HO!

Rockapella at Montalvo

Sunday, December 12, 2011

Saratoga, CA

Carriage House Theatre

4:00 p.m.

Karla had stayed at my house the previous night, after the show at CalTech.   We woke up and made our way to the Ontario Airport.  We saw that Southwest Airlines had their Santa Claus all set up for photos.  I had known that they were doing this for the holidays, and told my flight companions that I wanted us to take a picture when we got to San Jose.  It surprised me that SWA had one of the photo ops in Ontario, too.  We met up with Jeff and Wendy and decided to take our pictures while waiting for our flight.  We each received a copy of the picture, which was sponsored by Windows Live photo gallery.  Since we had 4 copies, we decided to give them to Rockapella and sign them.  The only problem was that we only had 4 of them.  But wait!  Maybe we could get more in San Jose!  Here are our pictures.  OK, so Santa looks different in each one.  But we're so cute!

ONT

SJC

I asked Ontario Santa if we were on the Naughty List or the Nice List.  He said that the last time he checked, we were on the Nice List, but they were in the middle of switching from Analog to Digital, so our names might have jumped over to the other one. Uh-oh.  I asked San Jose Santa if I could place Scotcherbreadman on his shoulder and he said, "As long as he doesn't poop on me!"  I said that the poop would smell like gingerbread anyway, so it would be OK, but Scotcherbread would NOT poop on Santa.  That's crazy talk!  You know, unlike the rest of my talk. ;)


We picked up our rental cars and drove downtown to get some lunch.  Our car (a Chevy HHR) had a very strong scent inside.  Not a bad scent, just colognial.  Not like from the 1700s.  Like cologne.  See what I did there?  Well, Karla and I thought that it was funny and laughed hysterically. We found a Johnny Rocket's, which happened to be right across the street from the hotel where Karla and I would be staying.  We were unable to avoid the large group of children, whom, we deduced, had just come from ice skating in the park outside the hotel.  


Karla and I checked into The Fairmont, and were overwhelmed by our beautiful hotel room.  I had received a great deal on Priceline when I made a bid, and I was extremely pleased with the results.  The room was beautiful: the view from 18 stories up was of the Christmas in the Park and downtown San Jose, there was a hallway (with a vanity table in it) to get to the closet and the bathroom, and the bathroom itself was huge with its separate tub and shower and a little room for the commode.  I was glad that I'd be staying an extra day so that I could enjoy the room after the show.  


We got all dolled up and made our way to the venue.  Wendy and Jeff were getting sandwiches for us on their way (they were labeled the Sandwich Crew by George when they told him about the plan to eat between shows), and we assigned ourselves to locate Sharpies for the photos.  We found a Walgreen's on the way, and got to the Montalvo in plenty of time before the show.  The Montalvo grounds landscaping was being worked on, but it was still a nice place to be.  Karla was happy to be in flat shoes because of the trek from the parking lot to the venue, and you know me:  I was wearing heels and somehow didn't mind the extra work my calves had to do to get up the hill.  Only Rockapella can make me feel that way.


I had bought tickets separate from Karla and Wendy & Jeff, and was seated in the front, on the Rhythm Section side.  This stage had 4 of those North Pole things, which Jeff E believed to be peppermint sticks.  Ohhhhh.  We said hi to Nick, whom we had met at SLO.  So Jeff finally met the guy that got to sit in his seat when he couldn't be there.  I took a gander at my surroundings.  Hey!  When I was "Pretty Woman" here, there were no steps up to the front of the stage.  Those would have been much easier to get up there, but then Kevin would have never carried me to get down, so I guess I don't care that I didn't get to use steps.  :)  This venue has good memories for me.


I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day
George smiled at me!  Hi!!!


Hope We Hold
When Scott sang "Down, down, down" during the bridge, he pointed down.  Does he always do that?


Dreidel
I like Geo's "Light the Candle!  Yyyyeaahhhh."  It makes me giggle.


Winter Wonderland
So pretty when Scott smoothly sings the word "Dream".  It's, like, dreamy.


Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Scott really got into his guitar solo.  A red gel from one of the lights fell down, and Jeff tossed it aside.  Weird.


Glow Worm
John almost jumped off the stage to start off his solo.  Dude!  This is not as big of a stage as the one at the Beckman!  Be careful!  Dude in back of me said "I'm not hearing the bass."  Dude in back of me, please be quiet and maybe you'll hear the music on the stage.  Thank you.


