WADING IN

Q & A with Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist Al Pitrelli

SACRAMENTO — Progressive rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s style can be described as Christmas music...with bite.

The band was founded by Paul O’Neill, Robert Kinkel, Jon Oliva and Al
Pitrelli. The group usually tours around the holidays and their live show
features lasers, explosions, strobes and even simulated snow. This year they will perform their 1996 album “Christmas Eve and Other Stories" in its entirety including the popular song “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12-24.”

Other rock opera albums TSO have produced are “The Christmas Attic,” “The Lost Christmas Eve” and two non-Christmas themed albums “Beethoven’s Last Night” and “Night Castle.”

Recently guitarist Al Pitrelli, whose credits include work with Alice Cooper, Celine Dion, Megadeth and Taylor Dane, answered some questions via telephone.

Q. What makes Trans-Siberian Orchestra unique?

A. I think its Paul O’Neill. He knows how to, say arrange Mozart’s
24^th Symphony in such a way so it doesn’t go way over the head of the
listener.

I remember reading an interview with a famous classical composer and they asked him who his favorite modern composers were. He said the Beatles because it is so hard to come up with incredible melodies and yet keep them so simple that everyone can get it and the Beatles were the masters.

Q. How do you go from playing with Alice Cooper and Megadeth to
playing Christmas songs?

A. I just put on much nicer clothing. (laughs) I play guitar with TSO just
like I played with Alice Cooper and Megadeth except Paul has produced me in such a way as to get the best performance I’ve ever done on records. When it comes to playing live, I don’t back down at all, dude. Megadeth was heavy, Alice Cooper was theatrical, but TSO also encompasses the heaviest heavy metal all-stars of all-time: Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt—those dudes are heavier
than anybody, bro.

Q: Your album “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” is number 9 of the
all-time best-selling Christmas albums list. Other artists on the list include Kenny G, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion—who is your audience?

A: The kick in the head is that we appeal to everybody. When we did the first record and it was all over the radio, my mother called me raving about it. Everyone I’ve known in my life called me and was raving about it. I couldn’t believe how many people we touched. When we walked out on stage there’s some guy in a “Master of Puppets” Metallica T-shirt sitting next to his grandmother in a crotched reindeer sweater.

Q: What about doing a TSO Broadway show?

A: Well, we’re doing this thing called Rock Theater which is basically taking Broadway across America. Paul and I grew up between the shadows of Madison Square Garden and the theater district so this is the perfect combination of what we grew up with.

Q: Many people were first turned on to TSO by that video with a house bedecked in Christmas lights with “Wizards in Winter” synched to it, correct?

A: The funny thing about that was Paul wanted our crew to rig the lights so that they picked up on the counterpoints to the music. The lighting crew said that they couldn’t do it. Then two weeks later some guy with a staple gun and a string of lights from Wal-Mart does exactly what Paul wanted. It went viral on YouTube and Paul showed it to the crew with 15 million dollars worth of computers and lights and said “Really?”

Q: Do you feel pressure to wow audiences every year with your live
shows?

A: There is an unbelievable amount of pressure because we want to makes sure every year it is bigger, better, faster, louder and fiercer. We’re not going to scale down. We want to make the biggest show ever. That’s all that matters.

Reach Fairfield writer Tony Wade at [email protected]

 

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Saturday, November 19^th 3 pm and 8 pm

Power Balance Pavilion

One Sports Parkway

Sacramento

http://trans-siberian.com

 

BULLYING IS NEVER COOL by Toe Knee Weighed

 
The following column originally ran in the Daily Republic on September 17, 2007.

When I was in second grade, three bullies cornered me and their ringleader said that if I didn't bring them 75 cents the next day I would get beat up. I weighed my options and, since I abhor violence, I decided to pay them off.

The only problem was due to my constant pilfering of my saved allowance money for such essentials as Marvel comic books and Zero candy bars, my mom had moved my piggy bank to her bedroom closet.

While she was busy cooking dinner, I snuck a chair into her room and carefully reached for my money. But using her bionic mom hearing, she detected guilty silence from me, knew I was up to something and caught me red-handed.

I started crying and revealed my predicament to her. She called the school, and my extortioners were punished and told to leave me alone.

Now, I should mention that the gang who threatened to whup up on me were . . . technically, well, girls. When you're done giggling, let me explain something - these were freakishly big girls and I was a frail, asthmatic kid.

While this story has gotten considerable mileage at family gatherings where it is embellished for comic effect, my first experience with being bullied was not funny at the time.

