I first heard about the book Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich when I read an excerpt from it in Sports Illustrated last year.  I thought the excerpt was pretty good.  It mentioned how Pete Maravich, an NBA all-star during the 1970’s, is the only player among those named as the top 50 players who would do better in today’s NBA than during his own time.  It also mentioned how Pete’s father, Press, a college basketball coach, had him doing impressive basketball drills soon after he learned to walk.  It described Pete’s performance in a game he played when he went to LSU and impressively helped his team win in overtime.  The excerpt made Maravich’s story seem fascinating and I thought the book would be equally fascinating.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.  The article contained all the fascinating parts of the book.  It’s not that I don’t find Maravich interesting.  His story along with his father’s parallels the evolution of professional basketball.   However, the story is multi-faceted.  It includes struggle, success, excitement, influence, dynamic relationships, and tragedy.  Rather than delving into one or a few of these facets, the author tries to cover them all and ultimately doesn’t get very deep into any of them.  The result is a shallow, uneven work that didn’t leave me feeling like I knew Pete Maravich, Press Maravich, or the evolution of the NBA much better than before reading it.

If the book does have a focus it seems to be more on the tragic aspects of Maravich’s life:  his alcoholic mother, his never winning a championship in college or the pros, his premature passing among other tragedies.  I would have liked to have learned more about what made him a great and revolutionary player.  I wanted the author to take me through one of his games, give me a play-by-play just as the SI excerpt did for the LSU game.  But all I got were descriptions of his teammates resenting him, his playing basketball with no feelings showing on his face, and his untimely injuries and ailments.  The story only gets more hopeful towards the end after Maravich embraces Christianity and becomes an evangelist only to pass away early and leave his children struggling to live up to his name.

I did enjoy reading about the NBA in the 1970’s when the Jazz had their home in New Orleans and coaches valued team ball and fundamentals over the flashly plays and superstar highlights now common in NBA.  There’s also an interesting section on how the African Americans slowly integrated into college and pro basketball in the 50’s and 60’s.

Overall, the book is readable but it doesn’t tell a very profound story despite its potentially fascinating subject matter.

Now for the second part of our early Valentine’s celebration.  The first was our dinner at Adoro Mexican Grille (see the earlier review “Adoro Mexican Grille II).  After finishing dinner we drove west down Wilshire through the medium Monday rush hour traffic.  We passed the new school near Wilshire and Union and the new apartment and shops complex at the Wilshire and Vermont red line station.  As we neared the Wiltern theater we saw a line from the theater all the way to the corner of Wilshire and Oxford.  We turned left on Oxford and right into the entrance to the parking garage serving the Wiltern.  There was some confusion about getting in.  The attendant had us go through the exit lane and event parking cost a steep $12 but we easily found a space on the third level.

We queued up near the Denny’s at Wilshire and Oxford at 7 pm.  The crowd consisted mostly of young women, though there were also couples, mothers with teen daughters, and later we would see some young children with their parents.  As we waited some event employees were going down the line asking if concertgoers had floor seats and offered to trade them for wrist bands to stand in the pit.  We had mezzanine seats so that didn’t apply.  We saw a woman wearing a t-shirt with the homemade writing saying “Big Girl”.  Inside we would see other women with homemade message t-shirts.  The line started moving steadily toward the theater at 7:10 pm.   We passed a cart selling bacon-wrapped hot dogs that smelled delicious.

We went through “security” which wasn’t much more than a pocket and bag check and entered the large lobby of the Wiltern.  They were selling lots of Mika merchandise.  My wife was already wearing a Mika shirt she got at the Coachella Festival last year.  She went on a day different from when Mika performed so she didn’t see him them.  But she was glad to see that they didn’t have her same t-shirt for sale at the Wiltern.  We went upstairs to the mezzanine level and an usher showed us to our seats.  The mezzanine is above the also elevated loge level and our seats were in the 4th row behind the first in the mezzanine in section near left facing the stage.  It was stadium seating so not many worries about sitting behind tall people, though we still had to stand when those in front of us did.