Little Mary Snowflake
I love this song.  "Conquering kingdoms and hacking at dragon heads"  Have I told you how much I love Scott's lyrics?  I LOVE Scott's lyrics.  He has a gift with words and music.


Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime
I got lots of Steven love: He smiled at me a LOT.  HI!!!  Scott admired Geo's part, saying, "That's hard stuff!  That's Tchaikovsky!"  Really?  I need to listen to that more.  He, of course, was talking about those cool notes that I mentioned in my review from the night before.  


I clapped when Scott asked if anyone had watched "Rudolph" last week.  Scott thanked me.  He talked about how he would wait all year for it to be shown, and would sit in front of the TV "well, maybe it was not that pathetic, but Mom said it was."  


Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Ack.  There was a little bit of trouble when they modulated to the other key, but they recovered quickly.  It probably helped when Scott stood closer to John, so they could get it going again.


Merry Christmas, Darling
Stellar, John, STELLAR!  Wait.  JT sings during this song?  Wow.


After John talked up Scott's amazing skills, Scott said, "Thank you for the obligatory applause."


Don't Be Late
Geo looked at me when singing "Don't leave me lonely" and while asking for his gifts.   OK, honey, I won't.  ;)


Jingle Bell Rock/Ukrainian Carol
Scott made funny noises behind his megaphone.  Now I can hear a lot of sirens.


Please Come Home for Christmas
When George sang his solo, he stared at me, got on one knee on stage, and motioned "come here" with his finger.  I thought to myself, "OKAY!" and walked up to him.  He took my hand and kissed it!  Aaaaah!  Swwwwooooooon!!!  I could hear my friends (or someone as excited for me) screaming.  Then Scott said, "Hey, this is my song!" and made George leave me.  So I pouted and went back to my seat.  Then Scott did the motion "I've got my eyes on you" and I flipped my hair, smiled, and flirted with him, also doing the "I've got my eyes on you" motion back at him. I'm so fickle.  ;)  It was AWESOME!


Happy Kwanzaa
(I have no notes here.  I think that I was still beaming and couldn't concentrate on anything but George kissing my hand).


Steven talked about the beauty of the Montalvo grounds.  "We were driving up here and I was like, 'Guys, where are we goin'?'"  He said that 8 year-old Madison was on Santa's list.  She wants a cell phone for Christmas.  When Steven introduced JT to her, he said, "He speaks occasionally."  She's on the Nice List, by the way.  


Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
She knew the song before it even started.  George was singing from backstage, and it was like a karaoke lead track.  He then walked onto the stage in a Santa suit.  Funny.  


Geo stayed in his Santa suit.  He said, "When I put this costume on, it made me want to sing like a woman.  Whitney Houston:  was she naughty or nice?  I'd like to sing a song with you, Handel's Messiah."  Someone in the audience responded with "Hallelujah".  Good one!  We sang "Silent Night" instead.  George/Santa said, "That was beautiful!  Ho ho ho ho!"


Grinch
I can't see John's or Scott's eyes because their hats were pulled down so low on their heads.  They acted like gangsta rappers.  


After the song, George returned from backstage, and Scott asked him, "Where you been?"  George:  "Bathroom."  John had some lint or white Santa Hat stuff flying around, and Steven helped him with it.  Scott saw them and said, "Aren't you guys so pretty primping yourselves?"  George said something about the white stuff on a black person looking wrong and said, "it's like a zebra, backwards."   (pause) "You know how you don't think you're going to say something and then you say it anyway?"  Hilarious.


Christmas Without You


Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Aw, no projections of baby Pellas.  I guess they don't have screens in this venue.


Angels We Have Heard on High


Steven waved bye to me as he left the stage.  Bye, Cutie!


ENCORE
Carmen/ Billie Jean/ Carmen


Scott said, "We've got another show tonight, so just stay in your seat."  OK!  


Scott said that in Japan, Christmas is not a religious time at all, it's like New Year's Eve here, it's more of a romantic holiday.


Hold Out for Christmas (off mic)


I then tried to hide from Wendy, so as not to incur her wrath over her man kissing my hand.  But she was gracious and allowed me to eat dinner with her anyway..  ;)


Next up:  the 7:00 show.