On Tuesday, November 24, 2009, my wife and I met up after work to get dinner and attend a Wolfmother concert (see earlier review).  For the dinner portion of the evening we went to Pastagina.  It's a chain eatery that I'd seen in mall food courts such as the Beverly Center.  In Downtown L.A., Pastagina had a small, sit-down eatery in the building that also included the Ralph's Fresh Fare and the Market Lofts in the South Park neighborhood.  This building is attached to the apartment building where we used to live in Downtown L.A. a few years ago.  That was before there was a Ralph's, Market Lofts, and Pastagina.  They were still under construction back then.

On Tuesday I left work at the usual time and walked to my sister- and brother-in-law's home that's in South Park near Staples Center.  My wife drove down from her work and parked in the parking garage for my sister- and brother-in-law's home.  We actually arrived at the parking structure at about the same time.  We visited with our sister- and brother-in-law a bit and left sometime after 6 pm to have dinner.  Pastagina was a standalone shop among many other businesses on either side of the Ralph's Fresh Fare/Market Lofts building.  We just walked up Hope Street to get there.  It was a very small eatery with only 5-6 tables and 6-7 more seats at a counter near the window.  The décor was very simple: walls colored orange below and white above where they hung photographs of pasta, chefs and related images.  It had a high ceiling with exposed piping indicating a loft style and consistent with the Market Lofts condos in the floors above.  The floor consisted of large gray stone tiles.

The entrance to Pastagina led right to the register counter.  The small open kitchen was right there behind the counter to the left.  High on the wall behind the counter was a large menu with all the pasta selections along with salads, soups, beverages, and desserts.  It listed the first two options, tomato and basil and primavera as vegan.  Customers could choose between about 15 different toppings including the seasonal "Special of the Month" and five different types of pasta including spaghetti, penne, fusilli, and multigrain angel hair.  Pastagina's specialty is that they have the technology to make freshly cooked pasta to order in a fairly short amount of time.  I believe that they were a fairly new chain.  The cashier handed us a take-home menu that listed the locations: Beverly Center, Little Tokyo, Irvine, Grand Avenue (Downtown L.A.), and Market Lofts where we were.  It said they'd be opening locations in Westwood, Santa Ana, Koreatown, El Segundo, and Cypress.  The take-home menu also lists catering options.  My wife noticed one difference between the take-home menu and the posted menu: the take-home menu said that the primavera topping had cheese while the posted menu said it was vegan.

The dessert options consisted of many different kinds of gelato displayed behind a large glass counter to the right of the cash register.  We placed our orders and the cashier gave us a plastic number.  We sat down at a small table and as we waited we noticed that they played salsa music over the speakers.  It only took 10-15 minutes for our orders to arrive and it looked like the cashier did all the cooking.  I think she called our number and I went to the counter to get the orders.  They both came on one tray in wide, shallow bowls with the Pastagina logo on the rims.  Each order came with a small piece of bread that looked like a miniature French or Italian loaf.  I had ordered the primavera and specified "no cheese" to ensure they followed the posted menu that listed it as "vegan" and not the printed menu that said it came with cheese.  They followed my instructions.  The primavera was very good with the pasta cooked perfectly, just slightly al dente.  I chose fusilli pasta since I hadn't had that for a while.  It came with tomato sauce and vegetables including asparagus, peas, carrots, and red bell pepper.  They were cooked just right, retaining much of the crunch and flavor.  Despite being a vegan dish it was a decent amount of food.  The accompanying bread was also good, tasting fresh.

My wife enjoyed her seafood pasta on multigrain angel hair.  It was also free of dairy so I could have had it.  The sauce included shrimp, calamari, and baby clams along with diced tomatoes and garlic.  My wife had the tropical coconut gelato for dessert that she also enjoyed.

While we ate other parties came in, placed orders, and usually got them to go.  The restaurant had one restroom for patrons only who had to borrow the key from the cashier.  It's hard to find a free restroom in Downtown L.A.  The ones at Macy's Plaza shopping center cost 25 cents to use.  Anyway, we left Pastagina at 6:45 pm, well satisfied and ready for the concert.

In late March 2010 we wanted to eat at the Market Lofts Pastagina before going to the Tears for Fears concert.  Unfortunately we found Pastagina to be closed down and we ate at Ralph's Fresh Fare.  In early May 2010 I had hoped to eat at the Pastagina I had seen in the Beverly Center after my doctor appointment.  But I found it also to be closed down.  I hope the chain hasn't closed down completely.  At least we enjoyed it very much during our one chance.

We saw Toy Story 3 on Monday, June 28, 2010 at the Terra Vista 6 cinema in Rancho Cucamonga.  It was the second film we had seen in theaters in 2010 and the first children’s film I had seen in a very long time, possibly since the 1990’s.  I had seen the first Toy Story when it came out in the mid 1990’s.  I think it was one of the first if not the first computer-generated cartoon major motion pictures.  I enjoyed it very much not only for the animation but also the humor, character, and the story.  The idea that toys have lives of their own when the kids are away is intriguing.  I did not see Toy Story 2 when it came out in 1999.  Maybe I felt I had outgrown it or I didn’t want to see it in a theater full of young kids.  Within the past couple of years I’ve seen parts of it when they played the DVD at our church’s hot dog Saturday night and when they showed it on TV.

My wife had seen the first two Toy Stories and wanted to see the third.  It sounded interesting because it would take place around 10 years after the previous one.  Again I didn’t want to compete with the crowds of kids so we decided to see it on a Monday matinee.  My wife planned to take the Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT) exam in Rancho Cucamonga on Monday, June 28 and I had some spare vacation time.  We originally planned to see it at the AMC Theaters at Victoria Gardens shopping destination.  They charged $11 for the 3D version for matinee.  They also had a 2D version that I believe was less expensive though the price for the matinee wasn’t given online.  The evening prices were $11 for 2D and $14 for 3D.  Using moviefone.com I checked whether there were any closer and less expensive theaters and found one: the Terra Vista 6 that’s only 3 miles from the test center.

I researched the Terra Vista 6 online and learned that it showed first run movies at bargain prices: $5 for matinees and $7 for evening shows after 5 pm with discounts for students, seniors, and kids in the evening.  On yelp.com past patrons said it was an old cinema and I figured (correctly) that it didn’t have stadium seating.  They said it was clean and never crowded.  On the 28th we drove to the test center on the southwest corner of Carnelian and Base Line in Rancho Cucamonga.  We arrived at the intersection 45 minutes early so we decided to “do recon” of the theater and the place where we would have lunch.  We drove further south down Carnelian to where it became Vineyard, crossed Foothill, and turned left on Arrow Route.  On the Southeast Corner of Archibald and Arrow Route was a strip mall that contained Guido’s Deli where we planned to have lunch.  We recalled this place from when we tried to eat dinner there before attending the Fashion Empire 2009 Mood Indigo Fashion Show in June 2009 (see earlier blog).

We found Guido’s that actually has the sign “Guido’s Pizza” above it and continued to drive east on Arrow Route.  We turned left on Haven, crossed Foothill again, and turned right on Town Center Drive.  There were a couple of drives to the right with signs that said “Food Court”.  The MapQuest directions said the theater was on the left side of Town Center Drive going east but we couldn’t find it there, only some open space and a few office buildings.  After dropping my wife off at the test center I returned to Town Center Drive for a second “recon”.  This time I was more successful since I noticed a building with “Theater” on it on the right side of the road.  I turned right into the second drive with the “Food Court” sign and made another left into the parking lot before the drive reached the small roundabout.  The parking lot was empty.  The theater building was tan-colored and looked a bit like a mission-style building.  On the north side it had a row of “buttress” pillars similar to a mission building.  I followed them and turned right to the east side of the building where the entrance was.

The Terra Vista 6 did not look older or very different from most movie theaters, at least from the outside.  It had ticket windows outside, video games and a long concession counter inside, movie posters, and a large board with movie times and prices above the ticket windows.  The entrance was near a plaza and across from ta Subway sandwich café and a taco eatery.  There were benches and tables near the eateries for outdoor seating.  The theater was closed at this early hour of 9 am.  I left, drove west on Town Center Drive and turned right (north) on Haven.  I merged to the left lane that led to the 210 freeway west.  While my wife took the exam I returned home and shopped for our weekly groceries.  She called me around noon to say she was done and that she had passed the exam.  I returned to the test center, picked her up and we drove to Guido’s to get lunch (see later review).

We drove to the Terra Vista 6, parked, and ate lunch at one of the outdoor tables near the plaza.  There was still a lot of time before the 2:50 showing of Toy Story 3 so we walked to an ice cream parlor, Marble Slab Creamery, that’s located on Foothill to the south and east of the cinema.  On the way we saw a building with a Mervyn’s sign but it turned out to be closed.  We walked south on Aspen and then east on Foothill to a large shopping center that included a Bally Total Fitness.  Marble Slab had signs for a “Buy One get One Free” special.  Other signs said they made their own ice cream and served freshly baked cones.  My wife had the Banana Traveler: sweet cream ice cream with banana, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and caramel.  She enjoyed it and it followed an “Elvis” food theme from the days before: “Elvis” crepes of banana and peanut butter at our sister- and brother-in-law’s baby shower on Saturday, and leftover bananas with peanut butter (a.k.a. Elvis Dipping Area) on Sunday.

We returned to the theater where there were many parents with young kids gathered around.  They had a queue set up to the right of the entrance for those who had bought tickets to the 2:50 showing of Toy Story 3.  There were just a few others buying tickets so we quickly bought ours for $5 each and queued up at 2:24 pm.  A mother with a young child in front of us asked if we could save her spot.  We couldn’t since the queue started moving at 2:30 pm before they came back.  We entered and found our way to Theater 6 to the right of the concession counter.  The theater wasn’t very crowded when we got there and we found seats towards the center.  All the other seats soon filled with kids and their parents and some teenagers.  The theater did not have stadium seating and, unlike what it said on yelp.com, it was crowded with kids, most of them shorter than us so no one blocked our view.  Overall the kids were very well behaved throughout, not making much noise during the movie or talking excessively.  I didn’t think anyone had to make their way in front of our seats.

Other than the lack of stadium seating the theater did not seem old.  Its floor sloped down toward the screen that didn’t look too small or too large.  On the screen they showed motion (as opposed to still) ads for HGTV, Sprint, and movie and music trivia.  There was a spot for the film The Sorcerer’s Apprentice that starred the guy who played Oswald on Numb3rs and compared the new film to the Fantasia cartoon.  There were also spots for Argosy University (targeting the unemployed on a Monday afternoon?), the trailer for the movie Inception available on Sprint phones, a TV movie or show called Standing Ovation, the Toy Story 3 sticker collection, and a Google ad featuring the Toy Story characters.  The official trailers began at 2:51 pm.  First was the third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader directed by Michael Apted.  It would be screened in 3D as I believe was said for all the films previewed.  I thought it was a bit ironic that they were advertising these films as showing in 3D in a non-3D theater before a film that was showing in 3D at other, more expensive theaters.  Next was a quick trailer for Smurf’d that wasn’t coming until summer 2011.  The last trailer was for the animated movie Tangled, a variation of Rapunzel.

