Tori, Prime Rib and the Greek Theatre

So we headed out to Josh's place with instructions to arrive no later than 2pm. We left just before 1pm and he lives south of Anaheim but north of Irvine. So we get there just as the clock struck 2pm and they weren't ready yet. So we're sitting there watching some freaky show on the Sci-Fi channel and waiting for Josh to get out of the shower. We end up leaving around 2:45 and reach Beverly Hills at 3:45 where we pull into Lawry's The Prime Rib. Yes, the same Lawry's that makes the taco mixes and seasoning salt and stuff. It's a meat lover's paradise.

They roll up this big silver carving cart up to you. It looks a bit like some robot from a 50s movie...all metal and curves. You order the cut and type of prime rib (ex. English Cut Medium-Rare) and then they give you mashed potatoes and gravy and yorkshire pudding. You can add to that various veges like creamed corn, asparagus, mushrooms, creamed spinach or whatever.

They also serve Salmon and Lobster and fish for those not in a beef mood. If you don't like meat the veges are great and you can just load up on those. It's a bit pricy I thought but not too bad. Donovan's is pricy but there I feel like I get what I pay for.

So after dinner we headed out to the Greek Theatre to watch the Diddy Bops and Tori Amos. They had us park in the park down the hill and the walk up the hill just killed. I knew I was out of shape but WOW. I barely made it up that hill. Then we find out our seats are Section C, Row R, Seats 113 and 115. That's WAY up there. It's the farthest back we've ever sat for a Tori Concert.

The Diddy Bops were a couple of girls (one on guitar, one on mandolin) bopping and singing these happy sounding little tunes. The dual female harmony reminded me of the DanceHall Crashers but this was a bit more folky where the DHC is a bit more ska/rock. I liked 'em! With there was a guy on fiddle, one on keyboards and another on the stand up bass. Very cool. For those who've never heard them check out their songs Sister Kate and Walk or Ride.

Tori came on about 40 minutes after the Diddy Bops set ended. With them starting 20 minutes late, that pushed her start time to almost 9pm. That left her with a 2 hour set before that 11:00pm deadline. After that the city or venue or whatever charges something like a grand a minute for everything over. She went over. Why? Well she messed up Winter and had a brain fart midway through the song.

So she just improvised a little "My mind sometimes/I think I'm still in winter/It happens when you don't get any sleep/and when it goes wrong/you gotta just pick yourself up again and start over" and then she started the song again and went through it. Nice way to pick it up.

Then she was more long and melodic last night and less bouncy and quick. So all her songs were a few minutes longer than their recorded sisters as she held out notes and repeated lines and drew out piano interludes.

She did a new version of God adding in lyrics from Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill. It wasn't my thing. For her "Tori's Piano Bar" portion where she takes requests and plays two cover songs, she did Pearl Jam's Black and the Moody Blue's Nights in White Satin.

All in all I liked it. Well it would have been just peachy if it weren't for some Tori concert noob sitting behind me screaming and singing along to the songs as if this were some rock concert instead of Tori who's concerts are more like going to watch the symphony. You scream a bit when you like a song just as it's ended. You cheer when she talks and says something you like but otherwise you sit there and listen to her music. You can stand up, dance, and scream at concerts for other artists but Tori just isn't like that. Anyways I learned those rules the hard way when I attended her San Diego concert for the Under the Pink tour and I sang the entire time pissing off everyone near me who was trying to hear Tori sing.

The drive home was really nice. We were tired but also still on a bit of a high from the concert. Thanks to Josh for lending me some Mountain Dew and letting me borrow your cup for a while. I also can't thank him and Stephanie enough for paying for this entire evening as a celebration of our 6 year anniversary. Significant only because our mother has always said that if you can make it 6 years, you can make it forever. Then she promptly ended her two marriages after 10 and 16 years respectively.

Had a great time. My hair...still blonde. However today we did go pick up some green Manic Panic and I will be dying my hair tonight. Let's hope it turns out ok. I'm real nervous about this one. I've been red, blue and blonde...but never green. This is a color that really turns heads and I'm not the greatest looking dude on earth.