Jan's and John's Peripatetic Adventure

A Nap and Fish for Dinner

We're in California for a while, continues...

Yesterday the jet lag caught up with me and I crashed in the afternoon and slept a lot. Clyde kept me company.

Last night we had dinner with our fabulous friends Victor and Cindy. We went to the new Maritime East which replaced our old favorite restaurant Zax. Although the illuminated sign outside the restaurant is pretty cheesy, they have kept the restaurant interior pretty much the same as it was, with a few seafoody touches and the main wall in the dining room is now a vinyl vertical stripe extravaganza that is pretty. The overall feel is not as upscale as Zax was but it's nice.

The food is very good, with the exception of the sea bass that they serve with head and tail still attached. Victor asked them not to do that and to serve it filleted which they did but it was not really filleted correctly. But everything else was excellent, particularly the dessert. And the champagne.

We're going to miss all our local Berkeley restaurants. Sigh. But it will be fun to explore and discover new ones after we move to San Rafael next week.

Cava and the Missing Key

We're in California continues...

Every day is about the upcoming move. But life goes on also, so yesterday I went to my thrice-annual dental cleaning. (I am an oral hygiene fanatic: waterpik, sonicare, floss, interdental brush, etc.)

Afterward I had errands to do so John met me after my appointment and we had lunch. We went to the adorable and yummy Filippo's and decided, what the hell, and had some Cava with our hamburgers. What a life. '-)

This morning we once again got up at 5:00 a.m. and headed over to our new house to deliver some artwork and things. When we got there we discovered that we had forgotten the key. It was one of those "I thought you had the key. No, I thought you had the key" situations. So we dropped off the outdoor sculptures that could stay on the front porch and then headed back to Berkeley. LOL.

We both have a copy of the key now. '-)

Moving is Ugly

We're in California for a while, continues...

Moving is a nightmare. We swore we would never do it again; then we found the new house. Sigh. OK, that's it, this is the last time we move. Ever! Seriously.

This will be the first time that we have the moving company do the packing for us. As the move approaches, we are doing the traditional purge-of-crap. We are also packing and moving some of our fragile items, like my grandfather's violin and John's lutes, to the house ourselves on little excursions during this week.

So our house has half-filled boxes all over the place and looks like a complete disaster. We are organizing everything that is not going to move into one room and will find a way to get rid of it later. And of course, the endless phone calls to utilities, etc. is such a joy. Not!

But every time we visit the new house we realize that it will all be worth it.

The Crack of Dawn Excursion

We're in California for a while, continues...

Up A Tree

Yesterday, as we were loading up the car with stuff to take to our new house, Clyde saw a bird perched on the top of one of the trees. He climbed up the tree, really high, and attempted to climb on branches near the top that were thinner than his legs. Yikes! There was no chance of him getting the bird but it was hilarious to watch. He finally gave up and came back down. What a cutie.

We decided to move our artwork and other fragile things to our new house ourselves and then the movers will do the rest next week. It was so great to see the house again after so many months away. It is more beautiful than I remembered. Of course, it's too cold now to use the pool, wah. But the grounds around the house are gorgeous; we're really going to enjoy living there.

The Crack of Dawn

There is no DSL available at our new house which is a terrifying concept. Yes, it's that remote. So, yesterday we bought a 3G wireless modem so we'll have internet. John and I both still have jet lag and even though we went to bed at 10 last night, we were both wide awake at 4:30 a.m. so we got up and decided to drive over to the new house and try out the 3G to make sure it works before we buy any more wireless modems. Yay, it does. And the latency is good, much better than satellite.

It was completely dark when we drove over but the sun came up as we were driving back and the sky was spectacular. The dawn view from the porch at the house was also gorgeous. It's going to be a very different life at the new house; we're really excited.

The Dead Prius

We're in California for a while, continues...

While we were in London for the last three months, our Prius died. Apparently, if you don't drive it for a few weeks the 12-volt battery that starts the car loses its power. Our friend Bob emailed us in October that when he tried to move the car for street sweeping day, the electronic key would not open the door. He opened it with the regular key but alas the car would not start. Sigh.

