Octopunk Goes Somewhere He's Only Ever Seen in Cartoons

For this weekend's adventure Julie and I went to the Hollywood Bowl to see Pink Martini, this century's lounge band extraordinaire. It was fan-freakin'-tastic. Sold out crowd, gorgeous night, the band was just amazing. I like them even more now after hearing about where they find the music they choose to play. One song was from an Egyptian musical and the band consulted Arabic professors to make sure they pronounced everything right. At the end the orchestra played Bolero and they set off fireworks and huge plumes of flame over the Bowl. Great stuff.

And Carol Channing was there! No kidding! At first I thought it strange to see her not talking to muppets, but from the moment she started talking she had all 17 thousand-plus people in that place wrapped around her little finger. It's like she breathes stage presence and she's 85 years old.

Disneyland!

Last weekend Jules and I went to Disneyland, where I hadn't been since 1993. We went with our friends Bruce and Tekla, and their daughter Geneva, who's four. Adding to the magical magic, we got in FREE thanks to Bruce, who's a CG animator for the Diz.

I didn't score too many good pictures, but we had great timing spotting this parade right after we saw It's a Small World. It was staffed by dozens of Disney dancers who never stopped smiling while prancing around in head-to-toe costumes made of fur. I would've been sweating buckets. I was sweating buckets, just standing there.

Look! It's those crazy flowers that get all bitchy on Alice in the movie.

It was actually an excellent day weatherwise and an even better day for short lines. However, the new Meet The Princesses attraction was still quite thronged with young princessy hopefuls. Pretty much as girly girl as it sounds, but I have to admit the decor of the place was really charming. I'm having my next birthday party there.


Here's me and 'Neva waiting in the only other long line, the new Nemo-themed submarine romp. We weren't surprised at the crowd, since there's billboards for this all over LA. Pretty cool, but I miss those old Nautili.

First stop was the Tiki Room, which I don't think I'd seen since I was a kid. Loved it!

Pretty much everything there was cool, including this nutty future car that pulled the tram from the parking lot. I'd so get myself one of those if I was rich. Unhook the tram and I'm gone, baby.