7/30 - Best of the West
This was kind of like a trade show, but with the common theme being "best' rather than a specific industry or product. And the last I checked, "best" meant that there could only be one. Apparently, that's not the case on the west side.
This event was sponsored by West Shore magazine. The local businesses that were voted in as the best were the participants. There were restaurants, bars, catering services, wine stores, car wash, spas, salons, jewelry, ties, etc. It was pretty much all over the map as far as products.
Mudcat and I could be pretty much all over the map up on stage with tons of room to move about...we're still Jakeless (now he has a video to show how much we miss him). The being Jakeless part of it we weren't crazy about, but it was pretty cool to be up there looking out into the sea of people, which made us hugely thankful that we had our own space. We were told that attendance was about 500 people this year.
Saw some familiar faces in that sea of people; the crew from Rozi's, Peggy, Mudcat's niece, and Janet and Marsha (no, not the Brady Bunch Jan and Marsha).
Mudcat had a fan right from the get-go. A young-ish girl who kept coming up to the stage to listen to us (him) and she ended up requesting that we do an Eagles song. Gotta give her parents credit! We completely expected her to request Miley Cyrus.
Chris decided that it was open mike night and came up to sing and play (Chris brought his own guitar, but Mudcat let him use his). He did a song by himself, which he pulled off, but then tried to sing along with Mud (not to be confused with sing along with Mitch) and "tried" is the key word. He exited stage left during the first verse, but ended up coming back up when he realized where he left his beer.
According to Trish, the chick in charge of this event, we were well received and she'll keep us in mind for other events and/or next year's Best of the West. We had fun too!
Friday, July 31, 2009
7/25 The Room On Lorain
Well, we're still missing Jake (and he has the voice mail message as proof).
Oh, the conversations that we overhear...this organ donor (non-helmet wearing) motorcycle guy meanders up to the bar after parking his bike on the sidewalk right in front of the door, orders a beer and announces to Katie (the bartender) that he does not have insurance. First: he can't afford it and second: if he gets in an accident he'll be dead anyway, so why bother. Great logic.
The ironic thing is that Katie works for an insurance company during the day.
But that's not the best one. I do believe this overheard conversation tops his ~ a girl at the bar proclaims that she is itching out her ying-yang (her words, not mine). Go ahead and say it with me....ewwwwwwwwwww.
Two girls came in who appeared to be having a girls' night out and who also appeared to be expecting a different clientele with whom to share their excursion, decided to stay for at least a shot and a beer, which they downed in about 3 seconds (beer included). Apparently, bubble gum liqueur mixed with Red Bull (which they called a "bubble bomb") is quite tasty. I'll take their word for it.
And once again, the detailed, step-by-step instructional hand washing poster in the women's bathroom continues to amuse me. My favorite part is the last item under the heading of when to know that you need to wash your hands ~ "when hands become visibly soiled". Yeah, I'm thinkin' that would be a good time...
Well, we're still missing Jake (and he has the voice mail message as proof).
Oh, the conversations that we overhear...this organ donor (non-helmet wearing) motorcycle guy meanders up to the bar after parking his bike on the sidewalk right in front of the door, orders a beer and announces to Katie (the bartender) that he does not have insurance. First: he can't afford it and second: if he gets in an accident he'll be dead anyway, so why bother. Great logic.
The ironic thing is that Katie works for an insurance company during the day.
But that's not the best one. I do believe this overheard conversation tops his ~ a girl at the bar proclaims that she is itching out her ying-yang (her words, not mine). Go ahead and say it with me....ewwwwwwwwwww.
Two girls came in who appeared to be having a girls' night out and who also appeared to be expecting a different clientele with whom to share their excursion, decided to stay for at least a shot and a beer, which they downed in about 3 seconds (beer included). Apparently, bubble gum liqueur mixed with Red Bull (which they called a "bubble bomb") is quite tasty. I'll take their word for it.
And once again, the detailed, step-by-step instructional hand washing poster in the women's bathroom continues to amuse me. My favorite part is the last item under the heading of when to know that you need to wash your hands ~ "when hands become visibly soiled". Yeah, I'm thinkin' that would be a good time...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
7/24 - Enclave
WE MISS JAKE!!!! He's in Oshkosh, where we're supposed to be too, but life happens. Not to worry ~ there's always next year and in the mean time Mudcat and I are making the most of our time at home.
While Jake is undoubtedly trying to escape from the Polka Kings (I still think he secretly likes polka music), the show must go on and we enjoyed having some elbow room on stage.
