Tom's trip to Dubai was for the purpose of business,
but we managed the dates a bit to meet up with our friends from London, Melissa and Andrew.
They recently moved to London from Chicago after marrying a little over a year ago...
Melissa worked with me for many years and she, well, married a cool rock star...
Andrew is the bassist and one of the founders of the legendary Brand New Heavies...
She couldn't have found a more wonderful man, but hey, the rock star part works, too!
We love them and jumped at the chance to meet up while they played Sand Dance, the Dubai music festival.
The promoters put the band up at the Atlantis Dubai,
so we cabbed along "The Palm" to the end where Atlantis perches...
May there never be a tsunami in the Persian Gulf, because that man-made palm will be in for it.....
This hotel is Vegas East.....
Gorgeous, huge and even smells like Vegas hotels...
Check out this Chihuly sculpture.....
There is a gigantic aquarium, numerous fancy lounges and restaurants,
pretty people and Emeratis everywhere.
Security was super tight...you would have thought His Highness was on premises....
A beaming, radiant Melissa met us at the bar and then we went to the beach bandstand to see the show.
Andrew was looking fine in his show gear, playing his new private label bass.
It was a great show, right there on the sand...
We danced like fools, well not really.. the hammered girls in front of us danced like big,
sweaty fools, bumping us and splashing drinks.
Even on the beach, it's a little annoying...
It wasn't until a tall, wasted guy started bouncing off of Tom, that I worried a fight might break out...
Tom is so easy going, but he can only take so much...
After the Heavies finished their set, we were allowed back stage to hang with the band...
I've always wanted to say that.....
There were some more white couches, a bar with stern Middle Eastern guys reluctantly serving drinks
and a small trailer with munchies inside.
We had a great time talking and laughing with the band, the hanger's ons and some chick who looked like an MTV type of interviewer...
Once in a while we would step up to the back stage area to watch the subsequent acts...
The crowd was growing...larger and drunker....
Backstage was becoming drunker, too...
The lovely backup singer, who has a voice from the heavens, was a little toasted...
Apparently she was a WWF warrior in her past life, because
she must have wrestled at least 10 people that night, mostly women.
It's her M.O., I was told... although she was not winning this particular round....
I hid....
I know of few moves from Jack's seido karate,
but didn't want to be tested that night by a woman half my height....
The Middle Eastern stage security guy did not approve of the wrestling matches.
He pretty much glared the whole time....
All in all, it was a blast getting to know the band....
They are a bunch of great and very funny people...
The next night we all reconvened at the beach bar named Nasimi beach...
Apparently all food was comped for the band, but not liquor...
So, they poured some duty free goodies into water bottles and brought them along...
I am sure it was strange to the waitstaff when we ordered only soda....
The DJ at the bar was awesome, the night was just cool enough and the company was entertaining....
I could get used to hangin' with the glitterati....
Lastly: Parting Thoughts....
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