Tuesday, November 15, 2016
It's this guy's birthday today. The guy in the cool shirt. Not the guy with the headband.
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| Happy Birthday, FFE! |
Showing posts with label Rockapella Cruise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rockapella Cruise. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
PusherPix 11/15/16
PusherPix
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
It's this guy's birthday today. The guy in the cool shirt. Not the guy with the headband.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
It's this guy's birthday today. The guy in the cool shirt. Not the guy with the headband.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
PusherPix 11/09/16
PusherPix
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
I just needed something to make me smile today.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
I just needed something to make me smile today.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
PusherPix 01/30/16
PusherPix
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Google Photos now has a "Rediscover" feature and makes a collage out of photos that you might want to look at again.
This day (January 27, 2011) was one of my favorites from the Rockapella cruise. Dolphins!
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Google Photos now has a "Rediscover" feature and makes a collage out of photos that you might want to look at again.
This day (January 27, 2011) was one of my favorites from the Rockapella cruise. Dolphins!
Monday, September 7, 2015
I Shot Some Pics in Reno
Rockapella West Coast Road Trip
Day 2 -- Saturday, August 29, 2015
Reno Sings Under the Stars II
Hawkins Amphitheatre Bartley Ranch
Reno, NV
After somewhat of a restful night's sleep, KP and I got ready for the next leg of our road trip. She sat out on our balcony for a bit, and I wanted to get a picture of us there in the daylight.
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| Our beautiful view of the Jack in the Box drive thru |
We met up with Weff and went downstairs for our free hotel breakfast. I was annoyed by the color scheme of the new renovation. Yeah, I'm crazy. The room just doesn't feel the same without eating breakfast with FFE. We said our goodbyes to Weff for the day, and went to the car. I don't know what was up with this car, but we had trouble opening the trunk. I couldn't figure out how to unlock it, and KP was able to open it right away. Whatevs. She then noticed my license plate, and said, "How did you manage to get a license plate that was only one letter off of 'FFE'?" I hadn't even noticed. (The letters of the license plate were "FGE"). As we were leaving our hotel room earlier, I told KP about the cool Haiku door signs at our hotel in Indianapolis. We decided that we should document the rest of our road trip with Haiku.
We drove to Reno and listened to the songs on my iPod. Lots and lots of Pella-centric songs came up, even though it was on shuffle, and I swear that I have more than just Rockapella on there. We thought up a lot of haiku. A LOT. Some of them made the cut, and they will be posted on a separate trip report. You're looking forward to it already, aren't you? Well, you have more to read here, so please sit tight. At one point, we stopped at a rest area. One of the trash cans was originally labeled something about "glass", but somebody scratched off the "gl", so it made for a funny comment. When we arrived in Reno, we had a little bit of time before Cindy's flight was due to arrive, so we had lunch at Chipotle. We tried to go to Peg's Glorified Ham and Eggs to reminisce about our morning with Fred, but they had just closed before we arrived. Bummer.
We went to the cell phone lot at the airport and waited for Cindy to get off of the plane. Then she got off of the plane but we missed each other and we had to circle around the airport. Twice. When she finally got into the car, "Didn't I Blow Your Mind" by Jordan Knight/NKOTB was playing. (I told you there was more than Pella on there). The trouble is that the "r Mind" was not showing on the display, so Cindy wondered what the heck car she had just joined. It was hilarious. We drove to the hotel and checked in, then got ready for the show.
Since the show was General Admission, we wanted to get there early to reserve our seats. A bunch of people were already in line. When I went to pick up my ticket, they had my name listed twice, each with 1 ticket. I don't remember buying more than 1. So I took both, because I didn't see Cindy's name and wanted this one just in case. When Cindy went into the same line, they told her that she wasn't listed. Then they tried to help somebody else, leaving her just standing there. She complained about that and they finally helped her and gave her a ticket. This event is on its second year, but they need to get faster people to help with the ticket process, and also make it so that they're more aware of what to do. I felt like I was at that voting polls because I told one person my name, she said it out loud, told the other lady, and then I got the ticket.