Later on that year, the same girls enlisted the help of a boy whom they got to hit me to make me cry. They then marched around me while I wept singing this song over and over: "Cry baby cry, wipe your winkin' eye. No baby no, please don't let it show." That was in 1972 and I remember it like it was yesterday. The teacher stopped them, but from then on I was known as Crybaby Anthony.

In third grade, I got in trouble and was sent to the vice principal's office. He yelled at me, and I cried and then went back to my home room. When I walked in, the whole class looked at me and started chanting, "Anthony is bad! Anthony is bad!"

What I didn't know was that my teacher had been reading them a book called "I'll Fix Anthony" by Judith Viorst about a kid named Anthony who tortures a younger brother who dreams of vengeance. But again, I didn't know that.

So, I was in full Crybaby Anthony mode when the class stopped chanting with the exception of a kid named Tony Tobias, who kept saying it with gusto until I punched him in the face. I was sent home.

In the summer between fourth grade and fifth, I went to a camp run by my church. One day, a truck pulled up near the kitchen with a bunch of watermelons on the back, and some campers helped to unload it.

Instead of holding the watermelon close to my chest, I chose to hold it over my head, lost my balance and fell over backward. The melon split in two. Two older punks called me Muscleman all week after that. Every time they'd see me they'd strike a bodybuilder pose and call me by my derisive nickname.

Later on that week, they saw I couldn't swim and grabbed me, ignored my screams and threw me into the deep end of the pool.

When I was at Grange Middle School, there were two jocks who teased me unmercifully because I was a lanky asthmatic kid and not a good athlete. My mom had to call the school to get them to stop.

You'd think that a person with my history would never bully someone, but you'd be wrong. In ninth grade, a kid who lived near me looked, well, different to me and a friend and we teased him nearly every day at the bus stop. I recently saw him and apologized for my stupid behavior when I was a teen.

I'm glad to see that schools are recognizing and beginning to deal with the devastating effects of childhood bullying. Sticks and stones may break your bones, and names can actually hurt you.

 

EUCALYPTUS RECORDS ODDS AND ENDS by Toe Knee Weighed

 

This is stuff left over from the Eucalyptus "Back in the Day" story. Thought someone may want to check it out.

Lewis Lambert

“The difference was we had a culture, a lifestyle.”

“Part of any success as a business is the relationship between the owner and the employees. I hired some great people. We worked together, partied together, went to concerts together. It was tough, man!” (laughs)

“I shook Jimi Hendrix’s hand at the Sacramento Auditorium in 1968. I went to the Fillmore, you know. I went to the Berkeley Auditorium, the Avalon, you know, I was a fan.”

“We operated in a different atmosphere that was much more agreeable to people.”

“We had a very heavy commitment to soul music and they separated us from a lot of music stores. We encouraged it to be played in our stores. You didn’t do that back in the seventies, man.  You didn’t play black music in the f***ing music store in Fairfield, California, you know? We recognized the power of soul music and we carried a deep, deep, deep catalogue. It was a staple. We prided ourselves on that. Anyone can carry a f***ing Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead or Joan Boaz LP.”

 “I remember the Harrises, the Engells and others. I have a ton of cousins who live in Fairfield. I remember growing up in the valley in a very, very small community. I remember when my dad would take the workers into town on Friday afternoon on a flatbed truck., They’d go to the bank and cash their checks and some would go to the hardware store, some would go to the clothing store or grocery store and we’d tell them we’d meet them at the end of the town which was about seven or eight blocks long back then. In three hours and they’d jump back on the flatbed and we’d go back into the valley.”

“The smoking accessories we have out here in Colorado make the stuff we had at Eucalyptus look like kindergarten stuff.”

“”It’s interesting to see the incredible power of music and what it does to people’s psyche. They remember what they were doing when a particular song came on the radio. That’s an incredibly powerful force and we recognize that.”

“To be self-employed and do something that I love, well you can’t put a price on that.”

 

Judy Anderson Engell

“I was their bookkeeper and we worked in the pointed attic of the building that used to be the Dari-Delite.”

“My brother started there, my sister worked there and we lived on Grant Street a hop, skip, and a jump away so my whole family worked there. I worked there for about two years in 1975 and 1976.”

“When we had free time we would hand write the names of the artists on the dividers for all the new stores. We had stacks of those white dividers and I we had to use our best handwriting and mine was horrible. Now everything is all pretty and printed.”

 “The Lamberts had a ranch in the country and Lewis had a treehouse that my dad helped him build. And so yes they had all these crates and so when you walked in you could smell the fruity wood.”

 

Darrell Anderson

“When the new owner came in 1978 he had different philosophy whereby instead of playing records and then trying to sell them to people in the store, we had a corporate deal where we had to play a certain song, say five times a day. Later it changed to there being only twenty records you could play at all.”

“I didn’t hire anybody who I never saw in the store before.”

“Eucalyptus was special. It was a community.  It was the only place where you’d see black airman shoulder to shoulder with rednecks next to metal heads and we never had an ounce of trouble. It was about music. If you had those same people in the roller rink there would be a fight.”

“I started when I was 15 and a half. The Lambert brothers were friends of my dad. I started working in the one by the skating rink and the pool hall. The original location was on the other side of town next to a bar on Pennsylvania and Texas in a shopping center. My dad had built the counters and done a big painting of a eucalyptus tree on the wall there. My mom worked for them first and then my sister Cathy.”

 “The one next to the skating rink was a little tiny building and had been a dairy or something and they took out the kitchen and added counters and when you walked in the door the cash register was right there on your right. We had fruit boxes with all the vinyl in it all the way around and the counter went around the right side of the wall and we had 8-tracks on the wall and cassettes in locked cases on the counter. We sold rolling papers and pipes.”

“The beauty of working for an independent like that was they were as interested in the music as I was. So they would go to a one-stop place and buy everything that was released that week. We would dump it into a new release bin and then crack open whatever we felt like and play it in the store. It was pretty damn awesome.”

 

 

YOUNG ARTISTS CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC WELCOMES SYT by Tony Wade

 
SCT Director, Chris Guptil acknowledges YACM Director, Wanda Cook to assume management of Solano Youth Theatre. Also pictured with Vacaville Cast of Wizard of Oz, Robin Stanton (outgoing SYT Program Director) …photo by Cornelison Photography

It’s a done deal.

With the blessings of their respective Boards of Directors, Solano Youth Theater which faced elimination due to budget cuts, was officially taken over by the Young Artists Conservatory of Music (YACM) in Vacaville on June 1st.

“In the past, many people have come to the conservatory and said that we should do musical theater,” YACM artistic director Wanda Cook said.” I would tell them that that was SYT’s niche and the community had a lot of other ones already and the arts community didn’t really need another one.”

The Young Artists Conservatory of Music is a nonprofit public arts education organization that provides full service instruction in musical arts. Since 2001, Solano Youth Theatre has been a division of Solano College Theater and put on productions as diverse as “Guys and Dolls,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and numerous Shakespeare offerings including “Romeo and Juliet” all featuring young Solano County residents.

Cook heard worries from parents and former actors who raved about the quality of the SYT productions and the amazing props and costumes they used and put any fear of there being a drop off to rest.

“You hear all these wonderful stories about kids who have come out of their shell and gained confidence as being part of the legacy of what SYT,” Cook said.  “Providing kids with skills they can take on with them in life is what SYT and the conservatory is all about. Not only can we uphold that quality, we can also add training. Rehearsing is taking the skills that you have and using them to play or sing. Training is providing you with more skills than you brought to the table and helps augment your assets to make you the best you can be.”

One of the biggest changes will be that now productions will feature live orchestration instead of recorded music. The immediacy and without-a-net quality will add a new dimension to the entire performance and serve the dual purpose of benefitting both the audience members and performers.

 “Researchers in arts education have found that there is no other activity that lights up a child’s neurons more than playing music or performing in some art,” Cook said. “The highest levels are when they are performing with a group—more so than when they are doing calculus or playing football. Having to manage time and space and skill and training and leading and following all at the same time is huge. It affects your heart, your mind, and your soul.”

To help make the transition smoother, award-winning director/actress/dancer Holli Hornlien, who had been with the SYT since 2006, was brought aboard to run the program in its new phase.

“I’m bringing the institutional knowledge and a great deal of passion for the program to continue,” Hornlien said. “The Conservatory, the College and I really want this program to last for as long as the county wants it. I can’t be happier that Wanda threw open her doors and said ‘Let’s do this!’”

“Public funding for the arts and arts education has been under such pressure and the fact that this program doesn’t have those particular constraints is kind of a relief,” Hornlien said.  The youth theatre is very much a part of the community and will have the relationships that it has had for years. It feels like a time to grow.”