Before the feature presentation they showed this very strange short animated film called “Night and Day” that involved these literally transparent cartoon characters who never spoke.  I couldn’t really get into it and I was glad it was short.

Then the feature presentation began.  I’m not going to give much detail because I don’t want to spoil it but it was excellent.  We already knew a bit about it from the previews online and reading reviews.  While eating lunch a woman sitting near us told us a spoiler but we still enjoyed the film very much.  It has excellent animation, action, and effects, all better than the first two Toy Stories.  But it’s the story (the toy story?) that truly elevates it.  The main characters are now well-known and have their own histories but we still got to see other sides of them, some hilarious.  I thought the film explored deeper and more complex themes than the first two: family, growing up, transitions.  Nothing really new, but still different from the toys’ perspective.  It made think of the toys I used to play with.

The voice acting by both the familiar and new characters was top notch.  I really thought of them as full living characters and not just things, just like how children see their toys.  The film has a lot of humor and some suspense that I thought got rather intense for its G-rating.  Parts get emotional and I was almost brought to tears as my wife was.  Everything is well paced and easy to follow but a lot was unexpected even with the spoilers we knew beforehand.  The film lasts for one hour and 45 minutes but doesn’t seem that long.  There are many new characters some of whom are well developed and complex, others are hilarious.  Overall, I couldn’t find any flaws with the film.  It would have been worth seeing in 2D at the AMC evening show for $11 or even in 3D for $14.  We got a real steal seeing it for $5.  As we left we saw people queuing up for the 5:15 pm showing of Toy Story 3.  This crown looked like it had more teenagers.  The film appeals to all generations.

Spoilers.

I had first seen The Kalahari Typing School for Men several months ago among the audiobooks at the Covina Public Library.  I didn’t read it yet because I read on the cover that it was part of a series that begins with The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, that’s also the name of the series.  The Covina Public Library had this audiobook in circulation and I waited for it to become available.  For a while it was listed as checked out and later it was listed as lost.  I needed an audiobook to help get some tedious chores done so I decided to forego my regular tendency to read mystery series in order and read Kalahari Typing School.  Like all the Number One Ladies Detective Agency books it’s written by Alexander McCall Smith who’s from Scotland and I believe he teaches at either a law school or a school of criminology.  I also had heard that this series was made into a BBC TV Series and was shown on HBO.

Like the other books in the series, The Kalahari Typing School for Men takes place in Gaborone, the capital of the African nation of Botswana.  The main character is Ma Ramotswe, detective and owner of The Number One Ladies Detective Agency.  Other major characters include Ma Macutsi, assistant detective at the agency; Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, Ma Ramotswe’s fiancée and owner and chief mechanic of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors; and his two apprentices.  I believe that they recur throughout the series along with some other minor characters.  Everyone refers to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni by his long formal title, even Ma Ramotswe.  The book teaches much about Botswana and the customs there.  It’s a country of around 2 million people that, unlike most African countries, never suffered through any dictatorship phase after gaining independence from colonial rule in the 1960’s.  Ma Ramotswe remarks how the people of Botswana have long been good, polite people, though that may be changing with the next generation.  She thinks about how the people of Botswana aren’t like the wild Swazis or the aggressive Zulus.  In Botswana people refer to each other as “Ma” for Ms. and ma’am or “Ra” for Mr. and sir.  They also refer to someone who has died as “late”, like most of us do.  However, when asking if someone has died, a character asks, “Is she late?”

The mysteries turn out to be simply elements in the lives of the main characters among the other things going on.  The title of the book is a business venture started by Ma Macutsi.  She went to the Botswana Secretarial College and got the highest score on the final exam in the school’s history: 97%.  Despite this she originally had a harder time finding a job than her lower-scoring but prettier classmates.  The story also includes the characters’ love lives, lives at home, and friends.  One plot line involves the opening of a rival detective agency that stresses that it is owned and operated by a man.  It’s called the “Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency” and has the tagline “Ex-CID, (the South African policy force?), Ex-New York (the proprietor lived in there for a short time), Excellent”.

There is a lot of humor in the book.  The story is rather light and relaxing.  The mysteries mostly involved finding people from the past and checking up on a possible errant husband.  There’s no murder or real crimes committed other than minor ones in the past.  They’re very tame compared to the police procedural mysteries that I normally read.  The book proceeds at a very leisurely pace and ultimately everything is resolved to nearly all the characters’ satisfaction.

McCall-Smith includes in the book some interesting points.  During Ma Macutsi’s typing lesson she asks a student to type an essay about “the most important things in your life.”  What a great topic for a general essay.  Students write about their families and their favorite sports teams.  Lots of Ma Ramotswe’s thoughts are revealed as she takes care of her foster orphans and works on her cases.  She ponders how schools are like prisons where children are forced to be there and the older children and bullies dominate.  When researching the background of someone she’s trying to find, she reflects how people’s lives are fragile and her just a few words from another can change the whole course of someone’s life.

The audiobook is read by the actress Lisette Lecat who has a slight but very understandable African accent.  She gives slightly different voices to the different characters, just enough to distinguish them.  I enjoyed the book despite the mysteries not being the major focus.  It’s definitely a change from the usual mysteries I read since it has a female detective and takes place in Botswana.  I consider it more escapist fiction than the compelling suspense of most mysteries I read.  There are many books in the series and I think The Kalahari Typing School for Men is the third or fourth installment.  A few of the others are audiobooks at the Covina Library.  Maybe I’ll check them out the next time I want some light reading.

I heard about the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen from two reliable sources.  First, Nancy Pearl recommended it in her book of book recommendations, Book Lust, in the Adventure Stories – Fiction section.  The second source was the list of manly adventure books from the website The Art of Manliness (http://artofmanliness.com/).  I had already read about 20 books from that list.  They also had a list of manly books in general from which I had read around 10 books.  Pearl described Hatchet as a book for teenagers and young adults but that all adults would enjoy it.  I took her word and the manly list compilers’ word and they were both right.  It’s a book for young adults but I still enjoyed it.

The book is about a boy, Brian, who lives alone for a while in the Canadian wilderness after crashing en route by plane to visit his father.  With his parents’ recent divorce, his life is already complicated.  He flies in a small bush plane with just enough room for himself and the pilot.  There’s no security check before boarding and that’s a good thing because on his belt Brian is wearing a hatchet that his mother gave him.  This hatchet turns out of be crucial for his survival.

Though it is fiction, this tale of survival seems very realistic.  As the reader I felt like I was learning to survive right along with Brian.  First he has to recover from his injuries from the crash, then find water, then food and shelter, fire, the basics.  He has to figure out the best the way to do things through trial and error.  Sometimes his errors lead to setbacks and almost prove fatal in at least one instance.  There’s also the beauty and quiet of the forest.  Brian eventually develops instincts that tell him when things might be dangerous or when things may yield a reward such as food.  There’s also the isolation and hope of being rescued that he eventually learns not to depend on.  Instead he develops a “tough hope” of survival.  He does go through many changes in outlook.  Most of the story takes place during the summer months and the book concedes that he probably would have had a much harder time in the winter.

I could tell right away that the book was primarily for teens and young adults.  The sentences are shorter and there’s some repetition to emphasize main points and Brian’s important thoughts.  The book is less than 200 pages long and has fairly large type, though I don’t think it’s a “blind edition”.  Paulsen does a good job writing from Brian’s 13-year-old point of view.  There are a few intense moments and sometimes I wondered how someone so young could figure out so much about survival and put in all the work: getting food, building a shelter, etc.  But maybe I underestimate the young.  The book won a Newberry Honor award that’s only given to books for children and youth.  It does touch on some complicated themes: divorce of parents, hope, self-reliance.  But I believe it explores them in a way that young people can understand.

Incidentally, when I opened the book I found it had a bookmark already in it: a pink and orange bookmark with an ad for the Nintendo DS video game Super Tuff Pink Puff with a picture of the character Kirby Super Star Ultra.  That’s kind of ironic for video game to make bookmarks, almost contradictory.

I wish I had read the book 22-23 years ago when it first came out but I guess it took a book of recommendations and a manly top 100 list to bring it to my attention.  I think back then I was more interested in reading books to get ahead in schoolwork rather than reading for pleasure and insight.  Too bad, but I think I have the insight to appreciate it more now.  Paulsen went on the write a series of books about Brian.  Maybe I’ll check them out sometime.  I could relate to the book because I used to live in Juneau, Alaska, though I was in town and not surviving on my own.  I don’t think I’d want to find myself in a situation like Brian.  But at least I know if I do, it could survivable with the right attitude and tools.  Too bad we can’t bring hatchets on planes as carry on.

Spoilers?

In September or October 2009 one of our friends from the puzzle parties e-mailed us and the other puzzlers announcing the he would be in the play “Richard III” at the Stages OC Theatre in Fullerton in early November.  He has been in several plays during the past couple of years.  We saw one of them back in January 2008: “Rehearsal for Murder” at the La Habra Depot Theatre.  We enjoyed it and I reviewed it in one of my earliest reviews.  The two plays he was in since then, “Of Mice and Men” and “Prisoner of Second Avenue”, didn’t sound as interesting to us.  But “Richard III” sounded interesting.  I knew it was one of Shakespeare’s historical plays and that it also had many tragic elements.  The story takes place around the time of the War of the Roses when the English royal house Plantagenet was split into the House of Lancaster represented by a red rose and the House of York represented by a white rose.  In my sophomore year of high school I wrote a report on this war for my Western Civilization class.  I wasn’t very familiar with Richard III’s story other than I believe he had a very troubled reign and he may have been one of those kings that went mad.

I was familiar with Shakespeare having studied many of his plays in high school including “Twelfth Night”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet”, and “The Taming of the Shrew”.  I had seen the films of some plays and/or community theater and college productions of “Macbeth”, “The Tempest”, and “Othello”.  My wife had seen productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and “A Comedy of Errors”.  Something that I thought I knew about Richard III was that it had the famous line “Now is the winter of our discontent” with emphasis on the word “Now”.  I wasn’t sure if this line might be from a different play such as “King Lear”.  Another line I thought might be from Richard III was “A horse!  A horse!  My kingdom for a horse!”  I figured that Richard III was the main character and the focus of the play and all other characters were supporting roles including Lord Stanley played by our friend.  I didn’t do any research before the play because I wanted to be surprised.  I was surprised pleasantly, though now I don’t think anything could have ruined it for me.

