So come and spend some time with me

Will you permit me one more Jamie Cullum post? I mean, it's effectively a Pipedreams requirement that I review all my entertainment consumption, isn't it? Well guys, final placement is TBD, but this show has rocketed into my Top Ten! That's huge enough, but also consider that the bulk of my concert-going was in my twenties. You KNOW those shows benefit from tales enhanced through years of re-telling and the general guilelessness and vigor of youth? This was last week! A few impressions:

• The venue helped. The Royal Oak Music Theater, in a trendy (read: gay) Detroit 'burb, was tres cool. It's an old theater converted to a concert hall. The conversion? Leave seats in the balcony for those who wanna sit, and tear out all the rest for a huge open expanse for the rest of us. Add three full-service bars and it's a festival, yo.
  
• The company helped. I dragged my best friend from way back. You know how when you're with someone from your wasted youth, you tend to act like you did then? Lots of talking, laughing, ogling, mixing and mingling, and drinking. God, I love that guy, even though at least twice he resorted to pulling out pictures of his kids to demonstrate to folks that he and I were not in fact a couple.
  
• Jamie rocks my boxers. I had pre-like for his stuff, but he's just amazing LIVE. SO MUCH energy, like you wouldn't believe. Imagine an incredible jazz trio you've heard. Got it? Then add this wee British fellow with a whiskey voice of God who can play the shit out of piano, guitar and drums. He's running and jumping (off the piano) and playing with the crowd all night. There was even a drum line bit where he was bangin' so hard that stick bits went careening into the crowd. So much fun. Long, long, wonderful jazz riffs off his own stuff and his covers of standards. Throw in a cute anecdote when he relates that he performed at Elton John's post-Oscar party: I met Paris Hilton. She wouldn't fuck me. I'm like the only one, right? Then he launched into Rocket Man. Within a few minutes he swings from Elton John to Radiohead, from Cole Porter to Jimi Hendrix. And pulls it off. I'm not usually so into the twinky boy type, but he's just so talented and tiny and tight. Grrrr.
• Hung out much of the time with a cute twentysomething girl who came over to me and "R" after a tiff with her (seemingly gay) friend. She said we looked like mo' fun, to which "R" reiterated "We're not a couple" to which she replied "But you two are adorable together" (ME charmed) and then baby pictures were displayed, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, later in the show it went something like this: ME: What do you think the encore will be? " All At Sea"? SHE: Oh, you're right, he hasn't played that! You know, that's my ringtone right now! ME: Me, too! SHE: No way! Much hugging ensued.

Really, if you have even an inkling of interest in La Cullum, I'd highly recommend catching his shit. It's bananas. Oh, sorry. Too soon? His last shows in the US, Philadelphia, Boston and New York, are already sold out. He's heading to Asia, Australia and New Zealand before he's back to the US in May. Go. And thank me later.