that amazes me is the depth and intensity of human emotions. Even and especially emotions we try to talk ourselves out of because we know they aren't good for us. Or perhaps I should say emotions we try to talk ourselves out of because they are wrapped up in situations that aren't good for us. That, my dear readers, is a jaw-dropper every time.

Rico's Birthday, Ole's Birthday

Well, now that I've resumed my little blogging habit, I'm finding that I very much enjoy it. I still am distracted a lot of the time by Twitter and Facebook; so we'll see how long I keep up with my posts here before they fall victim once again to me spending too much time on other websites.

Anyway, after a Thanksgiving filled with much food (as well it should be), I had two birthdays to celebrate. On Saturday night, I made my way to Kozy Kar, a relatively new, I believe, bar in Polk Gulch for Rico's birthday. Kozy Kar features 70's era decor, 80's music pouring out of the sound system, stiff and occasionally quite large cocktails, and on this particular 2009 evening, at least, wall to wall denizens.

As always, I was most interested in the soundtrack. While the majority of the music filling Kozy Kar was a mix of relatively mainstream hits by the likes of Billy Idol, Journey, Animotion and... heaven help us all... the Gap Band, there were some gems tucked in there. "Cool For Cats" by Squeeze, "See You" by Depeche Mode and "Special Brew" by Bad Manners are not the most obscure songs ever written, but it's been a while since I've heard any of them playing at such a hipster filled joint. It was a fun night, overall, and it ended with me, Rico, Nina, Onkar, Joel and Frances dining on pizza and left over Thanksgiving pies at Joel's place at 3:00 in the morning. Did I mention that the drinks at Kozy Kar are on the strong side?

There was precious little time to rest between the end of Rico's party and the beginning of Ohlena's, however. To celebrate the birth of Ole, a bunch of us gathered on the lawn at the Park Chalet. Ole, herself, arrived with her boyfriend Kevin at 11 a.m. Personally, I showed up at about 1:30. It was a perfect day for an outdoor party. We sat in the fog-free sunshine and enjoyed snacks and drinks in near 70-degree warmth. That's rare for Ocean Beach at any time of year, let alone late November.

After Ohlena's party wrapped up in the late afternoon, I made my way home and was very productive. I managed to do laundry, clean my bathroom and write half my Christmas cards all by about 8:00 p.m. Maybe I should attend two parties over the course of 18 hours more often. It seems to inspire me to get things done.

Day of Thanks

What? Two posts in one week? Can you believe it?!? It's almost like my blogging heyday of 2006 and 2007.

Anyway. It's Thanksgiving, and it seems appropriate to acknowledge that on this little chronicle. To celebrate, I spent almost two hours at the gym working up a decent sweat late this morning, and then I went to work. Yes, I work in an industry that doesn't take holidays, but that's okay. After work, I'm going to enjoy champagne and room service snacks with my sister, Fabulous Patti, who is visiting from Los Angeles. Not a bad day, if you ask me.

I will admit, however, that I have been somewhat out of sorts lately. Between my upcoming 40th birthday, which is not sitting at all well with me, and other frustrations, I've haven't felt particularly thankful. Some might even say I've been downright blue. That's kind of a ridiculous attitude, considering the cushiness of my sassy life; so I'm now going to list a bunch of good stuff for which I should be thankful. I've done this Thanksgiving exercise on this space before, but I definitely think it's necessary this year. So here goes...

1. A job I enjoy in the industry of my choice. This is particularly significant right now, considering the economy.

2. The two trips I take to Hawaii every year, which are paid for by that aforementioned job.

3. Other little vacations, like L.A. multiple times a year and Vegas for Andrey's birthday every July.

4. A nice home in a fabulous neighborhood of a world class city. Sometimes when I'm jogging in the morning or just running errands, I look around my neighborhood and realize how lucky I am to live there.

