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

Wailing

Song - Amazing Grace by Carlos Reyes

In 2011 I heard this man Carlos Reyes for the very first time at Doobie Brothers concert

H e    b l e w    m y    m i n d

And if you listen to the song above "Amazing Grace" you will understand why 

He can wail on that violin...

And a fun fact is that he lives in my home town of Walnut Creek!

"One of the most popular performers to grace the Sierra Nevada Big room stage, Carlos Reyes, returns Tuesday.

Paraguay-born harp and violin artist, Reyes will be backed by his hot band, Electric Symphony, as he plays sweet Latin American ballads to lowdown blues and jazz.

“Chico’s been just wonderful to me,” Reyes said in a recent interview. “It’s great that Sierra Nevada keeps putting on such nice concerts. I’m very happy they do such a great job of bringing such a variety of people.”

Known as a recording artist, producer, engineer, harpist and violinist, Reyes has been breaking musical education at the age of 3 on the violin. He was declared a child prodigy at an early age when his father, a musical and national hero in Paraguay, urged him to learn the complicated 36-strings native Paraguayan harp."

--Enterprise-Record

Song Around the World

Song - Gimme Shelter - cover by Playing for Change - Song Around the World

If you don't normally click on the songs at the top of my posts, please click on this one.  

It will lift up your heart - J

My Funny Valentine's Birthday

Song - Happy Birthday Swing by the Lucky Seven

It's Mr. B's birthday today and I couldn't have picked a sweeter Valentine!

He's funny....

He loves his family.....

Loves to travel.....

 

 

Lake Como

 

Cinque Terre

 

Bourdeilles

London

And he makes friends where ever he goes.....

Mr. B is the one on the right...

He's a hard worker and goes into the office regularly!

He is also very humble and rarely knows more than anyone else!

He likes to sing....

....dance.....

.....play guitar......

...talk.....

 ....flyfish.....

...take me to concerts....

...and throw parties!

So glad he wandered into my life...

 

Happy Birthday Funny Valentine!!

 

"Your birthday reminds me of the old Chinese Scholar:

Yung No Mo"

 --unknown

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!