There were a lot of seats that were reserved for people, so I was glad that we arrived early. We found 3 seats in the second row, but KP and I eventually moved to the 2 seats in front of us because Cindy didn't mind sitting apart from us. Thanks, Cindy! Before the first group performed, I walked over to get some water and maybe a drink. The water was being sold separately from the alcohol, so I had to stand in the long food truck line even though I didn't want their food. I wish they would have had other choices there, but I guess I'm totally spoiled because I'm used to going to food truck events that have variety. Little did I know that Pella was in the trailer about 20 feet away from me, getting ready for the show. I was wondering where they were, but didn't know they were in there. It's good I didn't know, or I might not have gone in to watch the other 2 acts. :)
SILVER DOLLAR CHORUS
This is an award-winning community barbershop group of about 20-25 guys of all ages. I heard them singing the Star-Spangled Banner while I was in line for water. It was good, as well as the US Armed Forces Medley. When I finally got back into the amphitheatre, I was subjected to the same talking that KP and Cindy had to endure while I was gone. The emcee was OK and I laughed, but I don't think that he needed to introduce every single song and tell jokes for each one. Maybe they could have him there to stretch a show, but there were 3 acts tonight, and each one did more than 5 songs, and they just didn't need the additional prattle. I did enjoy the singing, but he was a bit much. Probably my favorite pieces were the Calypso medley (they had bananas, they had a guy dressed as a banana, how could I not love this?!)...and How Great Thou Art, which was my grandfather's favorite hymn. They had 2 people doing sign language for this one. I don't know why they didn't do that for all of the songs, though.
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| See the bananas? |
While they were singing, Fred arrived. KP and I were pretty much distracted from that point on....but still, bananas! Also, the emcee guy had a shark. It reminded me of the Velvet Knights drum corps that liked to spoof stuff, and at one point had a shark on the field. Emcee guy: "Do whatever you want to do to my banana." Well, OK, then!
DAVID JOHN AND THE COMSTOCK COWBOYS
Emcee guy told us check out the pedal steel guitar, saying, "If you had a seizure, you could really kick some ass with that thing."
They played some Johnny Cash, which included "Folsom Prison Blues". Well, how can you not, when you're in Reno, and one of the lines is "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"? But, but....Rockapella has that song in their repertoire now, so I wondered if we'd hear it twice tonight. I couldn't help but repeatedly say to KP: "CHOO CHOOOOO!!!" Then they played an awesome version of "Orange Blossom Special" (with 2 fiddlers), and I about lost my mind, again saying "CHOO CHOOOOOO!!!!" The band was quite talented, and the emcee wasn't talking anymore, so we were happy. We were still being impatient about seeing Pella, but we were happy.
During their show, various Pella members came to the stage wings to watch a little bit. Steve waved at us. We happily waved back. HI!!!
Members of the Silver Dollar Chorus were handing out free bananas. Of course I wanted one, and got all excited when we each got one. It would have been more awesome if the guy was dressed as Bananaman, but hmmm...maybe it would have been more awkward. Never mind.
We needed to take a picture of Cindy for Geo, and the guy sitting next to Cindy overheard us and offered to help. I mean, I was ready to just call FFE over to do it because everything was taking so long, but this was more appropriate.
Awards and thank yous happened. I was concerned when they thanked someone whom couldn't really walk very well, and they were waiting for him to get to the stage, and then one of the speakers got knocked over. We wondered if Fred was freaking out. Then the Raffle Disaster happened. KP decided that these folks were not Catholic, because they couldn't use the raffle drum properly. Tickets fell to the floor. It was just a mess, and there were a lot of prizes that we didn't care about because they were all from local businesses, so we'd need to come back to redeem them. So that took forever. We were 20 minutes past the time that Rockapella was supposed to take the stage. AUGH! They are your headliner, and you're making them wait that long? WTF?
ROCKAPELLA
Finally! The emcee said that they would have "buckets of catchy songs". Buckets. I need to buy a bucket for them one day, and ask that they place all of their catchy songs in it.
Rock Around The Clock
FFE's hair was very spiky today.
Jailhouse Rock
APPARENTLY, CSL4 did not get the white shirt memo. I couldn't help but be happy when they did Folsom Prison Blues, and said, "Choo CHOOOO!!!" FFE got a big cheer when he sang that he shot a man in Reno.
CSL4: Reno is our second home now. We started the first 17 months of the year here. (Did he say "weeks"? I wrote down "months". Either way, that's longer than they were here). We know the path to the 7-11, the path to the Walgreen's...
Dancing In The Streets
Hi, Steve!
Just My Imagination / Imagine
The crowd really likes Calvin's voice. I don't blame them a bit.
Satisfaction
We noted that there were no doors to lock and hinder FFE from doing his audience participation bit. While he was out there, one guy got up to go to the restroom, and FFE started to follow him out, ending up right in front of us. We just laughed at him.
CSL4: Steve has a new CD, his first country-rock crossover CD. He played it for us today and I tell you, it's OK!
CSL4: Our CD is available in the lobby... We don't like to go too far out on a limb with the titles of our albums.
My Cherie Amour
I tell you, they really love Calvin here. Huge applause when he began the song.
