Awesome, You're the MAN!

Rockapella at the Britt Festival

Friday, September 2, 2011

Britt Pavilion

Jacksonville, OR

KP and Wendy knocked on the door, and we went downstairs for our free hotel breakfast.  Jenn had a cool corn-dog looking thing, which was actually sausage wrapped in a pancake on a stick.  We then checked out of the hotel, and started our road trip up the I-5 to Oregon.  Thank heavens for my friends, who are always entertaining, and are great company to have on a long trip, because that road was boring!  We had a few S&P breaks, which I named because we would stop to "Stretch and Pee".  The most scenic one was at a rest area along Lake Shasta.  I asked a man to stand up on a bench and take a picture of us so that the picture would include the lake, and he looked at me like he didn't understand English.  He finally understood, though, and here's the result.  Don't we look cute?  Well, Geo thinks so, because he said so on FB.  :)

Geo says we're Cuuuuuute!

After taking our beautiful picture, we decided that we should eat some lunch, so we tried to get info from Jenn's GPS.  The place that we saw, however, didn't really look like something we'd enjoy, although we did love the name of a nearby establishment called "Basshole Lodge".  As we tried to look for a place in a more populated area, I took tons of pictures of the beautiful Mount Shasta.  Here's one of them.

Purple Mountain's Majesty

We finally found Black Bear Diner, which is a chain up in Northern California.  They serve breakfast all day, which makes me happy.  Jenn forced us to share the bread pudding that we ordered, but there were raisins in it, which none of us cared for, so there were raisins all around the dessert bowl when we were done.  I bought a huge bear claw to eat later on.

Bread Pudding, before the de-raisining

We finally made it to Medford, and checked into the Courtyard Marriott, which was within eyesight of the Medford airport control tower.  Geo had posted something on his wall that he meant to post as a reply to one of his friends.  Since we like to mess with our boys, we decided to make signs to show him from our seats at the show.  Of course, Wendy had the idea to make signs long before our trip even started, but I totally forgot about that because I'm lame.  So Jenn made the signs on her laptop to print downstairs at the business center.  We had a couple of hours before needing to leave, and we had adjoining rooms, so Jenn opened up her beauty salon and straightened KP's and Wendy's hair.  We then went downstairs to print up the signs, and the printer jammed.  Oh, geez.  Since I deal with a lot of this at work, I figured out how to fix the jam and we got our prints and went on our way.  

The Britt Pavilion has its patrons park down the hill from the venue, and we were to take a free trolley up to the pavilion.  We had no idea where the trolley was supposed to stop, so when it came by, we asked the trolley driver, whom stopped for us.  It seemed that he was being intentionally vague as we asked about the location of the actual stop, but he let us on to the trolley.  It turns out that he just stops whenever he sees people.  Oh.  

Straight-Haired Gals on the Trolley

When we arrived, we were greeted by very friendly people, and made our way to Blanket #5.  Yes, it's the magic number again!  I had requested it on purpose because of our whole cruise adventure and I was happy that my request was granted.  We were in the front, house left, not the most left blanket of all of them, but the second to farthest.  So we were in front of speakers, but I'm OK with that.  Jenn, KP and I walked up the grassy hill to find dinner.  KP gave up when she didn't look far enough to see the food court, and Jenn and I bought souvenirs.  I bought a wine carrier with the Britt logo, and Jenn bought a Britt shirt.  We were told that if we had flown Allegiant Air out of LAX, we could have found a cheap fare to Medford instead of dealing with the drive.  OK, next time!  She and I then bought dinner.  I ordered a chicken gyro, which ended up tasting bland and tuna-like.  Jenn bought a box that came with crackers and stuff, which I enjoyed more than my own food.  I was going to start eating the ginormous bear claw, but ended up just taking a picture of it instead.  Wendy is such a sport to pose for pictures as asked.  :)

Rrrrawrrrr!

You'll notice in the above picture that Wendy is wearing a glow bracelet in addition to her pink blanket-area-only wristband.  She and Jenn had both brought glow stuff for us to wear.  The ones that were not worn will be distributed at the Hollywood Bowl Sound of Music Sing-Along, which I'm sorry to say that I won't be attending.  KP saw Fred and was unhappy that he looked unhappy.  She later found out that he had messed up his knee on July 4th in Utah, and he would be having surgery to repair his torn meniscus.

An announcer got on stage and said that he talked to Scott Leonard before the show.  I "whoo-hooed".  He asked if there were Scott Leonard groupies in the house, and we screamed some more.  People stared at us.  I didn't care.