5. Speaking of jogging, I'm thankful for my ability to exercise. There's nothing better than a daily endorphin rush.

6. Singing songs. I don't claim to be the best singer in the world, but I have a decent voice and manage to stay on key most of the time. Plus, singing never fails to put me in a good mood. It's like an anti-depressant.

7. Music in general. I don't know what I'd do without the likes of The Beatles, The Go-Go's, Nick Lowe, The English Beat, The Monkees and all the other musicians and songs I love.

8. Parents who raised me to believe that being well educated for just the sake of a good education is its own reward. I never cease to be surprised and horrified by people who think college is nothing more than a means to a larger paycheck.

9. My friends. Especially those willing to listen to me sing songs and/or sing with me.

10. Good theatre and a decent nightlife in San Francisco. There's always something fun to do or see here. Having lived in a much more boring town in New England in the mid-90's, I definitely appreciate entertainment and recreation opportunities.

Okay, I think that's a decent list for now. The sassy life is a good life, even if it is making me turn 40 and deal with situations and people (read: stinky boys) who bug me. If life were perfect, I suppose it would be quite boring.

Glamour, Gala and Songs To Sing

As much as I hate the shorter days, I must admit that autumn has been treating me well so far. About a week and a half ago, my company threw a very fancy party to celebrate its anniversary. A gala, if you will. It was super fun to get dressed up and enjoy the snacks and drinks with my equally coiffed and fanicified co-workers. The party was even in the fanciest room of one of San Francisco's more swank hotels.

And did I mention we had snacks and drinks? Yum.

To give you at least some idea of the glamorous time that was had by all, I'm posting a couple of gala snapshots. Above are me and Christine, and below are me, Tom and Phil (in a photo taken with my cell phone). All are coworkers and dear friends of mine. After the fancy party, I scooted across town to meet Frances, Nina, Onkar, Joel and several others for karaoke. We went to one of those private karaoke places in Japantown that gives you your own room and lets you have at it where the singing is concerned. Unfortunately, this particular establishment did not have the greatest song selection, but we made the best of it. We sang Beatles, U2, more Beatles, Roberta Flack, The Exciters and um... more Beatles (Onkar and I were in charge of the song selection at one point and chose about eight Beatles songs in a row).

This past weekend I was a little under the weather, but that only slowed my momentum; it didn't stop it completely. I discovered that the Soap Opera Network can comfort you quite well when you are infirm because they show reruns of the original "Beverly Hills, 90210" for hours on end on Saturdays, followed by a couple of episodes of "Gilmore Girls." I think my brain forced my health to improve to get me off the couch and away from all that television.

And in mere days it will be Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas, and of course, the most important holiday of the year: my birthday. In 27 days I turn 40 years old. I'm not really certain how that happened; I just I know that I never signed off on getting older. However, as my co-worker Mike pointed out, getting older is better than the only realistic alternative. So get older I will. And if all goes according to plan, I'm going to have a super fun 40th birthday party. It's going to be at this very hip art gallery and lounge, and I've hired DJ English Steve to play 60's soul and power pop, along with post-punk, new wave and a little bit of ska. Plus, my band, Sober Nixon, is going to play a short set. I may as well take advantage of my captive audience and sing to them, right?

Hopefully, all this will make 40 as fabulous as my 30's have been. Hopefully.

Sober Nixon

No, the title of this post is not a speculation on the physical state of any past president or anyone else. As you may know if you visit this space with any kind of regularity, Sober Nixon is the name of my... for lack of a better word... band.

You see, I always have wanted to sing. Always, always, always. I realized in high school that I had a pretty good voice, but I also realized I didn't have the greatest pitch in the world. So I concluded that I couldn't sing and had to content myself with merely singing along with my favorite records in secluded places. Well, long story short, a stint in a fake band with some co-workers three years ago lead to some singing lessons, and that lead to better pitch and, more importantly, greatly improved confidence. I know my limits (for example, harmonizing by ear is not my strong point), but I've realized that I can, in fact, sing. Some even say I sing very well.

