My Sunday Menage a Trois

Nothing like a nap to get re-energized after a long afternoon eating and drinking on Broad Street. And what better way to spend that energy than at tonight's Live at Ipanema show? Best of all, this month's photographer for the event is a good friend, but a family man whom I never get to see after dark. And we weren't even meeting until after 9, so it was bound to be enjoyable for all kinds of reasons.

It was still muggy and hot when I got there, despite all the rumbling and sprinkling of a fruitless front change. Inside Ipanema, it was only marginally better, but since I'd gotten a bit of sunburn on my shoulders today (as had my friend, although she hadn't even noticed hers), I'd worn a sundress, so the interior warmth suited me just fine. It drives me crazy that I have to bring a wrap to combat frigid a/c temperatures in some places during the summer months. It's not natural, people, we're supposed to be warm in June. End rant.

Photog friend began with a compliment and moved on to scoping out the joint for pictorial possibilities. Regulars and newbies started to filter in for the show while I filled in my friend on the more colorful aspects of the past few days. He reads the blog, but he also knows that a lot doesn't make it in, so he demands details and I deliver. What are friends for?

Tonight's show was billed as the Florentines, but it was actually just the lead singer Chad doing his singer/songwriter turn. He's also a member of the Colloquial Orchestra, from whom I'd just heard a terrific performance Friday night. His songwriting is heartfelt and sometimes downright sorrowful, the kind of lyrics worth straining to hear.

He began on one guitar and then switched to another, explaining himself. "I hate it when people tell guitar stories," he said, launching into his own; this guitar was a $30 online find and never stays in tune for long. I'm guessing the humidity didn't help the tuning problem much either.

Chad's third instrument ("play the weird instrument," someone from the audience called out) was the bouzouki, a relation of the mandolin and a beautiful- sounding instrument. And best of all, the audience respectfully shut up while the performance was being recorded. All was right with the world for that time.

After the music was over, we moved our little group outside where, to everyone's surprise, the cool front had more than arrived; it was breezy, dry and absolutely perfect patio weather. We ran into the girls from Six Burner, looking completely wiped out after the grease fire that nearly took out their booth today. The English bartender everyone knows from days gone by unexpectedly showed up. The guys from the Nile made a late-night appearance.

It was a lovely ending for a full day after a long and late night before. I finished the day with the fine friend I'd begun it with at Broad Appetit and also with the longtime friend I haven't spent an evening with in years. He summed it up by saying, "I love it that you two are such good friends."

What I love is having a few close friends of both sexes with whom I can talk endlessly and share my sordid little secrets on occasion. Honestly, for me it's all about the conversation...well, that and the music.