6/27 – Solon Freeway Lounge

Oh guess what, it rained. Gosh, what a shock. Kinda like our own version of the Farmers’ Almanac. But, everyone adapted again by cozying in under the awning.

We had another “priceless” moment. This guy was sitting at a table with a group of friends, having a nice conversation and a split second later he was flat on his back on the floor, but still sitting in his chair. Turns out that one of the legs snapped off. It was a heavy duty plastic chair, but apparently not heavy duty enough. He was given a heavy duty metal one as a replacement. The best thing about all that was that he didn’t spill his beer. It ended up being a bottle full of Corona foam, but no spillage. Now that’s a professional.

Our new friend is William. He was most happy with the songs we did, but I felt like Bobby and McGee were having a tug of war with me in the middle. Not so pleasant, but I persevered. Don’t worry about me…I’ll be alright…

6/21 – The Swiss Chalet

It’s like déjà vu all over again…

We were able to leave everything set up from the night before, so that was a wonderful treat. However, it rained quite a bit during the night and their roof leaked. Guess where it leaked. That would be correct. Fortunately, there was no damage to any of the equipment other than it being a bit soggy.

And speaking of the whole déjà vu thing, there was another bachelorette party and what do you think was the name of the bride-to-be? Think back…not that far back…Angie. Now what are the odds of that? Okay, all you mad scientists can stop trying to calculate the odds, it was a rhetorical question. And rhetorical is going to be my big word for the day. Not that it’s that big, but it just sounds good.

We had lots of dancers again, who remarkably found ways to fast dance to slow Beatles songs…over and over and over…

For our viewing pleasure this time, we got to see some guy ooze off his bar stool and crumble onto the floor, wedging himself between the bar and the stools. Not that we took pleasure in seeing someone in that state, but it was pretty amusing. It happened during one of Anno's songs and in the middle of it she did the "priceless" thing. I can't believe she didn't bust up laughing. And it took a while for his friends to notice that he was one with the floor. What’s even more bazaar to me is that he was out on the dance floor not 5 minutes before that and appeared to be just fine.

Pete, Linda, Paul, and Little B. came out to show their support (of us, not the guy on the floor).

We played Clue again, but it wasn't as much fun this time.

And we acquired a new best friend. Thankfully, this guy showed up near the end. He was quite a Chatty Cathy. He was also quite drunk and we got to see him hurling on the sidewalk after the gig. Let's say it was the alcohol and not us.

6/20 – The Swiss Chalet

For this gig I thought that we should change our name to the Robinsons and sing “we are family”…Swiss Family Robinson…get it? Okay, maybe not.

Oh guess what, I saw an eagle on the way out there! Honest, a real live one. I did.

Geneva-On-The-Lake is like a really scaled down version of Put-In-Bay, so we had a lot of people doing the wander in and wander back out thing. Most people danced a couple songs before heading back out.

A bachelorette party with Angie as the bride-to-be stayed with us for a while. C-Man sang “Angie” to her. Pretty clever, huh? Her maid of honor dragged her up on the stage for that song. Then we sang our version of “happy birthday” to her, but changed the words to “happy marriage”.

Some guy who clearly couldn’t decide if he was a break dancer or a gymnast (by the way, he was neither) made us all pretty nervous. We were a wee bit concerned that he was going to be a brake dancer as in brake his neck. Thankfully, he left the dance floor before anything horrible happened. I’m quite sure he woke up the next morning (afternoon) with aches and pains that he had no memory of self inflicting.

We had our own version of Clue goin' on. Remember that game? Well, we actually had a few versions of it, with one of those versions being more Clue-less than Clue.

Oh, I almost forgot about the moon. It was still pretty full, so there was some howling goin’ on.

6/14 – Mel’s Crows Nest

What a lively group we had!

William was the ring leader for the first shift. He really wanted to hear some country songs. ONLY country songs. C-Man sang a Buck Owens tune and Mudcat did a couple of Johnny Cash numbers. The closest thing to a country song that I sing is “Bobby McGee” and as I was singing it, the bar pretty much cleared out. I’m choosing to believe that it was because the group was waiting for a table in the restaurant side and it became available at that precise moment and not my singing that caused the mass exodus. Yeah, that’s it…

“Giddy up Dave” was clearly the HWIC (head weenie in charge) of the second shift crew. And what a crew they were! We had dancers and singers (kinda like country and western, but different).

Got to see some chick riding in the back of a pick up truck on the way home. She did not look happy. She did not look like any of the other dwarfs either…

6/13 – Solon Freeway Lounge

Friday the 13th…..

There must be some connection between our playing there and the weather being funky. Remember the flying umbrellas? Same place.

This time we were able to make it through almost the entire gig before the rain hit, but we were able to finish up on the patio with out having to tear down and rebuild. There were just enough chairs for the people who were still out there toward the end to move in under the canopy with us. I’m believing that it was the threat of the storm and not us that scared people off, because the patio was close to being full for most of the gig.

One of the girls was trying to request “take this job and shove it”, but all I could get from her was the “shove it” part and I thought it was a command rather than a song request. We don’t know that song.

Big G was our guest performer. He played the maracas. He and his buddy were a lot of fun and they’re great supporters when we play there.

