A Normal Gig!

Debs:  On Wednesday we had a normal show!  One with no geek songs!  The prospect was strange and frightening because…heck, how often do we play songs that are actually normal? That’s right, never. 

Errol: Hey, you play normal, emo songs all the time when you busk! Not me though. I was cowering. 😀

Debs: And how did we get this gig, you ask?  Errol’s boss, Darryl, was throwing a surprise birthday party for his wife, Bonnie, who is a huge Elton John fan. He asked us if we’d like to come play. On Monday night, Errol and I got together at my place (this was also a test to see how my new roommates could tolerate the music-ing) and we pooled our Elton John song knowledge together.  Turns out that mine amounted to whatever the heck was in Moulin Rouge (E: Me Too) and Errol’s wasn’t much better. I knew I should have seen Billy Elliot. 

Errol: I knew stuff from Disney and what I remembered from the 80’s. Like Nikita. Songs about a girl living in a cold, Russian country didn’t seem to be a proper choice for a birthday though.

FLASHBACK:

Errol: “Okay…we need another song.”
Debs: “Let’s look some up on Youtube.
Errol: “She likes Rocketman.”
Debs: (cluelessly hum along with the verse)-“ROCKETMAN!!!! Burning out nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh” (more incoherent mumbling)
Errol: “Nuh nuh nuh nuh? That’s Batman!”

Debs: By the end of Tuesday evening we had about 6 normal songs though, so it was all good.

Errol: We had 5 songs.

Debs: Since we usually play at venues where the sound is taken care of, we hadn’t needed to worry about sound equipment before, but the surprise party was at their neighbours’ house, so this time we did. Errol assured me he had it covered and lo on Wednesday when we set out, there was a huge amp loaded into the van! Score!

We got to the house about an hour early, and after some frantic texting along the lines of (“Is Bonnie there? Is it safe?”) went in and set up. This meant that we had first dibs at the Elton John themed flamboyant glasses and wigs – haha! Errol was so decked out that Bonnie didn’t recognize him at first.

Errol: That wig was hot. And not in the sexy way either. I found strands of wig hair all over me afterwards. Hopefully Dove didn’t think I was out with a grey, wiry haired mistress.

Debs: Darryl and Errol had been in cahoots about a rather unique birthday present. After everyone had eaten we presented Bonnie with her very own song, a parody of Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”. So much fun!

Debs: The evening went great! We met lots of fun and very lovely people (well, Errol knew some of them but except for Bonnie whom I had met once, everyone was new to me) 😀 It was nice to know that we can play normal songs if we want to.

Errol: And the 6th normal song we played was “Hallelujah”. Good thing I had that parody song for chords and you had the right words.

Debs: Though we did play “Geek Love Song”, “One Day We’ll Meet for Real” and “Narwhal”. Also, “Still Alive”. Twice.

I am happy to report that the cake was NOT a lie. It was chocolate. And vanilla. It was delicious.

Errol: Bison was good too. Not that Debs had any. I did. Yummy.

Debs & Errol: Happy Birthday, Bonnie!