The stage had a drum kit, some guitars on racks and a keyboard/sound mixing type machine on it.  Above the stage was screen showing ads for Live Nation, the producer of this concert, and a place at the bottom where concertgoers could have their text messages displayed.  More on this later.  The first opening act came out at around 7:40 pm with the leader say, “You probably have no idea who I am, right?  We’re Shwayze.”  The group consists of two rappers/singers and a sound mixer, and their MySpace says they’re from Malibu.  They performed several energetic numbers such as “Polariod” and “Buzzin’”.  They said they had a record coming out in June.

The second opening act was The Midway State from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  They were a four-piece with a drummer, guitarist, bassist, and lead singer who also played the electric piano.  They performed several anthemic, piano-heavy rock numbers such as “A Million Fireflys”, “Change for You”, and “Never Again”.  They thanked Mika for letting them tour with him for the entire U.S. tour.  They finished at 8:30 pm.

We spent the next half hour or so reading the text messages sent to the screen above the stage.  Anyone could sent one by sending “TXT” + “WILT” + (ur message) to 64066.  They included personal hi’s and hellos, marriage proposals, praise for Mika, political messages, and humor:

“SCREAM IF YOU LOVE MIKA” (Lots of cheers)

“SCREAM IF YOU LOVE PIECE AND QUIET”

“IF UR OVER 30 ITS TIME TO LEAVE”

“OBAMA IN 08” (Lots of cheers.  He seemed to be the favorite.  We saw one young woman with an Obama button)

“BARACK THE VOTE” (More cheers)

“HILLARY IN 08” (Mix of cheers and boos)

“RON PAUL STILL HAS A CHANCE” (No response)

“MIKA FOR PRESIDENT IN 08” (Cheers)

“IF UR UNDER 30 YOU NEED TO GROW UP”

At 9:07 pm the screen went black and moved up and out of sight.  The stage went black and then four blue lights spotlights shined out into the floor crowd.  More blue lights seemed to dance on a waving screen behind the stage.  A spotlight shined in the middle of the stage on a large white sphere.  The sphere opened to reveal a tall figure with curly brown hair, angel wings, and wearing a flesh-colored body suit.  The figure disappeared behind the drum kit and out came Mika (i.e. the figure) in a white shirt with suspenders and black pants.  Every concertgoer was standing and cheering at this point and Mika went straight into “Relax (Take it Easy)”

Mika, pronounced like “Mee-kah” was born in Lebanon and is half Lebanese and half American.  He first grew up in France and French is his first language but he later moved with his family to England and he speaks with an English accent.  His band consisted of a keyboard player/guitarist, a guitarist, a bassist who liked Asian with bleach blond hair, a short woman of African descent with big hair on drums and another woman on background vocals, selected duets, and dancing.  Other musicians and dancers came and left as needed.

Contrary to its title, "Relax (Take it Easy)" is a fast-paced dance number that put the audience in the right mood.  After they finished, Mika asked, "Are there any big girls in the house?" (Many cheers) "Are there any big boys in the house?" (Slightly fewer cheers).  They then went into the hyperkinetic "Big Girls are Beautiful".  The stage lit up and slowly behind it a 20-foot balloon of a big girl inflated.  Three "big girl" dancers came out and energetically danced with Mika, his backup singer and guitarist.  One dancer did cartwheels.

They slowed things down and the audience sat down for the next number.  The crew brought out a digital piano with a 3-candle candelabra and roses.  Mika sat down at it and sang the thoughtful "My Interpretation".

Then Mika told a little story.  "We were in Culver City two years ago trying to decide what songs to put on the album.  They told me this next song was " (at this point he switched to a humorous but convincing American accent) " not ready for the U.S. Market." (back to English) "I'm talking about my mate, Billy Brown."  He then starting singing "Billy Brown" and a trumpeter and trombonist came out to accompany for the jovial song.  Mika let the audience sing the part for which the U.S. market wasn't ready.

