Bird News

Inara's CD Release Party @ El Cid

Last night we went to Inara's CD release party at El Cid. Her new material is beautiful and her CD, "All Rise," is quickly gaining momentum. Buy her CD! You'll love it. Inara has a wonderful ability to write emotional music without the least hint of corny-ness and this is something I greatly admire.

The show last night was relaxed and casual featuring a handful of performances from various friends including The Bettys- a 4 piece a cappella Sweet Adelines-style group (pictured at left), Dan Crane on air guitar (I now have a new-found appreciation for air guitar thanks to Dan's riveting performance), John Gold with Barbara Grusta and Dan Seta, an acoustic duo of Mike Andrews and Inara, and a jam session with Jackson Browne. Inara and her band performed a number of songs from the new album- many of which are a welcome presence in my head today.

Having been out of town for 12 years, this event was like an elementary and high school reunion rolled into one. A large percentage of the Topanga contingent was there along with a handful of long-lost former Crossroads peers. It was great to catch up with old friends in the lounge-y atmosphere of El Cid. Click on the image above to see more photos...

A Flurry of Activity

On Saturday, Gamelan Burat Wangi participated in a memorial concert to honor Nicholas M. England, the founding director of the institute's World Music Program. In addition to our group, the concert featured other CalArts-based world music ensembles including a Javanese gamelan group, two African percussion groups and a classical Indian chamber ensemble. Many thanks to Katrina for taking some pictures with my camera while we were playing! Click on the image above to see more photos.

Last week we drove directly from a gamelan rehearsal at CalArts to Ciao Bella in the Santa Cruz Mountains for Simanti's Birthday party. Ciao Bella's brand of off-the-wall, hyperactive dance entertainment never disappoints and Friday night was no exception. It was so nice to see everybody! Click here to see Michelle's photos of the evening.

The next day we flew from SFO to Eugene, Oregon to visit Steve's sister, Pamela. (Many thanks to Michelle for all of her the hospitality and willingness to schlep us to and from the airport.) Pamela lives in Cottage Grove, which is a very small town about 30 minutes south of Eugene. We had a great visit and apparently had excellent luck with the weather. Among other things, we took a soak in the Belknap hot springs, visited a covered bridge, learned the correct way to pronounce Willemette and got to know Pamela's very cute (and intense) 2 year old pit bull named Polly. It was especially entertaining to watch Polly tear open a package(722kb).

After Oregon, we came back to Michelle's place in Sunnyvale and she threw together a mean udon noodle soup for us. The next day it was back to Santa Cruz where we visited our storage unit and spent the night at Guillermo's after one of his famous pizza parties. Friday morning Cyril and Charlene treated us to breakfast at the newly reopened Cafe Brazil, one of our favorites in Santa Cruz.

Now we are back home and very happy to have retrieved our bikes out of storage. I also managed to rescue my desk and another 1/3 of my wardrobe out of the lonely confines of the storage unit.

Skirting Death

I'm feeling pretty fortunate right about now that yesterday's 2-story boulder didn't fall on us. We were on Topanga Cyn Blvd yesterday about a half hour before it fell!

Hot Tub in the Rain

It's been a rainy few weeks here in Topanga Canyon and Los Angeles at large. Even though it has been wet for days, today was the day that the rain won. Saturated earth gave way to little mud slides all over the canyon. There were also many impressive and beautiful waterfalls. We braved the elements and trekked into Santa Monica this afternoon. The canyon was closed to through traffic and there were boulders and trees all over the road but we got through without any problems. I don't think I have ever seen the road so deserted in the middle of the day.

The ride back was visibly more treacherous-- more fallen trees, more boulders. When we got home, Twin Falls Idaho was on TV- which was great - or at least half of it was great- until a large boulder fell onto Topanga Canyon Blvd a few miles away and took out 3 power lines. We cooked and dined by candlelight, which was quite nice, and I was convinced that we may not have the power back for days but it came back on just in time to do the dishes.

We now have a renewed appreciation for everything that electricity has to offer including the ability to heat a hot tub. So, here is my family's hot-tub-in-the-rain advice: wear a plastic grocery bag over your head. The bag not only keeps your hair dry, it also serves as a little rain visor.