So I have taken this new found knowledge and put it to good use. In addition to becoming a karaoke addict, I have spent the last couple of years finding musicians to sing with. Sober Nixon is the current vehicle for my warbling hobby. We play open mics, mostly, but last Wednesday we had a real gig. We were the first band on the bill at the Rockit Room. Since I don't write music (that's the next challenge), Sober Nixon is a cover band. We did do one song on Wednesday that our guitarist wrote, but in general, she keeps her original material separate from Sober Nixon's song list. You'll never hear us perform currently overplayed numbers like "Love Shack" or whatever has topped the charts more recently, but if you like the Monkees, the Beatles, Nick Lowe, Blondie, Fairground Attraction, the Go-Go's and the Bangles (early Bangles only), then we're your kind of cover band.

One day I would like to be in a band that writes its own material, but for now I'm happy to sing the songs I've always imagined singing when I hear them on the radio or through my iPod headphones as I jog. So here's to more Sober Nixon shows. Hopefully you'll be able to see us at a club near you soon.

From September To October

My, but time flies. Especially when you don't update your blog as regularly as you once did. So here's a little summary of a few things I've been up to since my last post.

I went to Hawaii for eight glorious days last month. And it was, in fact, glorious... until the end of the trip when my sister and I were bitten by bed bugs in our five-star hotel. That's right. We got the hotel to clean our clothes and luggage, and they did comp us for the nights we were bitten. But only after some negotiation. I can only say I'm glad the bugs didn't get us until the end of the sojourn because they are a major buzz kill. At least I didn't bring any home with me (knock wood).

Since my return to San Francisco, I have been rehearsing with my little cover band, Sober Nixon, because we have a show coming up! It's on Wednesday, and I'll let you know how it goes once it happens.

This past weekend was jam-packed full of fun beginning with Carla's birthday party Friday night. Those of us in this photo (birthday girl Carla is in the center wearing white) began the evening with about 25 others at Bossa Nova in SOMA for delicious Brazilian food. After dinner ended at about midnight, most everyone else headed to Mezzanine to go dancing, but I went home. I needed to rest up for my big Saturday, which included rehearsal for the Sober Nixon show, seeing my rock 'n' roll boyfriend Nick Lowe perform at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park and then meeting Erin for an evening of wine and socializing.

Then yesterday I went to Vanessa's all-day breakfast birthday party. Is anything better than having pancakes, bacon and mimosas at 4:00 in the afternoon? I think not. And that brings us to this evening which finds me watching the new television drama Trauma as I write this post. Trauma is a terrible show, but my friend Katarina is in tonight's episode, so yay! I'm happy to tune in to see her, even if the show isn't worthy of her or her talent.

Otherwise, I'll just be singing songs through Wednesday night.

Late Summer Days. And Nights

This is my least favorite time of the year. On one hand, the transition from late summer into early fall makes for a beautiful season, and in San Francisco, September offers some of the best weather on the calendar. But on the other hand, the days are getting shorter, and nothing really interesting happens until the holiday season.

So as I am wont to do, I make the most of what these months have to offer. Case in point: I'm off to Hawaii in a week. Yay! Back here at home, I'm filling my free time with fun, and this last week was no exception.

I snapped this little cell phone photo of myself with my friends Nina and Onkar on Friday night. Well, technically, it was Saturday morning. What had started as happy hour at Osha in the Financial District with Frances, Zeeshan, Dean, Joel, Zaineb, Nina, Onkar and myself turned into an evening music and cocktail party. We took the party from the FiDi to a Western Addition apartment, and while the others took smoke breaks on the balcony, I took charge of Onkar's iPod. Like me, Onkar is a huge music fan, and he has tastes similar to mine. So there was a lot to choose from among the 4500 songs that fill his little music player. We drank, ate snacks, chatted and sang along to the tunes. (Okay, it was mostly me singing along, but whatever.)