He paid the parking ticket our dead car got on street sweeping day and I resigned myself to getting another one in November. But, hurray, Bob talked the ticket lady out of giving us a ticket. How the hell did he do that?! Well, on street sweeping day he put up the hood of the car and when she came along and stopped to give us a ticket he explained the car had died. She believed him because... she has a Prius too! LOL. That totally cracks me up.

So before we left London John went online and did some research on Prius discussion boards, etc. to see how to revive the car ourselves rather than calling AAA. He found a machine that easily charges the battery so he sent the info to Bob who went and bought one. Yesterday morning, they charged up the battery and now the car is fine. We put the machine in the car, just in case. The machine also puts air in the tires, which will probably come in handy considering the history of our car's tires.

Kindled

We love books. And I mean LOVE them. But after decades of reading, the books really pile up and start to take over the house. For years we have bought more and more shelves to hold them all and, frankly, they all just sit there collecting dust. John created BookMooch for people with the same problem of how to find a new home for your books, preferably a home that actually wants them, not just a box on the sidewalk.

Last week I read about the new Amazon.com Kindle, an electronic book reader. I have stayed away from electronic book readers because they didn't look all that great. Until now.

Like buying downloads instead of cd's, I love the idea of buying a download instead of a printed book, finding space for it to keep forever, or trying to find a new home for it when I was done with it.

John and I have always been early adopters of new technology. We're nerds and we really enjoy it. We have been burned a few times by new technology that did not live up to its hype but, what the hell, it's fun. So I ordered a Kindle last week so that it would be here when I got home from London.

I've been using it for two days now and I am very impressed. It takes getting used to, of course. But it's easy to hold, easy to turn pages, the screen is easy to read, downloading books is easy. It's... well, easy! I'm very excited about it. I'm counting on Amazon to have more of the books I want in ebook format although they really do have a lot already.

Besides reading ebooks on it, it has built-in wifi, so you can surf the net, subscribe to blogs and newspapers that automatically download every day, search Wikipedia and use it to teleport to other planets. Oh wait, it doesn't do that. But it really does look and feel like the PADD from Star Trek. It's like we're living in the future!

Back in the Bay Area

We're in California for a while, continues...

Our first day back. We went to bed last night at 7 and got up at 2 a.m. this morning. LOL. Jet lag is annoying but we don't care. We just go to bed and get up when we feel like it. After about a week our body clocks are usually completely adjusted.

Of course, yesterday Clyde discovered I have returned and was completely adorable. I'm going to miss him so much after we move to our new house that my heart is broken. No, I can't take him with me. Even if his owners said yes, I travel too much to have a cat. Sigh.

Clyde came in and picked up his routine as if three months had not passed. Amazing! He followed me around and then hopped up on John's chair next to me so he could keep me company. Yea, my heart is broken.

Minority Report

After reading my friend Lisa Alther's lastest book Kinfolks, I was inspired to take a dna test. My whole life my parents told me that there was Native American in the family and I decided to find out once and for all. I sent the test in over the summer and when we got back yesterday the results were in:

European: 95%
Native American: 5%

Wow. So my parents were right all along. I can't say that it really has a lot of meaning for me; I'm not going to file for minority status or anything like that. I just thought it would be an interesting piece of information to have and it is. I can take another test that will narrow down which tribe but I'm not sure that matters. I'll let you know when I open the casino.

The Easy Flight

We're in California for a while...

Today we flew from London to San Francisco where we'll be for the next two months.

I am usually a nervous wreck before flying because it's such a long and boring flight and people are often badly behaved. When we checked in at Heathrow they said that only one of our seats was pre-assigned. Now, I know I went online and reserved both our seats in the upper deck but alas something went wrong. She wanted to give us seats in the middle section but I freaked out a little because that's where the very crowded and horrendously noisy bar is. I did something I rarely do, I made a little fuss but I did it nicely. She made a phone call and then put us in the two seats at the front of the lower deck. Those are our favorite seats, yay! The flight was mostly quiet. I slept and was woken up once by the talking at the massage area.