Kayla went home early. She had a spider bite on her leg that was causing her grief as well as causing her calf to be twice it's normal size. To add to that, she had a fresh tattoo that was tender and her allergies decided to join in the fun. She did not look happy.
Our sketcher was there again and I'm convinced that he does the same drawing over and over.
Oh yeah, and Jake's favorite couple was there too. They stayed for a while at their usual table where they sang back up on a couple of songs.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves including the group of young ones who started a board game around 11:00. Not sure what they were playing, but it seemed like a combination of Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. I dunno....
WE MISS JAKE!!!! He's in Oshkosh, where we're supposed to be too, but life happens. Not to worry ~ there's always next year and in the mean time Mudcat and I are making the most of our time at home.
While Jake is undoubtedly trying to escape from the Polka Kings (I still think he secretly likes polka music), the show must go on and we enjoyed having some elbow room on stage.
Kayla went home early. She had a spider bite on her leg that was causing her grief as well as causing her calf to be twice it's normal size. To add to that, she had a fresh tattoo that was tender and her allergies decided to join in the fun. She did not look happy.
Our sketcher was there again and I'm convinced that he does the same drawing over and over.
Oh yeah, and Jake's favorite couple was there too. They stayed for a while at their usual table where they sang back up on a couple of songs.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves including the group of young ones who started a board game around 11:00. Not sure what they were playing, but it seemed like a combination of Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. I dunno....
Thursday, July 23, 2009
7/18 - Huntington Park Pool Pavilion
This was a private party for Chris' college graduation. CONGRATULATIONS!
Linda and Bob were our hosts and WOW, can they put on a party! Seriously, they should consider going into the catering business. It was a feast fit for royalty. And a good time was had by all...pretty sure the monkey had something to do with that.
Honest, they really did have a monkey there. And not just any monkey. This monkey was on the Ellen show. Upstaged by a monkey. How many people can put that on their resume? At least three (that would be Mudcat, Jake, and yours truly). Note to Jake: I would advise against adding that to your resume for air traffic control.
Our version of "Mercedes Benz" was a HUGE hit! And if you haven't seen it yet or would like to see it again, here's the link ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwGy3_I5kT0
We ended the evening with a couple encores and a special request for Betty's favorite song, which began with a disclaimer and ended with Jake's Mr. Rogers advise to the kids.
And a very special thank you to BC (our favorite stalker) for the green room hospitality! You're the way best chick EVER!
This was a private party for Chris' college graduation. CONGRATULATIONS!
Linda and Bob were our hosts and WOW, can they put on a party! Seriously, they should consider going into the catering business. It was a feast fit for royalty. And a good time was had by all...pretty sure the monkey had something to do with that.
Honest, they really did have a monkey there. And not just any monkey. This monkey was on the Ellen show. Upstaged by a monkey. How many people can put that on their resume? At least three (that would be Mudcat, Jake, and yours truly). Note to Jake: I would advise against adding that to your resume for air traffic control.
Our version of "Mercedes Benz" was a HUGE hit! And if you haven't seen it yet or would like to see it again, here's the link ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwGy3_I5kT0
We ended the evening with a couple encores and a special request for Betty's favorite song, which began with a disclaimer and ended with Jake's Mr. Rogers advise to the kids.
And a very special thank you to BC (our favorite stalker) for the green room hospitality! You're the way best chick EVER!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
7/17 - Riders Inn
Every time we play at Riders it either rains or snows. This time was no exception (rain). So, we have yet to play on their beautiful patio.
Painesville had their Party In The Park event going on this weekend and apparently they were charging unbelievably high prices for food. One couple who was at the event, stopped in for some supper time treats and listened to us for a while before heading back down to the park.
We had a good time with the crew that was there ~
One girl who was there with her parents particularly liked "How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away", Mudcat's rendition of "Silver Wings" was a big hit with Karen, the bar goddess and a couple guys who were sitting at the bar did the lighter thing during "Hotel California", which made me feel like we were at Blossom doing a concert.
Mikey was a big fan too. Mikey is a Lhasa apso. Mudcat dedicated "Stray Cat Strut" to him and this dog actually looked up at Mud during the song and wagged his tail. Honest. I think that Mikey's person liked us too, even though we didn't know any of his requests.