After my wife e-mailed our friend back telling him we were going to see the play, he sent us a “twofer” coupon via snail mail so we would get two tickets for the price of one.  It was a cardboard flyer for the play with a picture of an evil looking eye on the front and a tagline about how many lives stood between Richard III and his goal, the crown.  Our friend’s written guarantee of the twofer was on the back.  The show actually played between October 9 and November 15 but we were busy every weekend until November 14-15.  There was actually a puzzle party that weekend but it was a very long drive from home.  We figured it was shorter just to see one of our fellow puzzlers in a play.

On Saturday, November 14 we left our home at around 6:20 pm.  We figured we could make it to the theater by the 7 pm start time because we had made it early to the Sunny Day Real Estate Concert at House of Blues Anaheim five weeks before.  For that we had left at 6:25 pm and arrived not long after 7 pm and that was a farther drive than to the Stages OC Theatre.  Unfortunately, we didn’t figure that the traffic might be different.  It was smooth five weeks before.  But this time traffic slowed considerably on the 57 south not long before it merged with the 60.  It was slow for the entire way that it shared lanes with the 60.  We thought there may have been an accident and we turned on KNX for a traffic report but they didn’t say anything about the 57 or the 60.  The traffic cleared after the two freeways diverged but we had lost time and had to hope that the show didn’t start exactly on time.  We drove the legal 3 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, exited at Nutwood/ Chapman, passed Cal State Fullerton on the right, turned left on State College Blvd and turned right on Commonwealth.  I knew from MapQuest that the theatre was near the southeast corner of Commonwealth and Lawrence and that Harbor Blvd was too far.  We crossed Lemon and Pomona and then saw Harbor.  We had gone too far so I turned around.  We found Lawrence that was a street without a traffic light at Commonwealth and saw what looked like a shopping center on the southwest corner.

It turned out that the Stages OC Theatre was in that shopping center.  It was about 7:05 pm when we parked.  We didn’t want to miss the beginning and potentially miss the famous “Now . . .” line.  We saw that there was a queue at the indoor box office, possibly a good sign, we thought, because they wouldn’t start the play while people were still queued up to get tickets, right?  It sounded like most people were picking up tickets that they had reserved in advance.  We could hear some music coming from down the hall and we were going to ask the cashier whether the show had already started but before we got the front of the queue we heard the cashier say to someone, “Tell them to wait five more minutes.”  She told another patron that the show wouldn’t start without her saying so and “What are they gonna do?  Fire me?”  It sounded like she also said to another patron that she was related to or friends with one of the cast members.  We made it to the front and gave the cashier our twofer coupon that she honored.  It only cost of $18 for two tickets rather than $36.  Our friend had told us that it would be cheaper to see that play than to go to a movie.  The cashier seated us in the second row and gave us programs and notes with our seat rows and numbers.

We walked down the hall and they were selling drinks and snacks at a counter to our left.  On our right was a display of Medieval-looking swords.  Extra props, perhaps?  We passed that and entered a door on our right.  The theatre was already full.  It was actually a very small theatre with around 60 seats.  All but the front two rows of 10 chairs each were steep stadium seats.   The people in the first row blocked our view, but not very much.  The set, walls, and interior of the theater were all black.  The “stage” if you could call it that was set at the same level as the front row.  The set consisted of two curtained “doorways” on the left.  No large curtain blocked our view as traditionally used at theatres.  Two small staircases let to an upper level “loft” landing all along the back wall.  In the background they played classical soundtrack-like music.  From the right staircase hung a banner that said “1471” that we ascertained was the year of the first scene.  There was an announcement telling us to turn off all cell phones and that there would be a short intermission.  The voice sounded the same as the cashier’s.

The lights dimmed at 7:15 and the play did not begin with the “Now” line but with a battle.  First, one of the curtain doorways ripped open to reveal the title character and then it was pandemonium, though choreographed very well.  Swords clashed loudly on all sides.  There were no blood special effects but the “kills” of stabbing to the far side behind characters started to seem real very quickly.  There was a musical soundtrack to match the pace and the loud shouting and clashing of weapons.  There were some interesting segments such as an unarmed combatant defeating an armed one with his fists.  The fighting soon dissipated but the intensity remained and would pretty much be there for the entire play.  It never got slow or boring and actually seemed shorter than the estimated two and a half hour running time including the intermission.  The “Now” line was spoken by the title character after 3-4 scenes into the first act.  It’s actually the beginning of a speech to the audience alone.  The actor, who also directed the production, didn’t overemphasize the word “Now” that I’ve heard some actors do.  He said it as part of a speech that sets the stage for the entire play.  The full line is actually:

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

The year is given on a banner at only one other point in the play.  1478 is shown on another banner several scenes into the first act.  It’s hard to remember the exact order of events because there is so much going on and so many characters involved, not just the royal family but also the influential nobles and the deposed royal family (Lancaster) on the other side of the War of the Roses.  But I was still able to follow everything that was happening and even understand their language.  The Shakespearean dialogue and speeches aren’t the most concise but they still make for such rich expressions as the “Now . . .” line.  There are many characters in addition to the title role and it is even more complicated in that some actors have multiple roles but this is well adjusted for with the changing of wigs and costumes.  I didn’t even catch that the Duke of Buckingham and King Henry VI were played by the same actor until I looked at the program later.
The costumes were all from the period.  Some characters such as Richard have few costume changes.  A character in a white shirt indicated that he was imprisoned.  Nearly all the gentlemen and even some of the ladies wore swords, usually in metal rings on the sides of their waists.  Richard wore both a sword and a dagger and wouldn’t hesitate to use both of them.  The costumes weren’t the only evidence of the time period.  Other than the soldiers, murderers (Richard’s hired goons?), guards, and Tower of London officials, all the main characters were nobility or royalty.  There were all the Duke, Earl, or Lord of something in addition to their given names and often they are referred to by what they were lord of rather than their names.  For example, Richard’s brother was George, the Duke of Clarence and Richard referred to him as “Clarence” making some believe that his name was Clarence.  I don’t think we ever learned the Duke of Buckingham’s real name.  However, the convention wasn’t always consistent.  Our friend’s character, Lord Stanley, the Earl of Derby, was referred to as “Stanley” rather than “Derby”.  Before becoming king, Richard was the Duke of Gloucester but was still always called Richard.  Another practice that was possibly from the period was that when some characters shook hands they held each other’s forearms nearly to the elbows.

The acting was very good by a very large cast that was more than just Richard and a bunch of supporting roles.  Many characters carved out their own individual major roles.  No one was just a caricature of the “good guy” or “bad guy”, completely innocent or evil.  They all had complexity to varying degrees.  Our friend’s character, Lord Stanley, seemed to be in the background in the first act.  I wasn’t even sure whose side he was on or if he just followed bandwagons.  But in the second act he played a crucial role.  I wonder how he got used to Richard shouting in his face during one scene.  We also noticed that he didn’t get to participate in the battle scenes until the end.  The female actors had major roles playing princesses and queens, all acted well.  I think one woman got to spit in Richard’s face twice, very impressively both times.  They showed strength but also succumbed to Richard’s manipulation just like many of the male characters.  I think a female child actor played one of the young princes.  That prince was very vocal and cunning showing some resemblance to his uncle, Richard.  I think that prince’s name was also Richard.

I mentioned them distinguishing two roles played by one actor with different costumes but the acting also distinguished.  The bitter king Henry VI was clearly different from the smooth-talking Duke of Buckingham despite being played by the same actor.  The foppish and subservient Lord Mayor of London was clearly different from bold, strong, and (somewhat overly) heroic Earl of Richmond played by the same actor.  The minor characters’ complexity and some humor were portrayed in the scene with the Duke of Clarence and Richard’s hired murderers in the Tower of London.  “Bring me some wine,” said Clarence and a murderer answered, “Oh, you’ll have plenty of wine where you’re going (i.e. Heaven).”  But the murderers hesitated and Clarence almost convinced them not to do it.

The best acting was done by the actor playing the title character.  As I mentioned, he also directed the production.  Richard III was probably one of the most evil characters I’ve seen in a play or movie (or the one that did the most evil for those who believe that “evil” cannot be used to describe a person, only an action.)  The actor/director portrayed such a determination of purpose that he was almost charismatic despite the path his character took to reach that purpose.  He was cunning and put on different faces to suit his purpose such as emphasizing with his brother in one scene and ordering him killed in the next.  He manipulated others to help him either through his sheer determination or even more subtly such as when he convinced the widow of someone he killed to marry him.  I think it helped his cause that no other characters were completely infallible.  The War of the Roses had many conflicting allegiances and adversities that Richard exploited.  He could be humorous, almost charming but then turn callous and ruthless the next moment.  He seemed to get more ruthless over the course of the play along with his accomplices.  He used each one for his purposes and then discarded them once he reached the limit of their loyalty.  There are times when he talked to the audience, sort of breaking the “fourth wall” and he seemed to be address one of us specifically, perhaps the person behind me who couldn’t help speaking her comments out loud.

The overall plot didn’t surprise me: Richard eliminated a bunch of lives to get the crown, became king, and got his comeuppance in the end.  But how everything unfolded in detail was very interesting.  We learned from the program that the production actually included some ending scenes from Shakespeare’s play “Henry VI Part 3”.  “Richard III” as written actually begins with the “Now . . .” speech.  The production worked out well, I think, providing more background and setting and putting the relationships between the characters in context for the rest of the play.  There was also more symmetry since the play began with a battle and ended with a battle.  The body count was high.  I lost count of how many lives Richard “moved out of the way” or had “moved” by his goons.  By the intermission I don’t think he had quite made it to king yet.  A few more lives were in the way.  By the end many of them came back to haunt him quite literally in a nearly over-the-top scene as he tried to sleep.  The line “Despair and die!” might have been a bit overused, but it was well deserved.

After the play ended we exited theatre room having been entertained and a bit exhausted by all the intensity.  We weren’t sure if our friend saw us so we waited in the lobby off to the side where the queue had been.  We saw him just a bit later and he thanked us for coming.  We returned the way we had come and there was hardly any traffic this time.  “Richard III” was an exciting, intense, and deceptively complex play, a history lesson and tale of political intrigue.  Now that’s what I call the winter of discontent.