CSL4: Ryan has those low tones...they just rumble me nicely. Jeff has been our vocal percussionist for over 20 years. He started in utero. Anything that requires any degree of intelligence, we give to him.
While CSL4 was telling people about records being a round thing with a hole in the middle, Calvin and Ryan were demonstrating to each other like they were DJs scratching. People "whoo"d.
CSL4: What was that "whoo!" for? The hole? You have questionable taste.
Paper Doll
FFE was kind of far away from our vantage point, but he still managed to Flirty Flirty Eye me. Awwww....happiness!
Blame It On The Boogie
When CSL4 said that he felt a connection with someone in the audience, somebody in the back loudly called for his attention. He saw that it was way up in the lawn area, started to walk up there, and said, "I. Cannot. Go. That. Far. Up. Dear Lord, we're at altitude here!" He finally got to Callie.
Stand By Me / Ain't Too Proud To Beg
Callie was having a good time up there, singing and dancing. FFE was sliding all over the stage. Sher: "He is going to fall down."
JT pointed at us at the "Do It, Rockapella!" point.
CSL4: We sang this song every day for 53 years.
Carmen
Sounds like CSL4's voice was hurting at this point, maybe due to that altitude, and the fact that they were tired. We noticed that FFE was setting up his phone on a music stand, and I figured that maybe he was doing another Periscope session from the stage. I told KP. We waved at the camera. The guys came back onto the stage, one by one.
Up On The Roof / Wonderful World
They were still using their microphones this time, probably because of the venue. We were outside, and it was pretty big, and people had started to leave, which I thought was rude, but it seemed to be older people, so OK.
We didn't know if the guys were going to do a meet and greet, or where they would have it, so we hung out for a few minutes at our seats before going outside the gate. That's when we realized that they were in the trailer. That, and the post on FB of a picture of them inside the trailer. KP paid $8.00 for Scott's new sheet music. I had only paid $5.00 the night before. Maybe the proceeds were going to the benefit? I don't know. Maybe it's the effect of the Supermoon.
Cindy told Calvin that "My Cherie Amour" was awesome. I told him that I almost cried.
Cal: Me, Too. Could you hear my voice kind of losing it at the end?
Sher: No...
Cal: Just kidding.
He said that the venue was beautiful, and wanted to take pictures inside before they closed the doors. We told him that we noticed that he got lots of cheers really early on in the show, and he smiled.
We talked to Scott and I told him that I wished he could release his Bee Gees CD again, and that I had told Cindy about it. He said that he couldn't release it because the music belongs to Sony. I told him that I had 2 copies from Angela and they are now somewhere lost in my house. I just want the recording of "Massachusetts" at this point, because I love the way he sings it. I also said that I had told Cindy that he'd be singing in my house.
Scott: Yeah....
I asked if he was worried about Steve getting all rich and famous and leaving the band. He said that he wasn't worried. I didn't ask him why he wasn't worried, because I kinda don't want to know.
KP told him that we tagged him on Facebook with bad poetry, and we discussed the haiku format.
KP said that Rockapella needs to sell new t-shirts because they were getting...Scott offered the word "ratty"...KP preferred the word "crusty". We told him that he has Ryan now and he could probably do them. I asked him if he needed me to talk to Ryan. Was he shy? He looked at me like I had grown a few more heads, and said that he could talk to Ryan. Gosh, I hope he knew that I was kidding. We also mentioned that they should have Sun Brothers glasses, because we'd buy them. He said that was a good idea.
Later when KP was asking Fred if his wife Fran was the person that was interviewed while serving jury duty with Donald Trump, Scott joined in on the conversation because he hadn't heard about that yet. Honestly, what does Fred ever talk about with them? I know he wasn't in their car, but still, I wonder. (It was Fran, by the way, and she won't be voting for Trump. YAY!).
Jeff was holding stuff when I asked him to sign my program, so Cindy offered to hold it for him. He ended up treating her like she was some kind of pack mule. One of the items was a box of peppermint tea. After signing my program, he was trying to get Steve's attention, but Steve was busy showing me the video that he took while they were on stage. Clearly, he wasn't asking us his question, so I said, "Steve, Thacher's talking to you." Steve apologized and answered his question. Sorry about that, JT! He kindly asked about our drive. Sweet.
We talked to Ryan about the glasses, and he told KP that he was going to get them as he went back to the trailer. When he exited the trailer, he gave them to me. I didn't realize that he didn't give any to KP until later, so I gave them to her. I guess KP and I look alike?