The show finally started with opening act The Coats.  They opened for Rockapella the night of Barry Carl's last show, back in 2002.  They played many of the songs that I had played on their CD during the road trip, so the gals were familiar with the music.  The highlight of their show for us, though, was when they said they would sing 80s girl group music.  They kidded with some Britney Spears, then sang "The Tide is High".  I didn't know that Blondie was a girl group, but I loved their rendition of the song.  Then they sang "Walk Like an Egyptian", which was also a lot of fun.  

There was an intermission, during which I eavesdropped on the conversations of women in line for the bathroom as they raved about The Coats.  Jenn did the same thing and advised her neighbors that they would surely love Rockapella.  Jenn's becoming a Pusher, too.  I'm so proud.

Tonight

I guess Tim didn't make it out to the venue, because there was no video or special lighting.  Steve winked at me!  Scott smiled at us with recognition, and I became a major dork and was all, like, "HI!!!", waving my glowing arm around like an idiot. He said that they just barely got there, and introduced himself as...wait for it...Scott.  I guess he couldn't think of any famous athletes in the area, or he was just too tired to think of one.

4U4Now4Life

I really liked the break from the microphones when they sang the Gunpowder verse.  Scott said, "What a beautiful place that I didn't know about.  We only have Jacksonville, Florida, but this is better."  Then some woman yelled, "GEORGETOWN 2005!!!", and Scott had to decipher that she saw them in Georgetown 6 years ago.  Ya gotta love when the wine is flowing at the outdoor venues.

Nuthin But (Zip)

John winked at me.  :)  I forgot to wink back, not that he would have noticed.  

Got to Get You Into My Life

I think I just smiled through this whole song.  OK, I smiled through this whole show.  I don't know what happened during this song, because I didn't write anything.

Just My Imagination/Imagine

More smiling.  I so, so love this arrangement that it needs to be on a CD soon.  Yeah, I'm demanding.

Tell Me What You Want

As Scott said he'd "be your little cabin boy", he patted an imaginary child on the head, and I turned around so that Wendy and I could say "Cabana Number 5!" to each other without any sound.

Scott talked about the new CD, saying that they "haven't had an original CD since I was a toddler."  He then said that Steve was having his Oregon debut tonight.  NO!  Y'all were in Portland on my birthday, in 2011.  But I didn't want to sound like the drunk lady, so I didn't say anything.  

Cupid

Steve introduced us all to Mary, who showed us how to wave our arms.  

Hard Time

Scott is the only one that dances during this song.  I've now memorized his choreography, because it's quite simple.  No, I won't dance it for you.

California Sad-Eyed Girl

Scott said that they always have to do this song when they're on the West Coast.  We Whooed.  He noted that there were people from California there, and then someone not on our blanket got his attention with her whoo, and he told her she looked like she was from California, because she looked like Christie Brinkley.  APPARENTLY, we are now chopped liver.  They then sang our song, courtesy of "The Massachusetts-bred throat of Steve Dorian".  

Scott mentioned that JT's dad is from Eugene.  JT said, "We were up there yesterday, hanging out."  The crowd hung for a funny story, but then he said, "That's all I've got."  Oh, JT, our man of many words.

Paper Doll

Scott said that this was "Rockapella Old School".  Steve smiled at me!  You know why, right?  Because he has Flirty Flirty Eyes!!!

Rock the Boat

Steve walked over to us and said, "Hi guys!  How are you?"  We're GREAT, thank you!  We laughed at the lameness of the right side of the house when they didn't "Do The Hustle" on cue. Geo looked over at us during his solo, and Jenn asked if we should put up our signs, but I was too nervous.  Scott responded to our screaming by giving us our own dance show.  Jenn almost gave him a dollar.  Thanks, Scott!  

Karla and I were distracted by the static in Scott's hair.  So was a drunk man in the audience, as he loudly yelled to him, "OK, Cornhead!"  Well, John DID say that Scott had the hair of golden corn.  But it was just weird at that moment.

Thunderball

Lots of laughs from the crowd.  I love when Scott tries to be Tom Jones.

Bang

Scott:  "May I kiss you please?" as he looked over our way.

Sher and KP:  <emphatic nods>

Scott said, "This is not the interactive part of the show."  Then people started shouting out requests.  Scott:  "My first sentence was, 'This is not the interactive part of the show.'"  

Commercials

Scott no longer looks like he's grabbing boobs while he sings "Mounds, Mounds."  I kinda miss that.  I like Steve's Elvis hip moves during "Preparation H".  After "Dr. Pepper", Scott said, "That's the best song ever written."