We really enjoy flying Virgin Atlantic upper class but I have to say that for all the great things they have, they really are clueless about some other things. For example: they never seat couples together, they seat them opposite each other. They seem to have never gotten over the habit of reserving seats for people in sequential order, e.g. row 4 seats A and K. But with the new seating configuration, those seats are across the aisle from each other. To be together, it should be for 4A and 5A. Every single time when we fly on Virgin Atlantic there are people being seated who are upset that they are not sitting next to each other and the stewardess has to beg other passengers to switch around. This has been going on for years. Years! I just don't understand how Virgin Atlantic doesn't get it. However, that is why we love the seats in the first row of the lower deck because, although they are across from each other, our feet touch because we are in the nose of the plane.

The other problem with Virgin Atlantic is the massage area. It's nice that they offer free massages to people who paid thousands of dollars for a seat but it is really unfair to the rest of the people in the area who also paid thousands of dollars for their seat. The massage therapist and client often talk, often loudly, during the massage, which makes sleeping a problem, even up in the front row. For example, I was aleep on the flight today and that's what woke me up. Also, it's particularly unpleasant when you are in a seat directly next to or even near the massage area. Once I was unlucky enough to get one of those seats and was woken up by the bizarre moaning of someone getting their massage. Loud moaning. WTF. You are in a public place and everyone around you is sleeping. STFU.

But the biggest problem with flying Virgin Atlantic upper class is the bar. That section of the plane is completely off limits to any sane, civilized person. The bar has a party going on during the entire flight. There are usually some really hard-core drinkers there, talking and laughing so loudly that there is no chance of sleep and even hearing the movie through your headphones is difficult. It's just very bad behavior, and instead of finding ways to discourage bad behavior, Virgina Atlantic has found a way to encourage it. The only good thing is, they close down the bar on the night flight from San Francisco to London, so it is usually quiet. But on the flight from London to San Francisco it is chaos. The worst, are the seats on either side of the bar, they are practically in the bar. Those people paid the same thousands of dollars everyone else paid. It's an incredible intrusion. No one should have to pay thousands of dollars to sit in a bar, those seats should be free. But I really think Virgin Atlantic should get rid of the bar completely and show some respect to the people who pay thousands of dollars for their seat and then get stuck sitting near it.

Why not switch to another airline then? Well, we really do enjoy Virgin Atlantic. The massage area and bar issues are annoying but everything else about Virgin Atlantic is so fabulous, particularly the seats in upper class, that we really don't want to look elsewhere. I am just confused that an airline that is otherwise so great, would even have issues like the massage and bar fiascos. Please get a clue, Virgin Atlantic, we think you're fab.

So, today's flight was particularly easy. At Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic has made a few changes and after you check in you go up in a private elevator to a separate security area where you just breeze right through. Amazing! As always, their Lounge is fabulous. We didn't watch any films this time, nothing appealed to me. We just listened to our iPods and slept.

Oh yes, one more little item about Virgin Atlantic. They redesigned the upper class seats a little bit. The buttons are recessed now, preventing making your seat go up or down by accidentally bumping the button. Nice. However, the little table that pops out is right under the lamp, so a glass of champagne barely fits on it see photo). LOL. But the best part is that the flat bed is soft now. It used to be pretty hard and kind of uncomfortabe. But the new one is really nice and I think definitely contributed to our being able to sleep this time. Well done, Virgin Atlantic!

Finale at the Fort

We're in London, continues...

Today is our final day in London for this trip, sigh. Tomorrow we fly back to California for two months. We have a week to get ready for our move into our new house. Today John is winding up his recording with Anneke and Kathryn and then has a business-ish dinner meeting. So last night we had our last London dinner together at The Red Fort. It was awesome, as always, and included a bottle of Bollinger. And then today we had lunch together at our favorite Moti Mahal. Fabulous. This has probably been our longest stay in London yet and was really action-packed, including our trips to Sweden and Luxembourg. We love it and are going to miss our wonderful friends while we're away in California.

Scenes from a Second Life

We're in London, continues...

Since there's nothing to blog about today I decided to bore you all with my Second Life. I've been spending a lot of time in Second Life, as always. The last few weeks have been particularly fun and productive; I've made many additions to my islands.

