Let's have a ball

I had a great birthday weekend. Friday U joined me, piloting The Boat. We both managed to get some work done (her way more than me) and also Ate-a-Pita. Then Maudie and Trish arrived (yay!) and eventually we headed to Largo for my Jon Brion birthday show. We had enough people to fill both of our tables for four. I looked over the new menu items, but I'm still all about the Largo salad. Ditching an old standard dinner choice at Largo can be fraught with peril.

Jill Sobule opened for Jon, accompanied on most of her songs by Greg Leisz on pedal steel. It was my first time seeing either of them, and I wouldn't mind doing so again. Jon came on around the usual time - freshly back from England, according to Flanagan - and proceeded to play for about three hours without a break between sets. Happy birthday to me, indeed. U is, of course, the JB setlist queen, but I can mention some random highlights. Very early in the set, Jon gave us a little crash course and demonstration of all of his pedals and what they do, which I loved. I'm astoundingly clueless when it comes to gear, and Jon's nice, succinct summations of each pedal's function ("This one takes a sound this big and adds something this big down here") were very informative.

The first half of the set was, I believe, pretty much Jon's own stuff. I particularly adored the harmonica and toy piano (celeste?) version of "Knock Yourself Out". Then for the second half, Greg Leisz came back out on pedal steel, and Benmont Tench was called out to play piano. I was so happy to see Benmont. Favorite Benmont moments of the night: his solo during "I Don't Hurt Anymore"? Maybe? I can't remember now for sure, but I do know that I had a stupid grin on my face the whole time. Also, the part during another song (damn, I'm bad at this) when he started throwing some little celeste accents in along with his standard piano work. In the covers department, there was a lovely rendition of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and a healthy dose of Beatles covers, including a sort of guitar riff medley by Jon. I also thoroughly enjoyed "Gigantic".

After the show, as we were leaving the club, we noticed a commotion a few doors down that was preventing us from walking to our car. "Hey, that ho-bag in pink. That's Paris Hilton," U said with a touch of horror. The ho-bag in pink stalked into a club, and we were able to pass.

Saturday's weather was absolutely gorgeous. We brunched at Hugo's, and then headed to the Getty Center. I thought the Getty was great: awesome views, impressive architecture, beautiful gardens, interesting water features, and of course, art. For free. I had no idea what special exhibitions were going on until we arrived, but one turned out to be paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and Gerhard Richter. Gerhard Richter is one of my favorite painters, so I was extremely pleased. There were also some excellent photography exhibitions. After an hour or two of art, we grabbed some drinks and spent a long time soaking up the perfect weather on a grassy slope overlooking the gardens. Children tossed paper airplanes and had rolling contests down the hill. I chose not to dwell on the fact that I'd be back in the Wisconsin winter the next day.

Saturday night, after some Persian/Irish ice cream, we saw ASSSSCAT at the UCB Theatre. Jello Biafra was the guest monologist, and he was fairly entertaining, if also fairly self-important. The improv was very funny. (I'm limbering up for the Second City marathon next month.) We finished up the night at an excellent cafe in Los Feliz, on Evonne's recommendation. Trish's friends joined us, and we hung around until closing time.

And then on Sunday I came back here and it was 40 degrees. The end!