...Hep, Hep.

So the Playboy Jazz Fest was all that and 17,500 bags of chips. And dip. And fried chicken. And sandwiches and mudslides and untold pounds of cheese and absurd amounts of wine and beer. Yes, there was a lot of food. But more on that later.

Etta James was awesome--and surprisingly spry. So spry, in fact, that she got downright trampy on-stage, bless her hussy of a heart. Sandee loves her all the more, now. Arturo Sandoval was terrific, with mambo dancers and a big band for the full Ricky Ricardo experience. And yeah, the Cheese actually got me up to shuffle in the aisle to a little "One-Two-Three-Huh?"

We were far from alone. After Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas got things going, dancing erupted pretty much constantly throughout the day, due in no small part to the Hollywood Bowl's phenomenal BYOB policy. The entire audience was hammered by 3:30 PM and stayed that way for the next 7 hours.

Still, it was far from a frat party. It was more of a picnic or family reunion, set to a backdrop of really amazing jazz. One group of 60 people flew in from Houston for the 12th straight year. One teenager met up with 2 kids he hadn't seen since last year's show--that sort of thing. And then there was FoodLady™. FoodLady™ came prepared with two (2) full-size Igloo coolers containing (at a minimum):

* Salad
* Rolls / tomatoes / lettuce / onions / 2 kinds of meat for sandwiches
* Fried chicken
* Olives
* Cheese
* BBQ shrimp on skewers
* Beer
* Mudslides
* Ice for the mudslides
* 2 pumpkin pies
* 2 cheesecakes

She actually handed out cheesecake and pie to everyone within 6 feet, too, and offered to make me a sandwich. That's the kind of vibe we had going on. Well, that, and the 60-somethings dry-humping each other on the handrail....

Thx to Wydok of NewTexture for the pic.