First of all, I revised my avatar. I've always wanted long, flowing hair. Check. Got it. I'm also wearing more makeup and bought some hot new clothes. Yea, baby. I particularly like the photo of me standing in front of my modular moog synthesizer. I'm a total hottie. And I'm finally that size 0 I've always wanted to be.

Last week I redesigned my art gallery and doubled its size, so it holds more exhibits, including sculptures in the surrounding lawn.

A few weeks ago I added some gorgeous horses that use the new "sculptie" technology in Second Life, creating more realistic shapes and textures.

I've had a car for a while, a BMW, and yesterday when I was driving it around my island I accidently ran over my squirrel. Yikes!

A couple weeks ago on a shopping excursion, I found a morphing sculpture and just had to have it. It's gorgeous. It is a sophisticated script that creates the shapes mathematically and changes, making new shapes. Anyone visiting can also change the color and texture by clicking on the menu. It also plays a beautiful ambient music loop while it rotates and shifts its shape and color. It's completely mesmerizing.

Also in the ingenious artwork category is a "Whisper Box" by the same Second Life artist who created the video for Kirsty's song recently. As well as making beautiful Second Life films, he makes amazing virtual musical instruments. When you stand in the Whisper Box it takes the Second Life text chat conversation and turns it into rhythms. It reacts to different letters or words and the rhythm changes: sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. It also remembers previous conversations which it displays above the speakers, which you can click and change the rhythm. It's incredible and also totally mesmerizing.

Next are photos of a little building I made that I call "Weightless." When you walk in, it animates your avatar so that you are floating. The interior is all black, with floating particles that look like snow, or outer space, depending on your frame of mind. I also streamed some of my electronic music in it, so you float around in the darkness while electronic music pulses and shifts. It's also hypnotic and strangely soothing.

After the amazing Mozart concert we went to recently, I decided to revive the Mozart Piano Concerto I recorded years ago. I love that concerto. Performing all the orchestral parts, plus the piano, was incredibly fun (and amazingly difficult) and I decided it deserved to be heard. So I put a grand piano and some lawn chairs on my island so people can sit and relax and listen to a music stream of my concerto. I'm stunned by the enthusiastic and postive reaction I've gotten from visitors to the island.

Lastly, I furnished the lighthouse I put on my island a while back, including a white harpsichord which the creator in Second Life based on my Real Life harpsichord in California including photographs of the soundboad and keyboard to make it look more real. Lovely. And also lovely is the view from the top of my lighthouse.

Second Life continues to be one of the most amazing things I've done in years and I really enjoy it. My islands get many visitors, some of whom visit every day, and I have met some incredibly nice people. Stop by my islands and say hello, anytime!

The Horn and The Piano

We're in London, continues...

Yesterday, John started recording Anneke Scott on horn and Kathryn Cok, on fortepiano, for Magnatune. Getting the fortepiano into the house and up the stairs was no easy task. =:-0

We have known Anneke for a few years and after the two of them did a house concert we knew we wanted them on Magnatune. They are extraordinarily talented and are both delightful. It's such a pleasure having them in the house.

And the music: gorgeous!

Dinner with Claire and Dan

We're in London, continues...

Last night we had dinner with friends Claire and Dan. It wasn't easy finding a space in everyone's busy schedules but we did it, yay.

We wanted to take them somewhere special, somewhere spectacular. So we chose one of our favorites: Jaan at Swissôtel The Howard. We've been going there a while now and it's always an elegant, extraordinary experience. Last night was no exception, it was fabulous.

The maitre d' is charming and remembered us (amazingly). When he delivered the menus he told us that the previous chef had left and that the new menu was completely different. He seemed a little apprehensive because he knew how much we loved the chef and the previous menu. We only had a brief moment of panic and decided that there was a really good chance the new menu would be spectacular as well.

And it was.

Wow, what an amazing meal. Again! Claire and Dan loved it and we loved spoiling them. We had two bottles of astonishing champagne. John, Claire and Dan got the 5-course tasting menu. I didn't because I'm a picky eater and the restaurant kindly let me be the exception. Everything was exquisite.