Got to see Tiger Woods play sidewalk golf during one of our breaks. Interesting…

6/12- Bar One

We played on a stage, but the only way to get to it was by a spiral staircase. I have enough trouble with those things just by my own self, let alone lugging band equipment. And we were about a c-hair away from the ceiling, so it was most unpleasantly warm. I drank almost an entire picture of water and then of course had to pee (I know, I know…TMI). Guess where the bathrooms were…yeah, downstairs. Down 19 very steep stairs and then back up 19 very steep stairs. Yes, I counted them. And then there was actually a step up to get to the bathroom once you got in the door. GEESH

Definitely counting this gig as exercise.

The patio was full for a while, but there were only a few people inside. It was pretty low key, except for Sarah, the bar goddess. Pretty darn sure that she was a cheer leader in high school.
During one of the sets, I kept noticing the same guy pacing back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the patio. Every now and then he’d stop, but he kept looking in at us. I couldn't figure out why he didn’t just come in. Then on one of his passes by (the last one), he was carrying a pizza box (I’m assuming there was a pizza inside). So, I guess that’s one way to kill time while you’re waiting for a pie.

Hey, that could be our new slogan…Project Mojo: a good way to kill time while you’re waiting for a pie. Think the boys will go for it?

6/7 – Mel’s Crews Nest

A private party in a private club. Now that’s private.

But, I need to start from the beginning (it’s a very good place to start, you know). Since this was on Put-In-Bay, the experience goes way beyond the gig.

Let’s see…during the drive out there we discovered that Nessie is still there and she’s still listing.

We saw some swans. Not the Swan who sings with us, but the water fowl.

Let me ask you this ~ if you saw a sign advertising waterfront property, wouldn’t you assume that the water would be a lake or an ocean? Yeah, me too. Well, it was technically waterfront property, but the water was more like a fountain pool, but with out the fountain.

While we were waiting in line to board the ferry, we saw a guy and 2 girls walking together. The guy was in the middle with a girl on either side of him and he was holding hands with both girls. The girls didn’t seem to mind. Neither did he, for that matter.

Ms. Motion Sickness (that would be me) did okay on the ferry ride over. I was shocked and amazed.

We set up early so that we could have some time to cruise the island. The Perry monument was open and according to Ranger Rick, it’s taller than the Statue of Liberty’s torch. That’s pretty tall. The view from the top was amazing. Ice cream (double chocolate chunk) in the park after the tour was way fun for people watching.

Jane, our hostess for the evening was a big fan of rock and roll. John and Marie were there and John proved to be a very nimble dancer. We actually had quite a few dancers. It seemed that a good time was had by all. I had a grand time, except for when a mosquito decided to graze on my neck during a song when I couldn’t do anything but let him feast.

The ferry ride back was an event all by its own self. Waiting in line for 2-1/2 hours was interesting. And no, I’m not exaggerating (this time). You can ask Mudcat and/or C-Man. They’ll tell you the same thing. I started a game of "I spy"to pass the time, but it was short lived. Of course, I had to be an ass and spy something green when we had a line of trees to the side of us and it was a specific leaf that I spied. Once we snaked around to the front-ish of the line, I spotted a tree with a wad-o-shade, so off I went to sit under it to wait out the time.
There were signs posted telling bikers that they were welcome and that’s a good thing, because 28 motorcycles exited the ferry that we ended up boarding. Yes, I counted them. What else did I have to do?

We finally boarded the ferry and got out of the van to stand on the deck during the ride back. The ferry started moving and so did the waves. The swells came over the front of the boat and as the first one hit, I was turned around saying something to Mudcat and never saw it coming. The back of me got completely soaked. That water was a titty bit nipply even though the air temp was hellish. I realized that probably wouldn’t be the only swell, so I made my way around the front of the van and just as I got to the other side, another swell hit, this time soaking the front of me. Apparently, I was the entertainment for the people standing on the upper deck. All I could hear was their collective "oooooooh" as I got drenched. Once again, I did okay with not getting sea sick (or lake sick in this case).

The heat got to C-Man, though so he ended up trying to not be sick all the way home. He made it all the way back with out hurling, which was a very good thing.

It’s been determined that we islanded successfully.

6/6 - Key West

No, not Florida. Key West in Westlake.

We had a little rock star there. The cutest little boy was waiting for a table in the restaurant side with his parents and he was wearing junior ray bans. SO cute.

Mudcat has almost perfected his impression of Eric Clapton’s “thank you”. It’s close.

C-Man was E-less, but persevered.

Swan joined us for the last (or so we thought) set. We had everything but 1 cord packed up and then were told that it was a 4 hour gig, not a 3 hour gig (kinda like a 3 hour tour, but different). So, we set it all back up to start again so we could finish again. It was truly déjà vu all over again. Thanks, Yogi.

During one of the breaks, I saw the bartender make a really pretty drink, so I asked him what it was and what goes in it. Can’t remember the name, but I can remember all the ingredients. Which is truly sad, considering half the time I can’t remember where I park my car (aside from my driveway - I can usually find it there, even if I have no recollection of how it got there) or what I went into the next room to get. So, if you want the ingredients list so that you can make your own pretty foo-foo drink let me know.