God Clearly Spends His Summers In Los AngelesThursday night the Twilight Dance Series at Southern California's Santa Monica Pier featured some amazing performances for freeeeee.
Amidst the smells of kettle corn and pretzels, the Agape International Choir dressed in rainbow colors opened the show. During the choir's set, people around us complained that we were standing and they could not see from their seats in their lawn chairs.Well, as Lisa said, "sometimes you've got to stand for the Lord." And stand we did as the choir let their light shine and the crowd praised Spirit with dance.
After a quick set change, Arrested Development took the stage. They flew in from Atlanta to perform hits from their 1992 release, 3 Years 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of... In only one hour Arrested Development "Fished for Religion", "Taught a man to fish", and took the crowd to "Tennessee."
They also played songs from their forthcoming album; their first release in about fourteen years. As DJ Machete X did a scratching interlude on the turntables, Deb exclaimed, "This summer has been a blast!"After two hours of jumping on the pier's wood planks, I knew I'd have to break out that expired jar of Tiger Balm and rub some ointment on my knee when I got home. That, however, would have to wait as the unofficial, not to be missed afterparty was taking place.
The afterparty at Zanzibar was about to begin and I was hungry. With single girls in L.A. being the resouceful creatures we are, I found a fortune cookie in the glove box of my car and munched on it on the drive over. My fortune read, "Romance moves you in a new direction." I barely resisted the temptation to add the words "between the sheets" to the end of my fortune.
The Agape Choir were again in full force as were concert goers from the pier. The DJ spun world music from Africa, Brazil, and Latin America. As I danced to Latin music with a group of friends, everyone seemed to pair off until I was left to dance alone.
After a few moments, a tall willowy Latino man emerged from the crowd and began to lead me in a steamy salsa dance. He moved like a matador and I was temporarily his cape.
We danced for quite some time and I noticed that he knew all the words to the Spanish songs, while I knew all the words to Eric B and Rakim's Paid in Full.
Throughout my time at Zanzibar that night, I never stopped moving. After all, everyone knows that your feet don't hurt when you're dancing.
Two hours later, in addition to the two hours we'd already put in at the pier, the group consensus was that it was time to depart. C'mon, it was Thursday night and someone had to be up early for work the next day; not me, but someone.
So we said goodbye to our friends, formed a spontaneous conga line, and snaked through the crowd.
Pausing only to speak to our friend Vince who'd just arrived at midnight, I sealed the night with a kiss and partied out the front door toward that expired jar of Tiger Balm.
Ahhhh, to God be the glory!