The third front porch Spooktacular was a smashing success (at least according to my mom, my girlfriend, and me—a pretty unbiased group, yeah?), with many of my private music students taking the stage to share their talents. Even a few former students, now off to bigger and grander things, stopped by to sing a song or two.
As is tradition at these events, I invited anyone with an instrument or a voice to join us on stage for a couple of songs. By the time I offered up this invitation, most of my younger students and their families had left, but several were still around.
From those remaining—two bassists, a guitarist, two piano players, a singer, my niece, John (on acoustic guitar) and myself (on drums)—we formed an ad hoc supergroup. One of my younger students—the young man who walks Murphy for me while I’m at work—took lead on the vocals, and really nailed it. He sounds like a younger Bobby Pickett!
My girlfriend caught the magic on video. While it’s not the full song, you get the idea:
Apparently, John forgot to plug his guitar back in, and one of my students later told me the keyboard had come unplugged from the sound system. You don’t hear much of either in the video, so the performance still went well, and it was a blast to see everyone up there singing and playing and having fun.
We also performed KISS’s “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” and an impromptu cover of Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London,” one of the weirdest easy songs ever written. If I can find video of those tunes, I’ll share them soon!
—TPP
Other Editions of Open Mic Adventures:
- “Open Mic Adventures I: Oingo Boingo’s ‘Just Another Day’“
- “Open Mic Adventures II: Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’“
- “Open Mic Adventures III: Joanie Sommers’s ‘Johnny Get Angry’“
- “Open Mic Adventures IV: KISS’s ‘I Still Love You’“
- “Open Mic Adventures V: ‘There’s a Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VI: Journey’s ‘Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VII: ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VIII: Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’“
- “Open Mic Adventures IX: Journey’s ‘Faithfully’“
- “Open Mic Adventures X: ‘Time Warp’”