Last Friday night, we saw a taping of “A Prairie Home Companion” at the Greek, which was my fourth PHC show, I think, dating back more than 20 years now. It was odd that it wasn’t on a Saturday night (or afternoon) for live broadcast, but Keillor explained that they no longer asked LA audiences to bake in the sun on a Saturday afternoon just to do it live for the rest of the country, so they taped it that night and rebroadcast it the next day. That meant we got a nice, long show, free of any live radio constraints, so Randy Newman got to do six songs, which was a real treat, but it also meant some of the sketches went on forever, which was a little less of a treat. Anyway, it was a fun evening. (Keillor’s thoughts on Los Angeles here).



What a view!

Two nights earlier, we took in our first ever “Last Remaining Seats” screening at the Orpheum, which was a lot of fun. Flesh and the Devil was very enjoyable, thanks in part to the live accompaniment by Robert Israel and his orchestra, and the Orpheum was a lot of fun to wander around in. Hugh Hefner was of course there, with his entourage, and this time, with cameras rolling for his TV show. Don’t they have to get signed waivers from everyone, or will they be blurring out the faces of all of the other moviegoers?



We had a busy Saturday with a run in the morning, a screening of Paris je t’aime at the new Landmark cinema, and a trip to the Craft and Folk Art Museum to catch the end of the Ramona Otto show, which was very cool. Lots of great uses of old coffee tins, license plates, fruit stickers, Scrabble pieces, and the like.



Sunday was just as busy, I guess, beginning with a longer run, 18 miles, in the morning, which went ok, a lot better than the 17 mile run in Central Park the week before. We had lunch at home and then headed out for a double feature at the Grove to celebrate Aimee’s summer vacation; we saw Knocked Up and Ocean’s 13, with time for dinner at the Farmer’s Market in between. We enjoyed both movies, and Aimee’s ready to dig into her summer vacation now. Tonight we had a strong round of trivia, after a healthy return last week – second place, after two weeks off – and won it pretty handily. Tomorrow, we’ve got another Last Remaining Seats screening, this time at the Los Angeles Theater, and then we’re off to Charlottesville to see our new niece. Busy busy.