(July got off to a rockin’ start this Independence Day, with a festive celebratory meal served by our Italian epicure neighbor, Al Fresco, on the Bender patio. “Rosie Colleen” was so eager to celebrate the 4th she donned her patriotic pooch finery. Until she heard some illegal fireworks, that is. Our doggie diva had been struttin’ her stuff & beggin’ for bones, but the raucous racket removed the stars & stripes right-off of her fur. She went howling into hiding for days, man. She is still somewhat spooked but recovering. She hopes you dig the photo that her daddy took.)

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On Joyly 9th we ventured into San Francisco to see the newly restored “A Hard Day’s Night” at the historic Castro Theatre. That would be the first Beatles movie filmed by “the boys” in 1964. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” I was attired in my fab, groovy Beatles gear, unlike most of the audience, who veered heavily on the male side. I wondered if any “girl” Beatlemaniacs were there. I enthusiastically sang along with every Beatles tune in the movie, beause I recalled them all. Heck, I even seriously considered dancing in the aisle & belting out “I Should Have Known Better.” But I knew I better not when it suddenly dawned one me why there were so many male couples in the theatre: Helloooo, The Castro. It’s the gay mecca of SF! (Come to think about it, they likely would have loved it…next time, ok?)

As we exited the theatre I was still in a celebratory mood. Not ready to return home, and fancying a Shandy & some English pub grub, we found a British-style restaurant pub not far from downtown. I heard a Paul McCartney song playing in an Italian pizza place on a busy corner as we strolled by. The hubby said “Do you want to go in?” and I just continued schlepping to the Pub across the street, happy that I heard yet another Beatles tune! “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” So my hubby had Fish ‘n’ Chips and I was served a right tasty Shepherd’s Pie (non lamb, man) with my thirst-quenching Shandy. And when the Beatles “Can’t Buy Me Love” came over the pub’s speakers, I headed to the restroom to belt it out because the hubby said the loo had fabulous acoustics. Jolly good time, we had.

But the biggest event of Joyly, I mean zee BIG event, was seeing Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band in San Jose. The last time I saw Ringo was in the summer of !!??##??!!. I told you my fingers would be total ring bling and they were! (See photo) Unfortunately, the hubby used a different camera and his “photos” were mostly unusable video recordings. Bummer. But hey, it happens. The old man did take a photo of me in my new Ringo “Peace & Love Tour” tee-shirt after we returned home.
Ringo is NO old man, even if he did just turn 74. This former Beatle is so full of energy and is lookin’ so good. He’s a talented chap, he is. A man in the audience yelled out, ”Ringo, my wife loves you!” Ringo yelled back, “My wife loves me too!” (Ringo is married to Hollywood actress Barbara Bach.) It was so great hearing him do some of his old Beatles hits. However, I wanted to hear them all.

Although I wanted way more Beatles music, Ringo’s All-Starr Band is jam-packed with some very talented musicians in their own right: Singers and guitarists from 70’s & 80’s bands such as Santana, Toto, Mister Mr. (or is that the other way around?), including a second drummer (he drums while Ringo is singin’ & dancin’) were surprisingly delightful to many a Beatle fan, myself included. Yeah, I was in another celebratory mood and this time I had a Margarita. The last time I saw Ringo all I could order was a Shirley Temple!! I don’t usually order an over-priced Margarita, but when I do, I like to have a Margarita moment. I was thirsty, my friends.
After the concert, it was a bit of a trek to the car park as they refer to it in the U.K. San Jose’s downtown district is close to the city airport –perhaps a bit too close. These Jets were on a flight path right over a main blvd, big hotels on each side of the street. They were flying so low it was scary. People were waving out the planes windows at us & smiling! It must have been because I was wearing so much bling, baby! Even Ringo smiled at me. Winked too, he did.

The hubby knew his way to San Jose, but he had some trouble finding his way out of town. Our neighbor –not Al Fresco – asked Henri if we were going to be gone for a couple of days, and now I know why: San Jose is like the L.A. of Northern California. We returned home in time to go to downtown Hayward for the annual Grateful Dead Movie Meet-up Night. Nice to be with Deadheads again. They really know how to have fun.

Joyly is almost over and some pretty serious stuff is happening in the world. But last Saturday in Berkeley someone was trying real hard to put a smile on your face. A young guy was standing in the street on Telegraph Avenue as we drove by. He was holding a cardboard sign that said “SMILE.”

I was happy to smile & flashed a peace sign. As Ringo says,“Peace & love, man, Peace & love.”

How could I argue with that?
Gnome Update:
And you thought they were so over, huh? So did I. But these dudes don’t exactly ride into the sunset: Recently, I had an email from Etsy.com that featured mini decorated “mushrooms” for your garden. Somehow, I found there were gnomes galore to place with the ‘shrooms. Etsy has more than 5,000 gnome items! You can buy everything from custom, combat, funny, rude or fairy gnomes. Oh, it’s pretty scary, folks. There are petite gnome homes, a crawling zombie gnome, mooning gnomes, a gnome riding a Dachshund, and even a Zen Gnome described as a Buddha Gnome meditating.
My fave is a sign that extols,”Keep Calm and Go Gnome.” Keep Calm? Are you crazy? No, but I will be if these rude dudes won’t go away. The problem is that I want one of those 5,000 gnomes! Stay tuned to The Laugh Laundry to see how this all works out, ok?

Peace, love, Joyly & laughter,
Kathleen