Eddie, In-Laws & a Spelling Bee

Well, the last two weeks have been just chock full! My in-laws came into town, so we had all the frenzy that getting ready for a visit entails, as well as the visit itself. However, we had a lovely time and were really glad it went well. Not that we expected it not to... but you never know with those things.

My son has spent the summer in a theater arts workshop, which culminated with a performance of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." What a hilarious play! He played 'Leaf Coneybear', a district runner-up whose technique is to seem completely distracted and scatterbrained until the word comes to him like he's possessed - cross eyed, gruff voice and all. I don't think my son has ever made me laugh so much in his life, and he's usually a pretty funny kid!

But the thing I've been waiting for since February was going to see Eddie Izzard in concert at the Kodak Theater. I've seen him several times, sometimes in rather intimate settings during his work-in-progress, but I've never seen him in a theater as big as that. It was pretty darn amazing.
Here I am in my souvenir t-shirt. In "Dress to Kill," Eddie does a bit about how the Spanish Inquisition never would have worked in Britain. It would have been something like: "Tea and cake or death! Um... cake, please!" So I had to get this shirt.

Of course, to make the evening perfect, Al went with me. I just love having a blast with her! You know it's great when you have a friend you can crack up with, even before the comedy show and without any 'social lubrication.'

After we'd parked the car, we were trying to come up with a mnemonic to remember where we'd parked. Well, it was "3H," so I came up with Hollywood and Highland (where the Kodak is located.) Of course, being downtown Hollywood, it also used to be where 'the ladies of the night' used to work - like in "Pretty Woman." That is, before they cleaned it up and Disney moved into town at the El Capitan Theater across the street. (Yes, Times Square, we Angelenos can sympathize with the Disney sanitizing effect - although I think we like it.) So Al said the only other "H" she could think of was "Ho." We quickly morphed it into "Ho, ho, ho" and went off into peals of laughter. At that very moment, we were approached by some promoter, asking us if we'd been drinking yet that evening. You know, I think he was genuinely surprised when I said "No, I don't drink at all!" He asked, "Really??" To which I replied, "Nope! Not a drop!" I left him standing there with his mouth agape. He didn't know what to say to that! He must have thought we were completely sauced already!

I'm just so lucky to have a friend like Al! We should all be so fortunate to have someone who 'gets us' - laughing at us and with us. Glamour Pi forever!