I'm way behind on a number of things including blogging. Last night, my friend Amber and I joined our friends Stu Shostak and Jeanine Kasun at the Upstairs room at Vitello's Italian restaurant in the valley. Yes, this is the place where Robert Blake was dining with his wife just before she was murdered by someone thought by many to be Robert Blake. I suppose the eatery will always be known for that…but it has decent chow and the upstairs is a small-but-serviceable cabaret area where folks perform. Tuesday and Wednesday night, they had a great band playing somewhat-old songs sung by a somewhat-old guy named Dick Van Dyke. Dick is fronting a superb six-piece band and boy, did we — the audience — love them.
The band was great but I'll bet the musicians will forgive me this comment: It was Mr. Van Dyke who made it one of the best evenings I've ever spent in a supper-type club. Just being with him was wonderful because, first of all, he's Dick Van Dyke. That right there is enough. Secondly, he is age-defying. He sang. He danced a little. He was very funny just talking. And there was just a pure joy in his performing. He was having the time of his life and it was infectious.
I can't embed it here but here's a link to about 22 minutes of the show. In some shots, you'll see a big guy with a bald spot who was sitting about three feet in front of Mr. Van Dyke just enjoying the hell out of the show. That's me. I'll let you know if and when he does it again but I'll warn you: The two performances this week sold out in about twenty minutes. When word gets out how good he is, they won't last twenty seconds.