The Air I Breathe

Rockapella in Livermore

Friday, November 15, 2013

Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center -- Bankhead Theater

Livermore, CA

"Motown & More"

I woke up early in the morning to get to the Ontario airport, and got in line behind a volleyball team.  Yeah, that made the line long, and I didn't have time to charge my phone, but at least I was on time to meet Wendy and board the plane with the A group.  Rockapella hasn't been in California since January 2012, so we were very happy that we'd finally be seeing them again.  It has only been a year for me, but that's a really long time in Sherry/Pella years.  We landed and chose our rental car from National: a black Nissan Versa.  Cute little car, and it was easy to drive, so we headed off to get something for our bellies.

HOBEE'S!!!!  I had found one that was fairly close to the airport, on Montague Expressway in San Jose.  Fall at Hobee's means pumpkin walnut coffeecake = Happy Sherry.  In another autumn year, one of my friends that lives up north read my tweet about wanting some coffeecake, and he sent some via Hobee's.  Sweet.  He won't have to do that this year.  :)  I got that with an order of Almost Joe's Scramble.  Wendy ordered sweet potato pancakes.  I had my cinnamon-orange tea.  There was much yumminess at our table near the electrical outlet (yes, I finally charged my phone).  My piece of coffeecake was HUGE, so I took most of it to go.  

It was too early for us to eat the dessert that we had planned for, so we drove directly to Livermore to check out the venue and buy a Rockapella ticket for Auntie Milda, whom would meet us later for dinner.  Then we walked around to find out where we should meet for this dinner, as well as where we should go after the show.  I bought a cup of iced cinnamon mocha at Panama Red cafe, and we asked the lady at the Chamber of Commerce where we should go.  She suggested wineries, as well as The Winemaker's Pour House.  We didn't have time for wineries, and the menu at the Pourhouse looked yummy (mostly because of the winetails -- wine-based cocktails), so we decided on that for dinner.  

Wendy at the Bankhead Theater

We then went to the Hawthorn Suites to try to check in early, but our room wasn't ready yet, and we were ready for dessert, so we made our way to Snowflake.  Well, we *tried* to make our way to Snowflake.  The directions we had weren't very specific (Google was not helpful, and other instructions were "in an Asian area and there's new housing nearby" and we saw no such thing except that there were many new houses everywhere), and the addresses were hard to find, so we turned around a few times, I called Bro and the sis-in-law tried to help, and then we finally found it.  All of that turning around was very much worth the wait.  We ordered a Toasted Almond Sesame Le Snowflake, which is shaved ice, red bean, mini mochi, litchi coco, popping boba, roast almond and condensed milk.  Wendy had never had boba before, but now she's going to try the regular kind when she can find it.  I had not had the popping kind, but it was kind of fun!  We were happily full again, then drove back to the hotel to check in.

Yumminess

After we got ourselves Pella Presentable, we drove to the parking structure by the theater, parked, and walked to the Pour House.  Lucky for us, the one table there that wasn't barstool seating was available.  Auntie Milda arrived shortly after we ordered our drinks, and then my cousin Marie arrived with her daughter, Annabelle.  Ohmygoodness, she is sooooo cute!  I couldn't stand it, I kept saying it over and over.  She loved the live music when it started, and she enjoyed the bread that we ate.  I wish that Marie and Annabelle could have joined us to see Rockapella, but that wasn't possible that night.  I was glad to see them, though.  I hadn't seen them since we went to Oregon for Rockapella in 2011.  We laughed a lot and had a great time, and the drinks were tasty.  I had a Bellini Buzz, which was like a Bellini with sparkling wine.  We also ordered salads and tapas.  I enjoyed the roasted garbanzo beans in the Arugula Salad.  

Cheers!  (Look, Wendy finished hers already).

Milda, Marie and Annabelle

We said our goodbyes to Marie and Annabelle, then walked to the theater.  Our seats were front row, center.  Thanks, Wendy!  Auntie Milda was seated at house left, 1st row of the second section.  Nice seat that I just bought that day!  I saw the rotating "r"s on the screen and said to Wendy, "I know that font!"  

Jeff walked on to the stage, and said that they were in the Land of In-N-Out, Fred's favorite place.  An acappella group was there, so they thought they could open for Rockapella.  Introducing....the Sun Brothers!

The Sun Brothers took the stage with their sunglasses on, and I was disturbed because I couldn't see who they were looking at.  