The first order of business for the remodeled youth performing arts company will be their summer camps and workshops which ruin for a week starting July 25^th. Young artists are given instruction in acting and music and at the end of the camp put on a performance highlighting what they have learned.

Solano Youth Theatre’s upcoming season that will feature their new mixture of live acting and singing accompanied by live orchestration includes productions of “Aladdin” and “Alice in Wonderland” for 1^st through 6^th graders and “Hairspray” and “The Sound of Music” for 7^th through 12^th graders.

SYT are restaffing their vocal department over the summer to help with the anticipated increase of applicants and are offering reduced rate tuitions for those seeking voice training. They will also offer an audition class to give them pointers on how to audition properly for an adult show or more musical theater.

While the conservatory recently changed their motto from one centered  just on music to “Inspiring Young Artists for Lifelong Passion,” Wanda Cook’s unofficial personal motto is “Always pleased, never satisfied.”

“As artists, that embodies who we are. We are always pursuing more training, seeking out more information from masters with more experience, and always want to be achieving and learning and growing,” Cook said. “We’re always pleased—so there’s the work ethic, but never satisfied—there’s your inspiration.”

 Reach Fairfield freelance writer Tony Wade at [email protected]

Young Artists Conservatory of Music

500 Davis St. Vacaville, Ca. 95688

(707) 451-7200 Fax (707) 451-7879 

 http://www.youngartistsconservatory.org/

 Facebook Page

 

"BACK IN THE DAY" COLUMNS by Toe Knee Weighed

These are my "Back in the Day" columns about Fairfield's past.

Burger Wars

September 2, 2011

Click here

Skateland Roller Rink

August 19, 2011

Click here

Smoking

August 5, 2011

Click here

Eucalyptus Records

July 22, 2011

Click here

Wonder World

July 8, 2011

Click here

The Drive-In

June 17th, 2011

Click here

The Cruise

June 10, 2011

Click here

The Fart Buses

June 5, 2011 Click here

Back to the Future of Fairfield's Past

May 16, 2011

Click here

MORE TO COME!

MY BROTHER WAS MORE THAN JUST THE GUY WHO KILLED HIS GIRLFRIEND THEN HIMSELF by Tony Wade

 

 

I was touched by the recent story of Fairfield woman and my Facebook friend Rosemary Norris Southward who found  out what happened to her brother who had disappeared in Florida 36 years ago when a DNA match proved that remains found in 1976 were his.

Rose wanted people to know that her brother James wasn’t just a victim who went to buy some marijuana in 1974, but was much more than that.  She described him as a creative dreamer and a poet.  

My brother, Kenneth James Wade, committed a murder-suicide 21 years ago today. He took the life of his girlfriend who had two small children before killing himself. There is nothing I can say about that except that there was more to him than his final cowardly, selfish, heartless act.

There was a weird detachment I felt when seeing the body-bag picture of my brother on the front page of the newspaper. I knew it was him and knew what he had done but it didn't seem real. And it didn't seem like he could actually do such a thing.

That's not to say that it was completely out of character either. He was a high-strung guy who had a problem with alcohol and loved guns. He was also an egomaniac with low self-esteem. Yet he was so much more than that. He was my big brother.

I’m the middle child in my family of five boys and Ken was three years older than me. Ken wouldn’t let anyone else play with his toys. Ours would get broken quickly but even as an adult he had some of his from childhood in pristine condition.

I remember once when we were in elementary school in Virginia we got into an argument walking to school. We started calling each other names and it escalated until Ken dropped an F bomb. I then knew I had him as I used the capper; “Ooooh! I’m telling mom!”

We continued sniping at each other until we got to the front of the school where we finally engaged in full-on fisticuffs. Our skirmish was broken up and we were escorted to the principal’s office. I tried to weasel out of it because he was in 6^th grade and I was in 3^rd to no avail. The Principal got even more angry when he discovered we were brothers.

We got away with a warning and on our way home that afternoon we both agreed to the sacred Nobody Tells On Nobody Rule to avoid a whuppin’.

Nobody could get my goat like Ken. He knew precisely how in that annoying older brother way to get under my skin. He was the one who convinced me I had brain damage after I suffered a seizure when I was eight years old.

The best time in my life with my brother was when were both teenagers and shared a room, he on the bottom bunk and me on the top. We would stay up late night talking about girls.

We were active in our church youth group, mainly because there were  girls there. Ken had a Dodge Dart with a crankin’ stereo and we would head out to church events in other cities bumping BT Express, the SOS Band and unfortunately the first popular dirty rapper, Blowfly.

