An Evening At The Bowl

Had a nice treat Friday night when my tour boss Philip invited me to join his party at the Hollywood Bowl. We had wine and cheese and meats, and a delicious Key Lime pie for dessert. Philip's friends are all show people and artists, so there was much laughter and revelry.

The program was Great American Women, one of the Bowl's "Great American Concerts" series, and conductor John Mauceri was celebrating his 300th performance at the Bowl.

It was a lovely evening -- amazing how cool Los Angeles evenings can be even in the summer time -- and the show featured the Hollywood Bowl orchestra, three great divas, and fireworks!

The divas were opera star Debra Voigt, jazz maven Dianne Reeves (just off the plane from hometown Denver!), and Broadway legend Barbara Cook. Each woman held the audience captive with their unique interpretations of standard classics, both classical and popular.

Most endearing perhaps was 78-year-old Barbara Cook who forgot her words several times, but shrugged it off like a pro, at one point stopping the orchestra to start over. "This song is too good to mess up. Let's try it again, Johnny M," she said.

My favorite piece of the evening was the very first one played by the orchestra, Fanfare From "King's Row" by film composer Erich Korngold. This was obviously a huge inspiration for the music of John Williams and in fact one part of the theme sounded remarkably similar to the opening notes of "Star Wars".

Another highlight was a specially commissioned orchestral suite of Adam Guettel's The Light In The Piazza, which won a Tony this year for Best Original Score. Guettel premiered this suite at the Hollywood Bowl several years before the Broadway production and his glorious score brings back a romantic style of theater music not heard since the days of his grandfather, Richard Rodgers.

[I became familiar with The Light In The Piazza on my recent trip to San Francisco. After our Sideways tour through wine country, Betty played the cast album for me in the car.]

John Mauceri had everyone in stitches with his witty 15th annual "State of the Orchestra" address. What a charming and articulate man he is -- exactly the sort of person you would want sitting next to you at a dinner party.

Niebaum-Coppola Winery

Finally have time to post about my trip to northern California in June. Had a rare opportunity to visit San Francisco while my dear friend "Betty" was there conducting Les Miserables.

We've been to San Francisco so many times, there was not much left to do in the city, so we rented a car and took a drive through Napa Valley. Ironically, we stopped only at one winery and we didn't drink any wine! Apparently Francis is very proud of his wine: just a tasting costs $15.



The winery was the Niebaum-Coppola winery, owned by filmmaker Francis Coppola. It was a beautiful chateau setting originally operated by the Niebaum family. Very elegant surroundings, and a tiny museum on the second floor of the house documents Coppola's illustrious film career. There were tons of his awards (Oscars, Palms D'Or from Cannes, etc.), plus he had several props and costumes from the films on display, including the Godfather's desk and the Tucker automobile from his film of the same name. (Photos by Betty)



Later we drove to the coast to Bodega Bay, infamous filming location of Hitchcock's The Birds. Nice to see that some things never change. It's still a sleepy little fishing village with one major restaurant, The Tides, which is where the villagers were hiding from the birds in the movie. The original restaurant burned down back in the 1960s, but the current structure is on the original site. And naturally it's decorated with all sorts of photos and memorabilia from the film. Tippi Hedren has been back to visit several times on special occasions and several of her autographs are on display. (No photos unfortunately)

Flash:10th Planet Discovered

From Space.com:

Astronomers have discovered an object in our solar system that is larger than
Pluto. They are calling it the 10th planet, but already that claim is contested.

It is the first time an object so big has been found in our solar system since
the discovery of Pluto 75 years ago.

The announcement came just hours after another newfound object, one slightly
smaller than Pluto, was revealed. The new object, temporarily named 2003 UB313,
is about three times as far from the Sun as is Pluto.

"It's definitely bigger than Pluto," Brown said.

For the full story, visit
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050729_new_planet.html

"Beam me up, Scotty" -- James Doohan Dead

Beam Scotty up to heaven...

James Doohan, Star Trek's Scotty, Dead at age 85.

Tom Cruise Inc. - The numbers behind his celebrity. By Edward Jay�Epstein

Tom Cruise Inc. - The numbers behind his celebrity. By Edward Jay�Epstein

A fascinating and shocking article describing how Tom Cruise has cleverly used his celebrity and reputation to demand an unprecedented movie deal with Paramount Pictures.

For better or for worse, he is truly the biggest star in the world.

Boys Keep Swinging

OK, I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but I've been waiting for some pictures to turn up to add to my posts.


A swinging sailor!

Last Saturday night was the BowieNet "Get Lei'd in LA" party at Frank & Benny's place in Burbank. Frank, Roger and I played a short set of Bowie songs for the guests, of which there were many. We saw all the familiar faces and a ton of new ones. Bowie fans came from across southern and northern California, as well as Florida and even Canada to attend this party!

The party was a huge success (as always) and the BowieNet message boards have been buzzing with positive response, and some SCANDALOUS photos that I wouldn't dream of posting in a public forum such as this one!

The band, Boys Keep Swinging, with groupies:


Even Stennie was in attendance: