Palos Verdes to Downtown LA View

The picture-perfect views from Palos Verdes these past 8 days of 80 degree, clear weather were glorious. The sunsets were spectacular - with the visible buildings of downtown LA.

On the Esplanade

With the outstanding weather, the Esplanade has been the perfect place to walk, watch dolphins and strike up conversations. I met several dogs (Boomer and Einsteen) and their owners (names unknown) and a person from one of my networking group who's name was familiar but who I hadn't met in person. The Esplanade has been pretty busy lately - a visiting family member asked me what all these people did for a living. Who knows...maybe there are more admireres of the Esplanade with the rise of unemployment and the slidingly south economy. The Esplanade is a great place to unwind and that is what one person I met was doing. Looking out into the ocean, taking it all. Trying to figure out the puzzle in his head. He asked if I thought things would get better soon. Yes.

L.A. Art Month (This January!)

While watching the evening news, it was announced that Jan is LA Art Month. Oooo-ahh! Art month! Hurray? What does it include? Where are the fun events? Go to http://www.laartsmonth.com/ to find out!

There are hundreds of museums, theatres, galleries and other fantastic ways to experience the cultural side of Los Angeles, so take a friend or the entire family and visit a museum or cultural institution you’ve never been to before - you’ll be surprised what you’ll discover. Visit discoverLosAngeles.com/laartsmonth and you will find art, activities, museums, dining, guided tours etc.

I have been keeping my eye on the LA Opera - one of these days!

Holiday line-up

This was a particular busy holiday season filled with all sorts of wonderful performances. Before we move on to 2009 - it's worth mentioning that "Deck the Halls" at the the impressive downtown Walt Disney Concert Hall. Song sheets were distributed for the sing along and it could not have been more fun and festive. The best part was the entire hall belting out the 12 days of Christmas on their "assigned" days. The music center offers free children's performances with music, song and story telling through their World City program. For more info go to www.musiccenter.org/education.

We also saw Fiddler on the Roof which was very well cast and well done. Traaaa-di-tioooon! That was at the South Bay Civic Light Orchestra where we later caught Nun-sense the Holiday version. Original one woman cast. Funny as all heck and good clean fun. Highly recommend that as well. The one woman Sister act does good deeds and collects money for the retiring nuns. Did you know that in 20 years there will be no nuns in the US? This was a shocker. I have fond memories of the nuns at my Catholic elementary school.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

As part of my nephew's school's Christmas chorale performace, a video collage was put together that was quite entertaining. The kids were shown photographs of 3 presidents: George Washington, George W. Bush and Barak Obama and were asked to identify each picture. One 6 year old is to be commeneded - he was the only student to get them all right. The other answers, although incorrect, were priceless. When George Washington's photo was shown, one child authoritatively stated he was John McCain and many classmates followed suite. One little girl however, was sure the picture was of Hilary Clinton! (Lots of laughter from the audience) And then proceeded to say, that Hilary Clinton had lost and "was out of the game" which caused the audience to laugh even harder. Well, Hilary's definately not out of the game ...and it sure was interesting to hear the perspective of 5 and 6 years olds and who they voted for...another said Obama because he is cool, another said he voted for McCain because he was old. Out of the mouth of babes.....

Sarah Brightman at the Honda Center

My sister-in-law and brother had gotten the adults in our family tickets to see Sarah Brightman last Friday. The staging, sets and costumes were a creative feast for the eyes with special effects ranging "water ballet" to fantastic computer graphics. The backdrop would change from calm and beautiful tree images with saturated green and points of light to create a fairy like forest. In another scene SB was Little Red Riding Hood riding a bike to a scary ride down a menacing forest road while computer images of wolves on bikes chased beside her and the huge superimposed trees gave the audience the impression of racing down a road. (How she can sing and get an aerobic work out, we wondered?).
One of my favorites was the hommage to Ester Williams which was done by mirror reflection from a recess on the stage. All the dancers circled around SB and every arm and leg movement was done in unison as SB sang while lying down in very glamorous poses (we also wondered how difficult it was to project your voice while lying down?)
The costumes were fantastic with over the top peakaboo French Rocco inspired dress with a corset, long train, and platform thigh high boots. SB is a slight framed little thing and therefore the use of swings, ladders, etc were used. Luckily we brought binocolurs to see the all details.
All in all, SB gave a wonderful performance - sang her most beloved songs - Time to Say Goodbye, Phantom of the Opera, a couple of rock covers, etc.
One another note, it took us 2.5 hours to get down to Honda Center on a Friday night and 30 minutes to get back. We had reservations for Luigi's but alas - that will have to be for another time. We opted for a quick stop at In and Out Burger rather than stadium food and were quite satisfied with that.
Note: If you need to find a restaurant use mapquest or yahoo which will give you options in the area.

Sunset in Palos Verdes

This is one of the photos I took when the fires were burning. The sunsets for a few days were surreal - and there were a handful of photographers who gathered at Oceanfront. Some had point and shoot cameras while others had expensive commercial gear. The view sparked (no pun intended) conversation among like minded locals.