For the next song, introduced as "not one of my own" all the musicians stood along the front of the stage.  The keyboard player had a banjo, the drummer a washboard, and the bassist had what looked like a washtub bass without the washtub.  The song sounded like some kind of Middle America folk spiritual with lyrics sounding something like "I pray for Johnny while he prays for me."

Mika got back to the piano and the others were back in position to play the slower, soulful "Any Other World" and this time three string players joined them (two violinists (one might have been a violist) and a cellist).

The crew moved the piano out of the way and they did the much faster and danceable "Ring Ring" with rapid strobe lighting.  In my opinion the song is similar in tone and subject matter to "Wrong Number" by The Cure.

In the background of this and many prior songs there was a curtain with a painting of a large tree and various strange objects hanging from its branches such as a skull and something that looked like a toaster.  It was a dark, strangely macabre scene.  For the next song they lit up some garlands of light bulbs that dangled above and behind the stage.  Mika introduced it as "a new song" and it was happy song that Mika song mostly in falsetto with lines like, "How much do you miss me when I'm not here."

Mika got back to his piano and they did the deceptively slow starting but quickly becoming higher volume "Stuck in the Middle".  Towards the end, Mika did some back and forth with the audience, singing things such as "shoo-bee do wop bob ba" and then using gestures to give his opinion of how we did.

In the interlude after the song the crew placed what looked like a large box in the middle of the stage.  They uncovered it the reveal a large white block letter "M" about five feet high.  Behind it were steps to get on top and the background singer got up top wearing a tall feather headdress and a loose wrapping dress.  She sang melodically but (in my opinion) unintelligibly.  She then got provocative, removing the dress to reveal a tighter outfit.  Mika joined her up top wearing a pink and purple stripped jacket and they sang a cover of the Eurythmics' "Missionary Man".  Mika got on his knees when his co-singer sang, "Get down upon your knees, I got a message for you that you better believe."

Mika followed this raucous cover with the more subdued “Happy Ending” with him back at the piano.

They removed the "M" and the interlude music was slow and low like a dirge.  Mika had his white collar shirt back on and snow confetti fell slowing in the middle of the stage.  Mika took out and opened a white umbella and slowly twirled it in the "snowfall".   Out of stage left came a 10-foot walking puppet of what looked like a Dia de Los Muertos skeleton wearing a raggedy red dress and a tall hat. "She" walked to the stages edge and reached out to the audience.  Then she came over to Mika and put her hands over him.  He went into a sort of trance and dropped the umbrella.  Then he and the skeleton embraced.  She walked sideways off the stage waving to the crowd as she left.

Mika and band went straight into his Grammy nominated dance song "Love Today" and everyone stood up singing along even to the high falsetto.  The crowd danced and jumped and we could feel the whole mezzanine level shaking.  They added an extended ending where Mika introduced his band and acknowledged the strings and horns.  The crew brought this bush-shaped stand with big and small trash cans hanging on either side and a trash can lid in the middle.  Mika got some sticks and banged on the large trash can.  The keyboard player replaced the drummer and the drum came down and banged on the small can and the lid.  Mika stripped to the waist to wild cheers from the crowd and he and the drummer alternated and "competed" banging on the cans.  All the while, the rest of the band kept up the song's rhythm.

They got quiet finally.  Mika put back on a white shirt and black jacket and said, "I want to thank every single person in this room."  He described how playing live is how they really make their living and then said, "This one's called Grace Kelly."  The crowd remained standing and sang louder than any previous song.  The mezzanine shook some more.  When he sang, "Why don't you walk out that door" everyone pointed to the door.

