Thursday, August 2, 2012

Keep on Swingin'

Yesterday evening my friend Ceku and I attended our fourth Chris Isaak and the Silvertones concert. Well, she's seen them more than four times...but it was the fourth summer in a row that we've gone to a Chris Isaak concert together.

The venue was excellent. We went to the Grove in Anaheim and it was set up dinner theater style. They did, in fact, serve dinner up until a half hour before the show started at 8 pm. The food was quite lovely. I am a poor person who doesn't go to fancy eateries, so it seemed expensive to me, but it really wasn't at all out of line or anything.  I ended up getting this beautiful little platter of soft cheeses, proscuitto, those little dried breads, and an apple. It came with a sampler of Firestone beers including a Pale Ale, Double Barreled, and Port. Plus, a nice heavy Firestone glass to keep.  Perfect.

The dinner theater seating was also fun because it was very easy and natural to visit with your tablemates.  We sat with two very nice men, who may or may not have been a couple. They were so friendly and nice.  Right before the show a couple of other groups arrived at the table. There was an older couple, who were very friendly and were just getting into Chris Isaak, as well at a trio of friends who seemed to attend a lot of concerts.

An example of my mad concert pichur taking skillzzz.
The show was amazing. I've never been disappointed. These guys tour fairly continually, are great showmen and outstanding musicians. I mean, to me Chris Isaak has one of the most beautiful voices going. His band, the Silvertones, consists of guitarist Hershel Yatovitz, bassist Roly Salley, and drummer Kenny Dale Johnson, along with keyboardist Scotty Plunkett, and Rafael Padilla (King of the Congas). The set was a mix of their catalog, with a focus on their most current album, which features their versions of classic Sun Records recordings. As we'd hoped, Chris Isaak did his thing where during one song he comes way, way out into the audience. Ceku, the ticketmaster, always tries to get us aisle seats with a guess to where he might come up. This time he was really close! That was pretty thrilling :)  They put on a nice long show...close to a full 2 hours. Ah, heaven.

After the show, we got some coffee samples and walked to the car. Ceku didn't want us in the car with rogue beverages. She does have a very fancy car! We decided to kill some time by walking toward where we could see the tour bus parked. We thought maybe we would be able to see some of the band members heading out. So, we stood at this little fence with a few other people and stared. Then we thought we saw Hershel.."Is that Hershel? I think it is! Oh my gawd!" He came along pulling his little rolling suitcase toward the bus. Some of the people along the fence started calling to him and we were so surprised when he came over! He hugged these two women standing next to us..."Nice to see you guys again. Oh yes, we'll be there tomorrow too, front row!" Who are these people??? Well, obviously people with plenty of time, money, and a love for good music. He didn't really stop to talk to us, but we still said hi as he trundled past us :) Next thing we know we see Kenny coming along with his little rolling suitcase! He was trailed by Chris himself, who apparently is not required to tote his own rolley bag :)  Kenny came right over to the fence and said, "Oh, I guess I'll start over here at the front..." So we watched as he made his way along the fence, stopping to talk to people. Again, special love for the lucky groupies next to us. He did stop to talk to Ceku and I, asking us where we'd come from and mentioning that he was going home Friday. I said it seemed like they didn't get home often and he said he hadn't been there since June 27. He was really lovely and cordial....and out of the corner of our eyes, we were watching to see it our true love, Chris, would talk to everyone or only the specials. Kenny moved on down the line and suddenly there was Chris Isaak right in front of us. I shook his hand and gazed at his pretty eyes and his boxer's nose. His attention moved right to my lovely friend Ceku. She a beautiful woman AND she had this picture of her dog Zadie on her phone! She began talking about her dog and asking about his old dog, who is apparently called Rodney. They hit it off over their mutual love of dogs! I stood there all duh...the Ceku asked me to take their picture and thrust her iPhone at me. Big mistake.


 Hand me those touch screen things and I get all Clem Kaddiddlehoppered out...what's this here thing do? Oh noes, my fingers done sent this onta that wrong screen!

 I tried and somehow I was on video and couldn't get back to photographs...finally Ceku grabbed the phone and took the photo herself. It was a bit blurry, but there is only so long you can hold up a superstar for a photo, hear me?  We thanked Chris again, told him we loved the show and off he went. It would have been a perfect moment if I wouldn't have been so clumsy :)

Back to the car all breathless. We were so excited. I could tell Ceku was a bit pissed about the lost photo opportunity...all I could do was apologize. Today I sent her a link to a way you can extract a still from a video. The video is actually funny. You can see them with their faces together and my dumb voice going "Did I get it?" I think you hear Chris saying something like, "She's texting this to your mom." So it wasn't a total loss.

All in all, it was a great evening with a very unexpected ending. I can't wait until our next Chris Isaak and the Silvertones event.

8 comments:

Tara said...

I'm so glad you got to talk to Chris Isaac! He's dreamy. :)

Oh, and Silly Rabbit picked the word for Saturday - she chose "abundant".

Ceku said...

I was disappointed for sure...maybe a bit pissed (sorry) I just could not believe how I can be so lucky and unlucky at the same time (twice!) At least now instead of one blurry pic, I also have two videos! I'm sorry if I made you feel bad :-( Third time's the charm! I told Mark that next time I'm springing for VIP tix and a professional photog! This is a great post--thank you for documenting it with your special flow for words. (and calling me lovey!)Can't wait until next concert!

laura b. said...

Tara: Dreamy, exactly!
And thank you...I had looked all over to see if she'd picked and I couldn't find it. But now it is up :)

Ceku: I do like to think of myself as the luckiest unlucky person I know....like, bad things happen, but usually they could be much worse!
Glad you liked the post!!!

silly rabbit said...

What a wonderful experience! I have not been to a diner theater situation in a very long time, and then it was for a play not a concert. How fun! Being in that setting sure seems like it made for nice casual conversation pre-music.
Even your meal sounded good to me.

I think its great that the band takes time to talk to their fans. I don't know how many concerts I have paid to attend where the band tucked their heads low and avoided eye contact with their fans on the way to their bus.

Excuse me for laughing about your eh- "Clem" moment. I assure you it is sympathetic laughter because I don't know how many times that has happened to me! My MIL has a fancy smart phone that outwits me easily and I've had tourist pass me fancy, expensive cameras that I am afraid to touch, let alone shoot.

Some of us are just not meant to use unfamiliar "smart" technology. I am glad that your Ceku forgave you. I would treasure that video! It would never fail to make me smile.

Anonymous said...

I'm a big fan of a good concert story. Sounds like a great night out!

laura b. said...

Silly: Last time I went to a dinner theater was years ago...Sound of Music :)
I know that a lot of performers (including these guys) offer premiere packages where you can pay a lot of money to talk to them and take photos before the show. I don't have that kind of bling, so it was great to get it for free!
Ceku did end up being able to get a screen shot from the video and how has both a nice photo AND a comical video. Yay!

James: I don't get out nearly enough :) It was a good time.

FW said...

What a fascinating tale! I'm so glad you got to get so close to a star like him. A real privilege. I had a CD single of his big hit, you know the one, 'cos I really liked it.

laura b. said...

FW: It was an unexpected delight.
haha! Wicked Game!