Sing, Sing A Song

As a frequent user of Yelp.com, I was invited to become an elite member (annazzz.yelp.com), so I go on the site frequently to read a lot of what other people write about to get ideas on stuff to do and places to shop. I read a posting about a Sing-Along at The Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles of Beatles tunes, and I thought it would be fun way to wind down my work week.

I scoped out all the details and got there in time to wait in line for the coveted ticket. The event was free, but you had to obtain a first come, first served ticket in order to be seated in the W.M. Keck Amphitheatre with the band. So I got in line a little after 6:00PM after driving directly from work. It was a good thing, too, since the line was beginning to wrap it's way around the garden area by the time I got to the end. The tickets were handed out at 6:45PM, and then you had to wait again until 7:15PM to be seated.

The handed out lyric sheets on the way in and tore half of your ticket away to evidence your acceptance into the event. I sat in the first section in the middle about four rows up near some hand rails. I could see the band, not get blasted with the sound system and still be surrounded with singers. I ended up sitting between two families with children. One of the children I nicknamed the 'harbinger of rain' because she was wearing a long gray rain hoodie that didn't fit and looked more like a dress on her. The other child I nicknamed the 'harbinger of fall' because she played with a large yellow leaf she found in the courtyard all most all of the time we were singing until she discovered she could turn the hand rails into her personal jungle gym.

So, we sang our hearts our for a solid hour and a half and all the while the harbinger of rain got tired and laid down stretching out upon the laps of her parents. The dad was English and would be classified as what my son would call an 'aging hipster'. He wore a tie-died t-shirt, Birkenstock, cargo shorts and some sort of baseball hat to cover the fact that he gained a bald spot surrounded by his chin length wiry brownish blonde and graying hair. This, to me, wreaked of tourist, which very well might have been the case. The mom's clothing was unremarkable, but her German accent stood out. We chit chatted a bit before the event started. So as the harbinger of rain got comfortable trying to find the sweet spot and fall fast asleep, she kept kicking my purse and me. Nice. The mom did her best to stop it. I'm glad she paid attention to her child. All the while the harbinger of fall between all of the leaf play and the climbing and then taking down off of the hand rails, began to get fussy and start to cry. The mom hustled her out of the amphitheatre as all good mom's should. And the singing went on and we even got to sing an encore of "Twist and Shout" which ended up being a nice way to end the event. Everyone got up and danced as if it were the 7th inning stretch at a baseball game before leaving for the night.

My drive home was kind of strange. By the time I merged into the 5S, it was about 9:30PM and the freeway was dead stopped to watch the fireworks off in the distance. I figure they were either from Knotts or Disneyland.