My American Idol

After this weekend, I can honestly say that Taylor Hicks is one of the most talented and charismatic performers I have seen, and if you know me, you know I have attended many shows by all types of artists. I feel fortunate that I had a weekend full of music, having attended 4 shows between 7pm on Friday night and 4am Sunday morning. What was my itinerary? iPay One Center for American Idols Live, Hard Rock Cafe La Jolla for "Little Memphis Blues Orchestra" (LMBO), Staples Center for AI and then the Viper Room on the Sunset Strip for LMBO again. The LMBO shows were the best and they jammed both times with and without Taylor.

In fact, before we get to Taylor, I need to tell you about the band, LMBO. This is a group of solid musicians, all talented vocally and with their instruments. Check out their site if you have a chance. If they get an album out at some point, you'll hear about it here. These guys have a wonderful synergy and are generous to each other, allowing each other to be heard constantly. If you love the blues, you may love its unpredictability at times and this band brings that quality. If you happen to catch them, look out for Jeff playing two saxes at once...what a set of chops. Brian's piano solo is great too. Just after the set break at both shows, he returned to the stage first and did some Elton John. Wonderful!

Back to the story. I never thought I would find myself at the Viper Room (yes, where River Phoenix died) but I went there by myself after the Staples show, deciding last minute just to go for it. I enjoyed the LMBO show so much the night before so even if Taylor wouldn't show up like I heard he would, it would be a great time, a chance to be in a legendary club, and an opportunity to talk to members of the band and newly made acquaintances again. Jeff had said he would try to get me on the list for the sold out show but couldn't guarantee it. You know the end of this chapter. After great suspense at the time, I got in! I owe a fantastic saxophone player, Jeff Lopez, more than a thank you for getting me on the list Saturday night and allowing me the chance to see Taylor perform like he has for the past 10 years, on stage with his band playing his own songs in an intimate venue without the fancy lights and big stage...right where he seems the most at home. I hope to witness this again sometime.

I didn't leave West Hollywood until nearly 4am that night. After the show I had to go and get my camera from the bouncer who confiscated it. Does this make me a junior papparazzo? In order to get the camera and memory card back, I had to beg which was somewhat humiliating but I needed to get my pictures. Once that mission was accomplished, I waited outside to see if Taylor would emerge and also to talk to my friend from the band. I waited with the woman I had met up with from San Diego. At 2:25, I realized that I had to get my car. The garage was closing at 3 and was blocks away. I took off running (yeah, running) and got to the place only to find the gate shut. "Merde!" (pardon my French) I saw the parking guy walking down the street and begged for a 2nd time that night, this time for my car. You may guess that I got it back. I drove back to the Viper Room and Taylor had gone. What luck! Jeff from the band came outside and we chatted with him for a while. We includes myself, the woman from San Diego, and another woman who was terribly drunk.

At about 315am, we decided to leave. I drove the others to their car and the drunk girl ended up passing out! Oh doctor! (Again, you would pardon my French here.) The San Diegans said to follow them and they would stop and Denny's. The drunk girl supposedly lived in Laguna and they would take her home. We looked for her id and phone and couldn't find any information...her friend had ditched her by the way. I was worried as we drove down Sunset, that the car I was following would not stop at Denny's and that I would be stuck with her. Scenarios raced through my head, none of them good for me. It ended up fine though I haven't found out what exactly happened yet. I will have to call the woman from San Diego and find out.

At 430a I arrived at my sisters and by 730a I was awake an on the way to my mom's. I decided that I would leave L.A. at 1 or 2 and go to the Arrowhead Pond, the Idols tour's next stop. I would go there to hang by the tour busses and try to meet Taylor. I know, I sound crazy now, but I wanted to give him a note and a gift and meet him and things had worked out all weekend so why not? I didn't meet him but I did get my picture signed. A guy with the tour was kind enough to take the photo to him and an hour later, the picture you see above, taken by me at the show on Friday night, was signed.

I know this entry is a little scattered but I'm still excited about the weekend. I left plenty of details out, to spare you and to keep some of it to myself as it really was one of the most adventurous times I've had. The best part is, it made me write again...

Mr. JT

Justin Timberlake is back...not that most of you knew he was gone. Dropping a couple of years after his solo debut, "Future Sex/Love Sounds", Justin's 2nd record, hits shelves on September 12. If the first single, "Sexyback", is any indication, this is a new sound for Justin and a look back at Prince and some old, funky, sexy sounds. There is even a shout out to Tipper Gore on bottom-left corner of the album cover, Parental Advisory it reads.

So, obviously this isn't an album review since it ain't out yet. This is however a concert review. Yes, a couple of friends and I saw Justin Timberlake last week at the House of Blues in San Diego and despite all of the ribbing and mocking, I don't regret it in the least. It was a fun show, it was a hot show, and it was a show I got to see up close, probably 10 feet away from the stage. Cameron Diaz was there and so was Lil' Jon. They were spectators. I may have lost my voice because I was doing my Lil' Jon impression too loud and too frequently during a brief period of time. There was another special guest on stage, but hold on, I'll tell you about him in a few.

JT kicked it off with "Cry Me a River". You remember that one. It was the anti-Britney song, calling her out for the alleged cheating. By all accounts, she's gotten hers (think K-Fed). We heard some of the old stuff from "Justified" and new songs from the upcoming album. The new songs are cool and feel like Prince and others from the past. Justin's attitude when introducing his new material: if you don't like it, F-U. :) He's on a roll lately with saying what he wants. Lucky for JT, he didn't have any Taylor Hicks comments to make at the show. He would have lost me there, for sure!

Who was the special guest? Timberland! That's right, he was up on the stage for "SexyBack" and then performed "Promiscuous", sans Ms. Nelly Furtado. The crowd of mostly girls filled in for her though and it was more than a duet. It was a great night of dancing and singing and checking JT out, up close. He's come a long way from the boy band days of the past.

The next day, my crew was mentioned on the radio by a DJ who was there. How do we know they were talking about us? They described us well, "some girls even made tank tops with Justin's picture on them." That would be us. Had we known that our shirts would be popular (at least 20 people asked where we bought them), we could have made some extra cash.

That was our night of JT.
Up next, my weekend in pursuit of Taylor Hicks, who incidentally can carry a tune without carrying a bucket too!

Walking on Sunshine

"Little Miss Sunshine" is my favorite movie of the year so far. I cannot name another film that has delighted me as much. I was lucky to see it in a sneak preview, for free, and was totally impressed and entertained. My friends decided to go see it tonight since they didn't make the preview and I went along. It was brilliant again. It is rare that a film is entertaining enough to see twice in the same month while being just as impressive as the first time it was viewed.

There are too many great parts for me to choose a favorite but basically, the film looks at a dysfunctional family who like your family or mine still experiences love and joy together despite all of the crap that gets thrown in between the moments that make it worthwhile.

I have not seen a film like this in a while and encourage you to go and enjoy it and be prepared to laugh...out loud.