The Traditional Gift for a First Anniversary? Cat Gut and Burgers, But Classy-Like

October 2, 2005 marked my first full year as Mrs. Herr Guitar (or Ms. Juste Milieu-Guitar). To celebrate a year that was full of strum, strum, strum but lacking in strum und drang (with only a couple minor exceptions), we paid homage to the guitar gods by going to see Les Paul play at the Iridium Jazz Club. He and his trio play two shows there every Monday night, and it's the kind of "New York thing" that you always think about doing and never get around to. Since Les Paul (who, for people who don't know or haven't the inclination to care about such things, is known as the father of the electric guitar, reverb and multi-track recording) is going on 91 years old, time may be running out.

I have to admit, seeing Les Paul was lower on my "New York thing" list than it was ono HG's, but I'm glad he wanted to do it because the show is great. The old guy still really knows how to play a guitar, and the backing trio is also excellent. His stand-up bass player is a really hot young blonde chick who sings and partakes in the requisite but uncomfortable sexual banter with him, his rhythm guitarist is an unassuming, old-school New York guitar-playing mobster type with a beautiful singing voice, and the pianist is very... I don't know... piano-y? Paul had this cool way of tuning while he played, making it sound beautiful. At one point he had to switch to another guitar and had trouble tuning it, and he joked he "should've bought a Fender." (Again, for those of you who are disinterested or not married to my husband, the Gibson Les Paul guitar is one of the most famous and popular around. According to HG, the two he played that night are his famous originals.) They played a version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," a song I'm generally not crazy about, that brought tears to my eyes.

You buy tickets for the music, and can either have dinner or drinks while you watch (I think there's a minimum). And although the club is on 51st and Broadway and just screams tourist food, the dinner was really delicious and reasonably priced. I had what is unquestionably the best burger in New York.

Anyway, if you are a guitar fan, are looking for a jazzy night out, or have parents or grandparents in town and want to show them a good time, I highly recommend the show.

And if you are a fan of sweet, brilliant, talented, loving husbands, I highly recommend a year of marriage to my guitar god. Unfortunately for you, I'm not sharing.