Well, we played the Hollywood Bowl. It wasn't just us, we were with Spielberg, Garth Brooks, Whoopi, John Williams, the L.A. Symphony, Richard Dryfus, Jeff Goldblum, Christina Aguillera, and lots of others, but we still played the Hollywood Bowl. We were still on the stage where last year I saw Bob Dylan. (Yeah, I know, Bob played the Beacon theater too, but . . . I don't know, this was different). We went into rehearse at about noon. The bit we were doing is an old bit; it's older than Penn & Teller. This is a bit we used to do in Asparagus. It's "In the Hall of the Mountain King." We did it with the Boston Pops. The conductor and another guy tie us in strait jackets and then they play up until 14 measures to the end. We have to escape and take over on keyboard and bass. It's a great bit. Teller hangs upside down to escape and I just do gags begging second violinists to let me out and yelling at them for speeding up. Teller gets out, runs over and lets me out, and then we play.

The rehearsal went great. We were joking with the band. The bass players were very upset at my bass being out of tune. It was tuned to 440 and they were 441. I said, "Who cares?, it's just a bass." It was a drummer tying me in. We ran through it twice and it was just perfect. I was very happy with it. I remembered all my names and numbers for the intros and Burt was over one side counting down the measures on her fingers, so I could time out right. It went great.

I hadn't slept at all the night before, so I went home and napped all afternoon. Krasher drove me over to the Bowl and we went to the cocktail party. I guess I should say that this was an awards ceremony giving the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame awards (for the first year) to John and Garth. I ate lots of appetizers and pretty much talked to no one. It was very crowded and, well, I just didn't start up any conversations.

There was a little press, but no one cared about us, it was just Garth and Spielberg that people wanted. Garth sure looked great. I love what a regular guy he is. He had on cowboy boots, jeans, and the top half was tux and then he had that hat. If your Garth, that's what you should do. It was fine. We had a nice box to watch the show and a nice dinner served.

We were first after intermission and that seemed like a good place. We got ready to walk on stage and they hadn't put a mic on the conductor. We went out anyway. He needed to have a mic so we could hear his measure countdown. That was a problem. Backstage, I had told my guy, the drummer, to be really rough. He did the crotch strap like you couldn't believe. I swear it was up into my stomach. It sure changed the fit of the suit. But, he got even crazy on the arms. He went nuts. He pulled so hard that he BROKE THE STRAP! How is that possible? It's canvas. But, he did. So, what to do? I made some joke about stupid drummers and "should have used a bass player," and they tied it in place. I walked over and showed it to Teller so he'd be ready. The music started and they were putting on a mic on him as he conducted.

Of course, my arms came loose right away, and I was supposed to not be able to get out. So, I had to not be able to get out even though my arms were free. Luckily, the crotch strap was so tight, I couldn't move anyway so it was believable. I ran over to the harp players and begged them to let me out. It seemed pretty funny. I think, because of the broken strap, it made it look like Teller letting me out was an ad-lib, and that's nothing but good. We got out and I started playing the bass, but I wasn't in the monitors. I couldn't hear myself, but I kept playing and I was told later it was in the house mix. We finished up with me running off stage while saying to the drummer, "You're an idiot!"

So, that was P&T at the Hollywood Bowl. It was really fun and I think it was a good shot. Since we don't get to do this bit often, I wanted to just do it perfectly. I wanted to set it up and knock it down, but instead we had to play by ear and adlib and that was fine too. I think we went over well.

After the show, I went backstage to the drummer who broke the strait jacket and we laughed and joked. I was worried that I had called him an idiot on stage, but he was in showbiz and he knew that that was my best move on the chessboard. He was really nice and we had a blast.

I stood around backstage and talked to people and then Krasher, and Burt, drove me back to the hotel.

I mean, okay, so it wasn't just us, but Penn & Teller played the Hollywood Bowl.

Penn

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