HOLLYWOOD BOWLED

Well, after my extremely-action-packed California day of July 22^nd (Winnebago Man on The Tonight Show and “Do It Again” premiere, gawwwww) there came…July 23^rd. There would be no sleeping in, no no no, because we had another very cool thing to do in the morning, although substantially more mellow. My friend Todd had told me that the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra holds their rehearsals in the summer at the Hollywood Bowl, that they are free and open to the public, and hardly anyone knows about this! What? Really? Let’s go! I had never been to the Bowl, Venue of Legend, and I am particularly fond of anything behind-the-scenes and seeing how creative things come together. The day before in the middle of the craziness I messaged Geoff Edgers, he of “Do It Again,” because I knew he wasn’t getting on a plane until later in the day and that it might be a nifty thing for him to attend as well, considering that he writes about the arts for the Boston Globe:

Geoff: Wat time?

Me: 10AM to noon

Geoff: Dudamel?

Me: Yes that is what I hear.

Geoff: Yes. Meet there? Ill get myself tickets.

Me: Yes! No tickets needed! Meet us in the parking lot behind the bowl @10? Call or text me if timing is off. Usually no one is yherp.

Stupid fat messaging fingers.

It was another gorgeous day, so we grown folks loaded up with the not-grown-folks and a big bag of snacks and drinks and headed over to Dudamel. Who Dudamel, you might ask? Gustavo Dudamel, the 29-year-old wild-haired Venezuelan conductor and Music Director for the L.A. Phil –a rock star in the orchestra world. As it turned out, it was Nodamel Day, as he was off being wonderful somewhere else. But no matter. We were fortunate enough to watch the orchestra rehearse for that night’s performance of the BBC’s “Planet Earth Live,” conducted by the series’ composer, George Fenton, and featuring lovely, seemingly-effortless vocals from Haley Glennie-Smith. Here’s what it looked like – quiet and peaceful.

The Bowl has a seating capacity of 17,376. We brought that number down to 17,367 with our group. Did you know that it’s owned by Los Angeles County? That means that it’s kind of like a park and such, which also means after we were done listening to the Phil, we could poke around a bit, even in the areas that are normally closed off to audiences during shows. The place has SO much history, and was all recently renovated as well. I hope I can attend a show there sometime.

We bid goodbye to Geoff and his friend Jeremy as the orchestra finished and we headed out to the parking lot. One more pic – some other big rock star at the backstage load in behind the bowl. Weirdos everywhere in California, you know.