Weekend with Phyllis

A very dear friend of E’s came out from Washington DC to visit us this last weekend. Usually she is seen in the company of “A-list” politicians and celebrities, but this weekend she had a grand time with the GuyDads.

Friday night we took Phyllis and E’s oldest son to North Beach Restaurant for a terrific old style Italian meal. Then it was a short walk across the street to Beach Blanket Babylon. The show as usual was hysterical. The best number was the “Leader of the Pack/Dreamgirls” sequence. Nancy Pelosi dressed in leather and on a motorcycle roars onto stage with her “pack”, Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Diane Feinstein dressed in Poodle Skirts.
They are stopped by Condoleezza Rice and her boys, George and Dick. A show stopping sing-off happens between Condi and Nancy as they belt out "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls. Condi stops the show with:

"And I am telling you, He’s not going,
He's the best man you'll ever know,
And no way, I'll let him go.
No, no, no, no way....I''m livin' without him
Not one minute without him, I don't wanna be free
We're stayin', and you, and you, and you, you really bug me."

Saturday afternoon was a visit to Filoli Center, a turn of the century mansion estate that is now run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In the thirty years it has been open neither one of us has ever been there before. Even though there was not much in bloom on 16 acres of formal gardens, it was still beautiful. The house and gardens have been used a lot by Hollywood. About two dozen films and TV shows have been filmed there including, "Heaven Can Wait", "Dying Young", "The Wedding Planner", "George of the Jungle", "Rent" and the TV show "Dynasty".


Saturday night we brought my parents along with Phyllis to see Theatro ZinZanni located at Pier 29 on The Embarcadero in San Francisco. This 3-hour performance is like a combination of Cirque de Soleil and old European cabaret. You also get a five course gourmet meal too. It is kind of pricey but you get great a dinner, an amazing and unbelievable entertainment in a setting where the service is classy. It is something to be experienced!


Sunday afternoon found us back in San Francisco yet again. We were there to see a compelling performance of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” by August Wilson at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. That evening we went to the Empire Plush Room in the York Hotel to see jazz vocalist Paula West. She is known for her eclectic taste in music selection. The jazzy cabaret arrangements of Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”, Hank Williams’s “Honky Tonkin”, the traditional Celtic tune, “Loch Lomond” were outstanding. Her set also includes many standards from the Great American Songbook as well. Most of the amazing arrangements were by her piano accompanist George Mesterhazy.


Monday was a road trip to Santa Cruz. We visited E’s middle son. He is a student at UC Santa Cruz. We finally saw the house he is living at this academic year and took him out for lunch. After dropping him back at his place, we did a leisurely drive around the campus and then up the coast to Half Moon Bay. Our final dinner with Phyllis was at Lavanda in Palo Alto.

Tickets for Beach Blanket Babylon, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and Empire Plush Room are often available on Goldstar Events for half price.