Ben Platt

There have been past years when I've gone to more concerts.  2022 was an especially good year, and hey, it's hard to top seeing Pulp last year in Glasgow.  And it's not that this year has been bad, per se.  Kraftwerk was pretty awesome after all.

Last night, though, was one of the best concerts I have been to in ages.  So, thank you, Ben Platt.

I was aware of Ben Platt and Dear Evan Hansen thanks to RuPaul's Drag Race, but the first time I heard anything from him was when Van shared a song, Grow as You Go.  Lovely song.  But I still didn't know his stuff.  The first movie I saw at the theaters after things closed for the pandemic was the film version of Dear Evan Hansen, and that did NOT make me a fan of either the musical (which is really icky if you stop to think about it) or of Platt (he may have won the Tony for the role on Broadway, but he was too old and did not know how to act on camera).  I saw a streaming movie with him, and thought only mildly better of him.  Not a fan for a while.  No hate, just not a fan.

But I saw he was coming to the Greek, and I suggested it.  And Van was resistant at first.  Ah, but the album came out, and he and I listened to it.  A lot.  Andrew is going to be one of my top songs of this year.  Love it.  And I mentioned the concert again, and this time Van was eager to go.

Yes, Conrad was invited!

Conrad, alas, also came down with a cold.  So he stayed home with Olive, and Van and I headed to the Greek Theatre.  We got there early enough to enjoy a dinner of a lobster "po' boy" (a lobster roll, let's be real)

that was sold at concession prices and yet was actually kind of worth it.  Tasty!  We took our seats in time for the opening act,

and then let the night unfold.

Brandy Clark opened for Platt. 

She duets with him on his new album on one song, and it's good.  But I don't know her otherwise.  Country/Broadway, and a great voice.  The lesbians behind us LOVED her (we chatted with them about her).  A worthy opener.

And then Platt came on.

Sparkly shirt. 

Oh yes, he is VERY gay.  And hooray for that!  His set was terrific. 

He brought out Laufey for one song

and Brandy Clark for another.  He sang Andrew and some others that I've been enjoying.  He did not do any Evan Hansen, and I am really very fine with that.

Verdict?  A really great show, and one that (sorry) Conrad would have liked.  A beautiful summer night for it, too.

Next up will be the Greek again, in September.  This time it will be Thievery Corporation.  We'll see how that is by comparison to Ben!

July doldrums

That post title is an odd one, I admit, but it's true.  We're in a spell of hot weather, in the low 90s daily.  That curtails how much we want to do outside.  Work is very slow and quiet during the summer session.  There's not a lot going on.

That changes soon, but this past week?  Not much to blog about.  So let me lob this simple content out there for now.

Wednesday night was television date night at Van's (we're watching The Bachelorette, and I refuse to apologize for that).  My cocktail before dinner?  The Confirmed Bachelor,

which neither he nor I are.  Tasty!  A variation on a Manhattan that uses Benedictine to lovely effect.  By coincidence, I landed on The Little Italy

with dinner tonight at home (leftovers - Conrad has a summer cold, so no going out), another Manhattan variation, this time using Cynar.

But above all, remember:  Olive is such a good and pretty girl.

A concert tomorrow, some meals out ahead, and in six days we head to Colorado for my birthday weekend.  Lots of stuff coming up!

Unbroken Blossoms

I can actually count on one hand the number of times I have seen live theatre in our eleven years in SoCal.  It's not like we ever really went in Chicago, either.  If we remove improv and comedy sports style shows, then I'm probably at no more than a dozen stage productions of plays and musicals in my adult life.  It's never been my thing.

But there are exceptions to be made.  Our friend Ron had a leading role in a production in DTLA at East West Players,

and by gosh, we were going to show up and enjoy seeing him perform.  And so we did.  Sunday, late afternoon, we had second row seats for Unbroken Blossoms.

I encourage you to read more about the play at that link.  It was illuminating to see what I took to be as a speculative history that centered Asian-American contributions to early Hollywood and the toll it took on some.  It was also a little uncomfortable - and that's fine.  I don't need to be coddled as I am confronted with actors who are inhabiting characters whose racism, micro and macro, was particular to the era and probably not too far off even today.

