Saturday, January 24, 2015

Show of the Century

Rockapella in Reno
Day 3
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Sammy's Showroom at Harrah's
Reno, NV

I actually got some sleep due to being so tired from the previous day.  As we were getting ready to go to breakfast, our hotel room phone rang.  I figured that it was Karla because our room was already adjoined with Wendy's, and she could just walk through the unlocked door.  Dodie answered the phone, and this is what I heard her say.
Dodie:  Hello?  Yes...what?  Fred wants to know if we want to go to breakfast?
Sherry: SAY YES!!!  Wherever he wants, just say YES!
Dodie:  I think you should talk to Sherry.

So I took the phone and talked to a very excited Karla, telling her to just say yes, we're ready, and we'll be downstairs in 2 minutes.  It turns out that Fred called Karla and told her he was her wake-up call, and asked what we were doing for breakfast.  Wow!  I made sure that he had wanted all of us to go and not just her, but APPARENTLY he welcomed the company of 3 women because he's a man.  :)  So we met Fred outside the elevators on the first floor, and he asked where we should eat.  One of the two places was already on a list that we were contemplating, and we said that we thought it might be too far to walk.  He derided us for being Californians who don't walk.  We realized that it was less than a mile away, so we decided to walk.  I don't know why we thought it was so far away.  Perhaps we read "6 mi" as 6 miles instead of 6 minutes.  Whatevs.  We were having breakfast with Fred at Peg's Glorified Ham n Eggs.  

Breakfast was yummy.  I had Joe's Special, which was like the Almost Joe's Scramble that I get at Hobee's.  Mmmm....Hobee's.  Karla started to hit my knee because she wanted to express her excitement, and I muttered under my breath that my knee was going to be bruised by noon.  We had a lot of fun talking to Fred, hearing him talk about meeting his wife and proposing to her.  At one point, he talked about "Ladysmith", and I told Dodie about Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  Fred asked me to say their name again, I thought because I accidentally inserted an extra "m", but it might have been because he wanted someone to say it because he can't say the whole name correctly.  He will be overseeing the venue's sound technician tonight because he won't be working the rest of the run for budgetary reasons.  

Fred asked what we were going to do during the day, and Wendy and I said that we were going to do our nails.  We invited Fred, but he didn't think he wanted to do that.  He had thought of going to the lake, but we had done that the day before.  I'm trying to imagine all of us on a road trip with Fred, and it makes me laugh.  Had I not wanted to rest and do my nails and stuff, I might have been game for going to the north side of the lake, but I didn't want to be pressed for time later on.  He said that he might go on Monday since he wasn't going to leave until Tuesday.  We suggested that he get his nails done, get a tattoo, and some piercings.  I don't know why he didn't take us up on that...that we know.  Karla and I giggled at random stuff because we're crazy and we were excited.  

After breakfast, we began to walk back to the hotel and Fred asked if we wanted to walk along the river.  It was like we were on a collective date with him, it was soooo cute.  He showed us where he had walked yesterday, including an amphitheater, and he asked if I was going to sing.  I said that he could sing.  He said no.  Karla convinced him to let us steal his soul and take a picture with me because it's my 100th show day and the next day is my birthday.  Then she asked if she could take one with him, and he said that wasn't part of the deal.  But then he relented and said yes.  At different times during our walk, different people noticed the same movie theater.  I don't know why nobody heard me when I mentioned it as we walked to breakfast, but perhaps we were just all preoccupied with Fred being there, and he was preoccupied with dealing with us gals.  We walked back to the hotel, and Fred said that he was going to get a pastry at a cafe at El Dorado casino, because dessert is the whole point of the meal.  We like Fred even more now because of that.  He told us to let him know if we think of anything exciting to do, and he'd join us.  We again asked him if he wanted to get his nails done, and he made a gesture at us that had us roaring with laughter.  
Sher and Bananaman at the Truckee River


Fred took this picture of us!

