Bat Those Flirty Flirty Eyes!

Rockapella at The Coach House

Thursday, April 15, 2010

San Juan Capistrano, CA

Liz, Wendy and I greeted each other Good Morning and went to the hotel breakfast.  Embassy Suites always has a cook-to-order omelet station, which is nice, so that I could get my egg whites and spinach omelet with whatever else.  As we were packing up, we realized that we never gave the lollipops to the guys.  OK, we'll do it tonight, we told Liz.  LIARS!  We totally forgot later on, too, so Wendy ended up taking them home to hubby Jeff.

We drove to Santa Maria to Karla's uncle's house and picked up Miss 100.  We chatted a bit with her family and petted their cute doggies.  We said our goodbyes, got the Edge filled up with gas, and drove back to So Cal.  It was a nice day again for a drive, and we laughed as Karla kept telling us that Fred gave her flowers.  Yes, she knew where the flowers *technically* came from, but still, Fred handed them to her.  I'm glad that we could make her so happy!  At a quiet point in the ride, she even texted Liz, who was in the same car, that Fred gave her flowers.  Karla, you're funny.  We enjoyed our recaps of the previous evening, as usual.  The only part of the drive that was negative was the damn traffic when we hit the San Fernando Valley.  I'm used to the traffic because I drive it every day, but I was on vacation, and there I was, a couple of miles from my work, stuck in traffic as if it was an ordinary day.  Move it, people, we need to get to Pella!!!

By the time we got to my neighborhood, we were all in the need of sustenance and facilities.  We decided on Daphne's Greek Cafe, which was yummy.  When we arrived at my house, we said our goodbyes to Liz, as she had a conference to attend that night.  The rest of us got pretty.  While I ironed my clothes, I saw that Karla's pants were a little bit wrinkled, so I asked if she'd like to iron them, and she said yes.  As soon as I was done with my blouse, I said to her, "Take your pants off."  She said, "I don't think that you planned to say that to *me* tonight, but OK."  You're right, KP, but I don't think that I'd exactly get away with it!  We were ready at about my goal time, so we were doing well.  Thank goodness Liz called to tell us about the traffic on the 5, so I decided that we'd take an alternate route.  The alternate route and its carpool lane got us there quite quickly, and I was much happier than I had been in the Valley.  

When we arrived at The Coach House, Jeff T had just completed sound check, and as he was getting ready to leave, we said hi.  He said that we had a long wait ahead of us, and we told him that we knew, but this is what we do to be up front.  He said that he was going to go iron his clothes.  This prompted Karla to ask him if he wanted to hear what I had said to her earlier, then she said, "Never mind."  Hearing our giggles made him curious, so we told him, and JT said, "Oooohhhkayyyy, and with that, I'll be leaving now."  I just love amusing him.  I wondered if he now has fantasies of me and Karla telling each other to take our clothes off.  I'm totally giggling right now, just picturing him thinking about that.  Don't you love how I fantasize about how others would fantasize about me?  

I picked up our tickets from the box office, and was quite impressed with myself, because we had tickets numbered 1 through 10.  That's right, baby -- I was the first one to call for this show!  We were the second group of people in line.  The first two people in line were Kimmie and Brian, whom happened to know PellaPosse friend April.  Then Nicole and her friends Andrea and (oh, I forgot their names!) their friends joined us in line.  Linda drove up just as they started to open the door, so I waited for her before going in.  Since I had called so early, we had prime seats, up front, at center.   Whoo Hoooo!  Aura and Mox arrived shortly afterward, and all ticketholders #1 through #10 were present.

Since we had a long wait, I ordered a Sex On The Beach and some potato skins to tide me over.  Get it?  Beach?  Tide?  I also tried to figure out how to get my new camera to work in low light, so that I could take concert pictures.  I didn't do a very good job, though.  We tried to get pictures of Fred up in his sound booth balcony, but he saw us and heard us laughing, and ducked.  I reminisced with Wendy about first talking to her here at The Coach House, and that we had met during a private meet and greet after doing some publicity for Rockapella several years ago.  Wow, Wendy, that was almost 9 years ago to the day!  Karla, that's the day that I shocked you by remembering your name!  Wow, I can't believe how quickly time flies.  OMG, I had the same cocktail.  WHAT is up with that?

The opening act was a vocal jazz ensemble, Down 4 The Count.  If you go to their Music page, you can watch video of their performances from Valentine's Day this year of "Bernie's Tune" and "When She Loved Me".  I liked both of these songs, as well as "Hernando's Hideaway" (which Linda really liked as well), "Theme from 'The Pink Panther'", and Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'bout A Thing".  I like VJ's dimples. :)

We had an intermission so that they could take those big monitors off of the stage.

