Saturday to Tuesday
Saturday:
I went to the Central Avenue Jazz Festival in Downtown LA next to the historic Hotel Dunbar, where. I saw one of the kids in the mentoring program I did. He was there hanging out with his friend. He’s everyone’s favorite kid in the program because of his wide-eyed interest in everything, his willingness to ask any kind of question to anyone, and his general enthusiasm. Our mentoring program ended a few months ago, so it was nice seeing him again.
To my surprise, I saw that one of the Jazz Festival acts was the Gerald Wilson Orchestra. Gerald Wilson is a professor of ethnomusicology at UCLA, and I had the pleasure of taking his History of Jazz class. He’s over eighty years old, and he’s played with many famous jazz musicians, including Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Every day, before class started, he would say that he hoped we all had a wonderful day since the last time he saw us. At the end of every class, he would tell us to have a wonderful rest of the day. And at end of the very last day of class, while some students were eagerly packing up and heading out, he told us that he was very happy to have the privilege of teaching us about jazz, and that he wanted us to know that every day is a new opportunity to have something great happen in our lives, and he wished the best for all of us, not just for the rest of the day, but for the rest of our lives. I was inspired. Guess it only took me six years to take his advice, but it was great to see him on the second day of my adventure, as his final words in class came back to me as I watched him conduct his orchestra by punching the air while dancing and bobbing to the music.
Later that night, I went with GuitarHero and WorkoutHound to Royce Hall for the Henry Mancini Institute Tribute to American Film Music. The orchestra was made up of talented aspiring musicians from colleges around the country, and their skill exceeded my expectations. They were awesome. In the middle of one of the songs by the legendary Johnny Mandel, I had a flashback to the time I attended a Mozart concert in Prague. I was extremely tired from walking around all day, so I passed out in the middle of one of the songs. I was disappointed that I fell asleep because Mozart was my favorite composer from ten years of playing the piano, and the acoustics of the concert hall and the orchestra itself were amazing. However, it was the most soothing and relaxing nap I’ve ever had in my life. I was kind of tired in Royce Hall, but luckily I stayed away through the whole thing. I have a couple of new film composers I need to check out: Victor Young and Johnny Mandel.
Wow, another night of music. If I went to only music concerts for the rest of my thirty days, I don’t think I would complain at all.
Sunday:
My friend and ex-roommate, StimpPimp, had a birthday BBQ at Sunset Rec at UCLA. We had steaks and carne asada tacos, chips and guacamole, and champagne watermelon. Delicious. We played Frisbee and football at the same time, went swimming, and played a spirited game of volleyball. Most memorable moment: when GuitarHero setup StimpPimp for an awesome spike into the sand in between his little sister’s legs.
Monday:
Margarita Vice -- another celebration for StimpPimp’s birthday. First at Margarita Mondays in Westwood, then at the AMC Avco down the street to watch Miami Vice. Drinks were ok and the movie sucked. Afterwards, StimpPimp’s other friends had bought him a chocolate cake and candles and we held an impromptu Happy Birthday singing on the ground in front of the theatre. They forgot to bring forks and knives so they got straws from the concession stand. We all took a suck of the birthday cake. In the end, SicklyBoy and Stimpy had a suck-off competition, where they tried to see who would win at sucking at opposite ends of the straw with a piece of chocolate cake stuck in the middle. No one won, but a bunch of drool from SicklyBoy’s end of the straw oozed out. An all-around night filled with sucking.
Tuesday:
Along with GuitarHero, LazyBoy, and WorkoutHound, we started a tradition of having cooking nights every Tuesday. It was WorkoutHound’s turn to cook, and like usual he made something gourmet and delicious, baked honey mustard chicken. Afterwards, I went with LazyBoy to check out the Santa Monica Public Library, which brings us back to my first post.