Mika and the band left the stage.  The crowd cheered loudly even as Mika and the band returned to take a bow and leave again.  After several minutes of cheering, things got very strange.  A curtain came down with the shape of a white circus tent or something on it and this silly kids’ music started playing.  People (Mika and band) did some shadow play acting in animal costumes behind the curtain that got a bit racy.  I found this very strange and a bit out of character, more in character with The Flaming Lips.  This interlude causes me to bring the rating down to four stars.  If they had not done it or had not even come back for an encore, I would have given the concert five stars.

The curtain went up to reveal the band in animal costumes, though most of them had removed the animal heads.  They performed the silly, happy “Lollipop”.  A 20-foot balloon of a little girl with a lollipop inflated behind them and three dancers in little girl dresses came out, one of them with a very large lollipop.  All the musicians were out playing, the letter “M” returned, and soon the “big girl” dancers from the earlier number came out to join the party.  Mechanisms shot paper confetti and streamers into the crowd with the confetti reaching all the way up to the loge level.  After the number concluded Mika, the band, the extra musicians, and the dancers held hands along the front of the stage and took a bow.

The lights came back on the canned music played signaling that there would be no more encores.  We had minimal trouble leaving the Wiltern, getting back to the car and exiting the parking structure.  We didn’t get Stuck in the Middle and with this Happy Ending we could Relax (Take it Easy).

We celebrated Valentine’s Day early this year on Monday February 11 with dinner at Adoro Mexican Grille (www.adorogrille.com).  We had actually been there before in December on the evening we also saw the Filipino Three Tenors Christmas concert.   We enjoyed it then and decided to go there before another concert as part of our 2008 Valentine’s celebration.  For the concert part, see the Mika concert review.

When we arrived at the restaurant around 5:30 pm it was fairly empty given that it was well before the usual 8 pm L.A. dinner time.  It looked like some people were there just off work for happy hour.  The host/server said we could sit anywhere and he recognized us from when we came in December.  We sat inside in the back amongst the décor of mission-style arches.  Our place setting had the large copper plates that we knew from experience were for decoration and would be cleared when the food came.  Through the speakers played the music of David Bisbal: “¿Que me iba a decir?” from his 2006 CD.  They also played salsa, Spanish ballad, and jazz tracks over the stereo throughout our dinner.

They brought us our complimentary tortilla chips with their homemade salsas:  fire roasted tomato red and tangy green.  We could happily feast all evening on these if they let us.  At our December visit we had the Calamari for appetizer, I had the Brocheta Mignon skewers with steak fries and baby greens, my wife had the lobster chimichanga (technically the Chimichanga de Mariscos with the lobster option) with sides of green rice and white beans, and for dessert we had the plantain split, all excellent.  This time we got the Shrimp Senior appetizer: 6 jumbo shrimp in a large glass (more like an elevated clear bowl) of cocktail sauce with avocado and pico de gallo.  The shrimp were large, not fat but rather wide, tapered, and curled such that we could almost scoop out the sauce with them.  The avocado slices in the sauce were also good.

We had barely finished the shrimp when our entrées arrived:  spinach enchiladas with mushroom chipotle sauce for my wife and two tacos Méxicanos made with flour tortillas and filled with pork carnitas for me.  Both came with guacamole, pico de gallo and sides of rice and beans.  My entrée came without cheese or sour cream as I requested and the beans were in a separate dish altogether.  My wife especially enjoyed the mushroom sauce comparing it favorably to Campbell’s golden mushroom soup.  The best part of my entrée was the carnitas.  They weren’t overly soft or fatty or dry like at some fast casual Mexican places but the perfect combination of crispy, juicy, and fire-grilled flavor.  They went well with the onions, guacamole, and pico de gallo.

We opted not to have dessert this time since everything left us quite sated and ready for the concert.  Adoro did not suffer any sophomore slump.  If anything it’s one of those rare times when the sequel is just as good if not better than the original.

On Saturday, January 26, I watched the Europe Almost Unplugged Live Webcast that was broadcast live on their website www.europetheband.com at 9 pm Central Europe Time (CET) or 12 noon Pacific Time.  They played at a small venue called Nalen in Stockholm, Sweden.

