The Best Disco in Town

Several months ago a concert tour was announced for Australia and compulsively ordered tickets for me and querrelle. Without asking him. It was sure to be the hip, happening, kewl event of the year--and damn I wanted to be a part of it. You down with OCD, yeah you know me me me me me...

Anyway tonight was the night, and it turned out to be awright. We were pleasantly surprised that a special opening act had been added to the already full bill:

Bjorn Again. Yup, ABBA coverband extraordinaire! Mammia Mia, Dancing Queen, and the Sydney Entertainment Centre was going off!

The tech crew was great, and within minutes the band I came to hear was on the boards: Boney M. And they were the best of the lot. 3 gorgeous Caribbean divas in red, blue or gold sequineed gowns, a cheeky bloke with silly putty hips, all very good singers. They started did Sonny, Daddy Cool, Brown Girl in the Ring, Rasputin, and my all time favourite Rivers of Babylon. They were great and gracious and the SEC was a big ole bucket of Ja luv!

Next was Errol Brown, the lead singer of Hot Chocolate. Some of his songs I hadn’t realized were his (You win again), but the 2 biggies (Everyone’s a Winner and You Sexy thing) were what he finished with. Very good, if a bit....tame.

And then her royal fabness, Gloria Gaynor took the stage. She wen for the big’un immediately (Never Can Say Goodbye, I am what I am), and finished with a 10 minute bringing down da house version of I Will Survive. Wow!

A 10 minute set change and we were back in the land of clones and harmony. Ya mon, the Village People. They look tired (except the new leather guys, who’s hawt. And str8). Sang well, did Macho Man, In the Navy, some Milk song, You can’t stop the Music, and In the Navy. Oh, and before they did YMCA, they taught us how to do the arm thangs properly. Very funny, very catty. Then they sang the song well.

And then....we were tired and decided to skip KC and the Sunshine Band.

Casey @ the Bat

It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville 9 that Day
The score stood 2 to 4, with but an inning left to play.
But when Cooney died at 2nd, and Burrows did the same
A pallour wreathed the features of the patrons of the day...

When I was in year 5, Mr. Merkle was Gawd. One of those bright, personable, inspiring teachers. He made the unfocussed kids wanna try. He made the brainiacs wanna help their pals. He made the chatterboxes be quiet, and the introverts talk...a bit. Really he was perfect: fair, had expectations of us, and made learning fun wherever possible. During any given week there were a range of contests going on, all of which were about sourcing, acquiring and reporting knowledge. Or some special skill.

So came the oral recitation contest, of Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat”. Anyone in our class could enter, and whomever best read the play would win a prize--and get to read the play over the school’s PA system one morning. I noticed Mr. Merkle recited the lines from memory and decided to try the same.

The big morning Mr. Merkle invited some other staff to be the judges. Our school librarian Mrs. Goldner, a couple of others I can’t remember. Everyone took their turn, and I was going last. Everyone else read theirs, and I also padded to the front of the class with my printout.

And very theatrically placed it face down on the table in front of me. “It looked extremely rocky....”

I killed ‘em. And won first prize.

2 weeks later I was led to the office for the reading over the PA system. I was pleased I was stoked, and then they flicked on the sound.

uh....uhh........rustle rustle rustle....I--i-i-t looked extremely rock f-f-f-for the Mudvile n-n-n-9 that day....”

4 minutes later it was done, I was covered in sweat, and I went back to Mr. Merkle’s class--there was a new Mystery Guest on the bulletin board and I wanted to keep my lead with the most guesses . . .