The Music of Tim Burton's Films Plus Danny Elfman Concert

I spent my Halloween with Kyle in downtown Los Angeles watching an orchestral performance of the music of Danny Elfman from Tim Burton's films. No costumes for us, but we sure were excited to be doing something other than a Halloween party…not that there's anything at all wrong with that. It's just nice to switch things up a bit.

We were rushed to the Nokia Theater after checking into our hotel, but were very kindly given a parking pass on our way in to the parking lot by the gentleman in the car next to us. Saved us thirty big ones! How nice.

The downtown district where the theater is located was so busy! The concert drew a large crowd, plus it was Halloween and there were all kinds of people running around in costumes, eating dinner, and going to the clubs. There was also a mini carnival in the middle of the square, but of course we didn't have time to check it out. We barely managed to inhale some food and rush to our seats in the nick of time.

Downtown LA district where the Nokia Theater is located. So many lights and billboards, but I'm sure it's still nothing compared to Times Square (which I have never been to…yet!).

The marquis outside the theater.

The mini carnival in the promenade celebrating Halloween and Day of the Dead.

LA is covered in billboards and advertisements. I thought it was funny to see four of the same ads for the same movie with the same picture and everything in one spot. You think they're pushing this movie hard enough?? Haha.

It was pretty much a sold out event. The concert was done last year as well, and we had wanted to go to that one but the tickets sold out instantly. We were lucky to get the seats we did this year. I imagine this will be a yearly occurrence based on how great the turnout was.

The orchestra played all the best Burton movie songs - Beetlejuice, Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow - and of course rounded out the evening with pretty much all the songs from The Nighmare Before Christmas. Danny Elfman made an appearance and of course sang all the vocal parts he does in the film, including Oogie Boogie's song, which was an interesting version. All of the songs featured snippets from the movies to accompany the music, so it was a fun dose of Elfman's memorable compositions.

The program for the evening.

PeeWee's Big Adventure! Did you know there's a sequel coming out??

Intermission selfie

Frankenweenie, which is one of my favorite stop-motion flicks.

There's Mr. Elfman belting away. 

I think he's singing "Oogie Boogie's Song" here.

Screen right before the show stared and the musicians were all taking their seats.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" with Elfman there in the center.

I took lots of videos, however I don't want to upload them because you're not supposed to video at the theater and out of respect to the artists, I'm using them for memories only.

We booked the cheapest, crappiest, two-star hotel on Priceline through "name your own price," and I do NOT recommend this service for big cities like LA or San Francisco. The two star hotels in big cities must be held to a different standard or something because our hotel SUCKED. Neither of the table lamps worked, the light was on a timer and kept turning itself off, the TV was practically an antique, and the outlets were so loose we had to prop something against the power cord of our phones to make sure they stayed in the stupid hole. But the worst part was that Halloween turned out to be a stormy night and the windows on the eighth story were not caulked or sealed shut in any way. You opened them up and there wasn't even a screen to keep you from falling out. The wind whistled through relentlessly and made the loudest racket all night not to mention we were freezing since there was no heater or good blankets on the bed. Such a terrible experience and we both slept awful. And to top it all off we were charged for off-site parking. Don't stay at the Hacienda Inn near the airport - it's ghetto as heck.

The following day was a ton of fun however, no matter how tired we were from not sleeping.

Stay tuned for my post on Comikaze (my first comic convention!) and Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood.

A Belated Post About an Anniversary Dinner

Kyle and I celebrated fourteen years (yes, you read that correctly - FOURTEEN years ) of being together on September 12th. We've only been married for four years, but we celebrate our dating anniversary too because that's how it's always been and that's the way we like it. Who doesn't like a fancy occasion to spend time with their significant other? *wink wink*

We headed out to downtown Sacramento to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant we had both never been to before. Hey, I know it's a chain, but Sacramento Yelp said it was one of the top-ranked romantic things to do in Sac, so yeah….

We started things off with cocktails. Well, I guess I should say, I started things off with a cocktail. Kyle had a glass of red wine.

My cocktail was a martini that tasted like chocolate ice cream! 

What a fun design for a cocktail. In case you're curious, it had kahlua, vanilla vodka, ice cream, and chocolate shavings. Yum!

Because it was our anniversary, they seated us in our own private little nook. It was a tiny little "room" all separated from the rest of the diners. So private! 

Before all the food came and cluttered up the table

Opening course was cheese fondue. It was a blend of white cheeses with shallots, green onion, and white sherry. 

Nom nom nom

Because neither of us was familiar with how a main course at a fondue restaurant worked, we ordered entrees. In retrospect, we would've skipped this pricy course because you actually cook it at your own table in a broth. They bring you raw meat or veggies and you boil them in the broth, which makes for some bland eating in my book. I prefer the cheese and chocolate dips.

Kyle ordered duck which turned out to be an awful choice considering that boiling duck pretty much murders all the flavor, texture, and fats that you get from cooking a duck properly. As I said, had we known this, we both wouldn't have ordered entrees. 

My smorgasbord of veggies to boil.

The best part of the experience was dessert of course. Dipping a variety of fruits and sweet cakes into melted chocolate was not only fun, but memorable. They even brought us special anniversary strawberries.

Smores-flavored chocolate with graham cracker topping!

Brownies, marshmallows, bananas, strawberries, and poundcake to dip!

Check out our special little anniversary strawberries. :)

 It sure was a pricey dinner and we had planned to see a movie at the drive-in theater afterwards, but we were both so stuffed that we just went home and Netflixed some "Once Upon a Time." We've gotten into that show recently.

Until next time!