June 6, 2009 - SFX SummerFest

St Francis Xavier SummerFest in Wilmette. Summer. June. SummerFest. 48 degrees does not a SummerFest make! Since no one brought a camera, here's a simulated view from the stage. Note the churning water and angry skies.

Kudos to Beth Curran Hadley for keeping her sanity and sense of humor as the rain and wind gave way to beautiful gray skies and a mere damp chill. The SFX committee treated us very well. We were under a tent, we had a real stage, there was a professional sound guy and lights, Beth and Greg kept a steady stream of pitchers coming to the bandstand - but it was still 48 degrees.

Herder's Bus-o-Fun carried Chris, Vince, Phil, JR and Byrnes. On the trip North, they were treated to an inpromptu fireworks display as they passed Cellular Field. Apparently, its the only run the Sox have scored in, like, a million innings, so the show caught us all off guard. The rain had just finished as we arrived on site, so Gary the soundman was soaked and chilled. He took care of us righteously, though. We got compliments for being so 'whatEVer' about mics and such. He was very glad not to have to mic each of the 12 horns individually.

Of course, the highlight of the evening was Dan-o and his U2 tribute band, who came on after us. He certainly looked like Bono, although I never realized Bono was..... not a tall fellow. So here's the surreal moment for the gig: We're playing 'And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine', I look to the side of the stage and there's Bono/Danno singing the song word for word. And not the band part, but the girl part ... and in character. He was bouncing around, twisting and gyrating like he was singing 'Vertigo', and he didn't miss a lyric. Even Claudia doesn't know the song with a cheat sheet, and here's Bono singing along like its his favorite song ever (next to 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday').

Sitting in on trumpet, the effervescent Mike Pavlic. On trombone, his excellency Rich Clark. Surprises in the crowd included Ed's brother and sis-in-law Paul and CarolAnn, as well as old band friend Angie.

Drink of the night was pitchers of Spatan, (and red wine in a plastic cup for GK). It was cold, but still a lot of fun. And what's with this whole Church Festival Mojo? Haven't we seen this before?

Set 1
Jumpin at the Woodside, American Patrol, L-O-V-E, Corner Pocket, Straighten Up And Fly Right, Intermission Riff, Opus One, Only You, Fly Me To The Moon, The Very Thought of You, Bandstand Boogie, Beyond The Sea, Is You Is Or Is You Aint…

Set 2
Ain't That A Kick In The Head, Pennsylvania 6-5000, This Cant Be Love, And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine, One Mint Julep, Boogie Blues, Big Noise From Winnetka, Choo Choo Ch' Boogie, It Should've Been Me, Caldonia, Sing, Sing, Sing