I had a great time at the Van Morrison show at the Wiltern Saturday night. Indeed I am still recovering ;-) Some of you may know that Van has gone a "little bit country" and his latest album features Linda Gail Lewis, the extraordinarily talented sister of Jerry Lee. Some have balked at Van's foray into country but I gotta tell you he pulls it off fantastically like everything else he does. An old friend who is on the Van list takes me to the Van L.A. gigs each year and we met up pre-show with many of that group at the Atlas Bar & Grill next to the Wiltern. In the midst of ordering dinner we discovered Linda Gail a couple feet away at the next table. She was so naturally friendly and engaging - it was terrific. She went around and signed a few autographs and was sincerely interested in meeting certain regulars from the Van list. The show - Van has a new band and they were all decked out in what looked like crimson red sharkskin suits. They warmed up the audience and then Linda Gail came out to do some of her numbers before Van emerged. Van was the straightest ahead I have ever seen him. I'm not at all one of the "inner circle" of the Van list but all of them, who see have seem him live about 1,000 times more than I have, had the same reaction as me. It's like Van has been going to some health spa or something! He was very strong and just brilliant on his duets with Linda. Linda is better than Jerry, hands down, and she even played the piano with both hands and one black leather boot toe simultaneously. Van was almost tooo straight! (I kind of like it when he is his usual eccentric self). He played songs from all over the map - "Days Like This," "Moondance," "Dominoe" and did two memorable encores of "Roll Over Beethoven," "Shake Rattle & Roll" and "Georgia." He did a little impromptu segue during "Georgia" where he sang "tell your Mama, tell your Pa, we're sending Willie back to Arkansas" - heehee. The aftermath - we tried to re-group at the Atlas but they wanted $20 cover to see another group. While waiting in line there, I swear it was Robert Downey, Jr. standing right in front of us with a date. Even they got fed up with the line and all and I think I heard them say they were going off to the Denny's on the corner. So there was the group of Van listers, many from out of state, with no where to go. So one of them suggested my place (how do they sense these things? ;-) so I wrote out directions and they all converged on me and we broke out the leftover New Year's Eve champagne and had a splendid old time. A couple were big Joni fans so I burned them some rarities and told them to check us out over here. The party ended around 4 a.m. Van is heading to Chicago and beyond this week but some of you can check him out tonight on Leno. Kakki