I've said it before: this restaurant really is one of the best kept secrets in London and deserves a lot more attention than it receives. The cuisine and service are extraordinary and the atmosphere is tranquil and lovely; you can actually have a conversation there. We really must go there more often.

And I've said it before that Claire and Dan are fabulous friends and we're so happy to know them and have a chance to get together. See you two in February!

California Lunch

We're in London, continues...

Yesterday, we had lunch with our new neighbors, Richard and Claire, who live next to our new house in California. The one we haven't even moved into yet '-)

They are living in London for a couple years to work on a project so we'll get to see them when we're here, yay! We'll also get to see them in California when our schedules are in sync.

They are delightful. We're so happy to have intelligent, interesting and fun people as our new neighbors. I didn't feel I knew them well enough (we were meeting Claire for the first time) to ask for a photo for the blog so that will have to wait until next time.

Lunch in Mayfair and A Party of Hats

We're in London, continues...

Nobu

Yesterday we had lunch with our friends/houseguests Mary and Eliza. They are going to the U.S. in a few days for Thanksgiving, then on Saturday we are going to California for two months. So we wanted to get together before then since it will be so long before we see each other.

We wanted to go somewhere different and special so Mary made a reservation at Nobu. There are two Nobu's in Mayfair and we went to the one in the Metropolitan Hotel.

We had a great time although I have mixed feelings about the restaurant. The food was a range of fabulous to bland. The fact it wasn't consistently to-die-for put a question mark over whether we go back. Some of the dishes were exquisite, e.g. the cod, although it was all very similar to Yauatcha which I think is a better restaurant in every way.

It was also extremely loud but most restaurants are. It's impossible to find a restaurant designed for conversation. Most restaraurants seem to be allergic to sound-absorbing fabric (probably because they would have to keep it clean). So, most restaurants are all shiny surfaces that reflect the chaos, making it an uncomfortably noisy environment.

Also, the service was not good. We sat forever waiting for the (shockingly enormous) check. Even after John signaled the waitress, who appeared to acknowledge him, we waited a long time. Basically that took away the question mark and made the decision for us not to return. We will probably try the other Nobu just to experience "the scene" with bouncers and paparazzi at the door. My plan is to hide my face when I enter the restaurant, triggering a celebrity alert, and get the paparazzi to photograph a complete nobody (me). LOL.

Oh, and speaking of celebrities, I was looking around the restaurant just in case Madonna or Jude Law turned up (they didn't) but I did catch Noel Gallagher from the band Oasis, on his way out. At least, I think it was Noel. It might have been Liam, I have trouble telling them apart. He was wearing the usual Beatles' A Hard Day's Night-era hat, just to be sure people noticed him and I did.

Well, in spite of the food, the bad service, the noise or the unwashed rock stars, it was a really fun lunch because we got to spend time with two of our favorite people: Mary and Eliza. We're going to miss you!

Hats!

Last night was the party that John and I went hat shopping for the other day. The hostess was our friend Claire who is totally fabulous, we adore her. We met her through our friends Ramsay and Gill and this was our first visit to her house which is completely gorgeous.

The theme was wacky hats and it turned out to be totally hilarious and fun. I was amazed by how creative and funny the hats were. Our hats were completely lame. It never occurred to me to glue stuff together and make a wacky hat. Wah! Oh well. We drank and ate and laughed all evening with the other guests who were mostly really nice and some of whom we had met before and had even been to our house concerts. It's also always wonderful to spend time with Ramsay, Gill and Claire who are just amazing people.

We all voted for different categories of hats and then there were prizes. John won a prize! Wait a minute... he won for "could have tried harder." Hahahaha! There he is wearing his bunny ears which he had enhanced with some pink plastic devil horns he found at the party. My little hat with cat ears was completely pathetic so I was pleased not to get the prize.

Speaking of cats, Claire has two. Sigh. I followed one of them around taking photos. She was very sweet and sort of let me pet her but was nervous because of the crowd and all the noise, of course. So I not only had a great time at the party with fun people and wacky hats but I got some cat time.

Thank you, Claire, for a wonderful, fun evening!

Dinner in Hampstead

We're in London, continues...