But wait, I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. A whole week's worth of fun preceded our Friday night music party. Last Sunday afternoon my friend Erin and I went to see the Giants beat the Rockies as the two teams battle for a spot in the playoffs. It was Stanford Alumni Day at the game, and even though this proud Brown University graduate did not attend Stanford (Erin did), I was a good sport and cheered for the Giants among the Cardinal faithful. On Monday I met Denise for cocktails at the bar at the Fancy Gym. Yes, the Fancy Gym has a bar; it's that fancy. It was there that I discovered bubble gum flavored vodka. You read that right. Actually, Denise had discovered the bubble gum vodka a few weeks ago when she and her boyfriend Paul went to a movie premiere in L.A., but the Fancy Gym bar has it. Yum.

On Tuesday Sober Nixon had a little open mic performance in Alameda. It wasn't our best open mic showing, but it was okay. By the way, Ho, our bass player, is trying to get Sober Nixon on the bill of a real show in early October. We'll see if that pans out. Open mics are fun, but a real club show would be that much more fun. I stayed in on Wednesday night and then met Kurt and Terry for more socializing after work on Thursday.

All of that wore me out for the weekend, and I spent most of yesterday relaxing and napping with just a workout, laundry and some other housework to break up my dozing. But the fun kicks into high gear again this afternoon when I get together with Christine for our regular gossip session. Then it's Heidi's birthday party tomorrow night and a possible recording session for Sober Nixon on Wednesday. We have to record some songs if we want to be considered for any shows next month.

And after all that, I'm that much closer to Hawaii. Again, yay!

Rocktail On

Last Saturday I was transported back to 1979 and found that David Bowie had invited me to a cocktail party.

Well, sort of, anyway.

My friend Candace, pictured here with me, has spent... well, I'm not sure how much time... putting together a fundraising party to benefit the initial film making ventures of her artist collaborative production company, Girl Wonder Athletic Productions. She's been working on it for at least as long as I've known her, which is about five and a half months. The theme of the affair was 1979 glam. In other words, the kind of cocktail party David Bowie likely would have thrown 30 years ago. Candace dubbed it the Experimental Art Rocktail Party, and it was a hoot and a half.

The party blended music and performance art with cocktails, snacks and some fabulous outfits. Two bands played, there was kissing booth (which I never saw anyone use, but it was there), and I got to sing with one of the bands.

I'm getting ahead of myself here, though. Let's go back to the outfits. And in my case, the make-up. You know it's a good party if you can wear gloriously long false eyelashes and have a make-up artist do your make up for you. At least I know that. Add pink go-go boots, over-sized accessories from H&M and a fabulous outfit from Piedmont on Haight Street, and frankly, the party starts the moment you look in a mirror.

It's funny. When Candace first mentioned this party to me, she asked me if I like to dress up. I answered yes, but I think the enthusiasm I discovered for putting together a look for myself surprised even me. Good times. Then there was the singing. Sometime in the spring, Candace made what could perhaps be called the mistake of suggesting that maybe I should perform at the party. It was a suggestion upon which I jumped immediately.

So it soon was decided I would sing two songs with NN, the second band of the evening. Given that David Bowie was throwing this party, at least in spirit, both of the bands did David Bowie covers, and I sang one of them. Well, technically I sang a Queen cover, "Under Pressure," but that's kind of a David Bowie song. I learned the Freddie Mercury part (not easy, I'll have you know), and Nero, the leader of NN, took on David Bowie's portion. I also got to sing one of my favorite songs, Blondie's "Dreaming," with NN backing me up. I have enough fun singing songs on my own, but when I looked at the crowd during "Dreaming" and saw what seemed like everyone singing along and dancing with complete abandon, that fun kicked into overdrive. I didn't write that song, obviously, but it still was super neat to see so many people digging it. Then we all danced our asses off to the styling of a very decent DJ once the live music was done.