After the show, there was a Q&A with the cast of Jury Duty, who had shown up to support their friend and castmate, Ron.  We got some pictures outside and chatted with Carrie

and Carrie's mom, and then we scooted off to dinner at Redbird,

not too far a walk away.  A blueberry-themed cocktail for me,

and then we all shared their cheese gougeres (I think that's what they were),

rolls with date butter,

green salad with avocado and bacon, burrata with plums,

and a trio of pastas. 

A lovely meal at a place we don't think to get to enough.

All in all, an excellent outing to DTLA.  Above all, we're really proud of Ron for what he is accomplishing.

Malibu

No, not the Miley Cyrus song, though I do like that song.  Malibu!  The mythical, wealthy California beach.  And to be sure, there is A LOT of money there.  And there is beach.  And, this past Saturday, there was brunch to be had.

It was over the freeways and hills for us to get there, about an hour each way.  For all that people think everything in LA is near the beach, it's not.  We're not.  And even a short distance as the crow flies can mean a long drive depending on the route and time of day.  We were meeting Van's friend Nicole, and we arrived at Geoffrey's a little early (always give yourself extra time in LA to get places - you can sit at the bar or otherwise kill time when you get there), so I ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail

that was a little too intense for me to finish (thin it down with more soda water, and it might have been fine, though).  Eventually, we were seated in the back of the open air dining space,

which suited us fine both for avoiding sun exposure and for being a better environment for Conrad to hear things.  It was a lovely day, at one point several pelicans flew by in a line one behind the other.  Conrad and I shared oysters,

and then I had a crab cake Benedict that was perfectly serviceable. 

Ah, Malibu:  pay for the location and view, not for the food.

Nicole left at the end of the meal, but we took a short walk down the steps and between houses to the beach.  There we walked briefly in the sand, got some photos,

and then headed on back to the foothills for the rest of the day.  We finished Saturday with some drinks (mine was the Don't Give Up the Ship)

and some steelhead with a corn puree that I cooked up. 

A little RPDR All Stars, and then it was time for bed.

dinner with friends

Hooray for when folks I know and like so much come to town.  Janice is here for a few weeks, running a program at UCLA.  Andrew flew in to be a speaker yesterday (I was a panelist for Janice the day before).  What an opportunity!  Even though it's a 50+ miles slog round trip, Conrad and I happily met them for dinner at Wolfsglen.

I didn't photograph the food.  Low lighting plus chat conspired against that.  I liked the food - my pork chop was about the most tender I've ever had.  The service wasn't great, though.  The hostess was delightful, the bar staff (Conrad and I arrived early, so we had a drink) were terrific.  But after taking our order, our waitress disappeared, and the man who replaced her never seemed to give us much attention.  I think he was the last waiter there, but well into our meal, the place was pretty emptied out.  We might have had dessert, but we sat a long time (and he didn't even mention it as an option).  Ah well.  The restaurant isn't all that close, so I likely wouldn't have gone back anyway given the distance.  What's important is that we got a chance to get together with some very lovely people.

hey there, buddy!

A short post, a little beastie found outside the library as I was leaving work yesterday.  That colour doesn't seem quite real, but it was!

it's hardly worth talking about

I mean, smile aside just, meh.

But hey, Conrad was there!

And no, we're not sun burnt.  Just standing near a large, read canopy shading the seating.

recent cooking

Temperatures are getting into the 90s these days, so what do I do?  I cook.  Yep, turn on the oven and everything.  No one ever said I was smart.

I made ribs on Saturday for dinner, and they were ribs, perfectly fine, no photographs.  For dessert, something new:  Rainier cherry clafoutis. 

Kind of a cross between crepes and custard, baked in the oven, studded with fruit.  I've never had one, only heard of it.  So I pitted my cherries I had on hand and made us up dessert.  Verdict?  Hmmm.  I loved the flavour, but I think I weighed down the batter too much.  Not much puff on it in the oven, and a trial getting it out of the pan.  But tasty!

So tasty that yesterday I promised Conrad a simple, oven free dinner, and yet ended up baking another clafoutis, a berry one. 

Plus focaccia. 

And also little turkey meatballs that I tossed with a sauce I made for a pasta dinner.  Oh, and burrata with tomato and nectarine. 

Because I invited Natasha to come over, that was my excuse.  That second clafoutis was better than the first, I think.  I'll try making those again.

Tonight?  Leftover focaccia and another similar burrata salad with prosciutto added this time, and leftover clafoutis.  Barely an oven turned on!

bless you, decaf latte

And thank you, Amara, for providing it!