Pink Martini @ Blue Note

When I learned they were playing at Blue Note in November, I had to get tickets to see Pink Martini. Is that a cocktail? Nope, Pink Martini is an eclectic musical group started by Thomas Lauderdale in Portland, Oregon in 1994. Bandleader Lauderdale originally was active in politics and when he couldn't find good bands to play at political functions, he simply created his own band that blends jazz, classical and pop music. And they feature not one but two of the best female vocalists in China Forbes and Storm Large (who originally temporarily replace Forbes while she recuperated from surgery but is still a regular). On this evening, China Forbes made the trip to the 50th along with their horn and small string section (Lauderdale is on piano).

And since it's a nightclub, we started with cocktails, the Elderflower Fizz for the Mrs...

And my usual Negroni...

I also ordered a bottle of 2013 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon for our entrees as once the music starts, getting any additional libations can take a while... and at $125, it's only about $50 over retail as most of their other wines are 3 to 4 times the retail price...

I sampled the Braised Harris Ranch Short Ribs... very tender and a very large servings with three large pieces of short rib...

While the Mrs sampled the special Prime Rib... when she asked for it medium rare, our server stated that it's only cooked medium as they don't have a full sized kitchen but as you can see, it was a perfect medium rare...

Some of my blurry photos...

And low and behold, because China Forbes saw him in the audience, she asked Smoky Robinson to come up to the stage where they performed an impromptu Tears of a Clown... so COOL!!…

Blue Note is a bit pricy and parking validation is at Outrigger East, about 3 to 4 blocks away but we'll be back...