the cat club

so today . . . i had an adventure. i went to hollywood. after dark. to a club on sunset blvd. did i mention it was dark?

i have a friend who sings. her dream is to be a rock star, but as time passes, her dream seems to get further and further away. until today. today, she got to sing in a club in front of people who had paid to get in. it was kind of cool.

this was clearly not going to be rollie's thing. i did not even ask him if he wanted to go, because i knew this would be one step outside of hell for him. so my friend wanda went with me. we met at my house at about 7:30. we didn't need to be at the club until 8:45, so i thought we had plenty of time. i grabbed my gps and we headed down the road.

well, actually before we headed down the road, we got in my car and sat there while i attempted to enter the address of the club into my gps. i don't use my gps too often, because i usually know where i am going. so, of course, the battery was dead. no problem--i have a car charger! i thought i would just plug it in, power it up, and we would be off. so i plugged it in, but it wouldn't power up. hmmmm. ok, it must be SO dead that it is going to take a little while to charge up enough to turn on. i said to wanda, "don't worry. we will stop and get gas, and by then it should be charged up enough." but after filling the gas tank, it still wouldn't come on. so i said to wanda, "don't worry. if it won't come on, we will just head north on the 5 (freeway) and follow the signs to hollywood. then we will just cruise sunset blvd until we find the club." can you say naive?

i could not figure out why the stupid piece of black plastic junk would not turn on! and i was starting to get a bit annoyed by it. then i realized what the problem was. it also has an fm transmitter for traffic reports, and instead of the power plug, i had connected the fm transmitter. oops. when i connected the power cord, it started right up. so we entered the address of the club and headed down the road.

it's a good thing we got the gps working, because as it turns out, you don't get to hollywood from the 5 freeway--you have to go on the 5 and then onto the 101. i missed that, and probably would have ended up in sacramento, except i heard the gps fainly saying "recalculating route." recalculating route? why was she recalculating our route? and then i realized that i had been so busy talking. i had missed the turn. thank goodness that thing knows where i am and how to get me to where i want to be! the gps did not take me the way i thought we should go, but one thing i have learned is that you need to trust it. other wise it takes a long time to get where you where you are going. you will eventually get there, (if you don't smash the gps because it won't stop saying, "recalculating route,") but it will take much longer than if you just go where it tells you to.

half an hour later, we made it to the club. well, actually we made it to where the gps said the club should be, but we couldn't find it. we drove up the street. we turned around and drove back. we turned around again and drove by a third time. finally we stopped, rolled down the window, and asked someone if they knew where the club was. this was all wanda's idea. my idea was to leave her in the car and go to the subway sandwich shop and ask if they knew where it was. but wanda thought asking some stranger on the sidewalk was a better idea. maybe she just didn't want to be left in the car . . . alone . . . on sunset blvd . . . after dark . . .

it turned out to be our lucky day, because the guy she asked knew right where it was, and we were almost there. so we drove up, GOT A PARKING PLACE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DOOR, and didn't even have to put coins in the parking meter because it was sunday. i should mention here that my only hesitation in driving was knowing that at some point i was going to have to parallel park. i flunked my first driver's test during the parallel parking portion (please! who really needs to be able to back along a curb for 30 yards anyway!) so when we got close, i just prayed for a parking place that i could drive straight into--requiring no backing up along a curb! and as wanda sighted the club (her job) i spied a parking place (my job.) not only was in right in front of the door, but it was on the end, so i could just pull right in. my guardian angels rock!

now, this club was small. it was probably only about 25 feet across, but it was deep. and dark. it was not easy to find, except of course that we were parked right in front of it. we got out and headed for the door, where we stopped to pay a cover charge--another new experience for me. it cost $10 just to walk through the door! the guys ahead of us had their driver's licenses out, and i thought, "oh, he will need to see my driver's license." talk about positive thinking! of course he didn't card us! i mean, i am old enough that it is obvious i won't be breaking any laws by going in. still, it would have been nice to be asked . . .

inside, the door was right next to the stage. that meant when we walked in, everyone there was looking at us. it felt a bit awkward, but we went on in and found a place to sit. it wasn't m'chel's turn to perform yet, so we listened to another woman sing for a few minutes. almost all of the crowd was there to see m'chel and danny, but the singer seemed to be enjoying having an audience and was not anxious to relinquish the stage.

while we waited, i decided we should have something to drink. now i have never been in a club before, so i wasn't sure what to expect. i walked toward the bar and began to wonder if they served anything you didn't have to be 21 to drink. i was thinking along the lines of a diet soda, but thought i might have to settle for a glass of ice and then just wait for it to melt. there were lots of choices, but i didn't see any diet coke cans. so i asked, and the bartender didn't look at me like i was totally out of my element (which i was.) he just filled two glasses with ice and sprayed diet coke in--from a fountain hose. he even added a lemon and a lime!

finally it was m'chel's turn to take the stage. i am fortunate enough to get to sing with m'chel every week when we lead worship. she has a beautiful velvety, rich voice! her guitar player, danny, also played with our band for about 5 years, and it has been so much fun to watch him become an amazing musician. i didn't know any of the songs that they performed, but they sounded great, and i was so proud to be there for their debut.m'chel wants to tell the people who haunt the clubs on the strip about Jesus. she doesn't sing worship songs--she sings songs that the people in those clubs will relate to. she hopes that will give her an opening to talk to them and listen to them, and move them a bit closer to God. and if anyone can do it, i think m'chel and danny can.

we left shortly after they were done. there were other acts to come, but tonight we were there for m'chel and danny. our sodas were gone, the weekend was over, and it was time to go home . . .

i don't hang out in clubs--it just isn't who i am. but tonight i did. and i will probably go back to see them again. it was a little awkward at times, it was definitely outside my usual realm of existence, but it was also fun! i guess that is kind of the way it is when you have an adventure!