Bittersweet

Bittersweet                    8118  (1338)

Friday, June 22, 2007-1:00 P.M.

Rapidly reaching the end of my annual Florida comedy tour, I picked up another show; Sunday night in Fort Walton Beach, Florida at Howl At The Moon.

It's not a big dollar gig and it's probably out of my way, but after five days off, I've gotten restless.  Comedy Zone was happy to oblige, and on short notice, I was probably the answer to a few headaches when I said "yes."

So yesterday I continued on with the business of being a working comic; talking on the phone, mostly to folks about the demise of the Buffalo Comix Cafe, which went out of business after almost 20 years of bringing the funny to the Queen City.  I did a radio interview by phone to promote the gig in Palm Harbor, Florida, tonight and tomorrow.  I fretted about it all day, and it turned out to be really nothing, about five minutes of shtick and the jocks were really nice about it, setting me up and letting me prattle on.

Afterwards, my mother and I went out and met some friends and I took a night off from being a comic to do KARAOKE!  We met her friend Rick and his mother, and another lady named Betty, and they all live in the Mid Florida Lakes community where my mom is.

Now, my mom is an above-average singer, but she likes to do the bluesy, Rosemary Clooney stuff, which is cool; I like to do the type of songs that we called "Oh Wow" selections when I worked in radio...songs a lot of people know but haven't heard in a while.

They were running a contest at this particular bar, and I submitted a song to sing, just to sing, not to be in the contest.  They put me on after the last contestant as a buffer because they were going to ask all the contestants to sing another song.  I did a song by Big Head Todd and the Monsters called "Bittersweet," a poppy ballad from a band who's glory days have pretty much come and gone with the H.O.R.D.E. tour and the time when bands like Blues Traveller and the Spin Doctors roamed the earth.  I'd never sung the song before, but I like to stretch when I do karaoke, and I thought the song would go over pretty well with the group that had so far been leaning VERY country.

So I got up on the mike and started talking to the crowd, explaining that I'd never sung the song before and asking them for their patience, and the jock asked me if I was a D.J. and I explained that no, I was a comedian and I had a night off from the tour.  She seemed to hint that she might have work for me this weekend, but I explained that the tour picked up again and that I wasn't available, but thank you.  I think the lesson to be learned here is that you should always try to get out and get some kind of stage time somewhere, especially on your nights off, because you can never be sure what might come of it.

So I sang the song, and I missed a couple of the high notes and I went back and forth with my mom and her friends at our table in the back of the room, and sang as best I could, and probably scored maybe a 7 on a 10 scale....not my best, but pretty much better than anyone who saing that evening.  Next thing I know, the D.J. and her partner have entered me in the contest, and they want me to sing another song, too, but I explain that I'm just visiting and really wouldn't be around for their finals so it made no sense to participate.  There was a $500 cash prize to be had, so I was disappointed, but flattered that they enjoyed my performance.

So the four contestants went back up and sang, and honestly, most of them were just horrible...one older woman sang "8 Days A Week" and it sounded so bad, I turned to my mother and said "The last time the Beatles sounded that bad, one of them was getting shot outside his apartment building."  It was really awful.  Betty sang "My Way," and she really brought it home for a lady who just turned 80 years old.

I got called back to the stage, and I sang an old favorite of mine, "We Just Disagree" by Dave Mason.  I'd sung the song before, it's pretty easy and within range, and I sing it in my voice instead of trying to do an impression of Dave Mason.  It's a good song, and it really seemed to strike a chord in the room, because I saw a lot of smiling faces and at least a couple of folks were singing along.  It was pretty neat.

After a little happy chat about incorporating music into my standup routine, we broke camp and headed home.  I enjoyed the night off, but mostly I think I enjoyed the attention after five days without it, and I see myself a little more clearly now in what I need and why I do what I do.

So I peddle off to Palm Harbor in a little while, it's a very short trip today, about two hours in the car and then Sunday will be the nut-buster getting up to Fort Walton up on the panhandle, but I'll be happy to get on stage again.

Have a great weekend, and keep doing what you love because the money will follow!

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY