Days Sixty-Seven & Sixty-Eight (Saturday & Sunday) – Dancing With The Dead

Saturday:
• Cycling (2 ¼ hrs, 20 miles)
• Grateful Dead Concert at the LA Forum!

Sunday:
• Circuit workout (2 hrs)
• Concert at the Hollywood Palladium (Delta Spirit opening for The Shins)

After another mostly sleepless night (are you as tired of hearing that as I am of writing that?), I awoke on Saturday eager to get started on my bike ride. I was not doing the usual Beach Boot Camp, but I had committed to Nicola and Claire that I would go cycling. I decided for myself that I would do at least twenty miles, which is further than I had gone before. I took the more difficult southbound bike path since the northbound path would be crowded with tourists along Venice and Santa Monica Beaches. I hadn’t ridden on a Saturday before so I wasn’t sure if the southbound route would be any better, but happily it was. There were more cyclists and runners and lollygaggers on this path, but I’m confident it was more crowded the other way. It was a nice ride although my legs were very tired from the previous day’s 15-mile ride. There were lots of surfers, volleyballers, and beachgoers out, too. This bike path follows along the beach where the whole surfing culture in California started. It was nice to finally see some surfing in person (well, almost…I was about 75 meters away). I wish I could take the time to learn how to do it, but I can’t even do the pop-up from the paddling position to squatting and standing. Yikes. It looks like tons of fun. Maybe a year from now when I have even less weight to lift, eh? Anyway, I cycled past Manhattan Beach which is where I usually turn around. I had made it there within the first hour so I was satisfied with my pace; I would have liked to arrived about 10 or 15 minutes sooner, but all these sleepless nights do affect me. I continued on and the path became part of the main road; I seemed to have missed the place to stay down on the beach. I went a little bit further and figured out that I just needed to turn down these alleys to get to the path, except now it was not just a bike path but a jogging and lollygagging path, too. No matter…I maneuvered as needed. Nobody was really rude or stupidly in the middle of the path despite there being lots of people there. I reached Hermosa Beach and came to a spot where I had to dismount and walk the bike for what looked to be about 50 yards, but as I had been cycling for nearly 1 ½ hrs by then, I decided to turn around. I think next time I will stay up on the bike path on the road and go further. I’d like to get at least 25 miles next time. Anyway, I turned around and the return trip was easier with less wind resistance. And isn’t it always the truth that the first time you try to get somewhere, it seems to take forever, but when you know your way back, you get back in no time. I was very pleased that I did exactly 20 miles in 2 ¼ hrs. I think if I had had a better night’s sleep I could have gone even further in that amount of time. I’m looking forward to trying again.