We hear about new restaurants from many different sources: newspapers such as the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, magazines such as Inland Empire, and recommendations from family and friends.  And sometimes we just drive a place that looks interesting or like it might be good.  We drive back and forth down Citrus Avenue through downtown Covina many times so we can always tell when new businesses have opened or are in the process of opening there.  By driving by we learned about Olamendi’s Zona Rosa (see earlier review), and the Young Performers’ Institute Live the Music musical revue at the Covina Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA).  At the northwest corner of Citrus Avenue and College Street there’s an old building that used to house a camera shop.  They have since either closed down or moved to one of the side streets.  For several months in the late summer and early fall 2009 they had been renovating the place as a new restaurant: 3 Vinos.  It was hard to miss with a large blue sign below the clock on the top corner of the building.

My mom visited us over the weekend of November 7-8, 2009.  Before she came she told me she wanted to take us out to dinner for our birthdays, both of which had taken place the previous month.  We decided this was a good time to try 3 Vinos since it was close to where we lived and had opened within the past few weeks.  We could see the blue lights of the bar inside from the street.  We checked their website but it didn’t say much other than hinting that their food was Latin and giving a couple of songs on their play list.  These included “La Vida is un Carnaval” sung by Celia Cruz and “Bombalero” by the Gypsy Kings.  Well, we had enjoyed Latin food at many other places.  We knew this usually meant food from Spain or Latin America other than Mexico.  But it also meant something different at every Latin restaurant we had visited so we were curious to find out 3 Vino’s take.

On the afternoon of Saturday, November 7, we went to church in the evening.  On the way there we drove by Gladstone High School where my mom’s cousin teaches.  We drove down Azusa Avenue past the North Woods Inn and our gym.  We drove by our credit union and still arrived at church early.  After church we drove north on Citrus into Downtown Covina, turned right on College Street and parked in the public structure there.  We went up to the second level where we could park in the blue-lined parking spaces for 3 hours for free.  Curiously there were no other cars in the structure despite all the angled spaces along Citrus being full.  We took the elevator down to street level, crossed Citrus Avenue and College Street and entered the restaurant.  We hadn’t made a reservation so we weren’t sure what to expect.  I don’t think the website had given a phone number.

Upon entering we noticed that the restaurant was a large space with high ceilings and dark hardwood floors.  The interior walls were brick, probably part of the original building’s structure.  The lighting was slightly dark.  In the middle was a large bar that wrapped all around and had blue light emanating from the counter.  Above it were flat glass double panes filled with water and lit with blue lights in which air bubbles decoratively floated to the top.  The left (south) side of the place was filled with large flat black leather couches.  I guess it was more of a lounge section.  The tables of the restaurant were on the right (north) side of the space.  After we entered a waiter said he could have a table ready for us in five minutes.  We sat down on one of the leather couches and studied a menu that the waiter had given us.  3 Vinos’ take on Latin Food seems to include Cuban (e.g. Cuban Sandwich), Spanish (paella), and South American (e.g. Loma Saltado from Peru).  The menu has separate sections for appetizers, soups/salads, sandwiches, meat, chicken, seafood, and desserts.  The appetizers, soups/salads, and sandwiches cost between $6-$22 and the entrees cost between $12-$25 with some of the steak entrees being more expensive.  The desserts were also expensive at around $8-$9.

We ended up waiting for about 20 minutes from 6:55 pm to 7:15 pm.  We figured if we had to wait too long we could just go to Mr. Pollo where they also serve Loma Saltado.  A hostess asked us whether someone had taken our name.  Soon after that the waiter we first talked to seated us on the north side of the restaurant.  He had given us the choice of indoor or outdoor seating but we felt it was too cold outside.  Our small table for three was towards the back near the speaker.  Throughout the time we were there they played loud Merengue music.  Some music sounded like Merengue remixes of songs.  Above the bar screens showed the USC football game and later the Arizona game.  Most every table was filled and people were all dressed up.  After we had come in, many other parties entered and waited in the lounge area in the black leather couches, many of them ordering drinks at the bar.  When the waiter came by we pretty much knew what we wanted to order since we had studied the menu while waiting in the lounge area.

They first brought us waters to drink and some rolls with green spread on the side.  I didn’t taste the spread but it looked a bit like pesto.  They brought my wife’s orders first, I think because she ordered a soup and an appetizer rather than an entrée.  She first received the Caldo Gallego soup that had beans, Spanish (i.e. pre-cooked) chorizo, and other meat that looked like bacon.  Her appetizer, Patatas Bravas, consisted of many long wedges of potato slices covered in a spiced red sauce along with other sliced vegetables such as bell pepper and tomato.  I tried one of the potato wedges and found it good and filling.  My wife had noticed that one potato dish on the menu had “papa” in the name and another had the word “patata”.  She looked them up and found that they both translated to “potato”.  She enjoyed both her orders even finishing all the potatoes.

We probably should have asked the waiter to bring all out orders at the same time.  My mom had never tried the Peruvian dish Loma Saltado before.  My wife had it at Dos Burritos many weeks before and at least one other restaurant.  She insisted that my mom try it.  It’s definitely not something that could be found in Juneau.  When the waiter brought it to her he even said it was delicious.  It looked good: strips of beef along with slices of peppers and tomatoes in a dark sauce and all on top of a bed of thin French fries.  There was also some rice, black beans, and a few fried plantains on the side.  She enjoyed it though all together it was a lot of food.  She let me try some and I especially enjoyed the fries soaked in the flavorful sauce that had a hint of soy.  This reflects the Asian influence on Peruvian cooking.

I ordered something we had never seen on a menu before: Pollo Fricasee, a Cuban-French dish.  That’s an interesting combination.  It came in a shallow bowl with the rice in the middle with white meat chicken, tomatoes, potato, and slices of green olives in an orange-colored sauce.  The sauce had a vinegar-citrus taste and was actually the best part of the dish.  It was all very good when mixed together.  It came with a small bowl of black beans on the side and some fried plantains.  My wife had the beans.  The plantains were sweet and made a great dessert.  It was a lot of food but I was able to finish.  When the waiter collected my empty bowl he joked, “It looks like you didn’t like it.”

When we first sat down at our table we noticed some instrument cases against the wall nearby.  They looked like they held conga drums.  As we ate dinner some more people brought instrument cases that looked like they held guitars.  I guess they would have a live band playing later on.  It looked like there was a small stage set up in that corner or that one could be set up.  We didn’t get a chance to find out.  When we left the place was much more crowded than when we arrived.  There were even some employees outside possible checking ID.  We walked around downtown Covina a bit.  Most of the shops were closed but both bookstores were open.  We looked around the Covina Bookstore and bought the new Trader Joe’s-inspired cookbook.  They were serving cookies at the other bookstore, the one that sold used books.  We passed 2-3 jewelry stores, all closed with their display jewelry stashed and hidden from view.  Also closed was the shop Vintage Dreams where my wife had bought the dress and hat that she wore at Lola’s 1920’s-themed birthday party in April 2009.  The Covina Center for the Performing Arts was closed but we did see posters for the upcoming show there, Gilbert and Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore”.  After walking around we returned to our car in the parking structure on College Street that was still empty except for some skateboarders and drove home.

Well, we never figured out what the three vinos actually were.  I’m guess that one was for Malbec wine from Argentina, another could be wine from Spain and the third wine from Cuba, if it comes from there.  I’m glad we waited out the 20 minutes for the table even though they said it would only be five minutes.  I got to try Cuban Ficasee, possibly my only chance.  The food is expensive but it’s worth it once in a while.  I wonder what other places might spring up in downtown Covina.

We went to 3 Vinos for the second time on Sunday, December 6, 2009.  Not long before that some 3 Vinos employees were passing out fliers near the Covina Metrolink parking structure.  The fliers announced the Sunday brunch at 3 Vinos between 11:00 am and 2:30 pm.  On the 6th we went there after power pacing (a.k.a indoor cycling or spinning) class at the gym.  This time we parked in a public lot behind the restaurant.  We weren’t sure if our workout clothes were too casual and when we entered we saw a sign on the hostess’ desk that said, “Dress Code Enforced”.  But the hostess let us in and allowed us to check out the buffet before deciding whether we wanted to try it.  This time they had seating on both sides of the bar.  I noticed some instruments mounted decoratively on the wall on the right side.  The food looked good so we had brunch.

A server let us choose between Mimosas and orange juice to drink.  We chose the latter.  The buffet had so many interesting foods: steamed yucca, fried rice (reflecting the Asian influence on Peruvian cooking), white rice, picadillo (ground beef in sweet tomato sauce with potato and olives), pork chops, chicken in tomato sauce, and ropa vieja (shredded beef in red sauce with green pepper).  They also made omelets to order and had many ingredients on display.  They sliced beef to order and there were some traditional American breakfast foods: bacon, sausage, eggs, and pancakes.  They had two soups: caldo gallego and pozole.  There were lots of desserts including strawberries, sugar cake, and fried plantains.  I enjoyed the fried rice, picadillo on white rice, ropa vieja, and fried plantains.  My wife had some of those and also the pork chops and sugar cake.  The place was about half full.  The flier had advertised live music during brunch and we saw some musicians start to set up but then they sat back down.  We didn’t get to hear any live music for the second time.  But the food continued to satisfy.  No sophomore jinx for 3 Vinos.

This is a book I had wanted to read for a while but for most of that time it wasn’t available from any of the libraries I most often visit.  I even considered ordering it from the author’s bookstore, Tia Chucha’s.  Then in September 2009 I noticed on Cal State L.A.’s online catalog that they had it in their new book section.  It was about time they got it since it was published in 2002 and CSULA is very close to if not within East L.A.  I first heard about the author, Louis J. Rodriguez, because I was interested in learning more about gang culture.  Coming from Southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, I hadn’t heard much about gangs.  My closest gang affiliation was playing a member of the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, in a high school production of West Side Story.  A while ago I read an article in the L.A. Times, possibly in the book review section that mentioned the book Always Running as a definitive account of gang life in the L.A. area.  Later I checked out the book that's a non-fiction memoir by Luis J. Rodriguez.  It’s about his life in the gang Lomas or “hills” in the west San Gabriel Valley in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  They were rivals of the gang “Sangra” that was slang for San Gabriel.  This was back when mostly Latinos lived in the area and long before it was populated by Asians.

Always Running was written as a warning to Rodriguez’s eldest son who was 15 at the time and starting to get interested in gangs.  It is not a happy book and at times the story is very violent and graphic.  About the only humor is in the author’s and fellow gang members’ nicknames.  He’s called “Chin” because an injury made his chin more prominent.  One of his homeboys is called “Chicharron” because of his dark skin, I think.  Though it doesn’t romanticize the life at all, much of the book’s writing has a poetic quality to it.  You could almost say the book is urban and gritty and poetic and lyrical at the same time.  I remember seeing late author Frank McCourt be interviewed by author Mitch Albom at the 2006 L.A. Times Festival of Books.  McCourt said he was tired of critics saying his writing was “poetic and lyrical” just as they describe most Irish or Irish-American authors.  He said, “I want them to say (my writing is) urban and gritty.”  Well, Luis J. Rodriguez seems to have succeeded at being both.  It’s a dark book with a hint of hope at the end.

