Sunday Night - in Three Acts

Act One

Dinner with dear sis and Dodo at the Japanese Restaurant at St Martins Tower, Kabuki Shoroku. It was superb. There is something sublime in the simplicity of Japanese cuisine. The clean flavours and delicate presentation makes me slightly gaga as each course is presented.

Act Two

The curse of Cocorosie strikes again. The support act for tonight's entertainment is truly bizarre. At first I can't decide if he's a comic act and JB and I giggle hysterically in the darkness of the State Theatre. But then we realise, aghast, that this joker is for real. CW Stoneking may or may not be a fine blues singer (I am by no means a fan of the genre) but his speech impedement makes both his speaking and singing totally incomprehensible. I am starting to suspect that the State Theatre and/or the Sydney Festival have a policy of hiring mildly retarded support acts. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Act Three

Madeleine Peyroux. Sadly underwhelming. I really like her old fashioned jazz stylings and her cd Careless Love is gorgeous when one is in just a certain mood. I am perfectly willing to admit I was possibly over-tired and generally over-it but I just didn't get swept away by the live performance. Partly I blame old CW (see above) for putting me in a shocking mood. While Maddie's voice was almost as lovely as the recorded version her stage presence is less than awe-inspiring. She truly needs a dose of Trinny and Susannah in the dress sense department (a shame because she is a beautiful woman) and she needs to learn a little bit of stagecraft (she wouldn't have got past the first round of OzIdol).

Nevertheless, despite the whinging, it was a lovely night and memorable if for no other reason than it was an evening spent with just my sister and my dad. A first.