I heaved myself down to Los Angeles again the night after the UkuParty because I seem to feel the need to shorten my life, what with the stress juice being squirted into my system every 2 minutes when I’m down there.

I always, always defended LA when I lived in San Francisco. But since I’ve lived in Southern California, and have the need to encounter LA more often, I CAN’T STAND IT. Sorry. I know there’s charming neighborhoods and a lot to do and good food and blah blah, but (cover your ears) F**K THOSE F**KNG FREEWAYS.

Okay. Sorry. Let’s move on, shall we? So, what could possibly have made our heroine brave those effing freeways once again? Oh, it was a really good reason. My bestie Alison and her musical cohorts (all from SF) performed at the famous McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. Not only that, but my friend Christian came with me — he’s newly transplanted to LA from SF. So, it took Northern California to make me take on the worst of Southern California again!

But what I really wanted to talk about was the show. Oh, gracious, the show. The sound in McCabe’s is surreally beautiful. I’m not an uber audiophile and don’t normally notice these kinds of things, but there was a melting, or maybe a velvety, quality  to the way the music sounded. It didn’t hurt that these were world-class musicians up there (McCabe and Mrs. Miller is no relation to McCabe’s.). It’s a very intimate venue and it’s nice and dark in there, and the audience was small and respectful and the songs just soared. Perfection. Alison has never sounded better. I got choked up a couple times — not only of the gorgeous aural things going on, but about how lucky I was to be sitting there in the love. Old friends. So lovely.

I’m in need of a comb here but who cares because that is Roky, the cutest dog in the world. This picture is funny because Alison is tiny yet I’m shorter than her here; Christian is actually pretty diminutive himself but looks like a giant! McCabe’s is like a Mystery Spot!