It was a beautiful night for a concert last night at the Hollywood Bowl, and R.E.M. put on a terrific show, pulling out some obscurities and letting loose with the songs from the new album that sounded as good as I had hoped. We had some great (fan-club) seats, undoubtedly the best seats we’ll ever have at the bowl, in the second row of garden boxes, on the Mike side of the stage, as I always seem to be. It was a real joy to hear “Pretty Persuasion,” “Sitting Still,” and “Fall on Me,” plus the nice rendition of “Let Me In” with three acoustic guitars and Peter on keyboard. The highlight might have been “I’ve Been High,” which Michael said was “today’s version,” as they were still working out how to play it live. It was stunning, and reminded me of what a great song that is. Today’s version sounded just fine to us.



It’s been a busy week here so far, with a nice visit on Tuesday and Wednesday from Lauren and BK, at the halfway point in their cross-country-and-back road trip. We barbecued, showed them around Hollywood, went out for dinner in Larchmont (they were looking for a celebrity sighting – does Horatio Sanz count, especially if I’m the only one who saw him?), and caught up on what exactly a neurosurgeon does.

No trivia this week; we bombed out last week and came in second by a mere point the week before, so I’ll be looking forward to getting back to it next week. It’s going to be a busy weekend at home as Aimee preps for her last week of school, and we’ve only got two weeks left before we’re off to Italy. Looks like summer is about to begin.