Perfect Ed

 Song - Perfect by Ed Sheeran

 

 What a Friday night!!!  One of my girlfriends invited me and another of our friends to see Ed Sheeran with her.  He was playing at the beautifully renovated Fox Theater in Oakland. Mr. B graciously offered to drive us and pick us up so we didn't have to drive ourselves and worry about parking. Thank you so much Mr. B!

The music was amazing and the night.....

 

 

...was perfect magic !

"I didn't know whether to become an artist or musician, 

but I realized that I could paint with music. 

All my songs have colours" 

- Ed Sheeran

Returning to France Day 8

Song - Vivaldi a la Sainte Chapelle by Les Solistes Francais

We woke up early on Sunday to go to the big Paris Flea Market - Les Puces de Saint-Ouen which is only open Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  It's in kind of a dicey area just outside of Paris proper so I was glad we took and Uber there instead of the Metro. Once you are inside the market you're OK except to watch your purse and wallet (and I mean that in more ways than one ;-) )

A good idea that Sydney suggested for all of our outings was to take an iPhone photo of the map or directory so if you part ways you will have the information at your fingertips to regroup!

After the first stall that we stopped at (ribbons, trim & buttons), we did all go our separate ways as each one of us had different things that we were excited to look for.

 

 Some of the stalls were a collection of unrelated objects like the one above.

And others were carefully collected objects like the silver collection above. I personally enjoy finding unique pieces of silver for my own collection but I had never seen the spoon below. Do you know what it is?

I finally had to ask the shopkeeper.....and it's a fat-separator.  You put broth in the spoon & allow the fat to rise to the top, then you press down on the upper lever and the broth pours out of the bottom of the spoon but the fat stays inside.....supposedly!

And a portion of a linen collection.......but I couldn't find my exact initials on any of them!

Perhaps you could find portraits of your great-great grandparents?

Do you think I will have any trouble getting this alligator on the airplane?

 

I am sure packing this chandelier in my suitcase will be a cinch! 

We all came home with our little treasures.  I bought two bone handled knives and an antique white wild boar terrine.  Jackie & Sydney found paintings, etchings, 12 fruit knives, ribbons, fabric, pillow covers and loads of other fun things!

We headed home about 3pm as we had tickets for a Vivaldi concert later that evening inside Sainte Chapelle!

Dinner was across the street from Sainte Chapelle at Les Deux Palais - just salad and a Croque-Madame.

As it got dark we headed across the street to get in line for the concert.

It was magical.....the setting and the music!  The group that night was Les Solistes Francais with Paul Rouger playing the main violin and directing. If you are ever in Paris, I highly recommend you find out what concerts are at Sainte Chapelle and get your tickets early as it is usually a sell out!

Afterwards we ended up in the lobby of our hotel for a glass of wine & Sydney had a whiskey.....I tell you this because it ended up being so funny.  I kept smelling something and it wasn't good! And you know how you don't want to say anything in polite company? We were staying in a very clean hotel and what was that off odor?  Then Jackie began to smell it as well and it was getting worse.  Well, Sydney finally got the giggles and confessed that she was drinking a very "peaty" whiskey.  It was her drink and breath that we were smelling!

"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite

 and furthermore always carry a small snake."

-- W. C. Fields

A Face in the Crowd

Song - An American Girl by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Wednesday night was a lovely night in Berkeley. The weather was clear, the moon was watching over us, it was pleasantly comfortable and we were ready to rock & roll. Guess who took center stage at The Greek Theater?

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers!

There was excitement in the air and my friend, Kathy and I were thrilled to join in!

Kathy had texted me late in the afternoon on Tuesday saying she had an extra ticket and could I possibly join her.  After about a nano second I texted back "of course".  Later that night she told me that we also had backstage passes.....oh oh.....do you remember the last time this happened?

Click HERE to read about it.

So I was wracking my brain to come up with something brilliant to say in case we got the opportunity to actually meet Mr. Petty. I texted my three boys and their responses were using titles of his songs....Is it really Good To Be King? - hey I'm just An American Girl! - Yer So Bad - you really don't have to look Like a Refugee - and Mr. B's 2 cents...I Got A Room at the Top of the World Tonight.  Mmmm.....just not going to cut it.

