That Crazy Weekend
I just wanted to thank everyone who made the effort and spent the money to come out
here for a truly great weekend. What an adventure. I just wanted to add another
perspective to what Mary Jo shared and give you some insight into some of the crazy things
that were going on. Friday was a beautiful night, and that moon was gorgeous. I got to the
stage around 6 or so and had to change some strings on two guitars but I started visiting
with everyone who was there while I was doing that. It was great seeing everyone again.
While we were sitting there I looked up and here comes this guy across the lot carrying a
guitar and walking with a blonde girl and I remember saying, "That's gotta be
Eddie" and it sure was. So I spent the early part just changing strings and visiting
up on stage with Eddie while we figured out who was gonna plug in where. Robby and John
showed up and the first thing John says to me is "Hey Bob, I forgot the amps".
He was supposed to bring two amps...one for me and one for Eddie and he forgot. Okay, plan
B. I plugged into my little sound system board and Eddie plugged into Paul's keyboard amp
and the show would go on.
Eddie did a great job on Friday night. He played the whole night with us and I've gotta
tell ya, there are not many musicians/singers who could do that ... I couldn't. He held
his own ... and there were some adventures up there believe me...like John with no amps,
Paul's amp acting up and giving us trouble. Of course the real whammie of the night is
Johnny boy decides he's going to be, as he put it, a "giver" on Friday and
starts telling us we have to do the Path of Love and Silver Threads and Poor
Baby. So right on stage, right during the show he's pulling this on us and I'm asking
him, "hey have you told Robby" pointing over to Robby who has never played these
songs...and what about the keys? Are we going to play Path of Love in it's
original key? "Sure" John says...and I'm thinkin', "dude, you were 12 back
then."...and who knows what Eddie's thinkin' and Robby's just saying, "hey, I
can do it if you can do it". So we announce the key and off we go. Now all you folks
in the audience weren't aware of all this talk. Then John says we're gonna do Silver
Threads and we decide to abandon our arrangement for the more traditional one to pull
that one off. John even tried to get us to do Siamese Cat. So I told John the
next time he decided he was gonna be such a "giver" to give the band a little
more notice. The night went well and we had many guest "artists". Paul showed up
late and out of breath with his toy box of percussion instruments (his keyboard got stuck
in some mode programatically and we couldn't use it the rest of the night but old Paul did
a great job on percussion).
We played 8-11 and we played songs none of us have ever played before. We brought
Marissa and some of her friends on stage and sang the Beatles Birthday to her.
Michael Sera was the drummer who did such a good job on I Be Low keeping that
steady beat pretty steady for someone so young. Eddie sang great harmonies and you could
tell we all grew up listening to the same music. Of course after the show we started
thinking of all the songs we could have done but didn't. But we also knew there was going
to be the following night at the Pub. After the show people were asking about the band and
when I told them about Eddie and the fact that we just met and had never played together
... well you could tell they just couldn't comprehend how we could pull something like
that off. After the show we all went to Jerry's Deli and stayed up late visiting, eating,
laughing and looking forward to the next day.
So we're gonna meet at Cables for our second annual there and amazingly enough we get
the same waitress we had two years ago and she remembers us. I actually felt bad that she
was still working at Cables (waitressing seems like hard work to me). So we all start
filtering in and we're sitting there in 3 or 4 booths and this couple walks in and takes a
two-seater right near us ... but they're kind of quiet. So I'm wondering if there just
normal Cable people and happen to sit back there with us but I have this feeling they
aren't. So I start asking very very quietly to Stella and Jo, "who are those two
people over there" and no one knows. I keep asking different people until finally
Stella gets up and says "I'll find out". So she walks over and after a brief
moment of conversation turns to us and says, "It's DebiV!". Well the place went
nuts ... EVERYONE knows DebiV!!...and we all start in, "it's DebiV", it's
DebiV". I mean this news is now spreading like wildfire throughout Cables restaurant.
I'm sure even towards the front the news spread that DebiV was in the house. Her husband
Jerry was such a cool guy too. It was pretty funny. Cables was great because it was away
from the noise and craziness of the live show atmosphere and we really had some time to
visit in a nice setting. We probably could've stayed longer but eventually we gravitated
to the Pub.
The Pub show was as fun as Friday's but I thought, artistically it was a little better
because we were all a little more comfortable with everything. Robby, John and myself
started the night (John walks in and says right away, "Bob, I forgot my
cymbals". I'm tellin' ya he's like this little kid, you know..."I forgot my
cymbals, I forgot the amps, I forgot my name". Well anyway, he has a friend that
drums, Dan, and Dan went to get his cymbals for him. Again, many guest artists. We gave
Norma a little trouble from the stage because she kept turning off the lightbulb above her
head but it's all in fun at the Pub and anyone can be a target there. We shifted into high
gear around midnight and I'll tell that we did the best version of California Dreamin'
I've ever heard at the Pub with Lynne, Damon, Salia and the rest up there. The girls
covered the high harmonies in grand fashion and Damon had no problem holding his own. It
probably was bold to just call everyone up without telling them what we're singing but we
honestly didn't know until we started the songs. That's how we work at the pub anyway.
Eddie came up for much of the last set and again held his own on guitar and vocals. Paul,
yes, is hilarious. I was glad that everyone who was making rush decisions about him from
the VH-1 show could finally meet the real McCoy. Yes, he's always that way, and yes, he's
always that energetic and funny. The surprise song of the night for me was Helplessly
Hoping which Brendon joined us on. Brendon sounded just great and that particular
rendition was one of the better ones I had ever participated in. Mary Jo came up and did a
couple of numbers. She was so cute because this guy Dan, John's friend, was on drums and
Mary Jo wasn't going to be comfortable with that and she wanted John to drum for her as
did I. So I told John he needed to drum on these songs. Now why Mary Jo would want that is
beyond me because the last time we were at the pub, while Mary Jo was singing, John was
poking her behind with his drumstick during the song ... pretty funny. The night ended in
grand style as some have related here with Twist and Shout ... a great great
version ... the place was definitely jumpin' and the Hairheads on stage had that pub
audience right in the palm of their hands ... and that's true too ... I'm not just saying
that.
Well after the show we all went to Jerry's Deli  (the post-pub
place as opposed to Cables, the pre-pub place) and we stayed up late again talking and
laughing and eating each others desert. We had fun and we all jotted down notes and
pictures on this placemat. But I'll tell you one thing ... the best entertainment I
witnessed during the weekend was Sunday back at St. Bernardines. Me, Eddie and Nancy sat
and enjoyed all these young singers and dancers ... I mean very professional sounding
young people. They played great and we had a nice Sunday afternoon visit. Then Eddie and
Nancy returned to the hotel to hook up with Stella and that was that. Thanks again for
helping make the weekend very special and you never know about Newport and
CMIV....stranger things have happened. |