They didn't have a huge video screen at this venue like they did at the previous night's venue, but they had 2 smaller screens on each side of the stage, which showed the opening montage while Scott did his "la la la" from the stairs.  I was scared that he was going to fall while doing that.  Rockapella was wearing black suits, with George and John wearing lavender shirts and the others wearing black shirts.


Tonight


For You, For Now, For Life:  Here's one of those songs where I wondered if they were singing in the same key as usual.  It just didn't sound right.  Karla noticed that George's fly was open, so, of course, I couldn't stop looking at his pants.  


Scott said, "How about Down 4 The Count?!  They were IN TUNE."  He then asked the audience, "Who has seen us for 100 shows?"  Karla raised her hands and we applauded.  Scott called out Karla's name and said to the audience, "You should have seen her.  She did a whole number, she was dancing, and went topless -- it was wild...that was tasteless, I'm sorry."  Oh, Scott, perhaps you *have* taken over for Kevin's silliness. 


Nuthin' But


Got To Get You Into My Life 


Karla made a sign and placed it on the foot of the stage.  It said "Geo -- Fly -- Open?"  Yeah, it was still open.  Yeah, I was still staring at his pants.


Just My Imagination/Imagine:  I like when they're singing "...and the world will live as one", and at that point, they're all in one line behind George.  


I guess Jeff had gone upstairs for that song, because after it was over, I saw him walking back down the stairs.  Oh, and George finally zipped up his fly, modestly, yes, with his back turned, but, like, I was staring, so that's how I knew it had happened.


Tell Me What You Want:  Nice pause between the bridge and the last "Tell Me..."


Scott talked about the audition process for their new voice, and said that they sent guys 3 songs to learn.  Steven was going to be a baseball player in college (hey -- another connection with Scott, who went to college on a baseball scholarship!).


Cupid:  Steven picked someone named Jamie, who stood up for him.  


Bang Bang:  Oh, good.  Geo didn't fall off of the little stage during his kicks.  Scott, though, almost ran right into Wendy, and I touched her back in order that she'd have support if he fell on her.  Seriously, I spent too much time worrying about the guys falling that night!  Afterward, Scott said, "Ooh, I need a nap."  Wendy said, "Me too.  We can share a pillow!"  OK, I realize now that I hadn't written about Wendy's pillow.  Let's just say it was awesome, and I want one.  Oh, here it is.

Wendy's Pillow for Pella

Scott was winded from all of the Bang Bang dancing as he talked about trying to find a good city name for the next song.  He chose San Bernardino, then said, "So don't snicker.  We needed a 5-syllable word."  Everyone started suggested other city names, including the guys.  But nobody's city name is as good as SB's in that song.

California Sad-Eyed Girl:  Scott shook his head as the inevitable giggles emanated from the audience when Steven sang "San Bernardino".

Tonight, John called Scott "The Spaghetti Man".

Scott then talked about listening to his mom's records, and what those were.  "You had to earn it.  It wasn't push a button: Boom.  Next Song -- push a button: Boom.  Next Song.  Boom. Next Song."  Ah, the ramblings of an old fogey. ;)

Paper Doll:  I've decided that Steven is one of those guys with the "Flirty Flirty Eyes".  Why is Geo smiling so much at Scott during G's solo?  What are they thinking? Was Geo thinking, "I'm really glad that I zipped up my fly before sitting on this stool"?

Rock The Boat:  Scott called the dance he "made up" a "hustle-kind of line dance".  It's hard to do the Love Slide on carpet.  

George and Jeff sure were having a lot of private conversations.  It reminds me of the old days with Kevin and Elliott just jabbering on to each other during shows, mostly about the people in the audience.  Awww...I've missed that.  

Scott said, "Before we became the legendary musical act that we've become..." and heard laughter from the audience.  He said, "One of those 'San Bernardino' laughs."

Jingle Medley

Sherry:  "Scott's belt is very shiny."

Wendy:  "Why do you keep looking there?!"

I like how Scott said "San Huwan Capeestrrrano".  

My Girl:  John chose a woman from the back of the audience named Gretchen, and said to her date, "Sit down, Boyfriend."  When she got up to the stage, Scott said to her, "I heard you want to sing with us.  Do you want to dance with us?  Would you like to have a spotlight dance with Steven Dorian?"  (Oh, so that's how it's actually supposed to go!).

