An Octopus' Garden at S.C.

Rockapella at Saddleback College

Mission Viejo, CA

Friday, June 12, 2009

It's been almost 6 months since I've seen Rockapella. So when I tell you that I'm going to see Rockapella 3 times this weekend, you should already know the level of insanity that is in Sherry's heart. My vacation started last night with me already being happy about the big Lakers win. But today was the official start of not having to be at work. What a wonderful day it turned out to be!

I went to Green Papaya to get my nails done. Since one of my nails is breaking, I asked the gal to cut my nails really short, which made me feel like a little girl, so I also had her paint them bright pink. I felt like I was playing with Barbie makeup it was so silly. I also asked for a Lakers shade of purple on my toes, and they look really cool. I didn't get my car washed because it was drizzling throughout much of the day. That turned out to be a bummer later.

I drove down to Saddleback early, in order that I could avoid traffic, which I did most of the way. That El Toro Y is not fun, but I did see a limo and wondered if the Pella were in it. They weren't, though, which I realized as I watched them pass the exit that they should have taken. I found the parking lot and I was the only one there, so I passed the time by calling Bro, trying to call Angela, and then getting a call from Jeff about dinner. As I was leaving the parking lot to look for dinner options, I saw a red minivan drive up, and some people kicked a soccer ball around.

As I drove around, I saw this sign, which just makes me smile, thinking of how perfect it was for today.

So while I was driving around, Jeff called again, and I told them to meet me at the parking lot, and we'd all go to dinner together. When I arrived, the red minivan was there, the people were playing soccer, and they saw my car and pointed excitedly at the license plate. So, of course, I stopped and talked to them. This is the point where I really wish I had washed my car.

Jenn, Claire, Izzy, Dom, Tom & the RKAPLLA

It turns out that the 5 of them are from England and are driving around the States on holiday. Dom had been talking about Rockapella because he'd seen clips on YouTube, but had never seen them live. Since they were in SoCal at the same time as Pella, the friends decided to take him to Mission Viejo and surprise him for his birthday by getting him a ticket to the Rockapella concert. He thought that they were just going to the beach, and then they ended up at the college and he was quite surprised. During all of this conversation, I was on the phone with Angela because she had returned my call while I was driving up to the parking lot. So she got to hear them, including Dom's "hot British voice." They were really friendly, and Rudy & Jeff pulled into the parking lot, too, so we all talked for awhile. They had started in Seattle, rented the minivan, and drove down through the Western states, seeing lots of stuff like Yosemite and San Diego. I was really excited that Dom was seeing his first show, and offered to introduce him to them at the meet and greet. He was, like, "They're going to have a meet and greet?!" Just too cute. So we found out where he'd be sitting, and said that we'd meet him later. The others hadn't decided whether or not they'd go to the show, and said that they first needed to find a place to sleep. We tried to convince them as much as possible, and went off to dinner.

Dinner as at Carrow's, which wasn't the greatest, but at least we got to sit down and eat and chat for awhile before returning to the theater. Karla had brought former student Nicole, who was seated next to me. As we were entering the theater, I spotted Michael and son Brandon, whom I haven't seen in quite a few years. Wendy & Jeff ended up sitting next to Rudy. He and Jeff had the seats that Liz and Joe were supposed to sit in, but they were picking up their daughter from college. I was really excited because it had been way too long since I'd seen Rockapella, and I was about to see them from Front Row Center. OH, YES! Rudy was floored when he saw where we were sitting, despite the fact that I had told him earlier. He said, "When you said 'Front Row Center', I didn't think you meant FRONT. ROW. CENTER.!" Jeff explained to me that Rudy didn't realize that we'd be in spit-on-our-faces range.

Rockapella took the stage. Jeff, George, and Kevin were dressed in shades of gray, with George wearing a red shirt underneath. Scott was wearing a mini-houndstooth pattern suit, which sounds weird but was actually very nice. His black shoes were quite shiny. John was wearing a blue suit with a rust-colored shirt, which matched his shoes.

Tonight

Scott said, "We're here to replace Miss California."

4U4Now4Life: The guys pointed to JT and sang "He can't stand his girlfriend." He used to sing that part himself.