The above photo is of  "the club house"  which is their practice studio and was behind the bands equipment onstage while we were waiting for them to perform.  Just look at all of those guitars!

We had absolutely incredible seats and occasionally they would display a view from behind the stage shooting out into the audience.  I'm the one in a black top, center stage, about 12 - 15 rows back!

 Thanks for the amazing concert!!  All of the band members are talented musicians but I especially liked the drummer, Steve Ferrone who had a big smile on his face the entire concert. They call him the "new kid" because he has only been with the band for 22 years!

After the concert we did get to go backstage and have some fine wine and talk with some very interesting people.  However, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were already heading to their next venue. So I guess I will have to save my great "what do you say to a famous musician" for another time!

Thanks EB!!!

Today it's back to reality....

"A gentle giant with a quick smile and a soulful style...."  

Drummer Magazine's quote about Steve Ferrone

Dazzling Tahoe Nights

Song - Graceland & You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon

Mr. B and I returned from Britain 10 days ago to California and a major heatwave!  It has been in the 90's & 100's since we have been home.  This is normal weather for late summer but not in June!

On Saturday we headed up to Lake Tahoe....

Sunset on Saturday night was amazing.  That's Mt. Tallac in the background with the cross of snow.

 We had dinner across the street from this beach on the lake at 8:45pm so we got to enjoy a yummy Mediterranean meal and watch a glorious sunset from Jimmy's patio. 

 There was live music nearby at Basecamp

But the true reason we were in Tahoe was that three of my cousins 

had invited us to a concert on Sunday night.

It was a perfect evening and we could walk there from our hotel.

Yes....it was the legendary Paul Simon and once again that man can sing & play.  

And he has an amazing back up band.

And as I was cheering him on, he looked me straight in the eyes because
I think he remembered our magical night together.  (Click HERE for details!)

Two and a half hours of music under the stars - singing, dancing & whistling!

Monday we spent the day relaxing on Baldwin Beach at the base of Mt. Tallac

 enjoying how much water is in the lake this year!!!  

There is so much water still coming off of the snow pack that there will not be much beach in the next few months.  Even the swamp near the beach was full and I haven't seen that since my boys were young and would catch frogs and snakes there.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying the mountain air and crisp water!

"Still crazy after all these years." - Paul Simon

Berkeley Winning Streak

Song - The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel

My friend Kathy and I arrived in Berkeley on Friday late afternoon to the lovely temperature of 78 degrees (it was 100+ in Walnut Creek)!  We were there to see and hear Paul Simon's concert at the Greek Theater. 

We passed the band's buses on the way in from our parking spaces and waved to Paul as we passed by.

No, we didn't sit in the throne's but directly behind them with plenty of leg room - those are Kathy's knees on the far right.  All of the throne's have amazing quotes carved into the backs of them dating from the late 1800 - early 1900.

We got out back stage passes to the after concert party.....Not sure if you remember but we were able to go back stage several years ago and meet Paul Simon and I was ill prepared to met a celebrity and ended up shaking his hand and saying something like "Great concert...."

This time I was prepared.

I had done some reading on Paul's home life and career.  Although I didn't have a prepared speech, I was ready........

WE were ready!  Beautiful evening, great seats and the music was simply outstanding!  And after about three songs, this happened......

See how everyone is looking up in the stands, away from the stage and even toasting someone.  And that someone is the guy in the light blue shirt walking up the stairs.  Not sure who he was, I just snapped some photos.

Now the guy and his "entourage" were heading back down the stairs to much applause and Paul Simon pausing the concert.

By this time word had gotten around that this guy was Steve Kerr, the Golden State Warriors coach. Now truthfully, I am not a basketball fan but apparently a lot of people are and this was a big deal.

After conferring with some of the Greek Theater staff, they turned toward us to find their seats.....three rows behind ours!  I did get to "high-five" him as he walked past!

Seriously, it has got to be a tough life never having any privacy!  As they took their seats, Paul Simon said (in jest) that the next time Stephan Curry is attempting a three pointer, the singer was going to walk through HIS stadium!  

