|
The fresh coolness of November air delivers a thin layer of condensation upon the 1960’s Starbucks in Humble. The temperature is a coffee house’s dream: Not too brisk, but enough of a chill to move product. And on a night like this the status of the Starbucks crew is elevated from mere baristas to that of magical beverage alchemists who transform stagnant dry beans into savory warm mocha elixirs. Our trio arrives at the site, and with the help of Lee’s second eldest son, Austin, the guys are ready to go again. Due to the successfulness of the group’s last visit, the store’s management has installed an outside wall outlet to plug into. Lee and George view this modification on the band’s behalf as a welcome sign and are even more eager to get the night started. The Palomarez family arrives at the same time as Eileen and Robert. Everyone takes their seats and… well little Rosie and her younger brother, Xavier don’t sit –they begin dancing in front of the band. They both are wearing fairy wings (no doubt left over from Halloween). George makes a joke about the infestation of giant gnats seen in this area, but this won’t stop these two -they will dance most of their visit. During the opening verse of the second song, THEY CAN’T TAKE THAT AWAY, the sound goes dead. “Well apparently they CAN take that away!” On closer observation, it’s determined that the sound board + the light system that Lee likes to shine on Matthew and George’s feet are too much for the new electrical Starbucks has hooked up. While Lee reports the problem inside, George announces that the drain from both systems is too much for the new electrical outlet and “...We’ve blown a breaker.” He continues, “We need to decide if we want music or lights. Let’s take a vote…” Gratefully, the music wins (if even only by a slim margin). Meanwhile, Matthew suspiciously looks around to see if he recognizes any of the audience as saboteurs from Jitter’s (see previous blogs). Suddenly a lady emerges from the crowd, and introduces herself as Susan. She offers to loan the guys an extension cord. George manages to parley the extension cord offer into a possible gig at an event that she has coming up. Cards are exchanged, the cord is ran from inside, and the sound is restored. The three debut the Dean Martin classic AIN’T THAT A KICK IN THE HEAD and dedicate it Susan, the Dancer. For a little something new, the band introduces jazz arrangements between songs written for a wine tasting event the guys are performing at later in the month. The crowd responds well to the music-only segments. Xavier and Rosie keep dancing. George is so moved with the two dancing fairies, that he asks Lee and Matthew to play Sinatra’s sentimental YOUNG AT HEART. Loretta, her brother Fred, and Nephew Keith, and respective girlfriends arrive in time to hear Matthew giving a public service announcement about the Sunday morning’s time change. Lee and George sarcastically perform a few bars of TIME IS ON MY SIDE to compliment his voice-over. Then Loretta requests her favorite GP3 tune: HONKY TONK WOMAN. So Chris introduces it with a flawless Christopher Walken impersonation demanding ‘I have a fever and the only cure is MORE COWBELL!’. Later in the song he encourages Lee to ‘Put some Bigelow on it’ during an improvised bongo break. To balance out the set, the guys ease into an extended version of HOLDING BACK THE YEARS. Mary, George’s mother makes a surprise visit. At the conclusion of the song, Robert approaches Matthew and George to comment on the arrangement. It’s the first time that he’s heard the group with the string enhancements – it’s very ethereal, very nice. Before the dust settles on that, Lee calls out for the Jackson Browne hit, DOCTOR, MY EYES. He invites Austin to play bongos as they double up for a percussion solo. It gives Lee a well-deserved opportunity to strut his stuff for Darryl, a friend of his for over three decades. Jody, her daughters, and friend Pam arrive to hear the trio perform a quirky rendition of Radiohead’s CREEP. Through some type of Jedi mind-trick, Matthew quickly discovers that Jody sings in a band called Smoke Break. He invites her to sing a tune with the trio. George gives her the ‘Big Book’ of the group's songs. "Pick out something to sing." Her choice: CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU. Halfway through the song she mentions that she never gets to sing ballads or slow songs with the band she’s in. George seizes on this and has Lee and Matthew double the tempo for a few laughs. Jody manages to make it through and the trio mercifully slows the song down for a big finish. After several failed trivia attempts on the Jackson Browne / Daryl Hannah movie question, Matthew reveals that the Vangelis song ONE MORE KISS is actually from the 1982 Sci-fi film Blade Runner. Matthew and George jokingly take full credit for the re-release of the classic, as they have performed the song for years. A second (and easier) question is asked. This time it’s about George’s recent visit to Hoboken, NJ. Pam (who’s husband is from Jersey) instantly snatches up the prize and event flier. At this point the evening progresses intro a strange karaoke-dare-freakshow type thing. It's just what Robert was waiting for to make his move. He has the ability to click and pop his teeth in a way that almost sounds like music – almost sounds like music. It sounds very unusual, but Robert knows he’s safe to do this with this crowd. So he takes the mic and begins making aborigine-like pops to the tune of HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY. A few moments later, Robert accepts the challenge of facing Lee in a pop-off. Lee readies his wood block. Robert licks his lips. And they're off battling it out to the song YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME. An audience member is so moved by this ridiculous display that they put a check for $1.00 in the tip jar. Yes, even though there is an ATM at the bank next door, someone writes a check (Matthew decides to frame it). Not to be out done, Eileen gets into the act. A die-hard Beatles fan, she chooses to sing I’M LOOKING THOROUGH YOU with the band as a rebuttal to Robert’s clicking. In a bit of a twist, the trio night finishes off with the same song they started with: ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE like bookends framing the evening together. Austin resumes his station on the bongos. This prompts George to encourage all of Lee’s sons to all gather around to play a piece of the drum kit as George sings “What a day this has been…what a rare mood I’m in…There’s a smile on my face…for the whole human race – It’s almost like being, almost like being in love.” < Previous Back to Main Blog Page Next >
|