Ain't Too Proud to Beg:  I yelled at Gretchen to dance, and Steven placed his hands on her hips to move them for her.  Perhaps that's what Gretchen had in mind all along!  Perhaps not.  She seemed pretty shy.

George said, "I was taking a shower today (females scream), and I was in there practicing and somebody flushed that toilet and I sang like a woman."  He did his rendition of I Will Always Love You.  He continued, "These guys always get to sing songs to the ladies, and I am the bass!  Hey, fellas, can you help me out on this?"  Scott said, "Yes, we can."  By this time, John was finally able to change his shirt.  He was really sweating a lot, and hadn't been able to leave the stage until then, so he had his suit jacket on the whole time.

Baby Girl:  ....and George just melted Wendy.

Carmen

Encore

Papa Was A Rolling Stone:  AWESOME vocal percussion going on.  George looked at me! :)

Up On The Roof/Wonderful World (off mic):  A train whistled during Steven's solo, and Jeff did a train whistle motion, and they still kept in tune.  Awesome.  They ARE Rockapella.

Meet and Greet

It was a scattered M&G as per usual Coach House behavior.  George came over to our table, and we asked him if he had seen Karla's note.  He hadn't, so she showed him.  John said that they were all supposed to be wearing specific colors each night, but not everyone brings all of the clothes that they're supposed to, so it doesn't happen.  He talked to Wendy about Petey and why Jeff wasn't there with her.  

I walked over to Steven and told him, "I've decided that you have 'flirty flirty eyes'."  I think he liked that!  After getting over my really really true compliment, he asked me how he sounded.  I told him that I liked his sound better tonight, and he was surprised, because he was tired.  (I tend to get great compliments when I don't feel like I've sung my best, so I know the feeling).  I said to him, "So you're from Worcester?"  Aura laughed, knowing where I was going with this.  "Is that near Dorchester?  Do you know the New Kids?"  Steven said, "No, I only know Mark."  He was just kidding, though.  He said that I wasn't the only one that had asked me that, and that he wished he knew them, but no.  We talked about his gig at Walt Disney World, and he said that he was in The Lion King Celebration, and I asked him what song he sings.  Sigh.  He sings my most unfavoritest song in all of Disney history -- "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?"  I said to him, "I'm sorry.  I hate that song."  Steven said, "I hate it too, after singing it so much."  He's so kind to this crazy woman that totally insulted his song yet loves his gorgeous eyes.  He agreed to take a picture with me and rubbed my back as I said bye, and ... swooooooon, Sherry, swoon!  

Sher and Steven pre-Swoon

I talked a little bit to Jeff about stuff, and mostly listened to Scott talk to people about stuff that I honestly can't remember right now.  Then I talked to him for a little while, and provided my confession because I had been talking about him for two days.  I told him, "We've decided that your pants are shiny and snug."  He asked me to repeat that, feigning that he hadn't heard me, so I said it louder, but now I'm thinking that he just wanted it to be said louder. :)  He said, "Oh, sorry," and I said, "Oh, no, don't be sorry!  We LIKE them like that!  Wendy keeps asking why I keep looking there, but I can't help it."  He laughed.  I swear, I think Scott either thinks I'm the most straightforward person ever, or that I'm just drunk all of the time, because I say the darnedest things to his face.  But the most important part is that he thought my shoes were cute.  Wendy asked if our toes were smiling for the picture that she took of Scott's & my feet, but in all of the excitement, the picture came out blurry, so there is no photo here on the blog.  I think my toes were smiling, though, because they were next to Scott's.  We had to take a couple of pictures together to get one that I was happy with...or I just wanted to have Scott's arm around me longer, whatever. ;)

Scott, forever armed with his Sharpie, & Sher

The posse (except for Karla, who went home with Nicole and company) talked for so long afterward outside the venue that we saw each of the guys leave.  Ah, the diehards.

I drove Wendy home and got back to my house at about 2am.   It was a great couple of Rockapella-filled days, and I'm happy.  It's kind of a weird-happy, though, because I'm also going through withdrawals, not having a ticket yet to whenever the next show is that I can attend.  I missed them immediately after they all left the parking lot.  Wendy and I were actually following Scott and whomever for awhile as we drove onto the freeway, but I had already started missing them.  I was exhausted, but was still wide-awake from giddiness the next morning and returned the Edge to Enterprise.  

Thank you to Liz, Wendy and Karla for our funtastic road trip.  I look forward to our next Rockapella ride!