Hello Sasha Dobson

Topping up the mad week known as The Week When The Shakinator Came to New York, I had one of my few (perhaps only?) New York moments. The Shakster, the Poopster and I went to The Living Room to listen to some bluegrass music. We really liked only one song, "The Lonesome Road," but between the live music feeling, the drunk couple next to us groping each other,* providing endless entertainment, and several glasses of whiskey, things were feeling pretty nice. A good night out.

We were going to call it a night at 1130pm after the band ("The Five Deadly Venoms" - they were not deadly. They should see Kill Bill 1 and 2 and then they would know the meaning of the words "deadly" and "venom.") Anyway, there we were about to get up when suddenly we noticed the crew assembling the stage, tuning the piano, dragging amplifiers on to the stage, and basically making quite the formal ruckus. Then we heard the words, "Norah Jones is going to perform, it's going to be an impromptu performance," and we thought Holy Whatever it is that Robin says to Batman, we should stay and watch this.

Lo and behold: a few minutes later, Norah Jones sauntered on the stage, and performed new songs not yet released. She performed for like an hour! And we had front and center seats just because we were among the three winners who showed up for the bluegrass set before.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the title -- she's Norah's back up singer/ guitar player, and she's got far more soul.

Oh, and the reason I liked the groping couple was that they were kind of elderly but completely in love with each other, making out and stuff, and for some reason I found it touching that people whose bodies have fallen apart by the wayside can still love each other.