Steve wanted to sign on the dark part of the program, and declared that he needs a silver sharpie. Perhaps his wish will come true some day. :) I had all of the EPs that I bought from him the night before, and he said that he would sign them there, in the dark, while standing. He put a heart on mine. :) I got irritated at Cindy because she was spelling whatever while he was making sure to write my name correctly, because he was getting confused. I told her to stand elsewhere, and she wouldn't. My friends don't listen to me. She's lucky that I was distracted by his blowing on each EP to dry the ink before handing it over to me. I told him that I noticed that he put my name first in the paragraph of pledgemusic supporters. He said, "That was by design." Awwww....thank you! "Yeah, you and Carol" (the other person that hosted a house concert). I told him that I didn't realize he was going to do that, and had pledged to have my name on the EP liner notes, so he said that he owed me one, and not Double N. I asked him what he was going to do. He said, "Anything you want." He really needs to stop telling me that. :) He offered to do a video of him singing, so I asked for "Weightless", a song that he sang in my house but had to leave off of the EP. He agreed to do so, and seemed happy with my decision. Then I gave him the others to sign. For Bro's, I said, "This is for Bro. Or Ryan. Whatever you want to write." He asked if B-r-o was the correct spelling and did that. I beamed. When I handed him Dodie's, I said, "This is for Dodie. Or...Dic." He said, "Oh, that was soooo embarrassing!" You know I'm never going to let him live that down. That was a priceless moment during our raffle. Not the raffle disaster. I'm going to let Dodie wonder what the heck he wrote since she hasn't received her EP yet and I like to torture people. He talked about designing his studio at home, and I asked if he wanted the backdrop that we used for the photo op at the house. At first, he seemed excited about it, then said, "Oh, but you should keep it." I said that we had planned to sign it and give it to him, and we were all happy to do so. He said that he'd like that. He asked for us to put pictures of that day all over it and keep it. I told him that we had something else planned for the pictures, and he'd find out around his birthday. He gave me a puzzled look, and I asked if he'd be in California in November, and he said yes. I reminded him that it was a few days before his birthday, and he figured it out. KP told him how excited we were when he shared our haiku with the picture of "Living". He said, "Yeah, I did!" I asked him to take a picture with me and the EP, and he made sure that we stood in the light. We smiled and said, "LIVING!!!" So cute.
We said our goodbyes and safe travel wishes to the guys, and walked the long dark walk back to our car. Most of the guys were going to Hussong's because they wanted to see the place that they frequented when they were in Reno earlier this year. We were hungry and found a Denny's after circling around a bit while directions were being found. The server told us that she enjoyed her late shift because the people that come in at night have more interesting stories to tell her. No, we didn't tell her any. She was quite busy. When we got back to the hotel, Cindy and I agreed on a meeting time for our morning walk, and we went to sleep, all of us counting 5-7-5 in our dreams, I'm sure.
Next up: Napa
They played some Johnny Cash, which included "Folsom Prison Blues". Well, how can you not, when you're in Reno, and one of the lines is "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"? But, but....Rockapella has that song in their repertoire now, so I wondered if we'd hear it twice tonight. I couldn't help but repeatedly say to KP: "CHOO CHOOOOO!!!" Then they played an awesome version of "Orange Blossom Special" (with 2 fiddlers), and I about lost my mind, again saying "CHOO CHOOOOOO!!!!" The band was quite talented, and the emcee wasn't talking anymore, so we were happy. We were still being impatient about seeing Pella, but we were happy.
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| Singing Cowboys |
During their show, various Pella members came to the stage wings to watch a little bit. Steve waved at us. We happily waved back. HI!!!
Members of the Silver Dollar Chorus were handing out free bananas. Of course I wanted one, and got all excited when we each got one. It would have been more awesome if the guy was dressed as Bananaman, but hmmm...maybe it would have been more awkward. Never mind.
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| I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear. |
We needed to take a picture of Cindy for Geo, and the guy sitting next to Cindy overheard us and offered to help. I mean, I was ready to just call FFE over to do it because everything was taking so long, but this was more appropriate.
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| He's Still The Man |
Awards and thank yous happened. I was concerned when they thanked someone whom couldn't really walk very well, and they were waiting for him to get to the stage, and then one of the speakers got knocked over. We wondered if Fred was freaking out. Then the Raffle Disaster happened. KP decided that these folks were not Catholic, because they couldn't use the raffle drum properly. Tickets fell to the floor. It was just a mess, and there were a lot of prizes that we didn't care about because they were all from local businesses, so we'd need to come back to redeem them. So that took forever. We were 20 minutes past the time that Rockapella was supposed to take the stage. AUGH! They are your headliner, and you're making them wait that long? WTF?
