Razzmatazz and a Little Jazz

Last night Joanna and I went to see my friend Léah Kline perform at the Hollywood Bar and Grill. She's a wonderful jazz singer who has been living in Amsterdam for eight years and is in town for a little visit. I remember her telling me years ago when she was working on a cruise ship that her goal was to learn 100 jazz standards, as well as how to scat. Well, she more than just learned them. She's now an incredibly magnetic and assured international jazz singer with a great band and her second album (for which she penned her own songs, I might add). I really loved the song "Orange Blossoms" and some of her originals like "Hey You" and "Call of the Muse". On her first album she does a rendition of "In the Dark" that is probably one of the most played songs on my iPod. I wish I could bottle up and give every woman what Léah has. Every man, too, for that matter. She seems completely unburdened by self-doubt or self-consciousness. She takes the stage and confidently does as she pleases, simultaneously drawing eveyone in to her world. She's always had such an enviable openness about her. I like that. Maybe one day I'll get there. Seems like a beautiful place to live. As for Hollywood Bar and Grill, you can skip it. The food is mediocare, if not just bad. But it is a good place for people-watching. It's in the Gower Gulch strip mall and if you've ever been there, you know what an interesting bunch of loiterers there are. A few rolled in during the show, which added to the delight of the night.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am looking forward to sleeping in, enjoying a 90-minute massage, having lunch with a friend, dinner with my roommate, and drinks with whom I am told are a couple of "mystery friends". I guessed it might be Charo and Phyllis Diller and boy, am I hoping I'm right...