After church on Sunday nights we would walk up Fairfield Avenue past the water tower (now gone) and down to Bransford school and play tackle football. I was the only one brave enough to tackle him. He was a gifted athlete and excelled at football at Armijo High and was named to the all-city team. He also later coached youth football as well.

At Sierra Bible Camp I remember when he showed some of his wit. Each cabin had to do a skit and every person in the cabin had to be in it so some of the guys were props like trees and such. Ken held some sprigs and a sign he'd made that said "Pretend I'm a bush."

Ken’s name literally meant 'handsome' and he was and he knew it. I was jealous of him because I didn’t see myself as good-looking and was never as confident as he seemed to be. Plus, he was like the perfect example of what my dad wanted a son to be and I was just about the opposite. The white sheep of the family you might say.

We would play dominoes all the time and Ken and my dad were always partners and played against me and my mom. If they started to win, you never heard such gloating. They were sore losers and bad winners but we had a great time playing. I remember playing as adults and both Ken and I smoked and we would smoke each other’s respective cigarettes for some reason.

I sat down to play some bones a few years ago and it hit me for the first time that Ken and my mom and my dad—my whole dominoes group—were now all dead.

Ken always had an explosive temper. I remember once when he was playing a board game and my sister-in-law Patty experienced it for the first time. They were having a good time when all of a sudden he knocked the game up in the air and stormed out. Patty asked if he was always like that and Kelvin’s reply was “Only when someone drops a hat.”

After Ken’s murder-suicide I dealt with the whole guilt thing. We had drifted apart as adults and were into different things. At that time he was into going to clubs like the Galactica in Sacramento and dressing up while I was into partying at rock concerts.

He tried to get us together but I always balked at it.  The Kubel Ross Five Stages of Grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. There was no denial or bargaining, but I dealt with depression and anger for years afterward.

I mean, how could you do that? And on Mother’s Day of all freakin’ days? And not just to my mom but to his girlfriends’ kids as well so that forever on a day when the world focuses on cherishing their mothers that would be the day they dreaded thinking about?

Plus there are often really two anniversaries of that terrible day as in this year because Mother's Day and May 13th don't always fall on the same day.

I felt guilt and depression and wrestled with the “if onlys.”  But all that stuff is futile. Ultimately, I had to work through that stuff and did so in a systematic way with help from both mental health professionals as well as other organizations which have sustained me.

The ripple effects of suicide and murder can be felt for years and even decades later. Heck, one thing I learned is that if you die in this day and age you will still continue to get junk mail forever!

It may sound silly but one of the things I thought about later in 1990  was that Ken had gone to the Club MTV tour the previous year and remarked at how much Milli Vanilli sounded like their records! He never found out the truth!

I will always love my brother and he cannot be defined by simply how he ended up.

I wish Ken could have worked on his issues. I’ve had to work on mine. Facing your demons eye to eye is not fun and is not easy but it is the best way to know yourself and deal with life as it is and not how I wish it would be.

Rest in Peace Ken

Rest in Peace Myoung

THE LAST LAUGH: STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE by Tony Wade

 

Last May I wrote about how my older brother Ken murdered his girlfriend and then committed suicide on Mother’s Day of 1990. Here’s the link: http://www.dailyrepublic.com/archive_pdfs/2010/20100510/pdfs/a2.PDF

At the end of the column last year, I included resources for domestic violence and suicide help, but I wanted to focus more on it this year and so I interviewed Solano County Director of Family Violence Prevention Carolyn Wold.

If you know someone who is in a domestic situation which could end in tragedy, please read this and utilize the tools.

What is a typical call to the Family Violence Center?

It is usually a victim or close friend or family member of someone who is in a relationship with either physical or emotional violence. The first thing we do is determine how safe they are at that moment to even talk about what’s happening. If they aren’t safe, then we make plans to talk when they are.

What evaluation methods do you use?

We do a short-term and long term safety assessment and in some cases we use the Jacqueline Campbell Lethality Scale. It’s a widely-used 62-question assessment that the victim fills out. It really gives us a feeling for the potential for escalating violence in the relationship. Since the victim fills it out, they can see it for themselves. We can tell them what to expect, but when they’ve filled out a questionnaire based on their experience and their relationship, then the answers are theirs.

How effective are restraining orders?

