I’m behind this week on keeping up 
but its summer time and the good times are rolling in. You know I love ya but chasin the good stuff is what I feel certain I was born to do! And last night the good times translated to a great time provided to mom and me from my sister Lora for our birthdays. We headed to the Paramount in Seattle for an Il Divo concert! Lor even had a very nice surprise bonus for us bringing along one of our good family friends, Dale, from over in their Lake Roosevelt neighborhood on the other side of the state. So, it was mom, Dale, Lor and your’s very truly who headed out for a night of dining and entertaining.
Alright, first I’ll just get the confession out of the way and say right up front that up until Lor gifted us with this concert I had never heard of Il Divo. If you went by the PACKED house at the Paramount last night it would seem I’m the only one however! They have a HUGE following of men and women (heavy on the women side! Complete with some throwing bras on stage! OMG) They’re a hard group to describe. I think they call themselves “pop operatic” or something like that. They’re a lot like the Three Tenors. Originally put together by Simon Cowell of American Idol fame they are from four countries and mostly sing a lot of their songs in Spanish. Oh, and they are all quite good looking and know it.
Lor scored us great seats and some of the songs they sang were really wonderful. I am mad for many of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s songs. They did “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” and it brought the crowd to their feet. But I also love Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and they did that justice as well. Even another one of my very favorites made it into their unexpected line-up of songs. I love Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Games” and still love it now that it has been done in Spanish with huge flames flashing behind the four strapping singers. Ah yes. My life is so dang good at those moments!
Just getting to the show last night though was pure theater itself. Lori not only bought our tickets she also chauffeured – much to her very quick regret! Of all the nights to need to go into Seattle. The Mariners were playing at 7 which always packs the roads and worst of all, President Obama was in town and arrived at 6! The roads were HORRENDOUS. A complete parking lot. When we finally turned off our exit was blocked by a tow truck getting a car out of the road. Later we ran into one of the local bridges being up for a ship going through adding to the chaos.
We had a welcome respite from the traffic at the dinner place Lor had selected – Ivar’s Salmon House on Lake Union. It’s been there for many years but I’d never been before. It’s in a really lovely location and despite it being a Tuesday night, it was packed! When we got to our nice table by the window however a man was lying on the floor next to it. Oboy. After awhile an aid car came and took him away but, yes, we asked for a different table. A little too much drama going on there for a relaxing dinner. Which by the way, Dale generously treated all of us to! So nice! I had killer oysters. Yum-o.
All in all, despite the HORRENDOUS traffic which made just getting to the concert a real adventure, it was totally worth it. I loved watching all the people. I loved spending time with my sis, and mom and Dale. I loved being out on a summer work night that would have been completely unspectacular if I had just been home. I loved getting to know a new group for great music.
The Il Divo boys all encouraged me to sing loud today – much to the complete annoyance of my poor work group I’m sure! Come on, belt one out with me . . . “there’s a place for us . . . a time and place for us . . .”
