Payment is Due

Debbie Calvo and I first worked together at The Dolphin Group in 1981 -- she was fresh out of UCLA and I was still a student at USC. That fall we bet lunch over the USC vs. UCLA football game. I don't remember which team won that year (probably USC) and we've been betting lunch on the game ever since.

The deal is the loser has until next year's game to buy lunch. We've gotten into the habit of paying off the bet from the previous year in the week before the annual rivalry game. And with this year's showdown set for this Saturday, Debbie had the honor today of taking me out to lunch for the sixth year in a row. (Don't feel too bad for Debbie -- I think I took her out for something like 10 years in a row in the late 80s and 90s.)

We met for lunch at Casa Vega on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. It may not look like much from the outside, but it's a good Mexican restaurant on the inside. And if the photo above looks like the window is covered over, that's because it is -- Casa Vega is one of the darkest restaurants you'll ever eat in. That's part of the fun. And Debbie said she was happy not to pay an arm and a leg to pay off last year's bet.

At the end of lunch we shook on lunch for this year's game. The Trojans are undefeated this season and the Bruins are 10 and 1 -- so it could be a very exciting game. Let's just hope Debbie is hosting again a year from now.

I saw the new movie "Rent" tonight. I saw the stage musical a few years ago at the Ahmanson Theater and didn't really like it. I liked the movie better -- I could understand the song lyrics and the story more easily.

It's still very touching that Jonathon Larsen put his heart into writing this show and then died the night before the first preview. And after nine years it's still running at the Nederlander Theater in NYC.

Last week the New York Times ran an article about the geographic errors in the movie. For instance, in the movie one restaurant is set on a corner while "everyone" knows it's in the middle of the block. Such a New York attitude!

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