With Fred on a bridge

After a few minutes, the 4 of us went on a walk around the area.  Karla wanted to see the minor league baseball stadium for the Reno Aces, and it was only 2 blocks away, so we checked that out.  The Aces are the AAA team for the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Karla babbled to the person at the gift store register about having breakfast with Fred, and I tried to get her out of there quickly before the lady called security.  We then walked back to Harrah's to get pictures of the marquees.
Wendy showing us a happy Karla, talking about breakfast


Old School Marquee

Fancy Sexy Marquee (view from Cal Neva)

Dodie and I split from Karla and Wendy at the hotel, and we went to the Cal Neva casino.  We were on the hunt for Star Wars Droid slot machines because Bro had told us they were listed as being there, but they were not.  We played for a little while before I went back to Harrah's and Dodie made her way to El Dorado.  I played at my Enchanted Unicorn machine for a little bit before going upstairs.  Little did I know that I might have been playing about 100 feet from where Steve and Ryan were watching football.  Wendy told me that she and Karla saw them sitting there when they got back from checking out the pastries at El Dorado, and they waved at the guys, so Steve waved at them to chat with them for a bit.  He's so nice!  The gals didn't want to intrude on their game, though, so they left shortly afterward.  I'm sorry I missed that, especially because we didn't find the machines we wanted.  

We rested for a bit, then Jenn arrived.  We were all still full from breakfast, but Jenn was hungry, so we made sure to get her some food to avoid Hungry Jenn.  We had lunch at Hash Hash a go go.  Jenn ordered the Salmon Benedict, and it was monstrous.  Too bad the rest of us weren't very hungry and shared 2 dishes between the 4 of us, one of which was a huge house salad.  Jenn was then in a food coma, so we went back to our rooms to rest, and I worked on Saturday's blog post, while Dodie returned to the slots.

We all got ready for the big night.  I prayed while I was alone and thanked God for this day, the Pellaposse, and Rockapella, and told everyone that it was time to go.  We got to the Diamond Line again (all lines were again empty), and Vic noticed that there were 5 of us this time.  I guess he didn't write that part down.  But that's OK.  He took the table that would have been in front of us, and elongated our table.  He took a couple of pictures of us at our table, and wished us a good show, saying that he would probably watch it this time.  
The Cool Table


Draggin' the Line
I wonder if they'll still do this song when they change the opening to "Rock Around the Clock".

Scott is Phyllis Diller.  (Forgot to write on the post for Saturday's show that he did do an impression of her laughing when we were talking to him.  He was pretty good!)

Use Ta Be My Girl

Scott introduced Ryan, saying that the girls like the bass.  
Ryan, in his deep voice: "Yeah, they do."
Great bass intro!
Steve winked at Karla.

Pretty Much You
Got a smile from Steve.  :)

Got To Get You Into My life
I love when Steve poses just like in their poster.

Just My Imagination / Imagine
John paused for a while before setting down his mic stand.  Scott pretended to almost trip.  At least I hope he was pretending.  Scott heard us giggling.  They must hear us giggle a lot.  Nice high notes, John!  Our table did the whole "2...4...20!" with the guys.

Hard Time
Scott's very loud stomping at the top of the stairs startled me.

Scott asked Ryan how he was doing with this new gig.
Ryan:  It's going well, definitely better than the Chippendale's act that I came from.
Scott:  We're waiting for you to take your shirt off.
Ryan:  It's coming.  I'm going to tear this and the buttons will pop off.
We forgot to hold up our dollar bills!  Not that they would have seen them.

Cupid

Scott said that they call their record "Motown and More" "because there's a little Motown on it, and there's a little bit more."

My Cherie Amour
Scott to John:  I didn't know you could play the trumpet.
Scott regarding Ryan being engaged:  It's your last shot in there. Whatever happens in Reno...will never happen again.  (He told us later that he made up that last sentence all by himself).

Scott announced that they'd be singing their version of The Mills Brothers' greatest hit.
Sherry:  <swoony sigh>
Posse:  <giggles>

Paper Doll
I got a wink from Steve, which got me giggling.  Because, you know, he NEVER looks at me during this song.  ;)

Blame It On The Boogie
Crazy dancing!  At one point, Scott looked down to make sure that his shirt was tucked in..or that his pants were still up.  Whatevs, we giggled.  Ryan added some riffs to his bass solo.  Looks like he's getting more comfortable with each show.

Jingle Medley
Jeff also waves one of his hands during the first Mounds commercial.  Right before the 3rd Mounds commercial, he holds up 3 fingers.  When Ryan wiggles his butt, Jeff points at it.  I love the little details that they add.

Then John said that it was trivia time.  Jenn wanted to answer the question, but didn't.  Someone in the audience had the correct answer, and he congratulated them, but didn't do his usual bit of stealing someone's wife/girlfriend.  Instead, he walked back up the steps to the stage, and said, "This is a very special night.  Someone in our audience is celebrating her 100th show watching Rockapella.  Sherry, come on up here."  

