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Tayari's Blog: All Fired Up!

Posted by TayariJones on November 11, 2006 09:05 PM
Filed under Travels & Rambles

Last night, The Brand New Heavies played the El Rey Theatre in Beverly Hills. Not only was I there, but I got in F-R-E-E. Their manager checked out the blog and added me and Camille Dungy to the guest list. We were both thrilled and grateful. (And guess what, we ran into Fred Smith. Check out his blog.)

L.A. is different from D.C. In D.C. The Heavies played the 9:30 Club which is located on U-street, just at the dividing line between gentrification and realness. The El Rey Theatre in Beverly Hills, was, well, BEVERLY HILLS. There were crystal chandeliers and V.I.P. reserved seating. Camille and I were there on comp tickets, but we didn’t sit at one of the circular booths. We stood right up front and center. (This proved to be very handy, as Camille is a fabulous dancer and managed to attract the attention of both Andrew and Simon. The highlight was when she actually kissed the bass during one of the instrumental tracks. Being something of a wallflower myself, I was very impressed with this maneuver.)

I must say that this may be the last of my groupie-ation for a while. Although I enjoyed the concert-- here are pictures to prove it!-- I found myself this morning pining for my writing table. It’s time for me to slow it down a little bit. My old teacher, Ron Carlson, once told me that the writer is “the one who stays in the room.” I can’t quite remember how he spun this particular morality tale, but involves a girl-writer who says to her boyfriend, “I won’t be going with you, Derrick!” So, in my own personal lingo, anything that keeps me from my table is a “Derrick.” And as much as I love the Heavies…. (you can finish up this sentence.)

So, to Paul Moshay, the manager of BNH, thanks for helping me close it out in style. We had a sparking time at the El Rey.

November 13, 2006 04:05 PM