My Girl

John went into the audience and held up a baby, saying, "You're a star!"  He chose Gina.  He asked her what she does.  

Gina: I work.

Ooh, mysterious!  Scott said that he heard she wanted to sing with them.

Gina: I can't sing!

Scott:  Do you want to dance with us?  Maybe a Montague?  

(Seriously, that's what I heard.  Yeah, Romeo's last name.  Maybe I still have drum corps on the brain).  

Ain't Too Proud to Beg

Gina had a great time up there, and we had a great time watching her slap Scott's butt.  I don't know what she whispered to Steve, but she wouldn't slap his.

Geo said that he gets mad sometimes.  "The ladies ask me, 'You guys that sing so low, why do you always sing in the shower like Whitney Houston?'"  KP:  "Really? Girls ask him that?"

I Will Always Love You

Geo then demonstrated that guys from Philly walk around with a strut, showing off his smoothness.  He then made the next song a special dedication to The Temps.

Papa Was A Rolling Stone

PANTS.  That's all I could concentrate on.  When they finally left my direct line of eyesight, I said to the gals, "I can breathe now."  Jenn was thinking of putting up the signs again during this song, but it still didn't feel right.  I guess I didn't want to mess up his performance.

Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego?

During his solo, JT said, "Relax, lady."  Ah, the drunk woman.  Or, maybe, another drunk woman.  No, it was NOT me.

Encore:

SHAMBALA!!!

OK, that was in caps because I was very, very excited.  We had listened to the song on the way up, and I had tweeted that we were On the Road to Shambala, so it was just perfect!  We realized that it was possibly the first time that we'd ever heard Steve sing the song before, so it was even more exciting for us.  I mouthed the words along with the guys, and Steve smiled at me as we "sang" together.

Up On The Roof/What a Wonderful World

The guys all went up to the regular seats for this one, and sang off mic.  Their voices were very strong with these acoustics, even with their backs to us.  Hey, more Pella Butts!

I asked Jenn, "Is it my imagination, or did Steve sing to me all night long?"  Jenn said, "Yeah, I was like, 'Hey, we're over here, too!'"  Thank you, Jenn, for indulging me in my obsession.

So we never raised our signs during the show, but we asked an usher to take a picture of us.

From Geo's Adoring Fans

At the Meet and Greet, I showed the guys the scrapbook that I made of the Rockapella Cruise.  They were all impressed and liked it.  JT, especially, wanted to take time with it to "browse".  I was really happy that they liked it so much, and they happily signed it for me.  Everyone else in the Posse talked to the guys about how they're doing and such.

Scott told KP that Jesse started college, and is majoring in percussion at SFU, which is the best school for percussion in Florida, according to Scott's connection at the Boston Pops.  The house feels empty now, and Natalie has moved into Jesse's room, redecorating it in pink.  He thanked us for putting in the effort to see them.  The new CD will include "Little Drummer Boy", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", and their original songs.  YAY!

Fred has already had his surgery by the time I am writing this.  A speedy recovery to you, Fred!

I saw Geo running after Wendy, so that he could give a huge bear hug to "The Shy One".  I wish that I had video of that, it was major cuteness.  Geo talked about his wedding plans and the fact that his family totally loves Sandra.  How could they not?  She's wonderful!  

I just realized that we didn't get to talk much to John, because he was really tired.

Wendy and I had a really nice chat with Steve, whom has given me an assignment to push the next cruise.  We all need to show enough interest so that everyone involved, including management , agents and the like will get the boat out of the harbor.  We talked about how Tim really enjoyed the cruise, and that we all thought he would just stay on the boat.  I told Steve that this was not actually his Oregon debut, and he covered for Scott saying that it was the beginning of the year, so he was probably thinking that it was last year or whatever.  Nope.  You know that doesn't fly with the PellaPusher.  But that's OK, because he's dreamy and he sang to me all night.  :)  Steve told us that he is NOT young: he's 33.  OK, when you're my age, I'll ask you about that again.  No, I did not tell him my age.

We walked back to our car (the trolley does not operate after the shows), with me mostly walking barefoot because my heels were not conducive to the downhill thing.  Jenn and I were hungry, so we got some food at the drive-thru at Jack in the Box.  When we returned to the hotel, I saw that more prints of our signs were beside the printer in the business area.  There it was:  "MAN!"  People probably thought that the prints were done by insane people.  Yeah, they were right.  We stayed up a little more so that we could eat and giggle more, then we went to bed, so that we could drive back to Sacto in the morning.