Rodriguez had written other books, poetry, more non-fiction, and even a children’s book.  In one of my classes at CSULA we reconstructed one of his poems about a noisy machine.  He has a website, www.luisrodriguez.com that includes his blog.  I read it sometimes.  It describes his speaking, writing, fundraising, and gang intervention activities.  The Republic of East L.A. seemed interesting: a book of twelve fictional short stories all connected to East L.A.  It took some time to locate the book in the Cal State L.A. library after I learned they had it.  I didn’t know where the new book section was.  The location wasn’t given online as it is for the other sections but I figured it couldn’t be too hard to find.  I eventually found the new books on a few shelves on the north end of the library’s ground floor.  It was near where they had special exhibits.  At the time they had different chess sets from around the world (see earlier blog).  They had the paperback edition that was orange and yellow with a picture of a young woman on the cover.  I’m not sure about the origin of the photo.  It seemed to correspond most closely to the story “Las Chicas Cuecas”.  The book does give the origin of the photo of two feet standing on the lower rung of a metal fence that is used for the title page spread and the chapter opener page.  It is from La Jette, a French short film from the 1960’s that inspired the 1990’s film Twelve Monkeys.

All the stories in the Republic of East L.A. either take place in the area or have characters from there, usually both.  I think Rodriguez lived there when he as a young adult, after his gang days.  The stories are all fiction, though I believe some parts may be semiautobiographical such as the story “Miss East L.A.” about a rookie reporter for the fictional free community newspaper called the Eastside Star.  The title of the book, The Republic of East L.A., comes from a quote attributed to barrio evangelist Jo Jo Sanchez in an early 80’s L.A. Times article.  I think most of the stories were originally written in the 20 years before the 2002 publishing of the book.  A few seem a little dated such as “Pigeons” that describes West Covina a place “with only fairly well off Anglo families.” (p. 9)  Or maybe he was describing it as a place that used to be like that.  Now it seems like more Asians than Anglos live in West Covina.

I like how all the stories reference streets, areas, and/or neighborhoods that actually exist.  I could locate just about every East L.A. street mentioned on a map.  Rodriguez spends several sentences describing the former General Hospital now called USC-L.A. County Medical Center.  He writes “A lot of Chicanos inhaled their very first breath there—and exhaled their last.  It’s the cheapest and most overworked hospital in the city.  Our hospital.  East L.A.’s.” (p. 178)  Many places mentioned or even featured are not in East L.A.  At one point the main character of the story “Mechanics” suggests to his wife and family that they go out to eat at a “good restaurant” such as Clifton’s or Philippe’s in Downtown L.A.  The narrator/limo driver in the first story, “My Ride, My Revolution” describes driving Taiwanese businessmen to Valley Blvd’s Asian Heights in Alhambra.  The preachy narrator of “Oiga” describes how she walked miles and miles to her ex-boyfriend’s house in Hacienda Heights.  I can understand that because Hacienda Heights is far away from many places.  Then there’s the party scene in “Las Chicas Cuecas” that takes place at a house in Highland Park on Avenue 47.  The author mentions that the area is controlled by the gang The Avenues.  They are one of the first gangs I heard about after first I moved to the L.A. area.

I was hoping the stories wouldn’t be as dark and graphic as Always Running and they weren’t, for the most part.  They are a bit depressing, more than I thought they would be.  It’s as if East L.A. is full of broken dreams.  But some stories such as “Finger Dance” have some hope.  Some are darker such as “Shadows” and “Pigeons”.  “Las Chicas Cuecas” is a bit dark and graphic in parts but also includes some hope.  Its title translates to “the bent girls” as in they’re bent out of shape by their difficult life but they’re not broken.  Some stories contain humor or other things I can relate to.  In “My Ride, My Revolution”, the first person protagonist, Limo driver Cruz Blancarte, listens to a tape of the band Pavement as he waits for his next rider to board.  In “Mechanics”, a coworker of the main character quotes Charlie Parker when he says, “Just remember, romance without finance is a nuisance.” (p. 117)

The Republic of East L.A. is pretty good but I’m glad I didn’t have to buy it to read it.  I guess I was used to reading Rodriguez’s blogs about his work and his and his wife’s bookstore/press, his gang intervention work, and his promoting art as an alternative outlet for youth pressured to join gangs.  I guess life is hard for most residents of East L.A. and Rodriguez realistically portrays this.  But it’s not all bad and the book ends on a high note.  How could it not with a story titled “Sometimes you Dance with a Watermelon.”

I first heard about the book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi from the assistant director of Alumni Relations at my undergrad college. I had lunch with him at Pho 777 in Azusa in July 2008. I was looking for ways to improve my networking skills and the assistant director strongly recommended this book saying that it has helped him greatly with the public relations aspects of his job. I checked out the book from the Covina Public Library. It’s hard to miss with its orange cover. It was published in 2005 that actually makes it a bit dated. It has around 200-300 pages separated into 3 main sections and many smaller chapters. I mostly read it during my spare time at home and, though it read fairly quickly, it never felt like fun or pleasure reading. In fact, it made me feel a bit stressed to read it. I kept going, even past the rule of fifty because I thought I might find something very useful. There were some possible good ideas, and some profound insights. But there were also some strange, less focused ideas. The book’s tone seemed to be almost frantic (e.g. you gotta do this, you gotta do that) and despite having chapters and main sections, it didn’t seem very well organized. The section on small talk that seems to me to be one of the first steps to networking doesn’t appear until the latter half of the book. Often, the book seemed more like an autobiography than a self-help book (therefore a self-self-help book?) or that it was only for a certain type of person (extroverts) or career (sales/marketing).

Never Eat Alone begins like an autobiography where the author tells how he started learning how to network as a child and teen. In this section he recommends being audacious and not be afraid to ask anyone for anything because they may just give it to you. He then veers off into goal setting that I guess is related to networking though only in that they are both ways that help lead to success. I guess his point is that you need to have goals if you want to network. He gives an example of Yale (that happens to be his alma mater) class of 1953 being survey on whether they had goals and whether they wrote down their goals. Twenty years later the 13% who had goals but didn’t write them down were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% who didn’t have goals. However, “the 3% who wrote down their goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% combined.” (Ferrazzi, p. 24) His point seems to be: when you graduated from college, you should have had goals and you should have written them down. The survey could also have proven that if you were lucky enough to know what you planned to do, you did better. I’m not sure if he states it explicitly, but I don’t believe it is ever too late to write down your goals and pursue them.

Ferrazzi goes on to use the New Agey metaphor of the “blue flame” and bliss for a goal as in “follow your bliss” or follow your blue flame. He describes how Joseph Campbell determined that his “blue flame” was the study of Greek Mythology. “After graduation (from Columbia U.) he moved into a cabin in Woodstock, NY where he did nothing but read from 9 in the morning until 6 or 7 at night.” (p. 27) This is an interesting account but one I expected to read in a book about networking. I bet Campbell ate alone many times during those five years. This account also reminded me of seeing a video of Campbell speaking in my Into to Religious Texts class. At the time I thought he gave a rather dull and unfocused lecture that was difficult to understand. Maybe I’d appreciated it better now that I’m older. Ferrazzi also writes that, “Campbell believed that within each person, there’s an intuitive knowledge of what he or she wants most in live. We only have to look for it.” (p. 27)

I did learn a few possibly good networking ideas from the book. One is to frequent a favorite restaurant that’s preferably high-end, get to know the staff and eventually the owner. Bring coworkers there and have them cater an event. According to Ferrazzi, the restaurateur will soon introduce you to their important clients. Another idea is social arbitrage: bringing two people together for mutual benefit. If you don’t known enough people to do this, you can become a knowledge broker. You can get knowledge free or nearly free from books, articles, or the Internet. You just read the information, summarize the big ideas and why it might be useful, and send it to people you want to meet or already know who might benefit from it. Another good idea is to write an article. First you find something you’re interested in, then find a newspaper, newsletter, or publication that might be interested and the editor will probably say, “Let me see it when it’s done.” (p. 247) You identify the top experts on the topic you’re researching and call them for an interviews saying you’re calling on behalf of the (name of publication). Ferrazzi writes, “What you’ve unknowingly done, by calling these people and setting an interview is establish a terrific environment for meeting anyone anywhere.”

Ferrazzi presents some ideas that weren’t as new to me but still good. One is to improve your speaking skills and when you’ve gotten better, volunteer to speak at conferences or events. You can get involved with an organization such as Toastmasters Club who’ll give you a chance to practice in a non-intimidating environment. I know from experience about meeting people by speaking. After presenting at a couple of conferences for work, it seemed like all these people I didn’t know knew my name. Ferrazzi also suggests the book How to Make Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I had heard of it and had always thought it was just a generic self-help book. But after reading Ferrazzi’s account of the book’s history and main ideas, I think it might be worth checking out sometime.

Some of the more profound ideas that Ferrazzi presents also make sense. Late in the book he describes a meditation technique called Vipassana, “a technology for inner peace that can drive fear from the heart and help us have the courage to be who we really are.” (p. 295) That sounds similar to the the Bene Gesserit chant to alleviate fear from Frank Herbert’s book Dune. Per teacher S.N. Goerska, Vipassana involves a “grueling 10-day course, during which practitioners sit for hours-long stretches in absolute silence, without eye contact, writing, or communication of any kind except with teachers at the end of the day.” (p. 296) Like the story of Joseph Campbell, this sounds interesting but I’m not 100% sure how it helps with networking. In sounds like the course involves eating alone. Ferrazzi also includes an interesting quote from the Rabbi Harold Kushner: “Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. These rewards create as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter so the world will be a little bit better for our having passed through it.” (p. 294) I’m not sure I agree with that 100%. Another profound idea that Ferrazzi describes that’s more pertinent to networking is “refrigerator rights”. He argues that we need more “refrigerator relationships” with people we are comfortable and informal enough to allow us to walk into one another’s kitchens and rummage through the refrigerator without asking. (p. 289) He references this idea from Dr. Will Miller and Glen Spark’s book Refrigerator Rights. Due to “increased mobility, American emphasis on individualism, and the overwhelming media distractions available to us, we lead lives of relative isolation.” They argue that the refrigerator relationships keep us well adjusted, happy, and successful.

