By the time I rose from the bed, Laurie had been surfing and spent time at the Casa Del Mar pool overlooking the beach here in Santa Monica. That's not to say I slept in, it was still only 9:30am. Leon was as usual hogging all the bandwidth in the room with his new iPad. Yes, we caved in to his persistence and bought him one. Even though I have expressed noteworthy disinterest for this latest Apple super-gadget, when you actually hold one in your hands it's like holding a cuddly pet that give you that 'take me home and care for me' look. I have absolutely no use for such a gizmo and yet I want one.

Next door to our hotel here is the place where we used to stay. Shutters on the Beach, we had some 'issues' there so we stay next door now.



I set to the diary whilst I brewed delicious tea for all. It was decided unanimously that we hop in the car and drive up to the 3rd street promenade for a spot of shopping. My intention was to replace my long lost swiss army knife. I spotted a Brookstone store, wandered in and as is customary, headed straight for the massage chairs. Now these babies have come a long way in the last few years. OMG. Whilst being massaged to the point of semi-conscious bliss I spotted a heavy duty power massager out of the corner of my eye. Danny was with us and I called him over to try it out. I took it to his shoulders, switched on and the entire shop turned around as Danny shouted "OH MY GOD Marry ME!". At the checkout I spotted some flashlights that require no batteries. Two for $40, so I bought those and the massager thinking it'd be a great addition to the band wardrobe cases. Of course later at the venue I insisted everyone had a go and to a man the verdict was total, utter delight. Massage Pic coming...

Here's Steve Ricalis, resting after fork-lifting in the backstage rider. The catering has once again been great, it seems we haven't struck out yet at all.



The Pantages theatre is another beautiful Art Deco building, built in 1930 it was the last of the Pantages theatres built for the American vaudeville and movie producer Alexander Pantages. I was here in 1996 I seem to recall with Bryan Ferry and I remember then it being a pleasure to be there.



LA. audiences can be a little laid back as we've discovered many times in the past when playing at the outdoor venues such as the Greek and the Hollywood bowl, but this crowd was pretty raucous and extremely excitable...in a very good way. The band was once again on a high for the entire show and everyone had a good gig. My friend and neighbours back in the UK. Matthew and Laura were guests of mine. Matthew is a pilot for Virgin airlines and I was keen to quiz him on the volcano situation. It seems he knows very little more than me as his source of info is the National Air Services website. We'll just have to wait and see on that one.
http://www.nats.co.uk/

Cod's merchandising stand situated in grandiose surroundings.



Some of Laurie's old friends came as well as her brother Eric and his family. It's their 22nd wedding anniversary today. It was great to see Bobby Colomby, the drummer for Blood, Sweat and Tears too, an old pal of ours from the Princess Bride days when Mark and I spent so much time here.

We hung out at the venue for an hour or so before making our way back to the hotel just in time to close the Casa Bar.

Sound advice - Glenn found this sign next to the monitor desk....