SATURDAY NIGHT
My girlfriend got a couple of free tickets to see Natalie Merchant and Chris Issak last night. You couldn't call me a fan of either, but free is free, I haven't been to a concert in a while and it was in a nice amphitheater in the East Bay hills. It shouldn't have surprised me that the crowd was alarmingly white and thirtysomething - but it did. They sold carafes of red wine at concessions.

Give Natalie Merchant a fifth of Southern Comfort, and she's Janice Joplin - but alive. Natalie was barefoot and bouncy, neverminding that the crowd was clearly there to see the hometown boy Issacs. She's clearly taken some African dance classes in her recent downtime and she's got to be sore today.

I have a new found respect for Chris Issacs. A Stockton boy who mocked himself for wearing a bright pink suit so close to his farmbelt hometown. The crowd was behind him and he put on a great show. I couldn't help but wonder where in the crowd his Mom was? It must be something to see your kid in front of 9,000 fans.