Celebrating America....sort of.

People out on Lancaster Boulevard for the Celebrate America festival on
the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11. Intermittent rain didn't dampen spirits.

I could barely walk when I woke up this morning.

My bad knee and my sciatica were screaming from walking around on high heels. We had planned an evening at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising; they were having a reception for their new show "Fabulous! 200 Years of Fashion History, 1800-2010."  That would have involved minimal walking.

A faux drive-in in front of Lancaster Performing Arts Center.

But then we got on the freeway and it was bumper to bumper beginning at the Antelope Valley Mall, so we abandoned the plan. Little did I know what a mess the southbound freeway was, and that Sierra Highway was flooded.

We were dressed to the nines, and I had spent an inordinate amount of time on my makeup. I wasn't going home after all that. So we ate at Giovanni's and headed to the BLVD for the Celebrate America street party. 

What had been Plan B turned out to be a great evening: friends, music, cars, and even a little dancing. (Who knew you could do the rhumba to Steely Dan's "Peg"?) And, a lot of walking.

A thing of beauty: the Hudson.

There were Abe Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington impersonators, as well as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Having a beer in the Lemon Leaf, I overheard a woman enthusing about the "Ol' Blue Eyes" ringer. According to her, he had the whole package: looks, moves and voice. Oh, and the hat, too.

And what could be more American than cars? Some of the best of Detroit was on display, with lots of muscle cars and high -performance autos in evidence: Camaros, Mustangs, GTOs, Dusters and Road Runners.

In addition to American cars, there was an MG TC, too. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of it, but it was gorgeous!

The Santa Clarita rock band, R5, playing on the Leaf Stage
 at Celebrate America.

On the stage next to Lemon Leaf were a teen band called R5. Ranging in age from 14 to 19, they are a very tight quartet, and lots of fun to watch. Cute boys in pink shirts playing guitars, and a fetching sister on keyboards playing a mix of original material and covers from the All American Rejects and Rick Springfield, among others.

Their website says that they have been performing since they were one to six-years old, and it shows. They are very professional.

Four of the five are siblings, and they have a great time on stage. If they've been performing that long, it's clear there were parents being puppet masters, so I hope they aren't compelled to participate longer than they want to.

One of the boys is an upcoming Disney series, "Austin and Ally," and Riker, the bass player, is in "Glee" playing one of the Warblers, and just came off the Glee concert tour.

Two knights in shining armor. The one on
the right is spoken for, sorry.

We stopped in to say "hello" to Chris and Dennis Calaba, and Rena and Vijay Patel at the Graphic Experience. One of the BLVD pianos is in front of their store, and people just wander up to it and play. Of course, while we were there, no one with any talent happened by, but it's a fun concept. The framing store owners say sometimes they are serenaded by people who really do know how to play.

It really did feel like a old-fashioned event. The skies opened up while we were sitting on a bench in front of Chris and Rena's store, so we stood under the green and white striped awning, and it felt like every meet-cute in a musical comedy.

The fireworks went off despite the inclement weather, and they were spectacular. There's another fine American institution: colorful exploding munitions.

But underlying all the frivolity was the reason for the street fair: Patriot Day, the day of remembrance for those killed on Sept. 11, 2001. And therein lies the rub for any columnist: do you ignore the obvious elephant in the room and write whatever you want, when your column appears on 9/11? Or do you add your voice to the multitude of people looking back, pontificating, and analyzing?

This car show entrant evokes the by-gone era
 of the the drive-in movie with a speaker stand.

What could I possibly say about 9/11 that would be of any interest? I wasn't there; I have no survival story; and the ways it impacted me are the same ways it impacted all of us: a loss of freedom, two wars, billions of dollars spent to "keep us safe," and the bursting of the never-been-attacked-on-our-own-soil bubble.

Whatever unity the Sept. 11 attacks fostered has long since dissipated, as anyone who takes the slightest interest in politics can see. Our country is so polarized we can't carry on a civil conversation anymore, and I'm so sick of it all, I'd like to throw all the bums (of any party) out.

We've got a whole generation graduating out of college into a job market where 14.9% of 20 to 24-year-old are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Replacing all our elected officials with young people ought to put a dent in that number. From what I can see, they couldn't possibly do any worse.

Considering that people currently in office have obsene retirement packages, we don't need to shed any tears for them. It's not like they're doing their jobs anyway. Only a tiny fraction of them are having town hall meetings over the summer break, probably because they don't want the grief of actually listening to constituents.

