Grape Expectations
November 9th,
The trio is hired to provide background
music and entertainment at a wine tasting event
at an exclusive yacht club in Hitchcock. Lee and
George arrive together to the club and are
immediately impressed with the elegance of the
area’s surroundings inside and out.
They are greeted by
Eddie, the club’s manager who is very poised and
charming. He spends a good amount of time with
Lee and George on the outside deck (no doubt
sizing these two up). Eventually Lee discovers
that Eddie’s from San Diego and the two begin
calling out cross streets from their earlier
days. George has nothing to contribute so he
lets the rhythmic sound of the water’s ebb and
flow against the dock hypnotize him.
Eddie eventually moves the conversation back to business. He requests that no mics be used tonight. Looking around at the high ceilings, wood flooring, glass windows (all hard surfaces - good for acoustics) George agrees to try it. After Eddie leaves Lee expresses his concern. He questions George about being able to sing since he was out sick earlier in the week. “Your fever hasn’t come back-right? Are you up for this –singing without a mic?” “Sure (cough cough), I’m doing great!” “We’ll just go into ‘Troubadour Mode’” “Troubra – what?” “It’ll be fine. But are you able to play the drums soft enough for Eddie’s ears?” Lee shrugs.
Matthew arrives soon after, and the three load in. It’s 6:00 PM and guests are arriving to an ultra-mellow ‘unplugged’ version of George Poe Trio. Matthew enjoys being the ambience of the room, providing the soundtrack to a hundred conversations that echo through the room.
Eddie introduces the evening’s guest of
honor,
Vic Bourassa
flown in from Bourassa
Vineyards of California
(www.bourassavineyards.com). Through the course of the evening Vic will stand up and
lecture about the particular wine that is being
served. Each segment is a five minute speech
about wine making. This is time enough for the
guys to take a quick break. Matthew sneaks off
to the men’s room and unexpectedly discovers a
room of stylish elegance. He thinks to himself
“Wow, this club is really nice.” He notices that
there is even a mouthwash dispenser for the
guests. Meanwhile, Lee is downstairs stretching
his legs, George stays behind and learns that
NAPA makes wine as well as auto parts.
Vic finishes to applause, and the music starts again. Halfway through the third song of the set, two young ladies approach the piano. They present wish list of song requests to George and Matthew. A bewildered Lee asks “What did they want?” Knowing that Lee doesn’t have his reading glasses with him, Matthew jokingly tells him “They gave us their phone numbers.” George admits they’re songs and begins to play one of the requests: FLY ME TO THE MOON. The 2nd request is a song that was originally removed from tonight’s list, MOONDANCE, but Matthew agrees to do it anyway “for the people, for the fans”. The table that the requests came from are impressed. They send more, this time starting off with Van Morrison’s BROWN-EYED GIRL. The guys get into the groove of the song so much that Lee even sings the background “Sha la la la la la la la te da” bits. Matthew and George are noticeably surprised. The trio’s momentum continues to build for another few songs, paused only by another speech by Vic, the wine guy.
Lee listens to Mr.Bourassa tell of the various processes of wine making. He is struck by how closely this resembles what he imagines a bomb making class taught Al-Qaeda must be like. George decides to sneak away to find something to drink so that he can take some more Ibuprofen for his throat. Eventually he ends up in the glamorous men’s room that Matthew talked about. When he goes to wash his hands, he notices two tiny spigots, but which is the soap and which is the mouthwash? He’s got a 50/50 chance – and gets it wrong. For the remainder of the night his hands will smell minty fresh.
The music resumes with another request, this time a little more challenging: The members of the ‘request table’ have ask for KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG. The boys deliver pretty good rendition of the tune considering none of the three have ever played this together or individually – ever. Next, a man approaches and asks if his girlfriend can sing a song with a mic. For those of you who are new to the world of entertainment, take note: Letting slightly intoxicated people perform with your band is almost always a BAD IDEA. There’s nothing quite like people filled with wine thinking they’re the next American Idol. But the trio takes calculated risk and say Yes. They hand over a songlist over for Katherine (the girlfriend) to choose from. She selects the Eagles’ tune DESPARADO. “In the key of A, Please.” Hmmm…maybe this will work after all – she apparently knows her voice. Matthew and George feverously transpose the song from the key for George’s voice to Katherine’s. George welcomes her to the mic and Katherine takes over. As she sings, the dynamic of room is transformed: what was just the background music is now center stage. The guy’s gamble has paid off. Katherine proves to sing well enough to carry the room, and receives a round of enthusiastic applause.
In order to maximize this new-found momentum, George immediately whips up the Ray Charles tune HALLELUJAH, I LOVE HER SO. It’s at this point that an interesting shift begins to occur – one might say that the band seems to sound better to everyone now because they’re filled with wine , but something more is happening here – this place has crossed some threshold – it is not the same place it was three hours ago. Even though George is popping Ibuprofen for his throat like handfuls of popcorn now, the air is electric. Vic, the wine expert, is gone now (presumably back to California) leaving the night without an emcee and focus. The guys quickly seize the opportunity to fill the void. Todd’s wife pleads with the trio to perform something romantic to get her husband out on the dance floor. The familiar chorus of CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE begins to play –it works as Todd and many others rush to slow dance.
This is followed up by SHE’S GOT A WAY. It’s sounds great until halfway through the song, George begins to choke. No more singing, just coughs and choking. George’s face is red, but he keeps on playing and the three finish the song as an instrumental. Lee thinks to himself that the night’s over: no piano player = no playing. But George manages to find a reserve burst of energy. Lee is shocked. Note: As of the writing of this blog it’s been learned that George was unknowingly suffering from Streptococcal pharyngitis (or by its street name: strep throat).
The three begin playing with an unleashed verosity and zeal. They’re playing like madmen on a mission. Every time that the dancing guests almost make it to their seats to catch ‘a breather’ the guys launch into a song more intense than the one before, drawing everyone back to the floor. George winks to Matthew when he sees that Eddie has given in and is also out on the dance floor. After another 45 minutes, the night’s pied pipers wind up 4 hour marathon with a bouncy closer of Irving Berlin’s BLUE SKIES.
Matthew and Lee bask in the afterglow,
while George pops out to the deck to get some
fresh air (and cough). He is reminded that his
hands smell strangely minty. “This
place is beautiful.”
He closes his eyes and
listens to the rhythm of the water hitting the
dock again. He returns inside. “Good gig.”
Matthew and Lee acknowledge in unison, “Yeah,
Good gig.”
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