The book seems to encompass not just networking but Ferrazzi’s entire philosophy about being successful. The views are very much his own and have obviously worked out well for him. I’m not sure they would work as well for those of us that are different from him. Also the way he presents some of his ideas is sometimes haphazard or a bit digressing. In the chapter of how not to be the smoozing networking jerk he makes the point that you should never go to a party or conference empty handed or without anything to offer. That makes sense. But as an example he mentions bloggers who write online journals for free and are “often rewarded with a devout following of people who, in return, offer as much as they receiving.” (p. 59) I like that he gives kudos to us bloggers and makes blogging seem like a form of networking, but how does that apply to the party or conference he started out with?

There are parts of the book that seem a bit dated. I guess the book is a bit old, having been published in 2005. He doesn’t mention MySpace or Facebook at all though he does briefly mention Spoke, LinkedIn, Friendster, and a few I hadn’t heard of: Ryze, Zerodegrees, and Capital IQ. The latter aggregates market data and information on executives. Ferrazzi is only partly sold on e-mail that he believes wallflowers use to avoid personal interaction. Digital media may make communication faster, but Ferrazzi believes they are not effective at making friends. He also believes that mean business is over and mean guys finish last. He asserts that we live in a new “abundance of choice in business in everything from products to career paths.” (p. 58) He bases this on quotes from author and friend Tim Sanders. Another reason Ferrazzi gives for mean business being over is that e-mail, instant messaging, and the web make it almost impossible for a crummy person to keep his or her reality a secret anymore. I’m not so sure that the “abundance of choice” still exists in the current economy.

Speaking of the economy, last year I read in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune about “Pink Slip mixers” where people who had lost their jobs would meet at a bar, restaurant or club, commiserate, and figure out ways they could help each other. This seemed like a good idea to me especially the part about having something to offer the others. It almost seems consistent with Ferrazzi’s idea of always having something to give. But Ferrazzi later writes that these networking events are useless and only for the desperate or the uninformed. He writes, “Imagine a congregation of people with nothing in common except joblessness. That’s not exactly a recipe for facilitating close bonds.” (p. 99) I ask, “Why not? What about the adage ‘misery loves company’?” And, if attending these networking events is useless then what kinds of events should the unemployed attend?

Something I had hoped the book would cover was small talk. There is a chapter on it but I didn’t find it very helpful. It basically said to be genuine and determine the other person “Jadori window” on how much they’re willing to open up. I wish he gave some examples of conversations.

Overall, I found some things in the book that might be helpful but not enough to redeem all that I didn’t find helpful or that I disagreed with. Also the book’s message was inconsistent at times and the content was organized in a rather haphazard way. At one point Ferrazzi says to never eat alone and at another he praises a meditation technique that involves talking to no one. I get that he has had an interesting and successful professional life and a number of things have worked well for him. But this doesn’t mean they’ll work for everyone. I also don’t buy into the whole philosophy that there should be no boundaries between work and personal life. I didn’t find the excited and almost stressful tone of the book to be easy reading. I’m glad it wasn’t too long or I wouldn’t have finished it. I may recommend it for people like Ferrazzi or workaholic extroverts with type A personalities. For everyone else, go ahead and eat alone.

This review preempts many others so that it can be posted to the official PiL website.

I actually hadn’t heard of the band PiL before 2010, though I had heard of their main member. Before forming Public Image Limited or PiL, John Lydon was known as Johnny Rotten, the lead singer of the infamous and highly influential British punk band The Sex Pistols. I know of them from music history. Their guitarist, Steve Jones, used to have a radio show on the former Indie 103.1 called Jonesy’s Jukebox. Lydon formed PiL in the late 1970s as the original incarnation of the Sex Pistols broke up. They released some singles and albums in the late 70s, throughout the 80s, and in the early 90s. Their lineup changed frequently but Lydon was always there.

My wife has much more experience with PiL. She and her sister had their greatest hits CD that was released in the early 90s. They had almost seen them live at the Ritz in New York City when they were in high school. At that concert, they saw the three opening bands: Live, Big Audio Dynamite II (BAD II, a band formed by Mick Jones of The Clash) and Blind Melon. All three would become headliner bands in their own right. But my wife and her sister left the concert before the headliner PiL took the stage because the crowd was getting too crazy, moshing and crowd surfing. They watched a bit of their set on the screen in the lobby of the Ritz that froze on John Lydon mooning the crowd.

My wife’s chance to see another PiL show did not come about until early 2010. We heard that they were playing at the Coachella festival and at Club Nokia a few days before. We decided not to go to Coachella because we would have had to purchase tickets for all three days. We weren’t yet sure if we could go to the April 13 Club Nokia show because there was a chance that I would have to travel for work on that day. At the end of March I found out that I didn’t have to travel so we got tickets to see the show from the floor of Club Nokia.

Club Nokia is a fairly new venue in the new entertainment complex L.A. Live that’s in the South Park district of Downtown Los Angeles. It’s a fairly small venue compared to the nearby venues Staple Center that seats 20,000 people, and the 7,100 seat Nokia Theater that’s often confused with Club Nokia (by me at least). It has a capacity of around 2,000 and consists of a floor for standing, a pit for standing closer and private booths on the balcony. We hadn’t been there yet so this was our chance to see it.

On Tuesday, April 13, I met up with my wife after I got off work. Our sister- and brother-in-law who live near L.A. Live allowed us to park in the parking garage for their home. After having dinner at The Farm of Beverly Hills at L.A. Live (see future review), we consulted an L.A. Live directory and found out that Club Nokia is in the same building as The Farm. It’s in the large building on the north end of L.A. Live that also contains the Conga Room, the Lucky Strike Lanes bowling alley, the Grammy Museum, and many restaurants such as Flemings, Rosa Mexicano (a.k.a. the New York Mexican restaurant), Trader Vic’s, and The Yardhouse. On the south side of the building near The Farm are escalators that we took up two flights to get to Club Nokia. We left The Farm at 8:15 pm and got to the club at 8:20 pm. The doors to the show had actually opened at 7:30 pm though the show didn’t actually start until 9:00 pm according to the schedule on the Internet.

While eating dinner we had seen a few people walk by wearing PiL shirts among the many more people going to the Laker game. There were still many people entering Club Nokia when we arrived there. Security consisted of metal scanners and bag searches. Employees then scanned our tickets and we entered the lobby of the venue. I didn’t notice whether they were stilling PiL merch anywhere. My wife saw that they were selling merch. We didn’t know if there would be any opening acts. We did see a notice on the wall saying that the concert was being filmed. Coincidentally, the show my wife attended at the Ritz in NYC was also filmed as part of a BAD II video and she briefly appears in that video as part of the crowd. The Club Nokia lobby seemed very small to me and we soon entered a doorway to the club itself.

It was dark inside with long lights on the ceiling near where it met the wall. These lights would slowly change color from red to blue to purple and other colors. It was a wide space with a long bar in the back and hardwood floor. The stage was opposite the bar past a mid-level partition. In front of it was a pit area cordoned off by ropes. My wife found out that you had to have a special wristband to get inside the pit area. The balcony was above our heads and we couldn’t really see it, though we heard it had private booths. On the stage was a drum kit and above and behind it was the large black and white PiL logo. The bass drum also had the PiL logo on it. The pit was already full of people. There were many on the main club floor and most places along the mid-level partition were taken. We found a place to stand behind the sound engineer’s station. There were some flatscreens mounted on pillars and on the walls to the side of the stage. They showed ads for upcoming acts at Club Nokia such as Crowded House, Denis Leary, a-ha, Level 42, and the Buzzcocks. These screens just turned off during the concert. The canned music was hip hop versions of 80s music such as Salt-n-Pepa and “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson.

The crowd consisted mostly of Caucasian men. There were many Caucasian women as part of couples and groups. We saw one African-American man there later. Everyone looked to be around our age or older. Most people wore black or dark colors. More people entered and the place filled up though it never got uncomfortable crowded outside the pit. I checked out the restroom that was large and new though it also had an attendant expecting a tip. We kept our place behind the sound engineers’ station that had a pretty good view of the stage. Soon some sound engineers arrived on worked on the equipment and the laptops plugged into it. One engineer switched to a screen that had a setlist on it. I could just barely read some of it: 3) This is Not a Love Song, 7) Death Disco, 8) Flowers of Romance, 9) Psychopath, 10) Warrior. The engineer would switch to other screens with graphs and equalizer controls. When he switched back to the setlist screen it showed the song that was playing in larger type in the upper right corner.

At 9:02 the house lights dimmed and red lights shone on stage. Over the speakers we heard an Englishman (John Lydon?) rapping what turned out to be “The Rabbit Song”. We’re not sure if that’s a PiL song or a John Lydon solo song. Then John Lydon himself and the band came out on stage. He looked to be in his 50s, a bit overweight with bleached orange-blond hair that stood straight up on top. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants. The rest of PiL consisted of a guitarist, drummer, and bassist who looked to be in Lydon’s age range or not much younger. In a slightly condescending tone Lydon asked, “Ready for some music? Proper music?” He mentioned that since he lived in L.A. he regarded us as his neighbors and that this was a “family and friends show” to start off the tour. They then went straight into “This is Not a Love Song”, a fast song with Lydon repeating the title in the lyrics many times. He didn’t play any instruments and would dance to the music when not singing. The rest of the band helped sing the chorus. Lydon would sometimes talk during this song (and others), saying things like “Is there anybody there?” and “Oh f---ing no!”

“Before the next song he said it was “swing time for proper PiL.” The song began with loud and heavy guitar. Lydon repeated the lyrics “drive drive drive.” The song was slower than the first one with less of a pop beat and more guitar and drums. Lydon sang in a whiny voice lyrics such as “You left a hole in the back of my head” and said things like “I’m losing my body heat.” He made many wild gestures and trilled his r’s. We later determined that song to be “Poptones”. Before the next song he said it was time to “get groovy” and then said, “Journalists, the exit signs are clearly marked. Record company executives, you can lock yourselves in the toilet.” The bass player switched to keyboard for the next song that began with Lydon singing something like, “When I was born, the doctor didn’t like me.” It also included the line “You didn’t love me” and the repeated line “Tie me to the length of that” that we later determined was the song’s title. At one point he said, “9 pounds, 5 ounces.”

For the next song Lydon sang more slowly. The microphone sounded more like an echo. The song was “Albatross”. It involved a lot more shouting and guitar as purple lights shone on the background. Towards the end he said something like, “Surf’s up, California.” Before the next song he said, “Hello, still there?” The song, “Death Disco” had loud guitar parts and a fast beat. Lydon mostly shouted words that I found unintelligible. I thought he might have sung, “Never in your eyes”. The background changed to green for the next song, “The Flowers of Romance”. It involved more shouting, the guitarist playing a banjo with a bow and the bassist playing a tall, fretless bass. Lydon said, “We’re talking big time f---ing romance.” When they finished the song he said, “Let that eat into your bowels.”

