And those Hollywood nights in those Hollywood hills

John Mayer, traffic accidents, long lines, new songs and "Chuck," oh my!

I often complain about Los Angeles, but every once in a while, I am reminded why when it comes down to it, I love it here.

Last night, John Mayer had an impromptu show at the Hotel Cafe, one of my favorite venues in Los Angeles, and also one of the smallest and most intimate.

He "Twittered" about it at about 10pm, saying that he'd be playing some new songs around 11pm, and Ceci did not hesitate to put out the call to arms. But wait, just a second. It was 10pm! I was already "in" for the night. I had my glasses on, I'd taken my makeup off, was he really going to make me leave again? In the end, it was Sean that made me leave. "You'll regret this if you don't go," he told me. And he totally would have been right - it ended up being SO awesome.

We headed out, got stuck in massive traffic less than 10 minutes away from the venue, sat in said traffic for almost 40 minutes, got to the venue, parked, got in line, saw the crazy paparazzi waiting for John Mayer to show up (they obviously follow his Twitter account, too), and were finally let into the show around midnight. Shosh, Marie and Ceci all made it for the whole show, we only made it in for the tail end due to the traffic, but it was still awesome. He played mostly new songs, but he opened with 3x5, which I was incredibly sad to miss, especially since 1) Sean was there with me, and 2) he intro-ed it with "I'm On Fire" by Bruce Springsteen, which I love. It was pretty entertaining, and even Sean had a good time (gasp!)!

Oh yeah, and the best part? Admittance was $5. $5! And since they let us in late, Sean and I BOTH got in for $5! I think that's about 1/4 of the Ticketmaster fees that I paid the last time I got a John Mayer ticket! Can you remember the last time you paid so little to get into a show???

After John Mayer finished playing, Ceci and Shosh excitedly told me that Zachary Levi, who plays Chuck on NBC's "Chuck" was at the show! (Some of you might remember that I love this show and recommend it to everyone!) We decided photos were in order if we could go about it naturally, and ended up catching him as he was starting to make his way out.

He's so cute! And how short does Shosh look??? Jeeze!

And can I just say that I have never met a famous person who was nicer than this guy? I've met a good share of famous people. And while many of them were nice, none of them were as nice and cool and generally awesome as Zachary Levi. Not only was he incredibly good humored about taking some snapshots with us, but he then hung out with us for a while! I was really impressed, especially because it's been my experience that the "newer" famous people are often the least enthusiastic to spend time with fans.

A sort of blurry pic of ZL and me. Yes, I'm holding my
glasses. Yes, I actually wore them in public. Alert the press,
because that only happens about once every 10 years!

Also, talking to Zachary Levi led to quite possibly one of the best exchanges I've ever heard. It started with Shosh.

Shosh (to ZL): Yeah, so I just have to admit, you're totally on my "list."
ZL: That's awesome! My girlfriend will be happy to hear that. (side note: he said this without the least bit of sarcasm, which I thought was very nice.)
Sean, under his breath to me (two sheets to the wind at this point): Can you have a list when you're single?
Me: (to Sean) Shut up, you.

Later on, Sean and I were driving home, and he said, "I am really glad that that guy wasn't an asshole. Because I really didn't want him to be."

I also am happy that he's not an asshole, and really didn't want him to be. Why? Because he's totally on my "list," too. ;-)

P.S. You can read about the annoying (read: douche-a-licious) parts of our night here.

**Title lyrics from "Hollywood Nights" by Bob Seger**