ROCKAPELLA
Finally! The emcee said that they would have "buckets of catchy songs". Buckets. I need to buy a bucket for them one day, and ask that they place all of their catchy songs in it.
Rock Around The Clock
FFE's hair was very spiky today.
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| Rockin Us |
Jailhouse Rock
APPARENTLY, CSL4 did not get the white shirt memo. I couldn't help but be happy when they did Folsom Prison Blues, and said, "Choo CHOOOO!!!" FFE got a big cheer when he sang that he shot a man in Reno.
CSL4: Reno is our second home now. We started the first 17 months of the year here. (Did he say "weeks"? I wrote down "months". Either way, that's longer than they were here). We know the path to the 7-11, the path to the Walgreen's...
Dancing In The Streets
Hi, Steve!
Just My Imagination / Imagine
The crowd really likes Calvin's voice. I don't blame them a bit.
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| "Two...Four...Twenty!" |
Satisfaction
We noted that there were no doors to lock and hinder FFE from doing his audience participation bit. While he was out there, one guy got up to go to the restroom, and FFE started to follow him out, ending up right in front of us. We just laughed at him.
CSL4: Steve has a new CD, his first country-rock crossover CD. He played it for us today and I tell you, it's OK!
CSL4: Our CD is available in the lobby... We don't like to go too far out on a limb with the titles of our albums.
My Cherie Amour
I tell you, they really love Calvin here. Huge applause when he began the song.
CSL4: Ryan has those low tones...they just rumble me nicely. Jeff has been our vocal percussionist for over 20 years. He started in utero. Anything that requires any degree of intelligence, we give to him.
While CSL4 was telling people about records being a round thing with a hole in the middle, Calvin and Ryan were demonstrating to each other like they were DJs scratching. People "whoo"d.
CSL4: What was that "whoo!" for? The hole? You have questionable taste.
Paper Doll
FFE was kind of far away from our vantage point, but he still managed to Flirty Flirty Eye me. Awwww....happiness!
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| See that FFE Action? That's for ME! |
Blame It On The Boogie
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| That Bass |
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| Blame It On Him |
When CSL4 said that he felt a connection with someone in the audience, somebody in the back loudly called for his attention. He saw that it was way up in the lawn area, started to walk up there, and said, "I. Cannot. Go. That. Far. Up. Dear Lord, we're at altitude here!" He finally got to Callie.
Stand By Me / Ain't Too Proud To Beg
Callie was having a good time up there, singing and dancing. FFE was sliding all over the stage. Sher: "He is going to fall down."
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| Callie and The Boys |
JT pointed at us at the "Do It, Rockapella!" point.
CSL4: We sang this song every day for 53 years.
Carmen
Sounds like CSL4's voice was hurting at this point, maybe due to that altitude, and the fact that they were tired. We noticed that FFE was setting up his phone on a music stand, and I figured that maybe he was doing another Periscope session from the stage. I told KP. We waved at the camera. The guys came back onto the stage, one by one.
Up On The Roof / Wonderful World
They were still using their microphones this time, probably because of the venue. We were outside, and it was pretty big, and people had started to leave, which I thought was rude, but it seemed to be older people, so OK.
We didn't know if the guys were going to do a meet and greet, or where they would have it, so we hung out for a few minutes at our seats before going outside the gate. That's when we realized that they were in the trailer. That, and the post on FB of a picture of them inside the trailer. KP paid $8.00 for Scott's new sheet music. I had only paid $5.00 the night before. Maybe the proceeds were going to the benefit? I don't know. Maybe it's the effect of the Supermoon.
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| Supermoon! |
Cindy told Calvin that "My Cherie Amour" was awesome. I told him that I almost cried.
Cal: Me, Too. Could you hear my voice kind of losing it at the end?
Sher: No...
Cal: Just kidding.
He said that the venue was beautiful, and wanted to take pictures inside before they closed the doors. We told him that we noticed that he got lots of cheers really early on in the show, and he smiled.
We talked to Scott and I told him that I wished he could release his Bee Gees CD again, and that I had told Cindy about it. He said that he couldn't release it because the music belongs to Sony. I told him that I had 2 copies from Angela and they are now somewhere lost in my house. I just want the recording of "Massachusetts" at this point, because I love the way he sings it. I also said that I had told Cindy that he'd be singing in my house.
Scott: Yeah....
I asked if he was worried about Steve getting all rich and famous and leaving the band. He said that he wasn't worried. I didn't ask him why he wasn't worried, because I kinda don't want to know.
KP told him that we tagged him on Facebook with bad poetry, and we discussed the haiku format.
