The night…of our manniversary

[storytimewithjoe]

Today marks our fourth wedding manniversary.  And to celebrate, we headed out to dinner and concert by Men Alive, the local Gay Men’s Chorus.  Actually, the concert turned out to be a convenient bonus, as we managed to score tickets through a friend of Paul’s.  This in and of itself, a story worthy of some explanation.  Please allow me to expound…

 

… through work training computer geekness, Paul managed to strike up a friendship with one of his instructors.  We’ll call him “Steve.”  Steve is a nice enough guy – apparently a very successful businessman who has owned and operated many different types of businesses.  He and his wife, whom we will call “Stella” have traveled the world together several times, both are very successful business professionals, and have children, and grandchildren.  In addition, Steve and Stella are very supportive of gays – especially Steve.  Steve is just a regular, I dunno, Fag Stag.  And that is where things get a bit, I dunno… unique.  They go to a church that has a lot of gay men.  They struck up a close friendship with their former church choir director, who was gay.  They fought very hard to get a priest at their church who happened to be gay.  Now, in their spare time, they really really enjoy going to performances by the gay men’s choir.  In short – they are supportive… Really supportive… really, REALLY supportive.  And, as icing on the cake, they have season tickets to all of the Men Alive shows – including extra tickets, so they can invite along a variety of their gay friends – you know… like ALL straight couples do, right?  

 

I think it is safe to say that if gays had a cheering section, these two would be the Saturday Night Live Cheerleaders of the Gay Pep Club.  SUPERCHEER!

 

Joining them for dinner before the performance, we sat down to have polite people chat.  Paul sat next to Steve (which was safe for all non computer nerds), while I sat next to Stella.  This seemed well and good enough at first… until she began to talk… and to talk… and to talk…  Stella told me a story (?) about getting a cat because rats were living in their house.  How did it end?  Wait… you’ll never guess? 

 

Ready? 

 

Wait for it…

 

The cat killed the rat.  But get this… it took her FIFTEEN MINUTES to tell me this absolutely riveting tale.  I kept my fading focus on her for so long, I thought my eyes were going to bleed.  Had I not been stabbing myself under the table with a fork, I think I would have begun to wake-snore or slip into a nice, comfy coma.  The check truly could not have come fast enough.  Once we got safely into the truck, I had JUST enough time to scream, vent, and get it out of my system.  And all the while, my oh-so-supportive husband Paul laughed at my mental anguish while I expounded upon my newfound knowledge of cat and rat rivalry. 

 

Once we got to the concert hall, we took our seats.  And yes, once again, Stella sat next to me.  Oh joy, oh rapture.  The particular theme of the concert was Viva Las Vegas, which was a compilation of popular tunes that one might hear in Sin City.  It began with medleys of the aforementioned piece, and items by Tom Jones.  OK, I don’t mean to sound like a critical beeyotch.  I really don’t.  And hey, if hokeyness is your thing, power to ya.  But for me, I just don’t see “What’s up pussycat?” as the kind of song that I would have chosen for a chorus.  SOOOO for much of the opening, I was not really overly thrilled – UNLIKE Stella who sat next to me, mesmerized by the performance.  “Aren’t they just GREAT?!” she would say, after grabbing me by the arm after each tune.  At first, I would respond innocuously with , “they are fun,” following up the second grab by, “yes… fun,” followed the third time by a ‘please-gods-get-a-clue-woman’ form of silence.  Realizing that she was no longer to get a reaction from me, she turned her attention to Steve.  Just as I began to writhe in agony, Steve turned to her coarsely and gave her a loud but stern SHOOOSH!  A kind of verbal equivalent of a rolled up newspaper to the nose.  That almost sent me out of my seat laughing my ass off!  Finally!  Poetic justice!  Take THAT lame-ass-story-teller of boredom!

 

The rest of the concert was enjoyable, although high on the hokey-meter, which is different from many of the other performances that I have seen of theirs.  Personally, I really prefer for a concert to be about the music.  I don’t expect the chorus to necessarily be stoic and serious all the time.  Au contraire, having fun with the music is great.  But I’m just not a “MUST add costumes AND dancers, AND jazzy hands to everything!” kinda guy.  If you are into drag queens and outrageousness, hey power to ya.  That just isn’t my thing.  So, while Stella got into the uproariousness of it all, waving around like a Southern Baptist feeling the Spirit (if not the rhythm) I sat and tried to enjoy the music.  Again, call me crazy, but when I go to a concert, I want to see and hear the performers – NOT the person sitting next to me.  But whenever I got annoyed, I just the thought of the smackdown, and it brought me back to a near chuckle fit.

 

Near the end of the concert, the boys decided to do a serious piece, “Time to Say Goodnight,” (you know… that rather well-known piece by Andrea Boccelli and that new agey hamster on steroids, Sarah Brightman).  That piece was rather well done.  Despite some problems with the microphones, which was absolutely not the fault of the choir, the piece worked beautifully – especially so because the soloist’s voice was so pristine and so smooth.  As they closed this piece, many in the audience (Steve and Stella included, of course), jumped to their feet in uproarious applause. 

 

Well… another “interesting” night in the Cook-Giles window onto reality.  I look forward to our next merry outing.  Of course, next time, Paul gets to sit next to Stella.  I do believe I’ll be up at the bar.

Comments

[aeddie.livejournal.com]

Happy Anniversary!

that new agey hamster on steroids, Sarah Brightman

Snerk.

[redsquirrel.livejournal.com]

You took the snerk right out of my mouth! :-0

[aeddie.livejournal.com]

Give a girl one moderately successful role in an overblown musical and you can never get rid of her.

[aumtattoo.livejournal.com]

'Happy Manniversary baby, got you on my mii-iind'


So I'm misquoting silly 70's songs... but the sentiment is true. *hugs* and love to you and the G-Meister.

[joeguppy.livejournal.com]

Smooch!

[badgerpdx.livejournal.com]

around this time LAST year, PGMC did a performance with Men Alive..It was a lot of fun. I LOVED how pretty Laguna was, but I was unable to find a suitable single husband to keep me in a life of comfort and sexual satiatedness. More's the pity, I say....

[tbone1961.livejournal.com]

many congrats on the anniversary!!

[mistressrhi.livejournal.com]

So...How's it feel to be trendy? ;-)

[joeguppy.livejournal.com]

Snort - inteddesting.