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8/24/2007

Cure For The Common Blues

It's been a pretty crappy week, which has made me quite cranky. Things got a bit better last night though when for the first time in more than a year, I got to see one of my favorite bands. Cecilia Noël & The Wild Clams perform at the Skirball Cultural Center (for free!) to a diverse and excited audience. We used to see Cecilia and her 14 to 17 piece band play monthly at the Key Club, but they haven't been there for quite some time. It was fun to see them play to a crowd that included kids, octogenarians, and people from many ethnic backgrounds.

The cool thing is that almost everyone was up dancing, as that is what Cecilia's intensity and The Clams' music does to you. Even non-dancers, such as E, have to move. Admittedly, there were a few folks who just did not enjoy it. The two elderly women next to us just sat expressionless until they left about two-thirds of the way into the show. And there were the women behind us who decided to stay "for one more song" to see "if it got any better" because it was way too "noisy." Apparently, it didn't improve.

I did get a little sad during the show because it made me miss a friend who has been living in New Zealand for quite a while now. He used to go see the Clams with us frequently and it felt weird not having him there. In spite of that, the energetic show really did lift me out of my funk some. I recommend Cecilia Noël & The Wild Clams to anyone feeling down.

One of the bonuses to seeing Cecilia Noël play live is that quite often her husband, Colin Hay,** joins her on stage. We saw him lurking around in the audience, clapping along to the music and hoped he'd make an appearance. The next to the last song was a rousing version of his "Down Under," which The Wild Clams have gotten down pretty good over the years. That song brought the few remaining sitters to their feet.

So, yeah. A pretty good start to a four-day weekend.* I plan to do some exercising, some organizing, a little socializing, and even some notarizing, not necessarily in that order and definitely not with equal amounts of enthusiasm. I've already been to a yoga class this morning and taken a friend's dog for a long walk in the hills. I'm seeing a nap in my future. Well, another one. There is that awesome little one that you get to take at the end of a yoga class. Looking forward to that gets my stiff, out of shape body through the difficult poses and moves.

*Don't be too jealous. I'll be working when you are at the beach or at a barbecue on Labor Day.

**We discovered Cecilia through Colin. For the past 11 or so years, we've seen him pretty regularly at Largo and she started popping up, singing backing vocals occasionally. One night, he broke a guitar string and had her perform while he regrouped. Even a scaled-down version of what she does, on that tiny little Largo stage, got us out to see her in full swing.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds awesome. Have a great long weekend and go, go, go with the exercise. Makes you feel good.

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