(Well, I thought, I guess we're doing this now.  I honestly wasn't sure that they'd be able to single me out during the show because Scott had mentioned that they were limited to 75 minutes of show and I didn't think they'd have time.  I know that they usually do something special, and I know that they all knew about my milestone, but I didn't want to *expect* it, you know?  But here I was, and it was happening, and it took me about 3 days for this all to hit me fully).  Back to the scene...

After smiling at my PellaPosse, I walked up the stairs to the stool, with John's help.  Scott walked over, looked at me, and said, "You look lovely!"  Thank you!  He stood next to me, put his arm around me, and talked to me.  The following exchange may not be word for word, because I couldn't exactly write it down at that moment.  

I sat down on the stool and mouthed to the posse:  "I can't see you!"

Scott:  100 shows.  Congratulations.
Sherry:  Thank you!
Scott:  Where are you from?
Sherry:  Southern California.
Scott:  Where do you live?
Sherry:  You want my address?  I don't think I should be telling *everybody*.
Scott:  Later.  Just your town for now.
Sherry:  Monrovia, CA.
Scott:  And what do you do in Monrovia?
Sherry:  Watch Rockapella videos?
Scott:  Oh, good!
Sherry:  No, I work for the State of California.
Scott: Great.  What has been the most memorable Rockapella show for you?
Sherry:  There are so many, but probably the most memorable would be the time that I was up here with you guys, singing.
Scott:  You sang?  What song did you sing?
Sherry:  "Stand By Me"
Scott:  Let's do it again.
Sherry:  OK.  :)

Stand By Me
I sang that the moon was dark.  What?  Oh, "land".  Scott said "Whoa" when I took the microphone.  Well, he handed it to me, was I supposed to give it back? That was NOT going to happen.  When I first sang "Stand By Me", I looked at him so that he would stand next to me, and he took my cue.  I kept forgetting lyrics, but at least I remembered much more words than my first time up there when I ran to the back and sang Kevin's part with him. Scott was all emphatic during "Darling, Darling!"  I was nervous, and I haven't sung solo in about a year, so blech.  But at least I sang my heart out and I was with my favorite band, and I was happy.  Happy as a PellaPusher could possibly be.  Scott ended the song with "Stand by She".
Stand By Me


I stood up and Steve took my hand, saying, "Let's take your 100th Show bow."  
Steve:  Give it up for Sherry from California, everybody!  Sherry and some of her friends come see us often, and we love having you guys here with us at the show, and after the shows we all have a good time together.  Thank you for coming to see us so much as you all do, thank you, Sherry.  One more time, Sherry.

We got to the steps, and I thought to myself, "Oh, I didn't get to hug the guys to thank them."  Then he turned around quickly to start the next song.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg
Seriously, I thought we were done.  Because, you know, I haven't been to 100 shows and I don't know what comes next!  Clearly, I had lost my mind up somewhere up there.  So I skipped back to my seat and sat down, ready for more fun.  There was Steve, singing just a few tiny inches from my face.  Then he was on his knee and I tried to breathe.  I tried not to fall off of my chair.  Then John.  John!  Putting his head in my lap!  How could I not touch his beautiful shiny head?  Of course I did!  "Baby, baby, I'm the one you want..." There were the guys dancing.  There was Ryan - er, the R-Man, with his deep voice losing his mind.  Then Scott got me to stand up and go dance with him.  I made sure not to bump him so hard that he would fall off of the stage (my hip has been known to pitch people across a room), and John was doing...something...in back of me.  Then Steve came over to drag me over to the other side of the stage.  More dancing.  More veryclose singing. He's lucky I didn't just lean forward and kiss him, he was that close.  Or maybe he's unlucky. Then Scott dragged me away and I did the Watusi or whatever with him and John was wiggling his butt.  Then Steve got me back, and "Don't you go".  Then the song was done, and I hugged each one of them and thanked them. 

OK, beg!


Enjoying John's attention

I mean, come on!


Steve:  One more time for Sherry, 100 shows, we hope we see you for 100 more.

Steve helped me down the stairs "for real this time", and I sat down and finished swooning as the Posse clapped for me.  "I can't breathe," I told them, because I was out of breath and excited.    <B R E A T H E ! ! !>

Thrift Shop / Celebration
I don't know what happened.  I was busy breathing.