KP said that Rockapella needs to sell new t-shirts because they were getting...Scott offered the word "ratty"...KP preferred the word "crusty". We told him that he has Ryan now and he could probably do them. I asked him if he needed me to talk to Ryan. Was he shy? He looked at me like I had grown a few more heads, and said that he could talk to Ryan. Gosh, I hope he knew that I was kidding. We also mentioned that they should have Sun Brothers glasses, because we'd buy them. He said that was a good idea.
Later when KP was asking Fred if his wife Fran was the person that was interviewed while serving jury duty with Donald Trump, Scott joined in on the conversation because he hadn't heard about that yet. Honestly, what does Fred ever talk about with them? I know he wasn't in their car, but still, I wonder. (It was Fran, by the way, and she won't be voting for Trump. YAY!).
Jeff was holding stuff when I asked him to sign my program, so Cindy offered to hold it for him. He ended up treating her like she was some kind of pack mule. One of the items was a box of peppermint tea. After signing my program, he was trying to get Steve's attention, but Steve was busy showing me the video that he took while they were on stage. Clearly, he wasn't asking us his question, so I said, "Steve, Thacher's talking to you." Steve apologized and answered his question. Sorry about that, JT! He kindly asked about our drive. Sweet.
We talked to Ryan about the glasses, and he told KP that he was going to get them as he went back to the trailer. When he exited the trailer, he gave them to me. I didn't realize that he didn't give any to KP until later, so I gave them to her. I guess KP and I look alike?
Steve wanted to sign on the dark part of the program, and declared that he needs a silver sharpie. Perhaps his wish will come true some day. :) I had all of the EPs that I bought from him the night before, and he said that he would sign them there, in the dark, while standing. He put a heart on mine. :) I got irritated at Cindy because she was spelling whatever while he was making sure to write my name correctly, because he was getting confused. I told her to stand elsewhere, and she wouldn't. My friends don't listen to me. She's lucky that I was distracted by his blowing on each EP to dry the ink before handing it over to me. I told him that I noticed that he put my name first in the paragraph of pledgemusic supporters. He said, "That was by design." Awwww....thank you! "Yeah, you and Carol" (the other person that hosted a house concert). I told him that I didn't realize he was going to do that, and had pledged to have my name on the EP liner notes, so he said that he owed me one, and not Double N. I asked him what he was going to do. He said, "Anything you want." He really needs to stop telling me that. :) He offered to do a video of him singing, so I asked for "Weightless", a song that he sang in my house but had to leave off of the EP. He agreed to do so, and seemed happy with my decision. Then I gave him the others to sign. For Bro's, I said, "This is for Bro. Or Ryan. Whatever you want to write." He asked if B-r-o was the correct spelling and did that. I beamed. When I handed him Dodie's, I said, "This is for Dodie. Or...Dic." He said, "Oh, that was soooo embarrassing!" You know I'm never going to let him live that down. That was a priceless moment during our raffle. Not the raffle disaster. I'm going to let Dodie wonder what the heck he wrote since she hasn't received her EP yet and I like to torture people. He talked about designing his studio at home, and I asked if he wanted the backdrop that we used for the photo op at the house. At first, he seemed excited about it, then said, "Oh, but you should keep it." I said that we had planned to sign it and give it to him, and we were all happy to do so. He said that he'd like that. He asked for us to put pictures of that day all over it and keep it. I told him that we had something else planned for the pictures, and he'd find out around his birthday. He gave me a puzzled look, and I asked if he'd be in California in November, and he said yes. I reminded him that it was a few days before his birthday, and he figured it out. KP told him how excited we were when he shared our haiku with the picture of "Living". He said, "Yeah, I did!" I asked him to take a picture with me and the EP, and he made sure that we stood in the light. We smiled and said, "LIVING!!!" So cute.
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| #Living |
We said our goodbyes and safe travel wishes to the guys, and walked the long dark walk back to our car. Most of the guys were going to Hussong's because they wanted to see the place that they frequented when they were in Reno earlier this year. We were hungry and found a Denny's after circling around a bit while directions were being found. The server told us that she enjoyed her late shift because the people that come in at night have more interesting stories to tell her. No, we didn't tell her any. She was quite busy. When we got back to the hotel, Cindy and I agreed on a meeting time for our morning walk, and we went to sleep, all of us counting 5-7-5 in our dreams, I'm sure.
Next up: Napa
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.
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| Sher and Bananaman at the Truckee River |
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| Fred took this picture of us! |
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| 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.
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| Wendy showing us a happy Karla, talking about breakfast |
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| Old School Marquee |
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| 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.
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".
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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).
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!
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| 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".
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| 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.
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| OK, beg! |
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| Enjoying John's attention |
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| 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.
