Once at the Pantages

This is a show based on a movie, which won an Oscar for its song. The movie starred Glen Hansard and Markets Irglova who also helped write the music.
The musical was terrific! While the story was not particularly unique (a girl helps a guy who is stuck in a rut because of lost love) the staging was terrific. The set is primarily a bar in Dublin. Before the show and during intermission, audience members are able to go on stage and buy a drink. Every actor also plays an instrument and when not speaking lines, they sit on the side of the stage where they often are part of the back up band. There was some wonderful 'choreography' in the way props were moved on and off stage. And of course the music was beautiful. The two performers who play Guy and Girl are terrific singers. I highly recommend this show if it comes to your town.

Summer 2014 dineLA

This summer's dineLA kind of snuck up on me. I hadn't booked any meals as late as the week before. Some how I still ended up at a few dinners and a lunch and ended up eating a lot of great seafood. New dinner places included Hungry Cat in Santa Monica off of PCH. The food is primarily seafood and the mussels were amazing! The service was on the slow side but somehow the server always showed up just as we were getting impatient. I also need to commend an observant bus boy. Another nice seafood meal was at Bottlerock downtown. This is primarily a wine bar but they had a nice seafood pasta for dineLA and of course they had a nice selection of wines by the glass. The third seafood meal was at Catch at Casa Del Mar. This is one of my favourite hotel lobby bars but I've never dined in the restaurant. The food was terrific as was the service. I also enjoyed lunch at Craft and had my first meal in the dining room. (Previously I've been in the bar.)