Last night we went to a dinner party at the home of our friends Helly and Andy in Hampstead. Also there were Sonja and Paul and it was great to get the whole group of us together which we don't get to do very often because we're all so busy.

It was our first visit to Helly and Andy's house which is completely gorgeous. Helly cooked a spectacular meal, Andy poured large quanties of champagne, it was a wonderful evening.

Hat Quest

We're in London, continues...

We are invited to a party on Saturday night and the theme is wacky hats. There's going to be a prize for the best hat. Sigh. I am not a fan of "themes" that require cleverness and, in particular, having to go shopping. Although I do enjoy it in Second Life and always have a fabulous costume for Kirsty's parties. The difference is that in Second Life there is tons of fun stuff easily found and purchased. But in Real Life it's really hard to find just the right thing.

John and I forewent the cliched idea of wearing underwear on our heads. It was tempting but, let's face it, it's not clever, it's not attractive and, besides, someone else will probably have come up with it.

I finally had the idea of hats that had animal ears on them, e.g. moose or rabbit or alien, etc. In the U.S. I think things like that can be found at any Walgreens. But, like plastic hangers, this is not the case for London.

So yesterday we walked over to Hamley's, the huge toy store on Regent Street. We figured they would have some fun hats. They didn't. Yikes. What they did have, though, was floors and floors of fabulous toys and, as toy addicts, it really was hard to leave the store empty-handed.

Next we had the idea of going to the Disney Store at Covent Garden Market. Just the thought of wearing Mickey Mouse ears made me want to scream but memories of our various trips to Disneyland made us think they had other choices.

But first, John had a brainstorm to try Forbidden Planet, the scifi store on Shaftsbury Avenue. The V for Vendetta masks were tempting but the party is about hats. Darn. Finally we found these two cute little hats. Not too ridiculous, not too uncomfortable and, sadly, not very clever. But at least we won't be showing up to the party with underwear on our heads.

An Hour with Alex

We're in London, continues...

Last night we went to a play based on the comic strip Alex which, of course, we had never heard of but it looked funny. Wow, it was!

The play was at the Arts Theatre, just off Leicester Square. It was a one-man play starring Robert Bathurst who was completely hilarious. He was "Alex" and interacted with screens of animation of the other characters. It was very cleverly done and very, very funny.

What was also funny was the fact that much of the audience was the demographic for the comic strip: all suits and blackberries. They loved it.

Before the show, a row of suits sitting in front of me all had their blackberries out and I overheard a conversation between two of them:

Suit 1: "You might have given the client the center seat."

Suit 2: "He said he didn't mind."

Suit 1: "Well of course he said that, he's an ass."

Suit 2: "No, I really don't think he minds."

Suit 1: "Well, I mind. Offer the center seat to the client."

Suit 2: Offers center seat to the client who shakes his head, smiles and mouth's "no thanks I'm fine."

Suit 1: "Great. We'll discuss this tomorrow. (types on his blackberry) Are you free at one o'clock for lunch? Let's do The Wolseley."

Suit 2: "Let me check my schedule. (types on his blackberry) No, actually, I'm having lunch with the client. Sorry."

Suit 1: "Bollocks."

And that was before the play had even started.

An Evening of Brandenburgs

We're in London, continues...

Yesterday morning I got an email from our friend Claire that a friend had dropped out of a concert that evening so she had an extra ticket and was I interested in going. The concert was: Trevor Pinnock conducting and playing all six J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concertos! Um... that would be YES!

She only had one ticket and coincidentally John was going to a business meeting/dinner last night and I was going to be on my own. Not anymore! I'm going to hear Bach's Brandenburg Concertos! Complete! By Trevor Pinnock!

John was as excited for me as I was. The reason for all this excited jumping up and down is that Bach's Brandenburg Concertos transformed my life when I heard them for the first time in 1968. Up to that point I thought classical music was boring and I wasn't interested in it. But when I heard Bach's Brandenburg Concertos I was astonished. They were the most amazing music I had ever heard and I still feel that they are the most beautiful music ever written. I love them so much that I have a couple dozen recordings of them. (I think I have even more than I listed on the web site, I'm behind in my updating, as usual.)