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| JT photobombing Ryan and me |
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| NOW it's your turn, JT! Oh, now, Adam is photobombing. |
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| Scott! |
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| Pella and the Posse |
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| 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).
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| 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!
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Simple Gifts 12/23/14
Simple Gifts
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
The Mozart of Spit
Happy Birthday, JT!
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
The Mozart of Spit
Happy Birthday, JT!
Friday, December 5, 2014
Simple Gifts 12/05/14
Simple Gifts
Friday, December 5, 2014
Major stage love after a 363-day drought.
Thanks, guys!
Friday, December 5, 2014
Major stage love after a 363-day drought.
Thanks, guys!
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Simple Gifts 09/06/14
Simple Gifts
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Fried Doritos on the same day that I received my FFE CD
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Fried Doritos on the same day that I received my FFE CD
Friday, August 29, 2014
Simple Gifts 08/29/14
Simple Gifts
Friday, August 29, 2014
Da Man and his sexy voice
Happy Birthday, Geo!
Friday, August 29, 2014
Da Man and his sexy voice
Happy Birthday, Geo!
 |
| In Lancaster |
Sunday, June 22, 2014
The Smoothest, Hippest, Grooviest Frankenstein in all of Japan
OK, it's time. Drum corps time? Well, yes. Which means that I need to make sure I give my proper send-off to George Baldi III, bass man for Rockapella for these last 12 years.
Ordinarily, I'd have a show to talk about here, but since we weren't privy to knowing that Geo was leaving Rockapella until after the fact, I wasn't able to give him anything like the books I gave to Kevin and John at his last meet and greet. It's too bad, because I have a lot of great pictures of George that I'd love for him to have in some form other than on Facebook. I'll post some of them here, too.
The day I met George, I was sitting outside the theater at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino on October 16, 2002, back in the days where they didn't usually have reserved seats, and we wanted to be first in line. Scott walked up with this handsome guy, and we said hi to Scott. I said to Geo, "Hi! I'm Sherry!" and Scott said, "Oh, you haven't met Sherry yet? George, this is Sherry." George had just joined the group that summer, so he was still learning a lot of the songs and choreography. I was amazed by the new sound to the group, and we talked later about Angela and me grooving with him during "Summertime Blues". He was easy to talk to right from the very beginning.
The next day, Kevin chose me to be "Pretty Woman", and he said from the house, "How's Sherry, George?", and George smiled, nodded, and started the intro to "My Girl". He was so new that he hadn't mastered his "Hey, Baby, what's goin' on?" when being introduced to the lucky woman on stage. Scott asked me to sing "Stand By Me" with them, and I jumped a couple of bars on Geo's intro, but since he's such a pro, he caught on right away and changed the chord at the right time. That was the first night that he did the spoken introduction to "Zombie Jamboree", and since he didn't know the choreography, Elliott told him, "Now, SPIN!" during the song. He did so. No, this was NOT part of the choreo. It was hilarious.
I have many memories of meets and greets with Geo, mostly having to do with Joe being not-actually-related-to Geo, but them acting like they were. Geo would make fun of us staying in the back of the line to talk to them because we didn't want to take up too much time in front of people that just wanted to get CDs signed and say a quick hello. At one point, he met my parents and teased me, telling them that I was a stalker. Another time, he thanked me and Angela for his personalized Christmas goodies, saying that nobody had ever done that for him before. When he told us what his first full-song solo would be, MJ went crazy. He said, "One day, you'll be screaming, 'Papa, Papa!'", so yes, of course, I shouted that sometimes when I saw him on the stage by himself. I LOVE the vocal percussion break during that song. Oh, yeah, and the time he sang Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday" to me on my birthday, then later thanked ME for sharing my special day with them.
We also had a great time getting to know Geo while we were on the Rockapella Cruise. He was the first member of Rockapella to sit at the cool table with us, and we got to meet Sandra and told her why we love Rockapella so much.
The music. Oh, the talent this man has! He brought the smoothest grooves to Rockapella. He brought the major vocal sexiness. He loved to sing that wicked, wicked bass line in "Paper Doll" that had us in awe every single night. He loved to show us his range when singing a falsetto line of "I Will Always Love You" in the same paragraph as he would sing "Old Man River". Thank you, Chocolate Milk! He is the reason that Liz and I told Scott that, yes, Scott can now arrange a Stevie Wonder song for this group. I hope that they continue with this sound. I'll also miss little show moments, like his "NBC" and "Yum Yum" during their Commercials medley. I'll miss his Hula Hoop during the Chipmunks song. I'll miss every groovy moment that I can't articulate here.
