Rockin' New Years: 2011: Here Come The Mummies

We had a very nice New Year's Eve celebration; capping off the best holiday season in years. My gal pal Tammy and I spent the evening with our dear friends Keith and Cathy (aka Kiko and Kiki), Ben Wah Salami and his bubbly companion Trudy, our girlfriend Anne, and fellow journalist John and his lovely wife. We began the evening with a festive dinner at our favorite downtown Mexican restaurant, Adobo Grill enjoying an exotic spicy fare (I had duck tacos -- yes duck!), along with copious amounts of Dos Equis Amber and a wide variety of Margaritas. Then most of us made our way on foot, marching merrily through the unseasonably warm New Year's night to the Egyptian Room at the Murat Theatre (I refuse to call this grand old venue by its new corporate name) to see the super funky band Here Come The Mummies.

We joined a long line outside the venerable theater, just as the clouds let loose with a winter downpour.  The doors swung open and we scrambled inside. We outfitted ourselves in the requisite hats and horns, filled our fists with drinks and made our way toward the ornate stage.

Wet, and buzzed, we waited for nearly two hours before the Mummies filled the joint with fog and the stage with bogeying boogie men. The band couldn't have been better suited to the venue --  stylishly anonymous in mummy wrapping, the jazz ensemble rocked the cuneiform-colored room with its mix of baudy funk.  We lost our friends before the countdown.  Through a cold rain shower we ran through the midnight streets, hopping a cab to our cozy room at the Canterbury Hotel, where we quietly continued our soiree.