Saturday Recap Pt. 1: John Vanderslice, Bleu Boheme

Saturday I opted to not head with my parents to PB for a day with Johanna because there was no telling how long we'd be there and I didn't really wanna sit at my sister's watching baseball all day. Or fighting over who gets to hold the baby. Instead, I chilled around the house and went to John Vanderslice's in-store performance at m-Theory. I find the weekend in-stores to be 2-3 times more crowded than weeknights, and since this was his only performance in SD (though he'll be at the Casbah in September), there were a lot of people there. I wasn't even sure if I was a fan, but after reading Northwest Blog I am glad I went. He is not only a great vocalist, kinda reminding me of the Decemberists, but he was funny and cordial throughout the set. He saw how packed the place was and kept inviting people forward, asking that people come sit up front and whatnot. In between songs, he had some DVDs that Erik had given him to give away to the crowd. It was funny hearing him sell "Border Cop", starring Telly Savalas, all the while reading the copy on the back of the DVD with false enthusiasm that had the room cracking up.





He played a full set. He forgot the words of a song and at one point asked for a teleprompter. "No really, can someone head to Best Buy and get me one? I don't know how many YouTube videos are out there of me forgetting my own lyrics, but I know its...a lot" Nobody in the crowd seemed to mind.





After the show he invited people to come talk to him and to have him sign stuff. I was outside hanging with Daye and Larry then decided I would find whoever got the setlist and see if I could take a picture, and surprisingly, it was still sitting there on the floor, and he was happy to sign it for me.


John Vanderslice Setlist, M-Theory, 8/4/07

After, I was gonna head home, but was waiting for Scott and Sophie to get out of their movie, so instead I hung out with Larry and Daye for a beer and some chips and salsa at Jimmy Carter's. Their salsa is excellent, if you haven't been, I highly recommend it. They finally called, so I headed back to Kensington. They had stalled at a bookstore and bought a lot of used books so they got to my house through the front gate at the same time I got there through the back.

They wanted to treat me to a celebratory unemployment dinner and since Sophie is French and spent many summers there growing up, and since we're always down to try new restaurants, it worked out well.

We got there at 4:45 and were told the restaurant opens at 5, so we sat at a table on the patio until it hit 5 and finally they came and offered us beverages. It was a little weird to me...yeah, they had to get stuff ready, but seems like 15 minutes wouldn't have killed them to get us drinks. Oh well. It was nice to sit on the patio for dinner, as Sophie mentioned, it seems San Diego should have a lot more patio seating than we do. Plus, it faces east, so there was no harsh light from the sun setting in the west.

When we did get to ordering, I was more than happy with all courses of my food. We had a charcouterie plate with some prociutto, pate, salami, etc., they both had salads while I opted for the french onion soup (so good!), and I took some dinner pictures...


Sophie had chicken roasted in a clay bowl, Scott had the Salmon over potatoes and ratatouille cooked in parchment, and I had the black mussels in a saffron broth. My mussels were delicious and they gave me so many of them. Yum. For dessert, Scott and I each ordered the Mousse au chocolat (which was simultaneously light and rich) and Sophie had the apple tart with creme fraiche. All in all, I would recommend Bleu Boheme as any kinks in service
will likely be worked out in time.

I'm more of a late night dinner person, but it was nice to have it all early and still have time to pre-nap before going out on Saturday night. Big thanks again to Scott and Sophie for the great dinner. It had been too long since we'd hung out outside of a bar.