And their resident cat, Sam (Samantha....the one with all the litters) decided that while we had the door propped open at the end of the gig would be a good time to sneak outside. I was coming back up the ramp to get more equipment when I saw her on the move and heard everyone inside yelling to get Sam, so I got into baseball player stance to catch a grounder...she was heading right for me and at the last minute, my feet slipped on the wet rug and I started to flip backwards. As I was realigning myself into an upright position, Sam took that opportunity to veer to the left and shot out between me and the door into the night. Wanna bet she has another litter?
Every time we play at Riders it either rains or snows. This time was no exception (rain). So, we have yet to play on their beautiful patio.
Painesville had their Party In The Park event going on this weekend and apparently they were charging unbelievably high prices for food. One couple who was at the event, stopped in for some supper time treats and listened to us for a while before heading back down to the park.
We had a good time with the crew that was there ~
One girl who was there with her parents particularly liked "How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away", Mudcat's rendition of "Silver Wings" was a big hit with Karen, the bar goddess and a couple guys who were sitting at the bar did the lighter thing during "Hotel California", which made me feel like we were at Blossom doing a concert.
Mikey was a big fan too. Mikey is a Lhasa apso. Mudcat dedicated "Stray Cat Strut" to him and this dog actually looked up at Mud during the song and wagged his tail. Honest. I think that Mikey's person liked us too, even though we didn't know any of his requests.
And their resident cat, Sam (Samantha....the one with all the litters) decided that while we had the door propped open at the end of the gig would be a good time to sneak outside. I was coming back up the ramp to get more equipment when I saw her on the move and heard everyone inside yelling to get Sam, so I got into baseball player stance to catch a grounder...she was heading right for me and at the last minute, my feet slipped on the wet rug and I started to flip backwards. As I was realigning myself into an upright position, Sam took that opportunity to veer to the left and shot out between me and the door into the night. Wanna bet she has another litter?
Friday, July 17, 2009
7/11 - Cleats
This was a patio gig and all was going well until I started singing "Fire". I had to change the wording at the end from "fire" to "raindrops". Thankfully, there were only about 4 big old bloppy drops and that was it.
Denny came to this gig too, but the trolling was short lived and he settled at a table "back stage" and then moved onto the patio to a corner table all by his own self.
I do believe that Denny should be added to the list of Jake's fans. He thoroughly enjoyed Jake (and I think Jake got quite a kick out of Denny as well).
Speaking of Jake's fans, he had quite the turn out. There were "the guys", Jackie, and her parents. They were the Ohio State table. We sang "Hang On Sloopy" for them and they provided the choreography. We also sang "Amy", but changed it to "Jackie". She was most embarrassed, which I do believe was Jake's intent.
Betty and Bernie were there for a while as well. Hopefully, Betty is able to breath again with out her much needed allergy medications.
Mudcat unintentionally started up a naming pool after he introduced us when he said that he was the player to be named later. I guess people took him literally and it became a contest. Flipper...really????
And we had our absentee request. Wouldn't be a gig without one.
All in all, it seemed that we were very well received since we were asked to play "just one more song" a couple times. The last request was for "Inagaddadavida" and Jake brought down the house with his rendition.
This was a patio gig and all was going well until I started singing "Fire". I had to change the wording at the end from "fire" to "raindrops". Thankfully, there were only about 4 big old bloppy drops and that was it.
Denny came to this gig too, but the trolling was short lived and he settled at a table "back stage" and then moved onto the patio to a corner table all by his own self.
I do believe that Denny should be added to the list of Jake's fans. He thoroughly enjoyed Jake (and I think Jake got quite a kick out of Denny as well).
Speaking of Jake's fans, he had quite the turn out. There were "the guys", Jackie, and her parents. They were the Ohio State table. We sang "Hang On Sloopy" for them and they provided the choreography. We also sang "Amy", but changed it to "Jackie". She was most embarrassed, which I do believe was Jake's intent.
Betty and Bernie were there for a while as well. Hopefully, Betty is able to breath again with out her much needed allergy medications.
Mudcat unintentionally started up a naming pool after he introduced us when he said that he was the player to be named later. I guess people took him literally and it became a contest. Flipper...really????
And we had our absentee request. Wouldn't be a gig without one.
All in all, it seemed that we were very well received since we were asked to play "just one more song" a couple times. The last request was for "Inagaddadavida" and Jake brought down the house with his rendition.
7/10 - Jackalope
Well, it was stuffy again. Not attitude stuffy, but temperature stuffy.
And this time I got to do the gig with bird poop on my back. Nice. Apparently, I leaned back into it on the swing at home before we left, but it wasn't noticed until after we got to the Jackalope. And yes, this time I was wearing white. Oh, well. There was a girl in the bathroom who did her best to try to wash it out for me.
