Awards Night..

We were asked to play at an awards night. Awards nights are usually glamorous affairs and this was no exception. All the ladies put on high shoes, more make-up than usual, spend 3 times the usual prep on beautiful hair, and lovely uncomfortable hard-to-breathe-in dresses they are hitching up all night. The men wear a suit.

Dave is a fairly important, high-ranking dignitary (or so he kept telling us) so he was required to give a speech and do some intros. He got a table up front with a Daddo. His band sat down the back with the photographers and the video guy.

So after we fought over who got the chicken and who got the steak, it was time to play. Actually, that's not entirely correct. There was no fighting cause Steve got the steak, he always gets the steak.

I should mention that our act had some huge shoes to fill, being that the preceding acts were a magic/dance act, followed by the Blue Mountains Ukelele Club. The dance act had more costume changes than Ga Ga or Cher. And they didn't even leave the stage to change! A quick flourish with a satin sheet and the glamorous female dancer went from white spangles to electric blue. Then red. Then back to white with some gold bits. Then blue again. The male dancer wore a suit. Then the jacket changed. You get the idea, it was a blur!

The Ukelele guys had the most startling effect on a crowd I've seen in years. Completely stole any thunder we may have had with rousing renditions of all the hits, closing their set with 'Time Warp' No fishnets or spandex here, though. True to their idiom, resplendent in Hawaiian shirts and berets. Sheer force of numbers was another factor, there must have been 25 people in there band. String for string, the biggest music I've heard in years.

So by comparison, our set was a little mmm ... traditional, perhaps? However, a number of True Rock Disciples danced with us into the late evening. We felt glad to be playing at last, and had a splendifurous time. Dave even left his tie on.

Until next time...