I picked Krik up at 4am Thursday morning. It was still dark outside, of course but we managed to make it to Kansas with very little trouble. On the way, however, we encountered several "strange" things. While driving, we were passed by a large semi with the silver tank that you usually see hauling milk. THIS semi, however had a sign on it that said "Liquid Chicken". Um...what? What in the blue hell is liquid chicken? Needless to say, Krik and I stuck to beef and fish on this trip. *G* As we were driving through Oklahoma we frequently saw highway signs that said "Do Not Drive Into the Smoke". Okay, I'm all for obeying signs and stuff, but just for argument's sake, IF you happened to be driving along this interstate and IF there happens to be a fire somewhere...how do you NOT drive into the smoke?
So we make it Pittsburg around 12:30 and decide to try to find the venue before we check in to our motel since they were supposedly on the same street. It's a good thing we did cause we got totally lost and could not find the venue. The address said "Pine Street". Well, we found "Elm Street" so we figured "Pine" wouldn't be too far away...it was. Then we found "Pine" and figured that it couldn't possibly be any trouble finding the venue...it was. So we stop at what appeared to be the absolute WORST part of town to call. The lady answered and asked where we were.
Me: "Well, right now we're right in the middle of the road, but we have Texas license plates and I'm guessing they figure we probably have a gun so they're leaving us alone."
The lady laughed but told us that we were on the wrong side of "Pine Street" and to go the opposite direction. Who knew? So we found it easily after that. Then found our motel easily as it was only a few blocks from the venue. It started raining pretty hard as we got to the motel, but thankfully quit when it was time to go to the show.
So we get to the show in plenty of time to check out the neat art on the walls. We could hear the opening act warming up in the auditorium and wandered around to a side door to have a look. Krik squealed quietly and there, in a front row seat...was George. That boy gets hotter and hotter every time I see him. But we didn't get to see him very long cause one of the ladies came and shut the door. *sigh*
Finally we're allowed into the auditorium and locate our seats, which were Row A, seats 6&7. The seats were unbelievably close to the stage with only about 2 feet between our knees and the edge. Plus we were nearly right in the center too!
The opening act came out and sang a few songs. They did a nice job, but...well...they're not RP. However, when they sang their last song, George came out in a letterman's jacket and joined onstage. He looked so cute in that jacket! *G* (Just a little extra info: The Fraternity is called Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, which is a national Men's Music Fraternity. George sang with them because he was a member in college. Thanks to Jason Huffman, Technical Director of Memorial Auditorium in Pittsburg AND a member of the fraternity.)
Finally! It's time for RP! They opened with "House of the Rising Sun". This was really a treat since we'd only heard it once in Indianapolis. The shows in St. Louis all opened with "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day".
Krik and I had made signs to hold up during certain moments of the show. (Let me say right now that we only did it because we were on the front and we would be able to hold our signs up at chest level so it wouldn't obstruct anyone's view). Krik decided to "man" the camera, which left me in charge of the signs. The first one I held up was "Real Men Don't Need Instruments". El was the first to read it and when he did, his face lit up and he cracked a huge grin, bigger than his normal grin. Almost as if he was trying not to laugh out loud during the song. Kev looked down and winked. OMG! Heaven. Pure Heaven!
Da Boyz were dressed in a black/white/gray theme. The high point? Jeff in gray pinstripe slacks. Humina!
Next they went into "Moments of You" and Scott started his little ramble about how neat it was to be in Kansas. "In Pittsburg, Kansas. I've always been a Steeler fan." He asked how many people had seen RP before. Many yelled. Scott introduced everyone and then introduced himself as "Terry Bradshaw"(who I know is the ex-quarterback for the Pittsburgh(Penn.) Steelers. *G*
Scott mentioned the fraternity that opened for them and made a "Whoo!" sound like college boys do. Then started talking about all the things they'd seen in Pittsburg. "Lamberts", which evidently is a very good restaurant because Jeff was rubbing his belly. Scott said, "There's a lot of...cows. In close proximity. We learned about Milo. Sourghum."
At this time, I was holding up the sign that said, "Texas (heart's) RP." Scott was reading it and says, "Oh, you're from Texas! TEXAS loves RP. (pause) Oh, RockaPELLA! Then El says, "You should see the other sign." So I hold up the "Real Men Don't Need Instruments" again. Scott: (reading) "Real men don't need instruments...THAT'S RIGHT! YEAH!"
Then he introduced "Here Comes the Sun" as "This song is off our summer CD...even though summer's almost gone."
As George sang his part, I held up HIS sign: "Papa Never Sang THAT low!" He grinned, winked and gave the "thumbs up" with just a little bit of hip wiggle. Whee! I swear the floor shook when he hit that lowest note.