L-O-V-E

My mind was at ease as soon as I got the smiles from Steve and George.  I got sad during John's solo, and wondered how sad I'd be by the end of the weekend.  I really like this song, and now it's my guys singing it?  Yay!  

Scott said, "We like to make things liver-free...no, we love liver.  We love...pate."

CHANGE THE WORLD

Eric Clapton, done mellow, sunglass-wearing style.

Scott said, "Check us out on facebook down in Tampa Bay.  We're gonna sing one more song before we bring on our favorite group.  Those kids are good."  So...we can't check them out on facebook from other cities?  ;)

ALOTTA LIGHT

"kukoo, kukoo..."

Rockapella

DRAGGIN' THE LINE

OK, Geo, you can take your time with me!

Scott introduced the guys, and said, "Happy Birthday, Steven Dorian!...and I'm Miss California."

USE TA BE MY GIRL

Such fancy footwork!  I love the bit of Geo interrupting JKB.

Scott talked to the Livermore folk, saying that this was" a lovely town, lovely theater, but you gotta get a better name!  You'd think, "California...'Rancho Santa Maria'...but no.  'Livermore'.  Do you have more liver here?"  Groans.  "I thought that maybe it was a bad translation from Edgar Allan Poe: "Quoth the raven, Livermore."  JT's throat mics help him be the Rumble to scare away the raven.

PRETTY MUCH YOU

GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE

Steve gave a big smile to Wendy.  He wants to hold my hand!  Wendy later said that he wants to hold my hand a lot.  I think that's just because I'm often in the front row. Also, I couldn't remember if I was actually supposed to let him hold my hand.  It has been too long since I've seen them, and I forgot the audience participation parts!

JUST MY IMAGINATION

Cute pause when Geo does the intro. 

Scott regarding JKB knowing Julie Andrews:  "I'm not kidding, she's a real person, and he KNOWS her."  He mentioned that this was John's last trip to CA with Rockapella, and I got sad again.

HARD TIME

I can't stop thinking about what's in CSL4's back pocket.  It looks like a pack of gum.  Yes, I was staring at his pants.  AGAIN.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU -- sung by Rockapella and the audience to Steve

Yay!  I got my wish!  Scott said that Steve is 65 years old, and looks GREAT for his age.

CUPID

MY CHERIE AMOUR

Scott demonstrated what a cappella bass singing is usually lke, and then kept going and going with the "dip dip yeah, dip dip yeah..."  He said that Jeff is "a man of many talents", such as producing videos.  "He's also quiet.  He's full of pulsating, quiet talents."

John said, "Ladies and gentlemen, listen.  We are in the midst of a genius.  Not only is he a great songwriter, he is a gifted singer and arranger.  I am proud to sing with Mr. Scott Leonard."

Scott: "Wow.  That was nice."  And Sherry has a tear in her eye.

PAPER DOLL

And then, APPARENTLY, secret stuff happened during this song.  I didn't know that it was a secret until the next day, but I'm being good and not telling.  Today.  Let me just say that I will now giggle with glee whenever I hear this song, especially during certain lyrics.  If you are a regular reader of this blog, and know the lyrics to this song, maybe you can figure out what happened (if you weren't there for it this weekend).  If you're not, maybe you can figure it out with a search.  Let's just also say that the secret stuff had me over the moon, and my cheeks hurt from smiling by the end of the song. 

BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE

The live version adds some mash-up stuff with other songs, like in Geo's solo.  Its really cool.  I was later told that the arrangement is exactly the same.  What?  No.  But I really shouldn't argue with one of the people actually singing the song on stage.

<Intermission>

We talked to Auntie Milda, and she was loving the show, because a lot of the songs are from her "era".  She said that she saw the guys smiling at us, and I affirmed her thoughts.  She said, "So you're going to see them again tomorrow?"  I said yes, and Sunday.  I reminded her that she called them "the air that you breathe".  Hence, the title of this post.

A*PUNK

Sounded a little bit flat at the start, but they recovered quickly as usual.  Also, Scott's "ay ay"s were LOUD.  Whatever was in his pockets before is gone now.  Yeah, I'm still looking at his pants.

MALIBU GRAND PRIX

Oh my goodness, with SD dancing with "Maisy".  Like RIGHT THERE!  .

THUNDERBALL

We all love when CSL4 flips his mane of hair.

BANG

I love watching them do this song.