I arranged to meet Claire and Dan at Cadogan Hall before the concert. When the time approached I walked to the Leicester Square tube station but when I descended into the depths of The Underground, the platform was so packed with people you couldn't even get on it. Then they announced that the next train would be in ten minutes. That meant that when the train did arrive, people were going to be squished up against the windows from the inside and there wasn't a chance in hell any of us squished together on the full platform were going to get on that train. So, I left and went back up to the street where it took me a nervous few minutes to track down a taxi. That's it for the tube for me. It's just too nuts at rush hour. Even though it can be the taxi ride from hell through hideous traffic, it ends up being easier than the tube. Last night, the taxi ride wasn't too bad. I just love watching out the window and passing historic sights like Buckingham Palace. Even after all these years it's still a thrill.

I arrived at Cadogan Hall early, as I always do, and ordered glass of champagne while I waited for Claire and Dan to arrive. They did and we all had champagne before the concert. They are our peeps, I love it.

I have admired Trevor Pinnock for many years. His solo harpsichord recordings are some of my favorites, and his dozens of recordings with the English Concert are all a must-have. Last night, he conducted and played with the European Brandenburg Ensemble, who are a group of musicians he hand-picked for the specific purpose of recording and performing Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Their new recording was also released last night and I'm going to buy the download asap.

Well. The concert was a level of perfection I rarely see. Every note was exquisite, every melody and phrase was beautiful. Trevor Pinnock's harpsichord solo in Concerto No. 5 was stunning. I couldn't believe I was hearing such amazing music being played right in front of me by one of my idols. It was definitely another verklempt moment.

During the interval, we headed back down to the bar for a bottle of champagne. Yes, a bottle. Claire and Dan are definitely my peeps. Now, the reason I was invited last night is because their friend Mary's husband was the one who had backed out of going. But their friend Mary was there and not only was it a pleasure to meet her but I discovered that it was her house that Andrew Garlick and Sophie Yates had taken me to, to try out harpsichords! Amazing coincidence.

After finishing our bottle of champane we went back upstairs to hear three more Brandenburgs. Astonishing again. I never get tired of hearing this music and know every note of it. What a pleasure it was hearing these familiar melodies played so beautifully. And to hear all six concertos at once is a rare event, I really loved it.

After the concert, Trevor Pinnock was signing cd's downstairs and was already at the table signing and meeting people when we got to the bar. What a kind and generous man, I am so impressed. I was tempted but really didn't want to stand in a long line just to meet him for 30 seconds while he met a hundred other people. I'm sure a photo for the blog would not have been a possible anyway. But I did meet him once before which was really wonderful.

Thank you, Claire and Dan (and Mary) for inviting me to an extraordinary musical evening. You are my peeps!

Handel at Claridge's

We're in London, continues...

Last night we went to a fundraising event to benefit the London Handel Festival. We are huge fans of Handel but, more importantly, we are huge fans of Laurence Cummings, who is musical director (and one of our best friends.)

The evening started with a concert by the London Handel Orchestra at St. George's Church on Hanover Square. John, Mary and Eliza and I all went together and sat in the first row of the balcony so we could see and hear everything. And it gave me an opportunity to take discrete photos during the concert which is something I never get to do.

The music and performances were flawless and completely gorgeous. Carolyn Sampson and Christopher Ainslie were fabulous and the orchestra was perfection. The event also celebrated the release of the cd of the London Handel Orchestra's world premier recording of Handel's opera "Esther" from which they played excerpts. It's stunning, I must have it.

After the concert we headed over to dinner at Claridge's. (Wow, galas in posh hotels two nights in a row. I could get used to this.) We met some familiar faces and some fun new ones. The four of us sat at Laurence's table and, amazingly, I got to sit next time him. I'm verklempt! He is an amazingly talented musician and one of the nicest people I've ever known. He is one of my favorite people ever, so it was great to be able to chat and party. Eliza was sitting on the other side of me which made it even more fun. She is adorable, hilarious and really fun to be with.

Since the event was a fundraiser, of course there was an auction. They auctioned off some fabulous things, including Laurence. LOL! It was for a private recital by him and Christopher Ainslie. Below is a photo of Laurence being auctioned off. '-) Dinner was delicious and the other members of our table were wonderful. I want to be friends with all of them, I actually gave them all my card.

