Singing Sensations dazzle crowd at El Torito, Sherman Oaks

The Night: Saturday June 23rd
The Place: El Torito Sherman Oaks
The Reason: To rock the Mic

The Story: (Names have been changed or made up because I don't really know them)

Saturday night I was out with a beautiful young woman for dinner. After dinner we kicked around ideas of things to do the rest of the night. Many ideas were given but after hearing Karaoke we were set on finding the best dive Karaoke place in town. What we found could go under the term "Karaoke Gold" at El Torito, Sherman Oaks. Once we arrived we were greeted by a security guard who looked at the ID's of the men and tried to guess the age of the women. To me that method sounds a little risky, but when you have the charm or lack of abilty to speak clear English it works. As we walked in the bar and took in our surrounding we realized that we had discovered a gem. The karaoke host was none other than the lovable old James wearing his trademark thick corduroy pants and a tucked in silk shirt. He was ecstatic to see two young good looking people ready to have a good time. Other patrons of the bar included a table of big boned single Russian women, 2 single women who clearly brought there own karaoke CD's and had crushes on the host, and DRE a 500+ lb gentleman with 17 chains hanging from his hip and a chicken wing dangling from his mouth. (chicken wing had no meat on it. just the bone.) We each sang 3 songs and the audience was shocked that 2 people with that much talent and performance value would honor El Torito with their presence. Singing classics from Billy Joel to Madonna to Grease, the crowd could not get enough. For the last song of our set Mo wowed the crowd with Bon Jovi, "Dead Or Alive." With a brilliant improv with the lyrics she, "saw a million faces at El Torito and she rocked them all" and that she did. Just before our exit Carlton, the shy quiet guy who had been watching and drinking water all night, poured his heart out to the Karaoke crowd by wowing us with his rendition of "Hot in Herre." Upon hearing the song selection the lovely Mo and myself mustered up the last bit of energy we had and lit up the dance floor. After the song it was time to make our exit. The crowd seemed sad to see us go, but was appreciative of the time we shared.

Thank you El Torito, Sherman Oaks.

The Weekend

Another beautiful day in LA. I am sitting in my office thinking about what the weekend has in store and for the first time in a long time I have no obligations. It actually feels great knowing that no one is counting on me for something. I know that Sunday I will do my usual Sunday routine, wake up around 8 and go to Santa Monica and run for a couple hours. I hope to run 15 miles this weekend and bike about 30 then go home and "relax". I use "relax" loosely because it probably means doing laundry, cleaning my apt., or going out with my friends. One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings is go grocery shopping and eat the free samples and drink the free coffee. It is a perfect example of portion control. It is great to leave Trader Joe's feeling not hungry, have a slight coffee buzz, and a basket full of groceries. To me, that is the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it"

Oprah Winfrey