Our friend Charlotte thought Holme would be playing D’Jais & she thought she would be able to eat at Bar-A. She got a quick Internet crash course from me on what to expect when you go to see Holme @ Bar-A. And that would be nothing. The Bar-A website will tell you the band is going on hours earlier then they actually are. They’ll be no parking spaces for blocks, the free buffet will be over & gone before you get there, it will be so packed you won’t be able to see the band from where you stand & chances are the band will be ending by the time you are ordering a 2nd round.
It was a Valentine’s Day show. I got this idea to create iron transfers from my head shot photos of the band, cut the transfers into hearts, sew lace around the outside of the heart & sew the hearts onto a pink shirt. It turned out to be a 2-day job & I didn’t finish my project until 7:30pm the night of the show (causing me to miss the 1st set). In the end some of the hearts had rhinestones in lieu of lace around the edges. I sewed the hearts onto my shirt loosely so that I would be able to rip my Valentines off my shirt at the end of the night & hand them out to anyone who wanted one. Toward this endeavor I packed a pair of scissors & a bunch of safety pins in my purse.
It was sisters night out for us. Charlotte & her sister Jane, Marian & her sister Donna and me & my sister Kathy. Kathy was the 1st to arrive out of the group. It was extremely crowded & it was a Holme love fest. All the regulars were there & each of the band’s wives/girlfriends were too. Kip pointed out it had been 7 weeks since the band last played. I arrived before the 2nd set just as the guys were handing out Pussycat Doll boas, candy bracelets, heart-shaped sunglasses & red sequined hats to the crowd to get us into the spirit of Valentine’s Day. I am a card-carrying member of PETA, so the boas upset me. The sax player du jour was Steverino! He was the only one of the band to dress for the occasion in a red t-shirt. He hadn’t played with the band in months so I sent him a note asking if he had just got out of rehab. Billy looked “bad” in a black hat & black clothing. I had hoped Holme would do “Cupid” (draw back your bow & let your arrow go) by Sam Cooke like in days gone by . It would have been THE Valentine’s Day song but apparently Kip did not consider doing it (unless they played it during their 1st set – which I missed). Charlotte & Jane arrived next. Charlotte wanted a sequined hat & eventually got herself one by kissing Star-Ledger Mike for his (he did not use tongue).
The band added The Cars’ “Just What I Needed” to their song list & Kip dedicated it to Kathy & me. Kathy was ecstatic because she had really wanted them to add The Cars to their repertoire & went so far as to give Kip her Cars Greatest Hits CD to get him to do them. It was the height of the Anna Nicole scuttlebutt. I sent a note to Kip asking “Are you the father of Anna Nicole’s Baby?” Kip laughed so much he forgot to sing. Before starting the next song, he announced he WAS the father of Anna Nicole’s daughter. Frank then announced he was Anna Nicole & Stan said “I am the daughter”.
I was on my way to the ladies room when I ran into Frank's girlfriend Teresa & Harry’s wife. I recently ran into Teresa in the lobby in my office building. It turns out we work 30 floors apart and didn’t know it. Frank told Joe Lepis (who also works in the same city as us) the 3 of us should get together for lunch. Mrs. Filkin pointed out I had a photo of her husband Harry on my breast. She said Harry would love it. I am closest to Sementa so I had his photo over my heart. Later Harry said he looked like he just got out of the insane asylum in his photo.
Fabricated wet snow fell from the rafters. Toward the end of the night we were able to stand close to the stage & dance. I cut the hearts off my shirt & pinned them onto wives, girlfriends & fans. I made sure to pin one of Kip on DJ Todd. When the band ended we continued to dance. Bar-A has a great DJ that plays FABULOUS music. We were Dancing Queens, Shake, Shake, Shaking our Booty (with our tammy on). We ordered shots of something our Anna Nicole look-a-like bartender concocted. We toasted to good sex & went on record that Donna’s had it. Kathy said goodnight and headed home. I drove the rest of us to the Princess Marina Diner. I was going home after the diner & the rest of the girls were planning to continue on until they realized it was already 1:00 and the bars would close shortly. They went back to their hotel room, drank wine & ate Girl Scout cookies.
Alert - They’ll be Joel Kraus news coming soon!
On 2/24 Kathy & I went to see Bobby Banderia @ the Walt Street Pub in Red Bank. There was already a line to get in when we got there just before 10:00. I counted 22 people ahead of us. Since Bobby was just starting to play, no one was leaving so the wait was pretty long. I was all for going back home or doing something else but I knew Kathy wanted to stay so I remained on line & suffered. I swore it was the last time I was going to see Bobby there. After we got in I was more relaxed. Frank Sementa & his girlfriend Teresa showed up. Teresa told me they had waited on line outside for quite some time. Imagine Frank Sementa waiting on a line outside a bar! Frank & I are getting old. Neither of us would have waited on a line years ago. Bobby has a new hairstyle that makes him look like The Wedding Singer or an early Bob Dylan or is it Little Richard? He was smokin’ last summer. I don’t know why he messed with perfection. Some songs Bobby did were Build Me Up Buttercup, Road House Blues & Tutti Frutti & Kathy commented he had played with Holme too much. He also did some songs I liked such as “It’s Not Unusual” & “Hot Legs”. I told Frank that the songs that Bobby does makes the songs Holme does seem modern. Frank said I’ve always said that. It had been quite some time since I had though. Kathy told me David Cassidy was playing at the Count Bassie Theater that night. Someone told me Bobby & Tracy were going to renew their wedding vows @ McLoons. I repeated it to Frank. The dance floor was happening. There was a party girl who never left it. She asked anyone who was bopping to the music nearby to dance. When I turned her down she said you know you could have no legs tomorrow. It was food for thought. I knew she was right but I still wasn’t dancing. Kathy & I left before Bobby finished.
On 3/4 Camille, Joyce & I attended one of the benefits that were held for Bernie Dippolito of Frankie & The Burn. I know Camille since grammar school. Joyce, Camille & I all worked for the same insurance company (along with Donna, Charlotte & Debbie French) in the 70’s. We originally came to know Bernie when he played with Sam The Band. Camille & Joyce went to see Sam all the time. Bernie had a stroke in December & 3 bars down the shore were holding benefits simultaneously for him. We went to the one @ Mugsy’s Bar & Grill in Toms River. Tickets were $25 at the door & you were given a wristband which enabled you to bar hop the 3 benefits. When we walked in Bernie was sitting by the door & Jack Leslie (from Sam the Band) stood right in front of us. Jack recognized Camille & Joyce immediately. He hadn’t seen them in about 20 yrs. Bernie looked pretty good. He sang 2 songs. One of them was Stevie Wonder’s “Living in the City” he does SO good. Then he left to attend another one of the benefits. Camille wore an original Sam the Band t-shirt making her the belle of the ball. It was talked about numerous times by a few of the musicians on stage as well as by some of the benefit attendees. 3 bands played: 1) Friends of the Burn which consisted of an assortment of musicians including coincidentally one of Camille’s neighbors. 2) The Superman Band which included both Jack Leslie & Dennis Carmella from Sam the Band. They did an excellent rendition of David Bowie’s Heroes which they dedicated to Bernie. 3) The Mangos, an eclectic group of men who played southern rock music like the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Band & one of my faves Leon Russell. They ended with a blow your mind Jimi Hendrix style Star Spangled Banner. There was a raffle and naturally (if you know her well) Camille won a prize second ticket pulled. It was great to see Bernie looking well and to see Joyce, Jack & Dennis again as well as to be on another adventure back in time with Camille. I also enjoyed hearing diverse song play by some top notch musicians.
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