Next came "Dancin' In The Streets". As usual, Kev stole the crowd with his "hip wiggle". *G* During this song, George and Jeff are doing a bit of "choreography". While Kev is singing, "Every guy grab a girl, everywhere around the world",George and Jeff are kinda doing sign language with him. It is SO cute! Maybe they've done this before but it's the first time I've seen it. *G*
Now it's El's turn to talk. "It's really nice to be here in the "four state" area. (pause..laugh) "Who knew it WAS the "four state area?" Then he said something about George singing with the opening act and the jacket he wore. "I think he was the hall monitor." Then he talked about the nice things about being in Kansas, "You know, besides the corn and the beans. You can actually see the skyline. But I was back there watching the opening act. They were great, weren't they?" (Da Boyz in the background) "All Hail"(or some kind of college battle cry). El got tickled of course cause they'd gotten way off track. Then, "I can't even remember what I was talking about." Then talks about Debbie having Jules five months ago and how with Eli they'd done it in the hospital with a midwife but this time they did it at home"In our bathtub...I highly recommend it. If you're thinking about...uh...Well, we'll talk about it later." Then he said that he'd written "No Doubt At All" for his wife. The whole audience: "AWWW!" As usual this song was great! And El/Jeff trading off scat/VP is totally mesmerizing. I held up El's sign this time: "Happiness Is...A Warm Baritone", earning another grin from him. He's so cute! "Use Me" was next. I don't think I've heard this song in concert before. OMG! It was awesome, especially when Scott mimicks George's "When you use me up." At the end, during the last "Use Me" part, Kev and El start singing that stupid new rap song, "Right Thurrr". It fit nicely in the song. *G*
Kev gets up to talk again. "I've really had a good time here in Kansas. Learned about...Milo. And this weather is perfect. Except for the rain. I'm from Florida. It's slightly warmer there, but some of us are from up north...in coats. But I got up at the crack of dawn. Actually before the crack of dawn. And I went to WalMart. When you come to town and go to WalMart, you'll go shopping for days. What's better than that? 70's weather and WalMart."Someone asked him what he bought. "Fishing lures. I bought some food products." Jeff: "snacks" Kev: And some hair products."(primps)"So thanks for building a WalMart here." Then he sang "A Change in My Life". Such a great song! I'm not sure who the lady beside Krik was, but she was singing along and clapping and nearly knocking Krik out of her seat. *G* Sometime during this song, I told Krik, "They're going to do "Zombie". She asked how I knew. I told her because I could see the eyeball in his pocket. Um, turns out that WASN'T an eyeball. Oops. Did I mention that we were close enough to see "panty lines"? *G* Scott talked about the College Mascot, the Gorilla. "That's interesting. Was it like a toss-up between the Gorilla and..the Bobcats? And they have another school with the Pink Dragons?" Audience: "PURPLE!" Scott: "I know, I know. I was kidding!" Next: "Have Faith". Wow! First time for me to hear this live. Poor Kev. He bumbled the "You ain't really livin'"part: "You ain't really livin' when you know what note is next. Oh, you ain't really livin' when you know what note is next. Have some faith." At the end Scott starts singing, "Go Gorillas", and they all start in with "Right thurr, right thurr" again. *G*
Next Rockapella's Greatest Hit. Some lady held up a package of Folger's. El's up again. He talked about "WITWICS" and "Generally the kids would lose." Then he talked about singing on the show and they sang a "parting gift" song, which introduced, "Don't Do It". Again, a new one for me. FUN song! And Krik got an awesome pic of the "pout". *G* During the song, El jumped off the stage and sat beside a girl and made her rub his head. Lucky, lucky girl!
Next "Long Cool Woman". Just as George said, "I got the pitch" a little baby cried. *G* I never get tired of "The Lean" or of Scott's girly curtsy at the end.
Kev gets up to talk again and said that El is the last "founding member" of Rockapella. Then he started to make fun of El being the oldest in the group. Kev: (yelling into El's ear) "I just told them that you were the only remaining founding member." El nodded like, "Oh, okay."
Kev went down into the audience to find the nights "victim". One of the guys in the opening act had crutches and a cast on his foot. Kev found him and asked what happened. The guy told him he was in a car accident and broke his heel. Kev: "Wow. Did it hurt?"
Kev targeted a young lady named Lisa. I told Krik, "I wonder if that's Lisa from Omaha (lisafromomaha) who is on the RP forum." Kev: "Where are you from?" Lisa: "Omaha". BINGO! Then of course, they sang "My Girl" to her as he brought her up on the stage. They all introduced themselves and Kev again translated for El:(yelling)"This is Lisa!" Then they brought out a rickety stool. Kev: Now this stool did NOT come from WalMart."