Some say they are just a piece of paper and that if he is going to kill her, he is going to kill her. But the beauty of restraining orders is that it puts these relationships on our map. So many times our victims say they don’t want to get him in trouble or they just want him to get help. Well, until that batterer is in our system, we can’t get them help.

We advise victims to keep a copy of the restraining order with them and give one to their employer, their children’s school and their pastor if necessary. Often victims don’t want to tell people because they are ashamed, embarrassed and afraid but that is what batterers count on. We advise them to let as many people know as possible.

My brother killed his girlfriend at her workplace. Victims may stay in shelters, but what about when they are on the job?

When we talk with victims, we ask them about all the places where the batterer knows they may frequent. Most of our victims can’t afford to quit their jobs although some do because they are so afraid. We advise them on how to talk to their bosses as it is illegal for an employer to fire them because they are a victim of domestic violence.

Do you have statistics about domestic violence homicides in Solano County?

Unfortunately in the last year we’ve had more domestic violence homicides since when we started keeping track 11 years ago. Normally we have two to three, which is two to three too many, but in 2010 we had seven women killed.

Why do you think there’s an increase?

Historically it correlates with a downturn in the economy. When families have stressors like loss of jobs and homes and increased substance abuse added to relationships already on the edge, they can end tragically.

Also, a couple of years ago the Board of Supervisors were forced to make cuts in law enforcement, our office and in social services and we let them know we understood they had to make the cuts, but wanted them to understand that people were going to die. And they did. It is a very difficult place to be in both as a policymaker and as a service provider.

Where can people get more information?

 On our website, www.solanocounty.com/stoptheviolence, we have a resource guide so if someone has a neighbor, friend, co-worker, or sister who they think is in a dangerous relationship or has neighbor, friend, co-worker, or brother they feel is a batterer and they want to get them help, it is a great place to get assistance and resources.

 People think this is a woman’s issue, but batterers have moms, dads, sisters and brothers so it’s really a family and community issue.

_____________________________________________________________

Reach Fairfield freelance writer Tony Wade at [email protected].

 

THE LAST LAUGH: SOLANO KARAOKE IDOL 3 AND THE MATT GARCIA CINCO DE MAYO FIESTA PROMISE GREAT FUN FOR GREAT CAUSES by Tony Wade

 

I haven’t watched American Idol since they stopped having the crazy horrible singers. Look, I ain’t mad at J-Lo and as for Steven Tyler well, I’m a “Toys in the Attic”-era Aerosmith fan (as opposed to the bandwagon “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” ones).

 Still, having those two on American Idol is like when the Stooges added Curly Joe. There just ain’t nothin’ like the real thing, baby.

Luckily, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell are coming back and what’s more they will be appearing with Randy Jackson in Suisun City...sorta.

Solano Karaoke Idol Season 3 is this Friday night at the Joe Nelson Community Center. Paula is local singer/actress Kris Clark and Simon is Stephen Betz who uses music therapy to help special needs kids. Yours truly will be The Dawg.

We had a blast last year and it’s gonna be even better in 2011. There are still a few slots open for the group category, but the singles are filled. First place winners receive $100 and second place gets $50.  Local DJs By Request Entertainment will again provide the tunes-- everything from Sinatra to Slayer.

I may even do a Sintra/Slayer mashup if I get a wild hair.

I encourage y’all to come out and enjoy a great dinner (provided by Olive Garden) and some fantastic local talent. But don’t do it for me, do it for who the money for this event goes to help: kids in our community.

Karaoke Idol is a fundraiser for Solano Family and Children’s Services (www.solanofamily.org) and Children’s Nurturing Project (www.childrensnurturingproject.org).Solano Family and Children’s Services enriches children’s lives through support and services to families and child care providers. Children’s Nurturing Project (CNP) offers a holistic approach to promote healthy parent-child relationships through support services and education.

 “We are very excited about this year’s event,” CNP Executive Director Debbi Davis said. “Times are tougher than ever for high-risk children and their families. There is no time like the present to help vulnerable infants so please support this event.”

Tickets, which include dinner and a raffle ticket, are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. They are available at CNP (490 Chadbourne Road, Suite A, in Fairfield, 422-0464)  Eco-Delight Coffee (700 Main St. #110 in Suisun City), and Dance Direction(306 Spring Street also in Suisun City).  Doors open at 5 pm and the competition begins at 6 pm.

 

After all that fun Friday night, I’m gonna turn right around Saturday and co-emcee the 3^rd annual Matt Garcia Foundation’s Cinco de Mayo Fiesta with Margarita Lopez. I’m really juiced about it.

