ALONG COMES MARY

As a Los Angeles girl, I often take it for granted that I live nearby to some of the most famous places in the world. Like, The Hollywood Bowl.  Each year, I say I will go more & take in the beauty that surrounds this gorgeous, serene venue built by Frank Lloyd Wright then, alas, summer comes & goes & it’s always a coulda-shoulda-woulda.

Thank goodness I decided to make it out to see the awesome Pink Martini Sunday night, complete with The LA Phil, & infamous conductor Bramwell Tovey leading the fun. Pink Martini is one of those bands you really should make an effort to see, even if you don’t think the music is for you, by the end of the evening, I assure you, it will be! While I admit I do not usually listen to this style of music myself, its such a great experience live, & the energy from the 18,000 seats venue is enough to light up the sky…often, literally, if you’re there on a fireworks night! 😉

The band, hailing from Portland & beyond, are absolute masters at combining classical, jazz, flamenco-latin, French & pop standards. During the show, we listened to songs made famous in Romania, France & even a Japanese cover of Puff, The Magic Dragon sung by Saori Yuki, aka, the Barbra Streisand of Japan. Yes, that is correct!

A highlight for me had to be their finale, lead singers China Forbes & Storm Large did a duet on Happy Days/Forget Your Troubles a la Judy G & Babs. Another hilarious moment (& there were many!) was China’s song, “Eugene, Are You There?” a tongue in cheek number about a guy she had a great time with, & then, of course, he never called her….you’re telling me even beautiful women headlining the Hollywood Bowl have dating troubles?!

If you head out, & I so hope you do, to a Hollywood Bowl evening, I highly recommend checking their web-site for Park & Ride info. For as low as $5, you can get directly to the venue on bus with no parking hassle. Also, they allow food & drinks(Yes, alcohol) inside for you to enjoy, you can picnic as soon as 2-3 hours before a show! And, if you’re an aspiring photographer like moi, cameras are allowed as long as the lens does not exceed 3 inches. So, click away 🙂

I am so thankful for beautiful nights like this, & I hope you get to see Pink Martini if you haven’t yet. If you do & it’s not at The Bowl, let me know if they say your venue is their most favorite; they told us The Bowl is & they don’t say that anywhere else 😉 xo

(PS: I have since created a Facebook album highlighting the rest of the pictures I took this evening. Check it out here!