All in all, the Experimental Art Rocktail Party was a smashing success. And my sister Fabulous Patti joined me for the fun, along with Kevin, Dima, Carolyn, Frances, Erin and Roland. Personally, I'm ready for the next party, but I bet after all that work and planning, Candace really needs a break. So I can be patient. After all, I still have the go-go boots.

Las Vegas: It's Like a Spa.... With Cocktails, Gambling and Lots of Neon

It was Andrey's birthday this past weekend, and, as is tradition, about 30 of us gathered in Sin City to celebrate. And celebrate we did. To some of us, that meant staying out until 6 a.m. dancing at nightclubs or watching others... uh... dance on a pole or two. But to me, celebrating meant cocktails, a little dancing and then an early, by Vegas standards, bedtime of about 1 a.m. so I could be up by 9:00 every morning to work out at the Mirage gym and lounge in their spa facilities. Then we'd all spend several hours at the Mirage pool, as evidenced in the above photograph. Add in the fact that the July desert heat turns Las Vegas into a serious sauna, and you have a giant spa.

I did gamble a bit, too. I like the slot machines but really just regard them as expensive video games, as opposed to truly trying to win any money. To that end, I only play the penny slots, so I can minimize my expense. At one point during the weekend, I was up about $21 in my "video gaming," but when all was said and done, I had lost about $14. Ah, well.

One the highlights for me this year was definitely Friday night when Frances, Katya and I went to see The Beatles LOVE. It was amazing, to say the least. I was in tears throughout most of the show, which would be embarrassing, but I discovered that one of my fellow Andrey celebrants saw it last year, and he cried, too. So no shame necessary.

Saturday night was Mafia Night, and we all dressed as gangsters and their molls, representing mob culture from about the 20's to the present day. Here, Irina, birthday boy Andrey and I are decked out in our mobster finest. (To be honest, my costume looked a lot like my normal clothing, and that's because it was. Not that I'm any sort of a gangster in real life, but I have a couple of dresses that look 40's/50's-ish, and I figured one of them would suffice.)

On Sunday night we celebrated Andrey's birthday officially with a delicious dinner at the Palms Casino. A bunch of us went dancing after that, but Tom, Irina, Bill and I decided to hit the Imperial Palace for more gaming (lots of penny slots at the IP, my friends). And then Monday arrived, and I flew home in the late afternoon. But not before a last visit to the gym/spa, more pool time and a few more spins at the penny slot machines.

I could get used to a life of exercise, poolside cocktails and fabulous food and shows. However, since I don't gamble for real, I'm going to have to work a few more years before I can even dream of being able to afford such a life.

(Photos courtesy of David Piechowski. I brought my camera with me but really didn't use it, opting instead to take a few pictures with my mobile phone and upload them onto Facebook immediately. You can see them there, if you happen to be my "friend.")

Real Rock Star, Fake Rock Star

What I should be doing right now: working on my newspaper column, which is due on Sunday. What I am doing: playing on the Internet and updating this little chronicle. After rambling here, I probably will hop onto Hulu and watch an episode of "Chuck." (Why does NBC not rerun that show? Do people really want to see endless airings of "Deal Or No Deal"?)

Anyway, the tale I tell you this evening is that of a real rock star and a fake rock star. The real rock star in question is my friend Bray. He had a CD release party at the Independent this weekend, and it was super fun. After a few glasses of champagne across town at Project One, I arrived just in time to see Bray take the stage as well as command of his pitch perfect set. Bray is one of the most dynamic performers I've ever seen, and he was awesome.

The fake rock star would be me. Between the bronchitis, my mini L.A. vacation two and a half weeks ago and just generally being busy, I hadn't been singing much for the past month. But a few days ago, Jackie and I got together for rehearsal (Ho, our bass player, is traveling in Mongolia), and I was handily reminded why I love singing songs. I'd been in a dour mood beforehand, but after our two-hour practice, I was happy as a clam. We also treated my friend and neighbor Alison, who is about to move to India, to a little mini concert in my living room.