I try not to let the current state of affairs get me down. I muddle through, hoping to one day have a full-time job for me, my recently graduated daughter, recently laid-off friends and everyone else who is under-and un-employed.

And now you know why I rarely write about politics: it just makes me depressed.

Steampunk deluxe!

The first wedding on the BLVD! We kiss in front of Vijay Patel's 41 Pontiac the night of the wedding. Photo by www.littleblueworldphoto.com

I plopped the filthy wedding dress on the counter of the dry cleaners and smiled sheepishly.

"I hope you can get this out," I said sweetly, pointing out the hem. "It's motor oil."

The look on her face was priceless. She stared at me incredulously and sighed in a disgusted manner. I shrugged, saying "I got married in a parking lot."

Which was the truth in a sense, but how could I explain to her the wonderland that the Lemon Leaf Lot became the night of my wedding?

I found the magical transformation difficult to believe myself.

A few days before the wedding I was getting mysterious phone calls from my friend Maria Elena, the owner of the Lemon Leaf, where she would enthuse about how awesome my wedding was going to be. She never provided any details; she would just gush and say, "I can't wait until Saturday!"

Little did I know that she was watching my friends Barbara Letson and Dan Venturoli creating the elements of a steampunk wonderland in the Leaf Room, next to the parking lot.

A detail of the amazing decorations at the wedding. The wedding couple's initials and a candelabra are wrapped with wire and a variety of gears in steampunk fashion.Photo by www.littleblueworldphoto.com

There were brass lanterns atop vines twinkling with tiny lights in the middle of each table. Everything was swathed in chocolate brown taffeta, gold sparkly tulle, ivory linens, brown tulle, and lit with a profusion of candles. Each place had a tiny wooden steamer trunk filled with dark-chocolate covered expresso beans.

All the steampunk iconography was there: huge clocks, gears, brass, and copper. Everything but the goggles. Our friend Tim Kirk brought his, just in case we'd like to have the officiant wear them. Tim and his wife Linda Lee added to the ambience by bringing in a case of wine they had relabeled with a custom "Steampunk Merlot" label which featured a caricature of Jim and me.

A detail from the wine label done by artist and friend Tim Kirk. He and his wife Linda pasted the labels on a case of wine and transformed it into Steampunk Merlot with our caricatures on it.

The napkin rings were lengths of wire wrapped around the napkins, and hung with tiny gears. Guests were turning them into bracelets and wearing them.

The ceremony itself was drama-free. I hesitated dropping my gown's train onto the cement of the lot, but it had to be done, so I tried to not think about what was becoming of it. That taffeta confection cost more than my hand-me-down Saturn is worth; I hated dragging it around.

The flower girls made it down the aisle under their own steam, presumably. I couldn't see them. Poor flower girl Tori — she had practiced strewing silk autumn leaves in my path, then was told to hold Charlotte's hand instead.

So, ultimately, no one threw leaves; the flower girls held hands on one side, and carried their baskets in the other hand. By all accounts, Charlotte clambered up on the stage all by herself. She made up for her good behavior by refusing to pose for photos on the girl's side of the stage, because she wanted her daddy.

I was rather glad I had bought her dress, when I say the state of it the next day. Charlotte took more than one face plant that night, and the front of the gown was filthy.

Valerie Estrada, of Little Blue World Photography was our wedding photographer and she grabbed Jim and me and took us out on the BLVD to pose for pictures. She had spotted Vijay Patel's 1941 Pontiac at the curb, and thought it would make a great backdrop, and it did.

My crazy sister thought we had hired Vijay's car for the evening, and sometime during the reception started filling the back seat with balloons. Eventually, she figured it out, and instead tied balloons to the luggage rack of the MG, and wired an empty can of Mike's Hard Lemonade underneath.

That was a particularly cruel joke to play on the owner of a classic car. When Jim and I made our getaway, I heard that god-awful noise and thought I was dragging my muffler. Again.

Crap is always falling off that car; who knew?

I'm still piecing the details of wedding, Rashomon-like, now that a week has passed. But so far it looks like everyone had a good time. My friend Ed Harbour did an amazing job as a DJ, and he kept the floor filled by playing 1980s New Wave.

Jim and I got to show off our hours of ballroom dancing practice, even though the tango was a little difficult with that much dress between us.

I will show more photos when I get them, but now I have to pack for my honeymoon to New York City, and I'm falling asleep. Sorry, there are no Charlotte photos. You'll have to wait until next week.

Those dance lessons with Iris really paid off. The groom is treading on my gown, but how could he not? There's so much of it. Photo by www.littleblueworldphoto.com