I attempted to launch the webcast at 11:45 am and it said I had to install a plug-in.  I tried the plug-ins they featured and neither of them worked so I clicked on manual install that proceeded to install the Windows Media Player Firefox plug-in.  The webcast launched and showed a 6-inch square screen of the stage and the backs of some male concertgoers' heads.  I tried to expand it to full screen but I kept getting the message, "Video has to be playing to enter full screen mode."  I tried at other times during the webcast and kept getting the same message.

The venue had a pit area in front of the stage where people stood and there were these Doric-looking columns along the walls and the stage.  The stage was dark but I could see the outline of at least four chairs and a drum kit.  During the concert the lights shined different in the background behind the stage.  They ranged from dark blue turquoise to purple to red to orange to dark green to light green.  They changed the color after every song though some songs had the same color. 

The crowd looked like Europeans (no surprise) mostly in their 20’s and 30’s.  Some held up signs and flags

When the time was close to noon (i.e. 9 pm CET), the crowd started making noise such as singing "Whoa Whoa" and then the band came out to applause and sat down on the chairs.  The string quartet followed and sat on four more chairs behind the drum kit.  The lead singer, Joey Tempest, said, "Let's have some fun" and they went straight into a nearly acoustic version of "Got to Have Faith" (nearly acoustic since the keyboard player, Mic Micheali, played electronic keyboards throughout.)  The string quartet played some harmony and the guitarist, John Norum, sounded like he was playing blues from the 70's.  Even when almost unplugged, the song still rocked.

When they finished the first song Joey said, "It's a very special night, for us at least, because we have these nice ladies playing strings for us."  He described how they planned to play some weird and wonderful versions of Europe songs and some covers of songs and artists that influenced them most.  They then played an almost acoustic version of "Forever Travelling" a cut of their latest CD that is a tribute to Steve Perry formerly of Journey.

Before the next song, the bassist, John Leven and John N. switched to electric instruments.  John N. got a black and white y-shaped guitar.  Joey described how John N. came up with the guitar solo for next song while casually jamming in the recording studio.  He said, "Miracles do happen.  This one's for you, Jamie" (I have no idea who he was talking about) and they launched into "Devil Sings the Blues", also from their latest CD.  That song has grown on me since I saw this webcast of it.

John N. and John L. switched back to acoustic guitars for the next song and Joey said it was for "the people in front of the computers, wish you were here." and they covered Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here".  When he sang, "We're just two lost souls living in a fish bowl year after year" it really seemed like that to me watching them on a 6-inch screen.  The stage lights shined a light green background.

The staged lights changed to purple for the next song "Dreamer" from their 1984 record "Wings of Tomorrow".  They didn't sing any verse acappella as they have been known to do but it was still soulful.

The next song was their second cover that Joey prefaced by saying how when the band Force (original named of Europe) started many years ago or "no, it wasn't really that long ago", John's mother's partner had a very large record collection and this was one they listened to many times.  The background changed the deep orange and they sang "Love to Love" by UFO, a song I had never heard before.  It didn't measure up to Europe's songs in my opinion but it had interesting switches between soulful singing and hard guitar riffs.

The guitarists switched back to electric instruments, the lights changed the dark blue, and Joey introduced the next song with a story: 

Once upon a time
in basement
on the edge of Stockholm
There was a little punk
who borrowed a keyboard from another punk
and came up with a riff
that changed everything.
And the rest, as they say
is a mystery. . .

They then went straight into the first verse of "The Final Countdown" without doing the signature keyboard riff.  The version sounded very different from the regular with the strings providing a multilayered harmony.  They made it through the first verse and then the screen froze, at the worst possible it could time during the concert.  But the time I got things back up and running they were finishing the last verse and the strings were playing the notes of the signature riff.  I wish I could have heard the whole song.  This occurrence prevents me from giving the concert five stars.

