"Live From the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Beautiful Downtown Los Angeles..."

L had a big night last night. Her choir, the South Bay Children's Choir, was invited to perform at the LA County Holiday Celebration, broadcast live on KCET from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center downtown. The LA County Holiday Celebration has been a free three-hour Christmas concert put on for 53 years bringing together countless bands, choirs and dance troupes from every cultural niche and enclave. Parking and admission are free and it is quite a big deal in town. L's choir had been rehearsing and rehearsing for weeks and emotions were high; she was a spastic bundle of nerves and we drove up the 110 to the Music Center.

The SBCC was slated to perform at 3:15pm, so we got to the Dorothy Chandler in good time to make our 2:00pm call. As the fateful hour approached L lost more and more color and it quickly became apparent she was terrified. She and I took a quick walk around the Music Center courtyard while we waited, hoping to burn off some anxious energy, but it didn't help too much. By 2:00 when the directors were waving everyone over she was clinging to her mother insisting she didn't want to do it. Thankfully she was swept up by the choir staff who evidently know how to do these things and once she got away from her family and was in the mass of other over-adrenalized kids she visibly calmed and even seems to be getting excited.

Having an hour to kill before the concert, Stacy, N and I wandered the courtyard among the throng lined up to get it. (We had reserved "parent" seats and were spared dealing with the great unwashed masses.)  The day was just emerging from an overcast cloudy mess and slim glimmers of a nice afternoon were poking their heads out.

Her adoring public.

Soon the doors were opened and we were ushered in.  The place was lit up like the Oscars.  Guys in headsets were running all over the stage; cameras on cranes were everywhere.  It was quite cool.

At 3:00 on the dot the stage director counted us in and we took air, the screens flashing and cameras swirling around for dramatic over-the-crowd shots. Then the stage lights came up on Judy Collins center stage with the Immaculate Heart of Mary Children’s Choir and "Silver Bells." It was a very brief opening act because as soon as they were done the cheesy hosts (Tia Carrere and Kent Faulcon) yucked it up for about 30 seconds while the South Bay Children's Choir filed in and took formation.

L was on the front row and soon the cameras were swooping and the massive digital backdrop was festively flickering to "Joyful, Joyful," "White Christmas," and "Pine-cones and Holly Berries." Mommy and Daddy were sad, slobbery messes every time the cameras would swoop by the choir and L's face would be 100 feet high on the jumbotron. ("That's my baby! On national TV!!!") My hand hurt from Stacy's powerful pianist grip every time L would be on camera.

The way I recon it, she still has 9 minutes of fame left her, as the performance couldn't have topped 5 minutes, but it was about all the concentrated Daddy angst I could handle. Afterwards Stacy navigated the cavernous halls of Dorothy Chandler and found our performing prodigy and brought her back up to our seats. We watched another 45 minutes or so of the show and then slipped out to head back to the South Bay. The stage-struck, deer-in-the-headlights, "don't make me do it" girl of an hour ago was long gone, replaced by a chatterbox who couldn't get the words out fast enough. The car fairly bounced down the 110 with L and N's personal rendition of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" on auto-repeat for the 45 minute drive.