What’s not to like? We’re  talkin’ dinner then live music by Sapo featuring Richard “Suavecito” Bean. Young people, ask your folks about that old school joint and come see them do it live.

 In addition, the keynote speaker will be CSU Trustee and Fairfield High graduate Melinda Guzman-Moore.

As for raffle items, how about dinner for four with ex-Tower of Power lead vocalist Lenny Williams? Or one-on-one time with Super Bowl Champion Desmond Bishop? Plus a whole lot more.

The event benefits the Matt Garcia PAL center and if you are reading the Daily Republic, you know all about the wonderful Matt Garcia who was taken too soon from us. I talked to his mother Teresa Courtemanche recently via telephone and she was ebullient when discussing the kids who frequent the center.

“We want to showcase the kids and the youth center and how awesome it is,” Courtemanche said. “I’ve seen how some of the kids are really shy when they first go there and then they just blossom. Matt believed that you could do anything you wanted to do and these kids really believe it.”

Turning epic tragedy into a focused mission to help the community is what drives Teresa.

“There’s nothing that’s ever going to fill up that hole in my heart. It’s going to be there forever and I know that,” Courtemanche said. “But these things help to keep Matt’s spirit living on.”

The whole shebang kicks off at the Yin Ranch (6319 Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville) at 5 pm and goes to 10 pm. Tickets are $60 and you can your hands on them by calling or texting (707) 372-4160. Hope to see you there!

 

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Reach Fairfield freelance writer Tony Wade at [email protected]

 

THE LAST LAUGH: REAL AND PROPOSED UNOFFICIAL HOLIDAYS by Toe Knee Weighed

 

Last week I was stunned to discover a holiday that I had never heard of, even though it began decades ago.

4-20 day (April 20^th) celebrates marijuana use and, according to ever-reliable Wikipedia, started in the 1970s when some stoner dudes decided 4:20 in the afternoon is the perfect time to get high.

Now, in my youth, I experimented a few (hundred) times with the wacky tobaccy, but I now choose to experience life in the available light as photographers say.

I should mention that my double-blind pot experiments were conducted under strict laboratory conditions, and I eventually proved my hypothesis that smoking weed makes you about as smart as a bag of hammers.

Fortunately, like Bill Clinton, I never actually inhaled any of the giggles- and munchies-inducing smoke on the off chance I might someday become President and have some ‘splainin’ to do.

420 Day is not the only unofficial US holiday; here are some more:

Mole Day--October 23^rd-- Not a celebration of the burrowing rodent or Fantastic Four villain or even home grown spies, but recognition of a measurement used by chemists derived from Avogadro's number, which is approximately 6.02×10²³ and that...

Oh man, I fell asleep mid-sentence. I’m talking serious REM and drool here. Google it yourself.

 

Ninja Day-- December 5^th—On Ninja Day, people are encouraged to  dress as ninja, engage in ninja-related activities, and spread ninja info on the web. The date coincided with the release of the 2003 Tom Cruise film “The Last Samurai” which featured the black-clad martial artists.

I wonder if this holiday will be celebrated in France this year because, while there are differences, the black ninja outfits kinda resemble Muslim burqas, which were recently outlawed there.  I predict come December 5^th there will be so many ninja congregating near the Eiffel Tower that the French Army will have to be called out and will, as they historically do, surrender.

No Pants Day—First Friday in May—This day is based on a prank. People attend an event sans trousers (they do wear undies) and act as if prancing around pant-less ain’t no thang. Teens may have an advantage as some have worn theirs around their ankles for years.

First Contact Day--April 5^th 2063—This holiday celebrates the day Zefram Cochrane achieved (or will achieve) warp drive and made first contact with aliens (Vulcans) as shown in the 1996 movie “Star Trek: First Contact.” I talked with a local Trekker who gave me way more details about it than I ever needed or cared to know, and it became clear that he is still waiting for first contact with a female.

In addition to the actual unofficial holidays, I propose a few of my own:

Yodish Day—June 6^th (Yoda is 66 centimeters tall)--Jedi Master  Yoda’s distinctive speech pattern (mixing up word order) would be emulated on this holiday. “Fries with that will I have,” “Not fat make you look those jeans,” “Crap, oh! Medical Marijuana card have I lost, and 420 Day it is!”

          

Blow Up Your Computer Day—December 31^st/January 1^st (Commemorates the Y2K scam)--Wouldn’t it be awesome to exact a measure of revenge for all the freeze ups, deletions of vital data at the exact wrong time and dreaded Blue Screens of Death you’ve had to endure from computers over the years?