Denny was in town for the weekend, so he had a new place to troll while we sang. He's quite the social butterfly. He finally settled himself at a table with a couple of women who actually didn't seem to mind his invasion. It was hard to keep track of him even from our perspective where we could see everyone.
Shortly after we began, I was looking out at the dock and noticed the mast of a particular sail boat swaying back and forth and I immediately looked around to see if Denny was missing. I spotted him, so it was someone else who was having fun.
There was a couple who was having fun, but not the same kinda fun as the people on that boat were having. These two were dancing and singing. They stayed up there for 3 or 4 songs. The guy got quite a kick out of Jake saying, "the salt, the salt" during "Margaritaville".
Oh yeah, and Jake played the slide tonight (not the slide in the play area, but the slide for his guitar). It was quite a treat!
Some boys came up and sang "I Don't Want To Fade Away" at the end of the evening. They were a show all by themselves (after a bazillion shots and some beer, who wouldn't be?).
Well, it was stuffy again. Not attitude stuffy, but temperature stuffy.
And this time I got to do the gig with bird poop on my back. Nice. Apparently, I leaned back into it on the swing at home before we left, but it wasn't noticed until after we got to the Jackalope. And yes, this time I was wearing white. Oh, well. There was a girl in the bathroom who did her best to try to wash it out for me.
Denny was in town for the weekend, so he had a new place to troll while we sang. He's quite the social butterfly. He finally settled himself at a table with a couple of women who actually didn't seem to mind his invasion. It was hard to keep track of him even from our perspective where we could see everyone.
Shortly after we began, I was looking out at the dock and noticed the mast of a particular sail boat swaying back and forth and I immediately looked around to see if Denny was missing. I spotted him, so it was someone else who was having fun.
There was a couple who was having fun, but not the same kinda fun as the people on that boat were having. These two were dancing and singing. They stayed up there for 3 or 4 songs. The guy got quite a kick out of Jake saying, "the salt, the salt" during "Margaritaville".
Oh yeah, and Jake played the slide tonight (not the slide in the play area, but the slide for his guitar). It was quite a treat!
Some boys came up and sang "I Don't Want To Fade Away" at the end of the evening. They were a show all by themselves (after a bazillion shots and some beer, who wouldn't be?).
Sunday, July 12, 2009
7/4 - Meadows Neighborhood Fireworks
Another great 4th of July celebration with Vic and Amy as the hosts with the most! They made sure that we were well tended to, starting with offering us water or vodka....we chose water. Every possible effort was made for us to be happy. Once again ~ felt kinda like a rock star.
We did our best with "Bye, Bye Blackbird" to make Mary Lou happy and Mudcat also sang "Crazy" for her.
The Miley Cyrus tribute band didn't get to play, because we thought those little girls would be bold like last year and just come on up to sing and they thought we were going to announce them. They looked all hurt when we were tearing down and one of the girls asked "what about our group?". If it weren't for the fact that we were under the gun to get packed up before the fireworks started, we would have had them come up and do a couple of songs with their official Miley Cyrus guitars. Hey, you can't play her stuff on just any guitar.
It was dark by the time we got everything packed up and Jake decided to use that opportunity to revive one of his childhood games of "catch the light" or something like that...can't remember exactly what he called it, but it involves shining a flashlight on the ground and telling the kids to step on it and then of course moving it to another spot the second their little feet make it to the light. Then he made it shine on the girls and told them in a frantic tone that the light was on them and of course the girls squealed and tried to get the light off of them. It was most entertaining.
We stayed for the fireworks and thought we had picked the perfect spot, which we did for fireworks viewing, but then there was Zeb. Not Zebadiah, just Zeb. Oh yeah, Zeb was a talker. A talker with only one descriptive in his vocabulary...that would be the F word. The fireworks there were the worst f...ing fireworks he had ever seen and he should have gone to Orville, because they have great fireworks there ~ way better than these f...ing fireworks. After about the 5th time of hearing this, I suggested that he f...ing leave. He didn't.
Then there was the girl from two doors down, not 3 Doors Down (as talker boy kept pointing out) and her friend who were trying in vain to master the art of bantering.
Zeb is 29 years old, never been married, no girlfriend, and no kids (that he knows of...). At one point, Zeb proposed the idea that perhaps his parents were doing acid when they had him...sure would explain a lot. He really should have gone to Orville.