Kev asked Lisa how long it took her to get here. She told him 6 hours. Kev then asked if anyone had driven further. I was about to raise my hand, but he caught it first and said, "Well, yeah. Texas." Then he pointed at me and teased, "You're next." EEK.
Then Kev put his arm around Lisa and asked if she played those "car games". She said "No, it's just me and my husband." At which time, Kev promptly removed his arm. "Where's your husband?" and began scanning the audience fretfully. *G* When he found him, he said, "He's cool." Then he asked her what CDs she listened to in the car. Lisa: "One of them was Smilin'." Kev: "What were the other ones?"
While Kev was talking the baby cried loudly again. Kev: "I'm so sorry Boo Boo," and made a pouty face. *G* Then he said the usual "We're singing a special song for you tonight." Scott: "We're doing that tonight?" During the song they all leaned in close and Jeff started patting Lisa's hair. El leaned down to smell her hair and Jeff smacked him in the face with his hand. While Scott was doing his "muscle man" pose, he stood up and grabbed his neck, like he'd popped a vein from posing too hard. *G* Lisa did a great job dancing with Scott. He kinda did a few "block tackles" on her. After the song, Kev gave her the "Smilin" CD and asked, "Do you have this?" She said she did, so he acted like he'd just take it away, but gave it back. Then as he walked off the stage he pointed at me AGAIN and mouthed "You're next". Next up, "Stand By Me". We had great access to the bass in this song. *G* And Scott's "lala's" at the end were perfect.
Scott started to introduce "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" by talking about Barry and how he was loaded with testosterone and that when Barry said he was retiring they didn't know how they could replace him. Scott: "But we said 'we'll give it a shot', cause we want to keep goin'...Carrying the word of Rockapella through the heartland." Then they started in with "Right Thurr" again. *G* Scott continued to say that when George auditioned, the first song they did was "A Change in My Life", and "From the first note, we knew. We had him." "Papa" is amazing. Totally amazing! It must be seen to be believed! George is so sexy and the little hand move he makes during this song...well... And the VP break is AWESOME!
They ended with "Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego". Jeff's drum solo was off-set a bit by folks clapping but they finally stopped when they realized they weren't helping. *G* The solo lasted 2 mintues, 3 seconds.
The first encore started with "Up On the Roof". When they started singing, again people started clapping. Scott "shushed" them and said, "It's not about the clapping...it's about the music." But then he got lost and had to hum a bit before he remembered where they were in the song. One amazing thing about "UOTF" is that sitting so close, we could hear Jeff singing. Yes! Very clearly. He seemed to be singing the higher part, and Krik turned to a puddle of goo immediately. You could see the sweat on their upper lips and the way the lights shone in their eyes, they sparkled. Truly a grand moment in the show. At the pause at the end of the song, we heard a "crash" from the rafters. All Da Boyz paused and looked up as if to say, "Is it going to fall down on us?" Then they finished without incident. *G*
"Dance With Me" was next. Again, I'd only seen this once so it was a special treat. Got a great shot of El's "tukas". *G* Love the dancin'! Kev yells out "Chicky Boom!" This was my first time to hear "Zombie Jamboree". It was SO fun! George: "Dis island is broke. It is hot. And sometimes they're REALLY smelly."At one point when they're doing the leaning part, acting like zombies, El appeared to lean too far forward and almost lost his balance. Then when they were doing the "back to back", Scott was jumping up and bumping Kev's back with his butt.
"Summertime Blues" was next. During the part of "Summer...Summer", Da Boyz did a bit of opera like singing. Don't laugh. It actually sounded quite good. *G*
Then Scott said this would be the last song. A young boy behind us yelled, "Don't leave us!" To which Scott replied, "Why don't you just come with us. We have a big van down by the river. (For a split second we thought they were going to do "Lazy River".Wait, wait...nope. *sigh*)
They ended with "Keep On Smilin'". Scott kinda did a little crotch thrust in this song. Um...don't do that to me, baby. *G* During the VP break Scott said "Sourghum and Milo" and then Kev started morphing into a gorilla in honor of the Pittsburg Gorillas. Everyone else soon followed suit, with Scott dragging his arms on the ground, Kev and El pounding their chests, Jeff scratching his head and under arms. Kinda reminded me of a group of half-lit college boys. *G* But so funny! At the end, Scott managed to pick a bug out of Kev's hair. *G*
This was a GREAT show. Rockapella gets better and better every time we see them!
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