What’s a Nice Guy Like Lee MacDougall Doing in the Secret Upstairs Room of a Hollywood Hookah Bar?

You know, I just can’t say the words Hollywood Hookah Bar without smiling. To be precise, it was a Lebanese hookah bar and restaurant in West Hollywood (as my friend Twifixx says, you just can’t make this stuff up) that hosted Lee last month for some fabulous acoustic music in their upstairs loft as part of a free program featuring up and coming singer/songwriters.

This is Pi on Sunset, the aforementioned Hollywood Hookah Bar
(yep, saying that still makes me smile).

Before telling you about the show, I must confess that I’ve finally come to the realization that I may be listening to Lee’s CDs just a bit too much. This was confirmed by my smug children the other day in the car when they kept singing the first few lines of each song right before it started playing and then asked if I could please put on something else. I know those kids aren’t clairvoyant (nor in possession of good musical taste), so it is entirely possible I may have a minor addiction. Since then, I’ve been more covert about listening to Lee's music, kind of like he’s my secret drug stash or a bag of chocolate covered Oreos.

Also, you’re not going to believe this, but…
LEE MACDOUGALL READ THE BLOG POST I WROTE ABOUT HIM!
I know this to be true because I heard it directly from the man himself and he totally made my day with his sweet comments. My first inclinations were to either do cartwheels across the room (which, trust me, would scar your retinas forever if you had to witness it) or hide behind a rock in utter embarrassment. After a few brief moments of self reflection, I made the only logical decision: write about him some more.

If you missed my post last month, “I Just Can’t Resist a Cute, Witty Brit with a Fabulous Voice and Killer Smirk,” just scroll down a ways or click HERE.

Just in case you still don’t know who I’m talking about, here’s a picture of the wonderful Lee MacDougall.

The Hollywood Hookah Bar program featured Lee and three other performers in the restaurant’s upstairs room, which was decorated like a funky version of the inside of I Dream of Jeannie’s bottle. They took turns performing a song each and then repeated the rotation for about 2 hours. In my wholly unbiased opinion, Lee sounded phenomenal and was totally in his element. He truly is an undiscovered talent. Two of the other performers were quite good and generously gave us free copies of their CDs. Everyone there was very friendly and it was a fun night of terrific music.

This memorable evening felt especially intimate because there were only 15 people total in attendance, including the performers and their guests. There were only two other “fan- types” in the room besides Twifixx, ZAnyMouse and me. How crazy is that? It was like we were just sitting in someone’s oddly decorated living room for a private concert.

It would have been too distracting and weird to take pictures during the performances, but Twifixx snuck in a couple with her phone while nobody was looking. She’s always got our backs like that.

Lee sang beautiful versions of a few songs from his CDs, plus my favorite song “Ships” and a fabulous, slow rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” I can't even say how surprised I was when Lee did a little “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” rap medley in his British Homeboy accent, but it was all kind of tongue in cheek and totally worked. It was so cute that he ended with a quiet little "yo."

 

Here’s our post show BookClub picture: TwiloveSue, ZAnyMouse, Lee, and Twifixx

(as you know, we refer to ourselves as a BookClub because it sounds so much more legitimate than admitting that we became friends because of Twilight and now run around at all hours of the day and night having fun)

I know you want to know, so I’ll just go ahead and tell...
Yes, Lee smelled very good when we hugged goodbye!

Lee, I hope you come back to California again soon!!

TwiloveSue XOXO

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reblogging my photos and posts! I truly appreciate all of your wonderful comments and tweets. There are lots more pictures and adventures coming soon!