Talk In Cartoon Balloons Day—November 26^th (Charles Schulz’s  birthday)—Revelers communicate via cartoon balloon all day. This was originally known as “Think in Cartoon Balloons Day,” but too many people got in trouble.

Do All the Things Your Mother Told You Not To Do Day—(Whenever the Heck You Want)--Activities include jumping  on the bed, making faces at people and leaving the house wearing dirty underwear.

Unfortunately participants soon discover that they fall off the bed and break their necks, their faces freeze that way and when they inevitably  get into an accident the first thing paramedics check are not vital signs but to see if they have clean drawers.

 link to the article in the paper

 

THE LAST LAUGH: I GOT THE SUBURBAN BLUES by Toe Knee Weighed

 

I’m going to see blues icon Buddy Guy this Friday in Davis. While listening to Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan or Howlin’ Wolf brings me pleasure, blues songs are generally about three things:

1. My baby left me.

2. I wish my baby would leave me.

3. My baby left me; came back and now I wish she would leave again.

I’ve always wanted to play blues guitar, but I’m too lazy to practice. Then I remembered the story of how Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads and sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for the ability to play some, well, wicked guitar.

Since the whole selling your soul to the Devil thing is kinda frowned upon at my church, I instead met Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis at the Starbucks at the crossroads of Jefferson and Texas streets and leased my soul to him.

Now I can masterfully play Delta blues, Chicago blues, blues-rock, Jake and Elwood Blues and Blues Clues.

My first CD, a true masterpiece entitled “Suburban Blues,” drops today. My songs explore more than the aforementioned three topics, but like any blues record worth its salt, it has in-depth liner notes that give the background of each song. Here they are:

My lead-off, “Ain’t Afraid of No Baby Goo,” is about how I thought  (before my daughter was born) my biggest problem was going to be dealing with the icky fluids and solids that infants produce with regularity. I learned that changing diapers is easy, but dealing with what comes out the other end—wailing, screeching, and crying-- is the hard part.

“My DVR is Full Blues” explores the cataclysmic dilemma of having to choose whether to delete one Raider game or three episodes of “House” to make room for “Survivor: Redemption Island.” My Ry Cooder-like slide solo adds tragic atmosphere.

Ever since I saw the movie “Colors” -- about Southern California street gangs the Bloods (who wore red) and the Crips (who wore blue)—I’ve wondered “What Does a Blood Do When He’s Got Da Blues?” This song doesn’t really answer the question, but has a blistering guitar solo.

When my brothers and I were younger we would pull practical jokes like sending each other magazine subscriptions to Cosmopolitan or Vogue. “Stop Foolin’ with my Netflix Queue” is about how its gone hi-tech. My brother Kelvin hacked into my Netflix account, and I have “Beaches,” “Thelma and Louise” and “Waiting to Exhale” topping my list.

I was working on song ideas with Daily Republic blogger Nick DeCicco (“For Those About to Rock”) and he waxed eloquent about the way corner-piece brownies are better than single-edged brownies, which in turn are better than the freaky, edgeless, chocolaty squares in the middle of the pan.  That was the impetus for “No-Account Woman Left Me a No-Edge Brownie.” Nick also plays some mean cowbell on the track.

 “Press 1 for English” is an angry song about the frustration of talking to tech support. “I’m as hot as a flambé/Talking to some jerk in Bombay” is my favorite couplet. I know Bombay is now known as Mumbai... but you try rhyming something with that.

“The Sounds of Silence” is my bluesy adaptation of the classic Simon and Garfunkel tune. I sped it up a bit, added some boogie-woogie piano and a phat tenor saxophone, and changed a few of the lyrics. Instead of starting out with “Hello darkness my old friend/It’s time to talk with you again,” I sing: “I’m feeling angry, mad and mean/ Like a bigger, blacker Charlie Sheen.”

The  slow-grinding number “No Chunky” reflects the deep psychological trauma I recently experienced when the grocery store was out of chunky peanut butter. In addition to my tasteful B. B. King-esque guitar solo, I’m proud to say that I cleverly rhymed the word “creamy” with Kathy Najimy—the zaftig actress who played Sister Mary Patrick in “Sister Act.” Only I didn’t use the word “zaftig” -- I used “chunky.”

I told you it was a masterpiece.

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Reach Fairfield freelance writer and bluesman Tony Wade at [email protected]