August 21, 2006

• Count Blackula

  Last night, DP and I joined one of my coworkers and some friends of hers to go see comedian Lewis Black perform outdoors at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA. We drove all the way out there and up the very steep and windy road, had dinner at their little bar and grill, made our way to our seats, and watched the opener. Then, shortly after he left the stage, the power went out. It wasn't completely dark out, yet, so it wasn't obvious that the power was out until one of the staff people came out on stage with a megaphone to tell the audience that the power was out and that they were in the process of finding out how long the outage was expected to last and exploring their options.

  We waited about 30 minutes while they explored their options, during which time the sun disappeared and the stars came out. Apparently, their options included a generator, which powered a microphone and (very weakly) a spot light, and six very large candelabras, which they arranged in a half circle around the mic. Now, just so you get the full picture, here, the back of the stage is a large, old-looking stone building with large wooden doors and vines growing up it. I fully expected them to roll out a large black coffin from which Lewis Black would emerge in a tux and red satin lined cape to perform his act... or to suck our blood, whichever struck his fancy.

  As it was, Lewis was quite a trooper and came out to raucous applause. At one point, when we lost the spot light altogether, he quipped "Great, now I'm reduced to telling ghost stories." Then he went on to make one up. As his show progressed, the candles slowly burned down and just when I thought he was either going to have to pause and let the staff replace the candles or just perform in the dark, the power came back on.

  Good times, ladies and gentlemen, good times.

  • 4:46 am
  • 3 Comments