Ode to Judy

Last night Bruce and I went to the Judy Garland/Utah Symphony Concert at Abravanel Hall. My mom invited the girls for a sleepover, which we so appreciated. We went to dinner at the Market Street Grill, and then we decided that we would just walk down to the concert. The picture above is from inside the hall looking across to temple square.

When we started walking, Bruce said, "Are you sure we are going the right direction?" But we followed our noses and sniffed out a trail of Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds, clean Depends, and brow wax and made it there. (Are olfactory jokes not your style? Here's another...) We followed a line of St John pantsuits, SAS shoes, and mandarin collars and made it there. (Still too obscure?) We followed about a million old ladies and gay guys- it was a parade right to the concert doors. Bruce and I did feel a little outnumbered by the senior citizens and gays. (Nothing against you, gay guys...it's hard to follow the plan when you've had a crush on Scott Baio since the fourth grade, and nothing against old ladies either, in fact I hope to be one someday.) The theme was continued inside the building with the obvious presence of two EMT's. Guess you never know when some octagenarian is going to get blissed out on Judy and go towards the light.

The concert was incredible. Old concert footage was used of Judy Garland, and the symphony accompanied her. It seems a little gimmicky, but it was really cool. Judy was an entertainer in every sense of the word.

It seems like anyone can be famous these days, including stupid, stupid people like Paris Hilton, who have no obvious redeeming qualities other than their trust funds and designer outfits. That Judy was pure charisma. When she sang, she didn't need vocal histrionics on every note, or for the second to last note of every song to be one that even dogs couldn't hear (take note, Mariah Carey and Jessica Simpson...). She was so entertaining just plain singing- no studio remixes, no back-up dancers, no cleavage. Judy was the real deal. What a fun night! (Thanks again, Mom, for the babysitting!)