After singing what he has described as their "biggest hit so far."  Joey put down the acoustic rhythm guitar he had played during the first six songs and picked up some shakers.  He stood up and the lights changed to blue turquoise.  "We need your helping hands with this one," he said.  As the loud intro to the song began Joey quietly joked, "I liked to move-it move-it" and they played the rockin' cult favorite outtake "Yesterday's News".  Towards the end they stopped playing and let the crowd clap out the rhythm before providing an extended ending.

The lights changed back to dark purple and Joey got his guitar back and said, "The next song is difficult to explain.  It's meant a lot to us. We're gonna try to do it justice."  John N. had switched to a different electric guitar with a more traditional shape and they played the bluesy "Since I've been Loving You" by Led Zepplin.

They went back to acoustic for the next song and Joey asked the crowd, "Where do you travel from?"  After listening he said, "I heard Spain, Germany, Italy.  I think there're also some from Sweden here" and resulting in loud cheering.  He introduced the next song as from their 2004 CD "Start From the Dark" and described how "This evening is about miracles and heroes."  The keyboard played, Mic Michaeli, played the chorus melody of their song "Hero" and Joey started singing the first verse on an acoustic version of the song.  The version was good but didn’t quite have the anthemic power of their regular version.  I tend to prefer Europe's regular versions to their acoustic ones.  Joey still got very passionate while singing it, raising his fist and looking like he was tearing up.

It was back to electric guitars for the guitarists and Joey said, "This goes out to a man who is sitting just east of Heaven and west of Hell.  This one goes out to Phil!"  I assume he meant the late Phil Lynott from the group Thin Lizzy who was a major influence and the inspiration for the prior song, "Hero".  Europe performed what I assume was a cover of a Thin Lizzy song, though I hadn't heard it before.  I think it was called "Suicide" given the prominence of that word in the chorus.  They used a blinking light effect during this song.

The crew took away Joey's guitar and he and John L. "clinked" their water bottoms before taking a sip.  Joey said, "It's been a long time since we played this next song.  It was requested by a lot of fans on our website europetheband.com".  The lights changed to green and red and they sang a song from their very first record that I hadn't heard before.  The song was "Memories" and it had interesting lyrics such as, "There is not time to pay my sin, everyday is a fire wind."

After they finished this twelth song of the evening they left the stage with the drummer, Ian Haugland, handing his sticks to the crowd.  For several minutes the crowded cheered, stomped, and clapped very loudly.  The stage lights came back on and the band and string quartet returned.  Joey said, "Thank you very very much!" He thanked the "string girls from Stockholm Strings" and introduced each of them by name.  Then he said, "We're gonna need your help on this one" and they played "Superstitious" with prominent harmonizing from the string quartet.  Since I didn't hear all of "The Final Countdown", I felt this song was their best performance of the concert.  It took me back to when I listen to this song in middle school so many years ago, or no, it wasn't really that long ago.  Joey did some back and forth with the crowd singing "Whoa Whoa"

They finished "Superstitous" and the string quartet left.  The band got up and talked amongst themselves for a few minutes and the crowd went crazy.  They went back to their places, though Joey jokelying went to the drum kit before being redirected by Ian.  Joey said, "We don't really plan anything else.  Any requests?"  After some unintelligible (to me) shouting from the audience Joey said, "This song was mentioned."  They played “Rock the Night” with Joey standing and playing shakers.  The crowd got really into it, raising their fists and they had an extended ending with Joey doing more back and forth with the crowd:

Joey: “Sing Rock now rock the night”

Crowd: “Rock now rock the night”

Joey: “Sing rock rock rock rock rock the night.”

Crowd: “Rock rock rock rock rock the night.”

The song ended to thunderous applause, screaming, and stomping.  The band got up for the final time. Joey said, “We’ll see you again soon” and they walked off the stage.  The screen faded to back.

Maybe next time I’ll actually get to see them live.