Both photos courtesy of Debi Parola
TONIGHT WAS THE TESTOSTERONE HE-MAN SONG NIGHT UNTIL THE CROWD OF HOT ANGRY WOMEN ARRIVED...
Andy and Sandor got on stage to announce the topic for this month's songs. A theme of testosterone, manliness and some grunting was occuring. But then an angry mob of women burst on to the stage. Soon Andy was gagged tied and bound in a chair before them. And the women made their demands! A small Santa Cruzian demand for rights!!!
Celina was the angry spokeswoman talking about women her age and how HOT they were. They were so HOT... so we started off with an intensely feverish Fever by Peggy Lee. Followed by It's my Party (Leslie Gore 1963), You Don't Own Me (Leslie Gore), My guy (Mary Wells 1964), The Loco-Motion (Little Eva), and I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor 1979)
Somewhere in the Middle of all of the bondage and chaos Andy and Sandor slipped away and their alter egos came back dressed in drag. Andy was looking a bit like a drunk Carol Channing (white wig and thick white makeup sloppily circling his eyes, a bold dress, zipped quite low) and he had a very large saxophone that she/he wailed into with the song. Sandor had the overly rouged cheeks of a Raggedy Ann doll. The bass player Gary Cunningham, a big man from Vince Tuzzi's band earlier in the evening, was on stage in drag from the beginning dressed up in the finest and boldest dress that could be found in one of Santa Cruz's many fine used clothing stores. He enjoyed showing off his legs, which were of the finest furry lumberjack quality...
Oh yes, and as we were laughing thru the entire evening, we were strumming our ukes and singing at full throttle. And we were just 3/4's of the way thru with the evening's events. Such is life in SC.
GARY ROSE JAZZ UKULELE
Then Gary Rose appeared on Stage from the Dressing Room. He was dressed formally and exquisitely in a vintage black tuxedo. The club had settled and was now listening to a little history about Irving Berlin. A man that lived to 101 years old and Glen told us that he was the MOST prolific music writer ever.
He sang Putting on the Ritz and other similar vintage tunes and pointed out some of the transitions that we had been tutored on earlier in the day.
Glen holds his uke as though dancing at a formal dance tucking the uke in the crook of his elbow out towards the audience. He has quite a stage presence, history of song and writer, old-time vaudeville vocal skills and impeccable timing. I don't know how long he's been uking but I think we're going to see a lot more of him in the future. Look for his new book if you're into the old jazz standards like: Fly me to the Moon, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Autumn Leaves, Only a Paper Moon.
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