OK, so it's midnight on a Monday, I'm halfway through a bottle of Merlot, my mood is in a rapid downward spiral, and I need to vent. Let me take you through my evening, and I know; you will feel my pain. Background: You may remember my entry last year entitled, "Close Encounters of the Miles Kind." At the time, I was an actress/waitress in a celebrity-friendly Los Angeles restaurant. While still paying my S.A.G. dues, I have since put the acting career on the backburner, and have also become manager of said restaurant. I get to work @ 3 pm, and the first call I take is from an executive at Columbia Records, looking to book a private room for the evening. We work out the details, and I go about my business of opening the restaurant. On the 6 disk CD player, I put in a few Rat-Pack CD's (it's an Italian joint) and to slow the evening down, I end with All This Time followed by Chris Botti's Night Sessions. We get busy downstairs, the party of 20 gets going upstairs, and at about 8pm (the party started at 6:00) a guy comes in asking for "the Chris Botti/Shawn Colvin party." I immediately go on high alert. Not associating the two, I come to the conclusion that he's in the wrong place, and I direct him to an even more celebrity studded restaurant 2 blocks down (meanwhile, freaking out that Chris Botti, Shawn Colvin, and quite possibly Sting - in town for the VH1 awards last night - are at my friend's restaurant 2 blocks away.) He comes back in about 5 minutes later with a piece of paper with our address on it, saying that he thinks this is definitely the place. We figure out that he's with Columbia Records, and as I'm escorting him up the stairs - I've got to really scan that room and look at EVERY FACE IN THERE - I'm trying to be cool, telling him that I'm a Chris Botti fan, and in fact have the CD in my rotation this evening. He is non-reactive. The evening continues...I determine that the party is simply a post-production celebration or something. They all file out early, at about 8:30, and the guy who booked it- Jason- seeks me out to thank me. I repeat to him (nonchalantly) that I'm a Chris Botti fan and have the CD in the player this evening. He says, "Yeah, we're going to his show tonight at the El Ray Theatre tonight. It should be cool, Shawn Colvin and Sting are going to do some songs with him. Thanks for everything." Now, the El Ray theatre is 10 blocks from my work. And its capacity is about six hundred. Not six thousand, but six HUNDRED. And it is general admission. And I am at work, and STUCK. And I won't be done until 11pm or so. HOW DID I MISS THIS?!? The evening ends like this. I finish up about 11:15, and to make myself sick, I cruise by the 'ole El Ray. Sure enough, the billboard reads, "Chris Botti and Friends." People are just now filing out. A familiar looking, black SUV with tinted windows sits running right in front, in the tow-away lane, and I am reduced to circling the damned place in my dodge neon like an asshole. After about 4 circles, I go home defeated, and log on to the El Ray webpage, POSITIVE that he will play a second night. But no, he will be in another state tomorrow. Whatever...my glass is dry. Goodnight, Christina