Scott said that they could actually fill a couple of positions. They heard that there was a left field position open for the Dodgers, which would be fine with them since they're all 'roided up. "That's how George does it. George has to cut his hair continually in order to not look like Manny Ramirez."

Zip

Got to Get You Into My Life

Stand By Me

I could see JT in the wings, wiping sweat off his face. It must have been hot up there.

Scott said that John was on "The Tonight Show" with Phil Collins.

Use Me: Scott is a goofball wacko. He was just especially goofy with the dancing tonight. "They got the beat in Mission Viejo. Vi-e-jo! Vi-vi-vi-e-jo!"

Kevin said that it had been a long time since they'd been in California, but whenever they come back, it's like visiting family. Then he gestured to Karla to my right, and Wendy to my left, and completely ignored my face. Whatever. (He later overheard me saying this to Scott and said, "I didn't ignore you!") So he asked the audience, "What's up with the weather?" People responded, and he said, "June Bloom?" Laughter. Perhaps I should bring Gloomy Bear on Sunday to show him what the weather can do to a bear. Anyway, he said, "I'm not sure if I should tell you this story, but we're family right?" and apologized in advance if he would offend anyone.

Kevin went fishing with his family, because he wanted to teach his 9- and 11-year-olds to fish. They didn't want to touch the bait, so he baited the hooks for them and let them catch the fish. He said, "We caught so many types of fish. We caught a Hammerhead Shark (!), a Flounder (to which his wife said, "Wow, God didn't finish that fish!"), and octopus. So later on, they were eating dinner, and Kevin's mom called. She talked to his daughter who said, "Yeah, Grandma, you should have seen the octopus! It had so many testicles!" When Kevin got back on the phone, his mom said to him, "WHAT are you teaching your child?!" So Kevin said to himself, "I'm going to go to California and tell them this story." This turned into an awkward segue of him talking about seeing the beach and "I saw in my peripheral vision: this Boardwalk." This word must be the cue for the other guys to get back on stage, as Scott walked back on and asked Kevin, "How many testicles do you have?" Kevin smiled at him and tried to continue his segue, saying that the boardwalk underneath is ... "dirty and smelly." OMG, Kevin is hilarious.

Under the Boardwalk: George still does not get the fact that a "carousel" does not go "round and round" vertically. We tried to show him from our seats, but he just smiled at us. Kevin sang "Me and the octopus, yes, I remember it well."

Tell Me What You Want

Scott said that when a cappella goes bad, it's ... pretty bad.

Here's our favorite song to sing in California. 'Cause it's got that word in the title.

California Sad-Eyed Girl (which made Rudy swoon)

Scott talked about the guys. Kevin said, regarding his career, "Thank goodness for Andrew Lloyd Weber." To which Scott responded, "You know, I've never said that before, but you just did, and you're right."

Kevin said, "Not only does Scott have great hair (Scott smiled and said 'Thank you'), and a voice that only puppy dogs can hear, and a 28-inch waist..." Scott mouthed "26." Kevin said, "Oh, did I just insult you and give you a bigger size?" Scott said, "I'm a ZERO." Kevin: "Zero Petite." OMG, that was SCOTT in the Ann Taylor fitting room? ;)

Scott said that it's funny that whenever they sing California Sad-Eyed Girl in California, they hear giggles in the audience when they sing "San Bernardino." He asked for suggestions of places with 5 syllables. Someone said "Mission Viejo." He tried to fit it into the song, then said, "That 'Ho' part bothers me. We'll sing it somewhere outside of here, and people will ask, 'Did he just say Ho?'"

Paper Doll: Bass part seems even more wicked than ever, but that may be because I hadn't heard it in so long, at least by Rockapella (I have the Mills Bros rendition on CD). I turned to Rudy afterward and said, "I LOVE THEM!!!" Yeah, Sherry? We couldn't tell.

Rock the Boat: Scott's dance "I call this 'The Viejo'." When Scott went off stage, he took off his jacket. What is with the silver bracelets?

Jingle Medley: Scott: "We didn't want ayone to know because we ahd a very wholesome PBS children's show and didn't want them to know about the seamy underbelly of all of this." During the Mounds portion, Scott looked like he was grasping...ummm... a couple of mounds. Chest mounds.

