It’s official, this time: we went to the Los Angeles County Fair yesterday, the last of the fairs in the area this summer, and enjoyed a long day of deep fried Oreos – one was one too many – fish tacos, beer samplers, and photobooths. Lots of pigs, goats, sheep, and breakdancers on roller skates, as well.

We followed that up with our last Hollywood Bowl show of what has been a great summer of concerts, with Rufus Wainwright and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra replicating the 1961 Judy Garland Carnegie Hall show (or was it her Hollywood Bowl show? I guess not, since she didn’t release a record of that concert). Anyway, whatever it was, it was a terrific show; I’m not much of a Judy Garland fan, but the songs were great, lots of standards with full orchestra and jazz combo – with the legendary Bucky Pizzarelli, at 81, on guitar – and the amazing instrument that is Rufus Wainwright’s voice. He brought his very talented family with him on stage for a few numbers – his sister Martha singing “Stormy Weather” was a highlight – and the show was a really great experience. We had out best Bowl seats yet, actual seats, with an actual view of a tiny corner of the Hollywood sign through the hills. We brought out the duvet, and I’m off to Rochester for AMIA tomorrow, so it must be fall.