What are YOU doing New Year’s Eve? For once, we didn’t procrastinate!

Would you like to hear about our plans for New Years Eve? I’ll be glad to share, but let me take you on the long journey to that conclusion.

I subscribe to dozens and maybe more LISTSERVs for theater and music venues, daily announcing fabulous opportunities all over Los Angeles and  vicinity. By paying close attention to last-minute specials I uncover exciting things to do and entertainment packages I might enjoy, often at a fraction of the original ticket cost.

Such was my experience today.

This morning’s email tempted me to spend the evening with Lee Ritenour and Mike Stern.

The Catalina Bar & Grill, a supper club dedicated to Nothing But the Best in Jazz, is well-known for its fabulous mid-week offerings. It’s here you might have a casual and intimate evening with jazz greats like Wynton Marsalis or Diana Krall.  This is a smaller venue, which is wonderful, but it’s not exactly in my back pocket during a busy work week. A venture into the heart of Hollywood on a weeknight (Sunset Blvd.) requires planning and enough time for the commute. But for the right conversion of artist and open calendar  I would make the effort.

Lee Ritenour is a talented award-winning guitarist I have enjoyed for decades. At a mere 16 he held a session with the Mamas and Papas and at 18 accompanied Lena Horne and Tony Bennett. Not too shabby! His versatility appeals to my eclectic musical interests. He performs with a broad cross-section of jazz, rock and Brazilian music, and when it comes to music, “Don’t fence me in.”

So I was pretty jazzed  when I heard he was here for a few nights  and thought I’d check into tickets.

Here’s the U-Turn.

It’s rare I really lament the aging process. I am deliberate in my proactive stance and I take good care of myself. I’ve been fortunate to have overall good health.

But there are realities I can’t avoid. I want so badly to turn the clock back to when it wasn’t so hard to stay up late–in this desire I’m still a little kid not wanting to go to bed! But unfortunately  my eyes do not respond to mind-over-matter and at a certain fatigue point they simply perform an involuntary shutdown. Nuts!

The Ritenour tickets are sold out EXCEPT for one timeframe. The 10:30 pm sets are available–Thursday and Friday. If it were Saturday, maybe I could take a nap first! So, with disappointment, I am going to pass on the opportunity this time. If there is a NEXT time I need to be much quicker on the draw–other people grabbed the better earlier sets.

And that brings me to our New Year’s Eve plans.

For this occasion planning ahead paid off! We are spending New Year’s Eve with Idina Menzel (Broadway’s Wicked and the original stage production of Rent), and the good news is that we grabbed the first show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Somehow on New Year’s Eve we didn’t have the same problem finding EARLY tickets. Perhaps other more resilient people thought  7:00 pm was too early for a New Year’s Eve. It does make dinner a little off-kilter. Well, perhaps we can still find a place to grab a small plate and a glass of champagne after our show.

And when did I purchase these tickets? I was smart! I got the early-bird special! I purchased them in August at a significant savings per ticket, and also chose to avoid the 10:00 performance.

Oh dear! I really do sound like a senior citizen don’t I? Well, some things seem to be unavoidable–acceptance!

More photos of the magnificent Walt Disney Concert Hall–you love it or you hate it–in my next post. I love it…so there are photos I am compelled to share.

And what are you doing New Year’s Eve? Hope you have some plans. I’m thinking many of you can probably stay awake to ring in the new year!

I will, too, I just might be in my jammies by then.

Here’s a very short clip featuring one rather lovely aspect of the Concert Hall. If you love classical  music, this is a delight.