My Girl John got a guy named Keith to get up so that he could sit next to Keith's wife of 14 years, Leilani. After Geo did his patented low-voiced "What's going on, baby?" Kevin turned to Keith and said, "Whatcha gonna do about that, Keith?" Kevin called Leilani's shoes "Boat shoes, because they're made out of cork. So if you lost them, they'd just float back. I've got fish in the brain. Toenails! Look at her toenails, guys! They have little flowers!...This is a special song, it's called 'Leilani with the Cork Shoes'. We don't get to sing it much." (He is too damn funny). "Ooh, Leilani, how I love your painted toenails." And that was it. Nice fake at giving her back to Keith before singing...

Ain't Too Proud to Beg John tried to get into the Butt Dancing with Scott, Leilani and Kevin. Scott said that they'd better not mess too much with Leilani. Her husband's a large man. (To Scott, everyone is, really).

People Change

Geo said that he "came in a day early, went to Hollywood, by the Chinese Theater and I was Whitney Houston. You know a man needs to make a buck or two. So I was there with my wig on and a man came and said to me, 'You don't look like Whitney Houston.' I said I can sing like her." So he demonstrated, then said, "Funny thing is, Joker only gave me 50 cents." He then said that during the last song, he asked himself, "What is it that I really do? I know I'm supposed to sing Bass. But what else? I think I'm a pillow that the other guys can rest on easily." I like it, George! More Pillows for Pella!

Papa Was A Rolling Stone Hmmm, some nice new licks.

Carmen: There were graphics in the background, with a ? and a sketch of Carmen SanDiego and the Earth. They also showed that during the Matt Lauer thing, which threw the audience off.

ENCORE

Shambala

Then lots of requests, including way old school, like "77" and "Bodyboard." Scott later told us that Elliott didn't want to sing "Bodyboard" anymore because he "found...something..." and didn't want to sing about a stripper. Interesting.

Zombie: So Kevin stops the song in the usual place, and Scott, in Zombie mode, growls and approaches him, but Kevin still doesn't move. Scott says to him, "Is there something wrong, Zombie Kevin?" Kevin: "I have too many testicles!" Scott turns around and says, "Good night, everybody!" and pretends to leave the stage. When he returns, Scott, from behind Kevin, kinda bends to look underneath Kevin. We are all laughing hysterically. After the song was over, Scott pointed to Kevin's pants, perhaps to allow his testicles to bow as well. OMG, that was awesome.

Meet and Greet

So I got in line with Dom and Rudy and Jeff, and most of Dom's entourage had decided to see some of the show, so they were in line, too. I freaked out Dom and said, "So what are you going to say to them?" He had no idea. He was shaking, he was so nervous. But he did well, as his friends told the guys about everything. Here is Dom finally relaxing a little bit and talking to the guys.

Scott listening to the beautiful British accents:

I got to talk to Fred for a little bit, who took advantage of their tour break to vegitate a little bit. I hugged him despite his holding juice and a banana.

Karla and Nicole had also met someone that was attending their first Rockapella show. She was scheduled to see them in Rrrrancho in December, and can't make it on Sunday, so she was happily surprised when she saw an ad this morning about Rockapella being only 8 miles away from her house!

Nicole, Mary and Karla

I was happy that Jeff and Rudy could make use of Liz's tickets. Although I missed Liz, I may not have been able to meet Dom and his friends. Serendipity.

Rudy and Jeff by cool Pella poster

I got back into the line to get my program signed. JT came over to say hi, sign stuff and give me a hug, saying that it was a pleasure to see me there in the front row, as always. I said that it was a pleasure to be there, as always. A little while later, Karla said that I was holding up the line by talking to Scott too much, and she wasn't able to get to the other guys for their signatures. She didn't realize that actually, there were other people in front of me that had held up the line much longer than I had been talking to Scott, but whatever. She had Scott sign her poster, and started talking to John. Then she held up the line by talking to the other guys. So I said, "Fine, I'll just sit here. Scott only takes up half of a seat anyway." I was kidding, but Scott moved over, and let me sit with him. See?

I tried to talk Kevin into going on Twitter, and he said that he was on Facebook and I should just go there. I said that he could do both. I don't have time for yet another site. He looked at me and said, "That's what I'M saying! I don't want to update one then have to go to the other, or forget the other one, then everybody gets mad because I've ignored them on the one site." I told him that he could update both at the same time. We left it at that, but y'all on Twitter need to back me up.