Before the next song Lydon complained, “New club with no aircon! In California! And Johnny in his best polyester!” The song began with acoustic guitar but got louder. The lyrics were more understandable than two songs prior. It was called “Psychopath”. They got faster for the next song, Warrior that had a prominent 8-note beat and lots of angry lyrics and shouting from Lydon: “This is my land”, “We take no prisoners”, “Has America forgotten how to dance?”, “This is Public Image Limited. We take no quarter.” At one point I think he said, “That f---ing bitch Palin should stay in Alaska!” or something like that. Before the next song I think he said, “You’re a great audience for not spitting. The only one who spits is me.” The song also had loud guitar and bass. It made use of feedback and the echo effect on Lydon’s microphone. The chorus had him sing all four letters and the number in the title “USLS1”. It also had the lyrics, “The devil takes care of no one.”

Lydon introduced the next song by asking, “Friends, what are they for?” He went on to say, “They will let you down and you learn to forgive. That has kept me going for 30 years.” They then started playing the song “Disappointed” that had a lot of guitar and bass and the repeated line “What friends are for.” I thought the song was more melodic that the others. Lydon had the audience sing the part “What friends are for!” When they finished, he asked, “Can we take our break now? I’m dying for a piss. I should have worn my incontinence pants. That’s old age for you!”

They left the stage for a few minutes and came back at 10:15 pm. The set list on the sound engineer’s laptop said the next song was called “Religion.” Lydon told us, “You smell like f---ing beef stew.” About the next song he said, “Religion, anybody? We’re all going to hell anyway.” The song began with very loud guitar and the bassist again played the fretless bass. Not long into it Lydon said, “Walter, turn up the bass. We need more bass.” The song was obviously against religion. The stage lights all shone in red as Lydon sang, “He takes your money and you take a lie.” He shouted, “Lock up your children and turn up the bass!” and “This is religion!” The song ended with loud drumming.

The next song was a bit more lighthearted. Called “Bags” on the laptop setlist it had the repeated line “Black rubber bags!” White lights shined in the background. It was a fast song and the guy next to me said it sounded “bumpy”. At one point the drummer sang in a scratchy voice. The next song was faster, louder, and more serious. It was called “Chant” and Lydon got the audience to chant, “F---, war, kill, hate” as the guitars were played quickly. Lydon introduced the next song by saying, “Aw, memories”, the second word being the song’s title. It again had a loud and fast beat. This time red lights shone on the PiL logo and blue lights shone on the rest of the background. Lyrics included “I could be merry” and “I could be wrong.” Lydon tried to get the audience to sing along and asked, “Is that the best you can do?”

The next song was a crowd favorite, the eponymous “Public Image.” It had a friendlier, rocking sound. They finished and left the stage but not before Lydon said in a silly accent “I’ll be back” and “you’re such dummies for electing Arnold.” It was 10:44 pm. The guy next to me asked what I was writing. I said it was for a blog. Initially he didn’t know what that was but understood better when I said it was for the Internet. He asked me how long I had been a fan of PiL. He said he had followed them from the beginning and before that, the Sex Pistols. He looked older than us and I think he spoke with an accent though he may have been just drunk. The woman with him said he was from Europe. It sounded like he was familiar with the concert that my wife attended nearly 20 years ago in New York City.

Loud applause and cheering had been continuous since Lydon and the band left. They returned a few minutes later and Lydon said he wanted to get us all to sing a good old public house drinking song. He then got everyone clapping and they performed the silly song “Sun.” The guitarist played a portable keyboard with a mouthpiece. Partway through Lydon encouraged us to “do the idiot dance.” He looked up and said, “You in the balcony, in the Bob Marley cap. Come on, do the idiot dance! Join the people!” The next song was more serious but also celebratory and anthemic. It was “Rise” that sounded familiar to me when I first heard it on the PiL greatest hits CD. It has the catchy lyrics “I could be wrong. I could be right. I could be black. I could be white.” There was a part where he said he forgot the words and we tried to sing them for him “anger is an energy.” They finished the song and Lydon asked us to do the bit he had forgotten. We tried to shout “Anger is an energy!” but it wasn’t in unison. After several tries we finally got in unison and then the band started playing the song again and Lydon sang his heart out.

After finishing “Rise” for the second time the band played some ghostly music with a lot of echoes. The heavy guitar sounded a bit like The Cure’s songs off their album “Disintegration”. They then started playing a loud and fast song, “Open Up”, with Lydon shouting loudly. This actually wasn’t a PiL song but one originally by Leftfield with Lydon on lead vocals. It was another loud and angry song with lyrics such as “burn, Hollywood, burn” and “tear down Tinseltown”. It had more loud guitar and shouting and was a long song or perhaps they played an extended version. After they finished Lydon introduced his band saying “This is (either Bruce or Scott), he’s shy. This is Lu (the guitarist), he’s not shy”. Lydon then said, “Thank you and good night. May your enemies always be behind you. I intend to lose some weight.” He and the band then left the stage for the final time to loud applause. It was 11:10 pm.

We followed the crowd out of Club Nokia. There were lots of people riding down the escalators and one woman even tried to run down the up escalator to beat the crowd. The Laker game had long since gotten out. We walked back to our car and we were able to drive right out of the parking garage because they had the exit bar up. We got home at 11:57 pm.

The "Public Image” Limited concert did not leave us “Disappointed.”
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This review is actually pre-empting several others because Slash just released a CD with the song “By the Sword” featuring Andy Stockdale and Wolfmother are on the Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack.

We saw Wolfmother at the Wiltern Theater on Tuesday, November 24, 2009. They’re a relatively new band from Australia having released their first album, Wolfmother, in 2006 and their second album, “Cosmic Egg” in October 2009. Despite being new they have a hard-rocking throwback sound causing some people to believe they’ve been around since the 1970’s. They actually formed in the early 2000’s and had major lineup changes in 2008 with all band members replaced except the lead singer/guitarist/frontman Andy Stockdale. He’s hard to miss in their photos and videos with his loud pitched voice, stage theatrics, and big bushy afro. Wolfmother’s big song “Woman” was featured in one of the Guitar Hero games. They were on a 2-month tour of North America to promote their second album and L.A. was their last stop.

We heard about the show over two months before and bought tickets at a Blockbuster Video on Azusa Avenue. The tickets went on sale at 10:00 am on Friday, September 18, 2009 and we got ours at 10:01 am. We had taken the day off work to go to the L.A. County Fair (see earlier blog). Since we got them so soon after they went on sale we got the best seats in our chosen price range: front row mezzanine, very near the middle. When we bought the tickets back then we thought we would be off work on Wednesday, November 25, the day after the concert and the day before Thanksgiving. I thought I had enough vacation time but it turned out that I didn’t so it really was a “school night” for us.

On Tuesday evening, November 24 my wife and I met up at our brother- and sister-in-law’s home in the South Park area of Downtown L.A. From there my wife and I walked to Pastagina restaurant where we had dinner (see future review). We left Pastagina at 6:45 pm and continued to walk north on Hope Street. It felt fairly warm outside for November being in the 60’s or 70’s. We entered the subway station at 7th and Hope, bought a 1-way subway ticket and went down a level to catch the Purple Line subway. We arrived at the platform at 6:55 pm and the next Purple Line subway to Wilshire/Western station wasn’t scheduled to arrive until 7:02 pm. The subway arrived right on time and it wasn’t crowded at all. While we rode it I noticed a sign said “Apartese Amablement” and showed a large group of cartoon figures boarding. I think that means “board in a courteous manner” or something like that. The subway arrived at Wilshire/Western station at 7:10 pm.

We exited the subway and rode the escalators up and out of the station. Once outside we could see the queue all down the block waiting for the doors to the Wiltern theater to open. The marquee of the Wiltern said “Red Nights presents Wolfmother”. After we crossed Wilshire Blvd we noticed a poster on the lamppost for thenewno2, one of the opening acts. It showed a bunch of people wearing white asymmetric masks that looked to me like flat, jagged pieces of icebergs with two holes for eyes. As we walked down to the end of the queue we saw some people in it wearing those masks. Someone had gone down the queue handing them out. The queue mostly consisted of young men who looked to be in their 20’s. There were also many young women as part of couples or groups. They were mostly Caucasian though there were some Asians and African Americans. They mostly wore black clothing: t-shirts and jeans. I looked out of place in my work cloths: white long-sleeved collared shirt from Topman and grey slacks. I would have fit in better at a symphony concert or at the Loggins and Messina concert we attended in October. The queue went all down the block from Western Ave to Oxford Ave where it wrapped around to the south.

We queued up at 7:17 pm along Oxford near the parking garage for the Wiltern. At 7:20 pm the queue contracted causing us to move up several feet. That was interesting because the ticket said that the doors opened at 7:30 pm. I didn’t expect the queue to start moving until then. A couple of ladies walked down the queue selling t-shirts and beanies. There was no queue movement for 15 minutes. The “doors open” time came and went. AT 7:35 pm the queue moved up several feet and from that point moved in spurts of several 5-6 people. We guessed that was how many people they had got through security at a given time. As we waited a father with 2-3 young boys walked by to queue up behind us. Another guy seemed to be walking laps around the block. We saw him walk by at least three times. The queue continued to move up in starts and stops. We passed the Denny’s on the corner of Wilshire and Oxford and the restaurant Opus One Bar and Grill where lots of people were crowded around the bar watching the Laker game. We also stopped in front of the Cinema Makeup Center by 7:50 pm.

At 7:55 pm we made it to the front of the queue. Security consisted of frisking: men by men and women by women. Since there were more men in the queue, the female screeners weren’t as busy and my wife got through security earlier than I. We met up at the doors where employees scanned our tickets. I went upstairs to find our seats while my wife went to see what they were selling at the merch table. When I sat down it was 8 pm. Our seats were good: the front row of the mezzanine section, row A, seats 209 and 210 that were very near the middle. Now the mezzanine section only takes up the larger back part of the upper level. The front seats are in the smaller loge section. But those loge seats are also more expensive. The Wiltern looked very similar to how it looked at the last concert we attended there: Mika in February 2008. I think it was called the Wiltern LG back then. The ceiling had a lot of ornamental woodwork and there was a screen above the stage where the audience could have text messages posted. All they had to do was text WILT + (ur message) to 64066. They didn’t seem to be texting as much to it this time.