Just an aside: I certainly have some globe-trotting friends, don't I? The furthest I've ever traveled is to Great Britain, and in general, I don't stray further from home than Hawaii. Okay, back to our tale.

With a good rehearsal under our belts, Jackie and I decided to perform a few tunes at the McGrath's open mic in Alameda last night. I sang three songs and then left the stage to Jackie to play some of her original numbers. There were only about 15 people in the joint, which I believe is rare for that particular open mic, and to be totally honest, most of them didn't pay attention. But such is the life of a fake rock star. Jackie has much more rock star cred than me, and her original songs are really good. One guy liked them so much, he bought drinks for me and Jackie once she was done. Jackie's solo work has nothing whatsoever to do with me, but I took the free cocktail, anyway.

I'm going to guess that getting a complimentary beverage when your guitarist writes and performs some good songs also is part of the fake rock star life. And frankly, that suits me just fine.

Independence Day, Bay Area Style

Happy America's birthday, gentle readers! I trust you had a lovely 4th of July. My holiday festivities began a day early this year, as did many others' celebrating, I imagine. I actually didn't have Friday off, but I worked early and was on the patio at Zeitgeist with a Downtown Brown ale in my hand by 3:00 that afternoon. Given that most everyone else had the day free, as well, it was far more crowded than a regular Friday at 3 p.m., but I didn't mind. Nor did Kevin, Kurt, Paul, Denise, Tom or Chris, all of whom joined me. At about 6:00 I left with Paul and Denise to indulge in gourmet deep dish pizza at Little Star, and then I headed home and went to bed early.

That early bedtime, you soon will see, was necessary, as I had a jam-packed Independence Day ahead of me. After a lazy morning followed by a nice workout at the gym, I cleaned up and was ready for action.

The first stop on my 4th of July Tour of Fun was Berkeley, where my friend Christina was hosting a barbecue. There was good food, excellent company, live chickens in a coop (don't worry we ate none of them) and a couple of women in tank tops and shorts or skirts who didn't shave their legs or underarms. I must say, it's been years since I've seen that very stereotypically Berkeley phenomenon. On an intellectual level, I'm appalled by the way women in this country are expected to be virtually devoid of body hair. However, I also am a product of my culture and keep myself well shorn and waxed. Within reason, anyway. (Perhaps this is too much information, but I've never traveled to Brazil and have no intention of doing so.)

After a delicious meal, I had to leave the barbecue and BART back into the City for a Margarita Club meeting at Cava 22 in the Mission. While there, Berto and I spied a gentleman roaming the street wearing just a top hat, spats and a barrel while waving an American flag. I assume he also was wearing underpants, but I really don't know for certain. What a San Francisco way to celebrate the nation's birthday, no?

An hour later I was off again and headed to North Beach for Helen's 40th birthday party. I got to see the City's fireworks display on the way there, which was a lovely surprise, since I had been certain the display would be eaten by the fog this year. 4th of July fireworks are always hit and miss in San Francisco. Anyway, Helen's party was much fun. We chatted, drank a couple of cocktails, and I learned that her neighbor apparently works in pornography. The very nice gentleman in question says he's neither an actor nor a fluffer, but he wouldn't say just what it is that he does do. And it is just his day job; he's actually a musician and would like to compose and produce film soundtracks someday. Anyway, that also seems very stereotypically San Francisco. While I believe the San Fernando Valley to be the heart of the adult film industry, I've never met anyone who works in porn in L.A., and Helen's neighbor is not the first person I've met here who works in some form of adult entertainment. I didn't even bat an eye while talking to him last night. Well, I didn't bat an eye once I was convinced he wasn't lying about his job, and the mild shock wore off.

All in all, I'd call it a very successful Independence Day. I hope the rest of America had as fun a birthday as I did.