Bea's Newsletter v.2.0: Ledisi & Ashley

January 19, 2006

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!
Happy Birthday Ashley!
Happy Belated Birthday Trenty! (January 17)

It's been a pretty busy and social week so far. Delfina on Monday, Frisson on Tuesday, Will's work post-holiday holiday social last night at Steelhead Brewery in Burlingame, and now it's Thursday (...is this still the new Saturday??? I can't keep up.)

For my birthday, my former boss/mentor, Kerstin, had given me a lovely gift of tickets to see R&B/Jazz artist Ledisi at Yoshi's in Oakland. I was pretty psyched because I had seen Ledisi perform at least 4 years ago when she used have a residency at Cafe Du Nord. Also, I've been wanting to go see a show at Yoshi's since moving to the bay area, as it is a must-do.

Yoshi's is located in Jack London Square, and is known as "a world-class jazz venue showcasing legends at their zenith and young turks on their way up". Yoshi's is at least 25 years old and was located in the Claremont district of Oakland before it moved to its current space in JLS in 1997.

We had 8 pm show tickets, and it's general admission in the 400 person capacity Jazz House, and adjacent to the Jazz House is the Yoshi's Sushis restaurant. So, we made reservations for dinner in the restaurant, saved seats in the Jazz House, and had dinner before the show. The food was pretty good fare, despite all the mixed reviews I read.

For dinner:
Appetizers
- miso soup
- gyoza
- sunomono salad
- spicy scallop roll

Entrees
- Will: sashimi dinner
- Bea: Hamachi don (fresh Hamachi sashimi over a bowl of rice)

Cocktails
- Will: Yoshi's raspberry-infused sake
- Bea: Rum Diaries (a specialty cocktail that tasted like a jazzed-up Shirley Temple...yum!)

So we headed over to the Jazz House around 8 pm. We crammed into our seats around a small table that we shared with another couple and prepared to be jazz-ified. Ledisi is a tremendously talented singer. She definitely made a huge impression on me compared to when I saw her years ago. She's funny, entertaining and has a very talented band. I got into the groove so much that I knocked Will's glass of Oban single malt scotch into his lap...egads.

The show ended around 9:40 pm and we headed back into the city to catch up with Ashley's 29th birthday extravaganza.

We made a quick detour home so that Will could change his Oban-soaked pants and we walked down to Abe & Wendy's casa, where they had hosted a sushi-making party for Ashley. From there, we wandered down to one of our favorite Mission watering holes, the Elbo Room, where the infamous Ocean Beach cocktail is the reason why I don't drink fruit punch Gatorade anymore...(long but funny story that I maybe should leave off the blog)...