melanie and sam and dave

"Hey, hey! You met some new folks? Or had visitors?"

Well, I did meet some new people tonight! Barri Marshall played veejay at the "Sing & Swing Family Fling" at Asbury Memorial Church, in Holliday Hall, and guess what? I got to do some karaoke!!!

"Holy cow! You haven't done any of that since before the pandemic!"

That's right, and I could tell I was a bit rusty. But you know what? It's just like riding a bike!

"It came right back to you?"

Nope, more like when I fell off tempo, I just got right back on again!

"Hahahaha! Glad to hear it!"

Me, too. That crazy Danny Beam even shouted out to me, "Choir practice at 6:30 on Wednesday nights!" - lol! For everybody to hear! Then he told me again later, before he and Barbara left.

"He's really a good guy! Is that him up there singing?"

Sure 'nough! He enlisted his oldest grandson, Caleb, to hold the microphone. After all, he needed his hands free for Joe Cocker's "You Can Leave Your Hat On"! Very cool! Then, later, he and his lovely wife did "I Got You, Babe", with Danny down on his knees as Sonny.

"He certainly is an entertainer! So, what song made him notice your voice?"

My very first one. You know I usually start with "Brand New Key", right? This time, I made sure to mention that Melanie, the singer, had recently died. That may be what prompted Danny to pay homage to "the late, great, Joe Cocker" in his opening. The other song I performed was "Hold On, I'm Coming" by Sam & Dave. I hadn't realized that was meant to be sung as a duet, so that's the one I kept "falling off".

"Oh, you haven't done that for a while. The last time would have been at a karaoke night at Post 36 some few years ago."

Yeah. That was when one of the women there asked me why I was doing a song meant for men to sing. Really. That just blew my mind.

"I remember. Hey, why didn't you do more songs tonight?"

Well, I missed the first hour of karaoke. Tonight was the first new S&K configuration at Jalapenos and, as I felt partly responsible, I just had to be there. Then, I was having such fun that I stayed until we were all done with our Friday Fiesta!

"I see that Betsy was at your end of the table."

So was Becca, right beside her. In fact, somehow it had worked out that all the women had one table and all the men had the other!

"Well, that's certainly a change!"

Yes, it was! I think it just may carry on like this next time, too. I know Tony really liked being down there with the guys and being part of the conversation! I liked our conversation, too. Ronnie and Robin got mentioned by either Laura or Mary or both. They were surprised at what I hadn't known, but I'd reminded them that I was in San Diego until 1984, then I'd started college and was gone again. That would have been down to Tallahassee for summer of 86' and '87, then for grad school from 1988 onward.

"Right, I know that's how you missed stuff in that decade."

Right? And yet I knew some things they didn't about that situation. It's always a surprise to me when I find that to be the case.

"Well, you know Mama would tell you things that she wouldn't tell your brothers or anyone else. I'm glad y'all had that close friendship."

Me, too. I think a visit to her is overdue.