i love this town

portland has everything.

thursday night i went to mississippi pizza to see coney island cartel. old-timey americana, with ukelele, clarinet, and washboard. the ukelele player's name is "squish". i loved them.

friday night i went to tony starlight's to see his neil diamond birthday tribute show. oh my god, this man can do anything. i posted before about his uncanny ability to inhabit people like dean martin & bing crosby -- he's a great impressionist. he was an amazing neil diamond, too. raspy voice, tight slacks, and all. i had a great time.

oh, and here's a testament to how my life is so incredibly different here than it was in NC: i walked into tony starlight's last night and told the hostess i had a reservation. i gave her my name, and she about peed her pants. "i love your radio show! both of them!!" she went on and on, and then let me in for free. "you're my comp tonight! it's so great to meet you!"

on top of that, tony starlight himself wants to partner with divaville. (ooh, btw, there's a new divaville myspace page, if you'd like to be my friend.) he suggested i do divaville live from his club once a month. and it's actually a possibility that this could come to fruition, if he's willing to foot the cost of getting an ISDN line installed.

today i went to a clothing swap. i got rid of a lot of stuff, and did not bring anything back with me. which is fine. it's nice to have empty hangers in the closet. most of the women at this swap were of widely varying sizes, and quite a few had questionable fashion sense... which is why i didn't leave with any new clothes.

tomorrow i'm trying out my first ever book club. the book is eat pray love. you know how sometimes you read the right book at the right time in your life? this was that book for me. i'm really looking forward to discussing it with people tomorrow. (a group of strangers, by and large.)