We found a primo parking spot on the first deck of the parking garage at Mondavi Center last night. Glanced at my watch and told my husband, "Hey, we have a good 8 minutes to make it to our seats," meaning no sprinting down the sidewalk was required to arrive before the show starts -- which is our usual M-O. As we neared the intersection at Mark Hall, people were spilling out of Mondavi to a grassy area across the street. Fire trucks and police cars appeared.
Turned out there was a small electrical fire on the south side Mondavi and the fire alarm had been pulled, right before Ravi Shankar was due to perform. During speculation among the bystanders -- and you know how crowds can be -- my husband went over to talk to the police officer. He said it's standard procedure to call the Davis Fire Department to check out the entire building in situations like this and expected the wait to be minimal. The Davis Fire Department gave us a clearing within an hour, and we were allowed inside.
This unfortunate incident meant that Anoushka Shankar, Ravi Shankar's daughter -- and half sister to Norah Jones -- had to shorten her opening set to stay on schedule. Anoushka's fingers flew across the neck of the sitar. She wore a red garment with gold threads and sat on a raised platform on the stage. She played 2 compositions.
You know why they call it a sitar, don't you? Because you sit on the floor when playing it. No, that's not true; I just made that up.
During the opening act, I decided to try to shoot a photo from my Row N seat. My husband suggested I wait until everybody in Anoushka's group began playing louder, especially the tabla (drum) guy, because even though I wasn't using flash, the sound of a camera clicking can be distracting. I raised my camera, set the manual focus and, at an appropriate spot in the performance, shot a couple pictures.
Suddenly, I heard a hissing sound behind me. Like a snake or something. Then a hand tapped my shoulder, sort of like what my cats do in that "pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon" fashion when they want my attention. I turned my head. A woman with tight lips and a pinched face hissed, "Stop that, or I am going to report you!"
Excuse me? Whatever happened to common courtesy? A proper way to voice an objection would have been, "Excuse me, but photos are not allowed at Mondavi." I glared at this woman and mouthed, "Yes, OK, yeah, yeah," while thinking she reminded me of an old crony school principal, waving a finger in my face: "Young lady, this is going to go down in your permanent record."
I mean, she probably didn't even know who Ravi Shankar was. Lot of Mondavi patrons buy season's tickets without any idea who some of the performers are. I envisioned her looking at the evening's program and asking: "Didn't this guy used to be one of The Beatles?"
When Anoushka finished her set, it was intermission. The lights came on and Old Crony from Row M grabbed her partner, Wilbur, and stormed up the aisle. Trouble was a-brewing. I could feel it. If she had been polite, I would have profusely apologized to her. I am NOT a jerk. But lady, you ARE a jerk. I hoped she would trip up the aisle and drop her purse, causing contents to scatter everywhere, and maybe her pepper spray would roll under somebody's seat.
An usher appeared shortly thereafter, and my husband calmly explained that we had put away our camera. Old Crony and Wilbur returned to their seats with a self-satisfied look on their face. I thought about turning around and taking a picture of her to post here. But I didn't want to get smacked in the head with her handbag.
The lights dimmed and Ravi Shankar appeared. He has white hair now and wore a traditional Indian garb consisting of a tunic that fell to his knees, a scarf over his shoulder and straight leggings over his extremely thin legs. He sat on the edge of the raised platform, picked up his sitar, and magic filled the air. He's about 89 now. Ravi Shankar was once nominated for both an Academy Award and a Grammy. He has 12 honorary doctorates, has been awarded the highest civilian award from France and India, and has released more than 60 albums during his career thus far.
George Harrison once called him the "Godfather of World Music." Ravi is a remarkable musician, and it was almost a mystical experience listening to him play. During the finale, he paused to allow the audience to clap for his tabla player. To the left is a photo of the tabla player, Tanmoy Bose, before the Old Crony put a stop to such nonsense.
Ravi played 3 compositions during his one-hour performance. His daughter, Anoushka, accompanied him on a separate raised platform next to him. There were 2 other performers with musical instruments behind each of them, and Ravichandra Kulur played flute.
The show didn't end until 11 PM. But nobody fell asleep. Well, except maybe for Old Crony. Hard to say, I wasn't looking at her anymore.
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, columnist for The New York Times'-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.
The Short Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com
Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub
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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
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Darn. I wanted to see a pic of the old croony with the camera lens stuck in a certain place and her eyes bugging out...
LJ
Elizabeth
That would be a great show; I remember when he was always hanging out with George Harrison.
Wish I had been there, used to enjoy a little Ravi once in awhile but watching you and your Old Crony would have been a riot! Thanks for fun reading.
I actually had no idea I was not allowed to take photos. I thought I wasn't supposed to use a flash. As people know who read my goofy little concert reviews, I always try to take pictures. The only reason I never shot photos before at Mondavi was because our previous seats were in Row U. I hate Row U. Spittooey on Row U. Maybe Old Crony didn't like the fact that she was in Row M, and there I was, in front of her. LOL.
Elizabeth - You are definitely enjoying the good life. . .Fine dining, great gigs, and just a heck of a good time:-)
I would have loved to have seen it. All of it. Ravi. And the look that I know you gave the crony as you mentally tried to will her to trip and spill her purse. I got a perfect mental picture of the contents of her purse loudly tumbling down the steps and some heavy shoe swishing her favorite red lipstick.
You crack me up - I have been there. One time at Blossom a couple used my family to force the venue to give them better seats because I had brought children. This couple tried to get us removed from the pavilion, saying my children were disturbing them and making the usher check if I was sneaking under the pavilion, as opposed to lawn seating (there was a thunderstorm going on). Fact is, the couple was making more noise than my kids!!
They were being so good, listening to the orchestra play and watching the lightning crash, it really was an amazing performance by man and nature! After the rude couple left, the people all around me said sweet things about my kids, told me the couple seemed like idiots and loaned us their binoculars.
Good for you showing restraint and not getting pounded!
You're out again. The last concert I went to I sat on about the third row. Everyone was standing in front of me. I couldn't see a thing without standing up and I don't like standing up. I wish someone would give the standers a good finger pointing. Since then, I've declined going.
haha.. this is going on your permanent record... boy, what a story that record could tell, huh? :)