After our table yelled "Do It Rockapella!", Scott said to us, "I knew you would know what it is."  They sang this song every day for 54 years.  

Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego
Scott forgot who was coming back to the stage (it was John).  I thought he had forgotten where John came from.  But no, he forgot who was next.  Perhaps Scott lost his mind up there, too.  Breathe, Scott!

Encore

A*Punk

Scott:  Would you like another song?  Good, we have one.

Up On The Roof / Wonderful World
As they started to sing the song, they walked down the stairs and sang from there.  I was thinking, "Are they going to sing to our table?  What is happening?"  No, they didn't sing to our table, more like their backs were to us.
Sherry:  This is the one time I'm allowed to look at their butts.
Scott to Wendy:  I'm a bass.  
Scott sings bass when Ryan sings lead.  Wendy had just been thinking, "I don't think I've ever heard Scott sing that low."  I thought that this effect worked rather well, and we got to hear Jeff's singing voice up close!  Scott later told us that the venue had asked them if they could come out and meet people after the show, so they worked it out this way.  I like to think that our posse's request prompted the venue's request.  So, YOU'RE WELCOME, Pella Fans!

A guy named Adam (Andy?) talked to me and congratulated me after the show.  This was his 8th.  He has a long way to go, but it's possible.  Goonies never say die.  


JT photobombing Ryan and me
 Jeff told Karla that we should be at all of the shows because we bring the energy.  Can I just live in Reno on the weekends through March?  
NOW it's your turn, JT!  Oh, now, Adam is photobombing.

Scott!
It was really cool that the guys were meeting and greeting in their stage attire, and they made sure that I got a picture with all of them.  We also got a good Posse picture. 
Pella and the Posse
When Karla went to stand between Steve and Ryan, Ryan said to her, "Come stand before your two favorites."  He must not know about Fred.  I got a closer look at Scott's tie, and the accent was silver with a fleur-de-lis!  So I took a picture of his chest.  Karla took a picture of me doing this because it was funny.  I showed the tile wall to Scott, and he checked that out for awhile.


This might be my next tattoo



Scott asked Karla what we were doing after the show, if we were partying to celebrate or what.  I didn't know where to go, so I asked Steve.  Steve and some of the guys were going to dinner at a restaurant in the El Dorado to chill, and said that we were welcome to come along, but Scott was still changing and I wanted to see what he'd say, since he was the one that asked us what we were going to do.  Scott didn't really want to leave the hotel, so we decided to hang out with him, and asked him to text Steve to let him know.  We tried to get a table at Hash Hash A Go Go again, but they had just closed the kitchen.  While we were deciding what to do, John arrived and told us that he had ordered food ahead of time.  He's so smart.  We ended up going back downstairs to Joy Luck Noodle Bar.  Scott didn't eat, but I got him a Diet Pepsi that was made of just syrup.  Thankfully, I had noticed that it had come out like a spray, and asked him to taste it before gulping it down.  He was too polite to let me change it, and kept trying to taste the hummingbird food-like drink, but the ice didn't dilute it much.  I finally took the cup without asking for it later on, and dumped out the syrup, replacing it with ice water.  He was very grateful that I changed it.  He's so funny.  (If you ever get into a conversation with Wendy about hummingbirds, I recommend that you ask her for her impression.  She's darn good at it).

Scott is totally comfortable with Bananaman


We had a great time talking about prom dates, his proposal to Lisa, recording song ideas on his phone and lots of other stuff.  We talked about memories from different shows as well as the cruise.  He said, "You have a lot of memories of the shows."  We've had a lot of good times that we like to remember.  :)  I mentioned always mouthing Elliott's part with him during "Moments of You": Scott said, "That's a good song.  I like that song."  Again, Scott -- you wrote it!  

Scott said that he doesn't check Facebook often, but he really liked the picture that I posted of my being in the band for the Rose Parade.  So it's going to be quite a while before I change that profile picture.  :)  He also told me about my time on stage: "Good singing tonight."  Aw, thank you for being so kind, Mighty Blond One!  Karla told him that we were staying up until midnight because she wanted to wish me a Happy Birthday and didn't want to have to wake me up early before she left on the shuttle in the morning.  He looked at his phone and said, "I don't think I'm going to make it.  I'm still on Eastern time."  We didn't care how long he'd stay.  We were just happy that we got to spend this time with him.

What a spectacularly awesome day this was.  I'll never forget it.

Next up:  Birthday!

No comments:

Post a Comment