a mediocre dreamer

I recently wrote a post on a few things Southern California has over the East Coast. Last weekend, I was reminded of another: Hollywood Bowl. It was my first visit of their summer season and most definitely not the last. I LOVE the Hollywood Bowl - the wining and dining, the fantastic acoustics, and the occasional firework spectacular under the moonlight. Los Angeles entertainment at its best, no doubt!

This particular evening was entitled Cool Britannia! and featured the LA Philharmonic, the Pacific Chorale, Bramwell Tovey (one of the most hysterical conductors I have ever seen), and the crooning Jamie Cullum. Now I am no jazz fanatic, but I must say I was quite impressed by Jamie's singing and piano-playing abilities. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have award-winning orchestral accompaniment and a gorgeous summer night to make what could have been mediocre into a stellar performance. My conclusion at the end of the night was two-fold: (1) live performances are by far the best way to not only evaluate but enjoy a musician's true talent; and (2) there MUST be something in the UK's water supply that has them consistently churning out ivory-clankin'-singer-songwriter types one after another. To name a few,

• Jamie Cullum (as noted above)
  
• Elton John
• Chris Martin of Coldplay
• Matt Hales aka Aqualung
• Ben Jelen

Talented, good-looking men with British accents. I'm sold (well, with the exception of Sir Elton, whose affinity for men doesn't quite float my swooning boat). Let's hop on over to the other side of the Atlantic, ey? Ladies?