JKB walked through the audience and asked a trivia question, "What was the first group that Berry Gordy signed on with Motown Records?"  A woman named Sharon gave the correct answer, The Miracles.  Her prize was that she got to go on stage with "five beautiful hunk of men.  Of course, they're not here tonight, so you'll have us instead."  

MY GIRL

Truncated version, now that they've sung some of that already.

Scott asked about Livermore, since she's from there.  She said that they are one of the only cities to have an element on the periodic table: Livermorian.  She works for some kind of Jewish organization, and Scott asked if there were enough Jews around for it.  She said, "There's enough Jews in Livermore".

STAND BY ME

Sharon sang, and Scott got really into the "Darlin', Darlin'" parts.  

AIN'T TOO PROUD TO BEG

I like when the audience member gets into it, as Sharon did.

Geo:  "This is one of the best audiences that we've had all year."  (I said to Wendy that it was because we're in it.  I'm not biased or anything).  He continued, "I went to a little tiny airport called LAX.  They have these movies that they put on CD, like 'The Bodyguard'."

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

Geo: "I was a singing Frankenstein in the 'Beetlejuice' rock and roll show.  We sang "Smooth" by Santana.  They kicked me out of there, too."

BABYGIRL

Stage love for Sherry and Wendy!  (I still imagine him singing our names, though).

CARMEN SANDIEGO

CSL4: "We sang that song every day for 49 years."

JT didn't pause at all during the solo, but I heard the lady behind us say, "WOW."

Encore

PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE

George Butt.  Sherry Smile.

CSL4:  "Thanks for keeping us up.  It's past our bed time.  We'll be back in a couple of weeks somewhere around here."  Sher: "NAPA!"  CSL4:  "Napa.  We'll be in Napa."  Seriously, why doesn't he just ask us so that I don't have to yell at him?  

CSL4:  "Do you want to hear another song?  We're going to change the set list because we are so very needy."

ZOMBIE JAMBOREE

CSL4 grabbing his own butt.  Sherry:  "Oh my."  CSL4 took SD's Flirty, Flirty Eye.  Hey!  Give it back!

UP ON THE ROOF / WONDERFUL WORLD

Meet and Greet/Post Show

George gave big hugs to both of us.  He said to Wendy, "It's been a long time" and she educated him about the 2-year drought.  He told me, "You're going to make me stand up again." Sher:  "6 shows in California!  SIX!!!  But John will only be at 3."  Geo: "Yeah, John's leaving and he still hasn't given me my money."  (I had no idea at the time what that was about, but later we figured that he wanted a finder's fee for bringing JKB to the group).

Said Happy Birthday to Steve.  I told him that I noticed (the secret thing) and, well, I guess I'm not supposed to be typing about that now, huh?  Grrrr....Anyway, I jumped up and down a little bit and said, "Oh my God, I love you!"  THAT I'll type.  Whatevs.  On this side of the laptop, I'm giggling again.  

I talked to John about his father-in-law accepting God.  I'm so happy for the family, and I'm glad that John's ministry is working well.

I didn't talk to Scott much because he and Jeff looked really tired.  I told him that I hoped they'd be OK for Rancho Cucamonga, "because it's RANCHO."  Scott understood, and said they'd be ready.

Jeff said that the first West Coast show is always difficult because of jet lag.  Wendy told him that she just bought the CD because she wanted to wait to see the show first.  Jeff hoped it was worth the wait.  Well, of course it was.  And so are y'all.  He said that someone he knows calls tomorrow's venue "Rancho Cookie Monster."  Wendy and I decided that KP needs to draw that.

We talked to Fred as he ate his chocolate chip cookie and drank his orange juice.  He said that they'd be driving down to Rancho so that JT could stop for burgers at Harris Ranch.  Fred didn't want any more burgers, though.  He also talked to Wendy about the Napa Valley Opera House being renovated due to new ownership, with a new sound system, and possibly serving dinner in the lobby.  As long as they still have the Pella perform there, I'm good.

Took pictures with the guys.  The woman that took our group picture told us to say, "shit".  None of us did.

Quoth the Posse, "Pella!  More!"

Wendy and I realized that we needed some protein, so we shared a hamburger from where else?  In-N-Out.  I became impossible to live with due to whatever made my cheeks hurt.  Thankfully, Wendy did not kill me, and giggled along with me.

Great evening!  Much happiness!

Sher and the Birthday Boy

For the record:  I was asked the question, "Well, who else would I do that to?"

The answer is: NOBODY.

Next up:  Rrrrrrancho Cucamonga