And the concert went on......

During the concert Paul was singing "The Boxer" and told us that Mohammad Ali had just passed.


After the concert we were escorted back stage and guess who else had back stage passes? 

Steve Kerr et all.....!

The back-back-stage where the band's equipment is stored and there is ping-pong etc. to enjoy.

Paul decided not to party that evening but invite Steve to join him privately.

So even though we didn't get to use our "unprepared" speeches on that evening we still got to enjoy wonderful food under the stars with Paul's amazing band in a beautiful little area of Berkeley.


And to top off our late evening we had to stop for a male jogger crossing the street at 11 pm au natural!  Now it just wouldn't be Bezerkeley without that to ice the cake!  Lucky for you, I didn't have my camera ready!!!  HA!

A Birthday Surprise

Song - A Little Help From My Friends by Paul McCartney and Ringo Star

This is my dear friend Jill, who's birthday we celebrated on Saturday.  I knew 2 months ago what I wanted to plan to celebrate but I wanted to keep it a surprise.  So I asked her to reserved the entire day from 9:30 until midnight for me.  I had a car full of blankets, towels, ice chest and 6 special cards.  In each card I placed a "clue" as to what we were going to do in the evening.  And at the final card she needed to unscramble 5 letters and 1 word.  Easy right?

First card - GO

Second - a star

Third - just a funny note about going to a field to watch the stars

Fourth - IN

Fifth - R

Sixth - a more serious card about all of the fun times we have had over our many years of friendship

We went to the beach at Point Reyes first. It was windy but we found a little area in the dunes where we could spread the blanket and be sheltered from the wind.  At this point Jill just had the first two cards - GO STAR

I explained to her that something special was happening that evening with the stars.  I feigned shock that she wasn't aware of the celestial excitement for that evening.  I told her that we would be in a big field watching the stars. TRUTH!

I had made lunch reservations at Nick's Cove on Tomales Bay so she received the next 2 cards there.

I made sure that I had picked out some very mature cards for my sensitive friend!


She now had Clues 1-4......GO STAR IN......and she didn't have a clue as to the answer......the suspense was killing her!  If you know Jill, she is always pulling a rabbit out of her hat so it was fun for me to have the tables turned for a change!

The water was crazy-rough out on the bay while we walked out to the little party shed on the end of the dock.

 We found some shelter behind the building and a lovely couple offered to take our photo.

Here I gave her the "R" card and I thought for sure she would put it all together at that point. Nope.  She is a brilliant nurse and could not unscramble 5 letters....mmm.....early onset dementia perhaps?


As we headed over the hills inland to Sonoma I decided to give her the last card and an extra obvious surprise clue.  Just that morning I had made a CD of this star's songs which I played for her but she just couldn't get past the order she had opened the cards in - GO STAR IN R........

She is singing along with all of the songs from the CD and chatting about how much she would like us to go see this performer the next time he tours California.  We are 3 blocks from the venue and I am thinking that she will soon see a poster or sign for the concert.

So I ask her to please try unscrambling the letters again.......and tears came to her eyes.....I knew she had figured it out at last.

Here we are in Sonoma at The Field of Dreams seeing Ringo Starr......

Those are Ringo's drums in the back with the STAR on them.  In the front is the opening act Pablo Cruz's drums.

Pablo Cruz was fun but it was all about Ringo and His All Star Band tonight (see I told you we would be in a field with star's!)

The sun had set and the lights came on!  Here he comes.....

They played a lot of Ringo's songs but each of the band members is a star in their own right so a lot of other songs where enjoyed.  Ringo is very generous in sharing the spotlight.

Look at those hands fly over his drum set!!!!

Oh, oh......I think he spied me taking photo's with my telephoto lens.....doesn't look too happy.

Yup, looking directly at me.




Me and thousands of other fans taking photos!!!!

Yes, Ringo is a little corny but sometimes we all need corny in our lives.  He was an important musician when I was young so I hold a special place in my heart for each of the Beatles.

Thanks Ringo for the great concert and thanks Jill for the many years of friendship!

from the Jumbo-tron

And remember....

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