Another great 4th of July celebration with Vic and Amy as the hosts with the most! They made sure that we were well tended to, starting with offering us water or vodka....we chose water. Every possible effort was made for us to be happy. Once again ~ felt kinda like a rock star.
We did our best with "Bye, Bye Blackbird" to make Mary Lou happy and Mudcat also sang "Crazy" for her.
The Miley Cyrus tribute band didn't get to play, because we thought those little girls would be bold like last year and just come on up to sing and they thought we were going to announce them. They looked all hurt when we were tearing down and one of the girls asked "what about our group?". If it weren't for the fact that we were under the gun to get packed up before the fireworks started, we would have had them come up and do a couple of songs with their official Miley Cyrus guitars. Hey, you can't play her stuff on just any guitar.
It was dark by the time we got everything packed up and Jake decided to use that opportunity to revive one of his childhood games of "catch the light" or something like that...can't remember exactly what he called it, but it involves shining a flashlight on the ground and telling the kids to step on it and then of course moving it to another spot the second their little feet make it to the light. Then he made it shine on the girls and told them in a frantic tone that the light was on them and of course the girls squealed and tried to get the light off of them. It was most entertaining.
We stayed for the fireworks and thought we had picked the perfect spot, which we did for fireworks viewing, but then there was Zeb. Not Zebadiah, just Zeb. Oh yeah, Zeb was a talker. A talker with only one descriptive in his vocabulary...that would be the F word. The fireworks there were the worst f...ing fireworks he had ever seen and he should have gone to Orville, because they have great fireworks there ~ way better than these f...ing fireworks. After about the 5th time of hearing this, I suggested that he f...ing leave. He didn't.
Then there was the girl from two doors down, not 3 Doors Down (as talker boy kept pointing out) and her friend who were trying in vain to master the art of bantering.
Zeb is 29 years old, never been married, no girlfriend, and no kids (that he knows of...). At one point, Zeb proposed the idea that perhaps his parents were doing acid when they had him...sure would explain a lot. He really should have gone to Orville.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
6/27 - Jackalope
This time the back "wall" (folding glass doors) of the patio was open as well as both side garage type doors, but the weirdest thing was that it was stuffy in there even though we were technically outside. Maybe because the ceiling fan was off and the air was just stuck in there, maybe because the place was packed with an extra table added in so that we were only about 2 feet away from the person sitting at the front table. Whatever the reason, we were warm.
When we came back from our break, I asked one of the servers if she would have their music turned off so that we could start again. She made that happen, but it came back on after a couple songs into that set. Trying to do our music at the same time their music was playing completely unnerved me...I felt like I had to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time, while holding a tambourine in one hand and the maracas in the other. So, I just stopped in the middle (actually didn't even make it to the middle) of "Gold Dust Woman". Because I was already way too warm and feeling way too closed in when the music competition started, I got cranky and that's not good for anybody. Apparently that server chick got a pretty good sense of my crankiness and she apologized profusely, then scurried off to remedy things before I snapped.
But we got to see the heron again (I'm choosing to believe that it's the same guy each time) and a lovely sunset. There were no broken guitar strings, and Jake's guitar and I remained separate from each other this time. And I got a new toy ~ a cabasa (not to be confused with a Polish sausage), which is quite a lot of fun! So, it wasn't a completely annoying gig after all.
This time the back "wall" (folding glass doors) of the patio was open as well as both side garage type doors, but the weirdest thing was that it was stuffy in there even though we were technically outside. Maybe because the ceiling fan was off and the air was just stuck in there, maybe because the place was packed with an extra table added in so that we were only about 2 feet away from the person sitting at the front table. Whatever the reason, we were warm.
When we came back from our break, I asked one of the servers if she would have their music turned off so that we could start again. She made that happen, but it came back on after a couple songs into that set. Trying to do our music at the same time their music was playing completely unnerved me...I felt like I had to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time, while holding a tambourine in one hand and the maracas in the other. So, I just stopped in the middle (actually didn't even make it to the middle) of "Gold Dust Woman". Because I was already way too warm and feeling way too closed in when the music competition started, I got cranky and that's not good for anybody. Apparently that server chick got a pretty good sense of my crankiness and she apologized profusely, then scurried off to remedy things before I snapped.
But we got to see the heron again (I'm choosing to believe that it's the same guy each time) and a lovely sunset. There were no broken guitar strings, and Jake's guitar and I remained separate from each other this time. And I got a new toy ~ a cabasa (not to be confused with a Polish sausage), which is quite a lot of fun! So, it wasn't a completely annoying gig after all.
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