I did not join the group for lunch at the Catering Kitchen. Rather, I had decided that I WOULD go to The Grateful Dead concert with Skate and Siouxsie. I bought a ticket online at 1pm while the concert doors opened at 6:30pm. Luckily some single seat tickets had been released so I got an amazing seat that was at the same height as the stage, on the railing (i.e., no one in front of me), and only 20 feet away from the stage right back corner. So this means that I mostly saw the musicians backs the whole time, but I had a great view of the drum set. I did not know that there was going to be an AMAZING drum/percussion solo. AAAAAAWESOOOOOME! But I’ve jumped ahead of myself. I must talk about “The Lot.” Skate and Siouxsie are huge Dead fans and are actually following the tour (and also The Allman Brothers) to a few cities in the next seven days. They’ve done lots of Dead concerts and Skate told me that they go several hours before the concert starts to “The Lot.” Ok, for you college football fans, this is like a giant tailgating party for hippies! There were tie-dyed shirts and dresses everywhere, and people of all ages (including the ones who were born after the Dead) walking up and down the parking lot aisles while more people were selling arts and crafts and tshirts, beer, and all kinds of contorted glass bongs. Woohoo, what an education for my naïve little self ;-) I wanted a beer so bad, but I stuck with my water. There were vendors offering tacos and other deliciously-smelling noshies, but I had my meal and protein shake before heading to the Forum so I resisted. I’m not too proud to admit that I don’t object to marijuana and there was plenty of that floating around, too, but I turned down any offers of that. I didn’t need to smoke it ‘cause there was enough in the air to inhale. Good thing Bill Clinton wasn’t there, eh? So, we headed into the arena and that’s when I learned how great my seat was. I was alone, of course, and thus didn’t know anyone around me. HOWEVER, the folks that sat next to me were very friendly and I had a great time with them. Such a good time, in fact, that I was invited to join them on Sunday night at the Hollywood Palladium to see Delta Spirit open for The Shins, two bands of which I’d never heard, but I figured it would be another good chance to get out around L.A. and have some fun seeing live music, which I love. Tom, one of my new friends, has a small ticketing business so he sees lots of shows and has a VIP table at the Palladium, so that sounded like my cup of tea (aaaaah, I remember the good ol’ eMoo days when Paul made sure I was treated like a VIP at Bermuda concerts of which eMoo was one of the sponsors – I miss that, and you, Paul!). The Dead were great. Even though Jerry Garcia has passed away, they still have the amazing sound and skill they’ve always had. They definitely looked OLDER! I love live music because I love seeing a packed audience get into the performances. From my seat I could see most of what the performers could see. As I’ve been onstage myself a few times, I can attest to the thrill of seeing a full house of people who are all loving and enjoying and generating the same supportive energy for the performers. The crowd was insane! I absolutely loved seeing thousands of hands and arms in the air pumping and dancing about. Every single person around me was just as animated. You just can’t help but get up and dance and sing along with everyone. What a great time. I took some photos with my Blackberry but the camera on it sucks, so unfortunately they’re not very good as you can see. The concert finally ended around 11:30pm after a couple of encores and Tom and his friends had offered to give me a lift home instead of waiting for a cab. I couldn’t reach Skate to let him know; turns out his phone had gone dead, and mine was near dead, but I knew they were going to be back in The Lot partying for awhile, so I didn’t worry and I accepted their generous offer. The ride home was a hoot because Tom’s friends John, Kristen, and Eddie had been drinking (Tom was the D.D.) and they were hungry and obviously still wired from the concert. If I had not had a workout scheduled for Sunday, I might have stayed out with them even longer (but without the alcohol and late-night munchies). Gosh, I hope my late-night partying days aren’t over yet!!!

On Sunday, I slept in a bit, then headed to the gym for the usual 2-hour 50-reps workout. For all of the exercises, wherever weights were involved, I increased my weights from the previous Sunday. I was so happy that I was not feeling any pain in my shoulder or arm from doing the weights. Now I just feel the pain afterwards, so I take that as a good sign. I was soooooo tired when I returned home. After lunch I decided to stretch, and at one point I stopped to rest on the living room carpet, and do you know I FELL ASLEEP right there on the floor between the coffee table and the tv?! I napped for about an hour and awoke shortly before Tom called to confirm if I was joining them for the Palladium concert. I was, so I rested a little bit longer then prepared for the evening. I decided to wear a skirt that used to be waaaaay too tight….it fits very nicely now! (I took a picture!). We arrived at the Palladium and headed upstairs to the VIP section. Nice! The general admission area has no seating whatsoever, so I was glad to have a place to sit without any obstructed views. OH, ALSO in the VIP area, there was a woman offering chair massages, so I indulged! Fifteen minutes of that was just right. I had never heard of either band performing, but I did take the time earlier on Sunday to check out The Shins on the internet. The description of their music led me to believe that I would enjoy this very much. I would say that I did enjoy the music of both bands, but I found that they didn’t play enough music that got the crowd up and dancing. It was absolutely packed as the photos below show, but nobody was really dancing…at least nothing like we saw the night before at The Dead concert. I like musicians on stage to give a little more than just music….I want to see them animated and looking like they’re really into it and giving it all to the audience. The audience was very appreciative with loud cheers and stomping for an encore at the end, so maybe just because I was so tired I wasn’t as into it as I normally would have been, and also perhaps because I wasn’t right up by the stage I didn’t feel the crowd’s nor the bands’ energy. There were songs that I did like. Funny…nowadays when I hear music, I think about on which iPod Nano playlist it might go…my walking/workout playlist or my relaxation playlist. From both bands I heard songs that I could put on either list. I just don’t know any of the titles ;-) We left before the final encore as it was past my bedtime…I try to be in bed by 11pm and it was already 11pm at that point.

On Monday, besides the usual cardio, spinning, and training sessions, we also have the Santa Monica Stairs. I did six ascents last Monday so going for at least seven. I hope today you’re reaching new heights or surpassing your set goals. Have a great week!