Sweet Honey in the Rock is an a capella group of six African-American
women. Their repertoire includes spiritual songs, hymns, gospels, jazz,
blues, and rap. One woman "sings" the songs in American Sign Language with
dancing fluid hand movements. The songs are delivered with such power and
emotion that the lyrics sear right through your heart. Carol Lynn Maillard's
execution of Motherless Chil' sent shivers up my spine. It is incredibly
inspirational - just like being in church!
We sat on the center aisle in the second row in the balcony. In the
row in front of us sat Yacine Kouyate, who Randy describes as an "amazing
musician" whom he saw performing at Yoshi's back in December. Yacine plays
piano, guitar, kamelgoni (which is sort of like a smaller version of a
kora), assorted drums and percussion instruments. Yacine stopped after
the show to say hello. We think he must've recognized us from somewhere.
We were delighted!
After the show, we stopped at Viet Nam Village for food. much to
Randy's surprise, I felt like having something different than Pho. Although
the proprietor probably guessed I was thinking of something else as I was
looking at the menu on the wall for once (instead of "Number one please").
She recommended the Barbeque Beef on Rice Rolls. As I expected, the
dish was wonderful! The rice rolls are the same kind that Randy likes to
get from Chinatown for breakfast.
On the way home, we passed by some deer. At first they started running
from the car, but stopped when they realized that we were some harmless
humans as opposed to a roaring metal monster. I think a couple even smiled
for the camera! Deer in the Oakland Hills are sure more intelligent than
the ones in the Palo Alto Hills. When we lived in La Honda, I had a deer
run into my tail light! These guys know that they won't get hurt if they
just stand still on the side of the road.
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