Culture and More

Dancer, Futa Toro West African Dance Ensemble, 2005

The 2nd Annual Grand Avenue Festival, held this past Saturday in downtown Los Angeles, was a terrific success. I met up with David, Dawn, and one of my co-workers, Terry . . . plus Terry's seriously charming Brazilian-born friend, Antonio.

In a matter of six hours, I took in the L.A. Philharmonic Piano Trio performing Beethoven . . . had a light lunch consisting of food from several downtown eateries . . . returned to the Disney Concert Hall for a Beethoven celebration by the entire L.A. Philharmonic orchestra . . . took a guided tour of Los Angeles's Catholic cathedral (beautiful alabaster windows and a grand interior) . . . attended a concert by the hugely talented ukelele playing Jake Shimabukuro (who peformed a magnificent acoustic version of the Star Spangled Banner) . . . thoroughly enjoyed a performance of dance and music by a company from Senegal (see photo) . . . returned yet again to the Disney for an organ concert . . . and ended the day at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) viewing the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition. Whew!

Sunday was much less busy, but equally satisfying. I had an early dinner with my friends Jim and Phil at the cheesy-but-fun Casito del Campo, a Mexican restaurant in Silver Lake which has been in operation since 1962. Jim and I have known each other for twenty years this year (1985 was seriously a huge year for meeting new friends). They'll be moving out to Palm Springs permanently in a couple of months, so it was essential we get our little anniversary celebration in as soon as possible.

And today, my friend Richard, from Washington, DC, who was visiting L.A. for a long weekend, joined me for lunch at Marco's, the quaint pizzeria just up the street from work. It was great catching up with him; we hadn't seen each other since 2001.