It's been an awful week in the world. What happened on that campus in Virginia. The latest explosions in Baghdad. Alberto Gonzales going head to head with Arlen Spector and being embarrassed like that. The Red Sox Dice-K striking out ten, and losing the game.

Awful.

But tonight we went to the theater. Donna and I. We went to the theater. And it made us forget, for an hour and a half, what was happening out there, beyond the stage door and the walls of the theater.

The old Leow's Theater in Providence. It's now the Providence Performing Arts Center. It's one of those old theaters, one of those " palaces. " Magical night. Harry Connick Jr. was there with his 11 man band. Most of the music was New Orleans music. Piano. Trombone. Sax. Drums.

Harry was great. And as I watched him down there, from my perch in the crowd, I thought:

This might be like what it was like when my father saw Sinatra at the theater in Hartford. During WWII it was. When awful things were happening. Dad talked about that.

The theater. That's where Donna and I spent the evening. In the crowd. In the dark. Watching Harry play the piano, sing and dance in the light. He made us forget for a while, what was happening out there in the world.