My greatest memories of Geo, though, would have to be the moments of Stage Love:
Ordinarily, I'd have a show to talk about here, but since we weren't privy to knowing that Geo was leaving Rockapella until after the fact, I wasn't able to give him anything like the books I gave to Kevin and John at his last meet and greet. It's too bad, because I have a lot of great pictures of George that I'd love for him to have in some form other than on Facebook. I'll post some of them here, too.
 |
| 11/15/04 Lufkin, TX |
The day I met George, I was sitting outside the theater at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino on October 16, 2002, back in the days where they didn't usually have reserved seats, and we wanted to be first in line. Scott walked up with this handsome guy, and we said hi to Scott. I said to Geo, "Hi! I'm Sherry!" and Scott said, "Oh, you haven't met Sherry yet? George, this is Sherry." George had just joined the group that summer, so he was still learning a lot of the songs and choreography. I was amazed by the new sound to the group, and we talked later about Angela and me grooving with him during "Summertime Blues". He was easy to talk to right from the very beginning.
 |
| Geo's second CA gig: 10/17/02 - Montalvo |
The next day, Kevin chose me to be "Pretty Woman", and he said from the house, "How's Sherry, George?", and George smiled, nodded, and started the intro to "My Girl". He was so new that he hadn't mastered his "Hey, Baby, what's goin' on?" when being introduced to the lucky woman on stage. Scott asked me to sing "Stand By Me" with them, and I jumped a couple of bars on Geo's intro, but since he's such a pro, he caught on right away and changed the chord at the right time. That was the first night that he did the spoken introduction to "Zombie Jamboree", and since he didn't know the choreography, Elliott told him, "Now, SPIN!" during the song. He did so. No, this was NOT part of the choreo. It was hilarious.
I have many memories of meets and greets with Geo, mostly having to do with Joe being not-actually-related-to Geo, but them acting like they were. Geo would make fun of us staying in the back of the line to talk to them because we didn't want to take up too much time in front of people that just wanted to get CDs signed and say a quick hello. At one point, he met my parents and teased me, telling them that I was a stalker. Another time, he thanked me and Angela for his personalized Christmas goodies, saying that nobody had ever done that for him before. When he told us what his first full-song solo would be, MJ went crazy. He said, "One day, you'll be screaming, 'Papa, Papa!'", so yes, of course, I shouted that sometimes when I saw him on the stage by himself. I LOVE the vocal percussion break during that song. Oh, yeah, and the time he sang Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday" to me on my birthday, then later thanked ME for sharing my special day with them.
 |
| Carmel 11/04/05 - Now with JKB |
We also had a great time getting to know Geo while we were on the Rockapella Cruise. He was the first member of Rockapella to sit at the cool table with us, and we got to meet Sandra and told her why we love Rockapella so much.
 |
| Formal Night on the Cruise - January 2011 |
The music. Oh, the talent this man has! He brought the smoothest grooves to Rockapella. He brought the major vocal sexiness. He loved to sing that wicked, wicked bass line in "Paper Doll" that had us in awe every single night. He loved to show us his range when singing a falsetto line of "I Will Always Love You" in the same paragraph as he would sing "Old Man River". Thank you, Chocolate Milk! He is the reason that Liz and I told Scott that, yes, Scott can now arrange a Stevie Wonder song for this group. I hope that they continue with this sound. I'll also miss little show moments, like his "NBC" and "Yum Yum" during their Commercials medley. I'll miss his Hula Hoop during the Chipmunks song. I'll miss every groovy moment that I can't articulate here.
 |
| November 2013 - Rrrrrancho Cucamonga |
- Napa: Geo singing to me during "Smile in My Heart", and getting Scott to sing to me, too
- Montalvo: Geo kissing my hand during "Please Come Home For Christmas" to thank me for his Christmas goodies. At BOTH shows that night. AND at the meet and greet.
- Napa: Geo SINGING OUR NAMES during "Babygirl"
- Coach House: Geo saying to me at the end of "Grinch": "No cookies for you!"
The Ultimate Stage Love
There were many, many more moments than these, mostly heavy sighs and sexy stares. I will miss all of it. Sigh. I have swooned many a swoon because of this man.
 |
| 12/05/14 - Napa: Geo's last Pella incarnation |
I wish that I could go to Colorado to see Geo's replacement in his first show, but I'll need to wait, for several reasons. Maybe it will give me more time to heal.
I hope that I get to see Geo someday again, and I hope that he's performing at that time, because his voice is still at the top of its form, and he needs to share that with the world.
I'll miss you lots, George. You're Awesome. You're the Man. :)
 |
| 01/29/12: Napa -- the site of many favorite Geo moments |
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