Spectacularly lovely music, dinner at Claridge's with fabulous people and hanging out with my friends Laurence, Mary and Eliza: it was another perfect evening in London.

Countdown Celebration

We're in London, continues...

Last night I went to the "25th Anniversary Celebration of Countdown" at the Dorchester with my best friend Kirsty.

What is "Countdown"? Well, it is a hugely popular U.K. television quiz show. The best U.S. analogy I can come up with is Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune but it's really not like either; Countdown seems to be very intelligent.

We were invited to the gala because Kirsty's father wrote the theme music. Awesome! He and Kirsty's mother were not able to attend as they are away, so Kirsty invited me. Kirsty's husband Tom was not able to go either unfortunately and neither was John. Wah! But a good friend of theirs, also Tom, did come and he was hilarious and really nice. I'm so glad I got to meet him.

Although I live in London, I am completely clueless about television and U.K. celebrities. I don't have television here so I have never seen this show or any of the others they talked about. I had no idea who anyone was, even though in the U.K. they are super-famous. LOL. But, of course, Kirsty and Tom did, so it was a fabulous, star-studded evening for everyone in attendance.

Since Kirsty's dad composed the theme tune for the show, all the stars knew who she was so we got to meet them all. Yay! At last, I finally got to meet famous British celebrities, even though I had no idea who they were. But that didn't matter because they were all gracious and delightful and I loved it.

Eventually I figured out that the people I met are the equivalent in the U.S. of Regis Philbin, Vanna White and Bob Barker. Wow! I was very impressed, particularly by how nice they were. Between dinner courses Kirsty and I ran around the tables celebrity-hunting and I took photos of her with everyone. Since they know her father, they were delighted to see her and were truly charming, I really liked them. We spoke with the show's host Des O'Connor who was really nice, as was his lovely wife Jodie. Then we ran into Carol Vorderman who is also incredibly nice and who kindly agreed to photos with each of us, yay. We also talked to the charming Marcel Stellman (photo with Kirsty), who started the show 25 years ago. Then I pounced on Noel Edmonds because Kirsty wanted a photo with him. LOL. The event was MC'd by Tom O'Connor who I thought was actually very funny.

Dinner was also excellent; the Dorchester is a gorgeous hotel. The event was one of the best I've ever been to. Thank you once again, Kirsty, for inviting me to an amazing evening!

Kirsty also blogged about it here and sent me a photo that her friend Tom took of us with her camera.

Indigo and Bolly

We're in London, continues...

Yes, last night we had yet another bottle of Bollinger while dining at one of our favorite restaurants, Indigo. Super-yummy!

We really do love that restaurant. The food is always fabulous and the atmosphere is very pleasant, if you don't sit on the mezzanine overlooking the hotel lobby/bar. The service is usually excellent but last night was particularly so. At the end of our meal, after they served John's latte with his dessert (yes, we had dessert, naughty, I know), the waiter came back over and took it away and apologised for the fact that half the glass was foam. We didn't even say anything, the waiter just ran over and snatched the foamy latte away. Then, nearby, he explained to the waitress, in a pleasant tone of voice, how to do the latte correctly. Within a couple minutes John received a new latte with the correct ratio of liquid to foam. Very impressive.

As we were leaving the hotel, I just had to take a photo of the pink chav limo parked outside. The hotel lobby/bar was packed, as it often is, particularly on a Saturday night. I'm not pretentious enough (yet) to have a limo drive me around London but if I did it would not be that one, LOL.

Vivaldi for Lunch

We're in London, continues...

Yesterday, Mary invited me to a lunchtime concert at The Royal Academy of Music by the Period Instrument Baroque Orchestra conducted by our friend Laurence Cummings. They played all Vivaldi and it was gorgeous. I am a huge Vivaldi fan and they played some of my favorites which, strangely, I don't get to hear live very often. So it was a real treat to listen to these extraordinary and very young musicians play some of my favorite music, conducted by one of my favorite friends. Afterward, Mary and I had lunch and coffee with Laur