It was one of the stranger moments in my singing life, but it turned out to be pretty neat. The phone rang several days ago, and it was Kathy’s dear friend Laura (a close friend since high school- one of Kathy’s bridesmaids- still a very special friend.) She and her sister are now the co-owners of The Yard Arm, which has been a favorite haunt of Kathy’s going back to her college days – and we both love the place a lot. (I ate there THREE times this week alone.) Anyway, Laura was calling because one of her most faithful customers- who is there with his wife almost every Friday night for supper- wanted something special this time around because it was his wife’s 55th birthday. So they arranged for her to be surprised with a pretty table cloth, flowers, etc.- and the guy also asked Laura if she could engage a singer to come by at a pre-ordained time and serenade his wife right at their table.
At first glance, this might not seem like to big a deal – but in fact, this was a proposition that really made me nervous. The Yard Arm is a very civilized place, but it’s also a bar- and I am more of Schubert and Puccini guy whose idea of getting rowdy is maybe a song by Gershwin. So way at the back of my mind, I could picture some 6 ‘ 7 “ biker throwing me through the front window of the place out of irritation at a cultured singer invading the comfortable confines of the Yard Arm. And obviously that wasn’t going to happen – but I could really picture trying to sing in the middle of a really loud room and hardly being able to make myself heard – and feeling terribly uncomfortable all the while. So I asked Laura where in the Yard Arm we would be , and she assured me that the couple in question would be seated in a back room – the “Lodge” – well away from the bar itself. Knowing that, I happily agreed.
Well, life has a way of not following the script- and when the couple came that evening, Laura wasn’t on hand to seat them, and the wife ended up (as usual) picking their table- right next to the bar! So the serenade had to happen where I least wanted it to happen, but I went for it – and it turned out to be fine. (No 6’7” bikers beating me up or pouring a beer over my head. Whew.) I walked over to their table, sat myself down with them, introduced myself to her (I met him a little earlier that evening) and got to know them just a bit. They’re a lovely couple- and if I understood Laura correctly, this woman was Sam Johnson’s personal assistant. (Sam Johnson as in the owner of Johnson Wax.)
Finally it was time to stop chatting and start singing- and I asked if she liked Gershwin. She did- and I serenaded the birthday girl with S’Wonderful. And remarkably, the folks at the bar got pretty quiet- and even clapped a bit when I was done. After that I changed the pace with “Where is Love” from “Oliver” (I knew she liked show tunes) and she even joined along for a couple lines. Last was Happy BIrthday – and I was done – feeling HUGELY relieved that it was over but also happy that it went as well as it did.
One funny thing: This weekend is a big motorcycle convention – or whatever they call it – in Racine, and so easily the Yard Arm could have been swamped with bikers – and it’s not that bikers can’t like a classically-trained singer doing Gershwin, but this little serenade would have been SO much harder if the place had been packed with people. Strangely enough, it was a very slow, very quiet night at the Yard Arm – which was unfortunate for the Yard Arm but a godsend for me.
By the way, I was at the Yard Arm with Kathy, the Barrows, the Conners, and the Veltmans- and it made a huge difference, I think, to have them keeping me loose, joking around, etc. And Kathy was very wise to not come into the bar when it was time to me to sing- that would have made me feel even more uncomfortable. (Most of them stayed put in the back room- and Jeff and Jean, who snuck in to eavesdrop, made sure they were out of sight.) Funny how just singing a couple of little tunes in this situation should be ten times harder than singing with an orchestra in front of 1500 people. Go figure.
pictured: The Yard Arm- Great Place in downtown Racine.