After I got my signatures, I asked Jeff to take a picture of Aura and me. But first, a shot of the new shoes:

Pretty, huh? Got 'em on sale at Kohl's.

Aura and Sherry

I didn't think that Aura would make it to the show, because she was in Cerritos at 7:15 p.m., and the show started at 8:00. She got there late, and tried to get a ticket, but the box office was closed, and the doors were open, so she walked in and watched the rest of the show. YAY!

After the pictures, I went back to see what else was going on. Wendy, Jeff, Karla, Nicole, and Mary will still talking to some of the guys, so I joined them. I mostly talked to Scott, except when Kevin interjected to tell me that he didn't ignore me. Scott and I talked about his meeting wife Lisa and WDW. He was basically one of the only straight guys there, so he had great odds in meeting the girls. He immediately took a liking to one of the "Kids of the Kingdom" girls, and he said that they met in May, got engaged in August, and got married in February. (Or some other month that was before the next May). I thought it was cute how he talked about her, and how fast the courtship went. He said, "When you know, you know. I didn't even think that I was ever going to get married, and then I met her." C.U.T.E.

We also talked about son Jesse and his drumming. Jesse will be going to Jazz Band Camp this year, but needs more of a challenge with his level. So I talked Drum Corps again, and told him that the Cavaliers drumline would be really good for his skills. He said maybe next year, and we were going to talk scheduling of DCI camps but got interrupted.

He talked about Natalie and their new dog "Princess," whom Natalie just loves to stylishly carry around in her bag (Princess is a chihuahua/dachschund mix, so she's little). APPARENTLY, Princess also has a stroller, which I do not understand, since the dog can walk, right? I guess that's what bugs me about the bags, too. But Natalie feels so stylish, and has pink clothing and everything for the puppy, and Scott seems to love all of it, too.

Scott was wearing a shirt that said "1916 Purple and Yellow." I had Aura ask him if he was wearing it for the Lakers, but he hadn't realized it, and is now going to say that he wore it on purpose. When he was talking to Karla about baseball, he realized that he forgot to bring his Rrrancho Cucamonga Quakes shirt to wear to Sunday's meet and greet. Bummer.

At one point, Scott was kind enough to ask how I'd been, and I babbled about the furloughs and their impact on my vacation calendar duties. He's so nice to listen to a bunch of nothing. I did tell him that I'd be going to Napa next week, and he thought, "We're not going to Napa next week." I said, "I know you're not going to be there, but I'm going anyway. It's weird!" I had no idea that he was thinking the same thing, but that's funny. I also mentioned my upcoming visit to see the Bro, and he mentioned that he did meet Bro. I should have mentioned that Brady was the one that interrupted their show.

I asked Scott if he had seen the video from Rockapella Epic Fail day. He said yes, that it was great, and that he lost it because his email went nuts and erased everything. I offered to send it again, and he said yes, because he could then watch it every day. :) Karla told him that it's also posted on my blog so he could just see it there, and he was, like, "How often do you blog?" I said, "Well, there will be something up there when I get home tonight." So I guess I'll send him the blog address when I send him the video. (If you're reading this, HI, SCOTT!).

Scott said that someone sent him a link to a YouTube video showing them singing in Japanese. He couldn't remember the title of the song, so he started singing it, and then I sang along with him, and realized that I hadn't ever heard it sung in Japanese, since it's not on any CDs (I said "albums" cuz I'm old). He said that it wasn't on albums, but it WAS him singing.

Found it!

I then asked the gals to join me in our request: I asked Scott to sing a Christmas song at the Rrrancho shows. He seemed amenable to it until we started requesting a whole ton of songs. Then he said, "Why don't I have you guys write the set list and just give it to me?" Sorry. I only asked for "Snowstar." Because I've never heard that live. But the other suggestions were good ones, too.

So we left Scott and Kevin so that they could go eat their dinner. It was nice to be able to talk to them for a long time, since we hadn't seen them in several months. I'm glad that I only have to wait 2 days to see them again.

Or, OK. 37 hours. I need to go to bed.

Thanks, Pella, for enabling me to meet new friends, catch up with old friends, and tell English folks that you ARE my friends.