On Friday, we went to a funky bar called Kelly's -- they make old-fashioned cocktails and play music like Johnny Cash. I love that place. We ran into two other people from our old alma mater (which is actually quite rare considering that my undergrad college has less than 1500 students total and is in another state), and ended up having drinks until 2am.
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Saturday, we explored the exhibits at all the downtown art galleries, walked around the riverside park, saw a show called "Swing!", then hung out in a loungey bar with live music.
The galleries were great -- normally when I go, they are so packed you can't actually appreciate the art much, but we had them completely to ourselves, which was pretty cool. My favorite was one where you could put on headphones and listen to a selection of music with which to enjoy the art. Really neat. Then, since it was such a nice day, we walked across to the other side of the river and looked at the view of the city for a while.
"Swing!" is one of those musical productions that doesn't have a plot -- they just go from scene to scene and throw in some one-liners here and there. Had I actually read the description for the show, I probably would not have gone -- it's just really not my kind of show, but I had an offer for free tickets, and my friend thought it sounded good, so we went and I didn't even bother to look into it any further. The main flaw of the show was that most of the numbers had no heart -- the dancers looked as though they were just going through the motions, and ended up just lo
oking like a bunch of robots throwing their arms and legs out every once in a while. The second flaw -- the costumes were all wrong. In a swing show, you'd think they would have a lot of fun with the costumes, but they were not right for the time period at all. The dancers looked like they were in some 1980's show and doing swing moves. And even worse, at one point they had a woman do this "sexy" dance coming out from behind the bass player (there was a live band on stage), and she came out wearing a brown skin-tight velvet body-suit with f-holes painted on the front. Why would they pick such a hideous outfit for an otherwise half-interesting number? Flaw number three -- one of the main singers was singing songs that were way too high for her vocal range. They did a much better job in the second half of the show where she sang songs that were lower in her range -- sounded much better. The band was pretty good when inspired, but in general the whole show just seemed a little too rehearsed. I like to see a show where there is still artistry in it -- this means that every show is a little different because the artists are actually thinking while they perform, not just going through the motions. This is not to blame the artists -- as a musician myself, I know that it can be very boring to play the same pieces over and over again, but if you're that bored, perhaps it is time to move on to something new. There were a few moments where people broke out of their routine, and you could tell, but these moments were rare. Too bad.
The musicians in the bar afterward were very entertaining -- you could tell they were having a good time joking around as they played. They were taking requests from the crowd and my friend was an instant hit.
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On Sunday, without even having a plan, we ended up having an Indian cultural day. We decided to go to the natural history museum, and since there is a good Indian restaurant over that way, we stopped for lunch there first. After lunch, we headed for the museum and checked out the dinosaurs (side note, I frightened myself by actually busting out some knowledge from a museum visit out at the La Brea tar pits when I was twelve years old -- I had no idea that so much of that had stuck with me, but given the right surroundings, it came right out!).
After the museum, I gave the rest of the tour of the neighborhood, including my grad school campus, and a hike on my favorite trail in the park. In the park, we stumbled across an Indian-themed festival -- they were doing henna tattoos, yoga, playing Indian music, and eating Indian food. We walked around for a bit and realized that they were going to show "Slumdog Millionaire" that night (they do free movies in the park during the summer), so we decided to go get dinner, grab a blanket to sit on, and come back for the movie. On the way back to our cars, we came across another Indian music concert -- it was a kirtan festival, but completely unconnected with the other Indian festival going on just 2 blocks away.. crazy coincidence -- I figured it must be some kind of special holiday to have all these Indian celebrations going on, but they assured me that it was just coincidence and it was not a holiday.
I really enjoyed the kirtan festival -- I had never really attended anything like it before, but it was a very communal experience. The musicians play on and on for a long time, chanting. It has sort of a call and response format, and the audience was singing back to the musicians. After a while, people started dancing too -- and they were all wearing beautiful colorful saris and other Indian-inspired styles. I have always thought the fabrics used for this type of fashion were beautiful -- so many bright and colorful patterns, vibrant, metallic, floral, geometric.. I just love it. We ended up staying and listening to the kirtan music for about 2 hours, until they were done. I really enjoyed it. They also served some kind of little dessert cookie bars that were very tasty -- I think it was made of coconut and anise, but I'm not sure what else. Perhaps I will do a little research
After the kirtan festival, we went back and watched "Slumdog Millionaire" on the hillside in the park, completing our weekend and our day of Indian culture. The thing about this weekend is that all of the things we did are things I would normally end up doing by myself since I don't have many close friends in town any more. It made them so much better to enjoy them with an old friend.
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