Musical Monday #5

We had a gig on Saturday night. A fancy, formal, expensive dinner/auction/dance for the local hospital foundation. Alot of doctors and high society types (well, as high society as you can find in Montana), all eager to spend thousands of dollars on auction items. We've had the pleasure to play this gig about 6 times in the past 9 years. On the years that we haven't, it's because there's a new chairman who thinks they need a new band, and inevitably, we get contacted within a week afterwards asking if we're available for next year. All in all, it was a good time. We even brought out a new thing we've been working on--a Motown medley that lasts about 20 minutes. "My Guy", "My Girl", "In the Midnight Hour", "Tracks of My Tears", etc., etc. It went over pretty well. We kept a good crowd right up to our last song. Those are the fun types of gigs.

The worst part, and we're seeing a trend at events like this (and at wedding receptions, too), was the open bar. Not the open bar itself, but the actions of those who don't know how to pace themselves. Here we are at a +$150/plate dinner, in formal attire, and some girl is getting sick in the rest room. To the point that a couple of her friends, in their formals, crawl under the stall door to see if she's drowned in the toilet. She was not the only one who puked during the night. Someone just let loose IN FRONT OF THE OPEN BAR! All told, we heard that there were about 4 incidents during the night.

Lord knows I'm not a prude, nor have I been in total control of my senses at certain times when I've been drinking. Granted, some drunken behavior I can tolerate. In the right atmosphere. Showing bare boobies while dancing in front of the band while out at the lake is one thing. Puking in front of the bar at a formal event is quite another. What are the benefits to that? Embarrassment in front of others in the days ahead? Ruining a dress that probably cost a small fortune? Being the butt of stories told by others on their blogs for the world to read?

As I said earlier, we're seeing alot of this over the past few months. Even Trixie has blogged about it from a bartender's point of view. For my Musical Monday selection, I've chosen one of my favorite songs from our Motown medley--Aretha Franklin's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T". People need to show alot more of that, both to themselves and to others!