Quick takes from the weekend

The New Century Chamber Orchestra's season ending concert was Saturday night: Schoenberg's  Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) is the kind of music this ensemble does best and it was fantastic; ten minutes of variations on "Happy Birthday to You," not so much; Ellen Taafe Zwilich's Commedia d'ell Arte proved accessible, interesting and entertaining- a rare trifecta for contemporary premiere; Michelle Djokic probably has no idea how sexy she is with a tambourine in her hand.

The New York Philharmonic's first of two nights at Davies: if I described Magnus Lindberg's 2nd Piano Concerto as a mash-up of a 50's sci-fi movie soundtracks and Rachmaninoff you may not think that's a compliment, but it certainly is; Yefim Bronfman is simply f_cking amazing; the principal wind players of this orchestra are dazzlers, as is their brass section; that was an amazing Tchaik 4 and the finale went through the roof; a bit of Bernstein for the encore was a nice touch; Chloe Veltman looked pretty fetching in that hat.

The burgers at Flippers in Hayes Valley kind of suck but the waitresses are really kind. The food at Burmese Kitchen in the Tenderloin is a steal for how tasty it is. My mother is pretty much the only person I know who can get me to eat Popeye's fried chicken, which tastes much better in the South than it does in California. The Minister's Rebellious Daughter paid me the kindest of compliments when she said, "it's nice to see you're back." Lara Downes sent me an email, but I can't tell you what she wrote. There was an explosion of hits coming to A Beast from Thailand, all searching for images of "ASIAN NEWSWOMAN TURNS PORN SLUT"-what they found on arriving here was a picture of Linda Blair taken from "The Exorcist."

RIP Duck Dunn and my Aunt Rose.

Two wild girls- my grandmother on the left and her sister Rose on the right, circa 1935.