I could see many young people congregating on the floor in front of the stage. On stage was some covered equipment including a drum kit with the image of a the mask from thenewno2 poster. My wife went to her seat after getting a Wolfmother “Cosmic Egg” t-shirt and pieces of flair. She saw a text message on the screen saying that the show would start at 8:40 pm. The canned music played two Beach Boys songs: “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t it Be Nice”. I walked around a bit. They had a long bar outside the doors to the mezzanine. Near that some people had silkscreen presses set up where they sold t-shirts with artistic designs. There was no attendant in the restrooms saving me some tip money.

I returned to my seat and the first opening band soon took the stage at 8:30 pm. It was thenewno2 with lead singer/guitarist Dhani Harrison. He’s the son of the late former Beatle George Harrison. He stood in the middle of the stage. To his left were a keyboard player and drummer and to his right were another guitarist and bassist. Harrison would also press buttons on this machine near him that produced various sound effects. Their first number was very atmospheric and made use of the sound effects. It started slow but got louder and faster. Dhani Harrison is tall and thin with long, straight hair. He wore a black t-shirt and jeans. His voice is a little bit similar to his father’s. He spoke with an English accent that surprised me because I thought he grew up in L.A. After their first song he said he was glad to be back in America with the “Bastards and the Mothers” (references to the other opening act and the headliner) and that it was good to be home.

Harrison picked up a bullhorn for the next song and sang the chorus with it. The visual effects consisted of many colored spotlights that shone red for this song. He picked up a guitar for the next song that had a lot of loud, low guitar sound. He shouted the chorus and red and yellow lights blinked. The song included the lyrics “you were always watching me”. For the next song Harrison introduced an “illegitimate” member of the band, Jessie, a member of the Heartless Bastards, the other opening act. He played this sit down slide guitar that produced loud and resonating notes. I looked back into the crowd on the mezzanine level and noticed only a few of them wearing those white masks that were handed out earlier in the queue. Signs in front of the crowd on the floor said “No Moshing” and “No Crowd Surfing”.

Harrison described the next song as “somewhere between us and Wolfmother”. I think he also said that he was dedicating it to an old pal. It was a faster song with loud drumming. Harrison played the guitar solo. At one point he got everyone to clap out the rhythm. Before the next song he said it was the last one and told us to “stick around for the bastards and the mothers.” They followed with a very loud and fast song along that included blinking red spotlights and a rapid-fire chorus. When they finished to loud applause, Harrison said, “Thank you very much. We’re thenewno2.” They left the stage at 9:03 pm.

The screen returned and a guy sitting next to me saw me taking notes in my manly notebook and said, “You’re not doing homework are you?” Text messages on the screen commented on thenewno2. Their reviews were mixed: “The vocalist was poop”, “(He) looks like the English guy in (the film) Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, and “Julian Lennon was pretty good.” Another text commented on the headliner still to come: “OMG Wolfmother is so cute!” The crew rearranged the instruments on stage, moving the drums to the middle. At 9:17 pm, the next opening act, the Heartless Bastards, took the stage. They consisted of a female lead singer/guitarist, a drummer, a bassist, and the previously seen Jessie on guitar. The lead singer had a low voice and when she spoke it sounded like she had a Southern accent. Her blond hair covered her eyes slightly. Their first sound sounded bluesy and had the profound lyric “Can’t do things I used to do because I feel old.” I know that feeling well.

“The Heartless Bastards” seemed like a deprecating and negative name for a group whose music didn’t sound that negative. Some songs sounded very positive with lyrics such as “hold your head up high” and “things will work out soon”. Another song sounded like Gospel with the lyrics “hold onto what you know” and “wash my sins away”. Most of the songs had loud and fast vocals. One song had loud guitar feedback. I think that was “Mountainous” that the lead singer said was the title track to their new album. She talked a bit between songs mentioning that this was their first time performing at the Wiltern and that she liked the beautiful old theaters. Their sixth or seventh song was their last and then the lead singer said, “Thank you so much. Thank you Wolfmother and thenewno2”. They left the stage at 9:57 pm.

The crew removed the Heartless Bastards’ instruments and uncovered the drumkit on the elevated platform in the middle back of the stage. I think someone posted the text message “When does the band start?” At 10:18 pm the lights dimmed and the large “WM” Wolfmother logo was lowered as a backdrop. The screen showed an ad for Red Nights that described how a portion of the ticket proceeds was going to charity. Their slogan was “great music saves lives.” The screen then went back to showing ads and text messages. There was an ad for Guy Fieri Food and Rock. Two days later we happened to make the recipe Guy Fieri’s Holy Haluski for the family Thanksgiving potluck. The canned music played the song “Love is the Drug”. At 10:22 pm the lights dimmed, the screen rose, and this time the show started for real. Wolfmother took the stage and went straight into the loud and fast song “Dimension” that I believe is the first track off their first album. It has the line “I found myself alone” but for this performance the lead singer, Andy Stockdale, sang it as “I found myself in L.A.”

Wolfmother consisted of Stockdale on lead vocals and guitar, a drummer on the elevated drum kit behind the others, a bassist with hair nearly as wild as Stockdale’s, and another guitarist. There were parts of some songs where one of them, I don’t remember which, would play keyboard. Six spotlights on stage shined at each other to form a triangular pattern that I believe shows up as part of their main logo or one of their alternate logos. Stockdale played an extended guitar solo for “Dimension” and at one point had the audience clap out the rhythm. We didn’t immediately recall the title of their next song that began with the lyrics “walking through galleria lights.” It got very loud with the loud drumming and Stockdale singing, “Tell me every word you say.” Afterward we determined that the song was “Cosmic Egg”, the title track from their latest album. Their next song was also from this album, though we recognized it right away. It was “California Queen” that we figured they would play at this concert. Like the others it was loud and fast. During the verses the bright blue and yellow spotlights shined right at me for a few seconds temporarily blinding and causing me to see spots. Stockdale shook the microphone. Sometimes during or after songs he would wave his hands or raise them above his head. With his thick, bushy hair he reminded me a bit of L.A. Philharmonic musical director Gustavo Dudamel (root of the words Dudanomics, Dudamania, and Dudameloriffic.)

The next song was the equally loud and fast “New Mood Rising”. It started with them playing a bit lower but they quickly got louder for the choruses. I believe Stockdale again changed the lyrics for this locality by singing (or saying?) “Taking a turn at the Wiltern” and “Gonna let it burn at the Wiltern.” The next song had everyone singing along since it was a big hit on the airwaves and on Guitar Hero: “Woman”. Yellow, red, and green spotlights flashed. Stockdale moved all around the stage. Either he or another band member played keyboard for part of the song. He played an extended guitar solo and the song ended as suddenly as it began.

Between “Woman” and the next song the band played some slow atmospheric feedback. The stage was darker with only three spotlights shining blue light. The people in the loge level finally sat down. They had been standing since Wolfmother took the stage partially obscuring our view. The next song, “White Unicorn”, followed the pattern of slow verses and fast choruses, all loud. Towards the end of the song they played a long instrumental part with guitars, keyboard, and drums. At one point Stockdale climbed up to the drummer’s platform and helped play drums. The sound eventually evolved into low, screeching guitar feedback.

The next song began with a long instrumental part that was soon accompanied by fast singing. It got louder and I couldn’t identify it initially but my wife identified it as “Colossal”. While they played I was temporarily distracted by someone smoking something other than tobacco. Perhaps they were taking their medication. The song got very loud and fast at the end. After they finished Stockdale mentioned that this was the final show of their American tour. He asked, “What better place to have it than the Wiltern?” He then requested applause for thenewno2 and the Heartless Bastards and said, “We have a lot in store for you tonight” as if they were just getting started. They then played some fast guitar to begin “White Feather”, one of our favorite songs from their latest album. It has the lyrics “Dancing feet. Dancing feet. Now.” Stockdale gave the song a loud, screeching guitar solo and the song ended quickly.

Speaking of feet, the next song was “10,000 Feet” that began with loud guitar and drums and later had a loud guitar solo. They kept things rocking with the next song, “Sundial” and kept things going after that with “Apple Tree”. By that point many in the audience were standing and singing along. They slowed a bit for the verses but were still loud and fast for the choruses. I looked down at the floor below and I thought I saw people moshing despite the “no moshing” sign. Security didn’t seem to be enforcing it. Stockdale again played a very loud guitar solo. They finished the song and he mentioned that they were donating some of the ticket sale proceeds to Red Nights, a charitable organization sponsoring the concert and that this would provide “a little good karma.” They had played eleven songs so far, it was 11:25 pm, and a few people were leaving the concert.

Stockdale said something like “Take it away, Perez!” and they started slowly but soon got loud, fast, and almost explosive. People cheered and the song was “In the Castle”. When they finished, Stockdale raised his hands above his head and then left the stage with the band. It was 11:30 pm. We left soon after. We decided not to stay for the encore because we believed that the last Purple Line subway would leave the Wilshire/Western station at 12:00 am. We didn’t think we could leave on time if we left with the rest of the crowd. Wolfmother had performed most of the songs we had wanted to hear such as “Woman”, “White Feather”, and “Apple Tree”. They hadn’t yet done “Far Away” or one of their big songs, “Joker and the Thief” but we could leave the encore to the young people and the people who didn’t have to work the next day. We left the Wiltern completely unobstructed by any crowd, crossed Wilshire and took the escalator down at the Wilshire/Western station. At the bottom of the second escalator we noticed a couple of Metro security personnel. We guessed that they were there for the crowd that was soon to leave the Wiltern. Perhaps that meant there would have been trains running by the time the show got out. But it was still less of a headache to leave before the crowds.

We made it to the platform at 11:37 pm and boarded a subway train that was already there. All subway trains at Wilshire/Western go east since it’s the end of the line and people had to get out before we boarded the train. There were a few others boarding the train with us. At least one guy looked like he also came from the concert. He later got off at the Wilshire/Vermont station. The subway left Wilshire/Western at 11:42 pm and arrived at the 7th and Metro station at 11:50 pm. We walked back to the car and got there at 12:09 am. The door to the elevators at the parking garage was propped open but when we entered the elevator, the doors closed and it stayed on the ground floor beeping. We hit the “doors open” button, exited, and took the stairs. Driving home there was some roadwork on the 10. The exits to Atlantic and Garfield Avenues were blocked but the one at New Avenue was open. A sign said that the two right lanes were closed at route 605 but when we got there the two left lanes were closed. Still, the road work did not slow us down very much. It looked like the other side of the freeway was going very slow and was backed up. We got home at 12:47 am and I got up to go to work about five and a half hours later.

We don’t know all the songs we missed by skipping the encore. I did read online that at one point the former Guns and Roses guitarist Slash came out on stage and performed his song “By the Sword” with Andy Stockdale. I wonder how many of the young folks recognized Slash.