Friday/Saturday

I got there late so I missed "Pete and Irma" but everyone said they were hilarious as always. The back wall of the joint was decorated by a Russian mural of some lovely women bathing in a pushcart. No talk about wine or politics at all-- so maybe the fog has cleared or this was just a better crowd. After midnight, Pandit Bilwakesh "The Sinner" Singh did this weird version of "Annie Get Readsy" that had a brass section added to it. Los Hermanos Bernal (a Paulino and Eloy tribute) closed with a long version of "Hijo De Dios" featuring fully chromatic multi-part harmony.

Gail and her husband (who I don't know very well) stayed at my house. I watched "Elvis: That's The Way It Is" with them for a while when we got back. That version of "Patch it Up" is excellent. I like Elvis but I try not to bring him up a lot cuz you get a certain kind of camp attraction or downright messianic talk. Same for Peter Allen or John Coltrane. Gail's husband made me turn the channel because, he explained, once when he was in junior high, on a bet, he had flashed this girl who happened to be a huge Elvis fan (had several busts of Elvis, paintings, wrote songs about him &c.) I guess this girl was weird at that time, at that school, so he did this thing and won a bet. However, the memory was so painful to him that he couldn't bear to see or hear the king. Which I guess would qualify as justice.